The great sin of our life is giving up. Despair with suicide is the decisive act of giving up, the ultimate sin against trust. The final act of despair is suicide. Without a belief in a forgiving caring God, life may seem more troublesome than the permanent sleep of death. There are always people willing to help. The worst answer to any problem is suicide. You do not get any second chances after suicide. The game is over. You are dead. Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary life problem.
despair
The distress of everybody (Ezek 7:25-7:27)
“When anguish comes,
They will seek peace.
But there shall be none.
Disaster comes
Upon disaster.
Rumor follows
Rumor.
They shall keep
Seeking a vision
From the prophet.
Instruction shall perish
From the priest.
Counsel shall fail
From the elders.
The king mourns.
The prince shall be
Wrapped in despair.
The hands
Of the people
Of the land
Shall tremble.
According to their way,
I will deal with them.
According to their own judgments
I will judge them.
They shall know
That I am Yahweh.”
Yahweh concluded this oracle or vision to Ezekiel. In these times of trouble, they would seek peace, but there would be none. Disaster would come upon disaster. Rumor would follow rumor. They would keep looking for a vision from their prophets, but none would come. The priests would fail to instruct them. Counsel from the elders would fail. The king would mourn. The princes would be in despair. The hands of the land people would tremble. According to their ways, Yahweh would deal with them. According to their own judgments, Yahweh would judge them. They would know that Yahweh God was in charge. He was Yahweh.
The forgotten happiness (Lam 3:16-3:18)
Vav
“Yahweh has made
My teeth grind
On gravel.
He made me
Cower in ashes.
My soul is bereft
Of peace.
I have forgotten
What happiness is.
So I say.
‘Gone is my glory,
All that I had hoped for
From Yahweh.’”
This suffering person proclaims that Yahweh has made him grind his teeth on gravel, which is not a pretty thought. Yahweh made him cower or be afraid with ashes on him, as if in mourning. His soul had no peace. He had forgotten what happiness was. All the glory that he had hoped for from Yahweh was gone. He was almost in despair. These three verses start with the Hebrew consonant letter Vav in this acrostic poem.
Friendship (Sir 22:19-22:22)
“Whoever pricks an eye
Brings tears.
Whoever pricks the heart
Makes clear its feelings.
Whoever throws a stone at birds
Scares them away.
Whoever reviles a friend
Destroys a friendship.
Even if you have drawn your sword
Against a friend,
Do not despair.
There is a way back.
If you have opened your mouth
Against your friend,
Do not worry.
Reconciliation is possible.
But your friend will flee
If you have been reviling,
If you have been arrogant,
If you have disclosed his secrets,
If you have dealt a treacherous blow.”
Friendship is tricky. Certain things follow naturally. If you prick your eye you will get a tear in your eye. If you touch someone’s heart, you make your feelings known. If you throw stones at birds, they will scatter. If you revile a friend with abusive language, you will destroy that friendship. If you have drawn a sword or opened your mouth against a friend, don’t despair. There is still a chance for this friendship to be reconciled. However, your friend will leave you if you use abusive arrogant language, disclose their secrets, or try to kill them. These actions are show stoppers. The friendship will die. Your friend will go away and not come back.
The vanity of hard work (Eccl 2:18-2:23)
“I hated all my toil
In which I had toiled under the sun.
I must leave it to
Those who will come after me.
Who knows
Whether they will be a wise or foolish?
Yet they will be
Master of all for which I toiled.
I used my wisdom under the sun.
This also is vanity.
So I turned about.
I gave my heart up to despair
Concerning all the toil of
My labors under the sun.
Sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom,
Toiled with knowledge,
Toiled with skill,
Must leave all to be enjoyed by another
Who did not toil for it.
This also is vanity.
This is a great evil.
What do mortals get from all the toil?
What do mortals gat from the strain
With which they toil under the sun?
All their days are full of pain.
Their work is a vexation.
Even at night
Their minds do not rest.
This also is vanity.”
Now Qoheleth addressed the problem of hard work. What is its value? He had been a hard working wise man, but he would have to leave all his work to those who would come after him. There was no telling if they would be wise or foolish, but still they would be in charge of all his things. He then realized that with all his wisdom under the sun, everything that he had accomplished was in vain. He then fell into despair, much like Job. He would not enjoy the fruit of his hard work. He had worked with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, but he had to leave the results of his work to be enjoyed by those who would not work hard. This is the problem with parents who work hard to see their children succeed, only to have them dissipate their life away. This painful useless work is a great evil. He wanted to know if there was a reward for this hard work. This work was nothing but a painful troubling vexation that kept him from sleeping at night. Hard work was useless, in vain, vanity itself. This is a very strong indictment against hard work.
The wise ones and the fools both die (Eccl 2:14-2:17)
“Yet I perceived
That one fate befalls all of them.
Then I said to myself.
‘What happens to the fool
Will happen to me also.
Why then have I been so very wise?’
I said to myself
That this also is vanity.
There is no enduring remembrance
Of the wise
Or of the fools.
In the days to come,
All will have been long forgotten.
How can the wise die just like fools?
So I hated life,
Because what is done under the sun
Was grievous to me.
All is vanity.
All is a chasing after wind.”
Having accepted the importance of wisdom, Qoheleth then realizes that he, the wise one, and the fools also will both die. They share the same fate. What then is the advantage to being a wise person? No one remembers the fools, but everyone will also forget about the wise ones. Even this wise life is in vain. Why do they both share the same result as dead forgotten people? Now he begins to hate life itself, as an element of despair like Job. He thought that this was injurious to him, since all was futile. He and the wise ones were just chasing after that unattainable wind.
From the depths (Ps 130:1-130:2)
A song of ascent
“Out of the depths,
I cry to you!
Yahweh!
Yahweh!
Hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
To the voice of my supplications!”
Psalm 130 is another in this series of pilgrimage songs or psalms on the ascent to Jerusalem. However, this is more a penitential psalm that cries from the depths of despair. This psalmist cried out to Yahweh. He wanted Yahweh to listen. He wanted Yahweh to have his ears attentive to his prayers of supplication.
Shameful situation (Ps 69:19-69:21)
“You know
The insults that I receive.
You know
My shame.
You know
My dishonor.
My foes are all known to you.
Insults have broken my heart.
I am in despair.
I looked for pity,
But there was none.
I look for comforters,
But I found none.
They gave me poison for food.
For my thirst
They gave me vinegar to drink.”
David goes on to let God know his situation. He begins by reminding him that God knows all the things that were happening to him and who was doing it. God knew about the insults, the shame, and the dishonor. He had a broken heart and was in despair. There was no one to pity him or comfort him. Instead they gave him poison to eat and vinegar to drink. He was in bad shape. Obviously he was not in jail, but somehow persecuted.
Job considers death (Job 17:11-17:16)
“My days are past.
My plans are broken off.
The desires of my heart are gone.
They make night into day.
They say.
‘The light is near to the darkness.’
If I look for Sheol as my house,
If I spread my couch in darkness,
If I say to the pit,
‘You are my father,’
If I say to the worm,
‘You are my mother,
You are my sister,’
Where then is my hope?
Who will see my hope?
Will it go down to the bars of Sheol?
Shall we descend together into the dust?”
Once again, Job ended his reply with a morose tone as he considered his death once again. The days were gone. The plans were broken. The desires of the heart were gone. There was a confusion of night and day, light and darkness. His home would be Sheol, the underworld of the dead. The ground and worms will become his father, mother, and sister. There was no hope. All of us should just go together into the depths of Sheol as the dust on the ground. This is a man in despair not hope.
Job wants assurances from God (Job 17:3-17:5)
“Lay down a pledge for me with yourself.
Who is there that will give surety for me?
Since you have closed their minds to understanding,
Therefore, you will not let them triumph.
Those who denounce friends for a reward,
May the eyes of their children fail!
Job wanted assurances from God, a pledge. Who was going to bail him out or give him surety out of this situation? Since God had closed the minds of those around him, he did not want them to triumph. Anyone who denounced friends for a reward should have blind children. This was some kind of ancient proverb. Job, despite his despair, was not going to take this lying down.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 