Ecclesiastes

During the first week the class was divided into eight small groups. Each group was given the task to collectively agree on a common definition on the gospel founded in the Bible. During that time students including myself had to compromise and possible argue their point. As I reflect on the experience of working in a group to provide a working definition for the gospel three things stand out persuasion, pressure, and practice.

Ecclesiastes is a book in the Hebrew Bible (the OT) that falls into the Wisdom literature genre. In it the Teacher (possibly Solomon though this is far from certain and unnecessary for understanding the book) expresses what life is like ‘under the sun’ (see 1:3). Given the three-storied view of the world (heaven, earth, under the earth) that was common during this period, the expression probably refers to life on the earth and, in particular, to life lived without reference to God.

In Ecclesiastes 1:4-6 I do not think it has a message pertaining weather. This passage means to me that people are born, and people pass away; the sun will shine the next morning and set in the evening, and this pattern will continue. Just like in Ecclesiastes chapter three; there is a season and a time for everything. Ecclesiastes 1:4 "generations come, and generations go." there is a season where people are born and when they die. The seasons change as the sun rises and sets.

The meaning of life is difficult to explain considering the time period. Ecclesiastes argues that wisdom cannot achieve its goal; that a remote God rules over a crooked world; and death did not take virtue or vice into consideration (Anchor Bible Dictionary p.275). Hence, Ecclesiastes advocated enjoyment as the wisest course of action during youth before the cares of advancing years made that response impossible (Anchor Bible Dictionary p.275). Ecclesiastes discovers that people's purpose in life as unknown. In life there is no final ultimate pronouncement, nothing is achieved and similarly human desires are left unsatisfied (Oxford Annotated Bible p.842). Ecclesiastes sees life as not changing and not being remembered. To achieve any sort of meaning of life, one must be wise: "for in much wisdom is much vexation" (Eccl. 1:18), being wise will create confusion to those who are not wise, leading towards understanding God's plan. People who are knowledgeable will be able to comprehend God's divine meaning; that meaning being to large to grasp by humans. However wisdom will not change one's fate in life. The inevitable fate for all is the same. "What happens to the fool will

Ecclesiastes is spoken by a prophet said to be the air of King David is referred to as Teacher throughout the book. Spoiled, rich, and said to have done everything that deemed to his satisfaction, yet he has felt nothing. As the wisest man in Jerusalem, the Teacher feels as though he has been cursed by God, for he has tried “all the deeds under the sun” (1:2). He drinks, becomes wealthy, owns land, acquires power, and experiences sexual gratification. However, none of these deeds have brought him satisfaction. The disatisfaction of his life led him to realize that if your beliefs are of the ones of God, than your actions through life should resemble those commanded by him, for God himself did not curse you of evil, yet the laws of nature find a time and place for everything to happen. The teacher encourages us to live life to the fullest, and embrace the unforeseen changes of life for we should fear the power of God, obey his commands, and respect him. An understanding of this will grant you the pleasure you desire in life for it is the true meaning of life and the very source of fulfillment.

Within the entire book of Ecclesiastes, I noticed that it was mentioning how almost everything is meaningless and worthless. Throughout Ecclesiastes 1 and 2, it is written that “everything is meaningless”. It states, “wisdom is meaningless” and “pleasures are meaningless”. In the conclusion on Ecclesiastes it also states “vanity of vanities, all is vanity”. The question that immediately arises from this would be is all actually vanity? And if so, what is the point of being “wise”, or experiencing “pleasure”? On a daily basis as humans we constantly seeking these things. We go to school for wisdom, we look to find pleasure in the things that we do, and then in the bible we are told that they are completely worthless. How is this so when we have

The Aeneid, written by Virgil, was written in Rome between 30 and 19 B.C. Virgil wrote many of his writings during the time of Octavian, the estranged nephew to Caeser. During the beginning of the times of Octavian and the time of these writings Rome was in a state of civil war, which later turned into the most peaceful place in the world. Many people were torn from their homes and new boundaries were created. It is important to know the culture and gender roles of the people, the person in power, and the system of government in place at the time of the writing.

* Ecclesiastes 7:12 “For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.”

Ecclesiastes is a book of wisdom in the bible. The writer of Ecclesiastes, believed to be Solomon, after living life, making mistakes, endeavors to answer the question, “What is the purpose of living?” The author describes his earthly escapades with power and pleasure. He finds no satisfaction in these things. While a young man he drank and caroused. He explored all the decadence that worldly life offered. He found no fulfillment in any of these things or in life itself. He pursued wisdom, a never ending quest. He came to the conclusion that the answer to living this life, lies outside our daily lives, which he calls daily vanities of life. Through fearing God he believed we truly find meaning in this life. He also examines human existence on a whole. Eventually Solomon surmises that in the absence of God there is nothing true, nothing good; life has no meaning. He counsels

Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

In analyzing the word “vanity,” most would like to believe that the term is referring to one being selfish prideful. Like a lot of humans tend to think, however, the term according to this part of the Old Testament means the emptiness one feels within their life when he or she is apart from God. For example, when reading the book of Ecclesiastes Solomon wants his audience to see his frustration, sin, and emptiness as a reflection. The thought addresses the way Solomon life had become since he has not chosen to make God first in his lifestyle. When we as humans tend to lean unto our understanding and do not stay the course, often far too many times people tend to stray away from the path that God has bestowed upon us making our journey even

The essential topic of the story is recommended by the undeniable incongruity of the title, for Marian's visit isn't one of genuine philanthropy, but instead a formal, regulated signal. It absolutely does not speak to the scriptural thought of philanthropy in 1 Corinthians, which is translated in the Revised Standard Version of the Bible as "adoration," or thoughtful distinguishing proof of one individual with another. From the earliest starting point of the story, Marian does not think about the two old ladies as individuals like herself. She not exclusively knows about the weirdness of the old women, yet she likewise has turned into an outsider to herself. Tossed out of her natural world, where she has a place, she is in a bizarre dreamworld, where she seriously feels her distinction from the old women and along these lines her own particular partition and segregation. This emblematic feeling of distance clarifies the odd, illusory impact of the nursing home on Marian.

The book of Ecclesiastes is one of the unique pieces of literature in the Old

In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon’s concept of meaning is that all is vanity and that this life is vain, because a meaningful life is an eternal life with God. He describes that a life without fearing and loving God searches for ways to become meaningful with no hope. King Solomon tells us ways that we live that leads to emptiness because we are never satisfied. He emphasizes that everything ‘under the sun’ is vain and wants us to understand that all is vanity because of death.

Wisdom literature has long been part of the Jewish tradition with a large section of the Old Testament devoting itself to it. Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Sirach, the Wisdom of Solomon, and the Wisdom Psalms make up this literature. Job, dates from the tenth century B,C and has a philosophical and theological reflection on why the righteous suffer. The suggestion is that this is an orderly made cosmos and ultimately all injustices will be turned to good. Proverbs, written in its final form in the third century B.C. is a collection of aphorisms and poems within the relationship between wisdom, righteousness and religious devotion. In tone and form wisdom literature differs from divine revelation and is grounded in observation of and human reflection upon experience. Furthermore, unlike the laws of the Pentateuch, which were proposed in coming from God, and unlike the prophets, who claim to speak the ‘word of the Lord’, on God’s behalf, wisdom does not purport to be truth (Borg: 2001:148). The conventional world-view of some wisdom writings is that righteousness leads to an ordered universe.