The Wisdom of Qoheleth [Solomon]

Grace Theological Journal 7.1 (1986) 21-56

Copyright © 1986 by Grace Theological Seminary; cited with permission.

QOHELETH:

ENIGMATIC PESSIMIST

OR GODLY SAGE?

ARDEL B. CANEDAY

The enigmatic character and polarized structure of the book of



Qoheleth is not a defective quality but rather a deliberate literary



device of Hebrew thought patterns designed to reflect the paradoxical



and anomalous nature of this present world. The difficulty of inter-



preting (his book is proportionally related to one's own readiness



to adopt Qoheleth's presupposition-that everything about this world



is marred by the tyranny of the curse which the Lord God placed



upon all creation. If one fails to recognize that this is a foundational,



presupposition from which Ecclesiastes operates, then one will fail



to comprehend the message of the book, and bewilderment will



continue.







* * *







introduction



The book of Qoheleth,1 commonly known as Ecclesiastes, is per-



haps the most enigmatic of all the sacred writings. It is this qual-



ity which has been a source of sharp criticism. Virtually every aspect



of the book has come under the censure of critics-- its professed



authorship,2 its scope and design, its unity and coherence, its theo-



logical orthodoxy, and its claim to a place among the inspired writings.



A superficial reading of Qoheleth may lead one to believe he is a



man with a decidedly negative view of life in its many facets. This



negative quality has been disproportionately magnified by liberal







1 Though the meaning of tl,h,qo continues to be much debated, the sense accepted



here is connected with the Hebrew verb for assembling (lhaqA), and its form suggests



some killed of office-bearer (the feminine ending). Qoheleth was one who assembled a



congregation for the purpose of addressing it, thus the Preacher. See H. C. Leupold,



Exposition of Ecclesiastes (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1966) 7.



2 The Solomonic authorship has been widely rejected by scholars, both critical



and conservative. Some noted conservatives opt for a post-exilic dating of the



book. See, e.g., E. W. Hengstenberg, Commentary on the Book of Ecclesiastes (reprint;













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22 Grace Theological Seminary







critics and conservatives alike. Understandably, then, Qoheleth has



become the delight of critics and the embarrassment of conservatives.



Embarrassment has led to greater perplexity about the book, and



perplexity has brought negligent disuse of this valuable book.



Certainly the viewpoint of Qoheleth upon the world and life



must be included in any discussion of OT ethical problems. If the



book is indeed a unity, the composition of a single wise man, what is



its theme? Is it pessimistic? Can a completely pessimistic view of life



be admitted a place in the canon of Holy Scripture? Does not the



recurring theme of "a man can do nothing better than to eat and



drink and find satisfaction in his work" (cf. 2:24; 3: 12, 13; etc.) sug-



gest an Epicurean influence? Perhaps Stoicism, too, has influenced



Qoheleth, for he claims, "All is vanity" (1: 2; etc.). What exactly is



Qoheleth's view of the world and of life? What was the source-of



his ethics? Is Qoheleth the record of a man's search for meaning gone



awry, ending in cynicism? Or, is it the book of a godly wise man who



gives orthodox counsel for directing one's path through the labyrinth



of life?







QOHELETH IN THE HANDS OF LIBERAL CRITICS







Modern critics have seized upon the alleged disunity of Qoheleth



and upon the presumed contradictions. This alleged antithetical char-



acter has led critics to disavow the single authorship of Qoheleth, to



discredit the theological expressions, to disclaim its ethics and view of



the world and of life, and to displace the book from its authority and



position as one of the writings of Holy Scripture.



Earlier critics, such as Tyler, postulated a late date (ca. 200 B.C.)3



for the book in order to accommodate the alleged influence of Greek



philosophical schools. Tyler sought to explain the discordance within)



Qoheleth in terms of conflicting influences from Epicureanism and



Stoicism.4 To Tyler the recognition of discontinuity and discordance







Minneapolis: James and Klock, 1977) 1-15 and E.J Young, An Introduction to the



Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1952) 339-41. Young suggests that the



author, being post-exilic, placed his words into the mouth of Solomon, employing a



conventional literary device of his time (p.340). However, in favor of Solomonic



authorship see G. L. Archer, "The Linguistic Evidence for the Date of 'Ecclesiastes,'"



JETS 12 (1969) 167-81.



3 Thomas Tyler, Ecclesiastes (London: D. Nutt, 1899) 30-32.



4 Tyler (ibid., 54) states, "Our book possesses a remarkable antithetical character,



its contrasts not infrequently assuming the form of decided and obvious contradiction.



This antithetical character is especially marked in those two great thoughts of the



philosophical part of the book-the Stoic, ALL IS VANITY; and the Epicurean, EAT,



DRINK, AND ENJOY."









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CANEDAY: QOHELETH: PESSIMIST OR SAGE? 23







within Qoheleth is an assumed fact without need of proof. Hence, it is



of little consequence for Tyler to claim Greek philosophical influence



upon a late Hebrew writer, subject to the erosion of the ancient



Jewish faith.5



Tyler disallows any attempt to demonstrate a genuine continuity



in Qoheleth which would show that it has no real discordant or



antithetical character and especially no "obvious contradictions, as



for example, that between the Stoic and Epicurean. . . .”6







One might fancy that the author of Ecclesiastes intended that the con-



trarieties of this book should in some sort reflect and image forth the



chequered web of man's earthly condition, hopes alternating with fears,



joys succeeded by sorrows, life contrasting with death. It must not be



supposed, however, that we can find an adequate explanation in the



hypothesis that the author of Ecclesiastes arranged his materials in a



varied and artistic manner?7







The denial of an overall literary plan for Qoheleth and a dislike



for its ethical expression, which motivated Tyler's criticism,8 also



motivates other negative criticisms. Recent critics do not identify



Qoheleth’s philosophy as being derived from or influenced by Greek



schools.9 Yet, Qoheleth's literary method is still looked upon as a



"most serious defect."10 Assuming the accuracy of this assessment,



Jastrow seeks to recover the true and original words of a purely



secular Qoheleth by stripping away additions and corrections of later



pious redactors who sought to reclaim the book.11 In this manner he



essays to isolate the interpretation of pious commentators and the



maxims which were added to counterbalance the objectionable char-



acter of the book.12



Other critics represent the alleged discontinuities of Qoheleth in



varying manners. Siegfried divided the book among nine sources.13



Yet, none of the scholars who attempt to reconstruct the words of



Qoheleth by isolating redactors' statements demonstrate why the book







5Ibid., 33.



6Ibid., 54.



7Ibid.



8See Ibid., 63-64 where Tyler concludes that tl,h,qo must be the personification of



Philosophy, a designation in which the speculations of several philosophers are



embodied.



9See, e.g., R. B. Y. Scott, Qoheleth, (AB; New York: Doubleday, 1965), p. 197.



10Morris Jastrow, A Gentle Cynic (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1919) 124.



11Ibid., 197-242.



12Ibid., 245ff.



13See the citation by George Barton, Ecclesiastes (ICC; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark,



1971) 28.





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24 GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL







should have attracted such an effort on the part of pious interpolators



and sages to legitimatize it. It could have been easily suppressed or



dismissed. Gordis properly points out,







But that the book was subjected to thoroughgoing elaboration in



order to make it fit into the Biblical Canon is an assumption for



which no real analogy exists, indeed is contradicted by the history



of the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha after their composition.14







Recent critics recognize a basic unity in Qoheleth, abandon-



ing the assumption of widespread interpolation. Yet, Qoheleth



continues to be viewed negatively in its ethics and world and life



view. Scott sees both heterodoxy balanced by "unimpeachable ortho-



doxy.”15 Yet, it is the divergence from the orthodox which is empha-



sized. Scott states, "It denies some of the things on which the other



writers lay the greatest stress-notably that God has revealed himself



and his will to man, through his chosen nation."16 He adds further



that,







In place of a religion of faith and hope and obedience, this writer



expresses a mood of disillusionment and proffers a philosophy of



resignation. His ethic has no relationship to divine commandments, for



there are none. It arises rather from the necessity of caution and mod-



eration before the inexplicable, on the acceptance of what is fated and



cannot be changed, and finally on grasping firmly the only satisfaction



open to man-the enjoyment of being alive. The author is a rationalist,



an agnostic, a skeptic, a pessimist, and a fatalist (the terms are not used



pejoratively!).17







Even for Scott it was necessary for an orthodox interpreter to



affix the two closing verses (12:13,14) in order "to safeguard the faith



of the uncritical reader",18 and to assure Qoheleth a place in the



canon.



The critics, with unified voice, decry Qoheleth's ethics and his



world and life view as being opposed to that of the remainder of the



OT. He is perceived as a maverick among the sages who propounded



incompatible propositions.







QOHELETH AS VINDICATED BY CONSERVATIVES



In response to liberal critical views, several conservative scholars



have attempted to vindicate the apparently negative view of life in







14Robert Gordis, Koheleth (New York: Schocken, 1968) 71-72.



15Scott, Qoheleth, 191.



16Ibid.



17Ibid., 191-92.



18Ibid., 194.





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CANEDAY: QOHELETH: PESSIMIST OR SAGE? 25







Qoheleth and have affirmed its rightful place in the canon of Holy



Scripture. Among evangelicals there is a general acknowledgment



that Qoheleth is the composition of one individual.19 However, many



evangelicals agree with liberal critical opinions concerning Qoheleth's



world and life view.



The Jewish conservative scholar Gordis assumes a negative char-



acter about Qoheleth's world and life view and seeks to alleviate some



of the tension of his polarized expressions. He resolves the alleged



dilemma of antithetical expressions in Qoheleth by accounting for



many of the “apparently pious sentiments” as quotations cited for the



purpose discussion.20 For example, Gordis claims that fdeOy (8:12) is



used by Qoheleth to introduce "a quotation of conventional cast



which he does not accept.”21 But the verb claimed to be introductory



appears n the middle of the portion it is claimed to mark off as a



quotation.



Leupold, in laying out introductory principles for the interpreta-



tion of Qoheleth, states that the recurring phrase, “under the sun,”



indicates that Qoheleth deliberately restricted his observations and



explanations of human events to a human perspective. By this Leupold



means that Qoheleth, in his observations and reflections upon life,



assumed a position of complete neglect of revelation and the world to



come. He spoke from the perspective that God had not revealed



Himself, and, furthermore, that God is inaccessible.22 In actuality,



though, Qoheleth was a “true man of God who is offering invaluable



Counsel.”23 For Leupold, Qoheleth was a rationalistic apologist who



sought to lead his readers to true happiness by showing how miserable



life is “under the sun,” that is to say “apart from God.” He attempted



to direct men toward God by seeking to convince them rationalistically



of their despair apart from God.



The New Scofield Reference Bible extends Leupold's approach.







Ecclesiastes is the book of man "under the sun" reasoning about life.



The philosophy it sets forth, which makes no claim to revelation but



which inspiration records for our instruction, represents the world-view



of the wisest man, who knew that there is a holy God and that He will



bring everything into judgment.24







19This is true even of those who reject Solomonic authorship. Some have main-



tained that Solomon was the original author, but that at a later time, before the exile,



the book was edited and enriched (see Young, Introduction to OT, 340-41).



20Gordis, Koheleth, 174.



21 Ibid ,283; cf. 287.



22Leupold, Ecclesiastes, 28; cf. 42-43.



23Ibid., 30.



24C.I Scofield, ed., New Scofield Reference Bible (New York: Oxford University,



1967) 696. This interpretive approach virtually abandons Qoheleth to the grasp of





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26 GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL







Both Leupold and the New Scofield Reference Bible have mis-



understood Qoheleth's use of his phrase "under the sun," He did not



employ it to restrict his perspective to common ground with natural



man. He was no mere philosopher who, working from a system of



“natural theology,” sought to understand God's creation without the



interpretive revelation of the Creator. The phrase “under the sun” is



not a restriction upon the manner of Qoheleth's reflections, but it



circumscribes the sphere of those things which he observed in con-



trast to that sphere in which God's reign knows no opposition. The



expression, "under the sun," therefore, speaks of the earth upon which



man dwells as does Qoheleth's phrase, “all that is done under heaven”



(cf. 1:13, 14; etc.).



An older commentator, Moses Stuart, energetically tried to vin-



dicate Qoheleth from charges of impiety, However, he too accepts the



charge that Qoheleth's book contains blatant contradictions and



several impious conclusions. Nevertheless, Stuart acquits the author



by suggesting that those objectionable portions must be understood



in the same way as the "objectors" who appear in the apostle Paul's



letters.25 Stuart characterizes the book as a replaying of the struggle



through which Qoheleth's mind had passed when he set himself on







liberal critics, for one wonders how such an espousal of worldly wisdom could possibly



hold any valid claim to canonicity, This approach agrees that Qoheleth hopelessly



contradicts himself, but such contradiction is accounted for by a not-so-lucid device of



separating revelation from inspiration. See, e.g., the note on 9: 10 concerning Qoheleth's



characterization of the dead: “This statement is no more a divine revelation concerning



the state of the dead than any other conclusion of the Preacher” (1:1), No one would



quote 9:2 as a divine revelation. These reasonings of man apart from revelation are set



down by inspiration just as the words of Satan (Gen 3:4; Job 2:4-5; etc.) are recorded.



But that life and consciousness continue between death and resurrection is directly



affirmed in Scripture…” (p. 702). Such an approach vitiates the whole character of



Qoheleth's book. If one isolates 9: 10 from the context of Qoheleth's burden, one may



argue that Qoheleth did not believe in the conscious existence of the dead. But to assert



such a conclusion goes far beyond Qoheleth's intention. Qoheleth does not concern



himself with the state of man after death. He addresses the matter of death from the



vantage point of things done “under the sun,” i.e., the realm of the living (see 9:3, 6, 9).



His purpose is to celebrate life, for as long as man has breath he has influence and



activity in all “the things done under the sun” (9:6). But once a man dies, he no longer



has anything to do with the activities of man "under the sun" (9: 10). It is the same



perspective that King Hezekiah held in his prayer to the Lord who spared his life. “For



the grave [sheol] cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise; those who go down



to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness. The living, the living-they praise you, as



I am doing today; fathers tell their children about your faithfulness” (Isa 38: 18-19). In



the same way Qoheleth only seeks to urge men to the full enjoyment of life now, “for it



is now that God favors what you do" (9:7), for "anyone who is among the living has



hope” (9:4).



25Moses Stuart, A Commentary on Ecclesiastes, ed. and rev. by D. C. Robbins



(Boston: Dreper and Halladay, 1880) 36-39.





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CANEDAY: QOHELETH: PESSIMIST OR SAGE? 27







the course of philosophical inquiry. Along this course it does not



matter that doubts and improper conclusions "had passed through



the author's mind, for they had greatly perplexed and disturbed him.



The passing through his mind does not stamp them with the authority



of opinions settled, deliberate, and final.”26



Hengstenberg also succumbs to the claim that Qoheleth wrote



several contradictions and antithetical assertions in expressing his



ethics and world and life view. However, Hengstenberg seeks to vin-



dicate Qoheleth from the charge of self-contradiction by means of a



different approach. For him an understanding of the historical milieu



out of which the book of Qoheleth arose is absolutely necessary. He



states, “This book is unintelligible except on the historical presuppose-



tion that the people of God was [sic] in a very miserable condition at



the time of its composition.”27 He claims that the book was composed



in post-exilic days (contemporary with or slightly later than Malachi)28



when the Persians held dominion over God's people. They were in a



most miserable condition, slaves in their own land. Heathens ruled



over them. Degradation, injustice, and misery ruled everywhere. The



glorious splendor of Solomon's days had long passed and the Jews



were now in a time of persecution.29



With this understanding of the times of Qoheleth, Hengstenberg



finds it easy to take the various apparently contradictory or impious



expressions and place them into the mouths of tyrannized impious



Jews. Qoheleth only quotes them as reflecting the popular sentiment



of the times. So, Hengstenberg says, “Vanity of vanities was the



universal cry: alas! on what evil days have we fallen! They said to one



another, 'How is it that the former days were better than these?”



Ecclesiastes vii. 10.”30



Hengstenberg's method of interpretation is observed in his re-



marks upon Qoh 9:5-7. Of Qoheleth's words, "the dead know noth-



ing” (9:5), he says,







Such is the language of natural reason, to those whose eye all seems



dark and gloomy that lies beyond the present scene, because it fails in



this work to discern the traces of divine retribution. The Spirit says on



the contrary: “the spirit returns to God who gave it.”31







26Ibid., 39. He states further, “It only shows what embarrassments the writer had



remove, what perplexities to contend with. The question is not, whether this or that occupied



his mind, which he has recognized in his writing, but whether this or that was adopted



by him, and made up a part of his settled and ultimate opinion” (pp. 39-40).



27Hengstenberg, Ecclesiastes, 45.



28Ibid.,10-11.



29Ibid., 2-16.



30lbid., 45,



31lbid., 212.





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28 GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL







Hengstenberg then explains in his comments on 9:7 that Qoheleth



had spoken in vv 1-6 ''as the representative of the then prevailing



spirit of the people," but in v 7 he takes up the cause of God “to



oppose the popular views and feelings.”32



Hengstenberg, along with many evangelicals, has followed many



liberal scholars in dating the book late based upon internal evidence.



The external evidence for Solomonic authorship has been almost uni-



versally rejected by scholars.33 Along with an appeal to its language,34



scholars cite the condition of Qoheleth's times as an argument against



Solomonic or early authorship.35 As widely accepted as this argument



may be, it seems to be begging the question. If, indeed, Qoheleth



must be understood as post-exilic in order to interpret it and to make



it’s meaning intelligible, then what continuing value does it have for



God's people? Certainly, it can be argued that it is useful for “men in



hard times and when under affliction; but Qoheleth's perspective is



not so restricted. He touches upon virtually every conceivable condi-



tion of life, and his verdict upon it all is the same, whether prosperous



or poor, wise or foolish, industrious or slothful, whether times are



good or bad (cf. 7:13, 14). Qoheleth was not provincial in his world



view; he set out to explore “all that is done under heaven” (1:13). He



states with sincerity and not exaggeration, “then I saw all that God



has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun” (8:12).



The nature of the book itself argues against Hengstenberg and



others who would find internal historical evidence to place it dur-



ing the post-exilic Persian domain over Palestine. The book defies



such attempts. The book presents a world and life view which is



in accord with the rest of Scripture. It does not occupy itself with



local phenomena such as Hengstenberg claims. Quite to the contrary,



it depicts life which is universally true throughout all of earth's his-



tory since the fall of man in the garden. The book deals with things



which are common among men everywhere without a necessary con-



nection to a particular historical milieu. An element common to many



conservative scholars is their assessment of Qoheleth's ethics and world



and life view. For them, Qoheleth was a man who, though he feared



God, looked upon the world around him from the vantage point of a



"reason" that had little to do with his faith in the Creator. They see a







32Ibid.,213.



33See, e.g., the arguments of Christian D. Ginsburg, Coheleth (London:



Longmans, Green, Longmans, and Roberts, 1861) 245ff.



34See Archer, "Linguistic Evidence for the Date of 'Ecclesiastes,'" 167-81



for a technical defense of Solomonic authorship.



35See Ginsburg, Coheleth, p. 249; Stuart, Ecclesiastes, pp. 38-39.





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CANEDAY: QOHELETH: PESSIMIST OR SAGE? 29







dichotomy between faith and reason.36 This view hinders the grasping



of Qoheleth's true world and life view.



One final trend among some conservative scholars must be



addressed. This is the trend to differentiate between “appearance” and



“reality.” One says of Qoheleth's world and life view, “There is much



that superficially viewed, has the appearance of disordered confusion.



But that this is the real state of the case is here emphatically denied.”37



Again concerning the theme of the book, it is asserted







The problem really discussed is the seeming inequalities of divine



providence. These are reconciled with the justice of God, as they are in



the book of Job reconciled with his mercy and goodness.38







These comments fall into a dichotomous pattern because they



refer to Qoheleth’s observations of the world as things he only judged



to be “apparent.” Sierd Woudstra clearly expressed this perspective:



“Koheleth is on the one hand dealing with life as he observed it, while



on the other hand he knew and was convinced by faith that things



were different.”39



Shank astutely observes,







Woudstra here raises an important issue in the interpretation of



Qoheleth. If there does exist a distinction here, that distinction is not



between faith and reason, but between faith and sight, i.e. between



“faith” (that comes from special revelation) and that revelation pres-



ently available to any natural man as he perceives the creation about



him… But, in what sense and to what degree is such a “distinction”



relevant to Qoheleth?40







Qoheleth did not look upon the world from the perspective of a



tabula rasa. Nor was his observation of creation and “all that God



has done” (8:17) conducted upon the foundation of “natural theology.”



His reflections upon this world and life are not the aimless ramblings



and superficial remarks of one given to "sense-experience theology.”







36Cf. H. Carl Shank, “Qoheleth's World and Life View As Seen in His Recurring



Phrases,” WTJ 37 (1974) 61. Hengstenberg (Ecclesiastes, 26) states, “The problem a



before the writer is considered from the point of view of Natural Theology with the aid



of experience, and of reason as purified by the Spirit of God.”



37See the article attributed to Greene, "The Scope and Plan of the Book of



Ecclesiastes,” Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review 29 (1857) 422.



38Ibid.. 423-34. Cf. Walter Kaiser, Jr., Ecclesiastes (Chicago: Moody, 1979) 17.



39Sierd Woudstra, "Koheleth's Reflection upon Life" (unpublished Th.M. thesis;



Westminster Theological Seminary, 1959) 58. He criticized Leupold for his nature/grace



a dichotomy (p. 106). But see Woudstra's attempt to Christianize Qoheleth (pp.91ff.,esp.



pp. 99-101).



40Shank, "Qoheleth's World and Life View," 61.





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Rather, Qoheleth's whole approach was governed by foundational



presuppositions: his firm beliefs that God had revealed Himself



through the biblical themes of creation, the fall of man, and the ensu-



ing history of redemption; and that God had cursed man and the



earth so pervasively that nothing was left untouched by evil.



Qoheleth lived among a people who knew the Lord God and



his relationship to the world through the special revelation of the



Torah. Therefore, his knowledge of the world and of life was regu-



lated by his antecedent knowledge of God, the one whom he feared.



This being true, Qoheleth's "faith" and "sight" were not two entirely



distinct and independent modes of observation.



"Faith" and sight" do not oppose one another in Qoheleth. His



“sight”41 (his perception of this world and life) is his "faith" put into



operation to consider "all that God has done under the sun" from the



orientation of his firm belief in the fall and the curse of man as



recorded in Genesis 3. He looked upon the world and all of life from



the vantage point of a genuine OT believer who well understood not



only the reality of the curse of God placed upon life "under the sun,"



but also its pervasive effect upon everything "under heaven." It is just



such a world and life that Qoheleth depicts in vivid terms.







QOHELETH REVISITED







Thus far it has been the burden of this paper to suggest that it is



the assumed antithetical character and presumed contradictions which



have hindered correct interpretation of Qoheleth. Many commentators



suggest that more than one mind was operative in the composition



of the book. Even some evangelicals portray Qoheleth as a combina-



tion of at least two divergent philosophies or perspectives: natural



reason devoid of special revelation and orthodox affirmations of faith



(though they be few). It is the thesis of this article that Qoheleth's



enigmatic character cannot be resolved by following either of these



two conventional lines of interpretation. The enigmatic character and



polarized structure of the book is not a defective quality reflecting



opposing and contradictory philosophies. On the contrary, the book's



antithetical character is a deliberate literary device set in Hebrew



thought patterns designed to reflect the paradoxical and anomalous



nature of the world which Qoheleth observed. The difficulty of inter-



preting this book and of understanding its message is proportionally



related to one's own readiness to acknowledge the true nature of this



world-a world in bondage to the tyranny of the curse placed by God







41Cf. Ibid., 68-70, where Shank astutely discusses Qoheleth's phraseology, "I



perceived."





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CANEDAY: QOHELETH: PESSIMIST OR SAGE? 31







upon all creation (cf. Rom 8:20ff.). If one fails to recognize this foun-



dational presupposition of Qoheleth, then he will fail to comprehend



the message of the book.







Qoheleth's Arrangement







Many scholars have contended that Qoheleth has no cohesive



plan or design. Long ago Delitzsch stated:







A gradual development, a progressive demonstration, is wanting, and



so far the grouping together of parts is not fully carried out; the con-



nection n of the thoughts is more frequently determined by that which is



external and accidental, and not infrequently an incongruous element



is introduced into the connected course of kindred matters . . . . All



attempts to show, in the whole, not only oneness of spirit, but also a



genetic progress, an all-embracing plan, and an organic connection,



have hitherto failed, and must fail.42







Hengstenberg follows suit:







A connected and orderly argument, an elaborate arrangement of parts,



is as little to be looked for here as in the special portion of the Book of



Proverbs which begins with chapter X., or as in the alphabetical Psalms.43







Surely such assertions are extreme) for even a cursory reading of



Qoheleth should convince anyone that its character is quite differ-



ent from the book of Proverbs.44 With the book of Proverbs one can



select at random a single verse or two and observe a complete unity



of thought in them that may not have any real connection with what



precedes or follows. Yet this does not hinder interpretation of its



meaning. However, Qoheleth is not at all so 'characterized. “It is



useless to take a text and ask 'What does that mean?' unless we have



in our minds some scheme for the whole book into which that text







42Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes, trans.



M. G. Easton (reprint in Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, by C. F. Keil and



Franz Delitzsch; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1950) 188.



43Hengstenberg, Ecclesiastes, 15. He continues to say, "Such matters of plan



and connection have been thrust into the book by interpreters who were incapable of



passing out of 'I heir own circle of ideas, as by degrees became evident from the fact



that not one of these arrangements gained anything like general recognition, but that



on the contrary each remained the sole property of its originator and of his slavish followers."



Concerning the theme of the book, he writes, "It is quite misleading to represent the work



as occupied with a single narrow theme… A superficial glance at its contents will amply



show that they are of far too rich and varied a nature to be comprehended under one



single theme" (p. 16).



44See Stuart, Ecclesiastes, 28ff.





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32 GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL







must fit.”45 The book of Proverbs may be read at several sittings,



disconnected and randomly without disrupting one's understanding



of its isolated parts. However, Qoheleth is like the book of Job;



it must be read with great attentiveness given to its design and



scope, for apart from the context of the complete book, any isolated



portion will be wrongly interpreted. It is precisely because this prin-



ciple has not been observed that so many contradictory interpreta-



tions have been spawned. When detached from the overall design of



the book, anyone of Qoheleth's refrains or expressions may be given



extremely negative interpretations. So it is that his recurring phrase,



"Meaningless! Meaningless! Utterly meaningless! Everything is mean-



ingless" has been dealt with as the exasperated outburst of a cynical



pessimist. Qoheleth's repeated, "A man can do nothing better than to



eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work" has been segregated



from his theme and corrupted to become the slogan of the indulgent



Epicurean sensualist, "Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow



we die!"46 "So I hated life, because the work that is done under the



sun was grievous to me" (2:17) is ascribed to a slothful pessimist.



Examples of "decontextualized" misinterpretations of Qoheleth could



be multiplied many times. But these serve to illustrate how his words



in various portions have been isolated from one another so that when



they are retrieved and placed back together, one is left only with a



mutilated Qoheleth. With such a method, no two pieces fit together.



Is it any wonder that critics and conservatives alike hear so many



strange and contradictory voices in Qoheleth?



However, the solution to determining Qoheleth's arrangement



and design is not to go to the other extreme. One states,







There is clear and consistent plan in the book of Ecclesiastes...one in



fact of the most strictly logical and methodical kind. Not only is the



argument well conducted, conclusive and complete, but its various



points are so admirably disposed, its divisions so regular, and its differ-



ent parts so conformed in structure as to give evidence that the whole



was carefully considered and well digested before it was put together .47







One must keep in mind that these are the words of one who wrote at



a time prior to the present resurgence of interest in Hebrew studies,



which has brought with it a heightened sensitivity to the many pecu-



liarities of the language and its literature. Recent studies of Qoheleth







45Cf. J. Stafford Wright, "The Interpretation of Ecclesiastes," in Classical Evan-



gelical Essays on Old Testament Interpretation, ed. by Walter Kaiser, Jr. (Grand



Rapids: Baker, 1973) 136.



46See F. C. Thompson, ed., The New Chain-Reference Bible, 4th ed.(Indianapolis:



B. B. Kirkbridge, 1964) 199 in the section “A Complete System of Biblical Studies."



47[Greene]. "The Scope and Plan of Ecclesiastes," 427.





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CANEDAY: QOHELETH: PESSIMIST OR SAGE? 33







have shown a much greater appreciation for the qualities of Hebrew



literature and its thought patterns which find their matrix in the Near



Eastern and not the Western mind.48



Nevertheless, the structure of Qoheleth remains elusive. Once its



scheme is traced out, it must still be acknowledged that the progres-



sion of its argument is not readily detectable. In many respects the



book defies the Western mind that looks for clear breaks in thought



around which it may be outlined. Like I John, its contours are fluid.



Its boundaries are obscure. It is characterized by reiteration and



recurring phrases. It is cyclical as it traverses a course around its sub-



ject. As the apostle John treated the life, which is in union with Christ,



he chose a spiral course for considering the manifold character of



fellowship in the life of Christ.49 The subject is of such magnitude that



a glance at it from one perspective will not suffice. So it is with



Qoheleth. His subject, too, is immense. A single gaze upon the world



and upon life from a remote vantage point could never do justice to



its multiform character.



Altllough Qoheleth's arrangement is difficult to determine, cer-



tain structural devices do come to light. Setting aside the book's title



(1:1), eplgram (1:2; 12:8), and the epilogue (12:9-14), one finds that



Qoheletl1 begins and ends with a poem. The first poem is on the



endless round of events in which man forever comes up short in his



laborious toil (1:3-11). The book ends with another poem in which



Qoheleth calls upon men to enjoy life while they yet have breath, for



if death does not cut one off in mid-life, old age will deteriorate one's



satisfaction with life and still death will finally wrench the spirit from



the body (11:7-12:7). It is these two poems which set the tone and



direction of Qoheleth's reflections upon life. Focusing upon the in-



scrutability of divine providence, Qoheleth guides his readers to



acknowledge the meaninglessness of events under the sun. He directs



the reader's focus away from an attempt to understand providence



and toward enjoyment of life as the gift from God. "Enjoyment of



life, not a search for meaning, should be man's guiding principle.50



There is much to commend Addison Wright's view of the struc-



ture of Qoheleth which he suggests in his provocative study.51 He tries











48See J. A. Loader, Polar Structures in the Book of Qohelet (Berlin: Walter



de Gruyter, 1979).



49Cf. Donald Burdick, The Epistle of John (Chicago: Moody, 1970) 14-15; Robert



Law, The Tests of Life (reprint; Grand Rapids: Baker, 1968) 1-24.



50Robert Johnston, "'Confessions of a Workaholic:' A Reappraisal of Qoheleth,"



CBQ 38 11976) 12-18. See also his study in The Christian at Play (Grand Rapids:



Eerdmans, 1983) 95-102.



51Addison G. Wright, "The Riddle of the Sphinx: The Structure of the Book of



Qoheleth,” CBQ 30 (1968) 313-34.





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34 GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL







to demonstrate that there is a break between 6:9 and 6:10. The first



half of the book (1:12-6:9) is characterized by the verbal pattern "all



is vanity and a chase after wind." The cessation of this phrase at 6:9



signals a major break in the book.52 The lines following this (6:10-12)



form a transition to a different verbal pattern which is carried out



throughout the remainder of the book. These verses introduce two



themes which are developed in what follows: (1) what is good for



man during his lifetime? and (2) who can tell man what will come



after him?53 Wright points out that chapters 7 and 8 are structured



around the first of these themes. It is developed in four sections with



each marked by the verb xcAmA.54 The second motif expressed in 6:12 is



developed in 9:1-11:6. The end of each unit is marked with the verb



fdayA or the noun tfaDa.55 Though one may not agree with all the details



of Wright's analysis, there are grammatical indicators which suggest



his general divisions.



The structural development of the book can be summarized as



follows. The title (1:1) and the poem (1:3-11) set the tone and direc-



tion of Qoheleth's reflections by focusing upon the fruitlessness of



man's toil in contrast to the incessant endurance of the earth. The



first major section (1:12-6:9) shows that man's toil is vanity and "a



chase after wind." The second half of the book (after the transition of



6:10-11) develops two themes: "what is good for man" (7:1-8:17) and



"man does not know what will come after him" (9:1-11 :6). The poem



on youth and old age (11:7-12:8) and the epilogue (12:9-14) conclude



Qoheleth's considerations. 56 However, this structural pattern does not



deny that there is an overlapping of themes between sections. For



example, the inability of man to comprehend life's meaning and his



failure to see what will happen after he is gone first appears in 3:11



and 3:22. Though 1:12-6:9 can be characterized as Qoheleth's investi-



gation of life and 7:1-11:6 (after the transition of 6:10-11) as his



conclusions, there is an intermingling of both in each portion. It is



this fact that prohibits any rigid outline of the book.







Qoheleth Interpreted: The Prologue



Qoheleth knew the great expanse of the subject he was about to



undertake, so he prepared his plan of investigation accordingly. He



says, "I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is



done under heaven" (1:13, italics added). His inquiry into the mean-



ing of life and his examination of the character of this world were not







52Ibid., 322-23.



53Ibid., 322.



54Ibid., 323.



55Ibid., 324.



56Ibid., 325.





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CANEDAY: QOHELETH: PESSIMIST OR SAGE? 35







restricted to provincial peculiarities, nor was his reflection narrowly



conceived. He deliberately opened up his observation to the whole



world and to events common among men universally. This he did in



accordance with wisdom,57 a wisdom guided by preestablished beliefs



which show themselves throughout his discourse.



Qoheleth bursts upon his reader with his concise and vigorous



exclamatilion: "'Meaningless! Meaningless!' says the Preacher, 'Utterly



meaningless! Everything is meaningless'"(1:2). The intensity of the



expression could hardly be exceeded. With such brilliance the book



commences.



Now when the preacher gives prominence to words of such



strength and to an expression so captivating, one would suppose that



there would be little need to look further for the theme which the



book seeks to develop and to prove. However, it has not so impressed



some scholars. Hengstenberg claims,







It is quite misleading to represent the work as occupied with a single



narrow theme. . . .A superficial glance at its contents will amply show



that they are of far too rich and varied a nature to be comprehended



under one such single theme.58







But Qoheleth puts his arresting expression concerning meaninglessness



in the position that a book of this nature would normally place its



theme. Furthermore, the phrase, "everything is meaningless" (with its



variations),59 is the most dominant and pervasive of all Qoheleth's



recurring phrases in the book. Also, as the book opens, so it closes



with an exclamation of meaninglessness (see 12:8). Therefore, it seems



advisable to adopt 1:2 as the theme which Qoheleth seeks to prove



throughout the entirety of the book.



Phrases with the word lbh appear no less than 30 times. Of this



class of phrases, Woudstra well states the main exegetical question,



"Is Koheleth only saying that man's accomplishments under the



sun are transitory in character, are devoid of any permanence, or



he saying that human existence and everything that goes with it



futile and meaningless?60 This latter sense of lbh is rejected by



Leupold as "a pessimistic meaning...that is not warranted by facts”61



He Qoheleth. He avows that the word can only refer in Qoheleth to







57Cf. Stuart's discussion of "wisdom" (Ecclesiastes, 50ff.) where he points out that,



for Qoheleth, the contrast between wisdom and folly is not equivalent to the Proverbs'



use where wisdom is piety and folly is wickedness. In Qoheleth, wisdom bears the sense



of sagacity and folly, the lack of it.



58Hengtenberg, Ecclesiastes, 16.



59Cf.l: 14;2:1, 11, 15, 17, 19,21,23,26;3:19;4:4,7,8, 16;5:7, 10;6:2,4,9, 11,



12, 7:6, 15;10, 14; 9:9; 11:8, 10; 12:8.



60Woudstra, "Koheleth's Reflection upon Life," 38.



61Leupold, Ecclesiastes, 41.





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36 GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL







"that which is fleeting and transitory, and also suggests the partial



futility of human efforts.”62 On the other hand, Woudstra defends the



latter sense of lbh and denies that it implies pessimism.63



One should not be too hasty to translate lbh with a single word



as do most translations.64 The word lbh, meaning "vapor" or "breath,"



is employed figuratively of anything that is "evanescent, unsubstantial,



worthless, vanity.65 The particular sense of the word must be derived



from its usage in any particular context. It is employed as a designa-



tion for false gods (Deut 32:21; 1 Kgs 16:13, 26; 2 Kgs 17:15; Jer 2:5;



8:19; 10:8, 15; Jonah 2:9; Ps 31:6). The term lbh also represents the



exasperated sentiments of individuals.66 Job complains about the



brevity and uncertainty of his life; it is an exasperation to him



(Job 7: 16).67 The use of lbh in Ps 39:5, 6 is similar to its use in



Qoheleth:



You have made my days a mere handbreadth, the span of my years is



nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath. Man is a mere



phantom as he goes to and fro; He bustles about, but only in vain; he



heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.68



The majority of the uses of lbh in the OT appear in Qoheleth,



yet even here the word is more flexible than most translations would



suggest. There are four general categories into which Qoheleth's use



of lbh can be placed. First, there are passages in which the word



expresses "meaninglessness" in the most general sense. Among these,



1:2 and 12:8 are the most prominent, for they summarize the whole



book in compressed form. Other passages in this category are 2:1, 26;



4:16; 5:7, 10; 6:4; 7:6; 9:9. Second, the author employs lbh to express



his vexations arising from the laboriousness of his work and his



inability to control the disposition of his possessions when he departs



from the earth (2:11,17,19,21,23; 4:4, 7, 8; 6:2). Third, the expres-



sion is used of Qoheleth's frustration over the delay of retribution.



Retribution, adequate, appropriate, and final does not take place in



the present world. The connection between wickedness and condemna-



tion, righteousness and deliverance is not direct and obvious but



shrouded and often turned upside down (2:15; 6:9; 7:15; 8:10, 14).



Finally, lbh is employed by Qoheleth to vent his deepest vexation







62Ibid. Italics added.



63Woudstra, "Koheleth's Reflection upon Life," 38.



64KJV, "vanity"; NASB, "vanity"; NIV, "meaninglessness."



65BDB,210-11.



66Por example, Isa 49:4. The servant Israel says, "I have labored in vain [qyri],



have spent my strength for nothing [UhTo] and vanity [lb,h,]."



67Cf. Job 7:16 with Qoh 2:17.



68NIV, Qoh 5:16-17.









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CANEDAY: QOHELETH: PESSIMIST OR SAGE? 37







with this present world-his lament over the brevity of life and the



severity of death (3: 19; 6: 12; II :8, 10; cf. 12:8 following the graphic



portrayal of death). The quality of life is "empty" and "vacuous" and



its quantity is entirely "transitory" and "fleeting.69 How appropriate,



then, is lbh with its many nuances to express the nature of this world



and life in it!



Shank sums up well Qoheleth's employment of lbh:



Different "aspects" of the idea of vanity are employed by Qoheleth to



vividly illustrate the reality of the curse of God placed upon the work



of man after the Fall (cf. Gen. 3:17-19). Therefore, an attempt to find



a "static" meaning to hebel in Ecclesiastes...fails to take note of the



richness of the concept as used by Qoheleth.70



Indeed, Qoheleth does announce his theme in 1:2. It is not



narrowly conceived nor is it too singular. The theme of evanescence,



unsubstantiality, meaninglessness, vanity is carefully carried through



the whole book as a weaver threads his theme color throughout his



fabric. It is sufficiently broad in its formulation, for it accurately



summarizes the full contents of Qoheleth (if one does not restrict the



word lbh to a rigid or static meaning).



What the Preacher states with pithy conciseness in 1:2, he restates



in further summary form before he begins the body of his work. This



he does in 1:3-11 in the form of a compendium. The opening poem



serves as an abstract which compresses the essence of the book into a



brief introduction.



The Preacher first asks, "What does man gain from all his



labor at which he toils under the sun?" (1:3). Qoheleth clearly indi-



cates by his question the inquiry that led to his announced verdict



of evanescence and meaninglessness (1:2). The query expresses in



typical Hebrew concreteness the quest for the meaning and purpose



of life in this present world. This often escapes the occidental mind



in which points the question in more abstract terms. Qoheleth's fondness



for the book of Genesis71 throughout his work influenced how he



framed his question. As scholars have observed, wisdom literature in



the OT is "within the framework of a theology of creation.”72 Thus,



one can understand why Qoheleth structured his inquiry based upon



man's divinely appointed occupation within creation (cf. Gen 2:5, 15)







69Cf. Victor Hamilton, "hebel" in Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament,



vol.1, ed.by R, Laird Harris, Gleason L.Archer, Bruce K.Waltke (Chicago:Moody,



1980) 204-5.



70 Shank:, "Qoheleth's World and Life View," 66.



71See Charles C. Forman, "Koheleth's Use of Genesis," JSS 5 (1960) 256-63.



72Walter Zimmerli, "The Place and Limit of the Wisdom in the Framework of



the Old Testament Theology," SJT 17 (1964) 148.





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38 GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL







rather than ask abstractly, "What is the meaning of life?" His interest



is not economical but truly philosophical; it does not concern pecu-



niary profits but life's purpose and meaning.



Qoheleth states his conclusion (1:2); then he asks the question to



which his conclusion is the answer (1:3). He then turns to prove his



conclusion about this world and man's part in it by means of the



poem in 1:4-11. This introductory poem serves as a compendium in



which the message of the book is summarized. Qoheleth seeks to



establish his conclusion of 1:2 by rehearsing the inflexible cyclical



nature of the world and its enduring character in contrast to transi-



tory and evanescent man. He declares, "Generations come and gener-



ations go, but the earth remains forever" (1:4). The earth, methodically



plodding along in its routine course, does not skip a beat of its



rhythm to celebrate a man's. birth nor to mourn his death.



This rhythmic uniformity of seasons and events forms the con-



text within which man dwells. It provides stability so that much of his



life becomes routine; there are not shocking surprises everyday. Man



can depend upon the recurrence of the daily appearance of the sun.



As it sets in the westerly sky in the evening, so it shall rise in the east



the next morning (1:5). Man has come to recognize the course of the



wind which brings warmth or cold. It, too, is cyclical. Daily the winds



change their direction bringing a variety of weather conditions (1:6).



Man does not need to fear that the seas will swallow up the land, for



though the rivers and streams all flow into the ocean, the sea does not



overrun its boundaries. The waters dissipate and return as rain upon



the land to keep the rivers flowing to the sea (1:7).



Times and seasons are a blessing to man, for God promised a



regularity and uniformity upon which man could depend. "As long as



the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and



winter, day and night will never cease" (Gen 8:22). However, this



blessing which gives man some measure of predictability about life



becomes wearisome to him. Uniformity and repetition breeds monot-



ony in this cursed world. Regularity has an eroding effect; it wears



man down. So it is that Qoheleth declares, "All things are wearisome,



more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, or the ear



its fill of hearing" (1:8).



Man comes to expect the recurrence of events. Even in man's



brief existence upon the earth, he comes to learn that even those few



things that may occur only once in his lifetime are not new (1:9). The



joy of discovery is dampened by earth's stubborn uniformity. As one



excitedly exclaims, "Look! This is something new," the excitement



quickly fades with the realization that, "It was here before our



time"(1:10).



Uniformity; regularity; methodical, orderly recurrence; cyclical,



rhythmic routine; these are all descriptive of the world which Qoheleth





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CANEDAY: QOHELETH: PESSIMIST OR SAGE? 39







observed. But there is an intruder which interrupts man's part in the



profound cycle of events. It is the culprit which transforms the beauty



of uniformity into a monotonous machine which mercilessly carries



the sons of Adam through the corridors of time into oblivion (1: 11).



It is the curse which has put a blight upon everything. Nothing has



escaped its clutching grasp. Surely, God's providential directing of the



affairs of :his world is carried out with uniform precision and beauty, I



yet the curse hides the full character of the one who governs the



universe.



Such is the broad, sweeping picture that Qoheleth portrays in his



compendium (1 :3-11). The stage, with its backdrop and props, obsti-



nately endures as earth's systems methodically press on with no



apparent direction, for everything about it repeats itself. Much to the



grief of the actors, they themselves have no such permanence. "Genera-



tions come and generations go, but the earth remains.forever" (1:4).



To add insult to injury, even the product of their work falters with



them (1:3), so they become forgotten men (1:11). Such is the scene



which stirs Qoheleth with vexation to announce with startling bold-



ness, "'Meaningless! Meaningless!' says the Preacher, 'Utterly mean-



ingless! Everything is meaningless'" (1:2).



It is Qoheleth's prologue which sets the theme, the tone and the



movement of the whole book with its incessant repetition. The book



takes on the shape of the world as it imitates the cadence of creation



by the use of its many recurring phrases and themes. Not only has



Qohelettl captured with words the pointlessness of man's life of labor



in a world which outlasts him, uninterrupted by man's coming and



going, but he also leads his reader to sense the incessant rhythm of



the world by his own calculated refrains. It is precisely this recurrent



character of Qoheleth with its polarized structure which should aid



the reader to a proper interpretation of the book. Rather, it has



become the chief point of criticism and dispute.







Qoheleth Interpreted: The Recurring Themes







As Qoheleth develops his world and life view it is imperative to



observe his pattern. He sets before the reader motifs and themes, all



calculated to support his verdict announced in 1:2. Qoheleth's argu-



ment will be considered under four headings: 1) polarity of themes,



2) theology of creation, 3) elusiveness of meaning, and 4) celebra-



tion of life.







Polarity of Themes





The antithetical character of Qoheleth is not to be resolved by



positing contradictory thought patterns within Qoheleth himself, nor





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40 GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL







by appealing to the voices of presumed editors, redactors, and glos-



sators as the liberal critics do. Rather the polarity of structure and



expression found in the book reproduces the character of this world.



As the world which Qoheleth observed is characterized by its cease-



less recurrent cycles and paradoxes of birth and death, war and peace,



and the like (cf. 3:1-8), giving it an enigmatic quality, so Qoheleth



reproduces its pattern in literary form, repeatedly turning back upon



himself to reiterate and restate themes and observations upon various



subjects which support his verdict.73 This he does by casting his work



into a polarized structural form as illustrated by 3:1-9.74 Just as there



is no place "under the sun" to find a tranquil resting place devoid of



life's vexations where the movement of this world ceases to erode the



strength and vitality of man, so Qoheleth's composition does not



permit its readers to settle their minds with contentment upon a par-



ticular portion of his book. There is always tension as various obser-



vations and reflections upon life are juxtaposed in polarity. He hates



life (2:17), yet he commends its enjoyment (2:24ff.). Death (7:Iff.) and



life (9:4ff.) hold prominency in Qoheleth's polarized expressions. On



the one hand he can say, "The day of death is better than the day



of birth" (7:1) and on the other "a live dog is better off than a



dead lion" (9:4). Illustrative of this polarized character of Qoheleth,



7: 16, 17 stand out: "Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise-



why destroy yourself? Do not be overwicked, and do not be a



fool-why die before your time?" It is these paradoxical observations



and expressions which characterize the book and cause such great



difficulty for so many exegetes. The tension cast by Qoheleth's obser-



vations and reflections is unrelenting.



Qoheleth involves the whole reader in an incessant movement of



thought as he carefully weaves his various strands of thread into a



multiform fabric, fully reflecting this world and life in it. His literary



image reflects the harsh realities of this present world as he places



side by side contradictory elements to portray the twisted, disjointed



and disfigured form of this world (see 1:15; 7:13). Man as observer is



not exempted from the tension. His emotional and mental involve-



ment in the contradictions of this world create a complexity of



thought, motives and desires. Qoheleth was a man torn by the pres-



ence of evil and vexed by the ravages of injustice, oppression and



death. He compels his reader to confront this diverse nature of this



paradoxical world in which evil has supplanted the good. In this







73See Shank, "Qoheleth's World and Life View," 57-73 for an excellent study of



Qoheleth's recurring phrases.



74Cf. Loader, Polar Structures in the Book of Qohelet, 29ff.





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CANEDAY: QOHELETH: PESSIMIST OR SAGE? 41







world wickedness drives out justice (3:16). Oppression replaces char-



ity (4:1ff.). Everything is marked by twisting and incompleteness



(I: 15). In the place of sweet labor (which was man's original allot-



ment), the sweat of the brow embitters one's work with the brine of



wearisome and laborious toil which is fruitless (cf. Gen 3:17-19; with



Qoh 2:11, 17f., etc.).



The world which Qoheleth observed is cursed; it is disjointed; it



is upside down. Death and decay dominate. The appointment of



every man has become the grave. As a man is born, so he must die



(3:1). He comes into a world naked and leaves stripped of all the



of profits from his labors (5:15-17). He leaves his wealth to be squan-



dered by one who has not worked for it (2:17-21), or it falls into the



hands of a stranger by some misfortune (6:1-2). But the greatest evil



of all is the fact that death is no respecter of persons (9:3). It comes



upon men so haphazardly, often leaving the wicked to live long in



their wickedness (7:15).



In this paradoxical world no man knows what shall befall him-



whether love or hate (9:1), good or evil (7:14), prosperity or destruction



(11:6). An adequate and appropriate retribution is absent from this



present world. The connection between wickedness and condemnation,



righteousness and reward is hidden and apparently non-existent (cf.



2:15; 6:9; 7:15; 8:10,14). It is upon this subject that Qoheleth's polar-



ized expressions have caused his readers to become most disconcerted



and unsettled. For on the one hand he complains that wickedness has



driven out justice in the place where one would expect to find equity



(3: 16). Yet, he quickly offsets the present scene with an expression of



confidence that "God will bring to judgment both the righteous and



the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time for every



deed" 3:17). Qoheleth vents his grief that sentences for crimes are not



quickly executed (8:11). Yet, he again expresses confidence that the



final day will bring justice where it is now absent (8: 12-13). But



immediately Qoheleth turns the reader back to view the paradox that



vexes him most: "There is something else meaningless that occurs on



earth: righteous men who get what the wicked deserve, and wicked



men who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say is meaning-



less (8:14).



Herein lies the chief source of Qoheleth's dilemma; divine provi-



dence in this present world disproportionately distributes deserts-the



this wicked prosper and the righteous flounder (cf. Job 21:4-33; Ps 73:4-



12; Jer 12:1-4). The almighty God who rules this world hides himself



behind a frowning providence. It seldom appears that the benevolent



God who created the universe has control of his own creation. It



rarely seems that a rational and moral being gives motion to the



world. Even the beauty of uniformity plagues man's thoughts about





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42 GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL







God. Uniformity becomes motonony in the present cursed world, for



it is precisely upon the basis of the world's disjointed regularity that



men scoff at God and his promises (see Mal 2:17; 3:14-15; 2 Pet 3:3-



7). The present world order becomes the occasion for wicked men to



jeer God and for righteous men to vex their souls that divine justice is



so long delayed. It is precisely this character of the world which gives



rise for the need of patient endurance on the part of the righteous as



they await the fulfillment of God's promises of justice and deliverance



(cf. 2 Pet 3:8-13, 15).







Theology of Creation







The Preacher's occasion and purpose for writing his book is



found in his opening question: "What does man gain from all his labor



at which he toils under the sun?" (1:3). He asks this question re-



peatedly (2:22; 3:9). This may seem to be a rather narrowly conceived



question for setting the theme of Qoheleth which is broad in its discus-



sions and investigations. It has been stated earlier that Qoheleth's



interests were not merely to investigate the measure of profits gained



from labor, but the inquiry expresses tangibly man's quest to know



the meaning and purpose of life. The entire book of Qoheleth is a



reflection upon life in this world in order to search out its meaning.



The theme question found in 1:3 is conceived in terms of man's



original divine mandate to work in paradise and to subdue the earth



by ruling over it as king (Gen 2:5, 15; 1 :28). The creation motif holds



a significant place in the formulation of Qoheleth's thoughts. He



acknowledges, as does the Genesis account, that man was made from



the dust of the ground and will return to it (Qoh 12:7; 3:20; cf. Gen 2:7;



3:19); that man was designed to live in companionship (Qoh 4:9-12;



9:9; cf. Gen 1:27; 2:21-25); that man is bent toward sin (Qoh 7:29;



8:11; 9:3; cf. Gen 3:1-13); that human knowledge is derived and has



God-given limitations (Qoh 8:7; 10: 14; cf. Gen 2: 17); and that God is



sovereign over all (Qoh 3:10-13; cf. Gen 1:28-30; 3:5). ..



Johnston observes, "Perhaps most importantly, Ecclesiastes and



Genesis exhibit substantial agreement as to the central focus of the



creation motif-that life is to be celebrated as a 'good' creation of



God.”75 But the problem that exists for Qoheleth is the intrusion of



sin and God's curse upon all creation and, in particular, upon man.



When God created man, his design was that man till the soil as an



extension of God's hand to carryon the work which God had made



(Gen 2:4-7). Man's purpose, then, was to work upon the earth, an



earth which yielded readily to the hands of Adam to produce only







75 Johnston, "'Confessions of a Workaholic,'" p. 22.





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CANEDAY: QOHELETH: PESSIMIST OR SAGE? 43







those things which "were pleasing to the eye and good for food" (cf.



Gen 2:9). But the curse of God came upon man and his environment



because of Adam's rebellion. It changed the scene drastically so that



no longer would man's work be pleasureable. Instead it is character-



ized by laboriousness and pain and yields a meagerly disproportion-



ate return for the energy expended (Gen 3:17-19). Thorns and thistles



grow where once beautiful and luscious produce sprang forth. Man



was made to eke out a living under adverse conditions. His whole life



became involved with this effort. Thus, the real question of the mean-



ing of life is the query Qoheleth asks: "What does man gain from all



his labor at which he toils under the sun?" What does man have left



when all his painful and wearisome toil is complete? What goal is



there" for a life which is so consumed with such endless and exhaust-



ing drudgery? If there is meaning to life, where is it concealed?



It is Qoheleth's orientation to the Scriptural account of creation



which forms his presuppositional basis for a world and life view. He



recognized a great disparity between his world and that which came



directly from the creative hand of God; the curse had intruded to



disrupt the harmony of creation. The evil that Qoheleth observed



"under the sun" was not inherent in nor of the essence of creation,



but was externally imposed. The curse of Gen 3: 17ff. becomes in



Qoheleth's language disjointedness and discontinuity or kinks and



gaps which are irrevocable (1: 15) because they have been imposed by



God (7:13). By the curse God subjected creation to the frustration of



bondage and decay (cf. Rom 8:19-21), creating the enigma which



bewilder! men. The world has been turned upside down, so that it



bears little resemblance to the pristine paradise that it once was. For



Qoheleth. then, the world was neither what it once was nor what it



will be therefore he designed his book, not to "wrest some form of



order from chaos”76 or to master life, but to bring men to acknowl-



edge that this world and life in it is marked by aimlessness, enigma,



and tyranny. Qoheleth upholds the creational design to celebrate life



as a divine gift which is to be enjoyed as good, something to be cher-



ished reverently and something in which man delights continually. 77



This, per haps, is the greatest enigma in Qoheleth--his bold assertion



of the meaninglessness of life "under the sun" and his resolute affirma-



tion that life is to be celebrated joyfully. The fact that he unequivocably



maintained both is not proof that Qoheleth was a double-minded



man-secular and religious. He was not a pessimist who saw nothing



better than to indulge the flesh. He was a godly sage who could



affirm both the aimlessness of life "under the sun" and the enjoyment







76G. van Rad, Old Testament Theology, vol. 1, trans. D. M. G. Stalker (New



York: Harper and Row, 1962) 420.





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44 GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL







of life precisely because he believed in the God who cursed his crea-



tion on account of man's rebellion, but who was in the process,



throughout earth's history, of redeeming man and creation, liberating



them from the bondage to decay to which they had been subjected



(cf. Rom 8:19-21). Because Qoheleth was a man of faith, he held this



perspective, for it was through his faith in the God who revealed him-



self that Qoheleth knew what the world once was and what it will be



again. It was because of this orientation that so many enigmatic and



antithetical considerations and observations are held in proper ten-



sion within his mind and within his book.







Elusiveness of Meaning







The identification of 1:3 as the theme question, the question of



life's meaning, is confirmed by the book itself. In 3:9-11 Qoheleth



reveals the breadth of the question. It was no mere economic question



about one's wealth, but it was a philosophical inquiry about life's



meaning and purpose. After a poetically structured recitation of the



divine appointment of affairs which touch every man in this cursed



world (3: 1-8), Qoheleth breaks forth with his thematic question,



"What does the worker gain from his toil?" (3:9). The relentless tide



of events described by Qoheleth is reminiscent of the cosmological



cycle earlier recited (1:4-11). It is precisely to such unalterable and



rhythmic recurrence of events "under the sun" that the Preacher



affixes his question of meaning (1:3 before the poem in 1:4-11; 3:9



after the poem in 3: 1-8). Man is part of the cyclical flux of time and



circumstance "under the sun." He both inflicts adversity and suffering



upon others and is victimized by the incessant recurrence of events.



Man struggles for life and meaning in an environment that taunts him



with its paradoxes: birth and death, weeping and laughter, love and



hate, war and peace, and the like. Such a relentless and inflexible



cycle of events extends beyond the grasp of man's control and under-



standing. Qoheleth never suggests that a man should resign himself



passively and put forth no "effort to avert the times and the circum-



stances.78 Yet, his purpose is not to aid his reader to search for order



so as to master life.79 Von Rad is misguiding when he offers the fol-



lowing wisdom literature's intention: "There was surely only one goal,



to wrest from the chaos of events some kind of order in which man



was not continually at the mercy of the incalculable.80







77 Cf. Johnston, "'Confessions of a Workaholic,'" 22-23.



78 See the improper conclusion of Louis Goldberg, Ecclesiastes (Grand



Rapids:Zondervan, 1983) 64.



79 Cf. Johnston, "'Confessions of a Workaholic,'" 26-27.



80 G. von Rad, Wisdom in Israel, trans. J. D. Martin (New York: Abingdon, 1972) 316.





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CANEDAY: QOHELETH: PESSIMIST OR SAGE? 45







Though Qoheleth surely is not a passive victim of the cruelties



of the endless rounds of this life, neither does his focus become the



task of mastering life, straining to "wrest some form of order from



chaos.”81 Rather, his entire concentration is on how one directs his



life through the labyrinth of this meaningless life; it is guidance and



counsel to his readers to enjoy life in spite of the inscrutable and



enigmatic world in which they live.



On the one hand, precisely where one might expect pessimistic



resignation from Qoheleth, the notion is resisted. On the other hand,



he does not counsel his readers to search for order in an attempt to



manipulate life. It is his burden to show from his consideration of



life's limits and enigmas the futility of man's attempt to understand



the whole of life and thus to master it. He counsels his readers to



replace false and illusory hopes of understanding providence (thereby



manipulating life) with a well-established, joyful confidence that crea-



tion is God's gift.82



One may be puzzled about the connection between the question



of 3:9 and the statement of 3:10. However, if one remembers that the



inquiry of 3:9 is not economic but the basic question of life's mean-



ing, the connection is clear. If every event in this cursed world has its



appointed time (depending not upon human influence but upon the



determination and providence of God), "what does the worker gain



from his toil" (3:9)? What purpose and meaning does life hold? In



response to his inquiry, Qoheleth says, "I have seen the burden God



has laid on men" (3:10).83 What is this burden (vyAn;fihA)? Hengstenberg



refers it back to the moil and toil of v 9 “to which men subject them-



selves in that they desire, and yet are unable to effect anything,



because everything comes to pass as it has been fixed and predeter-



mined by God.”84 However, the inquiry of v 9 is not so restricted but



is a philosophic question relative to the basic meaning and purpose of



life. It does not merely have in view moil and toil. Rather, it encom-



passes the whole of life's activity in a cursed world where labor and



life is subjected to drudgingly irksome and fruitless efforts. Thus, the



burden spoken of in v 10 is not to be identified as simply the moil and



toil in which men are occupied.



The quest in v 9 is linked with v 11 through v 10. The burden



(vyAn;fihA) is comprised of this: "He has made everything beautiful in its



time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot



fathom what God has done from beginning to end" (3:11). To express



the fact that God has made everything beautiful in its time, Qoheleth







81 von Rad, Old Testament Theology, vol. 1,421.



82 Johnston, "'Confessions of a Workaholic,'" 26.



83 See Kaiser, Ecclesiastes, 53-54 concerning the singular MdAxAhA yneb;li.



84 Hellgstenberg, Ecclesiastes, 104.









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46 GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL







uses hp,yA as a synonym for bOF. Yet, the beauty can hardly be that



goodness which the Lord God observed in the work of his hands at



the beginning (cf. Gen 1:31, etc.), for creation's subjugation to bond-



age and decay had not yet come. But after the fall, God's creation was



pervasively marred by the curse as is seen in the paradoxes of human



affairs listed by Qoheleth (3:1-8). The beauty of which the Preacher



speaks consists in this, that what occurs among men comes to pass at



its appointed time as a constituent portion of the whole of God's



work among men.85



Not only has God ordered the affairs of all creation beautifully,



he also has put MlAfohA-tx, in the hearts of men (MBAliB;). The suffix in



MBAliB; refers to the MdAxAHA in v 10. How is MlAfohA to be understood? Some



older commentators attempted to translate the word in the sense of



the Arabic ‘lam as 'knowledge' or 'understanding.’86 With this inter-



pretation, rw,xE lyiB;mi is translated "without which," so that the sense



of the text is: "He has also set knowledge in the hearts of men,



without which they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning



to end.”87



This exegetical course is rejected by most commentators.88 Appar-



ently Luther took MlAfohA-tx, to mean "the world," "the desire after the



knowledge of the world," or "worldly mindedness.”89 However, it



seems best to follow the lead of Delitzsch and others who take MlAfohA



as "eternity.”90



The "eternity" which God has put into the hearts of men is a



certain inquisitiveness and yearning after purpose. It is a compulsive



drive, a deep-seated desire to appreciate order and beauty, arising



because man is made in the image of God. It is an impulse to press



beyond the limits which the present world circumscribes about man



in order to escape the bondage which holds him in the incessant cycle



of the seasons and in order to console his anxious mind with meaning



and purpose.91 It is man's desperate attempt to make sense out of



what seems senseless and meaningless. Yet, MlAfohA must not be restricted



to this, but also must include a residual knowledge of God's eternal



power and divine nature which God has placed in every man (cf.







85 Cf. Delitzsch, Ecclesiastes, 259.



86 Cf. Stuart, Ecclesiastes, 174-75. But see Delitzsch's response to this, Eccle-



siastes, 260.



87 Stuart's strained conclusions on 3:11 are inconsistent with his comments on 8:17.



See Stuart, Ecclesiastes, 173-74 and 308.



88 See Delitzsch, Ecclesiastes, 260.



89 Attributed to Luther by Delitzsch, Ecclesiastes, 260.



90 Ibid.,261.



91 Ibid.





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CANEDAY: QOHELETH: PESSIMIST OR SAGE? 47







Rom 1:19),92 for it is this knowledge which gives man his sense that



there is purpose and meaning (though it entirely eludes him).



This compulsive desire to appreciate the beauty, symmetry and



order of creation shows itself differently at various levels. Aesthetically



man seeks to appreciate creation's beauty as he imitates his creator by



fashioning beauty with his own hands. Philosophically man pursues



knowledge of the universe to know its character, composition and



meaning. Theologically man seeks to discern creation's purpose and



destiny. Since man has this craving for meaning, a deep-seated in-



quisitiveness and capacity to learn how everything in this world fits



together, he seeks to integrate his experience into a meaningful whole.



He yearns to connect the various pieces of his experience to see each



portion in the context of the whole of his life. He desperately desires



to have a meaningful understanding of the world and of life to give



him direction and mastery. He is like Qoheleth who sought to add



"one thing to another to discover the scheme of things" (7:27).



Herein then is the task or burden which God has laid upon the



sons of Adam: the search for meaning in a disjointed and topsy-turvy



world. It is not a burden because man is a creature who has only



limited and derived knowledge. It is a heavy and frustrating burden



because man's quest for meaning is now performed in a cursed world



wherein inexplicable paradox dominates-there is birth and death,



hate as well as love, and more war than peace fills the earth. It is this



kind of world, uniform yet twisted and marked by gaps, which



Qoheleth explored and declared to be meaningless.



In spite of the fact that God has "made everything beautiful in its



time" (an orderly arrangement even of chaos), and despite the cer-



tainty that "He also has set eternity in the hearts of men," Qoheleth



declares, “yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning



to end" (3:11c). This incapacity of man is emphasized repeatedly by



Qoheleth to establish the meaninglessness which he announced at the



beginning as his theme. The inability to discover God's purposes and



design from events and experiences is an essential thread which



Qoheleth weaves into the fabric of his work. The elusiveness of mean-



ing becomes the dominant motif in 6:12-11:6. Man is reminded that



he "cannot discover anything about his future" (7:14; cf. 3:22) because



God has made both good and evil to befall men quite haphazardly. Is



proof needed for the inscrutable ways of God? Qoheleth declares, "In



this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: a righteous



man perishing in his righteousness, and a wicked man living long in



his wickedness" (7:15). The tyrannies and the benevolences in this







92 Otto Zockler, Ecclesiastes, trans. William Wells, in vol. 5, Commentary



on the Scripture, ed. by J. P. Lange (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1960) 67.





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48 GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL







world, both caused by God, come upon men with disparity and



inequity, for "righteous men get what the wicked deserve and the



wicked get what the righteous deserve" (8:14). God has not revealed



to men the secrets of the purposes which move his actions (cf.



Deut 29:29).



Man's limitation and fractional knowledge, as he seeks to "add



one thing to another to discover the scheme of things" (cf. 7:27), is



emphasized in 8:7-8a: "Since no man knows the future, who can tell



him what is to come? No man has power over the wind to contain it;



so no one has power over the day of his death." The disproportionate



allotment of God's providence ruins men's illusory hopes of master-



ing life and discovering the divine meaning and purpose for life's



experiences and events. "There is something else meaningless that



occurs on earth: righteous men get what the wicked deserve and



wicked men get what the righteous deserve" (8:14). Who would chal-



lenge Qoheleth? He is right! The incongruities and paradoxes that



baffled Qoheleth bewilder every man. It is this disharmony and



absurdity that compelled Qoheleth to impart to his readers a realistic



perspective:93







When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe man's labor



on earth-his eyes not seeing sleep day or night-then I saw all that



God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun.



Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its mean-



ing. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend



it [8:16-17].







Celebration of Life







It is precisely in the contexts where Qoheleth magnifies and



emphasizes man's bewilderment that so many scholars have failed to



understand Qoheleth. His candid and realistic confessions followed



by counsel have brought severe criticism. On the one hand, he is



accused of pessimism for his acknowledgement of the elusiveness of



meaning and, on the other hand, he is said to be orthodox because of



his counsel to sane living (see 12:13-14). At some places his counsel is



viewed as grossly defective. Delitzsch asserts, "If Koheleth had known



of a future life . . . he would have reached a better ultimatum.”94



Delitzsch is referring to 3:12-14:







I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do



good while they live. That every man may eat and drink, and find







93 Cf. 9:1-3,11-12.



94 Delitzsch, Ecclesiastes, 262. In contrast to the negative interpretation by Delitzsch,



see R. N. Whybray, "Qoheleth, Preacher of Joy," JSOT 23 (1982) 87-98.





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CANEDAY: QOHELETH: PESSIMIST OR SAGE? 49







satisfaction in all his toil-this is the gift of God. I know that every-



thing God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and



nothing taken from it. God does it, so men will revere him.







Now wherein lies the shortcoming of Qoheleth's counsel? He



urges men to do good (bOF) and to be glad (HaOmW;li). The enjoyment to



be derived from life is coordinate with obedience to divine command-



ments.95 This is how men are to conduct themselves as long as they



are living (vyy.AHaB;). Furthermore, that which a man may eat or drink or



find satisfying in his toil is confessed as "the gift of God." Above all,



Qoheleth acknowledges that what God does, though it may be per-



plexing to man, he does "so men will fear him" (3:14). How could



Qoheleth be more orthodox? Is not this the counsel of one who



considers the eternal, the future existence of man? If Qoheleth did not



believe in the resurrection, why would he counsel men to behave



obediently, fearing God? What is there to fear, if it is not God's



judgment of resurrected men?



Qoheleth's world and life view was not fashioned according to a



natural theology restricted to the affairs of men "under the sun." If



that were the case, he would have counseled his readers to revelry,



for he saw in this world that it is the wicked who live long (7:15;



8:14). He does not envy the way of the ungodly as Asaph began to



do, nearly to his own destruction (cf. Ps 73:3-17). If Qoheleth had no



belief in final retribution--the demise of the wicked and the reward-



ing of the righteous-- his counsel would have been, "Let us eat and



drink, for tomorrow we die" (see I Cor 15:32), the very philosophy of



which he is often accused. Qoheleth does not yield to pessimism and



despair, nor to an ascetic withdrawal, nor to an anasthetic desensitized



denial of evil. Instead, from the recognition that what the righteous



and wicked receive is inverse to their deserts (8:14), he moves directly



to his holy counsel: "So I commend the enjoyment of life, because



nothing is better for man under the sun than to eat and drink and be



glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life



God has given him under the sun" (8:15).



Qoheleth 's perspective upon the incongruities of this life is the



same as Job's who said of the wicked: "Their prosperity is not in



their own hands, so I stand aloof from the counsel of the wicked"



(Job 21:16). Qoheleth says,







Although a wicked man commits a hundred crimes and still lives a



long time, I know that it will go better with God-fearing men, who



are reverent before God. Yet because the wicked do not fear God,







95 See Delitzsch, Ecclesiastes, 262 concerning a discussion of Qoheleth's use of bOF in 3:12.





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50 GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL







it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a



shadow [8:12-13].96







Qoheleth formed his world and life view with divine creation and



divine retribution in mind. This creator-retributor perspective gives



Qoheleth equilibrium and stability to dwell in a world subjected to



the curse of God. The creation motif serves as the source of Qoheleth's



counsel to celebrate life with joy, for it is a good creation of God. The



eschatological judgment motif is behind his caution to behave obe-



diently in view of the divine retribution which will reward the righ-



teous and condemn the wicked. This counsel is gracefully harmonized



by Qoheleth in his admonition to the young man:







Be happy young man, while you are young, and let your heart give you



joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and



whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will



bring you to judgment. So then, banish anxiety from your heart and



cast off the troubles of your body, for youth and vigor are meaning-



less [11:9-10].







The joy and freedom of following one's desires is not to be



dampened by knowledge of coming judgment but only controlled.



This is not counsel to indulgent and indecent conduct but to freedom



and joyful celebration of God's good gift of life, tempered by the



knowledge that the God who created life also holds men accountable



to revere him. The free pursuit of the heart's desires and whatever the



eyes see is to be done within the moral boundaries of God's com-



mandments (see 12:13). Qoheleth's counsel encourages one to cele-



brate life, unshackled from a search for the meaning of life.







Qoheleth Interpreted: The Epilogue







Upon concluding his graphic poem on aging and death, Qoheleth



closes the body of his book with the theme with which he began:



"'Meaningless! Meaningless!' says the Preacher. 'Everything is mean-



ingless!'" (12:8; cf. 1:2). But the verdict is not the final word that



Qoheleth has for his readers. Instead, he leaves them with a closing



word of counsel on how to behave in a world that is aimless and



(meaningless as the result of the Creator's curse upon it. That counsel



is not in the least out of character with the theme of the book. He



concludes, "Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the



matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole







96 See Michael Eaton, Ecclesiastes (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries;



Leicester: Inter-Varsity, 1983) 41-42. His comments are appropriate against those



who presume an interpolated contradiction in these verses.





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CANEDAY: QOHELETH: PESSIMIST OR SAGE? 51







duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including



every hidden thing whether it is good or evil" (12:13-14).



Qoheleth, throughout his book, had repeatedly raised the motif



of eschatological judgment to motivate obedient behavior despite the



fact that rotters advance in prosperity and live long in this world



while the righteous flounder in their struggles and succumb early to



the curse of death (cf. 3:16, 17; 5:4-7; 8:11-14; 11:9). The final



judgment serves as a chief orientation to which Qoheleth directs his



readers to steer them through the labyrinths of this meaningless life.



The fear of God who shall judge men is to temper and regulate man's



ethical actions and decisions throughout his sojourning here. And so



it is appropriate that Qoheleth sums up the duty of man: "Fear God



and keep his commandments" (12:13; cf. 3:14; 5:7; 7:18; and 8:12-13



three times).



Fearing God is motivated by the fact that "God will bring every



deed into judgment." These two great themes, fearing God and an



appointed time for divine judgment, serve as integral elements in the



development of Qoheleth's world and life view. They were not mere



addendas to a series of unconnected discursive sayings and affirma-



tions. Rather, the conclusion serves as the knot which secures the



ethical threads carefully woven into the fabric of the work. Qoheleth



asserts this to be the case, for he says, "Now all has been heard; here



is the conclusion of the matter" (12:13a).



Consistent with his counsel throughout the book, Qoheleth does



not permit his reader to despair even though "everything is meaning-



less." He counsels men to fear God and to obey him because there is a



time for judgment when they will give account of their conduct and



secrets, whether they be good or evil. These last words can hardly be



taken in a crippling manner. Qoheleth did not design his words



concerning the all-searching eye of God (v 14) to inhibit human



enjoyment and behavior nor to cast his readers into introspective



questioning of motives. Rather, knowledge of divine judgment should



regulate one's conduct with a prospective gaze of expectation toward



the day when justice shall eradicate all inequity, when divine mercy



shall purge out all oppression, when the righteous shall flourish as the



wicked are cut off (cf. 3:16-17; 8:12-14).







Qoheleth's World and Life View Summarized







As Qoheleth made his thorough investigation (1:13) of all that is



done under heaven, he was governed by basic presuppositional beliefs



which use expressed throughout his work. These presuppositions



largely arise out of his knowledge of God's revelation of himself in



Genesis 1-11. Foundational to his philosophical pursuit of meaning



is his firm recognition that the world with all its systems, and man in





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52 GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL







particular as actor, operate under the curse of God. This he expresses



in terms of things twisted and things lacking (1:15). The presence



of evil is not to be attributed to the essence of creation but as a foreign



element imposed upon it, for "Who can straighten what he [God] has



made crooked?" (7:13). Furthermore, God did not capriciously impose



this curse, but "God made mankind upright, but men have gone in



search of many schemes" (7:29). Thus, it is the curse which accounts



for the inequity, the tyranny, the oppression, the disparity of provi-



dence, and especially for the presence of death and its haphazard



encroachment without respect to men's characters (cf. 9: 1-3).



This basic presuppositional belief that the world is not what it



was originally nor what it will be finally governs Qoheleth's ethical



world and life view. This is due to the fact that the transformation of



the world is not accomplished by some evolutionary process inherent



within creation itself, but by the God who created the universe and



also subjected it to its present frustration under the curse and who



will finally liberate it (cf. Rom 8:19-21).



For Qoheleth, then, there is a second and much more ultimate



presupposition which regulates all his observations of this evil world



and his wise counsel on how to live in it. The entire book rests solidly



upon the assumption that the Lord God of Israel is the Creator and



Governor of all things. He is the Creator who set all things into



motion (12:1; 11:5). He is the Sovereign who governs all that he has



created. He does not merely permit or allow the present suffering and



evil in the world. Qoheleth acknowledges that it is God who causes



both the good and the bad to befall men irrespective of their char-



acters (7:14-15). It is God who gives a man wealth and yet may not



give him the enjoyment of it, an evil which is vexing to men (6:1-2).



Though it is God who gives both the good and the evil, he is not to be



charged with doing evil; he is only to be feared precisely because of



all that he does among men (3:14).



God is also perceived by Qoheleth as Incomprehensible Wisdom,



for the creator/creature distinction, aggravated by the curse, hides



God behind a frowning providence which hinders man from discover-



ing life's meaning in this cursed world (3:11; 7:13-14; 8:16-17; 11:3-6).



Man's knowledge of what God does as he observes the world is frac-



tional and frustrated by the perplexing paradoxes. It is precisely this



fact, namely, that almighty God has hidden his full character behind



a disparate providence, that necessitates his special revelation.97







97 Shank ("Qoheleth's World and Life View," 68) astutely states, "We must main-



tain, contrary to the majority of critical and conservative commentators, that Qoheleth's



perception . . .refers to a knowledge which is a 'reflex-action' of his fear of God and



which penetrates to the essence of the meaning of what this world of vanity is all



about. . . .That perception also includes a deep, spiritual insight into the affects of the



curse of God upon life and labor 'under the sun.'"





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CANEDAY: QOHELETH: PESSIMIST OR SAGE? 53







The antithetical quality of Qoheleth must be understood within



this framework. The proposal of liberal critics that the oscillations of



thought and expression are to be attributed either to a dialogue



between two or more speakers or the result of glossators and redactors



must be rejected.98 Furthermore, the proposed solution of many



conservative scholars also must be laid aside. The suggestion that



Qoheleth s book is indicative of a man who wavers between secular



and religious perspectives, oscillating to and fro, filled with doubts



and perplexities, yet finally arising above them, has no true corre-



spondence to the nature of Qoheleth. Even the attempt to resolve



the paradoxical nature of the book by suggesting that the evils and



inequities, of which the Preacher complains, are only an "apparent



anomaly”99 must be disallowed.



The paradoxical expressions and antithetical observations of



God's disparate providence do not find their explanation from some



internal struggle in Qoheleth between faith and reason. Nor are they



resolved by postulating that they are the result of a dichotomy between



sacred and secular perspectives. Rather, Qoheleth reflects the real



world in its present state which is in conflict with the way it once was



and the way it will be again. It is the curse, causing the twisting and



incompleteness (1:15) of all things, that accounts for the dilemma



which confronts man. Qoheleth hides no evil nor does he seek to deny



it as merely apparent. He confronts the reality of evil and seeks to



bring his readers to do the same. Yet, on the other hand, Qoheleth



maintains an unwavering belief in the God who created and who will



judge all men. For after all is said and done, it is God who has



arranged the world as it is so that men will fear him (3:14).



Qoheleth does not shrink from acknowledging that it is God



who has made both the good times and the bad (7:14). Yet, he



never resorts to a fatalism which encourages either pious passivity or



Epicurean indulgence. He takes the pathway of wisdom. The fact that



God has inscrutably arranged this world under the perplexity and



frustration of the curse, caused Qoheleth to declare, "Therefore, a



man cannot discover anything about his future" (7:14b). Man is not



to busy himself with the inscrutable. He is not to become occupied



with trying to determine which course it is that is divinely chosen for



him.



Qoheleth makes it clear that it is futile to seek to determine from



the course of providential events whether or not divine approval rests



upon one's amoral decisions, however great or small they may be.







98 Cf. Eaton, Ecclesiastes, 37-39.



99 See [Greene], "The Scope and Plan of Ecclesiastes," 424. This view is too



much dominated by presuming that the final retribution cuts its line now with



vividness. See also ibid. 424-25. Cf. Kaiser, Ecclesiastes, 17.





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54 GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL







Searching divine providence to determine one's course of action is not



piety, but folly which leads to inactivity and failure. For "whoever



watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not



reap" (11:4). The mystery of providence is unfathomable and in-



scrutable (11:5). "No one can comprehend what goes on under the



sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its



meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really com-



prehend it" (8:17). Trying to discern providence will drive one mad,



for it presumes that God's providence bears a direct and invariable



correspondence to the events among men. Such misguided efforts



cause men to turn upon God in bitterness or berate themselves when



evil days befall them, thinking that suffering is always caused by par-



ticular sins.



Qoheleth counsels against "providence reading, "for those who



follow such a course fail to succeed at anything (11:4). Instead, since



no man can know which endeavors will prove fruitful, the proper



approach to life is to give oneself to the responsibilities at hand with



freedom and diligence, and to await the course of events to determine



one's success (11:6). All the days a man is given ought to be enjoyed



(11:8), for "it is now that God favors what you do" (9:7b). Life is a



divine gift to be enjoyed to its maximum as long as there is breath in



the nostrils, for "even a live dog is better off than a dead lion" (9:4).



Life is an endowment to be presently celebrated in the presence of the



Creator (12:1). The enjoyment of life is to be the dominant motif of



one's existence upon this earth, not the mercenary fixation of a miserly



workman who hoards his earnings to satisfy his soul when he retires



from his labors. The days of trouble come too quickly and unpre-



dictably upon men eroding their pleasure and enjoyment (12:1-2).



This perspective upon life is not sensual; it is realistic. It is governed



by the fact that this world is cursed, and the ultimate curse is death



(9:1,3). Death is not something to be desired as a release from the



prison of the body (as in Neoplatonism), for it wrenches man away



from the environment in which he was designed to dwell (cf. Ps 115:16-



17). Death is no friend but an enemy which violently tears a man



apart, severing the spirit from the body (12:7). This is the perspective



that the whole Bible takes upon death (cf. Isa 38:10-20; 2 Cor 5:1-5).



For Qoheleth, then, two opposing realities serve to motivate his



expressions in 9:5-10: (1) the curse of death comes to every man, and



(2) the gift of life is man's to be enjoyed to its fullest "all the days of



this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun" (9:9). His



whole description of the dead in 9:5-6 is defined carefully by him—



"never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the



sun " (9:6b). His interest is not to describe theologically the state of



the dead (as Jehovah's Witnesses might contend), but he portrays the





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CANEDAY: QOHELETH: PESSIMIST OR SAGE? 55







dead in relation to this world; they have nothing more to do with



it. It is for this reason that Qoheleth so often reiterates his celebration



of life:







Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful



heart, for it is now that God favors what you do. Always be clothed in



white, and always anoint your head with oil. Enjoy life with your wife,



whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given



you under the sun--all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in



life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. Whatever your hand



finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are



going, there is neither working nor planting nor knowledge nor wis-



dom [9:7-10].







CONCLUSION







Qoheleth was no enigmatic pessimist. He was not a man who



recorded the battle of tormenting and conflicting thoughts that raged



inside his own mind as he oscillated between orthodox piety and



indulgent secularism. Qoheleth was a godly sage. He was a righteous



man regulated by his knowledge of and devout fear of the God of



Israel. It is precisely because he was a God-fearing man that Qoheleth



was capable of giving expression to such paradoxical and anomalous



matters without denying the presence of evil in this world or without



destroying his belief in God. Qoheleth records a godly man's reflec-



tions upon a cursed world subjected by God to vanity and frustration.



It is the character of such a world which accounts for the polarized



expression) and paradoxical observations in his book. It is precisely



what one scholar dogmatically denied: "That the author of Ecclesiastes



intended that the contrarities of his book should . . .reflect and image



forth the chequered web of man's earthly condition, hopes alternating



with fears, joys succeeded by sorrows, life contrasting with death."100



What Paul asserts in a few words in Rom 8:19-21, Qoheleth



investigates at length. Where Paul spoke generally, the Preacher



descended to uncover the particulars. Though Paul had the privilege



of knowing that Christ will restore all things and even now, in



principle, has begun to do so (cf. 1 Cor 15:54-57), both he and



Qoheleth share one biblical assessment of the character of this world



and of life in it since the fall. It is cursed! It is disjointed! It is upside



down! It is in bondage to decay! It. is meaningless! It needs to be



liberated!



What Qoheleth saw obscurely in the coming day of final retribu-



tion, the apostle Paul makes clear: "creation itself will be liberated







100 Tyler, Ecclesiastes, 54.





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56 GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL







from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of



the children of God" (Rom 8:21). It is for the final redemption of



God's people that creation awaits, for then will it be set free from



what is now twisted and lacking (Qoh 1:15).







This material is cited with gracious permission from:



Grace Theological Seminary



200 Seminary Dr.



Winona Lake, IN 46590



www.grace.edu







Please report any errors to Ted Hildebrandt at: thildebrandt@gordon.edu