Tag: Ecclesiastes

The Search Begins

What can wisdom do for you? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

The Teacher decides he is going to begin the quest for meaning. I do call him the Teacher in this and if you’re wondering why, it’s because while I do hold to Solomonic authorship, my arguments do not depend on the Teacher being Solomon. That is my position, but if I found incontrovertible proof that this was someone just impersonating Solomon, I would not have to revise my understanding of the book.

The Teacher does say that the business man has been given is unhappy. No beating around the bush again. Not only that, but he attributes this to God. God has given something to man that is sad. Man has a desire to find meaning in the world. Man has a desire to make sense of it all. We are not all philosophers, but all of us to some extent have this desire in us.

If something is crooked, it cannot be made straight and something lacking cannot be counted. This points to a futility then in the search of sorts. If God has done this, we cannot undo it. If God has given us a desire to find order in the world, we cannot shut that off. If God has given us a desire to find meaning in life, we cannot shut that off. Some people do think life is meaningless, but that does not mean that they want it to be. There is a difference between wanting life to be meaningless and concluding, even wrongly, that life is meaningless.

In a statement that is definitely reflective of Solomon, the Teacher says he has acquired wisdom and knowledge beyond any who came before him. If the Teacher cannot figure out the answer to this question, then who can? The Teacher has said he is not going to hold anything back in his quest. He wants to know what makes a life worthwhile.

In the end of this section, he makes a negative statement about wisdom. Today, we would describe it as saying “ignorance is bliss.” There is a reason we often protect children from some realities of the adult world as they grow up and let them experience them gradually. It is because of the perceived innocence of children that we don’t want their childhoods destroyed by painful realities. We treat it as something unnatural when a child comes to know the nature of death all too soon.

Many of us who have knowledge do enjoy what we have, but at times, it can also be painful. Sometimes to have good theology can produce pain. Consider how C.S. Lewis once said his fear was not that God did not exist. It was “Yes. He does exist, and this is what He is really like!” Of course, there is some false information in that, but the knowledge that God exists doesn’t always bring joy. Sometimes it brings fear and sorrow. Sometimes knowing God is good is painful when one realizes what is being allowed and one cannot make sense of it.

But the Teacher will try.

Next week, we’ll really get into his searching.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)

Under the Sun

What does this mean? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

A large portion of my research was devoted to understanding the phrase “under the sun” which only shows up in Ecclesiastes. The term shows up several times in Ecclesiastes. Goldingay sees it referring to this sphere of life and what people can know from an earthly perspective.[1] Miller says it refers to “existence in this world in contrast to the realm of God (heaven) and the realm of the dead (Sheol).[2] Perry relates it to “this mortal world.”[3] It occurs twenty-nine times in twenty-seven verses, first appearing in 1:3 right after saying “everything is meaningless.” The Teacher asks what profit does a man’s toil provide under the sun. Garrett says about this passage that “The phrase “under the sun” is comparable to “under heaven” in Exod 17:14; Deut 7:24; 9:14 and refers to this world. The phrase is also found in Elamite and Phoenician inscriptions. After a life of hard labor, no one can show a net gain; everything one has is vapid.”[4] The idea entails that men can work hard all their life and, in the end, it profits them nothing. They die anyway.

In essence, we could say that the Teacher is setting the scene here. This will also take more precedence when we get to chapter 2 and I point to a further tie-in to Genesis. At this point, the Teacher is taking his wisdom and applying it to the world around him. What does he find that is worthwhile to do in this life?

In a sense, the Teacher could be doing a reductio ad absurdum. He could be saying “Let’s suppose that we have wisdom, but all we have is this world. Where does that get us?” It would be amusing to see what he would say to atheists today. If he saw one of those bus campaign slogans saying something like “There probably is no God so just go on and enjoy your life”, would he roll his eyes or be angry or just cry in sorrow at what he saw? He could just as easily ask “Why?” After all, if this life is all that we have, what’s the point? Why should I enjoy it? How can I enjoy it?

I suspect it would be more like the ending response because the Teacher does not really hold back on anything. He has the guts to follow through his conclusions where they lead. However, in all of this, his questions are not about the existence of God. He is still a faithful Israelite. His questions are about the meaning of life for man. His questions are asking what it is that a man desires in life and why does he desire this? If he gets what he desires, will he be happy?

If he isn’t, well tough luck. That’s the way it is. The Teacher will not sugarcoat the truth.

So let’s keep going tomorrow to see what his investigation gets us.

[1] Ibid. 115-116.

[2] Douglas B. Miller, Ecclesiastes (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 2010), 43.

[3] T. Anthony Perry, Dialogues with Koholet: The Book of Ecclesiastes (University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1993), 57

[4] Duane A. Garrett, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs (vol. 14; The New American Commentary; Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1993), 284.

What’s New?

Is there anything new under the sun? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

Ecclesiastes starts in a way that seems strange to us, beyond the meaningless aspect. Let’s see what the Teacher says next.

What does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun?
4 A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
and hastens to the place where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south
and goes around to the north;
around and around goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.
7 All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.
8 All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has been already
in the ages before us.
11 There is no remembrance of former things,
nor will there be any remembrance
of later things yet to be
among those who come after.

Some readers might be confused wondering “How can the Teacher say there is nothing new under the sun?” We especially wonder about this. After all, we live in an age of invention where there is something new practically every time you turn around. We do things today that if science fiction had existed in the Biblical times would have been considered such. We do some things that were considered science fiction in the 20th century.

The Teacher says that the work a man does is useless. Why? We will see more on this as we go along. However, to answer the question about anything new, the Teacher is talking about nature. He describes the way of what we call science today on how the sun rises and sets, the wind blows, and the rivers flow. Such happened thousands of years ago and unless Christ returns, they will do so one thousand years from now as well. Science itself depends on the regularity.

And as for generations, we can say that yes, we have history, but so did they and how many people today do not know their history? In my Dad’s age, the Beatles were the big phenomenon, yet just recently I had someone tell me they did not know who they were until high school. If we do not know the popular history, how much more do we not know the real significant history? When you read something like the Federalist Papers, our founders put us to shame. They knew about ancient Greek and Roman battles and people and events. They assumed we do as well.

We don’t.

In a sense, the Teacher says we have the whole same-old, same-old going on. A man can do something great and then be forgotten about by the next generation.

Consider the poem, Ozymandius:

I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
In his day, this king was no doubt, big stuff. He had a statue dedicated to him and called on people around him to look at all he had done. Look and see how small and petty you are! Look and shrink back in awe. You are not worthy to be in the presence of the great king Ozymandius!
Except all that is around him now is ruins. Instead of looking with awe, now we look with pity. If you are thinking “I have never heard of this”, then the case is made. The statue depicts Ramesses II. Don’t know who that is? Again, point made.
Will the internet change this? Probably not. For those of us who care about information, we have found an invaluable resource. For others, the internet has not increased knowledge so much as ignorance. Now people can read something online rejected by the best experts across the board in the field and think they are on the cutting edge of knowledge. (Think Jesus mythicism)
Perhaps the Teacher is right in that sense. Nothing has changed.
But next time, the Teacher himself will enter the investigation.
In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)

 

Meaningless!

What does the Teacher mean? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

So you are hypothetically going through the Bible for the first time. You have never read it all before and you are going through the Wisdom books. Job started you off introducing you to the main character. That makes sense. You start off Psalm 1:1 and read:

Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

That’s a good start to a book about worship and introduced you to the book as a whole. Proverbs 1:1 is just an introduction, but the next few verses spell it out for you.

The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:

2 To know wisdom and instruction,
to understand words of insight,
3 to receive instruction in wise dealing,
in righteousness, justice, and equity;
4 to give prudence to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the youth—
5 Let the wise hear and increase in learning,
and the one who understands obtain guidance,
6 to understand a proverb and a saying,
the words of the wise and their riddles.

7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Makes sense. After reading about the woman of great character, you’re eager to see how wisdom continues. How will the next book, the book of Ecclesiastes start off?

Well, the first verse is an introduction. Okay. Let’s see what the next one says!

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

Um. Is this the Bible? Surely this is the start of a story where we’re going to see the opposite. Right?

Unfortunately for you, no. As you go through the book, you wonder if this could be the most dismal book you have ever read. Why is this in the Bible? Not only that, it started off saying everything is meaningless! What’s going on?!

(FYI, a lot of material in this series will be pulled from what I have written for class from here out so you’ve been warned.)

The word for meaningless is hebel. הֶבֶל (1:2) Bartholomew says this has been given a variety of interpretations such as “meaningless,” “useless,” “absurd,” “futility,” “bubble,” “trace,” “transience,” and “breath.”[1] Enns prefers to read it as “absurd.”[2] Goldingay sees a parallel between the life of man, Adam אָדָם, and then the word hebel, seeing it as the name of Adam’s son, Abel. He sees an opening with Genesis and that Adam appears more frequently here than anywhere else in the Old Testament.[3] Goldingay views the life of Abel as a mere breath that shows up and disappears just as quickly.

The idea brings to mind futility ultimately. However you want to interpret it, it is not a pretty picture. The Teacher, as I will call him, is looking at reality and saying “What is the point of anything here?” We will expound on the next few verses soon, but notice that there is no remedy being given in this blog? I’m not at all saying the Teacher is right, but I am also at this point not saying he is wrong. As we go through, I hope to give more explanation to what he’s saying and why he’s saying it and how it fits with the whole of the biblical narrative.

I hope you’ll join me.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)

[1] Craig Bartholomew, Ecclesiastes (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2009), 105.

[2] Peter Enns, Ecclesiastes (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2011), 31.

[3] John Goldingay, Ecclesiastes (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf And Stock, 2021), 113.

 

Exploring Ecclesiastes Introduction

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)