Ecclesiastes - mamaanya.comEcclesiast… · “Qoheleth” in Hebrew.(1:1, 12; 7:27; 12:8, 9, 10). Despite some passages that suggest a king as the author, it is best to stay with

EcclesiastesSources:

• Craig G. Brtholomew. “Ecclesiastes” in Theological Interpretation of the Old Testament. Ed. Kevin J. Van hoozer.

• Ernest C. Lucas. Exploring the Old Testament: A guide to the Psalms & Wisdom Literature. Vol 3.

• James Limburg, “Ecclesiastes” at EntertheBible.org

© Beth Elness-Hanson, 2013.

A question to ponder silently.

A question to ponder silently.

What is your deepest yearning?


Basic desire Basic fear

Goodness, integrity, balance Corruptness, imbalance, being bad

To feel love Being unloved

To feel valuable Worthlessness

To be uniquely themselves Having no identity or significance

Mastery of self Helplessness, Incapable, Incompetent

To have support and guidance Being without support or guidance

To be satisfied and content Being trapped in pain and deprivation

Self-protection Being harmed, controlled, violated

Wholeness, peace of mind Loss, fragmentation, separation


Your yearning may be like the “Teacher’s” in

Ecclesiastes.

The author of Ecclesiastes is unable to find meaning in life:

by living for work,

by searching for the answers to life's big questions, or

by pursuing more and more sophisticated pleasures.

All of these efforts result in a sense of emptiness(Hebrew hevel, traditionally translated "vanity").

SUMMARY

James Limburg, “Ecclesiastes” at EntertheBible.org

Life has its perpetual problems, such as injustice and evil, the whims of chance, the impossibility of understanding what God is doing or is about to do, and the inevitability of death.

In view of these realities, Ecclesiastes counsels enjoying the everyday gifts God gives, such as times with family and friends, and faithfully remembering and worshiping God.

SUMMARY


According to this book,

living only for one's work (workaholism), or

to accumulate more and more knowledge (intellectualism), or

to find more and more exotic, pleasure-producing thrills (hedonism)

will ultimately not be satisfying.

SO WHAT?


The book is also in touch with reality, recognizing that earthly existence is marked by problems of injustice, evildoing, and chance accidents.

There are many questions that we have about God, about what God is doing, and about death. We will have to learn to live with these questions.

In the meantime, the book counsels us to enjoy one another's company and to enjoy the day-by-day good gifts that God gives us.

SO WHAT?


ECC 4:12

The writer is identified simply as the "Teacher," “Qoheleth” in Hebrew.(1:1, 12; 7:27; 12:8, 9, 10).

Despite some passages that suggest a king as the author, it is best to stay with this designation, ascribing the book to "Qoheleth" or the "Teacher."

The “Teacher” is steeped in Israel's wisdom traditions (see 12:9-10), preparing a lesson for people who needed to hear what that wisdom had to say to their own lives.

WHO WROTE IT?


While references in the book to "the son of David, king in Jerusalem" (1:1) and "king over Israel" both suggest a king as the author, with Solomon as the likely candidate, there are problems with identifying the author as Solomon.

See Lucas p. 146

Solomon?

The king is never named in the book, and the "king" association is dropped after chapter 2.

"All who were before me in Jerusalem" does not fit with Solomon, who was only the 2nd king of Israel in Jerusalem.

Most important, the language of the book is clearly that of a time later than Solomon.

There are at least two Persian loan words in the book (translated "parks" in 2:5 and "sentence" in 8:11), which point to a time during Persian rule, after 539 B.C.E.

Solomon?

If you wanted to write a reflection on the meaning of life today, what roles might you use? How could you help your readers to explore — through imagination — possible avenues as a source of meaning?

Come up with one or two ideas and explain why this role would engage the reader’s imagination.

Small Group Discussion

A few scholars would date the book in the 5th or 4th century B.C.E.

The consensus of contemporary scholarship understands it to have been written in Jerusalem around 250 B.C.E.

See Lucas p. 148.

WHEN WAS IT WRITTEN?


According to most contemporary scholarship, Ecclesiastes was written during the time when the Greeks ruled over Jerusalem and the Jews, around 250 B.C.E.

Israel and the Jews had had a glorious past, but now the days of the kings were only a memory.

After the exile came Persian rule.

Then in 332 B.C.E. the armies of Alexander the Great moved into the East and the world became Greek overnight.

At the time of the writing of Ecclesiastes, the Jewish community was only a small “island” in the vast “sea” of the Greek empire.

BACKGROUND


Individuals sought in vain for meaning in their work, in intellectual pursuits or in sophisticated pleasures, but nothing ever seemed satisfying.

All was “vanity” or emptiness — about as solid and permanent as a puff of smoke.

Politically: A once-powerful nation that was now weak, without good political leadership.

Religiously: A religious community was skeptical about God's involvement in their lives.

In general, people were desperately searching for meaning.

BACKGROUND


Do not expect this book to retell the story of the mighty acts of God or to bring prophetic words from God on the great themes of justice, peace, or messianic hope.

You should not look for prayers of lament or songs of praise.

Rather, sit back and listen to what this always critical and sometimes crotchety teacher has to say about life and death, God and love, sorrow and joy.

HOW DO I READ IT?


Some have suggested that the book is a random collectionof essays and sayings with no governing structure.

Others suggest a simple division into: longer essays in chapters 1-6 and

collections of shorter sayings in chapters 7-12.

See options in Lucas, 152-155.

There is a certain progression of thought as is suggested by the content division above.

An important marker in the Hebrew text is the note that the book divides into two equal parts between 6:9 and 6:10.

Structure of the book


I. Author and Theme (Ecclesiastes 1:1-2)

II. The Search for Meaning (Ecclesiastes 1:3-2:26)

III. Who Knows? (Ecclesiastes 3)

IV. Earthly Matters (Ecclesiastes 4)

V. Heavenly Matters (Ecclesiastes 5)

VI. Death (Ecclesiastes 6-7)

VII. The Limits of Human Understanding (Ecclesiastes 8)

VIII. How Then Should Life Be Lived? (Ecclesiastes 9-12)

See also Lucas 152-155.

OUTLINE OPTION


Hevel occurs 37 times in this book.

The literal meaning is "breath" (Isaiah 57:13; vapor, or cloud of steam.

JPS translates “utter futility!”

Vanity in the sense of (Lucas 164):

Meaninglessness, futility;

Absurdity in the sense of unreasonable or irrational;

Absurdity in the sense of incomprehensible or mysterious;

Ephemerality, or that which passes quickly.

Hevel ("vanity," NRSV)

James Limburg, “Ecclesiastes” at EntertheBible.org; Lucas, 164.

Vanity in the sense of:

1. Meaninglessness, futility;

2. Unreasonable or irrational absurdity

3. Incomprehensible or mysterious absurdity

4. Ephemerality, or that which passes quickly.


1 2 3 4 5 6

Ecc 1:2Ecc 1:3Ecc 1:13Ecc 1:15Ecc 2:1




Ecc 5:8Ecc 5:10Ecc 6:2Ecc 6:4Ecc 6:9Ecc 6:11

Ecc 7:6Ecc 8:10Ecc 8:14Ecc 11:8Ecc 11:10Ecc 12:8

Folkbibeln 2015 = FörgängligtBibel 2000 = Tomhet

This thematic word runs like a red thread throughout the entire book.

Interestingly, hevel is translated as "Abel," the son of Adam and Eve, in Genesis 4.

Already at the beginning of the Bible there is an allusion to the temporary nature of the human being in the name "Abel/hevel."



Does Ecclesiastes mark the "low-water mark" of Old Testament thought, as some have suggested?

Is it really an especially gloomy essay?

The book does recognize life's problems, including death.

But the central message of the book is expressed in those passages that call for celebration of life together with family and friends and appreciation of the everyday good gifts that God provides.(see 2:24-26; 3:12-13, 22; 5:18-20; 8:15; 9:7-10; 11:8-12:1).

Tone of the book

God is the maker of everything on earth (3:11; 7:13).

God gives humans their lives (5:18; 8:15).

God is their maker and creator (7:29; 12:1).

God takes life back to God when the creature dies (12:7).

THEME: God cares


"God is in heaven…," says 5:2.

Isaiah spoke of the Lord as "high and lofty" and "holy" which means separate or distant (Isaiah 6:1-3).

Jesus taught his followers to recognize God's transcendence in praying, "Our Father in heaven" (Matthew 6:9).

All should be in awe of God (Ecclesiastes 3:14) and worship God in humility and reverence (5:1-2, 7; 12:13).

THEME: God at a distance


"So you do not know the work of God," says 11:5 (see also 3:10-11 and 8:16-17).

For Ecclesiastes, there appears to be a gulf between God in heaven and people on earth.

THEME: What is God doing?


"It is fitting to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun….This is the gift of God" (5:18-19).

The Teacher counsels enjoying the good days (7:14; 3:22) and the good things, because they are gifts "from the hand of God" (2:24-26; 3:12-13).

Eat, drink, and enjoy the days that God gives you (8:15)!

Enjoy good wine, the man or woman you love, throw yourself into your work, because God approves of all these things (9:7-10).

THEME: Enjoy the gifts of God


Many interpreters see the final section (12:9-14) as a late addition to the original composition and thus of less value than the "original" part of the book.

If we read the book as a whole, however, the epilogue provides clues for understanding the message of the whole.

We observe something of the Teacher's method of working in 12:9-10, some advice for young scholars in 12:12, and a summary of the message of the book in 12:13.

The Epilogue


Martin Luther's commentary on Ecclesiastes remains a classic that is still useful.

For example, note what Luther says about 5:20:

"This statement is the interpreter of the entire book: Solomon intends to forbid vain anxieties, so that we may happily enjoy the things that are present and not care at all about the things that are in the future, lest we permit the present moment, our moment, to slip away" (Luther's Works 15:93).

Luther on Ecclesiastes


Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor who was executed under the Nazis, made extensive use of Ecclesiastes. In interpreting Ecclesiastes 3, as an example, he writes:

"But, to put it plainly, for a man in his wife's arms to be hankering after the other world is, in mild terms, a piece of bad taste, and not God's will. We ought to find and love God in what he actually gives us; if it pleases him to allow us to enjoy some overwhelming earthly happiness, we mustn't try to be more pious than God himself….'For everything there is a season'"

(Letters and Papers from Prison [New York: Macmillan, 1971] 168-169).

Bonhoeffer on Ecclesiastes


In Judaism, the book is the text for the celebration of the fall festival of Sukkoth, or booths.

Deuteronomy 16:1-17 lists the three ancient festivals (Passover, weeks, booths), and vv. 13-15 tell how to celebrate booths.

Jewish use of the book


Sukkot in 60 seconds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpyitTzaDPs

The meaning of Sukkot and the Sukkah with Sukkah Soul kit for Sukkot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHc2I70RNqE

Livin' in a Booth - Fountainheads Sukkot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXx5Wp3GcSE

Sukkot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpyitTzaDPs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHc2I70RNqE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXx5Wp3GcSE

Jews today continue to celebrate the festival in the fall by building a small structure where they will eat and drink and visit with friends.



The keynote of the festival is joy. This calls to attention the theme of rejoicing that runs through the book of Ecclesiastes.



Read Ecc 1:9-11. If the teacher had lived today,

do you think he would write these verses?



“Daniel 12:1-3 is the only place in the Hebrew Bible where there is a clear expression of belief in resurrection of the dead, followed by reward for the righteous and punishment for the wicked” (Lucas, 158).

Since Qoheleth, the “Teacher,” does not know of the resurrection, how do you suppose this impacts his outlook on life—and death?

Resurrection of the dead


Jesus’ resurrection is the evidence that He conquered death.

1 Corinthians 15:13-20 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead…

19 October 1944 - 27 April 1945 Auschwitz concentration camp

Kaufering concentration camp, five months working as a slave laborer

Türkheim concentration camp, until liberation

His wife, Tilly, died in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

His mother, Elsa, killed in the gas chambers of Auschwitz.

His brother, Walter, died working at Auschwitz.

Viktor Frankl

26 March 1905 –2 September 1997

Holocaust survivor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Frankl#Prisoner.2C_therapist

“Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.”

Viktor Frankl

http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/2782.Viktor_E_Frankl


Holocaust survivor

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—

to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances,

to choose one’s own way.”

Viktor Frankl

http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/2782.Viktor_E_Frankl


Holocaust survivor

“Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked.

In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.”

Viktor Frankl

http://deanlindsay.com/viktor-frankl/viktor-frankl-quotes-21-best/


Holocaust survivor

Is the world getting better or worse?



1a : a usually traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon

b : PARABLE, ALLEGORY

2a : a popular belief or tradition that has grown up around something or someone; especially : one embodying the ideals and institutions of a society or segment of society <seduced by the American myth of individualism —Orde Coombs>

b : an unfounded or false notion

3: a person or thing having only an imaginary or unverifiable existence

Myth

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/myth

Some 20th-century authors refer to the "Myth of Progress" to challenge the Idea of Progress, especially the assumption that the human condition will inevitably improve.

In 1932 English physician Montague David Eder argues that the advancement of civilization is leading to greater unhappiness and loss of control in the environment.

Philosopher Karl Popper emphasized the inadequacies of the Idea of Progress as a scientific explanation of social phenomena.

Kirkpatrick Sale wrote exclusively about progress as a myth, in an essay "Five Facets of a Myth” (http://www.primitivism.com/facets-myth.htm)

Iggers (1965) says the great failing of the prophets of progress was that they underestimated the extent of man's destructiveness and irrationality. The failing of the critics of the Idea of Progress, he adds, came in misunderstanding the role of rationality and morality in human behavior.

Myth of Progress

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idea_of_Progress

http://www.primitivism.com/facets-myth.htm

Epistemology is the study or a theory of the nature and grounds of knowledge especially with reference to its limits and validity.

Which two does Qohelth base his epistemology on?

1. Scripture (“Fear of the LORD”)

2. Reason

3. Experience

4. Tradition

Qoheleth’s Epistemology

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epistemology

Epistemology is the study or a theory of the nature and grounds of knowledge especially with reference to its limits and validity.

Which two does Qohelth base his epistemology on?

1. Scripture (“Fear of the LORD”)

2. Reason

3. Experience

4. Tradition

Qoheleth’s Epistemology

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epistemology

The Byrds - Turn! Turn! Turn!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4ga_M5Zdn4

http://www.youtube.com/artist/the-byrds?feature=watch_video_title

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4ga_M5Zdn4

Ecclesiastes - mamaanya.comEcclesiast… · “Qoheleth” in Hebrew.(1:1, 12; 7:27; 12:8, 9, 10). Despite some passages that suggest a king as the author, it is best to stay with

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