What does this scripture mean to you?

Question

Ecclesiastes 7:1 A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth.

Answer 1

It means that we are not to make a celebration of the day of our birth, but at death we have the wonderful hope of a resurrection which Jesus has been granted the power to perform.
Rather than bringing glory to ourselves on the day we are born, we need to thank our Creator each day that we were given life. That is all that is needed. Many think so much about themselves on the anniversary of their birth, that they forget the one who made their birth possible. They take on the "me attitude"
LOBT

Answer 2

Ecclesiastes 7: 1 A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth.
The way you live your life is how other people will think of you when you die. Have you told others that the Lord Jesus Christ died for your sins? Do you care about the souls of men. Will your name be remembered? Do people know your name because of what you have done?

Answer 3

Well I'm not positive about the good name however I personally would say that good name would be Jesus Christ. And as far as the day of death because if your a Christian your going to paradise and getting off this plane of suffering. Which when a Christian suffers it is not in vain. Who do you think will be glad to see death, a satan loving billionaire or a poverty stricken Christian. And as we all know nothing but death is certain and we were born to die. So we know that death is the only inevitable situation we will all face it makes sense to me to prepare for it before the plane hits the building. You just never know. Take care and may God bless you spiritually.

Answer 4

Please be very careful when you read stuff like this in the bible. This is how cults like SDA, JW and mormons get into people heads. I'm not saying that it wasn't written but it is not in context. Ecclesiatetes was written by a very depressed person, there is also a quote in there saying that "everything is meaningless".
My friend take a step back and look at it through the blood of Jesus. We now have a good name, we didn't earn it or have to strive for it, the name we have is Jesus. We can say this because we are "in Christ Jesus", we are born again.
God created life, man tainted it and the Jesus re-newed it again, We have life to the full with all spiritual and physical blessings......I ask you, who in their right mind would prefer death to this. Paul said he wanted to be with the Lord at the end of his life but it was preferable for him to finish the work God had laid out for him. This situation hasn't changed. We have a job to do as Christians and we have all the power of heaven at our fingertips. Death is a defeated foe and we have dominion over it, it will be tossed into hell at the end of time.

Answer 5

"A good name is better than precious ointment," - Reputation.. Be a gentlemen, work hard, be responsible, ect.. Example - I love to drink but even when i'm drunk (unless I drink to the point of passing out) I am as responsible as I can be (atleast while drunk anyway).. I don't drive, I clean up messes, I try to remain passive.

"and the day of death than the day of one's birth" - Don't fear death. Even if you had a slow aganizing death filled with months and months of bed ridden pain, it's irrelivent compared to the eternity of peace and joy you receive in heaven. <-- Cold and maybe a little dark, but true.

Answer 6

a good name is your reputation. it's who you are around town. someone can say 'well, tom said he would do this' and everyone knows it's going to get done. or on the other hand, they can say 'tom said he would do that' well, that explains why it isn't done. if you keep your name good, it's better than any "precious ointment" that was medicine in those days. and the day of death was when you go to heaven. the day of birth is when you start suffering on this earth. from the time you're born until the time you die, it's nothing but struggles. but when you die, if you are a Christian, you go to heaven. you are truly set free. it is the greatest day of your life.

Answer 7

I think by a "good name" they mean the honor behind one's name, not a specific name that is popular. They mean having a reputation behind your name, one that means you help others, keep your word and such. That is one of the most important things in life. And the day of your death is to be better than that of your birth because life is finite, and if you believe in a just and loving God, death is not. It is only the beginning of your eternity with him. Therefore, it is a great gift and a wondrous day.

Answer 8

To me it means "a good reputation is better then the most expensive ointment" and "the day of death than the day of one's birth." to me means that dying is better because if you've excepted christ your going to heaven then when your born because your born into a fallen world and heaven is a much better place then the world!

Answer 9

This probably applied to King Solomon best, and to all the others who had the privilege to hone their potentials to their fullest.

But then, the strange twist here is that there's a mystery that shrouds his death. Other weirdos even go as far as speculating he never existed as a historical person because none of his bones and tomb were found. Anyhow, setting this extreme view aside, there's the controversy that his death was self-induced. Suicide? Not improbable. Try reading Ecclesiastes thoroughly and tell me if the book isn't one very protracted suicide note. At Eccl. 11:9 there's a very abrupt change in tone, like Solomon's original thoughts stopped at 11:8 and someone else just had to wrap things up starting at 11:9. It's a long-standing opinion that King Solomon dabbled so much in the occult, especially demonology and this might have had a very deleterious effect on his spirit, which effect might have precipitated to his suicide. Imagine the wisest man on earth in his time taking his own life. But of course, Socrates the wisest man in Classical Greece in his time was also forced to drink poison anyway.

So I am not surprised why the nascent Jewish kingdom plummeted into a spiral descent of self-destruction. His suicide was a curse in itself such that his self-destruction ultimately became the kingdom's fate. And after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, the curse was complete leading to the total Downfall of the Jewish Civilization, dragging its Guiding Spirit, YHWH (HaShem), with it.

The nation of Israel may have been re-established after WWII, but this resurrection of HaShem's spirit and the supporting civilization doesn't mean that the HaShem of old is the same as the resurrected one. I believe HaShem has become more like the Guiding Spirit of the Ancient Egyptian civilization, as in, having the spirit of the Eagle and the Serpent in one entity. Yes, two predators in one. So beware. Don't provoke the two-headed predator lest you be mutilated. But as has always been noted since time immemorial, a serpent or an eagle can always be charmed or tamed. So, gold bars, anyone?

:-)

Anyhow, I think what's more important here is that King Solomon was able to achieve complete Consciousness and Awareness of the Truth prevalent during his time. His dabbling with the occult might have had tragic results but somehow this and all its consequences were needed in order for Jewish thought to penetrate all corners of the Earth. And i guess the totality of human civilization is grateful for the transcendent Spirituality that can be gleaned from this Jewish legacy.
And correspondingly, the two main branches of Solomon's descendants, namely, Israel/Ephraim & Judah benefited as well from this exile, their journey on Earth very much enriched by their symbiotic relationship with other civilizations.

Baruch HaShem!

Looking back, what struck the Kingdom may have been very tragic and painful to bear. However, i believe that the One, True GOD meant it for good.

My concern now focuses on those who never had the chance to expand their Consciousness and Awareness before the time of their death. That day of death is, IMHO, as tragic as, if not more tragic than, the day of birth. Indeed, a life shortchanged! Put yourself in the beings of all the messianic rebels (Essenes) forced to commit suicide in Masada or those who were crucified at the prime of their earthly lives.

it's then that you can exclaim, 'What a waste of the divine gift of consciousness, what a waste of potential!'

'Vanity of vanities!!!'

Answer 10

It means that a person who has died (generally speaking, after many years of life) has had the opportunity in which they could make a good name for themselves with their Creator. At the day of their death they will have been able to have built up a record of faith and fine works with God, something that someone who has just been born is unable to have. For our everlasting future, it is best that we use our lives in making a good name with God who holds our prospects for eternal life.