◄ Ecclesiastes 3:2 ►
a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
Study Bible
a time to be born and a time to die
This phrase reflects the natural order established by God, emphasizing the sovereignty of God over the cycle of life. Birth and death are universal experiences, highlighting the transient nature of human existence. In Genesis 2:7, God breathes life into man, marking the beginning of life, while Hebrews 9:27 reminds us that death is an appointed event for all. The phrase underscores the divine timing in life's events, suggesting that both birth and death are under God's control and purpose. The inevitability of death serves as a reminder of the fall in Genesis 3, where sin introduced mortality into the world. This cycle also points to the hope of resurrection and eternal life through Jesus Christ, as seen in John 11:25-26, where Jesus declares Himself the resurrection and the life.

a time to plant and a time to uproot
This phrase speaks to the agricultural cycle familiar to the original audience, who lived in an agrarian society. Planting and uprooting are essential for sustaining life and reflect the seasons ordained by God. In Leviticus 25:3-4, the Israelites are instructed about the sabbatical year, which involves letting the land rest, showing the importance of timing in agriculture. The act of planting can symbolize the beginning of new ventures or spiritual growth, as seen in the parable of the sower in Matthew 13:3-9. Uprooting, on the other hand, can signify judgment or the end of a season, as illustrated in Jeremiah 1:10, where God appoints Jeremiah to uproot and tear down as part of his prophetic ministry. This duality reflects the balance of creation and destruction, growth and removal, all within God's sovereign plan.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Solomon
Traditionally considered the author of Ecclesiastes, Solomon was the son of King David and known for his wisdom. He reflects on the seasons of life in this passage.

2. Israel
The nation of Israel, where Solomon reigned as king, serves as the backdrop for the wisdom literature, including Ecclesiastes.

3. The Preacher (Qoheleth)
The term used for the speaker in Ecclesiastes, often identified with Solomon, who explores the meaning of life and the divine order of times and seasons.
Teaching Points
Understanding God's Sovereignty
Recognize that God has ordained specific times for every event in our lives, including birth and death. Trust in His perfect timing.

Embracing Life's Seasons
Accept that life is full of different seasons, each with its purpose. Learn to embrace and find meaning in each season, whether it is a time of planting or uprooting.

Reflecting on Mortality
Contemplate the reality of life and death. Use this awareness to live purposefully and align your priorities with eternal values.

Spiritual Growth and Renewal
Just as there is a time to plant and uproot, there are times for spiritual growth and times to remove what hinders our relationship with God. Seek continual renewal in your spiritual walk.

Living with Purpose
Understand that every moment is an opportunity to fulfill God's purpose. Live intentionally, making the most of the time given to you.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does understanding God's sovereignty over the times and seasons of our lives impact your daily decisions and outlook on life?

2. In what ways can you embrace the current season of life you are in, whether it is a time of planting or uprooting?

3. How does the reality of mortality influence your priorities and the way you live your life?

4. What are some areas in your spiritual life that may need "uprooting" to allow for new growth and renewal?

5. How can you live more intentionally, making the most of the time God has given you, in light of Ecclesiastes 3:2 and related scriptures?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Genesis 1:1-31
The creation account establishes the divine order and timing in the universe, reflecting the "time to be born" as part of God's creative work.

Psalm 139:16
This verse speaks to God's sovereignty over our lives, including the time of our birth and death, aligning with the theme of divine timing in Ecclesiastes 3:2.

James 4:14
This passage reminds us of the brevity and uncertainty of life, echoing the "time to die" mentioned in Ecclesiastes.

John 12:24
Jesus uses the metaphor of a seed dying to produce life, connecting to the "time to plant and a time to uproot," illustrating spiritual truths about life and death.
Sermons
A Time to Plant'Alexander MaclarenEcclesiastes 3:2
How to Make the Most of LifeH. M. Field, D. D.Ecclesiastes 3:2
The Periodicities of the Religious WorldH. Macmillan, D. D.Ecclesiastes 3:2
OpportunenessJ. Willcoc Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
The Clock of DestinyA. H. Moment, D. D.Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
The Fall of the LeafH. Macmillan, D. D.Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
The Manifold Interests and Occupations of LifeD. Thomas Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
The Realities of LifeW. Walters.Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
Times and Seasons in the ChurchBp. Harvey Goodwin.Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
Opportunity; Opportuneness; OrdinationW. Clarkson Ecclesiastes 3:1-10
People
Solomon
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Birth, Born, Bring, Death, Die, Eradicate, Forth, Plant, Planted, Planting, Pluck, Uproot, Uprooting
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Ecclesiastes 3:2

     1355   providence
     6203   mortality

Ecclesiastes 3:1-4

     5880   humour

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

     4903   time
     5547   speech, power of

Library
Eternity in the Heart
'He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also He hath set the world in their heart.'--ECCLES. iii. 11. There is considerable difficulty in understanding what precise meaning is to be attached to these words, and what precise bearing they have on the general course of the writer's thoughts; but one or two things are, at any rate, quite clear. The Preacher has been enumerating all the various vicissitudes of prosperity and adversity, of construction and destruction, of society and solitude, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

'A Time to Plant'
'A time to plant.'--Eccles. iii. 2. The writer enumerates in this context a number of opposite courses of conduct arranged in pairs, each of which is right at the right time. The view thus presented seems to him to be depressing, and to make life difficult to understand, and aimless. We always appear to be building up with one hand and pulling down with the other. The ship never heads for two miles together in the same direction. The history of human affairs appears to be as purposeless as the play …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

For what Christian Men of Our Time Being Free from the Marriage Bond...
15. For what Christian men of our time being free from the marriage bond, having power to contain from all sexual intercourse, seeing it to be now "a time," as it is written, "not of embracing, but of abstaining from embrace," [1977] would not choose rather to keep virginal or widowed continence, than (now that there is no obligation from duty to human society) to endure tribulation of the flesh, without which marriages cannot be (to pass over in silence other things from which the Apostle spares.) …
St. Augustine—On the Good of Marriage

But Thou who Both Hast Sons, and Livest in that End of the World...
11. But thou who both hast sons, and livest in that end of the world, wherein now is the time not of casting stones, but of gathering; not of embracing, but of abstaining from embracing; [2244] when the Apostle cries out, "But this I say, brethren, the time is short; it remains, that both they who have wives be as not having;" [2245] assuredly if thou hadst sought a second marriage, it would have been no obedience of prophecy or law, no carnal desire even of family, but a mark of incontinence alone. …
St. Augustine—On the Good of Widowhood.

Letter xxvi. (Circa A. D. 1127) to the Same
To the Same He excuses the brevity of his letter on the ground that Lent is a time of silence; and also that on account of his profession and his ignorance he does not dare to assume the function of teaching. 1. You will, perhaps, be angry, or, to speak more gently, will wonder that in place of a longer letter which you had hoped for from me you receive this brief note. But remember what says the wise man, that there is a time for all things under the heaven; both a time to speak and a time to keep …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

The Conclusion of the Matter
'Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; 2. While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain; 3. In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened, 4. And the doors shall be shut in …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Of Self-Annihilation
Of Self-Annihilation Supplication and sacrifice are comprehended in prayer, which, according to S. John, is "an incense, the smoke whereof ascendeth unto God;" therefore it is said in the Apocalypse that "unto the Angel was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all Saints'' (Chap. viii. 3). Prayer is the effusion of the heart in the Presence of God: "I have poured out my soul before God" saith the mother of Samuel. (1 Sam. i. 15) The prayer of the wise men at the feet of …
Madame Guyon—A Short and Easy Method of Prayer

Introductory Note.
[a.d. 145-220.] When our Lord repulsed the woman of Canaan (Matt. xv. 22) with apparent harshness, he applied to her people the epithet dogs, with which the children of Israel had thought it piety to reproach them. When He accepted her faith and caused it to be recorded for our learning, He did something more: He reversed the curse of the Canaanite and showed that the Church was designed "for all people;" Catholic alike for all time and for all sorts and conditions of men. Thus the North-African …
Tertullian—Apology

The Lapse of Time.
"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest."--Eccles. ix. 10. Solomon's advice that we should do whatever our hand findeth to do with our might, naturally directs our thoughts to that great work in which all others are included, which will outlive all other works, and for which alone we really are placed here below--the salvation of our souls. And the consideration of this great work, …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII

"For they that are after the Flesh do Mind,"
Rom. viii. s 5, 6.--"For they that are after the flesh do mind," &c. "For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." There are many differences among men in this world, that, as to outward appearance, are great and wide, and indeed they are so eagerly pursued, and seriously minded by men, as if they were great and momentous. You see what a strife and contention there is among men, how to be extracted out of the dregs of the multitude, and set a little higher …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

How the Silent and the Talkative are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 15.) Differently to be admonished are the over-silent, and those who spend time in much speaking. For it ought to be insinuated to the over-silent that while they shun some vices unadvisedly, they are, without its being perceived, implicated in worse. For often from bridling the tongue overmuch they suffer from more grievous loquacity in the heart; so that thoughts seethe the more in the mind from being straitened by the violent guard of indiscreet silence. And for the most part they …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

The Holy War,
MADE BY SHADDAI UPON DIABOLUS, FOR THE REGAINING OF THE METROPOLIS OF THE WORLD; OR, THE LOSING AND TAKING AGAIN OF THE TOWN OF MANSOUL. THE AUTHOR OF 'THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS.' 'I have used similitudes.'--Hosea 12:10. London: Printed for Dorman Newman, at the King's Arms in the Poultry; and Benjamin Alsop, at the Angel and Bible in the Poultry, 1682. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. Bunyan's account of the Holy War is indeed an extraordinary book, manifesting a degree of genius, research, and spiritual …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

A Sermon on Isaiah xxvi. By John Knox.
[In the Prospectus of our Publication it was stated, that one discourse, at least, would be given in each number. A strict adherence to this arrangement, however, it is found, would exclude from our pages some of the most talented discourses of our early Divines; and it is therefore deemed expedient to depart from it as occasion may require. The following Sermon will occupy two numbers, and we hope, that from its intrinsic value, its historical interest, and the illustrious name of its author, it …
John Knox—The Pulpit Of The Reformation, Nos. 1, 2 and 3.

"Who Walk not after the Flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the Flesh,"
Rom. viii. 4, 5.--"Who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh," &c. If there were nothing else to engage our hearts to religion, I think this might do it, that there is so much reason in it. Truly it is the most rational thing in the world, except some revealed mysteries of faith, which are far above reason, but not contrary to it. There is nothing besides in it, but that which is the purest reason. Even that part of it which is most difficult to man, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Appendix 2 Extracts from the Babylon Talmud
Massecheth Berachoth, or Tractate on Benedictions [76] Mishnah--From what time is the "Shema" said in the evening? From the hour that the priests entered to eat of their therumah [77] until the end of the first night watch. [78] These are the words of Rabbi Eliezer. But the sages say: Till midnight. Rabban Gamaliel says: Until the column of the morning (the dawn) rises. It happened, that his sons came back from a banquet. They said to him: "We have not said the Shema.'" He said to them, "If the column …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

Ecclesiastes
It is not surprising that the book of Ecclesiastes had a struggle to maintain its place in the canon, and it was probably only its reputed Solomonic authorship and the last two verses of the book that permanently secured its position at the synod of Jamnia in 90 A.D. The Jewish scholars of the first century A.D. were struck by the manner in which it contradicted itself: e.g., "I praised the dead more than the living," iv. 2, "A living dog is better than a dead lion," ix. 4; but they were still more …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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