Ecclesiastes 11:1-10 - Cast Your Bread Upon the Waters

I have always like reading Ecclesiastes, but the first two verses of chapter 11 always confused me.  The more research I did into their meaning, the more divergence I found also.

1. Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.
1. Could be referring to commercially shipping goods for a business that returns a profit, to be a good steward (Matthew 25:14-30). Some say that talk here about commercial trade, or investments seems out of place and does not fit the context.
1. Ship commodities on many routes (waters) to diversify in case bad things happen to one ship.
2. Don't be overly cautious in investments, just do it, like sowing. Consistent with not being paralyzed with indecision in farming in vv. 4-6)
2. Could be referring to bread soaking in water, which was an ancient method of brewing beer.
3. Could be referring to a method of sowing seeds that was the practice in Egypt of scattering them during the inundation of the Nile. Consistent with v. 6 saying, just sow your seed and God will take care of you by making it grow.
4. Could be a proverb akin to the Greek proverb Σπείρειν ἐπὶ πόντῳ (which means "to sow in the ocean"), which is a reference to a thankless toil. Basically doing good deeds for their own sake, but good things still comes from them.
5. Could be a reference to fulfilling your vocation, such as the wife who "provides for her family" being "like the ships of the merchant, she brings her food from afar." Proverbs 31:14-15. This would be consistent with Ecclesiastes 3:22 message of God's calling to do your work.
6. In context, the previous chapter (10) was about interacting with superiors. This one could be all about interacting with inferiors. Cast your bread on the waters could mean to give generously and spread "bread" (a symbol of necessities of life) out to everyone. Give away what you need and God will give it back, or take care of you.
2. Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what disaster may happen on earth.
1. Be generous in sharing the dividends from those investments and commercial ventures.
2. Drink the beer you make with friends because no one knows when future calamity is coming. Consistent with eat, drink and be merry message in Ecclesiates 2:24.
3. When God takes care of you and gives you more than you need, share it with others, you might not always have excess, and be unable to give to the poor later.
4. The thankless toil is giving to the poor when disasters happen.
5. Serve others in and through your vocation. Love your neighbor as yourself.
6. Give to the poor in good times and in bad.

 Luckily, things get a lot more clear after verse 2, and 3-10 are fairly well agreed upon.

3. If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth, and if a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.
• Things happen according to nature and there is nothing we can do about it, so we should not worry about it, like the first line of the Serenity Prayer.

4. He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap.
• There is always uncertainty about the future, and always an excuse, or reason why it might not be the right time for an endeavor. We could always put things off to a "better time." However, if you wait for the perfect time, it will never come.

5. As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.
• Even with our advance science and understanding there are many mysteries in nature. Likewise, we do not understand acts of God, so we should just deal with them.
6. In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.
• Go about your life and just sow and reap. Don't worry or be paralyzed by indecision. God will take care of your daily needs.
7. Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.
8. So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity.
1. be glad with what life God fives you. May be a long time until the resurrection and new life
2. bad days in life?
9. Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.
• Enjoy, but know you will make mistakes and be judged, so repent when necessary.
• Youth here means anywhere from newborns to when married.
10. Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity
• This last verse is reiterating and summarizing that worrying won’t do any good and that getting older and dying just happens, so deal with it.