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Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes is perhaps the most negative book in the Bible; "We get there a clear, cold picture of man's life without God." [2] An alternative view is "Ecclesiastes is better understood as an extended plea for God's mercy." [3] It is the musings of someone who searches after deep wisdom, but concludes that it is better to just get on with life and mind one's own business.

Ecclesiastes is read in synagogues at the Feast of Tabernacles.

The book frequently declares "all is vanity". Perhaps he means that the earthly things which we hold important prove ephemeral in the long term.

Commentary

3:1–8

cf. Matthew 9:14–15 and parallels. See also Appendix 2 Time.

3:19–21

Humans are called to be "a little lower than the angels" (Hebrews 2:7) but tend to fail to achieve that calling, behaving instead like animals.

4:5–6

These two verses recommend a sensible "work/life balance"; neither too little work, nor too much.

5:2

cf. Matthew 6:7.

6:6

Here is the reason for the depressing tone of chapters 1–8: if all people have the same fate whatever they do during their life, there is no point in striving for anything. That would be logical if it was based on a correct understanding of the facts. The idea recurs in chapter 9 verse 2–3 but thereafter he begins to find cause for hope. Christians could find it in Luke 16:26, for example.

7

These verses may have inspired Jesus's Beatitudes in Matthew 5:3–11.

9:2–3

See comment on Ecclesiastes 6:6.

9:3–7

We should not take this life too seriously.[1] cf. Romans 8:18.

11:1

"The Preacher" recommends diversifying your business, particularly through international trade, and acquiring friends through generosity. That is what the unjust steward did in Luke 16:1–13.

This verse echoes Proverbs 26:26–28 which agrees that our deeds affect our future; here the context is about generosity but in Proverbs it is about honesty.

Passages elsewhere in the Bible echo the principle that God rewards generosity; see Matthew 5:7 in the Beatitudes, Matthew 7:1–2, and St Paul encouraging almsgiving in a long argument culminating in 2 Corinthians 9:6.

12

This chapter appears to be a series of metaphors for old age; for instance, the few grinders are an incomplete set of teeth.

cf. Genesis 2:7.

12:13

cf. Jesus's Summary of the Law in Matthew 22:37–40.

References:

  1. Naomi Starkey writing in New Daylight 1 July 2008
  2. C S Lewis Reflections on the Psalms page 96
  3. David Runcorn writing in New Daylight 27 September 2022

© David Billin 2002–2024