NOTES ON ECCLESIASTES

I like to use the Jewish Study Bible (JPS) when reading the Old Testament because the commentary is excellent and helps me to understand the interpretation of the ancient sages. I feel that understanding the ideas and thoughts of the Jewish people is important in understanding the New Testament. In fact the understanding of the New Testament is contingent upon an understanding of the Old.

When the Apostle Paul traveled on his missionary journeys he only used the Old Testament to teach about the Messiah, His death, and Resurrection. We tend to forget that in the 21st Century. If you can't convince anyone that Yeshua is the Messiah by only using the Old Testament your testimony is weak.

I present this study using the commentary from the JPS and some of my own thoughts. Get out your Bible and follow along.

1.1-2 – The word futility or vanity is used 38 times in this book. The literal meaning is: air, breath, something fleeting; without substance.

1.3-11 – Verses 4-8 give several examples of the ceaselessly circular movement (cycles) that governs all activity in the world. The passage of generations, cycle of the sun and moon, flow of water…there is no linear, goal oriented activity—it is all repeating cycles.

The implication is that nothing new under the sun occurs, nothing one can show for his toil, nothing to learn and to build on…it is just the same thing over and over. Today we would call this the “routine of daily life.”

Some ancient sages argued that this is a wrong-headed focus on daily activities at the expense of the spiritual dimension. They felt the phrase, “nothing new” contrasts the futile daily activity done “in place of spiritual activity of Torah study and correct living.”

1.12-18 – The writer aims to establish his preeminent ability to investigate wisdom over folly and madness by claiming the persona of Solomon. (Tradition credits Solomon with writing this book, many scholars do not think so.)

2.1-26 – Experiments with wisdom and the results

2.1-12 – The writer seeks to discover what, if anything, wisdom can yield. As a point of argument he declares life furnishes us with no enjoyment.

He acquires material property and wealth. It gives him momentary pleasure as “his portion” from his labor, but that was all he got out of it. The wealth has no lasting value for him—it will fall to an unknown successor.

2.13-16 – The 2^nd experiment is to determine if there is an advantage to wisdom over folly. In the writers view it does not—because the fate of both is the same—death. Death, he reasons, wipes out any advantage because both the wise and the foolish are equally soon forgotten.

2.17-23 – These negative conclusions are elaborated on.

2.24-26 – A Solution – The writer now proposes that it is God’s plan that one should at least enjoy the work while doing it—don’t worry about what comes later. This kind of enjoyment is an outgrowth of the wisdom and knowledge that together are God’s gift to someone He finds pleasing.

The one who displeases God (folly) will suffer the fated depicted in the experiments above—that God makes him focus on accumulating wealth only to see it handed over to another who pleases God.

3.1-8 – A World of Polarities – The polarities move across various kinds of human activities in this beautiful poem. Everything is arranged in pairs that are either constructive or destructive or the reverse.

Rabbinic commentary often tried to go beyond the contextual meaning of the pairs, which refer to universal human activities, to something more specific, such as the proper behavior of the nation of Israel. As an example, they took the meaning of throwing or gathering stones as the scattering of Israel and later ingathering of Israel.

3.9-22 – Reflection on the Polarities – the first comment questions whether there is any value, advantage, or profit, for a person’s labor. The question arises from the cycles described in verses 1-8. They suggest that life is an endless cycle of such actions, canceling or balancing each other out, and thus, leading to no goal or advantage.

3.10-15 – This cannot, however, be understood to deny that God is in control of everything. One part of this control is the fact that God puts eternity into human minds. This gives humans a sense that divine activity determines events beyond what they can see and understand—it defines the limits of our reason.

God, therefore, allows humans to enjoy their labor while they are doing it even if they gain no “advantage” while doing it. That sense of accomplishment is a “gift” from God.

3.16-17 – God’s control is further explored. His control is applied to a pair of opposites—wickedness and justice—both of which God allows to occur, each in its own time and season. Those who practice these opposites both eventually die.

3.18-22 – Now the writer pairs humans with animals. He is questioning if there is any difference between the fate of the two. The context in Hebrew is that some in the community may be asserting that there is an afterlife for humans but not for animals.

He contends that they both die and return to dust. (These are key verses in the study of the afterlife when we allow the Bible to interpret itself.) He does not deny that there may be more.

Ancient sages, in an attempt to harmonize these verses with the doctrine of an afterlife, used these verses to affirm an afterlife with God. The writer of Ecclesiastes says the best thing is to focus on enjoyment of what you have—your “portion” is the term he uses.

Verses 20-21, along with other Bible verses, indicate that man does have an afterlife while animals just go into the earth below and return to dust. (When doing a study on death and dying these are important verses when “allowing the Bible to interpret itself.”)

4.1-16 – Futility and Human Relationships – This chapter explores different types of human interactions and their consequences in five sections:

4.1-3 – The first is oppressor overwhelming the oppressed, a constant occurrence that makes death, or even not being born a better option. (See Eccl 9.4-6 for the opposite view.)

4.4-6 – The second is envy leading to futile labor.

4.7-8 – The third is that a person alone has no one to bequeath the fruits of his labor to.

4.9-12 – The fourth celebrates the advantage and reward of having companions. The strength of such relationships is compared to a threefold cord.

4.13-16 – The fifth shows that even a poor wise youth who succeeds over an old foolish king will not be remembered by the generations before (obviously), nor those still to come. As time passes all is forgotten.

4.17-5.6 – Responding properly to God – Warnings against behavior towards God and man.

4.17 – The unit begins here, mentioning false sacrifice which tries to cover up for sinful acts (Amos 5.21-24).

5.1-2 – Uncontrolled speech is foolishness compared to the virtue of silence—ancient sages compared this to excessively long prayers!

5.3-5 – As Yeshua said, “Let your no be no, and your yes be yes” do not make vows unto God unless you are going to keep them (Deut 23.22-24; Prov 20.25).

5.2, 6 – The reference to dreams in verse 2 show they are a form of divine communication. Verse 6 warns against undue reliance on dreams because they can be vague and misleading (cf. dreams of false prophets in Deut 13.2-6; Jeremiah 23.25-32; 27.9, 29.8; Zech 10.2). Many rely more on dreams then on the word of God as written…beware.

5.7-8 – These verses may be modeled on the actual system in place at the time written. The system serves justice because lower officials are watched over and corrected by the higher ranks. Ultimately, God is the final higher ranking authority. Verse 8 in the Hebrew is difficult. The emphasis may not be on owning land but on the enjoyment and value of toiling on the land (5.11, 17-18) The Biblical view is that we are stewards of the earth working for the Almighty.

5.9-20 – The problem of wealth and the solution – The main focus, the futility of accumulating wealth, stands in deliberated contrast with v 8, on the value of toil. Furthermore is the problem of accumulating money, which once acquired leaves on wanting more!

The value of toil is once again introduced. As elsewhere in the book, it is God who is said to preside over the whole matter. Now the focus is on God’s grant of the privilege of enjoying the wealth and goods the toil produces. This can easily be a spiritual lesson on serving God. The ancient rabbis added that God’s gift of enjoyment is for those who earn it by meritorious deeds and the blessings received.

6.1-12 – Again wealth, toil, and the meaning of life – Verses 1-6 – These first verses focus on the futility of accumulating wealth but with a sharper more negative twist—God can deny people the power to enjoy wealth. It can be given to someone outside the kin group of the owner who then takes the wealth away for themselves.

The writer sees this result for the ugly image of the stillborn, who is said to be more fortunate in his brief rest than the living victim who has lost all his toil. This pessimism continues in the chapter.

6.7-9 – Can a human ever find satisfaction in toil, and does it really make any difference to the wise, foolish, or poor? As Yeshua has said, "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Matt 8.36.

6.10-12 – These verses return to the earlier theme of time’s circularity and the lack of anything new. It concludes that human efforts are futile in the light of God’s power in this argument—what sense does life have? (These are the thoughts of a man lacking faith in God—we believe our steps are directed by God.)

Next: Chapters 7 through 12