Book of Ecclesiastes

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Books of the

Hebrew Bible

Ecclesiastes, Qohelet in Hebrew, is a book of the Hebrew Bible. The title derives from the Greek translation of the Hebrew title: קֹהֶלֶת (variously transliterated as Qoheleth, Qohelethh, Kohelet, Koheles, Koheleth, or Coheleth).

The author represents himself as the son of David, and king over Israel in Jerusalem (1:1, 12, 16; 2:7, 9). The work consists of personal or autobiographic matter, largely expressed in aphorisms and maxims illuminated in terse paragraphs with reflections on the meaning of life and the best way of life. The work emphatically proclaims all the actions of man to be inherently "vain", "futile", "empty", or "meaningless," depending on translation, as the lives of both wise and foolish men end in death. While the teacher clearly promotes wisdom for the enjoyment of an earthly life, he is unable to ascribe eternal meaning to it. In light of this perceived senselessness, the preacher suggests that one should enjoy the simple pleasures of daily life, such as eating, drinking, and taking enjoyment in one's wife and work, which are gifts from the hand of God. The book ends with postscripts, perhaps as many as three.[1]

According to Orthodox Judaism however, the point of Kohelet is to state that all is futile under the sun. One should therefore ignore physical pleasures and put all ones efforts towards that which is above the Sun. This is summed up in the second to last verse "The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for that is the whole duty of everyone."

In Jewish society, Ecclesiastes is read on the Shabbat of the Intermediate Days of Sukkot, a harvest holiday. If there is no Intermediate Sabbath of Sukkot it is read on Shemini Atzeret (in Israel, it is read on the first Shabbat of Sukkot). It is read on Sukkot as a reminder to not get too caught up in the festivities of the holiday.

Etymology

Tanakh
Torah | Nevi'im | Ketuvim
Books of Ketuvim
Three Poetic Books
1. Psalms
2. Proverbs
3. Job
Five Megillot
4. Song of Songs
5. Ruth
6. Lamentations
7. Ecclesiastes
8. Esther
Other Books
9. Daniel
10. Ezra-Nehemiah
11. Chronicles

The Hebrew קהלת is a feminine participle related to the root קהל meaning "to gather." Scholars are unsure whether it means the "one who gathers" or the "one among the gathering." Although the form is a feminine participle, virtually no scholars argue that it is a woman. Except for one dubious example of a 3fs verb associated with qohelet, the subject always uses masculine nouns and even refers to his wife and women. He says that he has acquired shida we-shidot, an ambigious phrase that may refer to a harem (,shdh "breasts"); he describes how he could not find a virtuous woman; and he exhorts the reader to enjoy (re'a) (as he should) life with his wife.

The English title of the book, Ecclesiastes, comes from the Septuagint translation of Qohelet, Εκκλησιαστής. It has its origins in the Greek word Εκκλησία (originally a secular gathering, although later used primarily of religious gatherings, hence its New Testament translation as "church").

The word Qohelet has found several translations into English, including The Preacher (translating Jerome's ecclesiastes and Martin Luther's Der Prediger). Since preacher implies a religious function, and the contents of the book do not reflect such a function, this translation has largely been rejected by modern translations and scholars. A better alternative is "teacher", although this also fails to capture the fundamental idea behind the original Hebrew title.

Authorship and historical context

Author

In the two opening chapters the author describes himself as the son of David, and king over Israel in Jerusalem, presenting himself as a philosopher at the center of a brilliant court. This could apply only to king Solomon, for his successors in Jerusalem were kings over Judah only. Consequently, the traditional Rabbinic and early Christian view attributed Ecclesiastes to king Solomon. This view has been abandoned by many modern critical scholars, who now assume that Qoheleth is a work in the pseudepigraphical tradition that borrowed weight for a new work by putting it in the mouth of a well-known sage. Most critical scholars suggest that Ecclesiastes was written around 250 B.C.E. by a non-Hellenized intellectual in the milieu of the Temple in Jerusalem, though Seow of the Anchor Bible commentary argues that it dates to the Persian period. The latest possible date for it is set by the fact that Ben Sirach (written cca 180 B.C.E.) repeatedly quotes or paraphrases it, as from a canonic rather than a contemporary writing.

Many modern conservative scholars today also recognize that Solomon is an unlikely author. Since this work is found within the Ketuvim, there must be some room for poetical treatment. There are two voices in the book, the frame-narrator (1.1-11; 12.9-14) and Qoheleth (1.12-12.8). Though this is not considered to be indicative of two authors, it does encourage the reader to place himself within the frame and see the pursuit of Wisdom from the perspective of Solomon. Thus, the author is probably a Hebrew poet who is using the life of Solomon as a vista for the Hebrews' pursuit of Wisdom (Ecc 1.13, 7.25 8.16; Job 28.12). This would place the book in the latter days of the canonical writings (see Josephus' claim for a closed canon in the early post exilic age Against Apion 1.38-42) when wisdom seemed out of reach to the Hebrews (Ecc 1.17, 7.23; Pro 30.1-3)

R' Nachman Krochmal suggests that the term son of David should be interpeted to mean descendant of David. He posits that it was written by a powerful lord during the Persian Era (possibly during the missing years of Jewish history). The term King would not be difficult being as the Persian Monarch was known as the King of Kings a lesser lord may have call himself a king.[2]

Language

The Hebrew of Ecclesiastes was not common in the era of Solomon’s reign, and the book contains words borrowed from other languages. For example, the book contains several Aramaic and two Persian words. The influence of Aramaic is characteristic of late Hebrew. Other examples of late Biblical Hebrew include the qetAl pattern form nouns, which would have dated after an Aramaic influence, the frequent use of the relative sh alongside asher, the Ut ending, the frequent use of the participle for the present (which is later developed in Rabbinic Hebrew), using the prefix conjugation in the future (vs. the older preterite use), and terms that appear to specifically fit a Persian/Hellenistic context (e.g. Shallit). During the time of Solomon and through the eighth century, mater's were not used inside words (except maybe in 'ir (city) in the Lachish letters), and there is no evidence for early orthography.

Date of writing

Dominic Rudman, Determinism in the Book of Ecclesiastes (JSOTSup. 316; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001, p. 13) cites the modern commentaries supporting this dating.

  • Dominic Rudman. "A Note on Dating of Ecclesiastes". Catholic Biblical Quarterly vol. 61 no. 1 (1999) pp. 47-53 contains a discussion with C. L. Seow, "Linguistic Evidence and the Dating of Qohelet." in JBL vol. 115 (1996), pp. 653-54 - Seow supports a 4th century dating.

"Most current commentators e.g., R. N. Whybray, Ecclesiastes [NCB Commentary; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans; London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1989] 4-12) argue for a mid-to-late-third-century date. Others, among them N. Lohfink (Kohelet [NEchtB; Wurzburg: Echter Verlag, 1980] 7) and C. E Whitley (Koheleth: His Language and Thought [BZAW 148; Berlin/ New York: de Gruyter, 1979] 132-46), have suggested an early- or mid-second-century background."

Placement in canon

Name of God

The book of Ecclesiastes uses the expression haelohim, "the God", 32 times. But as the Jewish Encyclopedia has it:

“

The Israelitish name for God is nowhere employed, nor does there appear to be any reference to Judaic matters; hence there seems to be a possibility that the book is an adaptation of a work in some other language.

”

In other words, the more conventional YHWH is not used, though almost no modern scholars think that the book was written in Aramaic or Phoenician.

Canonicity

Bible scholars often consider Ecclesiastes to be divinely inspired and always accepted as canonical[3].

The Jewish Encyclopedia states:

“

The canonicity of the book was, however, long doubtful (Yad. iii. 5; Meg. 7a), and was one of the matters on which the school of Shammai took a more stringent view than the school of Hillel; it was finally settled "on the day whereon R. Eleazar b. Azariah was appointed head of the assembly." Endeavors were made to render it apocryphal on the ground of its not being inspired (Tosef., Yad. ii. 14; ed. Zuckermandel, p. 683), or of its internal contradictions (Shab. 30b), or of a tendency which it displayed toward heresy—that is, Epicureanism (Pesik., ed. Buber, viii. 68b); but these objections were satisfactorily answered (see S. Schiffer, "Das Buch Kohelet," Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1884).

”

Citing further from the Jewish Encyclopedia:

“

Yet without the idea that Qohelet was Solomon one could scarcely imagine the work ever having been included in the canon; and had it not been adopted before the doctrine of the Resurrection became popular, it is probable that the author's views on that subject would have caused his book to be excluded therefrom.

”

As this citation points out, the book fails to accord with the last of Maimonides' Thirteen Principles of Faith. (Though these Principles were articulated at a much later date, they evolved over a long period of time, and they are generally considered authoritative.)

According to Orthodox Judaism however, the holiness of Kohelet was never in doubt. The discussion was only if, because of the possibility that a superficial reading will lead to heretical beliefs it would be preferable to keep the book out of the hands of laymen. A similar discussion revolves around the book of Ezekial.

Orthodoxy of views

Ecclesiastes appears in harmony with other Scriptures where they treat exactly the same subjects[citation needed]. It agrees with Genesis that a human is composed of the dust of the ground and a sustaining spirit[4] from God (Ecclesiastes 3:20, 21; 12:7; Genesis 2:7; 7:22; Isaiah 42:5). Ecclesiastes also affirms the Toranic teaching that man was created essentially good and upright but willfully chose to disobey God (Ecclesiastes 7:29; Genesis 1:31; 3:17; Deuteronomy 32:4, 5). Ecclesiastes also acknowledges God as the Creator (Ecclesiastes 12:1; Genesis 1:1).

Death and afterlife

A great portion of the book concerns itself with death. The author emphatically affirms human mortality, going so far as to say that the dead in sheol know nothing. He mentions no resurrection. In fact, it is the lack of consequences after death that lead the author to advocate enjoying life while you can. Martin Luther and certain other Christian leaders have quoted these verses in defense of the doctrine that the soul sleeps between death and resurrection. A meaningless life followed by oblivion is consistent with the purport of much (though not all) of the rest of the Tanakh as to the state of the dead (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10; Genesis 3:19; Psalms 6:5; 115:17). This view that death is oblivion stands in contrast to later descriptions of the afterlife, such as gehenna, the bosom of Abraham, and the resurrection of the dead.

Vanity

Qoheleth's stated aim is to find out how to ensure one's benefits in life, an aim in accord with the general purposes of Wisdom Literature. For Qoheleth, however, any possible advantage in life is destroyed by the inevitability of death. As such, Qoheleth concludes that life (and everything) is senseless. In light of this conclusion, Qoheleth advises his audience to make the most of life, to seize the day, for there is no way to secure favorable outcomes in the future. Although this latter conclusion has sometimes been compared to Epicureanism, for Qoheleth it comes about as the inevitable result of his failure to make sense of existence.

This conclusion is reflected in the refrain which both opens and closes Qoheleth's words:

"Utterly senseless" says Qoheleth, "Utterly senseless, everything is senseless!"

The word translated senseless, הבל (hevel), literally means vapor, breath. Qoheleth uses it metaphorically, and its precise meaning is extensively debated. Older English translation often render it vanity, but in modern usage this word has come to mean "self-pride" and lost its Latinate connotation of emptiness and is thus no longer appropriate. Other translations include empty, futile, meaningless, absurd, fleeting or senseless. Some translations use the literal rendering vapor of vapors and so claim to leave the interpretation to the reader.

Ultimately, the author of Ecclesiates comes to this conclusion in the second to last verse of the last chapter:

"The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for that is the whole duty of everyone."

Some argue that these two last verses are an addition to the original script since they stand in contrast to all of the previous statements made. Others argue that it actually completes the message by saying that nothing is of as high importance as the work of God.

Other translations of Ecclesiastes 1:2 include:

  • "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity!"
  • "Meaningless of meaningless! All is meaningless!"
  • "Futility of futilities, all is futile."

Classic English translation (King James Version) of the second to last verse 12:13:

"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this [is] the whole [duty] of man." [The word duty is not in the original and some think the should not be included.]

References to Ecclesiastes in later works

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This article has been tagged since June 2007.
  • Few certain allusions to "Ecclesiastes" arise in the New Testament. Romans 8:20 is the most commonly cited allusion: "For the creation was subjected to futility..." (where futility renders the Greek word used in the Septuagint to render the Hebrew hevel as discussed above).
  • The sonnet "Lift Not the Painted Veil" (1818) by Percy Bysshe Shelley alludes to the "Preacher" in its last line.
  • The 1845 Robert Browning poem "The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed's Church" opens with a clear allusion to the first line of Ecclesiastes: "Vanity, saith the preacher, vanity!" in which both the Latinate and modern meanings of "vanity" are implied.
  • The House of Mirth is a 1905 novel by Edith Wharton. The title is taken from Ecclesiastes 7:4: "The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.”
  • The title of Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises (1926) is taken from Ecclesiastes 1:5: "The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to the place where he arose..."
  • Ecclesiastes 1:9 "...and there is nothing new under the sun" is reversed in the opening line of Samuel Beckett's "Murphy" (1938) as "The sun shone, having no alternative, on nothing new."
  • George Orwell, in his 1946 essay "Politics and the English Language", cites a well-known passage from Ecclesiastes (Eccl. 9:11) to illustrate his point about effective, honest and direct language using concrete words from everyday life: "I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all."
  • In Ray Bradbury's 1953 novel, Fahrenheit 451, the protagonist, Guy Montag, represents the back-up copy of the Book of Ecclesiastes for the Book People.
  • In John Updike's 1960 novel, Rabbit, Run, Ecclesiastes is alluded to in the character of the minister, Reverend Eccles.
  • The poem about times in Eccl. 3:1-8 is also well known as the inspiration for the Pete Seeger song, "Turn, Turn, Turn", most famously recorded by The Byrds in 1962.
  • The protagonist in Roger Zelazny's 1963 Hugo Award-nominated short story "A Rose for Ecclesiastes" uses quotations from Ecclesiastes to great emotional effect.
  • The song "Profecias" (from the album "La Biblia", 1971), by classic-rock, Argentinean band Vox Dei is based on Ecclesiastes (e.g. excerpt stating "todo tiene un tiempo bajo el sol", meaning "everything has a time under the son" and the ensuing verses based on the "there is a time for..." section of the book).
  • Mark Alburger's cantata "Ecclesiastes, or The Preacher" (1975, premiered in 2005 by the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra) sets fragments from each of the book's eleven chapters, the third movement being a distorted trope of the Pete Seeger song.
  • The lyrics of the song Dust in the Wind (1977), by Kansas, are heavily influenced by the tone of Ecclesiastes.
  • Cultural-theorist Jean Baudrillard cites Ecclesiastes in the first chapter of Simulacra and Simulation (1981) as the source of the following quotation: "The simulacrum is never what hides the truth — it is truth that hides the fact that there is none. The simulacrum is true." The quotation is apocryphal, however.
  • The 1986 film Platoon opens with the line, " Rejoice, O young men, in thy youth" taken from Chapter 11, verse 9.
  • John Cougar Mellencamp quotes Ecclesiastes on his landmark album "The Lonesome Jubilee" (1987).
  • The song "Rise and shine" (from the album "Three sides to every story", 1992), by hard-rock, American band Extreme is based on Ecclesiastes (e.g. excerpts from its lyrics such as "Vanity/yes, all is vanity" and "There is a time for everything/under the sun".
  • The title of the Deep Space 9 episode Nor the Battle to the Strong (1996) is inspired by Ecclesiastes 9:11.
  • The song/rap "Dancing is not a Crime" in the musical Footloose (1998) includes a reference to chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes.
  • Vanity of Vanities (2006) is a novel based on Ecclesiastes by Martin Bertram.
  • The song "Open Hands to the Wind" by hard rock band Hopesfall is inspired very heavily by Ecclesiastes.
  • The title of a series of Star Trek: The Next Generation novels "A Time To..." is inspired by Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.
  • Theta Tau National Professional Engineering Fraternity's open motto is "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might" taken from Chapter 9, verse 10.
  • An episode of Northern Exposure is titled 'All is Vanity' and is inspired in part by the themes of Ecclesiastes 1:2.
  • The song "Happy is a Yuppie Word," by the band Switchfoot paraphrases portions of the book, specifically the ideas that there is nothing new and nothing meaningful and consistent.

See also

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Bible (King James)/Ecclesiastes

References
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  1. ↑ Harris, Stephen L.. Understanding the Bible: a reader's introduction, 2nd ed. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985. page 174.
  2. ↑ Moreh Nevuchei Ha'Zman- Ch. Chokrei Avot
  3. ↑ "The book, entitled Koheleth, or Ecclesiastes, has ever been received, both by the Jewish and Christian Church, as written under the inspiration of the Almighty; and was held to be properly a part of the sacred canon." Adam Clarke’s 19th century Methodist Commentary, Volume III, page 799
  4. ↑ (Hebrew ruach, life-force, the breath understood as the vital principle)

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