ecclesiastes a remmers

8/9/2019 Ecclesiastes a Remmers

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Ecclesiastes or The Preacher

by Arend Remmers

12 Chapters

http://www.biblecentre.org

1. Author and Time of Writing

2. Purpose of Writing

3. Peculiarities4. !er!iew of "ontents

1. Author and Time of Writing

#o author$s name is mentioned in the boo% of &cclesiastes. Alread' old (ewish tradition

sa's that )ing *olomon is the author of this boo% of the +ible. And 'et *olomon$sauthorship has man' a times been doubted at for two reasons. ,irstl' for language

reasons and secondl' because the name Jehovah does not appear in the boo%. +oth

reasons howe!er are neither sound nor compelling -compare with what is said under

Peculiarities.

n &cclesiastes chap. 1:1012 the author calls himself son of a!id and %ing in (erusalem.

n !erse 1 he spea%s of his great wisdom which according to 1 )ings 3:12 4:2f 1:1

onl' )ing *olomon had. n &ccl. 12:5 he mentions that he set in order man' pro!erbs.This fact also spea%s for *olomon onl' -see 1 )ings 4:32 Pro!. 1:1.

6arious e7pressions in &cclesiastes would indicate that *olomon wrote the boo% onl' in

old age -&ccl. 1:12 8 2:11 11:5 8 12:9. This is where the author re!iews a long life and

all his thoughts and deeds and where he is warning 'outh and points to old age.

)ing *olomon ruled around 59 to 531 +". The boo% of &cclesiastes must therefore datefrom the end of this period.

2. Purpose of Writing

&cclesiastes belongs to the last part in the ebrew +ible; the <writings< -ebr. ketubimand further to the so8called fi!e scrolls -ebr. megillot ; which are still read at (ewishfeast da's. &cclesiastes is being read in the s'nagogue for the feast of tabernacles.

6erses 2 and 3 of the first chapter summari=e suitabl' contents and purpose of the boo%:

<6anit' of !anities; saith the Preacher; !anit' of !anities all is !anit'. What profit hath a

man of all his labour which he ta%eth under the sun>< The word <!anit'< appears not lessthan 39 times in this boo%? t is the ebrew word <hevel< which also is to be found in the



name Adam and &!e ga!e to their second son Abel -@en. 4:2 after sin had entered the

world b' their disobedience.

The e7pression <under the sun< also appears 25 times. This e7pression stresses thecharacter of the boo% that describes life on this earth from the !iewpoint of fallen man. t

has therefore rightl' been called a scene of the conseuences of fall of man -compare@en. 3:19815.

The underl'ing crucial uestion could be as%ed as follows: Which is the best wa' tospend life for a human being> 8 The answers to these uestions are mostl' gi!en from

human !iewpoint. The' therefore gi!e the impression of the author being far awa' of the

di!ine truth. *ome of such false conclusions can be found in &ccl. 3:15822 9:1819 B:1C5:01.

*uch statements might ma%e the reader wonder how such a thing can possibl' be written

in the Word of @od. And 'et the e7planation is not difficult. This human reasoning is no

di!ine revelation -as e. g. the &pistle to the &phesians in the #T but it has been added tothe +ible b' di!ine inspiration. *olomon$s e7periences and thoughts are recorded as

utterances of a man who is disappointed of life; e!en if man is not !iewed in the boo% as

ha!ing a li!ing relationship of faith to @od -although e!er' man is responsible as creature

towards @od his "reator. This is wh' &cclesiastes often has been called a boo% ofsceptical or pessimistic character. And in fact we find no word of praising @od and

nothing of grace and redemption throughout the whole boo%. f the name of @od appears

the e7pression used is Elohim; but ne!er the name Jehovah -o!er 4 times in total.

@od$s direct teaching of man appears onl' in chap. 12:11814. These final words can be

considered a suitable introduction to the boo% of Pro!erbs. Although Pro!erbs precedes

&cclesiastes it is a step ahead of it in spiritual matters.

&cclesiastes is one of the few boo%s of the T; which is not once referred to in the #T;although there might be man' parallel thoughts -e. g. &ccl. C:1 and Dat. :9 &ccl. 12:14

and 2 "or. C:1 &ccl. 9:5 and (as 1:15.

3. Peculiarities

The title <preacher< is the rendering of the ebrew word qohelet -female gender that isderi!ed from the !erb qahal -&ngl. to gather. The word qohelet appears se!en times in

&cclesiastes -chap. 1:1;2;12 9:29 12:B81 but nowhere else in the +ible. The translators

of the *eptuagint ha!e rendered it with ecclesiasts -from ecclesia; &ngl. Assembl';church. Dartin Euther was the first one to translate this word -which is difficult to

translate with <preacher<. +ut this meaning has been uestioned. Another e7planation is

based on the principle meaning of <gathering publicl'<. Accordingl' the wisdom

described in &cclesiastes is the one accessible to all men. t is so to sa' the wisdom taughtin the temple court whereas the hidden wisdom taught in the sanctuar' -Ps. 93:19 is onl'

opened up for belie!ers. This wisdom is described in Pro!erbs; which as alread'

mentioned are the <seuel< to &cclesiastes.



b) The Name of God

T'picall' enough the name Jehovah appears not once in this boo% whereas the name

Elohim -@od appears o!er 4 times. +' stud'ing the Pentateuch and the Psalms we ha!ealread' seen; that the name Elohim shows @od in is absoluteness and is omnipotence

as "reator. n the other hand Jehovah is @od$s name; which shows is grace and isrelationship to men and especiall' to his co!enant8people srael. The fact that the name

Jehovah appears not at all in &cclesiastes is a sign to show that the subFect is not one manor one people in a certain relation of co!enant or faith to im. t rather shows that the

subFect is man in general who is responsible to is "reator8@od -&ccl. 11:5 12:1.

4. !er!iew of "ontents

Ecclesiastes 1:1-11: ntroduction - Emptiness of !ife "ithout God

Ecclesiastes 1:1#- $:1#: %uestion for &ense in all that 'appens on Earth

"hapter 1:1281B The *ee%er

"hapter 2 Gesult of *ee%ing: Worthlessness of all Eabour

"hapter 3 "ertaint' of eath

"hapter 4 "omparison of 6arious "ircumstances of Eife

"hapter C "orrect "onduct towards @od and the #eighbour

"hapter 6anit' of the 6arious "ircumstances of Eife

Ecclesiastes (:1 - 1#:1: Good *ounsels

"hapter 9 6arious Aspects of Wisdom

"hapter B @oings8n of Den

"hapter 5 &ual ,ate for &!er'bod'

"hapter 1 uman oings and ts "onseuences

"hapter 11:1812:1 6anit' of uman Eife from Houth to ld Age

Ecclesiastes 1#:1-1+: End - !ife in !ight of Eternit,



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