One’s reputation is the estimate of what other folks perceive the man to be. Therefore, a good name is achieved by interacting with others. However, one’s good name is not achieved through one’s labor to accumulate wealth. While that may be a goal one sets for himself, his good name results from his good and fair behavior in the undertaking. In that context, then, the Teacher tells us that the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth (Ecclesiastes 7:1b), because a man is known in death, but unknown at birth. Death is the end, and in the end the complete story is known. The play is finished and the author has exited the stage. However, who knows the name of the one whose life is just beginning? He is but a stranger and enters the stage unknown, weeping and gasping for air, fighting for life. He is the main character of a forthcoming unwritten play, concerning which he is also its author, but he knows nothing of how his story will be received.
The ‘house of feasting,’ mentioned by the Teacher (Ecclesiastes 7:2), probably refers to the celebration of a new birth at the home of its parents. Indeed, the heavens, themselves, lit up to celebrate the birth of Jesus (Matthew 2:2), alerting wise men of his arrival on the stage of the play. Heavenly messengers were also sent, both to announce his arrival and to command their audience to go and celebrate his birth (Luke 2:8-15). On the other hand, on the day of Jesus’ death, the heavens mourned by hiding the light of the sun (Luke 23:45; cp. Matthew 27:45). Jesus’ life was known and his name was written in the hearts of both disciples and enemies alike. To the one his name was tender and gentle, a man beloved and to be honored, indeed, a man to be followed. To the other he was dangerous, a threat to their position and power, a man to be feared. He stood before both lepers and kings, to the one a healer, and to the other a stumbling block. At his birth, he needed to be introduced by angels, because men were ignorant of him, but in his death, his name was fully known and men took his message to the world.
Truly, it is better to visit the house of mourning than to visit the house of feasting (Ecclesiastes 7:2). At one’s birth folks celebrate (Luke 2:20), but are also left to wonder what the child will become (Luke 2:18), but at one’s death a man is known, and folks are moved to testify of his good name (Luke 23:47). They come out of the shadows and publicly take a stand acknowledging the good name of the one who is mourned (John 19:38-40; cp. Matthew 27:57-60; Mark 15:43; Luke 23:50-53). While hearts are full of joy at feasting, they are full of sorrow in the house of mourning, and there hearts turn inward and consider the end of the one who is mourned. Now, the man is fully known. At the same time, folks contemplate how their own play has been affected by the play of him who saddens them with his passing, and, there, in the house of mourning, the lives of the living are changed.
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