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Wisdom

C. S. Lewis and Kohelet

In 1964 C. S. Lewis wrote a book on the Psalms where he makes a passing reference to Ecclesiastes. He is speaking of how even the most dire parts of the Bible can still shed light upon our understanding of God. He argues against dissecting these difficult texts through exposition and instead, letting them wash […]

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Beautiful in its time?

If you type the words “beautiful in its time” into your web browser and click on images your screen will fill up with flowers, butterflies and sunsets – all with those famous words from Ecclesiastes plastered over top of them in flowing script. What you won’t see is a mushroom cloud from an atomic bomb […]

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A BITTER OLD MAN

COMMENT http://antinoos89.wordpress.com The Teacher seems angry that nothing they do or learn will be original or new—something no one but himself has done before, and because so, no one in the future generations will remember his doings or his wisdom.  All though he seems wise at times and teaches wisdom to others he seems to […]

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FAHRENHEIT 451

QUESTION In Fahrenheit 451, what event or quote is in reference to Ecclesiastes? VANSWER The men with Montag (the one who has memorized parts of Ecclesiastes) have just seen the city across the river incinerated by the bombers. They decide to go back to the city to search for survivors and Granger (their leader) speaks […]

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IN THE END

QUESTION Was King Solomon right when he said in Ecclesiastes that the only thing that matters in the end is to fear God and keep his commandments?  VANSWER It’s important to note that we don’t know for certain who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. Whoever it was only identified themselves as Kohelet, a word that […]

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THE BEST BOOK OF THE BIBLE

QUESTION Why do some firmly believe Ecclesiastes is the greatest and wisest book in the entire Bible? VANSWER Kohelet means “to gather” so early translators decided that it meant to gather people together and teach them wisdom. In latin such a gathering is an “ecclesia” and the one doing the gathering was the “ecclesiastes”. At […]

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FAMOUS LAST WORDS

COMMENT A person’s final words may contain the wisdom of a lifetime distilled into a sentence. John Wesley’s last words were repeated several times, “The best of all is, God is with us.” Wise Solomon at the end of Ecclesiastes wrote, “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God […]

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DAILY BREAD OR GET AHEAD

COMMENT My guess was that the author of this book, who I believe was a man of great wealth and power, was trying to say that everything we do that is for our own sake and not for God is meaningless. Working and “toiling” has no purpose and will not “bear fruit” unless God’s purpose […]

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THE LOST BOOK OF THE BIBLE

QUESTION The Book of Ecclesiastes does not get used/read/considered often enough. In a similar vein to Job, Ecclesiastes explores the meaninglessness and nihilism inherent in life. Man is ignorant. Man cannot do what is best for himself. We cannot ascribe higher powers to anything, so we should just enjoy the gifts God has given us. That’s […]

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I HATE MY JOB!

Many blogs about finding meaning in our work spoke about the court stenographer who spent years typing random words at his job interspersed with the words “I hate my job.” I responded to a few with this post. If you google “I hate my job” you get about 27 million hits. It is a sad […]

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