day five

"to everything there is a season, and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted,
a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build up,
a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to get and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to cast away,
a time to rend and a time to sew, a time to keep silence and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace."
~ecclesiastes 3:1-8, amplified bible

i've made a habit in my life of disagreeing with the writer of ecclesiastes.  here, we find the byrd's 'turn turn turn' - to every thing, there is a season.  i've always hated that song.  i've always hated that scripture.  but maybe i just need to interpret it differently.

there simply isn't a 'right time' for EVERY thing, for violent war and devastating hunger.  but maybe that's not what the writer is saying. 

most translations use the word "activity under heaven" in verse one, but the lockman foundation uses "every matter or purpose under heaven" in their amplified bible translation.  they claim to have gone back to accepted aramaic, greek, and hebrew manuscripts to translate the scripture into literary english.  sure enough, the original hebrew uses the word "he-pes" meaning event, delight, pleasure, or will.   both versions translate the word pretty literally, but with a word with so many possible meanings who is to say which is right?  simply because of my bias, i'm going to go with the lockman foundation on this one.

so where i used to think that this scripture was trying to tell me that there was a time for everything that happened on earth (under heaven), maybe it is really trying to tell me that there is a time for everything that God delights in, finds pleasure with or wills.  maybe there isn't a time for violent war, but there is time for a world-wide war against hunger.  maybe there isn't a time for blind hate of our neighbors, but there is a time for moral hate of the injustices of the world.

this isn't at all what my study prompted me to write about today, but oh well.  maybe tomorrow i'll get back on track...