Ecclesiastes 9:2

THE SAME FATE COMES TO ALL

"All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous and the wicked; to the good and to the clean and the unclean; to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not; as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath. This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead. For to him that is joined with all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. As well their love, as their hatred and their envy, is perished long ago; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun."

We should preface this paragraph with imaginary words from Solomon: "This is the way I viewed things while in rebellion against God." If this should not be considered a valid understanding of the paragraph, then we should limit what is said here as a declaration of the way things appear when they are viewed purely from an earthly and materialistic viewpoint, as characteristic of what is done "under the sun."

"All things come alike to all" (Ecclesiastes 9:2). There is no way that this can be strictly true. True, the event of death comes to all; but this says, "all things" come alike to all men!

"They go to the dead" (Ecclesiastes 9:3). This, as it stands in the passage, is cited as the end of everything. And, in the earthly sense, of course it is. This is an obstinate fact; but God has placed in man's heart some equally obstinate intuitions that contradict it. "He has set eternity in their heart" (Ecclesiastes 3:11). And this pushes us toward an answer that lies beyond the pages of Ecclesiastes; and that is, "The prospect (even the certainty) of reward and punishment in the world to come."[5]

Loader interpreted what is written here as saying that, "Religious and moral qualities of man do not have the weight of a feather in affecting his fate."[6] This might not be the correct understanding of what is written here; but the passage surely allows that as one understanding of it. One thing is sure, "If that is what the text says, it is a lie," and must be understood as the false teaching Ecclesiastes was designed to refute and deny.

"For the living know that they shall die" (Ecclesiastes 9:5). This knowledge on the part of the living is here cited as the one and only reason given in the text that living is any better than being dead. This cannot be true, because the living may still turn to God, obey the holy gospel and attain unto eternal life, whereas that opportunity does not belong to the dead.

The incredible pessimism of this passage staggers one's imagination. "Such an alleged `advantage' of living as compared with death only serves to strengthen the emphatic finality of death."[7] But death is not final! "It is appointed unto man once to die, and after this cometh judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). Solomon's conclusion (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14) refutes what is written here.

"The dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward" (Ecclesiastes 9:5). The Seventh Day Adventists have taken this verse as the proof of their false doctrine that, "Resurrection is a restoration to life of the non-existent dead ... No soul is conscious after death."[8] But is not this in the Word of God? Certainly, just like the word of Satan is found in the Word of God (Genesis 3:4). It is not written that God said, "The dead do not know anything," but that Solomon, one of the wickedest men who ever lived, said it. Even if Solomon believed it, which is questionable, because he might have been recounting his religious philosophy during the times of his apostasy, - but even if he believed it, it could not possibly be true. The glorious one who is Greater than Solomon gave us the story of the rich man and Lazarus; and the rich man is represented as being, not merely conscious after death, but in terrible pain and anxiety regarding his brethren who had not yet died, but who were living wickedly as he had lived. (See Luke 16:19-31). Oh yes, this is a parable, but it is not a fable; and one of the characteristics of a parable is that it is based upon an event which either happened or could have happened. Jesus never used parables to teach lies to his followers.

Also, in Revelation we have this, "I saw underneath the altar the souls of them that had been slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held; and they cried with a great voice, saying, How long, O Master, the holy and true, dost not thou judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth"?[9">Revelation 6:9-10.">[9] In the light of what the Christ has said, one may safely set aside what the wicked Solomon is here reported in God's Word to have said.

The Seventh Day Adventist notion that the resurrection is the creation of the non-existent dead is also an outright contradiction of Christ's declaration that "God is the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, and that he is the God of the living, not of the dead." (Matthew 22:32). This clearly states that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are living (even in the state of death) and that they are not non-existent.