The Bible and Chance

Casino Roulette - 3d Render

By Spencer D Gear PhD

Does the Bible teach a doctrine of chance in Ecclesiastes 9:11? This verse reads:

designBlue-small ā€œI have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them allā€ (NIV).

designBlue-small  ā€œI have observed something else under the sun. The fastest runner doesnā€™t always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesnā€™t always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated donā€™t always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right timeā€ (NLT).

designBlue-small  ā€œAgain I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them allā€ (ESV).

designBlue-small ā€œI again saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift and the battle is not to the warriors, and neither is bread to the wise nor wealth to the discerning, nor favor to the skillful; for time and chance overtake them allā€ (NASB).

designBlue-small  ā€œAgain, I observed this on the earth: the race is not always won by the swiftest, the battle is not always won by the strongest; prosperity does not always belong to those who are the wisest, wealth does not always belong to those who are the most discerning, nor does success always come to those with the most knowledge–for time and chance may overcome them allā€ (NET).

Typography: Ecclesiastes 3:11 - YMIIs this a message only for the Israelites? How can ā€œtime and chance happen to allā€ (ESV) or ā€œovertake them allā€ (NASB)? The contemporary understanding of chance,[1] in a universe controlled by the Sovereign Lord, do not harmonise.

Don Partain explained the meaning of ā€œtime and chanceā€:

ā€œI again saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, and the battle is not to the warriors, and neither is bread to the wise, nor wealth to the discerning, nor favor to men of ability; for time and chance overtake them all.ā€ Ecclesiastes 9:11

The writer of Ecclesiastes (who appears to be Solomon) emphasizes how quickly passing, uncertain, and even unfair earthlife isā€”itā€™s ā€œvanity.ā€ He doesnā€™t do this to depress us, but to stress how important it is to live for values and goals that are eternalā€”and not just be living for earthly pleasure, knowledge, our work, etc.

If we do choose to just live for earthly goals and pleasures as our ultimate goals, we are going to be sorely disappointedā€”not only after this life is over, but even during this life on earth. You will be disappointed over and over and over!

Here in 9:11, Solomon illustrates how earthlife often just isnā€™t fair! He says, ā€œthe race is not to the swiftā€ā€”but, it should be, shouldnā€™t it? In other words, if you are the fastest runner in a race, isnā€™t it right and fair that you winā€”and not the slowest runner? And yet, the fastest runner might get ā€œaccidentallyā€ bumped off the track, and even injure himself so that he canā€™t even finish the race. It does happen upon this earth.

Same thing is true about the rest of the statements: ā€œthe battle is not to the warriorsā€. That is, by all rights, the warriors should win the battleā€”not the on-lookers. But sometimes, the latter are the winners. ā€œThe breadā€ should be to the wiseā€”and ā€œwealthā€ should be the claim of the ā€œdiscerning.ā€ But sometimes, fools destroy the fields of the wise, and they extort wealth from them. Lastly, ā€œmen of abilityā€ should be the ones winning the favor of those who can employ them. But sometimes, those of littleā€”or noā€”ability win out instead, by their bribery.

ā€œTime and chanceā€ are things none of us can either know or control. And, they often end up resulting in things that are just not fair.

But, no surprise: as Genesis 3 tells us, we are living upon a cursed earthā€”and itā€™s a dead-end, in itself. But itā€™s a moral and spiritual character builder if we live it by Godā€™s direction, seeking His help, with eternal life with Him in our sights: ā€œThe conclusion is, ā€˜Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of manā€™ā€. Ecclesiastes 12:13 (What does the Bible mean when it says that “time and chance happen to them all”? Ecclesiastes 9:11, Quora.)

ā€œTime and chanceā€ are not to be seen as above the powers and reign of God. We know this because they are things ā€œunder the sun,ā€ under Godā€™s control. This is indicated by the use of the singular verb, yikreh, which combines them into one compact idea, as in Isa 13:22 (judgment) and Ezek 7:7 (Godā€™s activity). Chance (pega) is also in 1 Kings 5:28 (in the Hebrew Bible), v. 4 English Bible. It is derived from the verb meaning ā€œto meet.ā€ It usually has the connotation of evil as in ā€œevil occurrenceā€ (1 Kings 5:4).

In summary, people may have resources at their disposal to bring victory in events but God causes things to transpire (ā€˜by chanceā€™) that overthrow the enemy. ā€œTime and chanceā€ are events that happen ā€œunder the sunā€ but they are always under the control of Almighty God. A chance lottery is never something that happens with God.

Notes


[1] The Oxford English Dictionary defines chance as, ā€œA possibility of something happening,ā€ (2021. chance), https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/chance (Accessed 12 December 2021.)

Copyright Ā© 2021 Spencer D. Gear. This document last updated at Date: 12 December 2021.