Ecclesiastes 12:14: “Because God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”
It is interesting that the word for God has an article in front of it. The word for God is haelohim literally means The God which is referring to one who has the ultimate authority over you. It comes from a Semitic root alah. The Arabic form is Allah. In one respect, the Muslims do worship the same God we do. When they talk of Allah they are referring to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Their spin on God, however, is quite different than ours. Their picture of God is a demanding, tyrant who makes excessive demands upon them. They are afraid of God, afraid if they cross a line they will be horribly punished. If they do a lot of good things they will be rewarded. You know, there are some Christians, who are so hung up on works and trying to win God’s favor, I wonder if they would make better Muslims than Christians.
Anyways, elohim has a broad range of meanings. It is used to refer to God Jehovah, to angels and even to human judges. In this case the article is used to express the fact that there may be many gods out there that people serve, but there is only one who will call our actions into judgment, that is The God.
He will call all our acts or ‘asah into judgment. Asah means works, produce, and creations. Asah refers not only to physical acts but spiritual acts. This includes the creations of our imaginations. One aspect of this judgment is whether the creations of our imaginations are good or tov ie., in harmony with God or evil ra. This particular ra word has a reference to evil intentions. It is to be envious or hurtful to others. In its Semitic origins it has a reference to the mind. Hence these acts that God will call into judgment are not just outward acts, but actions that take place in the mind. Do our imaginations create things that are in harmony with God or do they have evil intentions, intentions to do others harm.
Note that both will be called into judgment. For the idea of bringing into judgment the text uses the word yavi for bring. This is in a Hiphil imperfect form. Hence every act will cause itself to come into judgment. The word judgment is shapah which has the idea of making a determination. There word whether is im which could be translated as if. Hence the verse could read that God will judge or determine every act, even what we create from our imagination to determine if it is in harmony with Him or not.
But soft, the writer also says that everything that is hidden will be judged as well. Hidden is the word alam which is also the word for everlasting. Do we ever stop to think that our creative acts, could last forever? God created the world in His imagination. He created us in His image and gave us an imagination as well. Animals do not have an imagination. It is with our imagination that we picture a bridge and then build it. Just as God pictured a tree and then created it. We are reminded in this passage that we will be judged in how we use this gift to create. If you are a song writer you can write a song that will be hurtful to God or a song that or will honor Him. You can paint a picture that will bring glory or dishonor to God. It is our choice. God gave us an imagination to create ways to honor Him and bring us into intimacy with Him. Because of our creative gift from God we can relate to Him as no other creature can. Or we can use this creative gift to bring hurt and dishonor to Him as no other creature can. The Talmud teaches that on the seventh day God did not stop creating, he simply passed on the creating process to us. He gave us the power of imagination to use creatively. It is now our choice and God will make the final judgment in how we use our gift.
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