Unit 9: Eccleisiastes and the Questioning of Wisdom

Unit 9: Eccleisiastes and the Questioning of Wisdom

Weekly Assignments: 

In the Bible, King James Version, read the book of Ecclesiastes

In the King James Bible Commentary, read Ecclesiastes:  Introduction, Outline, and Commentary

In The Bible as Literature, read Chapter XI

Introduction:

Whereas Job questions God's justice, "Ecclesiastes, or the Preacher" scarcely

seems even to expect justice in human events. Ecclesiastes, called by the late

Victorian critic, George Saintsbury, "the saddest and wisest book ever written," is an oration on the "vanity" or emptiness of most human ambitions and pur­suits; the determining role of chance in most successes and failures; and the lone certainty of death.

Ecclesiastes and the Questioning of Wisdom

I. Introduction to Ecclesiastes

A. Who was Koheleth (roughly translated as “the preacher”) teaching? Ecclesiastes 12:9 gives an answer: "And moreover, 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."

II. The knowledge the Preacher or, in Hebrew, Koheleth, is trying to impart is "vanity of vanities, all is vanity."

            A. This book is often, as are the other wisdom books, attributed to Solomon.          But Ecclesiastes is a very bleak, dark book for Solomon.

            B. In his essay, Of polygamy and Divorces, David Hume offers the following

explanation for Solomon's depression: The Asiatic practice of polygamy is as destructive to friendship as to love. Jealousy excludes men from a/l intimacies and familiarities with each other. No one dares bring his friend to his house or table lest he bring a lover to his numerous wives. Hence all over the east each family is as much separate from another as if they were so many distinct kingdoms.  No wonder then that Solomon living with 700 wives and 300 concubines was separated from the world!

            C. Koheleth first introduces his position in Ecclesiastes chapter 1:2-8:

Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.  What profit    has a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?

One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.

The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.

The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again accord­ing to his circuits.

            All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place    from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.

All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. (Ecclesiastes 1:2-8, KJV)

           

D. Koheleth sees that all is vain because everything in nature is cyclical or alternating, rather than purposive or teleological. As Koheleth con­tinues in chapter 1:

           

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? It hath been already of old time, which was before us.  (Ecclesiastes 1:9-1 0, KJV)

E. Koheleth sees this repetition in human affairs as well, as expressed in this very famous passage:

            To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

            A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that       which is planted;

            A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

            A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

            A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

            a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

            A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

            A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

            A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

            What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?

I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-10, KJV)

F.   The Preacher implicitly criticizes the basic assumption of Proverbs:  in his worldview, justice doesn’t hold in human affairs.  In Proverbs one reaps what one sows; there are moral consequences for man's actions. Ecclesiastes speaks of mere succession of events; there is no underlying justice to human affairs. Chapter 8:14:

There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.

And again from Chapter 9:11:

I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet

favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

Thus in Ecclesiastes there is no connection between one's actions and one's fortune.

G. The only certainty, for the Preacher, is death, and in that all are levelled:

For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.

All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. (Ecclesiastes 3:19-20, KJV)

And In Chapter  9:2:

“All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, And to the wicked. . .”

H. Ecclesiastes 12:1-8 is an allegory of aging and death.

           

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;

While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:

In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,

And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low;

Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:

Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.

Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 12:1-8, KJV)

Note that these are Koheleth's last words. These are a poignant description of old age and dying.

I. Recall Proverbs 10:7, "The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot ..." But to Koheleth the memory of the just, like the memory of the wicked, passes. As he says in Ecclesiastes 1:11, "There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after." Or in Ecclesiastes 2: 16, "For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? As the fool."

J. The finality of death does not prompt Koheleth to recommend a life of reckless abandon. We can review the elements Koheleth views as vanity.

            1. In chapter 1:8 we are told that wisdom is vanity, "For in much wisdom

            is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow."

           

            2. There is no pleasure in great wealth, either.

3.  A wicked woman is a vanity.  From Chapter 7:26, “And I find more bitter than the death of the woman, whose heart is snares and nets..."

III. The Book of Ecclesiastes has two dif­ferent conclusions.

            A. There is an editorial post-script to the Preacher's oration-Ecclesiastes 12:9­14-     which concludes,

And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.  (Ecclesiastes 12: 12-13, KJV)

            B. The Preacher's own conclusion, howev­er, is from Chapter 2:24,

"There is noth­ing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God."

Koheleth is more emphatic about this point in Chapter 8:15,

"Then I com­mended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry..."

C. And, of course, it is not much fun to seize the day by yourself, so Koheleth recommends the pleasures of coopera­tion. From Chapter 4:9-12:

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.

For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.

Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?

And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a three-fold cord is not quickly broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, KJV)

D. Therefore, Koheleth concludes in chapter 9:7-10, one should just go on and enjoy the life and family one has.

Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.

Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.

Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowl­edge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. (Ecclesiastes 9:7-10, KJV)