Should we seize the day? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.
At times in Ecclesiastes, passages show up called Carpe Diem passages by scholars. These are where the Teacher speaks of something in a more positive light. It is a way of saying “Jump on this! Take it! It’s good! Run with it!” Here, we see the first of those passages.
Something strange takes place in the end of the chapter. God returns for the second mention in the book after 1:13. The Teacher recommends that a man eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. (2:24) How should one see the reference to God here? Enns does not read anything favorable in the text. For Enns, rather than a sort of “Carpe Diem” approach, the Teacher instead means that God does whatever He wants and that can also be absurd. God gives wisdom to who He wants, and He gives folly to who He wants. Perhaps the Teacher has the approach then of “Might as well make the most with what you’ve got.” God does what God does, and no one can do anything about it.[1]
Bartholomew does offer a contrast in that the Teacher still describes enjoying life as a gift of God. Bartholomew says that the Reformers saw a celebration of human life as God gave it to man. He contends that the Teacher remains in the Israelite tradition which includes the goodness of God. Eating and drinking are a reference to the shalom that God intended for His people to have.[2] Perry has something in between in mind with his idea from verse 25 that the idea of who eats and enjoys, but the “I” means that man has the responsibility to make the most of his life under the sun. In the Israelite tradition, all depends on God and thus if any joy comes in this life, somehow that joy must come from God. One can also find despair in life, but in this way of thinking, the Teacher might say, “If you have to go with joy or despair, might as well have some joy.”[3]
Rindge takes an approach akin to seeing both sides and says “Death relativizes the use of goods in two apparently disparate ways. On the one hand, death renders the relentless pursuit of (and attempt to control) pleasure meaningless. On the other hand, another uncontrollable aspect of death (inheritance) provides an impetus to derive enjoyment from the use of goods (food, drink, toil).”[4] If the claims above concerning Ecclesiastes 2 mirroring the Garden of Eden hold up, it could mean then that the great divide comes in the form of death. Pleasure has meaning if death plays no threat, but death changes the way one approaches life. Atkinson implies the same in saying that no matter how much one works, death still comes.[5]
Miller opens his section on these verses with the heading of “Enjoy life!” He argues that verse 26 has God give desirable things to good people and the task of gathering and working for those that God considers good.[6] There could exist an element of both. The resignation of Enns could mean that to face reality on the nature of life, but the other side could still say that a man might as well make the most of life still.
Ecclesiastes sums up the matter in 12:13 with a Compiler giving the whole duty of man as fearing God and keeping His commandments. To this end, we must examine what it means to fear God. About this, Garrett says that “This ‘fear’ must be distinguished from any idea of terror. It is a phrase used constantly throughout Scripture to describe the appropriate response of human beings to the self-revelation of the God who has created and redeemed his people[7].”
Longman says that:
After all, if wisdom depends on understanding the world correctly, how can that be achieved if one does not acknowledge that God himself is a fundamental part of the cosmos? Everything must be understood in relationship to Yahweh himself. This is what leads to humility, which comes, after all, from knowing that there is a greater power in the universe.[8]
My problem with this statement comes in describing God as a fundamental part of the cosmos. For the Abrahamic faiths, all of the cosmos depends on God. He does not just have a role in the system. He grounds the system in entirety. Knowing everything depends on God should increase our reverence for Him. Elihu certainly spoke truly in Job 34:14-15 when he said that if God withdrew His breath, all life would perish.
When Scripture tells people to fear God, it does not mean to live in terror, but to live in awe remembering your place in the universe. The Teacher even warns in Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 to:
“Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.”
Next time, things will take a turn as we go to Ecclesiastes 3.
I suspect only certain people will understand that reference.
In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)
[1] Enns, 49-51.
[2] Bartholomew,151-152.
[3] Perry, 84.
[4] Matthew S. Rindge, Mortality and Enjoyment: The Interplay of Death and Possessions
in Qoheleth, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 73 no 2 Apr 2011, p 265-280, https://research.ebsco.com/c/trvdli/viewer/pdf/bwdhi53ysn[5] Tyler Atkinson, “Overcoming Competition through Kairological Enjoyment: The Implications of Qoheleth’s Theology of Time for the Ethics of Work,” Studies in Christian Ethics, 26 no 4 Nov 2013, p 395-409, https://research.ebsco.com/c/trvdli/viewer/pdf/32hv2f7gjz
[6] Miller, Ecclesiastes, 60.
[7] Graeme Goldsworthy, Proverbs: The Tree of Life (ed. Paul Barnett; Reading the Bible Today Series; Sydney, South NSW: Aquila Press, 2011), 35.
[8] Tremper Longman III, How to Read Proverbs (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2002), 55.
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