Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 160:638 (Apr 2003)
Article: Guidelines for Understanding and Proclaiming the Book of Ecclesiastes, Part 1
Author: Gregory W. Parsons

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BSac 160:638 (Apr 03) p. 159

Guidelines for Understanding and Proclaiming the Book of Ecclesiastes, Part 1a

Greg W. Parsons

As one of the most difficult Bible books to understand, Ecclesiastes challenges the reader to solve its puzzling problems and to unlock its mysterious meaning. Is Ecclesiastes a jigsaw puzzle with some missing pieces (see the proverb in Eccles. 1:15b)? Is it a complex riddle or code that defies deciphering? Has the key to its meaning been lost or bent so that it no longer fits and cannot be straightened (cf. v. 15a)?

Because of its seeming pessimism (or fatalism) and its supposed Epicurean philosophy (“eat, drink, and be merry,” 8:15), the rabbis debated its canonicity.1 Delitzsch implied that Ecclesiastes is “the low point of the Bible” whereby the Old Covenant “digs its own grave.”2 It has been dubbed, “the strangest book in the canon.”3 Even today many read the book “with the distinct feeling that [it] does not belong in the Bible.”4 Many things about Ecclesiastes, including its origin, background, author, purpose, structure, and message, have been hotly disputed.5 Qoheleth (apparently the pen name of the author of Ecclesiastes) “blazed a trail of obscurity in communication,” leaving modern readers “scratching their heads” in trying to cope with his style, to deal with the seeming

BSac 160:638 (Apr 03) p. 160

contradictions,6 to trace arguments that appear to meander aimlessly from topic to topic, and to understand his unique grammar and vocabulary, which do not seem to fit any known period of the Hebrew language.7 Like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle without all the pieces, the book presents a major challenge—particularly when there may be “a chest full of puzzles”8 to work with.

The two articles in this series suggest guidelines to help piece together the meaning and open up the message of the enigmatic Book of Ecclesiastes.9 This first article presents one major hermeneutical guideline with three corollaries, and the second article presents two additional guide...

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