Gift Ecclesiastes
The of Wisdom
Son of David and Bathsheba
The work is attributed to King Solomon because God gave him the gift of wisdom (see 1 Kings 3). The Bible places Solomon in the 10th cent. However, because the text contains some Persian words, the author must have composed it after 538 BCE. The Persians ruled Palestine from 538 332 BCE.
View of Herods Temple Mt.
Gentiles, Keep Out! Sign
Solomon/Jedidiah
2 Samuel 12:24 25: she bore a son, and he [David] named him Solomon. The Lord loved him, and sent a message by the prophet Nathan; so he named him Jedidiah, because of the Lord. Jedidiah means Beloved of the Lord. His God name never appears again.
The Preacher/Teacher
The title derives from a Greek translation of the Hebrew title Qoheleth. Qoheleth comes to mean teacher in Hebrew. Ecclesiastes preacher comes from the Septuagint. Solomon means peace, and with his death the peace of a united monarchy ends. His son Rehoboam (early 10th cent. BCE.) starts a civil war.
Apostasy
Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines! His exogamy and allowing those wives to build temples to their foreign gods in the land of Abraham will provoke God. Rehoboams mother is an Ammonite, In Solomons old age, he too worships foreign gods.
The End of the Golden Age
In 1 Kings 11, God becomes angry and says he will take all but Judah away from Rehoboam after Solomon dies. He leaves Rehoboam Judah so that my son David may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen to put my name. 1 Kings 11:36
Ecclesiastes is part of the Kethubim known as the Megillot (scrolls). Two megillah (scroll), Song of Songs/Solomon and Ecclesiastes, are attributed to Solomon and read in synagogues, like the other three, on a particular holiday (see handout Megillot). Song of Songs/Solomon is read on Passover, and Ecclesiastes is read on the Feast of Booths.
Megillot
Proverbs
The book of Proverbs Hebrew title is, Mshl Shelomoh (Wisdom of Solomon). A beautiful poetic book of proverbs in the Apocrypha is The Wisdom of Solomon. It too was written much later, 1st cent. BCE.
Vanity of Vanities
The same Hebrew word that gives us Abel, hebel vapor, is used for vanity in English. Vanity of vanities is a biblical superlative. Other biblical superlatives are Holy of Holies, (Temple), Song of Songs (The Song of Solomon), and King of Kings.
Under the Sun
The sun is a metaphor for heaven. All things under heaven are vanity (vapor) because they do not last. The metaphor builds upon the nature of the suns ability to remove water. Only heaven and God endure forever. Nothing new refers to creation, all of which God completed in Genesis.
Wisdom
Wisdom is also Gods creation (Job 28.25 27). Recall that Adam and Eve eat fruit that gives them the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 3). With knowledge comes choice and responsibility. Although a heavenly gift, in much wisdom is much vexation, and those who increase knowledge increase sorrow. Ecc. 1:16
Pleasure
In Ecclesiastes 2, Qoheleth confesses to having sought everything that will give him pleasure. Even the Queen of Sheba came to see the wealth of this king. Despite his vast experience, Solomon concludes, all was vanity and chasing after wind.
Wise men and Fools
wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness. The wise have eyes in their head, but fools walk in darkness. Wise people reflect on what they see. Fools see only surfaces. However, the same fate befalls them. there is no enduring remembrance of the wise or of fools.
Food and Drink
Both food and drink come from God, so we should enjoy them. However, you can not obtain either simply by working diligently. God alone dispenses wisdom, food, and drink to those whom he chooses.
Ecclesiastes 3
For every thing there is a season. Season limits different stages of our, each of which is with us only for a time. We who are under the sun must accept this as a condition of life. We must accept that we are mortal. We must accept that our lives consist of immutable stages.
Limits of Human Knowledge
He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. We think we see patterns and therefore can manipulate future outcomes. However, unlike God, we do not see the entire picture, and thus our reckoning is false, our ability to plan and to anticipate flawed.
Death
All go to one place [Sheol]; all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knows [i.e., no one has any knowledge] whether the human spirit goes upward and the spirit of animals goes downward to the earth. He dismisses a promise of an eschatological reward for our labors and suffering. An afterlife would extend, perhaps forever, our time and seasons, making us indolent.
Ecclesiastes 4
Although the oppressed have it worse than the oppressor, better than both is the one who has not yet been, and has not seen evil deeds that are done under the son.
Human Relationships
Two are better than one...for if they fall, one will lift up the other. if two lie together, they keep warm. A threefold chord is not quickly broken.
Ecclesiastes 5
The more wealth we have, the more we desire to spend that wealth. Laborers sleep better than their wealthy masters because they have worked all day. The wealthy suffer insomnia because they worry about losing their money. We come into the world naked, and we cant take our goods with us. Therefore, all wealth is vanity.
Ecclesiastes 5
Shut up and listen, even if you dont understand all that you hear. The less you say, the less likely you say something stupid or do something sinful. Keep promises you make to God, but remember God is in heaven, so you need more from him than he from you (i.e., whats in it for him?)
Ecclesiastes 5 cont.
If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and right, do not be amazed at the matter; for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them. When goods increase, those eat who them increase; and what gain has their owner but to see them with his eyes?
The Proper Use of Wealth
Likewise all to whom God gives wealth and possessions and whom he enables to enjoy them, and to accept their lot and find enjoyment of their toilthis is the gift of God. For they will scarcely brood over the days of their lives, because God keeps them occupied with the joy of their hearts.
The Proper Way to Live
People spend too much time worrying over the days of their lives. Because everything we have is a gift from God, the proper use of life is to enjoy what God gives us, not to be unhappy because we do not have more. As verse 17 points out, many people, no matter what God has given them, spend their days worrying about death.
Ecclesiastes 6
Earthly possessions are meaningless because although we may struggle to get them, we leave them to strangers (future generations). Working hard for strangers is stupid! No matter what we have, we always want more. Desire cannot be satisfied, so the rich have no advantage over the poor.
Do Not Philosophize
Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what human beings are, and that they are not able to dispute with those who are stronger [God]. The more words [debate], the more vanity, so how is one the better? For who knows what is good for mortals while they live the few days of their vain life, which they pass like a shadow? For who can tell them what will be after them under the sun?
Do Not Stay from the Path
God had designed us and the world. We do not have the power and knowledge that God has, so why dispute his choices? Life is too short for us to be properly informed to debate what is right for humanity. We cannot know the future, so we have no idea what our own ideas and actions will cause to future generationspossibly harm.
Ecclesiastes 7
This chapter is a series of biblical proverbs. Although we may think we know that one thing is better than something else, because of our limited knowledge and power, value is relative to us, not absolute.
Accepting Fate as a Gift
Consider the work of God; who can make straight what he has made crooked? In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; God has made the one as well as the other, so that mortals may not find out anything that will come after them.
Ecclesiastes 8
Because sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, human beings often think that evil acts go unpunished, but God might punish the evil-doers family. Also, all the acts we do for selfish ends will not keep us alive any longer than God intends for us. The Hebrew Scriptures stress being righteous not because one fears punishment, but because to obey God is to show God love.
Ecclesiastes 9
All this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hate one does not know. Everything that confronts them is vanity, since the same fate comes to all, to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to those who sacrifice and those who do not sacrifice.
Ecclesiastes 9
The fate of both the rich and the poor are in Gods hands. We can know only one thing for certain: there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going. Sheol means grave or pit.
No Manifest Destiny
The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor the bread to the wisebut time and chance happen to them all. If we can know how things will turn out, or if we can influence events, we in essence are saying we know the mind of God, which of course is vanity.
Ecclesiastes 10
Chapters 10 and 11 provide additional proverbs: Whoever digs a pit will fall into it; and whoever breaks through a wall [hedge] will be bitten by a snake. (Dont blame God when you do something stupid and are hurt by it.)
Ecclesiastes 11
Send your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will get it back. Divide [Give] your means seven ways or eight, for you do not know what disaster may happen on earth. (Share, because you never know when youll need help.)
Remember the Gift of Living
Remember your creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come, and the years draw near when you will say, I have no pleasure in them; before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return with the rain;
The Ravages of Age
Arms: on the day when the guards of the house tremble, Legs: the strong men are bent, Teeth: the women who grind cease working because they are few, Eyes: those who look through the windows see dimly
The Ravages of Age
Ears: when the doors on the street are shut, and the sound of the grinding is low, Voice: all the daughters of song are brought low; Balance: when one is afraid of heights, and terrors are in the road; White hair: the almond tree blossoms, Cane: the grasshopper drags itself along
The Ravages of Age
The rest of the passage is a long metaphor for dying. Silver and gold are precious, but they eventually decay. The source of creation, represented by the objects associated with water objects pitcher, well, cistern are like vapor too.
Ecclesiastes 12
Do not measure life only by the unpleasant things that happen. When you are old and infirm, remember how pleasant life once was. Spurious Caveat: Of the making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
The End of the Matter
Lines 13b (Fear God) to the conclusion appear to have been attached by a later writer, who did not like Qoheleths cynical world view. The word cynic derives from Greek kynicos, dog, because these philosophers felt that possessions made people miserable, so they chose a simpler lifestyle. Their critics said they lived like dogs.
Is this a Cynical Work?
It stresses life as a gift. The speaker tells us to enjoy food, wealth, and other specific pleasures God gives us. He tells us to take advantage of the pleasures of youth. One simply must remember from whom we get such gifts.