THE BIBLE – OLD TESTAMENT – BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES

One of the shortest and most pessimistic books in the Bible, reflecting on the life of mankind in this World amounting to nothing.

Presented by a narrator known as Qoholet, translated as ‘Preacher’, and claiming to be a son of King David. Ecclesiastes returns over and over to the emptiness, bleakness and meaninglessness of life. He advocates a simple way of hedonism, eating, drinking, etc, though not forgetting to respect God.

Its undiluted pessimism upsets many theologians and it was long considered apocryphal, non-canonical for its tone. The title has sometimes been translated as ‘A Secular Gathering’, referring to its groupings of aspects of a material life, if not its glaring aura of agnosticism.

Chapter One

Verse 1 introduces the author.

Verse 2 –states several times, as with the rest of the book, that ‘all is vanity’ That is, everything is done in vain, rather than vanity as self-pride. The Preacher sees all human endeavour as pointless. While the Earth and Sun are there for a long time, and have been for many years before, human life is fleeting.

Verse 8 “The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.” Nothing can ultimately satisfy us. Everything leaves us wanting more and never being able to settle for what we have.

Verse 9 is one of the most quoted lines in the book. “And there is no new thing under the sun.”

Verse 12 – It’s not like the Preacher has had a particularly bad life. He tells us he is a former king of Israel. How he lost his crown is not stated.

He wonders whether there is any point to any of life. He considers himself wise, but regrets that wisdom has not brought him joy.

Chapter Two

The Preacher King reflects on his achievements. He built a city, and planted vineyards. He drank, and pursued laughter, but ultimately he remained gloomy and melancholic.

He then moved from hedonism to pursue industry and labour, losing himself in work, but again without feeling any satisfaction from life.

He sought philosophy and wisdom but felt no happier than if he had stayed naïve, ignorant and foolish. Verse 16 “And how dieth the wise man? As the fool.” Intelligence means nothing in a World where all must die. Death makes us all equal. This may well have influenced Shakespeare in the writing of Hamlet.

Verse 17 has the Preacher go as far as to declare that he hates his life altogether. By Verse 24, he has returned to pursuit of hedonistic merriment

Chapter Three

A popular song, Turn Turn Turn, written by Pete Segar in 1959, and later recorded more successfully by the Byrds, in 1965, uses many lines from the Book Of Ecclesiastes. Most of its lines are in this chapter.

The chapter sets a time to all things, from sowing and reaping harvests, to birth, marriage, death, the cycle of seasons, the hours of the Sun, Moon, etc. He goes on to suggest that as God gives us the means to find pleasure in fine wines, foods, etc, we should make the best of it for the time of such happiness is brief. He sees all as pre-ordained. Nothing can be changed by good or evil intentions or actions. God already knows it all, past, present and future. Verse 15 “That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.”

Verse 19 – We are no better than animals, and as they must die, so must humans. “For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts.”

Now the Preacher gets very atheistic and seems to question all hope of any afterlife. Verse 20 “All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.” We die. End of.

Verse 21. His scepticism is particularly strong in the following line. “Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?” The question is its own answer. The Preacher is saying that no one goes to any kind of Heaven or Hell. He is effectively challenging anyone to demonstrate otherwise for him. He sees no empirical evidence for belief in Heaven or Hell or soul survival.

Chapter Four

The Preacher praises love and friendship as someone can help if their friends stumble. Few will attack a man who’s friends are there for his defence. If cold, people can huddle together for warmth.

Chapter Five

Here the Preacher advises minimal involvement in the making of business decisions, and taking on mighty tasks. He advises against making vows and promises, as they are difficult to keep, as well as binding. He advises against sermonizing, and sees only fools as eager to speak on all matters. He advises against setting too much store by dreams and visions, as they are open to multiple interpretations. Verse 7 “For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities.” This is quite a bold inclusion in the Bible where so many prophets, like Ezekiel, set great store by their dream visions.

He opposes the keeping of riches by the rich, who don’t spend or circulate their money enabling the poor to benefit from the pleasures they can buy to take their minds of the bleakness of their life and certainty of death. The Preacher comes across as Humanistic, Humanitarian and a socialist.

Chapter Six

A long life proves nothing; so living beyond a hundred is just additional years of suffering and vain effort in life.

Chapter Seven

A more puritanical verse, and in some contrariness from what went before, suggesting insertion by a different author, or translator. Here The Preacher says it is better to mourn than to feast, (Verse 2), and that (Verse 3) “Sorrow is better than laughter.” He recognises that no man is free of sin. (Verse 20)

The Preacher has sought relationships with women, but found himself ensnared in their hands. He seems embittered about this. Verse 26 “And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets.” He says God is the one man he can love with all due trust.

Chapter Eight

A lamentation about all the evil in the World, and why someone who commits evil once can be left unchallenged, free to do evil a hundred times more. This seems to be a direct criticism of God and those who see God as just and fair. The Preacher is effectively accusing God of not intervening to protect the good and just from those who do them evil.

Chapter Nine

The Preacher praises life over death for all life’s suffering. Verse 4 “for a living dog is better than a dead lion.” No matter how much we despair at life, we should be glad we are at least alive. He advocates living each day as if it was our last as death could strike at anytime.

He tells of a famous, but un-named King who fought a mighty war against an un-named city, outnumbering its forces considerably. He is defeated by a minor citizen having a bold idea, and laments that while everyone remembers the king and the city, no one remembers the hero who saved them all. Life is seen as unjust.

Chapter Ten

The fly spoils the ointment we are told at the start of this chapter, (Verse 1). It takes little to ruin the greatness of the good. A snake could be behind any hedge waiting to bite us. He tells of Princes reduced to walking, while the servants who overthrew them take their wealth. Even our houses eventually fall down.

Chapter 11

This chapter gets close to a Karmic sense of law where we reap what we sow. Our deeds come back upon us. Verse 1 “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.” Clouds rain on us. Trees that fall stay fallen. Youth gives way quickly to old age. Again, as many times in Ecclesiastes we are reminded that all in our lives is “vanity.”

Chapter 12

Again a sense of an intrusive change of author / translator as here alone the prospect of the spirit separating from the dead flesh is presented. Verse 7 “and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” In fact, for the first time, The Preacher is referred to posthumously, in the third person in the short concluding chapter, which reminds us to fear God.

A highly secular downbeat Bible book unlike any other, dark, negative and uncompromisingly gloomy. No wonder many theologians feel uncomfortable reading this part of their Bibles. I love it. Ecclesiastes is richly poetic and daring material – my favourite part of the Bible, Old Testament or New, a book even an atheist can appreciate.

Text from the King James edition - http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bible,_King_James,_Ecclesiastes

Wikipedia page on Pete Seger’s song, Turn Turn Turn. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turn!_Turn!_Turn!

Arthur Chappell.

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