Some Thoughts on Ecclesiastes – a short review
Some Thoughts on Ecclesiastes – a short review
May 28 2022
By AFBR
Right now, as I am reading through the Bible, Ecclesiastes is emerging as one of my favorite books. Moving through the Psalms and Proverbs, I found a lot of wishful thinking – the authors hoping that God will bring justice to the wicked and longing for God’s righteousness even in the face of hard facts that it just might not ever come; the authors concern for the needy and God’s protection of the innocent, even as the widow and orphan suffer and often die without any perceived justice. It seems that the writers of Ps and Pr are in denial about certain observed realities all around them.
But Ecclesiastes is different. The writer(s) of this work are keenly aware of several key tensions in the world of lived experience. One is the counter-pressures between vanity and futility on the one hand, and the assumption God is somehow in charge on the other.
The most dramatic tension of all – or the one I see on this reading, anyway – is the conflict and paradox between the value and pursuit of wisdom and the realization of the uselessness of this seeking when one realizes all men (humans) – the good and the evil alike – suffer the same fate in the end of life and go down to Sheol and are forgotten.
One passage that I think sums up Ecclesiastes is chapter 10, verses 13 – 18. I will quote it in full here.
“I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. There was a little city with few men in it; and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. But there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man. But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heeded.
The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.”
Here wisdom is both valuable (saved the city) and fleetingly delicate (as just one sinner can destroy it). Wisdom saves, but is not recognized; wisdom comes from the poor, but is not heeded.
In Ecclesiastes 1:18, we perhaps see the sharpest contrast between the wishful thinking of the Psalms and Proverbs writers and their themes and the more realistic and very often pessimistic view of the author(s) of this work. “For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.”
In Ec 8:16-17, even the writer(s) – the Preacher – doubts wisdom is attainable even for him, although he’s sought it all his life. According to him, we are all bound for Sheol – the evil and the good. But just maybe, wisdom can make a difference, however fleeting or fuzzy its application. Even the author(s) are conflicted about the possibility of attaining wisdom at all.