When we come to the Bible with questions about life we can do so in two ways. Firstly, we can look up all the words in the Bible that relate to our query, and try to collate the results. In this case, we could look up ‘work’, ‘toil’, ‘labour’, and so on—but this is by no means as easy as it sounds.
For a start, when we survey the 753 references that a search on just the above three words yields (not to mention other words we haven’t thought of), how do we decide which are the really important references, and which ones are peripheral? And what of other biblical references that might speak about the idea of work, or say something relevant to work, without actually using any of these words. To be true to all these various references in their particular contexts, and then still tie them together into some kind of meaningful whole, is a stretching task indeed.
There is a second way to approach what the Bible has to say about something, and that is to look at the question against the larger backdrop of the Bible’s story. In the unfolding purposes of God—starting with creation and flowing through the Fall, the history of Israel, the coming of Jesus and finally including us—where does ‘work’ fit in? How does our daily labour fit into the bigger picture of God’s dealings with the creation as a whole?
This second approach is the one we will adopt in this article. We will begin by looking at what work meant for Adam “in the beginning”. Next we’ll jump ahead in the story to Solomon’s time, when Israel was at its height, and look at the wisdom of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. That’s as far as we’ll get in this article. We will get to the end of the story, and the difference that Jesus makes to our view of work, in our next Briefing.
Adam: In the Garden
When mankind enters the great drama of creation on day six, the Lord gives the man and woman a role to play. As God’s image bearer, they are to be fruitful and multiply, and to have dominion over the earth and all that is in it.
As the story unfolds in Genesis 2 and 3, we begin to see more of what this means. As far as the multiplying goes, we discover that the man and woman are created out of the same stuff, and are boundtogether in a marriage relationship in which children will be produced. In terms of subduing the earth, Adam is put in a garden to ‘work it and to keep it’. He acts as a steward or superintendent of the beautiful garden that God has planted, enjoying its bounty and naming the animals.
It is important to note that Adam’s work flows both from his relationship with God and his relationship with creation. Although mankind is the pinnacle of creation in chapter 1, and is given dominion over it, he is still very much part of it. When God forms the man (Heb. adam) from the dust of the earth (Heb. adamah), the Hebrew words are very similar (Gen 2:7). The same expression is used to describe how the animals are ‘formed’ from the ‘earth’ (2:19). The same expression, too, denotes both the man and the animals as ‘living beings’ (1:20; 2:7). The earth, mankind, the birds and animals—all are made of the same basic stuff, according to Genesis 2, and all are formed and animated by the one God. There is unity here, as well as dominion.
Adam’s work, then, is an expression of the relationships that God has set up. He has dominion because God has granted it to him. He subdues the world by filling it with his offspring, and by working the ground from which he was taken. His work is inextricably bound up with his dominion; it springs from his place in the created order, as God has established it.
From Dominion to Toil
The dominion of Adam is short-lived. In defiance of God’s command, Adam rebels and seeks to rule outright and independent of God (Gen 3:1-13). God’s judgement on this rebellion is pronounced in the successive curses upon the serpent, the woman, and the man (Gen 3:14-19). These three are cursed in a way which strikes at the essence of their basic relationship to God, each other and the world.
Rather than eating the green plants of the earth (as the animals and creeping things are granted to do in 1:30), the serpent is forced to eat the dust from which he was formed. The woman, who was commissioned with her husband to ‘multiply’ and fill the earth, now suffers a different kind of multiplying—the multiplying of pain and distress as she bears the children. In the same way, Adam is also afflicted with pain and distress (same Heb. word) as he attempts to work the ground. The former natural relationship between mankind and the earth is now characterised by hardship, toil and difficulty. Prior to his sin, man’s task was ‘dominion’; now he must ‘toil’ with agonising effort (cf. Gen 3:16; 5:29).
In other words, at the very points at which human beings were to express dominion over the earth—in filling it and working it—they are afflicted with pain and distress as a result of their rebellion.
It is often emphasised that the Fall caused the ground to become unyielding. Thus a change occurred in both man and in the environment, and this is supported by the reference to the ‘thorns and thistles’ that the ground will now produce. However, man’s inability to rightly use the ground is at least as much of a problem. The Fall has left him ‘like God’ in this way: He has power to make decisions by which the course of his own life and his world are to be controlled. However, he does not have the ability to be sure his decisions are right in themselves nor the assurance that such decisions will promote the right consequences. As a result of the Fall, the man is unable to exercise proper dominion over nature, as we saw him doing in chapter 2.
We still live in Adam’s world and as a result, despite all the wonderful things that Beyond 2000 might suggest, we are and will always be unable to rule and subdue the earth as Adam was commanded. That task belongs to another as we shall see.
Solomon: In the Land
The High Point
When Solomon ascends the throne of David in 1 Kings, it seems that the promises to Abraham will at last be fulfilled. Israel is at its peak politically, having expanded to its ideal borders from the Euphrates to Egypt (1 Kgs 4:21). At the same time Israel has become a great nation of many people drawing admiration from surrounding nations. The rest that has come upon the land (1 Kgs 5:4-5), and the descent of the cloud over the temple, mark the formal end to the exodus (1 Kgs 8:10-11).
In the flow of the Old Testament story to this point, Solomon marks a potential climax. Israel is at its height not only in the fulfilment of the promises to Abraham, but also in recovering from the consequences of the Fall. They have entered a Promised Land which is remarkably like Eden in the way that it is described (in Deuteronomy, for example). Now that God’s people (Israel) have taken possession of the ‘New Eden’ and live under the reign of ‘Solomon in all his glory’ (1 Kgs 4:24-25) our attention is diverted back beyond God’s covenant with Abraham to the creation itself.
Indeed, it seems significant that the first thing Solomon does when he takes up his charge to rule God’s people is to ask for the wisdom to discern good and evil (1 Kgs 3:9), the very thing that Adam so disastrously sought in Genesis 3. In contrast, Solomon responds to the Lord by asking for the ability to discern good and evil—in other words, wisdom (1 Kgs 3:9). Thus Solomon shows his fear of God in admitting his own dependency and also his desire to serve the Lord as a wise ruler of his people. That thisis the right response to God is indicated by the Lord’s words to Solomon (in 1 Kgs 3:10-14) and in the record of Solomon’s reign (in 1 Kgs 3-10).
Solomon, as God’s regent, rules and subdues the land through the exercising of wisdom. Although Adam lost the ability to have dominion over the earth it did not lessen his desire for it nor reduce the need for it. Mankind still needed to maintain his place in the created order just to survive. With Solomon (and Israel) in the ascendancy it seems that mankind may have gained the upper hand at last. Certainly the account of Solomon’s life in 1 Kings records his many great achievements. Yet it is in the wisdom literature that we are able to gain most from the insights of Solomon the Wise.
Proverbs: Solomon’s Dominion
In the narrative context of Solomon, the Book of Proverbs is a record of the God-fearing, wise man exercising his dominion over the promised land through discerning the order of relationships that God established in creation. Within this order, Solomon perceives that hard work is granted success, whereas laziness is followed by poverty (Prov 10:4; 13:4). The diligent ant is given as an example well worth imitating (Prov 6:6-11). The implications of diligence and laziness form the subject of some 18 proverbs, almost one of every 20 in the collection that runs from 10:1-22:16. Yet Solomon is also quick to point out that, “The blessing of the Lord makes a man rich, and toil does not add to it” (10:22).
Solomon tells his readers that work is not an additive to life. Rather it is an essential part of being human. Without it life would cease. The bluntest expression of the drive for survival is in 16:26: “The labourer’s appetite works for him; his hunger drives him on”.
The threat of hunger is the strongest possible motive for hard work. Significantly, the negative obstacles to an adequate food supply were not necessarily a malevolent creation out to destroy humankind. Human resolve was. One could choose to work hard or not. In 21:25 we read that the choice of the ‘lazy’ not to work is a choice ultimately fatal. Not only does the person who does not work harm themselves, they are a threat to others. In 18:9, Solomon says: “One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys”.
The over-relaxed or lazy worker, far from being a harmless nuisance, is like a great destroyer (the same word is used for the fertility gods of the Canaanites!).
In contrast to this destruction, in 14:23 we see that “in all toil there is profit”. Even toil that is willing to sweat and bleed will produce profit.
The specific results mentioned in Proverbs amplify both the profitable and the destructive effects of our attitudes toward work.
He who works his land will have abundant food, but he who chases fantasies lacks judgment. (12:11)
The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied. (13:4)
He who gathers crops in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son. (10:5)
Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth. (10:4)
The wages of the righteous bring them life, but the income of the wicked brings them punishment. (10:16)
Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in slave labour. (12:24)
Diligence and vigorous work are great virtues, according to Proverbs. The noble wife is a hard worker, setting about her labour vigorously, and thereby earning not only profit and security for her family, but praise from her children, her husband, and at the city gates (Prov 31:10-31).
Amongst the admonitions to diligent work Solomon also offers advice on the place of work in one’s life:
Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. (16:3)
Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint. (23:4)
The key to Solomon’s dominion was that he feared God and served him. Because he had this relationship in order, Solomon was able to discern the order that God had placed in all relationships in creation. And consequently, whatever Solomon put his hand to prospered because God blessed him as he worked as steward to the land. Furthermore, Solomon knew not to overwork for the sake of wealth. The dangers of greed are well documented in Proverbs. Solomon sought God’s wisdom first and admitted his dependence on the Lord. God granted him power and riches as a result (1 Kgs 3:10-14).
At this stage of the Bible story, we might think that Solomon had managed to undo the mistake of Adam and had regained dominion over the earth, the secret being fear of God and diligence. All we need do is fear God and work hard and ‘the world is our oyster’. Yet the idyllic state of Israel and the ‘simple’ causal view of the world that Proverbs appears to give us is not the full picture.
Ecclesiastes: Solomon’s Toil
By the end of Solomon’s story in 1 Kings 1-11, we discover that Solomon was not the one to reverse Adam’s downfall. Great and wise though he was, Solomon still lived under the curse of Genesis 3. He was unable to exercise the mandate given to Adam in Genesis 1:26-28. Instead, in his observations in Ecclesiastes, we read that Solomon saw the true state of his work in a world of sin—that it was in fact toil and ultimately absurd. In practically all the texts where Solomon’s observations are recorded (as opposed to his instructions), the limitations and senselessness of toil are emphasised. The following principal thoughts can be found:
- Toil cannot change anything (1:3-11; 3:1-11; 13:14-15).
- The toil of the wise is a painful or senseless undertaking (1:12-18; 2:12-17; 4:13-16; 6:10-12; 7:23-29; 8:16-17).
- One cannot enjoy the fruits of one’s own toil (2:18-21; 5:9-16; 6:1-9).
- Human toil is joined to an incomprehensible or unjust world order (3:16-21; 4:1-3; 4:4-6; 8:9-15; 9:1-6; 9:11-12).
- Each person needs help (4:7-12).
- Toil does not make anyone happy (2:1-11; 2:22-23).
- The enjoyment of life has to be given by God (2:24-26; 3:12-13; 3:22; 5:17-19; 8:15; 9:7-10).
Solomon’s conclusion is obvious: that toil is absurd (vanity of vanities). Man’s attempt at dominion over the world is misdirected, not only because life’s experience belies the attempt, but also because it constitutes an effort to transgress upon divine independence. In this sense, Ecclesiastes reads something like an inventory of the ‘pain and distress’ promised to Adam as a consequence of his sin, a catalogue of the frustration and futility that is mankind’s lot under the sun. In this world, God is sovereign and inscrutable (3:11; 7:13). Thus we can neither find out what we are to do, nor know what will come after us (8:16; 9:11-15). Death makes fools of us all. Wisdom is transitory and uncertain (4:13-16), and is easily defeated in the presence of riches and folly (9:16-10:1). Given life’s experiences and limitations, and God’s inscrutability, all of man’s activities have the mere weight of one’s breath; they are like a chasing after wind.
Solomon’s reign comes to an end, and with it the glory of Israel. Israel’s decline will continue until she is eventually expelled from ‘Eden’ like Adam before her. The Old Testament closes with Israel returned from exile in Babylon and her hopes of Messianic glory cast into the future by her prophets. She now awaits a time when the Day of the Lord will come and the Messianic kingdom of heaven will be installed.
In looking at both Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, we see that through wisdom Solomon can perceive something of the order that is in creation—for example, that hard work leads to profit and laziness to ruin. However, the full picture is beyond him. He cannot perceive any overarching design or purpose that can make sense of everything and account for the ‘fallenness’ of our world—its unpredictability,injustice, and decay. He can see what sort of thing work is, for example, what its characteristics are, and what it usually leads to, but he cannot fathom the end for which work was instituted. He cannot see its over-riding purpose, for when he observes the nature of mankind and the world, all earthly work and achievement seems pointless. It is rendered ultimately absurd.
In other words, although work is still a basic part of God’s good creation, like the rest of the creation it is fallen and under judgement. Because we live in Adam’s world, the ultimate end of work is frustrated, and we will never achieve dominion of the earth through it. Work is necessary to life, and if we can find enjoyment and satisfaction in it, then we should thank God for his kindness to us. However, according to Ecclesiastes, finding enjoyment in our toil is the exception rather than the rule. Solomon paints a picture of vexation, frustration and futility as he considers his toil (and the toil of others).
This is certainly true in human experience. For much of mankind, work is a continual drudgery and a burden. Even in our affluent culture, where many have the rare privilege of actually choosing their work, there is still frustration—as seen in recent surveys which show that 80% of Australian workers find their jobs dissatisfying. Work is the thing we love to hate. We cannot do without our jobs, either financially or psychologically, yet complaining about work is a national pastime.
Whilst ever we live in a sinful world, this will be the way of things. What is needed, of course, is someone to come forward and break the power of sin! For the intriguing possibilities that are opened up for work by the fact that Jesus has actually done this, we must wait for our next article.
