ECCLESIASTES: KOHELETH'S QUEST FOR LIFE'S MEANING
by
Weston W. Fields
Submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements
for the degree of Master of Theology in
Grace Theological Seminary
May 1975
Digitized by Ted Hildebrandt and Dr. Perry Phillips, Gordon College, 2007.
PREFACE
It was during a series of lectures given in Grace
Theological Seminary by Professor Thomas V. Taylor on the
book of Ecclesiastes that the writer's own interest in the
book was first stirred. The words of Koheleth are remark-
ably suited to the solution of questions and problems which
arise for the Christian in the twentieth century. Indeed,
the message of the book is so appropriate for the contem-
porary world, and the book so cogently analyzes the purpose
and value of life, that he who reads it wants to study it;
and he who studies it finds himself thoroughly attached to
it: one cannot come away from the book unchanged.
For the completion of this study the writer is
greatly indebted to his advisors, Dr. John C. Whitcomb, Jr.
and Professor James R. Battenfield, without whose patient
help and valuable suggestions this thesis would have been
considerably impoverished.
To my wife Beverly, who has once again patiently
and graciously endured a writing project, I say thank you.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
GRADE PAGE iii
PREFACE iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS v
Chapter
I. INTRODUCTION AND STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 1
II. THE TITLE 5
Translation 5
Meaning of tl,h,qo 6
Zimmermann's Interpretation 7
Historical Interpretations 9
Linguistic Analysis 9
What did Solomon collect? 12
Why does Solomon bear this name? 12
The feminine gender 13
Conclusion 15
III. DATE, AUTHORSHIP, AND LINGUISTIC BACKGROUND 16
Introduction 16
Authorship and Linguistic Background 16
The Traditional View 16
Arguments Against Solomonic Authorship 17
A literary device 18
Aramaic background 22
Definition of "Aramaisms" 23
History of Aramaic 26
Late-dating by Aramaisms 30
Limited vocabulary 32
Later documents 33
Reasons for Aramaisms 36
Noun formations 37
Reasons for non-routine terms 38
Conclusion on Aramaisms 40
An Aramaic original 41
Introduction 41
Proofs for an Aramaic original 42
Ecclesiastes 7:12 42
Ecclesiastes 10:15 44
vi
Chapter
Ecclesiastes 11:1 45
Proofs for a Hebrew original 47
Two Hebrew dialects 47
Paronomasia 48
Canaanite parallels 49
Ben Sira 49
Characteristics of a translation 50
Conclusion on an Aramaic original 52
Ecclesiastes 1:12 52
Ecclesiastes 1:16 54
The Sitz im Leben of the book 55
Arguments for Solomonic Authorship 56
Phoenician background 56
Introduction 56
Linguistic uniqueness 58
A literary genre 59
Dahood's arguments 63
Ecclesiastes 1:10 63
Ecclesiastes 1:16 64
Ecclesiastes 2:2 64
Ecclesiastes 2:24 65
Other examples 65
Use of Ugaritic 71
Evaluation of Dahood 73
Building and commerce 74
Tradition 75
Internal arguments 77
Date 78
Conclusion 80
IV. KOHELETH'S THEME AND DEVELOPMENT OF THOUGHT 82
Introduction 82
Theme 83
Unsympathetic Interpretations 83
Sympathetic Interpretations 90
A Suggested Theme 91
Development of Thought 94
Conclusion 98
V. SELECTED DIFFICULTIES 100
Introduction 100
Vanity of Vanities 101
Definition 101
Usage of lb,h, 105
Relationship of the Name "Abel" 108
Jewish Interpretations 109
vii
Chapter
Conclusion on lb,h, 111
Under the Sun 111
Occurrences of the Phrase 112
Definition of the Phrase 114
Significance of the Phrase 115
The Relationship of Inspiration and Revelation 116
Introduction 116
Definition of revelation and inspiration 117
Revelation 117
Inspiration 117
Correlation of inspiration and revelation 118
Koheleth's revelational teachings 120
Conclusion on revelation and inspiration 122
The Meaning and Place of Pleasure 127
Introduction 127
Consideration of the Texts 127
Ecclesiastes 2:1-11 127
Description of the experiment 127
Linguistic analysis 128
Ecclesiastes 2:1 128
Ecclesiastes 2:3 130
Ecclesiastes 2:8 133
Conclusion on 2:1-11 134
Ecclesiastes 2:24-26 135
Description of the passage 135
Linguistic analysis 138
Ecclesiastes 2:24 138
Ecclesiastes 2:25 139
Conclusion on 2:24-26 140
Ecclesiastes 4:8 140
Ecclesiastes 7:15-18 142
Description of the passage 142
Linguistic analysis 142
Oqd;ciB; 142
Ecclesiastes 7:16 143
Ecclesiastes 8:15 147
Ecclesiastes 11:9, 10 149
Conclusion 150
Death and Immortality 152
Introduction 152
Consideration of the Texts 153
Ecclesiastes 2:12-17 153
Ecclesiastes 3:15-22 154
Figures of speech 154
Psychology of man and animals 155
viii
Chapter
Immortality 162
Ecclesiastes 4:1-3 163
Ecclesiastes 6:3, 12 166
Ecclesiastes 9:1-12 168
Old Testament doctrine of Sheol 169
Interpretation of the passage 173
Word meanings 174
hW,fEma 174
NOBw;H,v; 175
tfadav; 176
hmAk;HA 177
Conclusion on this passage 178
A suggested translation of 9:10 180
Ecclesiastes 12:7, 13, 14 180
VI. A SUMMARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL MESSAGE OF KOHELETH 181
Introduction 181
Consideration of the Topics 181
Insufficiency of Human Endeavor 181
The problem of knowledge 181
The emptiness of things 183
Unthinking materialism 184
Lack of personal importance 185
Conclusion on human endeavor 186
God's Supply of Life's Needs 186
Stability 186
Time 187
Physical requirements 188
Moral requirements 189
Life's values 190
Sovereignty of God 191
Conclusion 192
VII. NEW TESTAMENT PARALLELS 193
Introduction 193
The Parallels 193
Summary 196
VIII. NEAR EASTERN PARALLELS 197
Introduction 197
Some Parallels 197
Mesopotamia 197
Hittite 198
Aramaic 199
Egyptian 200
Ugarit 201
Summary 203
ix
Chapter
IX. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 204
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS CITED 211
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION AND STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
Few books of the Bible have suffered in recent years
from so much neglect as the book of Ecclesiastes. Further-
more, a large portion of those who have studied it have
unsympathetically criticized and maligned both its author
and its message, until it has come to be all but ignored by
even those who accept its canonicity and inspiration. The
author of this book has been accused of scepticism, of
fatalism, and of Epicureanism. His words have been denounced
as "not revelation" and human only.1 It is contended that
"anyone who essays to explain Coheleth is doomed to failure;
it is vanity and a chase after wind."2 Another has called
it "the strangest book in the Bible."3 Suspected in days of
orthodoxy,4 neglected in periods of optimism, treasured in
1E. Schuyler English, et al., eds., The New Scofield
Reference Bible (New York: Oxford University Press, 1967),
pp. 696, 702.
2Roland E. Murphy, "The Penseés of Coheleth," The
Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 17 (1955), 314.
3R. B. Y. Scott, Proverbs-Ecclesiastes (hereinafter
referred to as Ecclesiastes), in The Anchor Bible, ed. by
W. F. Albright and David Noel Freedman, et al. (New York:
Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1965), p. 191.
4Robert Gordis, Poets, Prophets and Sages (Blooming-
ton, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 1971), p. 327.
2
days of frustration and disillusionment, the writings of
Koheleth have always drawn men, yet somehow eluded them.
Still, the enigmatic writing of the king of Jerusalem
endures, the symbol of the ache of disillusion and of the
peace that is possible afterwards. "Whoever has dreamt
great dreams in his youth and seen the vision flee, or has
loved and lost, or has beaten barehanded at the fortress of
injustice and come back bleeding and broken, has passed Kohe-
leth's door, and tarried awhile beneath the shadow of his
roof."1
The book is unworthy of the abuse it has often
received at the hands of commentators, for it consists of,
as John Trapp said more than three hundred fifty years ago,
golden words, weighty, and worthy of all acceptation;
grave and gracious apophthegms, or rather oracles, meet
to be well remembered . . . compiled and composed with
such a picked frame of words, with such pithy strength
of sentences, with such a thick series of demonstrative
arguments, that the sharp wit of all the philosophers,
compared with this divine discourse, seems to be utterly
cold, and of small account.2
It is not, and probably never will be, among the
most popular books in the Bible. Yet, after one has studied
this book, it is difficult for him to regard it with indif-
ference. It will either be distrusted and minimized, or it
lIbid., p. 325.
2John Trapp, A Commentary on the Old and New Testa-
ments, Vol. III (5 vols.: London: R. D. Dickinson, 1660,
reprinted, 1868), p. 155.
3
will be accepted and utilized.1 It is from this book that
many Christians, though separated in time from its author by
several thousand years, and much richer than its author in
available theological knowledge, could gain a very needed
message: that a life lived for self and the world is "vanity"
and that nothing "under the sun" every really satisfies.2
The book is not, however, without its problems and
obscurities, and the problems posed by Koheleth seem to take
on increased proportion as they cut across contemporary
concepts of thinking. But if the reader will approach the
book with an open mind, divest himself of unfavorable presup-
positions, and seek to understand the book for what Koheleth
meant it to be, he will see what he is being warned against,
and how wise that warning is for this age.3 All that is
needful is to read Koheleth himself with sympathy and imagi-
nation. "Then the dry bones will take on flesh and his
lArthur Maltby, "The Book of Ecclesiastes and the
After-Life," The Evangelical Quarterly, XXXV:1 (January-
March, 1963), 39.
2Ecclesiastes is included among the "Wisdom" litera-
ture of the Bible. For an excellent discussion of this
classification, see W. O. E. Oesterley, The Wisdom of Jesus
the Son of Sirach or Ecclesiasticus, in The Cambridge Bible
for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge: At the University
Press, 1912), p. xlvii.
3Thomas V. Taylor, "Studies in Ecclesiastes" (unpub-
lished mimeographed material for lectures in Grace Theologi-
cal Seminary, March, 1972), p. 8. The page numbers of the
material were added by the writer of this thesis.
4
spirit will live again."1
It is the purpose of this thesis to examine the book
of Ecclesiastes in order to determine the veracity of its
teachings and the cogency of its argument; to understand its
outstanding teachings; and to explain some of the more prom-
inent difficulties. Included as necessary corollary discus-
sions are the problems of authorship and date (and the under
lying problem of the linguistic background of the book), the
theme and development of thought in the book, explanations
of significant problems, a summary of the prominent theolog-
ical teachings, New Testament parallels to the teachings of
Ecclesiastes, and parallels in other Near Eastern literature.
Bible quotations are the writer's own translation,
unless otherwise annotated.
1Gordis, Poets, Prophets, and Sages, p. 329.
CHAPTER II
THE TITLE
Translation
The English title, "Ecclesiastes," comes from the
first line of the book in the Septuagint: [Rh<mata ]Ekklhsi-
astou? ui[ou? Dauid.1 ]Ekklhsiastou? is a translation of the
Hebrew tl,h,qo, the Hebrew title of the author which is also
used for the book, and usually transliterated, Koheleth or
Qoheleth. Both the derivation and the meaning of this word
are enigmatic. The word occurs seven times in the book:
three times in the first part (1:1, 2, 12). and three times
in the conclusion (12:8, 9, 10), with one occurrence in the
middle (7:27). It is not a proper name, but an appellative,
a fact evident both from its having the article in 12:8 and
its being construed with a feminine verb in 7:27.2 This fact
has been recognized by major translators over the centuries,
as evidenced in the LXX translation (meaning, "one who par-
ticipates in a popular assembly"), the title of Luther ("Der
lAlfred Rahlfs, ed., Septuaginta, Vol. II (2 vols:
Stuttgart: Wüttembergische Bibelanstalt, reprint, 1972),
p. 238. This is the text of the LXX used throughout the
thesis.
2Christian David Ginsberg, The Song of Songs and
Coheleth (hereinafter referred to as Coheleth) (2 vols. in
one: New York: Ktav Publishing House, Inc., reprint, 1970),
p. 1.
6
Prediger"),1 and Jerome's title "Concionator."2 Actually,
the English title "Ecclesiastes" is a direct carry-over from
the Vulgate, which merely transliterated the LXX.3
Meaning of hl,h,qo
"The precise signification of this appelation has,
from time immemorial, been a matter of great contention, and
the occasion of numerous and most conflicting opinions."4
While some feel that the meaning of the name is truly lost
and will be forever unknown,5 others, notably Renan and
Zimmermann, have suggested ingenious solutions to the meaning
of the word. Renan's guess was that hl,h,qo is an abbreviation,
much as Mbmr is an abbreviation for Maimonides, but Gordis
contends that this "explains nothing."6 Jastrow suggests
that "Koheleth" is a nom de plume for Solomon and that the
1H. C. Leupold, Exposition of Ecclesiastes (herein-
after referred to as Ecclesiastes) (Grand Rapids: Baker
Book House, 1974), p. 38
2Ibid.
3Robertus Weber, et al., eds., Biblia Sacra Iuxta
Vulgatam Versionem, Vol. II (2 vols.: Stuttgart: Württem-
bergische Bibelanstalt, 1969), p. 986.
4Ginsburg, Coheleth, p. 1.
5Gordis, Poets, Prophets and Sages, p. 326.
6Idem., Koheleth, the Man and His World: A Study
of Ecclesiastes (hereinafter referred to as Koheleth) (New
York: Schocken Books, 3rd augmented edition, 1968), p. 203.
7
word was arrived at by substituting the root lhaqA, "assem-
ble," for MlewA, "complete," and by having a t replace the h
of hmolow;.1 This suggestion Gordis labels "too ingenious to
be convincing."2
Zimmermann's Interpretation
Zimmermann has a much more involved argument for the
derivation of the word.3 He contends that the equivalent of
tl,h,qo in Aramaic is the feminine participle of hwAn;KA, since
wnaK; is a very frequent translation word for lhaqA in the Tar-
gumim.4 According to him, the writer of the book used this
pseudonym with dviDA-rBA to attract attention to his work. It
is assumed that he knew of the name rUgxA (Prov. 30:1) and
modeled his pseudonym upon it (rgx=wnk=gather).5 rUgxA is
regarded in rabbinic tradition as one of the names of Solo-
mon. It is fairly certain as well (according to Zimmermann)
1Morris Jastrow, Jr., A Gentle Cynic: Being a Trans-
lation of the Book of Koheleth, Commonly Known as Ecclesias-
tes, Stripped of Later Additions (hereinafter referred to as
A Gentle Cynic) (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company,