The live dog and the dead lion
Ecclesiastes 9:4 ‘….better a live dog than a dead lion.’
Week 5
For the last four weeks we have been unpacking this small part of verse four of chapter 9 of Ecclesiastes. You can catch up if you wish by reading the previous articles on the website. If you haven’t got time to do that I have included part of the introduction at the start of this article. This will help to set the context. We have already talked at length about the dead lion and last week we started to look at the live dog!
This is the final article in this series.
If you have read all or most of the previous articles just start you reading at the section headed ‘Despised and of no reputation’.
Introduction
We know from reading the bible that Solomon ranks among the wisest of Kings. God imparts to him a gift of wisdom enabling him to make wise and righteous judgements in his leadership of the people of God.
Much of Solomon’s wisdom is recorded for us in the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. As we read these pages of bible we become not just observers of Solomon’s wise rule but we also, through the Holy Spirit, partakers in the wisdom of God.
In the New Testament James talks about wisdom and makes it clear in his letter that we desperately need this wisdom which is ‘from above’ – heaven’s wisdom. He tells us that if we are lacking in wisdom we are to ask God for it. He goes on to describe two types of wisdom; one that is earthly and one that is heavenly. When he talks about earthly wisdom he makes it clear that it is at best natural and at worst demonic! He presents a great challenge for us -what wisdom is it that we are depending on? If we are knowingly or unknowingly accessing earthly wisdom, the wisdom of the world, we could end up subject to a demonic stronghold both in our thinking and in our lives. When heaven’s wisdom seems distant it is all too easy to resort to ‘what seems right to us’ in any given situation. This judgement is not always wrong but carries the possibility for us, as previously mentioned, of being subject to the demonic influence of worldly thinking, ways and systems that will hold us captive.
So, if Solomon has access to the wisdom of God, the wisdom that is above, then there is much to be gained by listening carefully to the record of this wisdom in scripture.
Now we come to what seems, at first reading, a slightly bizarre comment at the end of verse 4 of Ecclesiastes Chapter 9. ‘….better a live dog than a dead lion..’ What is it that Solomon is trying to convey? What is the wisdom of God contained in this rather strange, seemingly throw-away comment?
Well having thought much about this verse, meditated on it and having asked the Lord to show me what possible wisdom is contained in this verse I have the following reflections to share with you.
Where is our hope?
In the ancient Near East, people despised wild dogs and honoured lions. Whilst his verse has many different things to teach us, looking at it in the context of the surrounding verses as well as the whole chapter it is clear that Solomon is making a very clear point. His main point is that it is better to be alive and to have no honor, than dead and receive honor. Hope is where true life exists. To put it in colloquial terms, the lion is a ‘has been’! Yet it is my conviction that there is more to this little piece of wisdom. To merely pass over it quickly may lead to us missing the gold that is to be found if we fail to dig a little deeper. After all we know that Jesus teaches that the kingdom of heaven is hidden in a field and it requires us to do some digging to discover the truth. The truths of the kingdom are not always obvious, they are not piled high and sold cheaply! There is a cost to accessing the truths of God. So come with me as we dig a little deeper and embark on a bit of mining…
The Dog
As we have already recognised in the near East of biblical times, whilst the lion was honoured the dog was despised. Unlike the western world where dogs are normally subjects of great affection and share a place in among our families, dogs in biblical times were considered of little or no value. Even Jesus refers to them as eating the scraps from the tables.
In Solomon’s wisdom he selects a species of the animal kingdom that stands in direct contrast to the lion. Again this is not an arbitrary choice, hidden in this metaphor is the very wisdom of God. Which would Solomon’s hearers rather be – a dog or a lion? I know which I would choose! But of course the twist in the story is that one is the possessor of life and the other is dead. Clearly he is pushing his audience to reconsider their position. The promise of prestige, prominence and power are attractive but if they do not contain life then maybe we are better off accepting our status as the despised dog rather than the dead lion.
Despised and of no reputation
As we have already seen the dog was a creature that was largely despised in the middle East of biblical times. Unlike the lion who possessed a place of honour, dignity and respect in the culture of the day, the dog was the absolute opposite. It wasn’t that the dog had no reputation, it had a bad reputation. This scavenger was the brunt of many people’s anger and hatred. And yet in this line of the verse, as we have already observed, Solomon dignifies this creature by the life it has and compares it to that of the lion who has no life at all.
I believe all of us have a hunger and a thirst for a fine reputation. We would love to be talked about favourably. Most of us would wish to be held up to some degree as kind, generous and maybe a good humoured person.
When I attend funerals and hear the glowing record of the deceased’s life I wonder in a moment of self-indulgence what people might say at my funeral! Would they be as nice about me as they have been about this person who has passed away? Sadly, in part, this reveals an insatiable appetite I have for approval, affirmation and acceptance, but I don’t think I am on my own. The thought of being despised or having a dodgy reputation, I have to say, lacks appeal! Yet this is exactly what Solomon is highlighting in this verse. The dog not only has an appalling reputation he is also despised. Yet in this brief cameo of life and death we see much wisdom from God.
We only need to take a brief look at Jesus’ birth, life and death to gain a truly biblical perspective of what it means to be despised and of no reputation. Even the prophets foresaw a saviour who would be both despised and considered of ill repute. The prophet Isaiah writes in chapter 53
Isaiah 53:1-3 Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?2 For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.3 He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Isaiah talks of a saviour who comes in the absolute opposite way to which convention would have led you to expect. Isaiah foresees that we will not recognise Him because He will not look like other leaders of nations and empires. He will have no ‘…stately form or majesty..’, He will not turn people’s heads like kings and rulers might have done. He is going to be ‘despised and forsaken’. This King will not look like the ruling lions of Rome who purport to offer life to the citizens of their empire when in reality they are in fact dead. The true Lion, The Lion of the tribe of Judea for all intents and purposes looks like a dog by comparison!
This leaves us with many questions about our evaluation of what does and doesn’t have real life! What are the ‘forms’ that cause our head to turn and draw our attention? How much are we concerned about keeping up ‘appearances’? Have we missed Him because we have been looking for something that has all the bells and whistles that our postmodern world finds so thrilling and has a fascination with? All of this course can also apply to our pursuit of ‘Christian’ and ‘spiritual’ things!
The warning is – that what looks and feels good – may not be all that we have dreamt that it is!