Ecclesiastes

Thesis: Life viewed

simply from human
experience leads to
pessimism, but in
obedience and
faithfulness to God
one will find hope.
Ecclesiastes – God
Alone Holds the Key
to Life’s Meaning
a problem: the world is full of injustice (3:16-22)
b problem: life is full of suffering and deprivation (4:1-6)
c problem: the world is full of dissatisfied people who
give their lives to accumulate wealth (4:7- 16)
d CENTER: fear God! Keep your promises to
him (5:1-7)
c’ problem: the world is full of dissatisfied people who
give their lives to accumulate wealth (5:8-12)
b’ problem: life is full of misfortune and deprivation
(5:13-20)
a problem: the world is full of injustice and unfairness
(6:1-12)
Guard your steps when you go to the
house of God. Go near to listen rather than
to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not
know that they do wrong. 2 Do not be quick
with your mouth, do not be hasty in your
heart to utter anything before God. God is
in heaven and you are on earth, so let your
words be few. 3 As a dream comes when
there are many cares, so the speech of a
fool when there are many words. 4 When
you make a vow to God, do not delay in
fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill
your vow. 5 It is better not to vow than to
make a vow and not fulfill it. 6 Do not let
your mouth lead you into sin. And do not
protest to the temple messenger, "My vow
was a mistake." Why should God be angry
at what you say and destroy the work of
your hands? 7 Much dreaming and many
words are meaningless. Therefore stand in
awe of God. (Eccl. 5:1-7, NIV)
 Unit 5

Interpretive Journey
Old Testament
18. Narrative
19. Law
20. Poetry
21. Prophets
22. Wisdom
 OT – Wisdom
• Introduction
– You have persevered the end of this book!
“Of making may books there is no end, and much study
wearies the body.” –Ecclesiastes 12:12b
Purpose of the wisdom books

– Law, narrative, and prophets stress “Believe!”

and “Obey!” while wisdom stresses “Think!”

– Call us to listen, look, think, and reflect

– Offer practical insights for living

– Goal is to develop wise and godly character for

life in the real world
The Big Picture

• Four wisdom books balance each other theologically.

Read each one in context of all four.
Proverbs
Rational norms of life (what normally happens). Does
not present universals (what will always happen). Job
Righteous
Ecclesiastes and wise
suffer in
Song of Songs Failure of the ways that
Irrationality of rational, ordered mere
romantic love approach to humans
between husband provide ultimate cannot
and wife. meaning to life. understand.
Meaning only
comes through a
relationship with
God.
Wisdom as poetry

– A large portion of wisdom literature is poetry.

– Wisdom books use parallelism as their

standard structural feature.

– The more emotional the tone, the more the

book will use figurative language:

Less Emotionally Charged, More Emotionally Charged,

Less Picture Language More Picture Language

Proverbs Ecclesiastes Job Song of Songs

Grasping the wisdom books
– Proverbs
• Proverbs – short, pithy sayings that teach practical
wisdom about life
• Individual proverbs reflect general nuggets of
wisdom about what normally happens in life (e.g.,
“Don’t be lazy! Work hard!”).
• Proverbs are never to be taken as universal
promises.
• The book of Proverbs does not deal with the
exceptions to the normal rules.
• Since each proverb presents a general principle,
the river of differences is usually quite narrow and
shallow.
• But be careful how you define “blessing.”
– Job
• Job does all that Proverbs commands, but he
receives dead children, financial ruin, physical pain,
and criticism from his friends.
• Job is a story (in contrast to Proverbs) and we must
take the literary context of narrative seriously:
–1-2 Job is afflicted
–2-37 Job searches unsuccessfully for a rational answer
–38-42 God answers Job’s accusations
–42 Job’s friends are rebuked and Job is restored
• The differences between the ancient audience and
us are not great.
– Job
• Lessons from Job:
–God is sovereign and we are not
–God knows all and we know precious little
–God is always just, but does not always disclose his
reasons
–God expects us to trust his character
• NT presents suffering as a normal feature of a
godly life.
• Don’t repeat the mistake of Job’s friends and
misuse biblical truth.
• Book of Job teaches us that it is not wrong to cry
out to God in anger and frustration when
unexplained tragedy strikes.
– Job
• Our focus in grief should not be on “why” but rather
on God and his character.
• Comforting friends is different from having all the
answers.
– Ecclesiastes
• Ecclesiastes (like Job) must be interpreted as a
whole with the ultimate answer coming at the very
end.
• The book is full of satire, sarcasm, and cynicism.
• The “Teacher” or “Preacher” declares that a strictly
rational search for meaning is “meaningless.”
• At the end of the book, the Teacher comes to his
conclusion: “Fear God and keep his
commandments.”
• Apart from God, not even wisdom can give life
meaning.
– Ecclesiastes
• River normally shallow in Ecclesiastes except for a
limited concept of death and the afterlife.
• The NT adds that apart from a relationship with
Jesus Christ, life is meaningless.
• Apart from a relationship with Christ, not even a
college degree can make life meaningful!
– Song of Songs
• Shocking book because it speaks openly and
joyfully about human sexuality (read 7:7-8).
• The book is organized into three sequential units:
–1-3 Courtship
–3-5 Wedding
–5-8 Life of Love
• Highly emotional and full of picture language as the
man and woman describe their love for each other
• Scholars today reject the allegorical interpretation
• A model of the joy and irrationality of a married
couple madly in love
– Song of Songs
• Wise and godly people should express their marital
love in strong, emotional (mushy?) terms.
• We suggest a little updating of the figurative
language (hair like a flock of goats?)