Ecclesiastes 11
v.1
Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again.
This proverb has been found in the Egyptian source the Instruction of Ankhsheshonqy (“do a good deed and throw it in the river; when it dries up you shall find it”) and in Arabic proverbs. If Ecclesiastes follows the route of Ankhsheshonqy, it suggests that a spontaneous good deed carries no guarantees of reciprocity but that “what goes around, comes around.”
v.2
Give portions to seven, yes to eight, for you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.
v.3
If clouds are full of water, they pour rain upon the earth. Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there will it lie.
v.4
Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.
We often have to act before we can foresee all we would like to know about the future. The farmer who waits until he is completely certain of perfect weather conditions will never reap anything.
v.5
As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.
This is exactly the whole theme of the book. We cannot understand all the ways God works to fulfill his plan, but we can follow God’s rules for daily living and thus help bring God’s purpose to birth.
v.6
Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let not your hands be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.
v.7
Light is sweet, and it pleases the eyes to see the sun.
v.8
However many years a man may live, let him enjoy them all. But let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. Everything to come is meaningless.
v.9
Be happy, young man, while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment.
To older people it may seem risky to advise a young person to walk in the ways of one’s heart and the sight of one’s eyes. Yet the advice is coupled with a reminder of responsibility before God, who is the Supreme Assessor. Taken by themselves, the words could present a picture of God as a grim, condemning judge, but this would be out of keeping with what the Teacher says elsewhere of God’s approval of our enjoyment (e.g., 9:7).
v.10
So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body, for youth and vigor are meaningless.
The context and general purpose of the book suggest that the Teacher is referring to indulgences that bring guilt to the mind and damage to the body; he is not advocating hedonism here.