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Laughter of Fools.
.
God is revealed through his creation,
yet unrighteous men neither glorified God, nor give him thanks - instead their
thinking becomes futile and their foolish hearts darkened. They exchanged
worship of the immortal God for worship of man-made images such as birds,
animals, and reptiles. God is self-sufficient. That means that God doesn’t
need my arguments for or against his existence - the phenomenon of Jesus’s
death and resurrection may confound the wise but, that doesn’t make it any less
real
Carolyn Roth
“Like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter
of fools. This too is meaningless” - (Ecclesiastes
7.6 NIV).
Bible
Reference: Ecclesiastes 7.6
Possibly,
Ecclesiastes was written by Solomon, one of his offspring, or a learned teacher
in the Israelite assembly.
Within
Ecclesiastes, the writer referred to himself as “Teacher.”
One saying the Teacher wrote was, “Like the crackling of
thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of fools. This too is meaningless”
(Ecclesiastes 7.6 NIV).
Israelite
cooking fires were located in outer courtyards or inside homes.
The
time of year influenced where the fire was located.
In hot
weather, the cooking fire was outside the home.
In
cooler or cold weather, the fire was located inside the home to give heat.
Many
poorer Israelites cooked over a simple hole in the ground surrounded by rocks
(a fire pit).
Wealthier
Israelites had ovens, either inside the home or in the courtyard.
In
ancient Israel, wood was the primary fuel used for cooking; however, in
Ecclesiastes 7.6, thorns fueled fire.
Thorn
bushes burn faster and with less heat than dense wood, i.e., oak, olive.
Many
times, when thorns were collected and burned, green branches were present at
the base, even when the thorn bush appeared dry on top and in the middle.
When
burned, green branches emitted a crackling sound.
Thorns,
as fuel, made the point of the Teacher’s saying: The laughter of fools is
like a short-lived fire fueled by thorns, not dense wood.
A
fool’s laughter, although perhaps loud, doesn’t last very long. It is
relatively valueless or meaningless.
In
ancient Israel, wood was the primary fuel used for cooking; however, in
Ecclesiastes 7.6, thorns fueled fire.
The
thorn plant of Ecclesiastes is the Sarcopoterium spinosum.
Other
names are the thorny burnet and prickly burnet.
On the
female flower, ovaries are set in four-or-five joined sepals so that female flowers
resemble a covered pot.
These
flower pots are numerous on stems.
When
the female flower is young, it is green, and turns red-orange at maturity and
rusty brown as it dries.
In the
heat of a fire, the flower “pots” produce a small explosive sound when they pop
open. The sound resembles crackling.
On the
thorny burnet, thorns grow up to four inches.
Individuals
who harvest and prepare the thorny burnet for fuel and other purposes have a
high chance of being scratched by thorns.
In
Ecclesiastes 7.6, the meaning of thorny burnet was futility.
Futility
implies an action that has no use or purpose.3
Synonyms
are ineffective, pointless, and vainness; an antonym is useful.
Paul
identified several ways and situations where man’s thoughts were futile, i.e.,
useless and ineffective.
Two
points seem particularly important today.
Instead their thinking becomes futile and
their foolish hearts darkened.
They exchanged worship of the immortal God for
worship of man-made images such as birds, animals, and reptiles.
Most
men and women in the twenty-first century don’t worship animals, but,
sometimes, they hang onto the words of men/women rather than focusing on God’s
instruction for life.
Writing to the Corinthian church, Paul stated that “if Christ
has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sin” (1
Corinthians 15.17 NIV).
Redemption
of our bodies, eternal life in Christ, depends on a risen Lord.
When I
was in college, The Passover Plot. was
required reading for anyone trying to be intellectual.
The
book argued that Jesus and disciples implemented an elaborate ruse to have
Jesus declared Messiah. Jesus never died on the cross. He was taken from the
cross and hidden by close associates. Then, Jesus reappeared three days later
to fulfill Jews’ expectations for the Messiah.
The
problem with The Passover Plot’s argument
is the lived experiences of individuals who saw both Jesus’s death and his
resurrected body.
In his
resurrected body, Jesus appeared at least eleven times to over 500 people.
My
reading The Passover Plot allowed me to appear
intellectual when I discussed arguments against Jesus’s death during my college
years.
Yet, my
arguments were as the crackle of thorn bushes in a cook fire — not of much
value.
Recently,
I read another book, None Like Him.
The
author said that God is self-sufficient. That means that
God doesn’t need my arguments for or against his existence.
The phenomenon of Jesus’s death and
resurrection may confound the wise but, that doesn’t make it any less real.
My take
away message from reading both books, one futile and one valuable for Christian
growth, is that reading and believing commentaries on the Bible should never
take the place of reading (and believing) God’s word.
Reflection: What
are you spending your time doing that isn’t of much value? Let me assure you
that it didn’t take me more than a second to come up with several time-wasters
in my life.
How can
you, more importantly, how are you going to eliminate these time-wasters from
your life? If you spent more time promoting Christ’s message, how would that
benefit the USA?
Carolyn
Roth Ministry
(CarolynRothMinistry.com)
offers research,
education, and consultation to individuals and organizations who want to deepen
their understanding of the Bible.
As
the site editor, participants should know I am a spiritual woman with a deep
belief in God. Many friends would describe my Christian perspective as
orthodox. I believe in the inspired, written word of God. I live in Roanoke,
Virginia. I am a Virginia Master Gardener and a Tree Steward.
This
website/blog glorifies God within the context of earth as His garden, describes
Bible and other growing plants, and applies them to our Christian walk in
the 21st century. On Creation day 3, God created vegetation, e.g., trees,
herbs, flowers. On this site, the word plant will be used to
encompass all types of vegetation. God created plants right after He
created the heavens (Day 2) and before He created the sun, moon, and stars (Day
4). This creative order demonstrates that God valued and had a purpose for the
varied flora in our world. Our response to this creative process should first
be love for the Creator and second a reverence for this earthly garden.
If
you would like to see a full-size picture of the plant in the story, click on
it and it will expand to fill the page. The contents of this website including
pictures are copyright. You may use the materials after getting permission from
the editor. If you use the materials in your writings or presentations,
properly cite the website.
I
am looking forward to your responses to my blogs. I will try to initiate a new
discussion about every other week.
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