Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days.
Ecclesiastes weighs everything in life and finds it empty. Then, near the end, it hands the reader one thing to do: give away the bread you live on, with no promised date of return.
In a book where everything else crumbles, this line names something that holds its value.
"Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days." Here we find something solid, something lasting, something that does not share in the common universal vanity. The serving of Christ has the value of eternity in it. The bread cast on the waters is found after many days, or at a future hour.
So where does that value get stored?
This is just the lesson the whole New Testament teaches us. There we learn that there are bags that do not wear out, and that it is service to Christ which fills them for us — that there is such a thing as being "rich toward God," and such a treasure as never fails, no thief approaching it, no moth corrupting it.
The verse says your bread, and one writer presses on that word.
But before you give it, it must be "your bread"; that is, it must be what you live on yourself, and it is from that you minister. Nothing else is really yours. If Christ is not your daily portion — the satisfying One for you — how can you speak of Him or minister Him to others? Your words will seem to them only like "idle tales." The Spirit will not add His anointing power to words that are not true and real about yourself.
The same article sets this against the disciples fishing in John 21.
Man is so made that he is always, of necessity, either a giver or a receiver. Suppose I launch out on the troubled waters of this life, trying to get something from them. Then I must learn, as all of us will sooner or later, that John 21:5 has a lesson in it for me... After the dark night of my toil, the Lord asks me, "Children, do you have any fish?" I have only one answer to give Him, as they had. And "they answered him, 'No.'"
Commentators differ on what the bread stands for: some read it as generous giving, others as the word of God sown in people. Either way, the water is an unlikely place to plant.
Now the Preacher urges liberal action in settled faith. He may well do so, for he knows that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. The waters may look unpromising for bread or even for grain; but casting it in faith at His word is never wasted. One may have to wait many days, but He cannot fail, and you will find it at last.
Another writer reads the waters as the crowds themselves.
"Upon the waters" — calm or restless — "bread" is to be cast, reminding one of Revelation 17: "The waters that you saw... are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages."
One commentator explains the farming behind the picture, then aims it at the reader.
In the East they sow the seed on the waters, the water goes down, and the seed drops into a soft, fertile bed. This is not preaching. It is you and I simply being keen to drop the blessed seed of the Word of God into a soul, wherever God takes us. You are to be a person going about with the heavenly seed-basket on your arm, dropping the seed wherever you go. It may be to a believer. It may be to a sinner. The fact is, far too much is left to the preachers.
Because you cannot follow the water, some point to the printed page as a way of casting further than you can travel.
The printed page can go where we cannot. A halfpenny will take it to some far-off outpost, to some lonely sinner in the back country of Australia, to the shacks in the forests of Canada, to the orange groves of Palestine, to Egypt, India, China — in the words of our Lord's commission, "to every creature."
The promise sets no date. One writer turns that silence into a call for steady sowing.
Sow on. Sow beside all waters. Sow in the morning and in the evening. Plant the truth in the hearts of the young and of the old. Sow and pray, work and believe God, and He will give the increase. The word planted carefully and prayerfully in a child's heart may show signs of its presence in youth, or perhaps not until old age... It is not for us to complain that the soil is hostile and the birds of the air are many. Results are in God's hands, but God has given us the responsibility of spreading His word.
- Bread. Give away what you yourself live on; anything less is not really yours to give, and it shows.
- Cast. Scatter where nothing looks likely to grow; casting in faith at God's word is never wasted.
- Waters. The waters are peoples and nations, calm or restless — and that is exactly where you sow.
- Many days. Seed dropped in childhood may not show until old age. Results belong to God; the sowing belongs to you.
- Find it. In a book where all else is vanity, this alone stands solid — service with the value of eternity in it.
Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.
The Preacher turns from uncertainty to action: give widely, and give because the future is hidden. Two questions follow. Why count "seven" and then "eight"? And why should not knowing what is coming make a person more generous, not more careful?
The portion is not aimed at one favoured case. It reaches as far as need reaches, and then further. Kelly finds the perfect example of it in Christ.
Now the Preacher urges generous action in confident faith. He may well do so, because he knows that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God... Again, we are surrounded by need. The poor never pass away, as the world is full. The next word is "give a portion to seven," not to one here or another there, but all round where need exists. So do not hold back what you have, right to the end; for more need may unexpectedly arise. That is why he says, "and also to eight." For what does anyone know of evil here below? Little indeed. Yet we are in an evil world — and for what purpose? See the perfection of this in Christ, Who went about doing good and healing everyone oppressed by the devil; for God was with Him.
The two numbers are not a quota. Seven counts a full set, and the eighth pushes past it. (Older translations say "and also to eight," and "evil" where the ESV says "disaster.")
"Give a portion to seven" (the complete number), "and also to eight" (that is, God's grace goes beyond all evil, and so is without limit).
Scripture gives each number a fixed sense. One ends a thing; the other starts one.
"Seven" speaks of completion, perfection, and so of stopping. Seven notes give the whole range in music. On the seventh day God ended all His work which He had made, and rested. The eighth day is the first of a new week — a new beginning. The main idea carried by this number in Scripture is what is new, in contrast with the old that has passed away — like the new covenant and the new creation.
Giving starts with being fed yourself. What you hand out is what already satisfies you.
Whatever has satisfied you, whatever you daily find to be enough — learn to give it out to meet the needs of those around you. Christianity is never selfish — it always thinks of others. Whatever the need or the sorrow may be, there is relief. Jesus is the "bread of life." (John 6:33, 48.)
The second half of the verse gives the reason: you cannot see what is coming. That ignorance is a push to act now, not grounds for holding back.
It is true that man knows little of the wonderful working or the end of God. Why, what does he know of his own being?... But this is no excuse for self-indulgence. It is no good reason for doing nothing in the face of appalling need, suffering, sorrow, danger, death, in a world of sin and ruin. It is the louder call to act on His word. He is willing to direct our path in simple faith and earnest love.
The scattering is not limited to bread. One writer applies it to the word of God, and treats it as everyone's work, not the preacher's.
This is not preaching. It is you and I just being keen to drop the blessed seed of the Word of God into the soul, wherever God carries us. You are to be a person going about with the heavenly seed-basket on your arm, dropping the seed wherever you go. It may be to a saint. It may be to a sinner. The fact is, far too much is left to the preachers.
Ecclesiastes keeps calling everything empty. What you give away is the exception: it lasts.
For there we learn that there are bags which never wear out, and that service to Christ is what fills them for us. We learn that there is such a thing as being "rich toward God," and such a treasure as never fails. No thief comes near it, and no moth destroys it. And there too we learn, in keeping with the whole drift of this Book of Ecclesiastes, "the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever."
- Portion, not project. Give "all round where need exists," not to one chosen case. Need is everywhere, so the portion goes everywhere.
- Seven is full; eight is over. Seven closes the set; eight steps past it. Give past the point that would count as complete, because God's grace has no limit.
- Your own bread first. Only what has fed you can feed others.
- Ignorance drives action. Not knowing what disaster is coming is "the louder call to act." A hidden future argues for open hands today, never for delay.
- The portion given is the portion kept. Everything else in Ecclesiastes passes. Service to Christ fills "bags which never wear out."