Week 5
Quiz
Word Studies
Keywords of Ecclesiastes: “Hebel”
Ecclesiastes as a response to Proverbs
Ecclesiastes and Proverbs: in agreement or conflict?
Quiz
Word Studies
1) Choosing a word
a) Either: A difficult word
i) Where do English translations disagree?
ii) Where do they have trouble finding the right English word to use?
iii) Where does a translation seem odd (the English word chosen doesn’t seem to fit the context).
b) Or: A significant word
i) What word is an important theme in this book?
2) Finding the Hebrew word
a) Either: Concordance
i) Look up the English word in a concordance.
ii) Either: Find the verse which was difficult to translate, in the list of verses for that word. Which Hebrew word is it translating?
iii) OR: find the Hebrew word most commonly translated by that significant English word (also make note of other Hebrew words translated by that English word: these could be synonyms).
b) OR: Interlinear/Index/Software
i) Look up the verse with the difficult word.
ii) Which Hebrew word is it translating?
3) Finding the instances of the word.
a) Use the concordance or software to find all the other verses using that Hebrew word.
b) Read those verses in their contexts.
4) Looking for patterns
a) What kinds of contexts is this word used in?
b) Is the word used in different senses?
c) Is the word used differently in this book, compared with the rest of the OT?
d) What words it is in parallelism with?
i) Synonymously?
ii) Antithetically? (this will tell you its antonyms)
5) Checking with a Hebrew dictionary
a) Make sure you only do this step after you do your own research
b) See if the dictionary agrees with what you noticed.
c) Remember, the people who wrote the dictionary did exactly the same kind of work you did, to make up their definitions. They aren’t necessarily any more right than you. There’s nothing wrong with improving on their definitions.
Example: Hebel
1) What is meant by the translated “meaningless”, “vanity”, “absurdity”, “emptiness”, “useless”, “pointless”, “senseless”, “breath”, “breeze”, etc. so commonly in Ecclesiastes (1:2, 14, 2:1, etc.)?
2) Identify the Hebrew word
a) Concordance method
i) Look up the English word in a concordance. A good cheap concordance is Young's Analytical Concordance. Strong's is OK, too. These two are based on the King James Version, which uses "vanity" in these passages (1:2, 14; 2:1, etc.). So look up "vanity" in Young's.
ii) Find the verse which was difficult to translate, in the list of verses for that word. Which Hebrew word is it translating? In Ecclesiastes 1:2 and 12:8, two words are used: habel and hebel. In all the other Ecclesiastes references, hebel is used. Strong's number is 1892 for these passages.
3) Find the instances of the word.
a) Concordance method: look up HEBEL in the Hebrew index of Young's concordance.
b) What English words are used for HEBEL? "in vain" 7 times; "vanity" 58 times, "altogether" once, "vain" 4 times.
c) Read those verses in their contexts.
i) Look up the 11 verses translating hebel using the word "vain" (Job 9:29; 21:34; 35:16; Psalms 39:6; Proverbs 31:30; Ecclesiastes 6:12; Isaiah 30:7; 49:4; Jer. 10:3; Lam. 4:17; Zech 10:2)
ii) Look up the 58 verses translating hebel as "vanity" (Deut. 32:21; 1 Kings 16:13, etc., and all the times in Ecclesiastes).
4) Looking for patterns
a) What kinds of contexts is this word used in? Is the word used in different senses?
i) Job: doing something "in vain" = without the desired result; "pointlessly" (they comfort me in vain)
ii) Historical books: "their vanities" provoke the Lord to anger (idolatry?)
iii) Psalms: men and their days are "vanity" = insignificant; a trifling thing; next to nothing (see also them that regard lying vanity)
iv) Proverbs: connected with acquiring wealth
v) Prophets: in contexts about idolatry and error
vi) Ecclesiastes: all is "vanity"; this also is "vanity"
b) Is the word used differently in this book, compared with the rest of the OT? Yes.
c) What words it is in parallelism with?
i) Synonymously?
(1) Vexation of spirit (1:14; 2:11, 17, 26; 4:4, 16; 6:9)
(2) A great evil (2:21), a sore trouble (4:8), an evil disease (6:2)
ii) Antithetically? No.
d) What meaning fits all these contexts best?
I see three main meanings, all related to the concept "ungraspable"
i) "Insubstantial" (a trifling thing, nothingness, pointless) (can't grasp it because there's nothing to it)
ii) "Incomprehensible" (makes no sense) (can't grasp it with our minds)
iii) "Beyond our control" (one's possessions after one dies) (can't hold it in our grasp, to wield it)
5) Checking with a Hebrew dictionary
a) See if the dictionary agrees with what you noticed.
TWOT: Third is the cluster of references found in Eccl (thirty-six). These may be grouped into several subdivisions. First are those passages in which the author states his inability to find fulfillment in work, both in his failure to be creative and in his lack of control over the privilege of free disposition of his possessions; this is “vanity”:2:11, 19, 21, 23; 4:4, 8; 6:2. Second are those verses in which the author struggles with the idea that the connection between sin and judgment, righteousness and final deliverance is not always direct or obvious. This is an anomaly about life and it is “vanity”:2:15; 6:7–9; 8:10–14. The meaning of hebel here would be “senseless.” Thirdly are those verses in which the author laments the shortness of life; this is “vanity”:3:19; 6:12; 11:8, 10. Life, in its quality, is “empty” or “vacuous” (and thus unsubstantial), and in its quantity is “transitory.” (Harris, Archer, and Waltke. Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. electronic ed. Chicago: Moody Press, 1999, c1980.)
TWOT mentions the three meanings we discovered, in different order, with slightly different words: "lack of control" for "beyond our control", "senseless" for "incomprehensible", and "transitory" for "insubstantial".
Break
Worldview of Qohelet
How much of Proverbs’ worldview does Qohelet share?
The person who will do well in this life is one who recognizes that someone besides himself created the world (3:14; 11:5; 7:14), and who observes the world around him to learn how it works (8:16–17) and how he can live in harmony with the way God made it (8:12–13).
1. God is good
2. God made the world the way it is (3:14; 7:14)
3. Therefore, the world is good (3:11, NIV)
4. Yet creation is in disorder (3:16; 7:29 NIV)
5. This disorder is the result of human unfaithfulness to God (7:29 NIV)
6. God loves the goodness of what he has made, so he hates anything that ruins that goodness.
7. God’s goodness is irrepressible
8. Therefore, God and Good will ultimately triumph. (3:17; 12:14)
Ecclesiastes as a Response to Proverbs
How does Qohelet differ from Proverbs?
· The starting point is the same, but because Proverbs was often misinterpreted to mean that the retribution principle was 100% accurate, Ecclesiastes needed to correct this misperception.
· Proverbs could be taken to mean that if we do what is good, we will automatically get what is good. This is not what Proverbs really says, but people took it that way.
· The overall message of Ecclesiastes is: “We humans are not in control of our own destiny.”
· Ecclesiastes tries to say:
o we cannot control our future (it is ungraspable)
o we cannot even predict our future (it is ungraspable)
o Someone much bigger than us sets up the parameters under which the world and humans operate.
o We need to recognize this fact (we are not the creators of our own worlds), rather than fight it.
· This is why Ecclesiastes keeps saying (in Chapters 1‑3):
o What is the point of all this work? (1:3 It doesn’t change our future.)
o There is nothing new under the sun (1:9 Nothing seems to change, no matter what we do.)
o What is the point of pursuing wisdom? (1:18)
o Yet wisdom is good! (2:13)
o Even if it doesn’t guarantee an improvement in our future (2:14)
o What is the point of pursuing pleasure? (2:1)
o Yet enjoyment is good! (2:24)
o In fact, it is often the gift of God to the one who pleases Him (2:25)
o There is a time for everything, and it is determined not by us but by things outside our control (3:1–8); it is determined by God (3:11)
o Therefore, we should enjoy this good life when we can (3:12), rather than trying to grasp it and force it and control it and create it to our own liking (3:22; 6:10).
o We should recognize the awesome power and goodness of God and what he has done and made (3:14; 7:13)
For Next Week:
Read for the quiz:
1. Ecclesiastes 4–6
2. Provan 102–138
