Ecclesiastes · chapter 5 of 12
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Ecclesiastes 5 advises guarding your steps when you go to the house of God, listening more than speaking, keeping words few and fulfilling vows, because God is in heaven and the person is on earth. It then warns about the oppression of the poor and about the love of money, which never satisfies, and closes with the advice to enjoy with gratitude what God gives, since wealth stays behind when a man dies.
So far the Preacher has observed the world from a distance. In this chapter he turns to practical counsel about relating to God, to words and to money. Among the remarks on vanity there suddenly appears the clearest call to fear God, a thread that will become decisive at the end of the book.
The chapter opens with a warning about worship: guard your steps when you go to the house of God, for drawing near to listen is better than offering the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do evil. Do not be rash with your mouth or let your heart hurry to speak before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth; therefore let your words be few. Dreams come with much business, and a fool's voice with many words.
Vows must be paid without delay: God has no pleasure in fools, and it is better not to vow than to vow and not pay. Do not let your mouth lead you into sin, or say before the messenger that it was a mistake. The advice sums up as fearing God.
The Preacher then looks at injustice: if you see the poor oppressed, do not be amazed, for one official is watched by a higher one, and over them are yet higher ones. Then he speaks of money: he who loves money will not be satisfied with money, and when goods increase, those who consume them increase. The sleep of a laborer is sweet, but the abundance of the rich will not let him sleep. He describes riches kept to their owner's hurt that are lost in a bad venture, and the man leaves as naked as he came and takes nothing with him.
The chapter ends with what he considers good and fitting: to eat, drink and enjoy his toil during the days of life God gives. God gives each man wealth and power to enjoy it, and for one who lives so, God keeps him occupied with joy of heart, so that he does not dwell much on the days of his life.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Whoever goes to the house of God should guard his steps and draw near to listen, rather than offer the sacrifice of fools. Worship begins with attention and reverence, not with a religion made of empty acts and words.
Do not be rash with your mouth or hurry your heart to speak before God, for he is in heaven and we are on earth, and so our words should be few. It recalls the distance between Creator and creature.
The one who loves money will not be satisfied with money, and the one who loves wealth will not be satisfied with income. The Preacher describes how the desire to have grows faster than what is gained, and he calls it vanity.
When God gives a man riches and possessions and the power to enjoy them and accept his lot, that is a gift of God. The Preacher distinguishes between having things and being able to enjoy them: both come from God.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Guard his steps, draw near to listen and not offer the sacrifice of fools. — Ecclesiastes 5:1
Answer: Because God is in heaven and the person is on earth. — Ecclesiastes 5:2
Answer: That they must be paid without delay, because God has no pleasure in fools, and it is better not to vow than to vow and not pay. — Ecclesiastes 5:4-5
Answer: Not to be amazed, because one official is watched by a higher one, and there are yet higher ones over them. — Ecclesiastes 5:8
Answer: He is not satisfied with money or income, and that too is vanity. — Ecclesiastes 5:10
Answer: As he came naked from his mother's womb, so he goes, and he takes nothing from the fruit of his toil. — Ecclesiastes 5:15
Ecclesiastes 5 invites us to review how we enter the house of God. For those who lead worship, teach or pray in public, the warning about hurried words is a call to reverence: listen first, speak simply and keep what you promise, whether a vow, a commitment in church or a ministry.
The text also speaks plainly about money. Wanting more never ends, and the rested worker sleeps better than the anxious rich man. In a small group you can talk about what it means to receive what we have as a gift from God, with gratitude and generosity, without letting riches rule the heart.
Ecclesiastes 5 shows that wisdom begins with reverence toward God, and that riches neither save a person nor go with him beyond death. Chapter 6 will continue the theme, describing someone who has much but cannot enjoy it, and asking who knows what is good for a person.
It is an offering or religious practice carried out without attention to God and without obedience, as if performing the ritual were enough. The Preacher says that drawing near to listen is better, in line with other Old Testament passages where obedience is worth more than sacrifice.
No, but the text warns against making them lightly. It is better not to vow than to vow and not pay, because God takes words spoken before him seriously. Jesus teaches in the same spirit about the honesty of our words in Matthew 5:33-37.
It is an observation about bureaucracy and power: whoever oppresses answers to another, who in turn answers to another. The Preacher does not justify abuse but explains why injustice can be so persistent, and the reader knows that above all of them is a God who will judge.