What is going on in this book? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.
Since I have spent this semester doing a research paper on Ecclesiastes, I figured as I am in the final weeks of a rewrite of my paper, I could share with you all the fruits of my labor. I had never engaged in an in-depth study of this book in any way before, and I really found it fascinating. There is so much that is debated about this book and yet, at the same time it seemed remarkably contemporary to me.
In this also, I am not going to answer questions about authorship and date of writing, though I do hold to Solomonic authorship. That does provide some interesting thoughts on the text at times, but that does not affect the overall exegesis of the text. My interpretation will remain the same, but I could say at certain points that this brings a remarkable facet to the text if Solomon is the actual author.
As of now, my thinking is that the Teacher, as I will call him in this work, is giving a sort of reductio ad absurdum of life. He is saying that if all we have is wisdom alone in this world, what can we expect? I will also be making a case that the Teacher longs for Eden. I was quite surprised to see just how much this book interacts with Genesis.
This book speaks often about evil, but it does not do so in an attempt to make arguments for or against theism. It is taking a hard cold look at the world and realizing the truth. This world is messed up. There are realities in this world that do not make sense.
Despite this, the Teacher generally does not attempt to explain all of this. He goes through the book asking the question of what makes a life worthwhile. Where can meaning be found “under the sun”? (A term that we will be looking at as we go through the book.) Going through the book can leave one thinking that everything is hopeless, but is it?
Also, how does this fit in with the Wisdom tradition? It’s placed in our Bibles between Proverbs and the Song of Songs so it does fall under the rubric of Wisdom literature. How? Wisdom is usually seen as the path of joy, but in Ecclesiastes, it looks like we are on the path of pain.
Finally, how does the book fit in with the grand narrative of Scripture? I suspect that that will not be answered until we get to the very end. We need to face what the Teacher is saying head-on. If we dilute everything early on by bringing in the New Testament, then we are like people interrupting a story saying “Don’t worry. The hero fixes everything.” We need to face the pain.
So join me as hopefully tomorrow, Lord willing, I will begin looking at this amazing book. I hope it will also give you insights into it and why we have it in our Bibles and how it can affect your life. For me ultimately, i have found it to have a highly positive effect on me and I plan to explain that as we go through.
In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)
Support Deeper Waters on Patreon!
