We are at chapter three verse 9. The author repeats his theme of how burdensome life is. It is beautiful and eternal, yet unfathomable. "There is nothing better than to be happy and do good." It is a gift of god to be able to eat, drink, and be satisfied. Everything god does will endure forever, so that men will revere him. This author has a split personality. One half of him is a moaner, the other thinks life is grand.
Verse 15 is quite a cryptic piece of short poetry. "Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before, and god will call the past to account." The past appears to be responsible for the present and the future. Does that mean the present bears no responsibility for itself? Or is it like that idea that there is no present, the moment you think of it, it has already moved into the past. You could come up with some good sci-fi based on this verse. Unless, it is referring to the sins of the fathers, or even further back, the sins of Adam.
In verse 16, the author suddenly says, "I saw something else under the sun." This leads me to wonder if verses 3:1-16 were inserted into this book later than the surrounding text. They don't quite fit the style. What did he see? A place of judgment and justice. "Wickedness was there." (Hell?) Then he ties it into the previous poem about a time for everything, implying there will be a time for judgment.
Starting in verse 15, the author goes off on another tangent, saying god tests men just to see that they are like animals, breathing and dying. Man has no advantage over animals, so everything is meaningless. From dust they came, to dust they must go. Who knows if the spirit of man goes up and the spirit of animals go down? Indeed. Who knows? Since man can't see what will happen after him, he might as well enjoy his work, because that's what he's got. This is getting a bit tiresome.
We are now at chapter four. The author looks again and sees the oppressed. They have no comforter and power was on the side of the oppressors. Isn't that the truth. The author thinks the dead must be happier than the living, even better are the unborn. They haven't yet seen evil. This author is contemplating the problem of evil like many have before him.
Verse 4, "All labor and achievement springs from man's envy of his neighbor." That just not true. Many people achieve great things because their own natures impel them or compel them. They do it for love, for love of knowledge, for love of whatever talent they possess. Not all people are like the author of Ecclesiastes. He probably wasn't much fun to hang around with.
Verses 5 and 6 sound very much like typical proverbs. At verse seven, the author again sees something meaningless. It appears there is no end to meaninglessness. This time it is a person alone, without a son or brother, just working and working for himself and not enjoying his wealth. (Notice the companionship of a woman is not considered.) He wants to know why he is working so hard and not enjoying himself? Well, why is he? Surely he can do what he wants if he has the means. What's all the moaning about?
Verses 9-12 go on to extol the virtues of (male) companionship. With another person around, help is available for work and for times a hand is needed, human warmth on cold nights, and strength in numbers against attack.
So far, Ecclesiastes seems to be an anthology of sayings and poetry, brought together into some kind of order with a unifying theme of meaninglessness proposed between the various bits.
No comments:
Post a Comment