We continue on with the mentions of heaven in the Old Testament. They are still all the same Hebrew root, shameh, which refers to all the space above us, the atmosphere and outer space. This same word is also referred to as god's dwelling place.
In 1 Kings chapter 8, Solomon prays to Yahweh in heaven above. He has built yahweh a temple and it is being dedicated. Solomon acknowledges that god won't really dwell on earth because even the highest heaven cannot contain him. Nevertheless, Solomon asks yahweh to hear the prayers of the people from his dwelling place in heaven. He wants Yahweh to watch over them from heaven. This is the same heaven that Solomon says is shut up when there is no rain. For Solomon, yahweh is in the same place that the rains come from.
In 1 Kings 22:19, we can read a passage about the "hosts of heaven." The prophet Micaiah is telling Ahab the king of Israel that "I saw the lord sitting on his throne with all the hosts of heaven standing around him on his right and on his left." Then Yahweh speaks to the hosts and asks them which one of them will entice Ahab into a war where he will be killed. One of the spirits comes forward and volunteers for the job of being a lying spirit in the mouths of the king's prophets. This conversation supposedly happened in the same heaven that is the space above the earth. Apparently there is a throne and a bunch of spirits up there, besides yahweh. Just how crowded is heaven?
In 2 Kings, fire comes down from heaven, Elijah goes up to heaven in a whirlwind, and the stars of heaven were worshipped by Ahab. It was all the same heaven. The same heaven is in 1st and 2nd Chronicles, and Ezra. In Nehemiah, 9:6, the multitudes of heaven worship Yahweh. In Esther, heaven is conspicuously absent.
In Job 11:8, the mysteries of god are higher than the heavens. In 16:19, Job says he has a witness in heaven. In 22:12, god is said to be in the heights of heaven. In 26:11, the pillars of heaven tremble at gods rebuke. Just to show you that the bible translators know the word heaven is the same as the sky, look at verse 35:11 which talks about "the birds of the air." That word translated as air is the same word, shameh. In the KJV, that very verse says "the fowls of heaven" instead.
Now we move on to Psalms 11:4, which says Yahweh is on his heavenly throne. In 14:2, Yahweh looks down from heaven on the sons of men. In 20:6, he answers his anointed from his holy heaven. In 78:23-26, "he gave a command to the skies above and opened the doors of the heavens. He rained down manna for the people to eat, he gave them the grain of heaven. Men ate the bread of angels; he sent them all the food they could eat. He let loose the east wind from the heavens...he rained down meat on them like dust..." Angels have bread! In 89:5-7, we read "the heavens praise your wonders o lord, your faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones. (Yahweh is not the only one up there.) For who in the skies above can compare with the lord? Who is like the lord among the heavenLy beings? In the council of the holy ones, god is greatly feared; he is more awesome than all who surround him." Fascinating stuff.
Psalm 113 places yahweh even higher than the sky. It says "...his glory is above the heavens. Who is like the lord our god, the one who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth." That's really high!
Thursday, October 18, 2018
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
Heaven
I've already covered the topic of hell, so I thought we would do a survey of heaven in the bible. According to Bible Gateway, there are 622 times heaven/ heavens is used in the NIV, 691 in the KJV. It's important to note that it is probable that most of the instances are referring to the area above the earth, the atmosphere, or space. Sometimes that is indistinguishable from the residence of Yahweh.
Strong's concordance shows that through most of the old testament one single Hebrew word is translated into the English word heaven, most of the time. It is the word Shameh, which is defined as pertaining to the sky or the invisible arch in which the clouds move, as well as to the higher "ether" where the celestial bodies (planets) revolve.
This same heaven is the one created by god in Genesis, the one that contains the stars. This is the same heaven that let loose the flood waters that carried the ark. This same heaven is the one that rained fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah. This is the same heaven from which god spoke to Abraham. This is the same heaven to which Jacob's dream ladder reached. This is the same heaven that holds the stars and the dew. It's all the same word. There is no differentiation between the sky/upper atmosphere and the realm of god in the whole book of Genesis.
In Exodus, god talks to Moses from heaven. He sends manna to the Israelites from heaven. In Deuteronomy, god lives in heaven (the sky) and on earth. He speaks from heaven. Smoke and fire goes up to heaven. Rain comes down from heaven, etc. It's all one and the same heaven.
In Joshua, the lord threw stones down from heaven and the sun stood still in heaven. In Samuel, the lord thunders from the same heaven.
More to come.
Strong's concordance shows that through most of the old testament one single Hebrew word is translated into the English word heaven, most of the time. It is the word Shameh, which is defined as pertaining to the sky or the invisible arch in which the clouds move, as well as to the higher "ether" where the celestial bodies (planets) revolve.
This same heaven is the one created by god in Genesis, the one that contains the stars. This is the same heaven that let loose the flood waters that carried the ark. This same heaven is the one that rained fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah. This is the same heaven from which god spoke to Abraham. This is the same heaven to which Jacob's dream ladder reached. This is the same heaven that holds the stars and the dew. It's all the same word. There is no differentiation between the sky/upper atmosphere and the realm of god in the whole book of Genesis.
In Exodus, god talks to Moses from heaven. He sends manna to the Israelites from heaven. In Deuteronomy, god lives in heaven (the sky) and on earth. He speaks from heaven. Smoke and fire goes up to heaven. Rain comes down from heaven, etc. It's all one and the same heaven.
In Joshua, the lord threw stones down from heaven and the sun stood still in heaven. In Samuel, the lord thunders from the same heaven.
More to come.
Wednesday, October 10, 2018
Ecclesiastes wrap up
It seems clear to me that Ecclesiastes is not the cohesive writing of one person. It appears to be much like proverbs, with a variety of adages, saws, and sayings, some in poetic form, cobbled together with a poor attempt to create a unifying theme. Perhaps, at one time its core was simpler and made more topical sense. Then, some person, or persons, stuck in what they considered to be relevant at the time.
Is life meaningless or hopeful? Who lives longer, the wise man or the wicked? Does it even matter if you are wise or wicked? Who is better off, the living or the dead? Is our labor for nothing, or should we find satisfaction in it? It seems to depend on what verse you are reading.
As for doctrine, we find no heaven or hell, no reference to angels or demons or Satan, no miracles, and no prophecy of a messiah. The book does not claim to be inspired or the words of a god. It also does not mention any Old Testament people, places, or events. There was one reference to the Genesis creation of man, at the end of the book. The god spoken of in Ecclesiastes is not called Yahweh, but Elohim, the collective singular "the gods." This leads me to wonder if it is older tan the yahweh texts. At the end we do get a reference to judgment, but it was obviously added on and the form judgment takes is unclear.
There seem to be a battle in the text between the ideas that 1) There is nothing new under the sun,every single thing is meaningless, all effort is for nothing in the end, even trying to be wise, and 2) you can be happy in this life if you are god-fearing and get joy in eating, drinking, and finding satisfaction in your work. Are they mutually exclusive? The god-fearing appears unnecessary to me, but number two gives us a more pleasant approach to life, even though I think happiness is a bit more complicated than that.
The "grave" mentioned in verse 9:10 is actually Sheol, which we have covered before. If you are new to the blog, click on the word sheol in the labels of this post to see more on that.
I found the book mostly boring and redundant, with a few interesting bits, especially the poetic description of old age.
What shall we do next?
As a reminder: I use the NIV for most scripture references, except when noted. The readings are generally taken at face value as much as possible, which is called a "plain reading." This is in the protestant tradition which teaches that each believer can study for themselves and understand what god wants them to know, without the necessity of an intermediary interpreting it for them. The church is supposed to be a priesthood of believers. Each person is supposedly given discernment by the holy spirit. This does not keep any or all from giving their own interpretation of what they read to others, and insisting that theirs is the correct one. I'm not doing anything different, I just don't believe any of it.
I also occasionally look at how a plain reading in modern language compares with original meanings found in Strong's concordance and interlinear scripture translations, found in the biblehub website. In addition, I use Wikipedia as a general reference. It is good enough for general purposes. If I need to go in more depth, I try to find reliable sources by experts in their field. All opinions are my own and the words are original to me unless I reference someone else. However, I may have been influenced by those whose works I have read or listened to.
Is life meaningless or hopeful? Who lives longer, the wise man or the wicked? Does it even matter if you are wise or wicked? Who is better off, the living or the dead? Is our labor for nothing, or should we find satisfaction in it? It seems to depend on what verse you are reading.
As for doctrine, we find no heaven or hell, no reference to angels or demons or Satan, no miracles, and no prophecy of a messiah. The book does not claim to be inspired or the words of a god. It also does not mention any Old Testament people, places, or events. There was one reference to the Genesis creation of man, at the end of the book. The god spoken of in Ecclesiastes is not called Yahweh, but Elohim, the collective singular "the gods." This leads me to wonder if it is older tan the yahweh texts. At the end we do get a reference to judgment, but it was obviously added on and the form judgment takes is unclear.
There seem to be a battle in the text between the ideas that 1) There is nothing new under the sun,every single thing is meaningless, all effort is for nothing in the end, even trying to be wise, and 2) you can be happy in this life if you are god-fearing and get joy in eating, drinking, and finding satisfaction in your work. Are they mutually exclusive? The god-fearing appears unnecessary to me, but number two gives us a more pleasant approach to life, even though I think happiness is a bit more complicated than that.
The "grave" mentioned in verse 9:10 is actually Sheol, which we have covered before. If you are new to the blog, click on the word sheol in the labels of this post to see more on that.
I found the book mostly boring and redundant, with a few interesting bits, especially the poetic description of old age.
What shall we do next?
As a reminder: I use the NIV for most scripture references, except when noted. The readings are generally taken at face value as much as possible, which is called a "plain reading." This is in the protestant tradition which teaches that each believer can study for themselves and understand what god wants them to know, without the necessity of an intermediary interpreting it for them. The church is supposed to be a priesthood of believers. Each person is supposedly given discernment by the holy spirit. This does not keep any or all from giving their own interpretation of what they read to others, and insisting that theirs is the correct one. I'm not doing anything different, I just don't believe any of it.
I also occasionally look at how a plain reading in modern language compares with original meanings found in Strong's concordance and interlinear scripture translations, found in the biblehub website. In addition, I use Wikipedia as a general reference. It is good enough for general purposes. If I need to go in more depth, I try to find reliable sources by experts in their field. All opinions are my own and the words are original to me unless I reference someone else. However, I may have been influenced by those whose works I have read or listened to.
Tuesday, October 9, 2018
Ecclesiastes part twelve
We are now in chapter twelve, the last chapter. Verses 1-7 are a poem with the theme that you should remember your creator (presumably yahweh) in the days of your youth, before the troubles of old age creep up on you. The signs of aging are described in imaginative metaphors. They cover vision loss, muscle weakness, deterioration of posture, loss of teeth, loss of hearing, fear of heights, fear of dangers, white hair, loss of libido, and death. Death is given multiple metaphors: cords severed, bowls and pitchers and wheels broken. You should read it, it's quite amusing.
Then, after death, "the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to god who gave it." This is a clear reference to the book of Genesis where god makes man out of the dust of the ground and breaths into him the breath of life. The "spirit" in this verse is not equivalent to a soul, or personal essence, but is referring to the breath, without which one is dead. God gave the breath, god takes it back when you are done with it. This poem is definitely of Jewish origin.
After the poem, "the teacher" again tells us that everything is meaningless. Three times.
From verses 9-14, we get a conclusion by someone who is not the teacher. After singing the teacher's praises and telling us how hard the teacher worked to find just the right words, the author tells us the collected words of the wise came from one shepherd, and the reader is to beware of anything in addition to them. This is one way the writers of the scriptures have tried to ensure the continuity and uniformity of believers, forbid them to read anything else.
Last of all, we are told that the whole duty of man is to fear god and keep his commandments. "For god will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil." That was obviously written by a different person than the one who wrote the first few chapters of Ecclesiastes. What is this judgment spoken of here? Before, the author moaned because everyone had the same end fate, both the wise and the wicked. There was no judgment, that's what he was complaining about. That's why he thought everything was meaningless.
Then, after death, "the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to god who gave it." This is a clear reference to the book of Genesis where god makes man out of the dust of the ground and breaths into him the breath of life. The "spirit" in this verse is not equivalent to a soul, or personal essence, but is referring to the breath, without which one is dead. God gave the breath, god takes it back when you are done with it. This poem is definitely of Jewish origin.
After the poem, "the teacher" again tells us that everything is meaningless. Three times.
From verses 9-14, we get a conclusion by someone who is not the teacher. After singing the teacher's praises and telling us how hard the teacher worked to find just the right words, the author tells us the collected words of the wise came from one shepherd, and the reader is to beware of anything in addition to them. This is one way the writers of the scriptures have tried to ensure the continuity and uniformity of believers, forbid them to read anything else.
Last of all, we are told that the whole duty of man is to fear god and keep his commandments. "For god will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil." That was obviously written by a different person than the one who wrote the first few chapters of Ecclesiastes. What is this judgment spoken of here? Before, the author moaned because everyone had the same end fate, both the wise and the wicked. There was no judgment, that's what he was complaining about. That's why he thought everything was meaningless.
Saturday, October 6, 2018
Ecclesiastes part eleven
We continue on from chapter nine verse seven. The author is still in his "this is the best there is, so enjoy it" mood. Will he switch again to moaning how "this is all there is and it's not very fair to the wise" mode? For now, he tells us to heartily enjoy our food and wine. We should live happily with the spouse that we love "all the days of this meaningless life." "Your meaningless days" he says again, just to be sure you get the message. He says to do everything with all your might, because there is nothing to do in the grave. True words. But that's exactly what gives meaning to life.
Next is a small poem. "The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned (yes, sometimes it does.) but time and chance happen to them all." Now I feel like the author is not being completely honest here. He's probably not speaking in a literal sense of how life itself works. He's probably harping about there being no final reward, no afterlife where someone gives you a prize for doing well. "Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come." He doesn't even get a warning about when it will all end.
In verse thirteen, the author tells us he has a story about wisdom. A poor wise man saved a small city from invasion by a powerful king. This proves that wisdom is better than strength. Yet, no one remembers what the wise man did and they don't listen to him any more. Is that why wise people do things? For validation? Perhaps the truly wise man would be happy enough that his city was saved.
From 9:17, through all of chapter ten, there appears to be another collection of sayings or proverbs about the wise, the fool, the king, and more evils under the sun. Some of them are quite strange. According to the author, "the heart of the wise inclines to the right, the heart of the fool to the left." What does that mean?? He also says "A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes life merry, but money is the answer for everything." (?!) That sure contradicts many other bible teachings.
Chapter eleven continues on in the same vein, with proverbs that state the obvious or are meaningless (smile). The author also tells us we do not know the path of the wind or how a body is formed in a mother's womb. Well, he didn't know, but now we do. A wonderful thing called science has revealed these things to us. No gods needed.
Chapter eleven tells young men to be happy and follow the ways of their heart. But know that "God will bring you to judgment." What judgment? This must be a different author than the one who has told us again and again that when life is over that's it. The end of the chapter tells the young man not to worry, be happy, but it's all Meaningless. Erg.
One more chapter to go!
Next is a small poem. "The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned (yes, sometimes it does.) but time and chance happen to them all." Now I feel like the author is not being completely honest here. He's probably not speaking in a literal sense of how life itself works. He's probably harping about there being no final reward, no afterlife where someone gives you a prize for doing well. "Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come." He doesn't even get a warning about when it will all end.
In verse thirteen, the author tells us he has a story about wisdom. A poor wise man saved a small city from invasion by a powerful king. This proves that wisdom is better than strength. Yet, no one remembers what the wise man did and they don't listen to him any more. Is that why wise people do things? For validation? Perhaps the truly wise man would be happy enough that his city was saved.
From 9:17, through all of chapter ten, there appears to be another collection of sayings or proverbs about the wise, the fool, the king, and more evils under the sun. Some of them are quite strange. According to the author, "the heart of the wise inclines to the right, the heart of the fool to the left." What does that mean?? He also says "A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes life merry, but money is the answer for everything." (?!) That sure contradicts many other bible teachings.
Chapter eleven continues on in the same vein, with proverbs that state the obvious or are meaningless (smile). The author also tells us we do not know the path of the wind or how a body is formed in a mother's womb. Well, he didn't know, but now we do. A wonderful thing called science has revealed these things to us. No gods needed.
Chapter eleven tells young men to be happy and follow the ways of their heart. But know that "God will bring you to judgment." What judgment? This must be a different author than the one who has told us again and again that when life is over that's it. The end of the chapter tells the young man not to worry, be happy, but it's all Meaningless. Erg.
One more chapter to go!
Thursday, October 4, 2018
Ecclesiastes part ten
We are at chapter eight verse 2, and I don't mind telling you I am heartily sick of Ecclesiastes, but we will soldier on.
The next section has been given a title by the producers of the NIV, "Obey the King". Keep in mind that this book was supposedly written by the king. It starts off by telling the reader to obey the king because he took an oath before god. I didn't take an oath, did you? Who is he talking to? Then we are told to not be in a hurry to leave the king's presence, and to not stand up for a bad cause, because the king is going to do what he wants, no matter what anyone else says.
Verses 5-8are in the form of a poem that tries to convince the reader he will come to no harm if he obeys the king. If the reader is wise, he will recognize that there is a proper time and procedure for everything, even if he is miserable. Then the author contradicts that in the next stanza to imply no one knows what the future holds or has power over it.
Next we have more stuff that the author saw under the sun: People lording it over others, only to hurt themselves; both wicked people and holy people being buried; sentences for crimes not being carried out quickly. Even though he sees wicked people living a long time, he knows it will go better for god fearing men. Because the wicked do not fear god, it will not go well with them and they will not live long. This is a blatant contradiction from one sentence to the next. It's like someone went through and tried to fix the parts they disagreed with, without deleting the original.
The author changes his tune again in the next few verses: Righteous men get what the wicked deserve, and wicked men get what the righteous deserve. Of course it is all meaningless. So, the author recommends that everyone just try to enjoy life. Eat, drink and be glad. Then you will have joy, presumably in spite of all the unfairness and meaninglessness.
Chapter eight ends by telling us that after the author applied his mind to know wisdom, he came to the conclusion that no one can understand all that god has done, or discover its meaning, not even a wise man. This thought continues on in chapter nine where we are told that what the righteous and wise do are in god's hands and no one knows whether love or hate awaits him!" At this point, I would think that most people should come to the conclusion that reading Ecclesiastes is an exercise in futility. This guy has already admitted, more than once, that everything is meaningless and not even a wise man can figure it all out, so everyone should just go enjoy their lives. What's he continuing on for then?
He's got to tell us again that every bloomin' person on the face of the earth, wise or fool, good or bad, clean or unclean, shares a common destiny. In case you don't know what that is, because he doesn't say yet, it's DEATH. That's the evil in everything, the destiny of all. (Notice there is no eternal reward for the good.) Any living thing is better off than the dead because it has hope. (Tell that to the fundamentalist Christians.) The next passage effectively destroys the doctrines of heaven and hell. "The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten." Everything associated with them vanishes. "Never again will they have a part of anything that happens under the sun."
The next section has been given a title by the producers of the NIV, "Obey the King". Keep in mind that this book was supposedly written by the king. It starts off by telling the reader to obey the king because he took an oath before god. I didn't take an oath, did you? Who is he talking to? Then we are told to not be in a hurry to leave the king's presence, and to not stand up for a bad cause, because the king is going to do what he wants, no matter what anyone else says.
Verses 5-8are in the form of a poem that tries to convince the reader he will come to no harm if he obeys the king. If the reader is wise, he will recognize that there is a proper time and procedure for everything, even if he is miserable. Then the author contradicts that in the next stanza to imply no one knows what the future holds or has power over it.
Next we have more stuff that the author saw under the sun: People lording it over others, only to hurt themselves; both wicked people and holy people being buried; sentences for crimes not being carried out quickly. Even though he sees wicked people living a long time, he knows it will go better for god fearing men. Because the wicked do not fear god, it will not go well with them and they will not live long. This is a blatant contradiction from one sentence to the next. It's like someone went through and tried to fix the parts they disagreed with, without deleting the original.
The author changes his tune again in the next few verses: Righteous men get what the wicked deserve, and wicked men get what the righteous deserve. Of course it is all meaningless. So, the author recommends that everyone just try to enjoy life. Eat, drink and be glad. Then you will have joy, presumably in spite of all the unfairness and meaninglessness.
Chapter eight ends by telling us that after the author applied his mind to know wisdom, he came to the conclusion that no one can understand all that god has done, or discover its meaning, not even a wise man. This thought continues on in chapter nine where we are told that what the righteous and wise do are in god's hands and no one knows whether love or hate awaits him!" At this point, I would think that most people should come to the conclusion that reading Ecclesiastes is an exercise in futility. This guy has already admitted, more than once, that everything is meaningless and not even a wise man can figure it all out, so everyone should just go enjoy their lives. What's he continuing on for then?
He's got to tell us again that every bloomin' person on the face of the earth, wise or fool, good or bad, clean or unclean, shares a common destiny. In case you don't know what that is, because he doesn't say yet, it's DEATH. That's the evil in everything, the destiny of all. (Notice there is no eternal reward for the good.) Any living thing is better off than the dead because it has hope. (Tell that to the fundamentalist Christians.) The next passage effectively destroys the doctrines of heaven and hell. "The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten." Everything associated with them vanishes. "Never again will they have a part of anything that happens under the sun."
Tuesday, October 2, 2018
Ecclesiastes part nine
We are at 7:15. The author says that in his meaningless life, he has seen righteous men perish and wicked men live long. Well, guess what Mr. Ecclesiastes, some wicked men perish and some righteous men live long. So. What. My guess is that he is peeved because he wants a guarantee for being righteous. He feels that life is not fair if your good behavior does not get you a pass. Has anyone ever done a scientific study on the odds of a long life if you adopt a "righteous" lifestyle? Then righteous behavior would have to be strictly defined and differentiated from wicked behavior. That's problematic. Often the same exact behaviors have been labelled righteous and wicked, depending on context. In the context of Ecclesiastes, I think righteous behavior would have been religiously adhering to the proscribed practices of the author's particular religion/god.
In verse 16, the author tells us to not be over righteous or over wise, or we might destroy ourselves. We should also not be foolish or wicked, or we will die before our time. "The man who fears god will avoid all extremes." That's downright fascinating. Yahweh himself seems pretty extreme. The modern world contains abundant religious extremism.
Just after telling us not to be too wise, in verse 19 the author says "One wise man is more powerful than ten rulers in a city." However, in verse 20, there isn't a single righteous man who never sins. I would actually agree with that, depending on your definition of sin. I would add that it often doesn't matter, there are so many petty sins on god's list.
Verses 21-22 Tell us not to pay attention to everything people say or you might hear your servant cursing you. (That is if you are rich enough to have servants.) Also, admit it, you know you have cursed other people too. (No, actually I haven't. I don't believe in cursing or blessing as real things. By the way, this is not talking about using swear words. It is about wishing magical harm will happen to someone else. For example just saying "Hell!" is not a curse. Saying "You go to Hell!" is. )
In verses 23-25 the author says he has tested all this stuff with all his wisdom and it was beyond him to understand what wisdom is. He also wanted to understand "the stupidity of wickedness and the madness of folly." In verses 27-29, he's still searching for the scheme of things. While he was searching, he couldn't find a single upright man or woman. He thinks god made men upright but went in search of many schemes and ruined all that.
Right smack in the middle of verses 23-29, we get verse 26, which goes on a rant about a woman who would trap a sinner with her heart and chain him with her hands, but "the man who pleases god will escape her." That seems to have come out of nowhere. I would suspect that it was inserted into the text by some woman hater.
The end of chapter seven appears to spill over into the beginning of chapter eight, which tells us wisdom makes a man attractive. It brightens his face and changes its hard appearance. Hmmm.
In verse 16, the author tells us to not be over righteous or over wise, or we might destroy ourselves. We should also not be foolish or wicked, or we will die before our time. "The man who fears god will avoid all extremes." That's downright fascinating. Yahweh himself seems pretty extreme. The modern world contains abundant religious extremism.
Just after telling us not to be too wise, in verse 19 the author says "One wise man is more powerful than ten rulers in a city." However, in verse 20, there isn't a single righteous man who never sins. I would actually agree with that, depending on your definition of sin. I would add that it often doesn't matter, there are so many petty sins on god's list.
Verses 21-22 Tell us not to pay attention to everything people say or you might hear your servant cursing you. (That is if you are rich enough to have servants.) Also, admit it, you know you have cursed other people too. (No, actually I haven't. I don't believe in cursing or blessing as real things. By the way, this is not talking about using swear words. It is about wishing magical harm will happen to someone else. For example just saying "Hell!" is not a curse. Saying "You go to Hell!" is. )
In verses 23-25 the author says he has tested all this stuff with all his wisdom and it was beyond him to understand what wisdom is. He also wanted to understand "the stupidity of wickedness and the madness of folly." In verses 27-29, he's still searching for the scheme of things. While he was searching, he couldn't find a single upright man or woman. He thinks god made men upright but went in search of many schemes and ruined all that.
Right smack in the middle of verses 23-29, we get verse 26, which goes on a rant about a woman who would trap a sinner with her heart and chain him with her hands, but "the man who pleases god will escape her." That seems to have come out of nowhere. I would suspect that it was inserted into the text by some woman hater.
The end of chapter seven appears to spill over into the beginning of chapter eight, which tells us wisdom makes a man attractive. It brightens his face and changes its hard appearance. Hmmm.
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