“Ecclesiastes 3: Make the Best of Life While You Can,” Old Testament Seminary Student Study Guide (2002), 136
“Ecclesiastes 3,” Old Testament Seminary Student Study Guide, 136
Make the Best of Life While You Can
Ecclesiastes 3 tells how life has frustrations; the wicked and the righteous and the wise and the foolish all have good and bad happen to them. Chapter 3 concludes that even though good and bad times happen to all, a person is happier if he or she lives a good life and seeks joy—even if that joy does not last. In others words, if good and bad happen to all, we might as well enjoy the good while it lasts.
Ecclesiastes 3:1–8 are some of the most often quoted verses in Ecclesiastes. They can, however, be misunderstood. By saying that everything has a season, the preacher is simply saying that there are certain events that happen to all. He was not suggesting that all of us have a time to kill or a time to hate or do other negative things. There is never an appropriate time to disobey the commandments.