Here is a short reflection paper I wrote for my OT Wisdom class last semester. Enjoy!
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Ecclesiastes
Interpretation, Evaluation, Application
Analysis (Interpretation)
Scattered throughout the gloomy
vision of life which we find in the book of Ecclesiastes are seemingly out of
place wisdom sayings that we might expect to be in the book of Proverbs. Many
of them, like those found in Proverbs, concern themselves with shaping the
character of the reader/listener so that they may live a prosperous, honorable,
and generally pleasant life. In 7:9, for example, we read: “Be not quick to
anger, for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.” These statements stand in stark
contrast to the dark tone of the rest of the book. The treatment of proverbial
material in Ecclesiastes, therefore, reveals a crucial step in the development
of Hebrew wisdom traditions in balancing the view of wisdom as the key to a
blessed life on the one hand with the finality of life and reality of death on
the other hand.
There are two major sections in which
the author has incorporated traditional wisdom proverbial materials: 7:1-14 and
10:1-11:10. After spending the first six chapters declaring the vanity of life
and existence, the book makes a sudden shift in chapter 7 with a list of
proverbs similar to Prov. 2:1-22. In many of these proverbs, two things (or
habits, ways of life) are contrasted and then substantiated with a conclusion.
For example, “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the
house of feasting [contrast]; for [substantiation] this is the end of all men,
and the living will lay it to heart [conclusion]” (7:2).
This shift to these proverbs is
swift, as the author moves from lamenting the vanity and shortness of life in
6:10-12 to discussing the value of a good name in 7:1. However, about half-way
through these proverbs, the author returns to his gloomy mood in 7:5-6: “It is
better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools.
For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fools; this also is vanity.” Nevertheless,
although he returns to his familiar phrase concerning vanity at the conclusion,
he has perhaps done so only partially, as he is referring here specifically to
the laughter of fools as vanity. Such a statement would not be out of place in
Proverbs. However, at the conclusion of this collection of proverbial material,
he returns full force to the vanity of life, lamenting the unjust deaths of
righteous men and unjustly prolonged life of the wicked.
The next section in which traditional
proverbial material has been incorporated is 10:1-11:10. Here there is perhaps
a smoother transition, as the writer speaks briefly in 9:17-18 of the value of
wisdom. In the verses that follow, he gives examples of this wisdom with
traditional proverbs like “Bread is made for laughter, and wine gladdens life,
and money answers everything” (10:19). As this section is brought to a close,
we also see a smooth transition back to the dark tone pervading the rest of the
book. In 11:8, man is instructed to rejoice in his days of life, but to
remember that the days of darkness will be many, and that all is vanity. Next,
the youth is exhorted to rejoice, but assured that God will bring him to
judgment (11:9). Finally, this section of proverbs concludes with the declaration
that “youth and the dawn of life are vanity” (11:10).
To this material, we may add the poem
of 3:1-9 about the “season and time for every matter under heaven” (3:1).
Rather than exhorting readers to a prosperous life through wise advice, this
section simply ponders the different seasons and times of life. Yet whereas the
Lord’s speech in Job 38-41 concerning his creation of the world can inspire awe
and reverence, for the author of Ecclesiastes, this reflection on the cycles of
life in the end only produces despair: “What gain has the worker from his
toil?” (3:9). Like in his treatment of the proverbial material above, the
Preacher sees his reflection on life cycles to be vanity as well. (One does not
necessarily get this bleak conclusion in listening to the Byrds’ adaptation of
this poem in their 1965 song “Turn Turn Turn”!)
Yet in looking at Qoheleth’s
treatment of traditional proverbial material and wisdom themes, the book of
Ecclesiastes does not represent an end of the Hebrew wisdom tradition. As noted
above, the tension between the traditional wisdom material and repeated
declaration that all is vanity rather reveals a crucial step in the development
of this tradition. Each of the sections noted above – 3:1-9, 7:1-14, and
10:1-11:10 – all end with a summary that it is all vanity, just as the rest of
life and existence is all vanity, because in the end, all life is destroyed as
the world continues to turn, and nothing is new under the sun. However,
curiously, the conclusion of 12:9-14 ends on a different note.
The final pericope begins with a
summary by a later editor of the wisdom, teaching, and proverbs of Qoheleth
(12:9-10). He then attributes such sayings of the wise to one Shepherd (12:11),
warning the reader to “beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books
there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh” (12:12). Finally,
he concludes with an admonition to fear God and keep his commandments, “for God
will bring every deed into judgment” (12:14). On the surface, this final admonition
begs the question, “Why?” Why bother to fear God and obey the commandments if
in the end it is all vanity? There is no hint in the text of eternal life,
heaven, or resurrection. However, the book does end on a note of hope. The
implication, as I see it, is an affirmation that, yes, the traditional
proverbial wisdom will only take one so far before one realizes that they are
still approaching death. However, even though we do not understand it, we know
that God is faithful and all-knowing. Therefore, the reader is urged to
faith(fulness) and obedience in the hope that somehow this faithful God will
redeem all the vanity of life over which Qoheleth has despaired. We must wait
for other books of the canon to see how this is accomplished.
Evaluation
The shift in understanding noted
above in Ecclesiastes with regard to traditional proverbial wisdom is similar
to what takes place in Job. There we are told that Job is “blameless and
upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil” (1:1). According to
traditional Israelite proverbial wisdom, this was the key to prosperity and a
blessed life, as evidenced by Job’s children and possessions. However,
something happens to throw this entire understanding of the connection between
righteous living and blessings up in the air: Job loses everything – his
children, his possessions, and even his health (1:13-19; 2:7-8). He then spends
the majority of the book arguing with his friends about why the righteous
suffer and the wicked often prosper until finally the Lord answers Job,
essentially telling him that he cannot possibly fathom the mind of God (chs.
38-41). This prompts Job’s repentance, which leads to the restoration of his
prosperity (ch. 42).
Job, therefore, also represents a
turning point in the evolving understanding of Israel’s wisdom tradition. Whereas
Proverbs continually affirms wise habits which will lead to a blessed life, Job
illustrates that this is not always so. However, whereas the Lord’s answer to
Job prompts his repentance, Ecclesiastes takes this canonical conversation in
an entirely different direction: If our traditional wisdom does not necessarily
lead to a blessed life, if the righteous often suffer unjustly, and if the
wicked often prosper, then what use is it all? Vanity of vanities! Furthermore,
regardless of how blessed our lives are, if we all die anyway and are
forgotten, again, what is the point of it all? All life is vanity and striving
after wind.
There is thus a clear progression of
thought from Proverbs to Job to Ecclesiastes when we allow these three books to
engage in canonical conversation. If Ecclesiastes ended at 12:8 (which it
perhaps originally did), this conversation would not end on a very hopeful
note. But the final words of the editor of Ecclesiastes (12:9-14) are more than
a “cautionary footnote by an orthodox editor,” as the footnote says in my New Oxford Annotated Bible. Rather they
are words of hope in the midst of seeming despair: Yes, the righteous suffer;
yes, the wicked prosper; yes, we all die. Nevertheless, we know God is faithful
and all-powerful. As Job found out, we cannot possibly know the ways of God.
Yet we can trust that in some way, he will bring order out of this seeming
chaos. So let’s not abandon him just yet. “Fear God, and keep his commandments”
(12:13).
Fortunately, our canonical
conversation does not end with this flicker of blind hope in the midst of utter
despair at the end of Ecclesiastes. A hint at eternity may already be implied
in Moses’ farewell speech in Deut. 28-30: “See, I have set before you this day
life and good, death and evil…therefore choose life that you and your
descendants may live” (30:15, 19). This understanding of eternity becomes more
explicit as we read on through the Old Testament. For instance, in the Psalms
we hear “The righteous shall be preserved forever…” (37:28b) and “My flesh and
my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever”
(73:26). These verses may not have triggered the explicit notion of heaven or
eternal life in the minds of the original hearers; however, in hindsight, we
can see the understanding of eternity developing in such texts.
Likewise, in Isaiah’s prophecy of the
Suffering Servant (Is. 53), after “he makes himself an offering for sin, he
shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days” (53:10). Likewise, in
Malachi 2:17-3:18, the coming of the Messiah (3:1-4) is connected to redemption
of the righteous who fear the Lord, whose names are written before him on a
book of remembrance (3:16). For them, “the sun of righteousness shall rise,
with healing in its wings” (4:2). There is thus an implied connection being
drawn between the coming of the Messiah and eternal life.
When we reach the New Testament, with
Jesus, we see a greater turning point in the development of Israelite wisdom,
as the laments of Ecclesiastes are fully answered. First, in Mt. 5:1-12, the
blessings of books like Proverbs are completely turned on their heads. Rather
than blessing being equated with immediate gratification, victory over earthly
enemies, material prosperity, and progeny, Jesus declares that truly blessed
are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst
for righteousness, etc. Each of these seemingly ironic statements are
substantiated with more explicit references to eternity – for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, for they shall inherit the earth, for your reward is great in heaven. A similar paradox can be seen
in Mark 8:31-9:2 in which Jesus instructs his disciples not only that he will
suffer and die, but that they too must deny themselves, take up their cross and
follow him (i.e. as if in procession to their own crucifixion). Jesus then
gives the climax of the paradox: it is only by dying that they will be given
life (8:35), whereas it is possible for one to gain the whole world and lose
one’s life (the very thing lamented in Ecclesiastes).
The question of the suffering of the
righteous is addressed in John 9, which opens with a man who had been born
blind. Jesus’ disciples ask him whether the man or his parents had sinned so
that he was born blind. Jesus’ response is very similar to the conversation in
Job between the Lord and Satan: As with Job, “It was not that this man sinned,
or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him” (Jn.
3). Jesus then heals the man, thus confirming that sin is not necessarily
related to suffering in this life.
In Romans, Paul seems most
emphatically to be giving a direct response to the laments of Ecclesiastes.
When Qoheleth asks what the point of life is given the reality of death, Paul
gives a fuller response than Qoheleth’s editor: “If God is for us, who is
against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will
he not also give us all things with him? Who shall bring any charge against
God’s elect? It is God who justifies; who is to condemn? Is it Christ Jesus,
who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God,
who indeed intercedes for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Rom.
8:31-35). Through the lens of Christ’s resurrection, we are able to see the
proverbial wisdom of Israel
in a new light. Yes, the wisdom of Proverbs only takes us so far; yes, the
righteous suffer and the wicked prosper; yes, we all die and return to dust. But, says the New Testament, that is not the final word on the matter. The
pious editor of Ecclesiastes was right to instruct us to nevertheless fear God,
although he had an incomplete understanding of how God would redeem death. Now
we can see more clearly through the lens of Christ’s own death and resurrection
that death has been conquered. Though we still die, we also shall live and be
raised just as Christ was raised. While the righteous often suffer in this
life, they will be granted blessings in eternity far greater than the immediate
material blessings promised in Proverbs. Likewise, the wicked may prosper in
this life, but unless they repent, they will suffer far worse in eternity than
any sufferings imaginable in this life.
If we looked at the above data as
unbelievers, perhaps studying the “history of religions,” we might say that the
movement from Proverbs to Job to Ecclesiastes to the Prophets and the New
Testament is indicative of an evolutionary thought process – that the
Israelites gradually came to see things differently in light of their
experience and perhaps through contact with neighbors of different religions.
Looking at this movement as believers, we can affirm additionally that it is
the product of progressive revelation. The original hearers of Proverbs were
not ready to hear Jesus’ beatitudes and the teaching on resurrection. The Lord,
therefore, met them where they were, and guided them along over centuries to a
fuller understanding of his will of salvation for all.
Application
Hermeneutically, it is very important
to understand this movement throughout the text and not read more positive
glosses into books like Ecclesiastes. The book must stand as it is, for we can
never truly grasp the power of the resurrection until we lament the finality
and vanity of death with Qoheleth. Furthermore, even in light of heaven and the
coming resurrection, it reminds us how truly tragic death is. We cannot truly
appreciate the resurrection unless we realize this. We see the tragedy of death
either denied or trivialized much today – from pithy sayings on Hallmark cards
to sermons given at funerals which only focus on the happy times from the
deceased’s life. Reading Ecclesiastes as it stands reminds us of the true disaster
and sadness of it all. This should never be forgotten, neither should death be
spoken of as a friend. Rather, it is an enemy of humanity, and an enemy that
has been conquered by Christ and his resurrection.
However, in light of Christ and the
resurrection, we do read Ecclesiastes, as well as Proverbs and Job, in a
different way. We read the laments, as well as the editor’s admonitions to fear
God and keep the commandments, knowing that death does not have the last word.
We read Proverbs knowing that the blessings in store for us far outweigh the
earthly blessings promised there. This shapes the way we approach death in our
own lives and in those of our loved ones – we lament its presence with
Qoheleth, as it robs children of their mothers, husbands of their wives, and
friends of their friends. Yet we also approach it with the knowledge that it
has been defeated through Christ’s resurrection, and it will therefore not have
the last word with us. Let us therefore say with Qoheleth’s pious editor,
possessing in ourselves more knowledge as it has been revealed to us by God
through the Lord Jesus Christ, “Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this
is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with
every secret thing, whether good or evil.”
