Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. – Ecclesiastes 9:8

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 4, 2026): Ecclesiastes 9

The prophet Isaiah received a vision. The vision seemed to pertain to the demise of the city of Jerusalem. The vision was filled with futility. There was no doubt in the vision that the city would die. At the time of the vision, the people were filled with fear. The Assyrians had been on the march for a while, and it was evident that the next nations on their agenda were Israel and Judah. And so, the people waited, filled with dread.

The text tells us that this is “A prophecy against the Valley of Vision” (Isaiah 22:1). The term “Valley of Vision” simply refers to the idea that while Jerusalem is built on a hill, it is surrounded by an even higher hill, and sits in the midst of three valleys. Jerusalem exists at the center of this hill/valley complex. And it is in this prophecy that the prophet writes,

The Lord, the Lord Almighty,
    called you on that day
to weep and to wail,
    to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth.
But see, there is joy and revelry,
    slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep,
    eating of meat and drinking of wine!
“Let us eat and drink,” you say

    “for tomorrow we die” (Isaiah 22:13-14)!

We shouldn’t miss the point Isaiah is trying to make. Jerusalem, you know trouble is coming, you can see it with your eyes and hear it with your ears. But instead of getting ready, instead of getting right with God, you throw a party because tomorrow you might die.

Paul, in the closing of 1 Corinthians, picks up the same thought.

I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,

“Let us eat and drink,
               for tomorrow we die” (1 Corinthians 15:31-32).

If there is no resurrection, then maybe the best thing that we can do is throw a party because there is no hope, not even for us today. Our newscasts are filled with a lack of hope, of innocent people being beaten and killed; it is happening in Ukraine, Iran, and the United States, among several other hotspots. And if God is not powerful enough to help us, then why not kill the fatted calf and throw a party?

The Preacher in Ecclesiastes is arguing the same point. In a world “under the sun,” where what we see daily is all that we get, then be comfortable. Wearing white is comfortable under the hot sun, and oil has a cooling effect and helps protect the skin. If this is all that there is, then why would you do anything else? Do what is necessary and forget about going the extra mile. Eat, drink, and be merry in your white ensemble, because in the end, that is all you have.

In a world under the sun, the advice works. In a city that is about to fall to the Assyrians, that works. But maybe Jerusalem is our cautionary tale. While the people of Jerusalem, at the time of Isaiah’s prophecy, felt that the attack of the Assyrians was imminent, that attack didn’t come for almost a quarter of a century. Samaria and Israel fell four short years after Isaiah’s prophecy, but the attack on Jerusalem wouldn’t come for another twenty-four years. And even when it did come, it would fail.

So maybe there is a reason to go beyond what is easy and pleasurable. Because God is still with us, and there is more than what is seen “under the sun.”

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ecclesiastes 10