Ecclesiastes


Ecclesiastes is one of the Ketuvim of the Hebrew Bible and part of the Wisdom literature of the Christian Old Testament. The title commonly used in English is a Latin transliteration of the Greek translation of the Hebrew word קֹהֶלֶת. An unnamed author introduces "The words of Kohelet, son of David, king in Jerusalem" and does not use his own voice again until the final verses, where he gives his own thoughts and summarises the statements of Kohelet; the main body of the text is ascribed to Kohelet.
Kohelet proclaims "Vanity of vanities! All is futile!" The Hebrew word, 'vapor' or 'breath', can figuratively mean 'insubstantial', 'vain', 'futile', or 'meaningless'. In some versions, vanity is translated as 'meaningless' to avoid the confusion with the other definition of vanity. Given this, the next verse presents the basic existential question with which the rest of the book is concerned: "What profit can we show for all our toil, toiling under the sun?" This expresses that the lives of both wise and foolish people all end in death. In light of this perceived meaninglessness, he suggests that human beings should enjoy the simple pleasures of daily life, such as eating, drinking, and taking enjoyment in one's work, which are gifts from the hand of God. The book concludes with the injunction to "Fear God and keep his commandments, for that is the duty of all of mankind. Since every deed will God bring to judgment, for every hidden act, whether good or evil."
According to Michael Coogan and others, it is a controversial, unorthodox, and subversive book.
According to rabbinic tradition, the book was written by King Solomon in his old age, but the presence of Persian loanwords 'orchard' and פִתְגָּם and Aramaisms points to a date no earlier than, while the latest possible date for its composition is 180 BCE.

Title

Ecclesiastes is a phonetic transliteration of the Greek word Ἐκκλησιαστής, which in the Septuagint translates the Hebrew name of its stated author, Kohelet. The Greek word derives from , as the Hebrew word derives from , but while the Greek word means 'member of an assembly', the meaning of the original Hebrew word it translates is less certain. As Strong's Concordance mentions, it is a female active participle of the verb in its simple paradigm, a form not used elsewhere in the Bible and which is sometimes understood as active or passive depending on the verb, so that Kohelet would mean ' assembler' in the active case, and ' assembled, member of an assembly' in the passive case. According to the majority understanding today, the word is a more general form rather than a literal participle, and the intended meaning of Kohelet in the text is 'someone speaking before an assembly', hence 'Teacher' or 'Preacher'. This was the position of the Midrash and of Jerome.
Commentators struggle to explain why a man was given an apparently feminine name. According to Isaiah di Trani, "He authored this work in his old age, when he was weak like a woman, and therefore he received a feminine name," an opinion likewise held by Johann Simonis. According to Salmon ben Jeroham, "This is because, even as a woman births and raises children, Qoheleth revealed and organized wisdom". According to Yefet ben Ali, and later, Abraham ibn Ezra and Joseph Ibn Kaspi, "He ascribed this activity to his wisdom, and because Wisdom is female, he used a feminine name." This last opinion is accepted by a wide variety of modern scholars, including Christian David Ginsburg.

Structure

Ecclesiastes is presented as the biography of "Kohelet" or "Qoheleth"; his story is framed by the voice of the narrator, who refers to Kohelet in the third person and praises his wisdom but reminds the reader that wisdom has its limitations and is not man's primary concern. Kohelet reports what he planned, did, experienced, and thought, but his journey to knowledge is, in the end, incomplete; the reader is not only to hear Kohelet's wisdom but to observe his journey towards understanding and acceptance of life's frustrations and uncertainties: the journey itself is important.
The Jerusalem Bible divides the book into two parts: Ecclesiastes 1:4–6:12 and chapters 7 to 12, each commencing with a separate prologue.
Few attempts to uncover an underlying structure to Ecclesiastes have met with any widespread endorsement. Among them, the following is one of the more influential:
  • Title
  • Initial poem
  • I: Kohelet's investigation of life
  • II: Kohelet's conclusions
  • * Introduction
  • * A: Humankind cannot discover what is good for it to do
  • * B: Humankind does not know what will come after it
  • Concluding poem
  • Epilogue
Despite the acceptance by some of this structure, there have been many criticisms, such as that of Fox: " proposed structure has no more effect on interpretation than a ghost in the attic. A literary or rhetorical structure should not merely 'be there'; it must something. It should guide readers in recognizing and remembering the author's train of thought."
Verse 1:1 is a superscription, the ancient equivalent of a title page: it introduces the book as "the words of Kohelet, son of David, king in Jerusalem."
Most, though not all, modern commentators regard the epilogue as an addition by a later scribe. Some have identified other statements as further additions intended to make the book more religiously orthodox.
It has been proposed that the text is composed of three distinct voices. The first belongs to Qohelet-as-prophet, the "true voice of wisdom", which speaks in the first person, recounting wisdom through his own experience. The second voice is of Qoheleth-the-king, who is more didactic and thus speaks primarily in second-person imperative statements. The third voice is that of the epilogist, who speaks proverbially in the third person. The epilogist is most identified in the book's first and final verses. Kyle R. Greenwood suggests that Ecclesiastes should be read as a dialogue between these voices following this structure.

Summary

The ten-verse introduction in verses 1:2–11 are the words of the frame narrator; they set the mood for what is to follow. Kohelet's message is that all is meaningless. This distinction first appeared in the commentaries of Samuel ibn Tibbon and Aaron ben Joseph of Constantinople.
After the introduction come the words of Kohelet. As king, he has experienced everything and done everything, but concludes that nothing is ultimately reliable, as death levels all. Kohelet states that the only good is to partake of life in the present, for enjoyment is from the hand of God. Everything is ordered in time and people are subject to time in contrast to God's eternal character. The world is filled with injustice, which only God will adjudicate. God and humans do not belong in the same realm, and it is therefore necessary to have a right attitude before God. People should enjoy, but should not be greedy; no one knows what is good for humanity; righteousness and wisdom escape humanity. Kohelet reflects on the limits of human power: all people face death, and death is better than life, but people should enjoy life when they can, for a time may come when no one can. The world is full of risk: he gives advice on living with risk, both political and economic. Kohelet's words finish with imagery of nature languishing and humanity marching to the grave.
The frame narrator returns with an epilogue: the words of the wise are hard, but they are applied as the shepherd applies goads and pricks to his flock. The ending of the book sums up its message: "Fear God and keep his commandments for God will bring every deed to judgment." Some scholars suggest 12:13–14 were an addition by a more orthodox author than the original writer ; others think it is likely the work of the original author.

Composition

Title, date and author

The book takes its name from the Greek, a translation of the title by which the central figure refers to himself: "Qohelet", meaning something like "one who convenes or addresses a qahal". According to rabbinic tradition, Ecclesiastes was written by King Solomon in his old age, but critical scholars have long rejected the idea of a pre-exilic origin. In Ecclesiastes, the author never says the name "Solomon, but he does say that he is the son of David, who is the king in Jerusalem, and that he is fantastically rich and wise. In other words, he is claiming to be Solomon without using his name." According to Christian tradition, the book was probably written by another Solomon. The presence of Persian loanwords and numerous Aramaisms points to a date no earlier than about 450 BCE, while the latest possible date for its composition is 180 BCE, when the Jewish writer Ben Sira quotes from it. The dispute as to whether Ecclesiastes belongs to the Achaemenid or Hellenistic periods revolves around the degree of Hellenization present in the book. Scholars arguing for a Persian date hold that there is a complete lack of Greek influence; those who argue for a Hellenistic date argue that it shows internal evidence of Greek thought and social setting.
Also unresolved is whether the author and narrator of Kohelet are identical. Ecclesiastes regularly switches between third-person quotations of Kohelet and first-person reflections on Kohelet's words, which would indicate the book was written as a commentary on Kohelet's parables rather than a personally-authored repository of his sayings. Some scholars have argued that the third-person narrative structure is an artificial literary device along the lines of Uncle Remus, although the description of the Kohelet in 12:8–14 seems to favour a historical person whose thoughts are presented by the narrator. It has been argued, however, that the question has no theological importance; one scholar has commented that Kohelet himself would have regarded the time and ingenuity put into interpreting his book as "one more example of the futility of human effort."