Thursday 20th April
Read Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
“There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.” (NIVUK)
As the poem ends, the stakes slowly ramp up again with respect to the various ‘times’. One can imagine the right time to have a ‘mummy look’ and the time to just go to the store and purchase a replacement (v6a)! Likewise there are seasons when a good spring clean is exactly what every house needs (v6b). There are also times when grief is essential (‘a time to tear’) but also a time to move on with one’s life (v7a). It is even more challenging, as Job’s ‘friends’ discovered, to know when to remain silent and when to speak (v7b) particularly amidst suffering and grief.
Each of these pairings in this poem describe what are technically called merisms (i.e they intend to capture everything between the two clauses). Despite this, the last two lines of the poem cause some consternation. Is it ever the right ‘time to hate’ or ‘time for war’? Surely it is always the time for ‘love and peace’? This was Pete Seeger’s point in his classic rendition of this passage made famous by the Byrds – the world needs to move on from this endless cycle of war. Given it was the 1950’s one can understand his sentiment, with the Second World War morphing into the Korean and then Vietnam conflicts. Transformed into a protest song one can’t ever state there is a time for ‘hate and war’. Hence the last line of his song…
Yet this is, and always will be, naive. Jesus talks about war and hate as part of the gospel itself. “You will hear of wars and rumours of wars but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth-pains. 9 ‘Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:6-14) (NIVUK). Perhaps this is why Paul likens Christian witness and suffering to living as a ‘good soldier of Christ Jesus’ (2 Timothy 2:3b)? A time for war and a time for hate…
