Does it keep going on? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.
Ecclesiastes 6:10-12 read as follows:
10 Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he. 11 The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man? 12 For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun?
I wrote about this that:
Verse 6:12 ends the chapter with another reference similar to that in chapter 1, another indication that this pertains to a cyclical view of nature. Otherwise, when the question comes “Who can tell a person what will happen under the sun after they are gone?”, the one who replies can point to the next person who comes into the world. The point is that after a person leaves the world, more people come and soon the past gets forgotten again. When it comes to the people that a man leaves behind, will a man have foolish or wise children? He cannot know. All his work could come to nothing since one could think surely a fool must inevitably come.
The Teacher never meant that history repeats itself literally like some Greeks did. He meant the cycle of life keeps going. Sometimes it can turn out good for people, but sometimes bad. The Teacher does indicate it is a fool’s errand also to try to dispute with someone who knows more than you do, a lesson many people need to learn.
The Teacher sadly sees the cycle not as a good thing, but as a bad thing. Yes, there is order, which the ancients valued, but then what does it matter if there is order if there is no point in what anyone does? This continues our look at a fall from Eden. The Teacher longs for a time when we can be in Eden, as was seen in Ecclesiastes 2, but if the cycle just repeats, then we will never get there. His viewpoint has often been, “Better make the most of it.”
As we get closer to the end, I will give my view on this more in that I think the Teacher is showing us the limitations of Wisdom without special revelation. If all you have is that, then there is no return to Eden. This is the way the world is and there will be no savior and you might as well make the most of it. It is a sort of reductio ad absurdum asking us to really look at what we say about the world.
Fortuantely, we do have revelation. We do know that a savior has come and we do know that it is possible to not just return to Eden, but go beyond Eden. We know ultimately that everything has a point because that savior came. Ecclesiastes shows us that the Old Testament revelation is incomplete. We need something more that is found in the New.
In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)
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