CHAPTER 7
For me, Ecclesiastes peaks early. The second half isn’t bad, but all its
greatest moments are in the rearview mirror.
Take Chapter 7, for instance. It starts off really gloomy, telling us that
it’s better to go into a house of mourning than one feasting and that sorrow is
better than laughter. Huh? Is this the same guy who earlier was (and
later will) counsel us to enjoy life when we can. I don’t quite get this part. Oh, I understand the sentences, but I don’t
see how it fits in this guy’s worldview.
But he goes on, and sounds more like himself later on. He tells us, “Who can make straight what God
has made crooked? One a good day, enjoy
good things and on an evil day consider: Both the one and the other God has
made, so that no one may find the least fault with him.” Basically, this sounds like a defeatist
version of the serenity prayer. Lord
help me to change the things I can change, accept the ones I can’t, and the
ability to tell the two apart.
Here? We’re being told that when
in doubt – assume we can’t change. Just
accept life as it is.
While I earlier made a big comparison between this book and
Buddhism, this sounds more Daoist. That
was a folk religion in China that was often the wisdom and religion of the
dispossessed. The poor farmers couldn’t
change things, and Daoism counseled them to just go with the flow and not fight
against the way of life. This is saying
something similar.
One theory is that this book was written at a time when the
Jews were under strong foreign domination and unable to control their own
affairs. Yeah, I can see that. These views do come through in this book.
We’re then given some practical advice. Don’t give your heart to every word you’ve
spoken. There are sometimes wicked
people up high.
Oh, and then it ends on a note of sexism. We’re told that few men are wise, but no
women are. Yeah, that puts a damper on
my typical good feelings for this book.
CHAPTER 8
Again, we’re given more wisdom of the dispossessed. When you’re given a command, follow
along. You can’t fight against it and
the king has the power. Please note that
this book has a very bleak attitude towards people in power, so following
orders in this book means following bad orders.
This is the logic and philosophy of a survivor. This is very much the anti-martyr philosophy.
Oh, and I really like this line: “Because the sentence
against an evil deed is not promptly executed the human heart is filled with
the desire to commit evil.” Yeah,
doesn’t that drive us all up the wall and encourage us to do something we
otherwise wouldn’t?
Then the book flips around the notion of God being
unknowable. We already learned that from
Job, but here we’re told that since he’s unknowable, you may as well follow the
edicts listed here in this book. The
world isn’t pure so don’t be pure yourself.
CHAPTER 9
By this time, the book has already made its points. It’s just elaborating. Really, it’s just reinforcing – by which I’m
mean repeating, but I’m trying to sound nice about it.
There are some more good lines in it: “As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner.” Yup, as was in Job, the world isn’t a moral wonderland. The bad guys don’t always get theirs.
Later, we get this nice bit: “the race is not won by the
swift, nor the battle by the valiant, nor a livelihood by the wise, nor riches
by the shrewd, nor favor by the experts; for a time misfortune comes to all
alike.” Huh. I’ve heard that “the race is not won by the
swift” line, but usually its used to mean something else. Usually it means you should pace
yourself. Here it means we’re all
doomed.
CHAPTER 10
No one knows when evil may come to you. You’ll never know what day your number is
up. So keep your head down and don’t
cause any problems. This is very Daoist;
very much the philosophy of the dispossessed.
We’re told not to curse the bad rulers even to yourself in your
bathroom, for if you do the birds might here and tell the kings.
Yeah, that’s bleak.
Yeah, that’s dispossessed. I’m
also reminded of a machine politics town like Chicago. Don’t mess with the machine, just do your
part. Don’t make no waves, don’t back no
losers – just go along to get along.
CHAPTER 11
This is similar to the last chapter. It says you’ll never know what day good will
come to you. But while that sounds more
upbeat, the point is still the same.
CHAPTER 12
We get a poem that ends as the book began: “Vanity of
vanities, says Qoheleth, all things are vanity!”
We get a brief epilogue, in which we’re told to fear God and
follow his commandments. That’s nice,
but while it doesn’t necessarily go against the book, it sounds a little like
something tacked on. I wonder if someone
else put it in after the original writer was done. It reads like the “all things are vanity”
line should’ve been how it ended. It was
circular with the beginning and thematically in place. But that’s a downer ending, so insert this bit
about fearing God.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
Yeah, I really like this one. This is one of my favorite Bible books. But it probably isn’t my favorite
overall.
It’s great and I really like it, but it runs out of
steam. Even though it’s only 12 chapters
long, I get a lot – a tremendous amount – out of the first handful of
chapters. I really like the distinctive
voice. I like the philosophy which veers
away from much of the Bible and goes toward Buddhism and Daoism. But then it keeps going.
But this is one of my favorites.
For simplicity's sake, I've put my comments on this post and the previous post here.
ReplyDeleteHe claims to be Solomon, but it’s pretty clear that’s a bunch of bunk.
I'm not so sure. Look at the things that the speaker decries as useless in the end: money and wisdom. Who in the Bible is more associated with money and wisdom than Solomon? So who would best know that having all the money in the world and all the wisdom any man can imagine is really meaningless than Solomon? You can even throw hedonism into that mix; after all, who had more wives and concubines than Solomon?
By and large I’ve liked the Bible I’ve been using. By and large it’s worked well, because as near as I can tell it’s trying to keep its translations as close to the original as it can. But this is one time I think I prefer the traditional translation. A chase after wind? How about “grasping for the wind.” That’s more evocative.
Personally, I prefer "trying to catch the wind."
Oh, and as long as we're discussing song lyrics, "Turn! Turn! Turn!", while a hit for the Byrds, was written by Pete Seeger.
From what I know, Ecclesiastes is often considered to be a ringer. It’s a book included in the Bible that purely on points probably doesn’t belong.
Actually, Ecclesiastes is the Old Testament book designed to show that if there is no afterlife, that is, if this life is all there is, then it's all useless. Even if you are the lucky guy who lives the life where you have all the money, and have all the women, and have all the wisdom (you know, like Solomon) in the end it means nothing; because you'll be dead soon, and as the book tells us, you'll be dead far, far longer than you will be alive.
This is a short chapter [Chapter 6] (just 12 verses), and I’m not sure I fully get it. Essentially, he says there is another big evil out there: some people has great riches and property and honor, but is not able to partake of them. Instead a stranger devours them. I wonder what he’s talking about?
The stranger is the rich man's descendant. The rich man (like, say, Solomon) accumulates a great deal of wealth, but the one who ultimately gets to spend it will be his relative(s) who come(s) after him, a person or group whom the rich man doesn't really know and possibly never even got to meet (as they were born after the rich man's demise).
Oh, and then it ends on a note of sexism. We’re told that few men are wise, but no women are. Yeah, that puts a damper on my typical good feelings for this book.
Well, in fairness to the author whom you're sure is not Solomon, if you surround yourself with over a thousand gold diggers, you tend to get a rather distorted view of the opposite sex.
Later, we get this nice bit: “the race is not won by the swift, nor the battle by the valiant, nor a livelihood by the wise, nor riches by the shrewd, nor favor by the experts; for a time misfortune comes to all alike.” Huh. I’ve heard that “the race is not won by the swift” line, but usually its used to mean something else. Usually it means you should pace yourself. Here it means we’re all doomed.
Damon Runyon co-opted this line and used it with a twist: "The race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong, but that's the way to bet." Words to live by.
We get a brief epilogue, in which we’re told to fear God and follow his commandments. That’s nice, but while it doesn’t necessarily go against the book, it sounds a little like something tacked on. I wonder if someone else put it in after the original writer was done.
If (as I see it) the point of the book is to demonstrate how meaningless this life is if this life is all there is, than the closing verses' admonition to obey God fits; because the author is saying that in the end that's the only thing that truly matters (not wealth or wisdom or anything else), and that's how one's life will be judged.
Peace and Love,
Jimbo
Yeah ... I think that's just plain crazy talk. I can't imagine this being Solomon. It doesn't sound like anyone with power. I can't imagine this author writing anything else in the Bible. The voice is just too singular, distinctive, and unique.
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