I wrote a few pages worth of notes on this wonderful book,
which I read every day, literally!,
but....
Perhaps...
Hmm...
Oh, and then...
And...
Alright,
I guesssssss....
what I really wanted to say was:
I'm always hearing people say "the point of the book is to show how our sole purpose is to live for God."
Oh. Em. Eff. Gee.
Let's see...
"The wise man has eyes in his head, while the fool walks in the darkness;See what it's saying?
but I came to realize that the same fate overtakes them both.""No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts
to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning.""What is twisted cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be
counted.""As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the
animals."
"He has set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God
has done from beginning to end."
"Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him
to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work--this is the gift of
God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied
with gladness of heart."
"Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart,
for it is now that God favors what you do. Always be clothed in white, and
always anoint your head with oil. Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all
the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun--all your
meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under
the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the
grave where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knwoledge
nor wisdom."
"For who knows what is good for a man in life, during the few and
meaningless days he passes through like a shadow?"
"There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: righteous men
who get what the wicked deserve, and wicked men who get what the righteous
deserve."
"The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food
come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time
and chance happen to them all."
"Give your portions to seven, yes to eight, for you do not know what
disaster may come upon the land... Whoever watches the wind will not plant;
whoever looks at the clouds will not reap."
"Since a king's word is supreme, who can say to him, "What are you doing?"
Whoever obeys his commands will come to no harm, and the wise heart will know
the proper time and procedure."
"Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the
animal goes down into the earth?"
It's saying we obey God because we have no idea what's gonna happen to us after we die, nor will we ever know.
It's saying we can't even know if everything he's saying is good and right and true.
It's saying we have no say in what happens to us. We obey a king because it would be stupid not to, and we obey God for the very same reason.
And aside from that,
It's saying there's not much to life, and we might as well do everything we can to make our lives amazing and not think about our meaninglessness.
"Living out our purpose as servants of God"?
Oh my god.
Get this: he never even uses the word "God" in the Hebrew manuscripts. He uses "ha-elohim." That's "the god."
If there was a single purpose the book serves, it's to make all these non-Christians realize how utterly pointless their lives all are, to give them a desire for transcendence above it all.
In fact, if I could rearrange the Bible, it would be the first book.
"Welcome! to the word of God! & Here's what God has to say about your life!"
Wonderful, right?
interesting take...
ReplyDeleteone thing though
"If there was a single purpose the book serves, it's to make all these non-Christians realize how utterly pointless their lives all are, to give them a desire for transcendence above it all."
this book was probably written (in my opinion) by a non Jew (due to the lack of YHWH)who tried to simulate solomon
ths speaker was said to be the "son of david king of israel," and had "much wealth.." etc
i think he tried to present himself as solomon for two reasons
1. solomon was regarded (esp by the jews) as very wise, if not the wisest man (not sure if this belief is unique to christianity)
2. this work was a work of wisdom literature
mainly because this book was written by either solomon himself or someone pretending to be solomon (either for the benefit of readers or to trick them)-- the intended audience was probably israel -- the people who would hold solomon in the highest regard
because (i think) eccle was written for the jews, i think your statement that it was used to show non jews the depravity of life to be wrong
i believe that this book was written to jews (and christians now) as a reminder to enjoy life even though they know, in the end, this life on this earth is short and meaningless in the light of eternal life
"Always be clothed in white, and
always anoint your head with oil. Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all
the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun--all your
meaningless days. "
either that or it was written as a reminder for the jews to remain faithful even if they are confused at the futility of life? <--not so sure here....
eh, i dont think youll actually read this comment, but if you do respond, ill try to carry on a meaningful dialogue (try)
oh, wonderful! oh, i've read it!
ReplyDeleteand i definitely think you're right about the audience thing. i didn't mean to imply that the book was written to non-Christians...
I meant something more like "if there's a single purpose a book like this serves in a collection like the Bible."
and then... actually... i think you might be right about the remaining faithful ness...
i reread the book again today... i do get really confused near the end. i'm thinking perhaps the Teacher advises the reader to remember his Creator because it could give the reader some meaning to his or her life. Perhaps the Teacher recognizes that if the god was all-loving and all-righteous, he would have it all worked out after their deaths and "bring every deed into judgment."
But if you look at that in light of the previous chapters, the clash is disturbing...
Ah, i really don't get the final chapter...
your thoughts, please! logic is my weakness...
I'm no scholar myself..I'll try though
ReplyDeleteThe last chapter...I think that it serves two purposes:
1. it is the Preacher's final call final plea to the congregation
"Remember your Creator in your youth, before the difficult days come."
"Vanity of vanities, all is vanity"
Now I may be wrong, but I think that, since these two verses frame a big section of the chapter, they tie everything together.
The Preacher calls on the congregation to remember the Creator in your youthful days (ie. your good days, when you don't have many responsibilities) before the difficult times come (ie. trials, etc -- so that your faith will not be shaken)
if you do not have faith and remember Him in your good days, it is hard to turn to an "all-loving God" in your hard days, because it becomes just so hard to believe that he is an "all loving God"
kinda get what i think im saying?
and the tie-in:
remember God in your good days, but remember also that all that is on earth is vanity--kinda like, because of sin, we see the world through a tainted lens.
Our good days are but a reflection of the glory that is to come, and thus, we must remember God and trust him (? i feel like im making no sense...)
In the end, however, "all is vanity" because our bodies are not permanent, rather the spirit "will return to God (god) who gave it (v7)"
and the second point of the chapter is in the last two verses
It is to summarize man's chief point : "to Fear God and keep the commandments" -- this is again a call to believers to acknowledge the supremacy of God in life and to persevere through this world
last point will come in another post
last sentence
ReplyDelete"for God will bring every work into judgment...etc"
These final words are just saying
in addition to the rest of the book
that life on earth here is really futile, and that you should eat drink be merry and all that (in earlier chapters), to to do all of that knowing that this is still God's world that we all live in
and that if we choose to do what we do, we have to know that there will be consequences in the next life (not saying this is works for salvation and all that)...
lastly, i think this book may be an apologetic book, but one that is aimed at christians-- to expose the futility of life outside of God's plan
(to be honest im not sure if my logic is any good...) >.<
if anyone else reads this and wants to add anything, please do..
i'm thinking... i haven't replied in some time. my motivation to write anything is completely dead at this point.
ReplyDeleteoh, but i really, really like your conclusion about the remembering God! That's brilliant!
i like it! but a role as an apologetics book...
why does he say "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the
grave where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge
nor wisdom"? Why doesn't he distinguish between the believer and unbeliever in his mention of the spirit returning to God, or how the dead have nothing and know nothing. His final plea to remember God isn't explicitly tied to any escape from this.
Like... its role in the Bible might be as an apologetic book for Christians, but it doesn't seem like this was the author's original intent. If you just read it, it seems to be saying "everything, be it spiritual or physical, is meaningless, because you die in the end." (totally could be wrong about this, but that's what I'm getting, with his mention of Sheol for everyone, even the righteous--though I realize righteous and believer aren't synonymous)
I'm really having troubles with how he didn't explicitly mention a rewarding afterlife for the believer. I'd think the book would be very misleading for believers if I were the author.
I really like your consequences point, by the way, and then the part about the remembering of God in your good days... brilliant...
See, I'm not drawing a whole lot of conclusions. I'm not too good at doing that, especially at this hour...my eyes hurt