Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 191 · July 10
The Whole Matter
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”
Would you take advice from somebody who had already tried everything and found most of it thin? That is who is talking, and where he stands is half the sentence. This line sits on the last page. Twelve chapters of taking the world apart come first: the work, the wisdom, the money, the fact that the same thing happens to the wise man and the fool. The conclusion of the whole matter arrives after all of it is weighed.
The closing paragraph even lets you watch the book being finished. Because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs. Somebody sat with this material and arranged it, then wrote the line every writer eventually earns: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh. The man telling you to fear God has just told you that reading more will not save you either.
Which is what makes the sentence load-bearing rather than pious. Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man is what was left standing when everything else had been picked up and found light, and the next verse gives the reason it holds: For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing. So where are you reading it from? Is this the sentence you would open with, or the one you would be left holding after the year you have actually had?
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 191 is God Who Pardons (Micah 7:18).