Oct. 16, 2011

Background Scripture: Ecclesiastes 11:7-12:14

Devotional Reading: Psalms 71:1-12

Some Bible passages are difficult to misunderstand, although some manage to do so. When Moses commands, “You shall not steal” (Ex. 20:15), there is little wiggle room. When Jesus warns us “... if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Mt. 6:15), it is hardly debatable.

The Book of Ecclesiastes, however, is often difficult to understand because our translations of the Hebrew text are quite uncertain. For example, in Ecclesiastes 11:1,2, we read: “Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what evil may happen on earth.”

The saying is quite familiar, but the meaning of it greatly debated. I found six different interpretations as to what Koheleth (Ecclesiastes) is saying.

I was interested to find that an Egyptian saying is quite similar: “Do a good deed and throw it in the water; when it dries you will find it.” Koheleth seems to be advising his readers that yes, the present and the future are uncertain, but don’t let that keep you from doing what needs to be done. Uncertainty is not an excuse to hold back on liberality.

Being a cynic does not keep Koheleth from spontaneous deeds of charity. Though much of life is beyond our control and knowledge, launch out upon the unproved.

One commentator thought this passage indicates that Koheleth has begun to see the light: “In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand; for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good. Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to behold the sun” (11:6,7).

He seems to realize we cannot wait for certainty to live. It is not for us to know or control, but it is for us to do what we can do. The words “faith” and “trust” do not appear here or anywhere in Ecclesiastes, but what he is saying sounds like the life of faith and trust the Christian is called to live.

This means we are to live bravely and sometimes self-sacrificially, but it does not sanction a wild or undisciplined life: “But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment” (11:9b).

At this point, some readers may assume Koheleth is saying, in effect: “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.”

It is true that he warns us to live now because the day is coming when we will be either too old or too dead: “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw neigh, when you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them; before the sun and the light, and the moon, and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain’…” (12:1,2).

Faith is not fearful inertia, but an adventure into the unknown – but not unaccompanied.

Life after death?

Koheleth observes that those who wait for “the right time” never recognize it. As we get older there are growing restrictions. No matter how often death may seem to be postponed, none of us will escape it.

Some commentators point out Ecclesiastes does not teach the possibility of an afterlife. But whether he believed death was the end of existence and consciousness is hard to say.

It is commonly judged that the book was written, at least in its final form, in the third century B.C. and, although earlier Judaism generally believed only in Sheol, a dark underworld of drowsy, departed souls, when the exiled Jews returned from Babylon in the sixth century B.C., many returned with concepts of a life after death that prevailed up into Jesus’ day and beyond.

Whether or not Koheleth had a specific belief in life after death, he put his trust, as we must do, in God: “Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil” (12:13,14).

If there is to be a judgment, there must be something beyond judgment. If there is salvation, there must be something to be saved to.

Charles Frohman, who went down with the torpedoed Lusitania, is reported to have previously said: “Why should we fear death? It is life’s greatest adventure.” Koheleth may not have known what life’s “something else” would be, but he also probably would have regarded it not as a tragic dark alley, but as a holy adventure from darkness to light.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Rev. Althouse may write to him in care of this publication.