Ecclesiastes 3:11

Context

Ecclesiastes 3 opens with "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven" (v. 1). It then lists fourteen pairs of opposing "times," such as a time to be born and a time to die, and a time to weep and a time to laugh (vv. 2–8). The passage next asks what profit a person gains from his labor (v. 9) and states that God has given travail to human beings (v. 10) before arriving at verse 11. Verses 12–13 conclude that rejoicing, doing good, and eating and drinking throughout one's life are the gift of God.

Interpretation

• "Beautiful in his time": This phrase is read as a confession of providence, affirming that all things come about fittingly at the time God has appointed. "Beautiful" is understood to mean something closer to "fitting" or "suited to its place."
• The meaning of "eternity": The Hebrew word olam can mean "eternity" but also "a long time" or "the world." Accordingly, some interpret the verse to mean that God has placed within human beings a longing for what transcends time (the reading of the Korean Revised Version tradition), while others take it to mean that God has given a sense of the long ages or a desire to understand the world (reflected in the rendering "world" in some older English translations, such as the King James Version: "he hath set the world in their heart"). A minority view reads the term as "unknowability."
• A verse of tension: The verse is read as speaking at once of longing and limitation: human beings yearn for eternity, yet they cannot know God's work from beginning to end. This tension is seen as an expression of the honesty of Ecclesiastes.

Questions Concerning Application

The verse is frequently used in apologetics as a basis for the claim that all people possess a religious longing. In response, some urge caution, noting that the broad semantic range of the original term makes such a firm conclusion difficult. Others observe that using the verse glibly to tell those who are suffering that "there is a time for everything" overlooks the latter part of the same verse, which states that human beings cannot fully comprehend the work of God.

In the Korean Church

The verse is widely used at New Year's Eve watch-night services, weddings, and funerals, and it is often cited at evangelistic meetings when speaking of the spiritual longing within human beings.

Related Passages

• Ecclesiastes 3:1–8
• Ecclesiastes 8:17
• Romans 11:33