Up to this point in Ecclesiastes, the Preacher has been dispensing general observations about how the world works. But now, he turns to look us directly in the eyes and admonishes us with specific applications for how to live wisely in the world and what duty God requires of his people in worship. It’s as if he consulted the writings of Moses before taking up his pen, echoing the call of the Shema, exhorting Israel to follow their God with an undivided heart: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart” ( Deut. 6:46).
Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. For a dream comes with much business, and a fool’s voice with many words. —Ecclesiastes 5:1–3
“Hear, O Israel!” “Draw near to listen!” “Be not rash with your mouth . . . nor . . . be hasty to utter a word before God!” “Let your words be few!” The Preacher is telling us to “Hush up and listen up!” And the context in which he is speaking is our worship. There are many places in Scripture which advise us of the wisdom in listening before (or even instead of) speaking in all circumstances. But here we are to narrow our focus to entering our house of worship. For Solomon, it was the magnificent Temple in Jerusalem to which one must guard their steps and draw near to listen; for us it will be our churches on Sunday.
And why must we approach with such attentive care and awe? Because our “God is in heaven and [we] are on earth.” Solomon himself prayed at the dedication of the Temple, “But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built!” (2 Chron. 6:18). Every prophet who had a close encounter with the Lord came away with the same awe and holy fear of the Lord. Urging them to live holy lives before him, Moses warned Israel that “our God is a consuming fire” (Deut. 4:24; c.f. Heb. 12:29;). When the prophet Isaiah went into the Temple seeking solace after king Uzziah died, he was completely undone by his encounter with the thrice-holy God seated upon his heavenly throne:
“. . . high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” —Isaiah 6:1–5
Isaiah was God’s prophet, who spoke the holy words of God, and yet where he principally feels his sinfulness in the blazing light of God’s holiness is in his lips—the very instruments God used for his prophetic utterances. If Isaiah is so disintegrated before the Lord with concern for his words, shouldn’t we also take care with our speech before God in worship?
The Preacher is reminding us that, though we may clean up pretty well in front of our fellow worshippers, God sees our hearts and knows the degree of sincerity or insincerity with which we’re singing, “I surrender all…” As we are reminded every week when we take the Lord’s Supper, we must examine our hearts when coming before God, remembering not only that he is the Sovereign Ruler of the universe, but that he stooped down to us in love, in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem us from our sins and make us new.
The means by which we examine our hearts is to hold them under the spotlight of God’s Word. In our church, the service begins with a call to worship from the Word; we read from both Testaments during the service—if the sermon is from the new Testament, there’s a reading from the Old, and vice versa. After we have confessed our sins, often using Scripture, we are assured of our pardon by the Word. We sing the Word as it is skillfully woven into many of our hymns, and we may also sing a Psalm. The sermon is God’s Word opened to us by our pastor. And finally, we leave the service with the Scriptural words of blessing from the benediction ringing in our ears. Our Sunday worship services are saturated in the Scriptures.
Our sincerity of worship is paired in our text with our sincerity in making vows before God (5:4–6). This was a practice condoned (but not commanded) in the Old Testament. The Preacher warns us that it is foolish to make a vow when we either don’t intend to keep it or don’t have a thought-out plan to keep it. Vows in themselves aren’t sinful, think of Hannah praying for a son and vowing to give him to the Lord. The Lord honored her request and gave her Samuel, which was part of his plan for the good of his people. But then also remember Jephthah’s tragic vow in Judges 11 which ultimately resulted in the loss of his only daughter. I can’t speculate why the Lord honored Jephthah’s rash request by granting him victory in battle, I only know it would have been better for Jephthah not to have made such a foolish and sinful promise to the Lord. It is wiser to be sincerely silent before the Lord than foolishly verbose, making promises we can’t keep. Fortunately, our Savior was not only willing, but he was able to keep his promises. “Jesus is the only one who ever kept all his promises to God, including his own vow to offer a holy sacrifice—the sacrifice of his body for our sins.”[1]
Our words matter—especially our words spoken to God. “Ecclesiastes is teaching us that we need God’s Word, we need his revelation about who he is and what he’s like, in order to reverence him properly.”[2] And to receive his revelation we need to be listening to his Word when we go to worship, when we read our bibles, when we meditate on the Scriptures. We need to be a Scripture-saturated people, and that begins with hushing up and listening up. I have a feeling the Preacher would appreciate the maxim, attributed to grandmothers everywhere, that God gave us two ears but only one mouth for a reason.
The Preacher next returns briefly to the theme of oppression (as we saw earlier in 4:1–3) before advising us again against the vanity of the love of money. “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity” (5:10). In another first for me, I give you this quote by modern-day adventurer-philosopher, Bear Grylls, who shared the following:
“I have met enough unhappy millionaires to know that money alone does not make you happy. Money, like success, tends to magnify your life. If you are living with the wrong values, money will only make things much worse.”[3]
The Preacher contrasts the sleeplessness brought on by the amplified anxiety of those who chase after riches with the restful slumber of those who have labored at an honest day’s work. “Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep” (5:12). The laborer can close his eyes in peace because he is satisfied and content with the lot assigned to him by the Lord, which is a common theme throughout Scripture (e. g. Psalm 4:8; 121:4; 127:2; Prov. 3:24–26).
As Mr. Grylls continued, he could have been looking at the next two passages in our chapter.
“John Paul Getty, one of the richest men in history, famously said: “I would give everything I own for one happy marriage.
The ultimate success in the game of life can never come from money amassed, power attained, or fame gained. It comes from the quiet moments. It comes from knowing you have loved well, and been loved in return. Chase the goal. Chase the dream. But never trade your family for a summit.”[4]
The source of Mr. Getty’s regret is twice labeled by the Preacher “a grievous evil.” In 5:13–17 we see the portrait of a man whose desire for wealth had him working so continuously that he ultimately dies poor and alone, having amassed great wealth and then lost it all in a “bad venture.” He gambled his life on the idea that money would buy him happiness and ended his life with nothing to show for it but nakedness, “darkness . . . vexation and sickness and anger” (5:17). Mr. Grylls’ exhortation above echoes the Preacher’s remedy to avoid the misery wrought by such deep discontentment.
Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart. —Ecclesiastes 5:18–20
These are the blessings which God grants those who have their ears open to his Word and their eyes open to look for the simple gifts he gives in the quiet, ordinary, everyday-ness of life. Wealth is not inherently evil; it is a good gift from God to be held with gratitude and wise stewardship. But whether God grants us much or little, if we keep our eyes on him, on the Giver and not the gifts, God will keep our hearts occupied with joy in our hearts to outshine the days of our lives. This is a blessed gift indeed.
[1] Phillip Ryken, Ecclesiastes: Why Everything Matters, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 126
[2] David Gibson, Living Life Backward; How Ecclesiastes Teaches us to Live in Light of the End, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017), 85
[3] Bear Grylls, posted on Facebook, 9/16/2026
[4] Grylls, same post
