Meaningless
Danger! Overuse of Exclamation Points ahead!!!
The book of Ecclesiastes is dangerous. Ancient Rabbis worried that, even though they believed it to be inspired scripture, the book could be misinterpreted and “cause an inclination to heresy.” Christians disagree on how to interpret passages of scripture, of course. But Ecclesiastes is special in its wide variety of interpretations. And not just of isolated passages, but of the book’s central theme and point.
So, I thought I would just ask. What do you think it means?
Here are the first few verses:
The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:
“Meaningless! Meaningless!”
says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.”
Here are a few questions, but feel free to just reflect without my prompting:
1. What do you think the book’s point is?
2. Of what use is Ecclesiastes? Is it helpful, confusing, out dated?
3. How do you feel when you read the book? Hopeful, depressed, at peace, anxious? Why do you think the book causes this reaction?
Let me reiterate–I really would like to know your thoughts. I love this enigmatic little book, but sometimes when I read it I have to set it aside halfway through because it takes the wind out of my sails. It would be great to hear how other people have interacted with it, both positively and negatively.
I might be one of the double-minded when I say that it really depends on the day, how I interpret ecclesiastes. On an up day, I take it in a “don’t sweat the small stuff” vein. No matter how I may mess up, the only thing that matters, at the end of the day, is that I live justly, love mercy & walk humbly w/God. On down days, I avoid reading it at all, because experience has shown me that I will hear a voice say that nothing I do matters, so I may as well just live selfishly and hope it all ends soon. *shrug* On the bad days, I’m not sure why it’s in the Bible at all.
So it’s an upper and a downer. I find that to be true. Strange how it seems to intensify whatever kind of emotion is prominent that particular day, and therefore how one person could have very encouraging and very discouraging interactions with the same material. That describes me as well, and there isn’t much else that has that kind of effect on me.
Recently, I heard a discussion of Ecclesiastes that made it come alive to me in a way I had not previously experienced.
His perspective (Andy Stanley), was that Ecclesiastes was written as a treatise on wisdom apart from God. He read the entire book through the lens of “under the sun”. So, “under the sun” everything is meaningless, but from God’s perspective or through the lens of eternal soul connection to our maker, it has a different purpose, a “mystery” revealed.
Anyway, I was listening to Andy Stanley online and those were his two cents and it helped me
I think that’s one of the most typical readings. Even some of the ancient rabbis read it as “under the sun” versus “over the sun.” That allowed them to exempt studying Torah from the “everything” that is meaningless. The difficult thing is deciding what belongs to each category, and that seems to change from era to era.
What is the “mystery” revealed? A reference to Paul describing the gospel as mystery?
Because I am a simpleton.
1. What do you think the book’s point is? Apart from God– everything is meaningless.
2. Of what use is Ecclesiastes? Is it helpful, confusing, out dated? Nice concept, you can’t really screw anything up and being the best, smartest, blah blah ever… isn’t as important. Which is great for me- not being the smartest and all.
3. How do you feel when you read the book? Hopeful, depressed, at peace, anxious? Why do you think the book causes this reaction? It feels a bit like relief. Like I’ve heard it or said it all before, the book tends to pull you all around because it seems to want to pull you out of your comfort zone… i’d guess to give you context of who you are and perspective on what you can and can’t do (be god). However, as you know… I am not one to over think the scriptures. It is what it is and we should probably all just accept it.
But— since I haven’t read it much, I will read it again over the next week and detail my emotions.
Thanks, Shanelle. You’re not a simpleton. Sounds like you’re saying Ecclesiastes can bring relief from the fear of failure. Maybe in the same way that some recommend using “So what?” when worried about things that might happen in the future, and “Oh well!” when fixated on stuff that is in the past. There does seem to be a present tense orientation to the book that could overlap nicely.
The semester Dave studied this in seminary, I remember him telling me all semester how depressing it was to study.
I guess I always assumed that at the end of Solomon’s life he realizes how useless his chasing after the sweet things the world has to offer. So, useful in that we can learn from him…depressing in that we could feel the same way at the end of our lives…hopeful because I am still relatively young…anxious because I am getting older each day.