A Good Name

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

 “A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.” (Ecclesiastes 7:1)

The opening verses of this chapter contain a series of truths which some have called paradoxes. For example, in our text, the wise man declares that the day of death is better than the day of one’s birth. In the next verse, he states that the house of mourning is better than the house of feasting. Then again in verse 3, he says that sorrow is better than laughter. These truths may seem paradoxical, for they do sound quite incredible when considered without proper context. Matthew Henry, I believe has a better take. “In these verses,” he says, “Solomon lays down some great truths which seem paradoxes to the unthinking part, that is, the far larger part of mankind.” In other words, there are certain people to whom these true statements do not seem incredible, at all.

The opening statement of the chapter describes the persons who understand what the Holy Spirit is here saying and are in full agreement. These all have “a good name,” (which) “is better than precious ointment.” Good name speaks of good character. This is the “good name” that all believers have; the good character that God gives in regeneration when He gives a new heart. They are no longer of theunthinking majority that Mr. Henry was referring to, but rather, they are of a renewed mind, and are no longer in conformity with the thinking of the unrenewed majority of mankind.

Certainly, we acknowledge that a good name is something that all men should strive for and cherish. We know many “good people” who are honest, morally upright, trustworthy, good neighbors, and generally well thought of. We consider such people to be men and women of character. The rich young ruler, as he is commonly referred to, was apparently such a one. However, he was not one of a good name as Solomon here has in mind. Jesus said to him after hearing about his outward goodness, “One thing thou lackest.” Without that one thing, he was not of a good name in God’s eyes. He lacked the “renewing of the Holy Ghost” that would have made him one of a good name.

The good name that Solomon is here talking about is far more than a good reputation in the eyes of men. It is the pure and upright heart that God sees in His children. Our reputation is what others think we are, but our character is what we really are. This “good name,” (good character) is therefore “better than precious ointment.” It is of infinitely greater value than even the most expensive perfume on the market. (Some costing over a million dollars per 4 oz. bottle) But it seems to me that the text is speaking of something other than the infinitely greater value of a good name over precious ointment. It is saying that good character must be preferred to a merely good reputation. Costly perfume might make you smell good, it cannot make you good; it cannot change a corrupt nature. The Pharisees were big on perfume, as it were, but they were short on character.

To those of a good name, the day of their death is better than the day of their birth. This can only be true of those who are born again, of those who have received a new heart and nature. Of none other can it be said that death is better than birth. Of many it might be, as Jesus said of Judas, “better had he never been born,” and that, for the same reason, the day of their death cannot be better than the day of their birth. For all who refuse God’s salvation, your birth introduced you to a life that knows many heartaches and sorrows, for “man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards.” But the sorrows of this life are nothing compared to the endless sorrows that death brings to those who leave this world without Christ. All who know the Lord may rejoice in the truth that the day of our death will end all troubles and sorrows, and usher in an eternity of glorious happiness and bliss.

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