8/10/21 Ecclesiastes Study 3: overview

 I looked at the open-ended questions in Ecclesiastes (below). In fact, it was interesting to me that the questions Qoheleth asked are all in the first half of the book - another hint that he really does know the answers but wants to make us think about them!

• 1.3 What does man gain by all the toil    at which he toils under the sun?
• 1:10 Is there a thing of which it is said,    “See, this is new”?
• 2:12 For what can the man do who comes after the king?  
• 2:15 Then I said in my heart, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?”
• 2:18 I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, ¹⁹ and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? 
• 2:22 What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun?
• 3:9 What gain has the worker from his toil? 
• 3:21 Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth?  
• 4:8 For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” 
  
• 5:11 When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes?
• 5:12 As he came from his mother's womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. ¹⁶ This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind? 
• 6:8 For what advantage has the wise man over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living?  
• 6:11 The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man?  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? 

A modern paraphrase would be:

What is the point of all my effort in life?

What is that point of living the right way?

What is the point of accumulating material possessions?

What does it mean to have a good life?

What happens after I die?

 

1. Who is Qoheleth? Why should we listen to him? What qualities does he have? What about his qualities and actions should we share (and not share)?

What makes people's advice credible?

They are sincere in helping.

They are an acknowledged authority on the topic

They have authority over us

They have first-hand experience in the issue they are advising us on - the more experience, the better.

They take their own advice (their practice matches their words) 

The advice is logical

• Qoheleth has experience of power (1:2)
• He wanted to learn about life (1:12)
• He is someone wise and knowledgeable (1:16).
• He longed to know meaning in life (1:17).
• He sought out many experiences, all the while keeping his wisdom (1:4, 2:3). 
• He wanted to teach truth that would delight people (12:9-10)

 Qoheleth had a good attitude to understanding life's meaning.

 

We don't have to pursue every experience to know the futility of what Qoheleth did. Our minds may not always be able to 'guide us with wisdom' as we plunge into different situations ("I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil. Rom 16:19). We don't have to experience things in order to know about things.

We took an excursus into the Incarnation: Jesus had to be truly man, not only so that as man he could pay the price for our sin, but truly God, so that His sacrifice would be of infinite worth.

Is it true that we shouldn't know too much, since wisdom and knowledge just brings us more pain(1:16-17). Yet Jesus was the wisest and most knowledgeable person, and He was also "a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief".

2. The phrase "Vanity of vanities" or 'Meaningless" (Heb 'hebel') is used 38 times in Ecclesiastes. What does it tell us about life? In what sense is this true? 

 

The book  opens and closes with the assertion that our lives are meaningless and empty (1:2-3, 12:8)

•  History is a tired cycle that does not satisfy us (1:8)
• All our deeds have no significance because no one will remember them (1:11)
  
• Our physical life really does end in death for everyone - rich or poor, wise or unwise. (1:18, 2:13-17, 6:8, 9:3)
  
• We can't tell the future - good and bad to come is not within our control. (7:14)
  
• Good things happen to bad people, and bad things happen to good people (8:14, 9:11).
  
• We cannot fully enjoy the fruit of our labours, but others will enjoy them after us (2:18-21, 4:8)
• All our pleasures and creative efforts and material acquisitions are ultimately unsatisfying.
  

3. In what sense is it untrue? What makes life meaningful?

What is good? What is better? What is  important?

• Wisdom is better than folly (2:13, 4:13, 7:19, 25, 9:13-18)
  
• Enjoyment of life enabled by God is good (2:24-25, 3:22, 5:18-19, 8:15, 9:7-9, 11:9)
• Being joyful and to do good is good (2:12-13)
  
• Pleasing God is important (2:26)
• Fearing God means life will go well (8:12, 12:13)
• God will judge good and evil (12:14)