To read this chapter, go here. (I'm using the New Living Translation)
There has been much debate as to who the writer of Ecclesiastes is. He/She refers to themselves as The Teacher, but beyond that, we don't get a name. Some of the verses in Ecclesiastes would suggest that Solomon wrote this book; after all, it talks about a king who is wealthy and has lots of concubines. However, most scholars would say Ecclesiastes was written by a contemporary of Solomon, perhaps a little later in time.
There are some writers that take a long time to get to the premise of their book/novel. Using creative means, these writers make you wonder for awhile what's going on, and then they hit you with the theme.
Not Ecclesiastes.
Verse 2 pretty much sums up most of what this book has to say: "Meaningless, everything is meaningless!" The word "meaningless" is used thirty-five times, and only in the book of Job does this word occur elsewhere.
One of the things I like about the chapter is the idea that time is pretty cyclical. You may think that something going on hasn't happened before, but as Ecclesiastes asserts, it probably has. It doesn't mean it's happening in the same way, but time is cyclical and there are patterns in history and in civilizations.
Verse 11: "We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now." Mike, the senior minister I work for, had an interesting statistic he threw out the other day. We are starting a series on family relationships, and he said that in most marriages, the problems that couples face in years 1-3 are the same problems that they face in years 10-12. The problems never really go away, it's how you work through those problems that determine whether your marriage will survive or not. That statistic reminded me of the above verse.
As I said in the above post, I also want to include a Yancey quote from his chapter on Ecclesiastes, so here you go:
Once I got over my sheer amazement about the message of Ecclesiastes, certain nagging questions set in. One struck me immediately, as I read the Old Testament straight through. How can Ecclesiastes coexist with its nearest neighbor, the book of Proverbs? Two more unlike books could not be imagined...Proverbs has life figured out: Learn wisdom, exercise prudence, follow the rules, and you will live a long and prosperous life. Its tone of worldly optimism reminds me of Benjamin Franklin's aphorisms, and in face today various industries produce early-American-style wall hangings featuring embroidered verses from Proverbs. Such industries, however, studiously avoid Ecclesiastes, for it depicts a world where none of the proverbs work out. The confident matter-of-fact tone - I've got life figured out and you need only follow this sage advice - has vanished, replaced by resignation and cynicism. Thrifty, honorable people suffer and die just like everyone else. Evil people prosper and grow fat, regardless of Proverbs' neat formulas to the contrary.
2 comments:
Wow, Yancey sure has a way of putting ideas into words.
Hmmm cynicism and I don't get along very well.
I definitely believe in the cyclical theme. I see it in my own life.
If I don't learn from my experiences and mistakes...it's repeated.
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