Bibliotheca Sacra
148 (January-March 1991) 46-56.
Copyright © 1991 by
God and Man in Ecclesiastes*
Roy B. Zuck
Vice-president for Academic Affairs,
Professor of Bible Exposition
Is Ecclesiastes a Misfit?
Through the centuries many people have
questioned whether
the Book of Ecclesiastes
belongs in the biblical canon, and especially
in the wisdom corpus.
Since it seems to underscore the futility and
uselessness of work, the triumph of
evil, the limitations of wisdom,
and the impermanence of
life, Ecclesiastes appears to be a misfit.
Because it apparently
contradicts other portions of Scripture and
presents a pessimistic outlook
on life, in a mood of existential de-
spair, many have viewed it as
running counter to the rest of Scripture
or have concluded that it
presents only man's reasoning apart from
divine revelation. Smith
wrote, "There is no spiritual uplift embod-
ied within these pages.
...Ecclesiastes. ..accomplishes only one
thing, confusion. Reason is
elevated throughout the whole work as
the tool with which man may
seek and find truth."l
Scott affirms
that the author of
Ecclesiastes "is a rationalist, a skeptic, a pes-
simist, and a fatalist. ...In
most respects his view runs counter to his
religious fellow Jews."2
Crenshaw speaks of the "oppressiveness" of
Ecclesiastes, which conveys the view "that
life is profitless; totally
* This article is adapted from Roy B. Zuck,
"A Biblical Theology of the Wisdom
Books and The Song of Songs," in Biblical Theology (
coming),
and is used by permission.
1 L. Lowell
Smith, "A Critical Evaluation of the Book of Ecclesiastes," Journal
of
Bible and
Religion 21 (April 1953): 105.
2 R. B. Y. Scott,
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, The Anchor Bible (
day
&
46
God and Man in
Ecclesiastes 47
absurd."3
Since "virtue does not bring reward" and since God "stands
distant, abandoning humanity to
chance and death," this book, Cren-
shaw asserts, contrasts
"radically with earlier teachings expressed
in the book of
Proverbs."4 "Qoheleth discerns
no moral order at all,"5
for “life amounts to
nothing."6
Elements in the book
that supposedly suggest this outlook of sec-
ularist despair include (a) the
repeated refrains, "everything is
meaningless"7 (1:2;
(2:15, 19, 21, 23, 26; 4:4, 8, 16; 5:10; 6:9;
7:6; 8:10);8 "chasing after
wind" (
which occurs 29 times; (b)
death's finality which removes any ad-
vantage or gain man may have
acquired in life (
20; 4:2; 5:15; 6:6, 12; 7:1; 8:8; 9:2-5, 10;
11:7; 12:7); (c) the fleeting,
transitory nature of life (
including the frustrating nature
of work (
uselessness of pleasure (
(
15-16; 6:2; 7:15; 8:19; 9:2, 11; 10:6-9); and
(e) the puzzle of life with
its many enigmas of
unknowable elements (
17; 9:1, 12;
Is this the total
picture of the message of Ecclesiastes? Is it true
that the book presents
"no discernible principle of order"9 in life?
How does this skeptical approach square with
statements (a) that
life is a gift from God (
be enjoyed (
injustices will be
corrected (
in control (
please God (
3
James L. Crenshaw, Ecclesiastes: A Commentary {
Press, 1987), p. 23.
4
Ibid.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid., p. 34.
7
"Meaningless" is the NIV's translation of lb,h,,
literally "a vapor or breath." This
suggests
brevity or transience and emptiness of content. See Theological Dictionary
of
the
Old Testament, ed. G. Johannes Botterweck
and Helmer Ringgren (
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1978), s.v.
" lb,h,"
by K. Seybold, 3:313-20. Other
Bible versions
translate the word "vanity" or "futility."
best
be translated "enigma" or "mystery" {Graham S. Ogden, "'Vanity'
It Certainly Is
Not," The Bible Translator 38 (July 1987]:
301-7). All Scripture quotations in this arti-
cle are from the NIV
unless noted otherwise.
8
"Meaningless" is also used in 2:1; 4:7; 5:7; 6:2, 4,11-12; 7:15;
8:14; 9:9; 11:8, 10. More
than
half the Old Testament usage of this word lb,h
are in Ecclesiastes–38 of its 73
occurrences!
9
Crenshaw, Ecclesiastes:
A Commentary, p. 28.
48 Bibliotheca Sacra
/ January-March 1991
When Qohelet10 five times enjoined
his readers to fear God, does the
Bible student do justice to the book's message
to say that only man's
reasoning is presented, that the
book provides no answer to life's
anomalies and enigmas? Is it
adequate simply to view Ecclesiastes
as presenting thoughts and
counterthoughts that stand in unresolved
tension,11 or as stating
contradictions without solving them so that
life is viewed as absurd and
irrational?12 To conclude that Qohelet
recommended enjoyment of life only
to make existence endurable on
one's "journey into
nothingness"13 fails to account for the positive side
of the book.
Why then does
Ecclesiastes paint a dark picture of life? Why
does the writer present the
gloom and doom of life? How can the
seeming contradictory elements
in the book be reconciled? Four an-
wers may be given to these
questions.
First, Qohelet was demonstrating that life without God has no
meaning. He was demolishing
confidence in man-based achieve-
ments and wisdom to show that
earthly goals ''as ends in themselves
lead to dissatisfaction and
emptiness."14
Solomon recorded the futil-
lty and emptiness of his
own experiences to make his readers desper-
ate for God, to show that
their quest for happiness cannot be ful-
filled by man himself. Qohelet "shocks us into seeing life and death
strictly from ground level, and
into reaching the only conclusions
from that standpoint that
honesty will allow."15
10 "Qohelet" transliterates the Hebrew word rendered
"teacher" or "preacher" in I
1:1-2,12. Stemming from the verb lhaqA,
"to call an assembly," the noun tl,h,Oq
suggests
one
who calls an assembly to address them. Some scholars argue that the anonymous
author
called himself "son of David, king in
his
book a ring of authority as having been written in the tradition of Solomonic
dom.
Others, however, including this writer, argue that the author is indeed
Solomon. For a
discussion of the arguments on each side of this issue see Donald R.
Glenn,
"Ecclesiastes," in The Bible
Knowledge Commentary, Old Testament
(Wheaton, IL: Victor
Books, 1988), pp. 975-76; Louis Goldberg, Ecclesiastes, Bible
Study Commentary
(Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1983), pp.19-20; and
Gleason L. Archer,
"The Linguistic Evidence for the Date of 'Ecclesiastes,'" Journal
of
the
Evangelical Theological Society 12 (1969): 167-81.
11 J. A. Loader, Polar
Structures in the Book of Qohelet (
1979); and idem, Ecclesiastes:
A Practical Commentary (
mans
Publishing Co., 1986).
12
Michael V. Fox, Qohelet and His
Contradictions (Sheffield: Almond Press, 1989).
13
James L. Crenshaw, Old Testament Wisdom: An
Introduction (
Press,
1981), p.144.
14
Pfeiffer and Everett
F. Harrison (Chicago: Moody Press, 1962), p. 585 (italics added).
15 Derek Kidner, The Wisdom of
Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes (
InterVarsity
Press, 1985), p. 94.
God and Man in Ecclesiastes 49
Second, Solomon was affirming that since much in
life cannot be
fully understood, we must
live by faith, not by sight. Unexplained
enigmas, unresolved anomalies,
uncorrected injustices-life is full of
much that man cannot
comprehend nor control. Like the Book of Job,
Ecclesiastes affirms both the finiteness of man
and the fact that man
must live with mystery. Life
"under the sun," that is, down here on
earth, "does not provide
the key to life itself," for the world in itself
"is bankrupt.”16
Man therefore must have more than a horizontal
outlook; he must look upward to
God, fearing and trusting Him.
Enigmas and injustices must be left in His hands
to resolve.
Third, Ecclesiastes and
its realistic view of life counterbalances
the unqualified optimism of
traditional wisdom. According to Prov-
erbs 13:4, "The desires
of the diligent are fully satisfied," but Eccle-
siastes 2:22-23 challenges
whether this is always true. Proverbs 8:11
extols wisdom, whereas Ecclesiastes
erbs 10:6 affirms that
justice is meted to the righteous and the
wicked, but Ecclesiastes 8:14
observes that this is not always the case.
Are these
contradictions? No, because for one thing Proverbs
usually looks at the opposites
in life without noting exceptions. Ec-
clesiastes, however, points out
that while a righteous order does ex-
ist, as affirmed in
Proverbs, it is not always evident to man as he
views life "under the
sun" from his finite perspective. "God is in
heaven and you are on
earth" (Eccles. 5:2). Job and Ecclesiastes, both
wisdom books, demonstrate
exceptions to what Proverbs often states
in black-and-white
fashion. The books then are complementary, not
contradictory. While the affirmations
in Proverbs are normally
true, exceptions, as
observed in Job and Ecclesiastes, do exist. As
Williams has well observed,
Proverbs
affirms by faith (not by sight as is
commonly assumed) that a
righteous order exists in the
world, but Qohelet contends that righteous
order cannot be discerned by sight. This
latter premise, that even the
wise cannot explain the apparent lack of
order in the world, is simply.
Qohelet's way of expounding on the limitations of wisdom.
But these
limitations were even admitted by
the sages: "Do you see a man wise
in his own eyes? There is more hope for a
fool than for him" (Prov.
26:12). ...Ecclesiastes was intended to balance the optimism of
faith
with the realism of observation.17
Job and Ecclesiastes
both present the frustrations and futilities
of wise wealthy men. Both
books demonstrate that wealth does not
16 J. Strafford
Wright, "The Interpretation of Ecclesiastes," in Classical
Evangelical
Essays in Old
Testament Interpretation, ed. Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. (
Baker
Book House, 1972), p.142.
17 Neal D.
Williams, "A Biblical Theology of Ecclesiastes" (ThD
diss.,
ological Seminary, 1984), pp.
85-86 (italics his).
50 Bibliotheca Sacra /
January-March 1991
provide lasting satisfaction,
that many people experience injustice,
that death is inevitable,
that man must live with the mystery of
suffering.
Fourth, Ecclesiastes
affirms that the only answer to the meaning
of life is to fear God and
enjoy one's lot in life. Qohelet showed that
man, left to his own
machinations, finds life empty, frustrating, and
mysterious. The book, however,
does not mean that life has no an-
swer, that life is totally
useless or meaningless. Meaning is found, he
explained, in fearing God-a point
that clearly justifies a place for
Ecclesiastes in the
Bible's wisdom literature-and in enjoying life.
Accepting what God has given and rejoicing in
those gifts brings sub-
stance to a life that
otherwise would be viewed as one of hopeless-
ness and despair.
Frustrations can thus be replaced with content-
ment. While recognizing the
vanity of empty human pursuits,
Solomon went beyond them and affirmed that
"there is a bigger
truth to live by," that
we should "set our hearts not on earthly vani-
ties themselves but on our
Creator."18 True, life has its puzzles, but
with God life is worth
living. Life is fleeting and death is coming,
but with God life can be
accepted and enjoyed.
The Doctrine of God in Ecclesiastes
Forty times Ecclesiastes
uses the word Elohim, and no other
name, in speaking of God. As
the transcendent God ("God is in heav-
en," 5:2), He is the
Creator (12:1), "the Maker of all things" (11:5).
His created works include man, giving him life (
spirit (
his heart (
all things (3:1-8), which
timing is beautiful (v. 13), though incom-
prehensible (v. 11;
The events and activities God has under His
control include positive
elements of life such as birth,
planting, healing, upbuilding, joy,
searching, keeping, mending,
speaking, loving, and enjoying peace-
18 Kidner, The Wisdom of
Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes, p. 94.
19 That is, God
has given man an awareness that he is an eternal
creature. He has a
God-given
"longing to know the eternity of things. ..but,
try as we will, we cannot see
it.
...That eternal WHY hangs over our lives" (Wright, "The
Interpretation of Eccle-
siastes," p. 141). This
is "a deep-seated, compulsive desire to know the character,
composition,
beauty, meaning, purpose, and destiny of all created things" (Walter C.
Kaiser, Jr.,
"Integrating Wisdom Theology into Old Testament Theology: Ecclesiastes
Youngblood [
"eternity" means (a) the world, or (b) ignorance
(emending the word to be read Ml,x,),
or
(c) darkness
(from a related Ugaritic root). "Eternity,"
however, is preferable, in
light
of the reference to forever (MlAOf) in
God and Man in Ecclesiastes 51
and all their negative
opposites (3:1-8). All of life is under divine
appointment and timing. Qohelet was not approving man's killing,
tearing, hating, or engaging in
war; he was simply affirming that
these things occur in human
experience (because of man's sin,
and that man cannot alter
what God has planned.
God in His sovereignty
and providence controls the rising and
setting of the sun, the cyclic
movements of the wind, the flowing of
rivers, and the evaporation of
water 1:5-7). He is called the Shep-
herd, a term used only a few
times of God in the Old Testament (Gen.
48:15; 49:24; Pss.
23:1; 28:9; 80:1; Eccles. 12:11).
Ten
times God is said to give and 10 times to do. Man's burden,
because of God's finite wisdom,
is given by God (
man opportunity to enjoy
food and work (2:24; 3:13; 5:19-20; 9:7), He
gives man wisdom, knowledge,
and happiness (
possessions, and honor (
fully understand (11:6),
includes both good and bad times (
What He does has endurance (
Other divine attributes
evident in Ecclesiastes include God's
personality (He hears, 5:2; He
despises, 5:2; He can be pleased,
(5:1-2), and
inscrutability (
tice will be exercised
against wickedness. Even His judging the righ-
teous and the wicked is
included in God's control of the timing of
events (
layed, it will occur (
ergy of their youthful days,
should also be sobered by the fact that
they are accountable for
their actions under the scrutiny of God's
judgment 11:9). In fact every
act, whether overt or hidden, good or
evil, will be judged by God
(
Though God cannot be
fully understood, some motives for His ac-
tions are mentioned. These
motives include seeking to get people to
fear Him (
All these truths about God are consistent with
the rest of Scripture,
thus affirming the validity
of the place of Ecclesiastes in the Bible.
The
Doctrine of Man in Ecclesiastes
MAN'S
NATURE
Man's
finiteness is seen in the fact that he is created (1:5; 12:1),
earthbound (5:2), and subject to death (
rational creature, for he can be guided by his
mind (2:3), he can eval-
uate (v: l:), understand
(1:1.7), investigate (v. 13), observe. (v: 14;
2:12,24;
3.10; 5:13; 6:1; 7:15; 8:9-10: 9:11,13: 10:5, 7), reflect (1:16; 2:1,
12,15; 8:9; 12:9), and
draw conclusions (
52 Bibliotheca Sacra
/ January-March 1991
Human emotions, according to Ecclesiastes,
include joy (
9;
11:9), love (9:1, 6, 9), hatred (
spair (
Qohelet referred to the
material part of man by the word rWABA,
normally translated "flesh" or
"body." The body can experience
"troubles" (
ratively speaking (2:3), or
ruined (4:5), that is, dissipated. The NIV
translators thought of rWABA in 2:3 and 4:5 as a
metonymy (a part for the
whole), for they translated it "myself" and
"himself" in these verses respectively.
The immaterial part of man includes his soul (wp,n,), spirit (HaUr),
and heart (ble). The soul is the
center of desires for fulfillment (6:2-
3,
7, 9; see NASB), the seat of inner satisfaction (NIV's
"find satisfac-
tion in his work" in
labor") or joy ("depriving myself of
enjoyment" in 4:8 is literally
"depriving my soul of enjoyment"), or the seat of inner
contemplation
("while I [lit. 'my soul'] was still searching,"
The spirit is used of mood or temperament
("patience" in 7:8 is
literally "length of spirit," and
"provoked in your spirit," 7:9,
speaks of anger). "Spirit" also speaks of
man's animating principle
of life, which returns to God at death (
Man's "heart" is referred to in
Ecclesiastes more often than his
soul or spirit. Consistent with its usage elsewhere
in the Old Testa-
ment, "heart"
represents the inner part of man, either his intellect,
his emotions, or his will. The intellect is
suggested in
which the NIV translates the Hebrew "I said in
my heart" by the
words "I applied myself" or "I devoted
myself." The idea in these
verses is inner determination to complete an
intellectual pursuit. The
NIV
renders "heart" by "mind" in
intellectual exercise. "Take
this to heart" (7:2), "you know in your
heart" (v. 22), and "the wise heart will
know" (8:5) all suggest the
20 Ecclesiastes
3:19-20 affirms that all animate creation, including men and animals,
face
death. The bodies of each expire and disintegrate into the earth. The spirit (HaUr)
is
the life principle in both men and animals (Gen. 7:22). However, Ecclesiastes
indicates,
by means of a question, that no one can observe what happens to the spirit of
man,
"which ascends upward" (NASB) and the spirit of animals "which
descends
downward"
(NASB). The NIV rendering "who knows if the spirit of man. . ." casts
doubt
on whether man's spirit goes upward. It seems preferable to render the verse,
"Who knows that the spirit of man goes
upward," as suggested by Goldberg
(Ecclesiastes, p. 69; cf. Michael A. Eaton, Ecclesiastes:
An Introduction and Commen-
tary
[
verse
is pointing up the difference in the destiny of men and beasts. Because they
are
different,
man's spirit goes upward to God and the animal's spirit does not. Only in
man's
nostrils did God directly breathe the breath of life (Gen. 2:7), and only man
was
made
in God's image 0:26-27). Therefore the breath or animating principle of men
and
animals has different destinies, but, as Ecclesiastes
or
observe where their spirits go.
God and Man in
Ecclesiastes 53
intellect.. "I reflected on all this"
(9:1), another instance of the exer-
cise of the mind, is
literally "I have taken all this to heart."
"Heart" also speaks of the emotional
side of the immaterial
part of man, as seen in 5:2 ("do not be hasty
in your heart"), 7:3 ("a
sad face is good for the heart"), 7:4
("The heart of the wise is in the
house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the
house of pleasure"),
9:7
("a cheerful heart"), 11:9 ("Follow the ways of your
heart"), and
The willful aspect of the heart is seen in these
verses: 7:7 ("a
bribe corrupts the heart"),
trap"),
9:3
("the hearts of men. . . are full of evil"),
and 10:2 ("the heart of
the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of
the fool inclines to the
left").
MAN'S
SIN
Sin is universal (
ner pull toward sin
accelerates if he feels he, like others, can get
away with sin without immediate punishment (
ture shows itself in
specific acts of sin. In Ecclesiastes these acts in-
clude oppression of the poor
(4:1, 3; 5:8), envy (4:4), greed (v. 8;
insensitivity in worship (vv. 1-2),
unfulfilled vows (vv. 4-5), uncon-
trolled talk (v. 6), a stranger benefiting from
someone else's work
(6:2),
pride (7:8), anger (v. 9; 10:4), discontentment (
duction and adultery (v. 26),
and foolish talk (
to others is decried several times (
Ecclesiastes repeatedly underscores human
finiteness by pointing
to man's ignorance. He does not know God's ways (
does he know the future (
Sin has its consequences. It holds sinners in
its grasp (8:8), it
brings them trouble (v. 13), it can undo much good (
and it can even lead to an untimely death (
dies, God will punish his sin (
MAN'S
WORK
The word lmAfA ("labor, trouble,
turmoil, work") occurs frequently
in Ecclesiastes.21 No lasting profit (NOrt;yi, "gain or
advantage" 1:3;
3:9).
The fact that work brings pain (
is, meaningless or enigmatic,22 as is
the fact that the results of one's
labors must be left to someone else (
find no end to the toils of life (
21
The noun occurs 21 times, the verbal form 8 times, and the adjective 5 times.
22 See notes 7 and 8.
54 Bibliotheca
Sacra / January-March 1991
are driven by envy of what others have (4:4).
Though work may
bring despair (
9:9)
when seen as a gift from God.
MAN'S
DEATH
Life is fleeting ("few days," 2:2;
will die (
Since
God has appointed the time of each person's death (3:2), man
cannot influence when it will occur (8:8) or even know
when it will oc-
cur (
his exit is like his entrance (
that is, the grave,23 where they have no
more opportunity to partic-
ipate in this life's
activities (9:5-6). Death is final. To be dead is
said to be preferable to a life of oppression
(4:1-2) or to nonenjoyment
of one's prosperity (6:3-5), and yet the living do
have an advantage
over the dead (9:4). The dead will eventually be
forgotten (
in death (vv. 6-7), in which a person's spirit
goes to God (
and he enters eternal consciousness ("his
eternal home," v. 7).
A number of truths about man in Ecclesiastes are
consistent with
truths elsewhere in Scripture, particularly the early
chapters of Gen-
esis. Man was originally
created good (Gen. 1:31; Eccles.
fell into sin (Gen. 3:1-19; Eccles.
of toil (Gen. 3:14-19; Eccles. 1:3, 8, 18;
3:19,24;
4:5,8; Eccles. 2:14-16; 3:20; 4:2; 9:5; 12:6-7). Made from dust
and breath (Gen. 2:7;
edge (Gen. 2:17; Eccles. 8:7;
companionship with others (Gen. 1:27;
MAN'S
RESPONSIBILITIES
What responsibilities does man have in light of
the futilities
and mysteries of life? What actions did Qohelet say will aid man in
his pursuit of life? At least six suggestions are
given in the book.
23
See R. Laird Harris, "The Meaning of the Word Sheol
as Shown by Parallels in
Poetic Texts," Bulletin of the
Evangelical Theological Society 4 (December 1961): 129-
34.
24
Views on this passage include these four: (a) the decreasing health of organs
of
the
body, (b) old age depicted by a Palestinian winter or approaching storm (Franz
Delitzsch,
Commentary on the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes [reprint,
Wm. B. Eerdmans
Publishing Co., 1970], pp. 403-5, and Christian D. Ginsburg, The
Song
of
Songs and Coheleth [1857;
reprint,
458), (c) old age depicted as the ruin of an
estate (Robert Gordis, Qoheleth-The
Man
and
His World [
views.
25
C. C. Forman, "Koheleth's Use of Genesis," Journal
of Semitic Studies 5 (1960): 256-
63.
God and Man in
Ecclesiastes 55
1. Be wise.
While wisdom has its drawbacks (
lified by a little folly
(10:1), is transitory (
not prevent death (
wise than foolish (v. 13) or famous (
preserve life (
the seriousness of life and death (v. 5), and can
brighten a person's
countenance (8:1). Mere human wisdom, wisdom
acquired by intellec-
tual pursuits, is
inadequate, but divine wisdom enables man to rest in
the sovereign ways of God and in His providential
timing (8:5).
2. Worship and please God. Proper worship
entails a sense of
caution and apprehension in God's presence
(5:1-2). Making a com-
mitment to the Lord should be
done thoughtfully and without haste,
but once having made it the worshiper should follow
through on his
promise (vv. 4-6). Pleasing God should be man's deepest desire (
3. Remember God. More than a mental
exercise, this means to
acknowledge His authority and respond with loyalty
(12:1, 6) and
obedience (v. 13, "keep His
commandments").
4. Fear God. Fearing God stands at the
heart of wisdom litera-
ture (Job 28:28; Ps. 111:10;
Prov. 1:7;
that in Ecclesiastes man is commanded five times to
fear God (
5:7;
cordingly in worship, awe, love,
trust, and obedience.
5. Be
diligent. Life with its many uncertainties (
man knows comparatively little. "You do not
know" is stated three
times in six verses (11:2, 5-6) along with the words
"you do not under-
stand" (v. 5) to point up man's ignorance of
which disasters may come
and when, where the wind will blow, how the human
embryo devel-
ops in the womb, or which enterprise or investment
will be successful.
This
ignorance need not paralyze man or stifle him into laziness. In-
stead one should forget trying to change things that
cannot be
changed (v. 3) or trying to predict what cannot
be known (vv. 4, 6),
and should be hard at work all day (v. 6), working
wholeheartedly
(
creased problems (e.g., sagging rafters and
leaking roofs,
6. Enjoy life. The fact that Solomon
admonished his readers
not to look for the answer to life in the pleasures
of life itself did not
rule out his encouraging them to accept their lot (QL,he) in life and to
26
In Job the verbal form for fearing God occurs in 1:1, 8-9; 2:3;
nominal
phrases occur in
29; 2:5; 8:13; 9:10; 10:27; 14:27; 15:16, 33;
16:6; 19:23; 22:4; and 23:17. The command to
fear
the Lord occurs in Proverbs 3:7 and 24:21, and four times the verbal form
"fears the
Lord" occurs (14:2, 16, 26; 31:30). Fearing
the Lord is associated with wisdom six times
(Job 28:28; Prov.1:7, 29; 2:5;
56 Bibliotheca
Sacra / January-March 1991
be glad for the simple pleasures of life including
food, warmth, mar-
riage, and doing good. This
theme occurs seven times in the book:
sures are not goals to live
for, but bonuses or consolations to be grate-
fully accepted."27 The fact that these pleasures
are for man's joy and
contentment rules out asceticism, and the fact that
they are given by
God
rules out sinful hedonism.
Castellino well summarizes the
message of Ecclesiastes:
"Therefore:
(a) set aside all anxious striving and labor (‘amal); (b)
avoid all speculations on God's ruling of the world
and (c) be thank-
ful to God for whatever
satisfaction He gives you, valuing and mea-
suring everything as a gift
from Him and enjoying it, never forgetting
that you shall have to render strict account to God
Himself."28
27
Kidner, The Wisdom
of Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes, p. 100.
28
George A. Castellino, "Qohelet
and His Wisdom," Catholic Biblical Quarterly 30
(1968): 28.
This
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