Week 6 Lecture notes

Week 6

Quiz

Guidelines: using Ecclesiastes today.

Adjusting Expectations

Mid-term Evaluation.

Exegetical Papers

Retribution.

The worldview of Ecclesiastes: order or chaos?

Quiz

Message of Chapters 4–6

o Good is not automatically and immediately rewarded, and evil not automatically and immediately punished (4:1; 7:15; 8:11). So don’t be surprised at injustice (4:8; 5:13).

o Yet good will be rewarded, and evil punished eventually (3:17), at a time not determined by us (8:12).

o Stop thinking God is someone you can control; don’t be so self-important (5:2).

o Don’t think you are 100% secure, just because you do what’s right (5:13–17).

o Instead, enjoy things when you can, and don’t worry about what you can’t control (5:18–6:6; 8:15; 11:7–12:8).

Exegetical Papers

The purpose of exegesis is to answer the question:

What did the Biblical author mean? What did the author intend his original readers to understand?

Good exegesis consists of two kinds of questions:

a. What he said (content)

b. Why he said it at that point (literary context)

CONTEXT (= WHY) and CONTENT (= WHAT)

1. The questions of CONTEXT are of 2 kinds:

a. HISTORICAL [also of 2 kinds]

i. Historical context in general
= the time/ culture of the author and readers

ii. The Occasion (particular historical context)
= the specific historical setting of a document

b. LITERAR Y [ also of 2 kinds ]

i. Genre
= kind of document, or literary form

ii. Local Context
= The meaning of words in sentences, sentences in paragraphs (strophes, etc.), and paragraphs in larger sections

a(ii) and b(ii) = the why questions

2. The questions of CONTENT (WHAT is said)

a. TEXT

b. LANGUAGE (Words)

c. GRAMMAR/SYNT AX

d. HISTORICAL/CULTURAL CONTEXT
-of an idea, person, event, etc.

Steps for Exegesis of Ecclesiastes

1. Read this section of Ecclesiastes

2. Read the passage repeatedly (in many translations)

3. Make a list of differences among the translations, and any footnotes they may provide.

4. Analyze the structure as far as you can in English

5. Start a list of questions your paper will address.

6. Start comparing commentaries:

a. Check for significant textual issues (is there uncertainty about what the original Hebrew text was?)

b. Note important grammar

7. List the key terms in the passage

a. Do mini-word studies

8. Investigate important historical-cultural items

9. Examine the literary context (arrangement)

10. Check the commentaries again; have you missed anything important?

11. Consider the broader biblical and theological contexts

a. Analyze the relationship to Scripture

b. Analyze the relationship to theology

12. Provide a finished translation

13. Application

a. List the life issues

b. Clarify the nature and area

c. Identify the audience and categories

14. Write the paper

a. Spend time in reflection and prayer

b. Begin with a sense of purpose

i. Main Points

ii. Purpose

iii. Response

c. Decide on the introduction and conclusion

d. Construct an outline

e. Write the paper

Break

Using Ecclesiastes Today

· The text means what it meant.

· The only honest way to interpret something someone said or wrote is to try to determine what the person was trying to say.

· We can’t “proof-text” (take verses out of context to make Ecclesiastes say something it doesn’t mean to).

· What it means to say:

Life is ungraspable. We are not in control of our own future. We can’t guarantee our own success. So don’t place your trust in yourself. God is in control. We can’t manipulate or even totally understand him. He is ungraspable. Yet he is good and awesome. So place your trust in God and respect Him. Enjoy the goodness that comes your way while you can, because you cannot control it. Life is ungraspable.

· You Are Not Starring In Your Own Soap Opera
You do not write the script for your life, nor does the world revolve around you.
You did not create this world, and you did not create the rules and laws it runs by.
Right and Wrong and Good and Bad are not subjective; they are absolute, or at least natural.
God made the world; he is the centre of the universe, the only permanent, reliable, and in-control being in existence.

· See the Big Picture
The key phrase is “in the end”. Ecclesiastes wants us to think of the long-term, rather than just the immediate. That’s why he says mourning is better than partying: keeping your own death in mind puts life in a larger perspective.

· God Ordered Nature; The World is Good
God made creation good, with a certain built-in order, and that is a sign of his faithfulness.

· People are Good
God made people good; but people can ruin things by making destructive choices.

· Ecclesiastes forces the reader to think, to ponder.
By being figurative and ambiguous, and even contradictory, Qohelet forces one to make sense of the world for oneself.

· God has a Purpose, not a Plan for Your Life.
Ecclesiastes implies that God’s will for our lives is a general attitude, not specific decisions.

· Ethics does not depend on Reward or Punishment in the Afterlife
Ecclesiastes does not know of any life after death for reward or punishment. Yet he definitely thinks we should do what is right and not what is wrong.
On the other hand, Ecclesiastes affirms that God does reward good and punish evil.

· Live This Life without Thought of Reward in the Afterlife
Although Ecclesiastes often does remind us of rewards and natural consequences, Ecclesiastes also affirms that if something is right, we should do it, whether we are rewarded or not. Ecclesiastes especially downplays doing things for rewards in the next life.

· Imagine a Videotape of Your Life at the Judgment
On the other hand, Ecclesiastes affirms that nothing escapes the eye of God. Combine this with Revelation’s story of two kinds of books (20:11–14), in which the Book of Life determines who doesn’t get thrown in the lake of fire, but the other books are still used to judge one’s action, as recorded in the books.

Mid-term Evaluation of Course and Instructor

For after the Break

Choose a topic for an eight-page paper.

You must hand in a one paragraph proposal for your paper next week, stating which option you have chosen (and what passage or word your paper will cover, if applicable).

1. Exegetical paper on a passage from Ecclesiastes or Song of Songs.

2. Word study of a word used in Ecclesiastes.

3. Compare the wisdom literature of the Bible with that of other ANE cultures.

4. Another topic (subject to approval by the instructor).

For the quiz, read:

1. Ecclesiastes 7–12:14

2. Provan 138–233

Week 5 lecture notes

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

Week 4 Lecture notes

Week 4

Midterm Test

Break

What do you want to learn about Ecclesiastes?

What is Ecclesiastes about?

· Certain statements are made repeatedly:

o All is hebel (“ungraspable?” "vanity"?), striving after wind.

o There’s nothing better than to eat, drink, and enjoy life. (1:24; 3:12; 8:15; 9:7; 11:9)

· Certain ideas come up repeatedly:

o Things happen according to a system which we do not control (1; 3)

o The fate of the good and the wicked and the animals is the same: oblivion. (2:15; 3:20; 9:2,5,6,10)

o People work hard to get things, only to leave it behind when they die.

o God will judge the righteous and the wicked. (9:1).

o Oppression and injustice occur (8:9; 9:11; 10:6–7).

o It is pointless to use too many words. (5; 6:11; 10:14)

o We can’t know the future (6:12; 9:12; 10:14; 11:6)

o Wisdom is hard to attain (7:23; 8:17)

o Wisdom is good (2:13; 9:17)

o We can’t understand God completely (5:2; 11:5)

· Ideas are picked up, their ambiguity and inconsistency pondered a bit, then dropped, only to be picked up again later in another context.

Who wrote Ecclesiastes?

Divide into groups; each taking one section of Ecclesiastes:

Chapter 1	3:1–4:8
Chapter 2	8:2–4, 10:16–20; 4:13; 9:14–16; 5:8; 10:6–7

What can we know about the speaker in these texts? Give references.

A. Is he Solomon?
(1:1, 1:16, 2:8, 2:12; 1:16, 2:7, 2:9)

B. Where does he fit chronologically in Israel’s history? (Early monarchy? late monarchy? Exilic period? post-exilic period?)
(1:16, 2:8, 2:12; 1:16, 2:7, 2:9)

C. Is he a king of Israel?
(1:16, 2:8, 2:12; 1:16, 2:7, 2:9)

D. Is he a king at all?
(4:13; 8:2; 9:14–16; 10:16–17, 20)

When was Ecclesiastes written?

Internal (linguistic) clues:

1) Uses a late form of Biblical Hebrew; the most like post-biblical Mishnaic Hebrew (which is from 200 AD).

2) Uses Persian loanwords (“pardes” in 2:5 and “pitgam” in 8:11). The Persian empire conquered Babylon in 539 BC.

External (archaeological) clues:

3) Two copies were found at Qumran (Dead Sea Scrolls), from about 175–150 BC and 75-1 BC.

Therefore, many scholars say it’s from 300–200 BC; others say it’s from 450–350 BC. I’d say 450–250 BC.

"Qohelet"

What does the sage’s title (often translated “Teacher” or “Preacher”) mean? 1:1, 2, 12; 7:27; 12:8, 9, 10.

Literally, “gatherer” (of an assembly of people), but with a feminine ending.
(Deuteronomy 31:30)

1) Another name for Solomon? No, it's more like a title than a name: he's called the Qohelet, although this is not conclusive.

2) A school teacher? But he criticizes traditional wisdom.

3) A “gatherer” of things other than people: wise sayings (7:27)?

Summary of Author and Date

· An author/editor (not calling himself Qohelet) wrote 1:1 and 12:8-11.

· The author/editor says “Qohelet” is the speaker of the main part of the book (1:2–12:7).

· In the first two chapters, apparently a rich and wise king of Jerusalem in the later monarchic period tells his story.

· In the rest of the book, no indication of a royal author is given; in fact, the opposite could be inferred from some verses (e.g., the beginning of chapter 8).

· The style of Hebrew used appears to be post-exilic (5^th century or later).

· Some words used are from the post-exilic period.

· Copies found among the Dead Sea Scrolls indicate it was written before the 2^nd century BC or earlier.

The Structure of Ecclesiastes

· There is an opening and conclusion

· Some sections have distinctive styles or content: Remember these for the final exam:

o Ecclesiastes 1:1–11: Introductory poetry
"Vanity of Vanities!" plus the nature of the world

o Ecclesiastes 1:12–2:26: didactic autobiography – the pinnacle of human success and power.
I was The Greatest King over Jerusalem!

o Ecclesiastes 3:1–8: for everything there is a time

o Ecclesiastes 4:7–12: companionship
Two or three are better than one.

o Ecclesiastes 5:1–7: revere God
Don’t try to manipulate God with your long prayers and vows and sacrifices.

o Ecclesiastes 7:1–14; 10:1–11:4: poetic wise sayings These are harder to distinguish from Proverbs, but they have a more pessimistic/realistic tone (mourning is better than partying)

o Ecclesiastes 8:2–9: respect the king
Here it doesn’t sound like the author is a king.

o Ecclesiastes 9:4–10: life is better than death
So enjoy your wife.

o Ecclesiastes 11:7–12:7: Youth and Death
Carpe Diem; you can’t learn any younger!

o Ecclesiastes 12:9–14: Epilogue
This part is the author/editor (not Qohelet) speaking. Here is the only mention of the Law.

Next week:

The Quiz will cover:

1. Ecclesiastes chapters 1–3

2. Provan, 23–101