Birthdays. 'A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth.'

'A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth. It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart.' (Ecclesiastes 7:1-2)

(Kings 11:4)
As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.

Ecclesiastes was written by a man who was no longer wholeheartedly focused on the Lord. One might ask why it was included in the biblical canon - I don't know, but God does.

To say that the day of one's death, and attending a funeral is better than the day of one's birth, is better because 'it is better to remember that we will all die and that we should take this to heart', is only a fragment of the truth - and a somewhat cynical one at that; Solomon had lost sight of the One who had twice revealed Himself to him.

In the Bible, there are only two, at most four instances where birthdays are mentioned, and on all four occasions, one or more people died or behaved badly. In the first, and second, people who had offended royalty were executed, in the third, people were crushed when a tornado struck the house where they were celebrating their brother's birthday and in the fourth, it appears that a king's birthday was an opportunity for getting drunk and having an orgy. The Jewish Encyclopaedia explains the Rabbinical position.

What could be a deeper reason for not considering the day of one's birth as less important than the day of one's death?

On the day of one's birth, one is born into a fallen world in which suffering and pain are normal. A person might become bitter, turning the life-force within to hatred and destruction, as it did in Adolf Hitler, who had a brutal upbringing and hated his father. Or the suffering might result in a person's search for the only One who makes sense out of incomprehensible suffering, transforming him into a triumphant overcomer; a beacon of love and peace. The end of a person's life might be descent into the grave and eternal separation from the Love he has rejected, or it might be the embrace of the Beloved in eternal glory and joy. Who knows?

The day of one's death is good to contemplate, because it reminds us that though all die, in Christ, all are made alive, and 'if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.' (Romans 6:8)

This is such a gloriously joyful thought - how wonderful -  that trusting that Jesus' death is also our death, and that being so, in Him, we too, having been 'buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life!' (Romans 6:4).

The day of a person's death is a glorious release from this world's pain and tribulation, into the arms of our Beloved. If a person opens his heart to the love of Jesus and is reborn into the new life of Jesus the Messiah before physical death, although he may still experience suffering and pain, he will know the presence of God and His peace and is transformed into a channel of blessing and hope for others in darkness.

A good name is better than fine perfume. On the day we're born, we usually receive a name from our parents. Our surname is usually that of our father - who gives us identity.

'To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.' (Revelation 2:17) Our name here on earth might be known to no-one, or it might be scorned and rejected, but in Jesus we have a new, secret name, precious to Him.

Is a birthday a day when Self and life in this world is celebrated, or when we recall that we have been given a new name, and life here is a humble, hopeful and happy preparation for eternity?