PREACHING CHRIST FROM ECCLESIASTES
PREACHING CHRIST FROM ECCLESIASTES Foundations for Expository Sermons
SIDNEY GREIDANUS
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company Grand Rapids, Michigan / Cambridge, U.K.
© 2010 Sidney Greidanus All rights reserved Published 2010 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 2140 Oak Industrial Drive N.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505 / P.O. Box 163, Cambridge CB3 9PU U.K. www.eerdmans.com Printed in the United States of America 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Greidanus, Sidney, 1935Preaching Christ from Ecclesiastes: foundations for expository sermons / Sidney Greidanus. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN 978-0-8028-6535-9 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Bible. O.T. Ecclesiastes — Sermons — Outlines, syllabi, etc. 2. Bible. O.T. Ecclesiastes — Criticism, interpretation, etc. 3. Jesus Christ. I. Title. BS1475.54.G74 223¢.8077 — dc22
2010 2010006437
Unless otherwise noted, the Bible quotations in this publication are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
To our grandchildren: Jeremy & Julie, Jeffrey, Cara & Peter, and Caitlin Zachari, Anna, and Jessica, and Mikayla, Solomon, and Katherine
May the “goads and nails” (Ecclesiastes 12:11) of the Teacher’s wisdom provide direction, stability, and security for your lives.
Contents
x
preface acknowledgments
xiv
abbreviations
xv xvii
transliterations 1. Preaching Ecclesiastes
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The Value of Preaching Ecclesiastes Difficulties in Interpreting Ecclesiastes The Nature of Wisdom Literature The Relation of Wisdom to Redemptive History Contradictions The Historical Setting of Ecclesiastes The Author(s) The Original Recipients The Date of Composition The Place of Composition The Purpose of Ecclesiastes The Genre and Forms of Ecclesiastes Reflection Proverb Instruction Autobiographical Narrative Anecdote Metaphor Allegory vii
2 3 3 3 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 12 13 13 14 14 14 15 15
Contents The Structure of Ecclesiastes Literary Patterns Juxtapositions The Overall Structure The Overall Message of Ecclesiastes Difficulties in Preaching Ecclesiastes Selecting a Proper Preaching Text Formulating a Single Theme Preaching Christ from Ecclesiastes Redemptive-Historical Progression Promise-Fulfillment Typology Analogy Longitudinal Themes New Testament References Contrast 2. No Gain from All Our Toil Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 3. The Teacher’s Search for Meaning Ecclesiastes 1:12–2:26 4. God Set the Times Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 5. Working in a Wicked World Ecclesiastes 3:16–4:6 6. Working Together Ecclesiastes 4:7-16
1
7. Worshiping in God’s House Ecclesiastes 5:1-7
1
8. The Love of Money Ecclesiastes 5:8–6:9
1
9. How to Handle Adversity Ecclesiastes 6:10–7:14
1
10. How to Act in a Paradoxical World Ecclesiastes 7:15-29
1
Contents 11. Use Wisdom but Know Its Limitations Ecclesiastes 8:1-17
200
12. Enjoy Life! Ecclesiastes 9:1-12
219
13. Because of the Harm Inflicted by Folly, Use Wisdom! 239 Ecclesiastes 9:13–10:20 14. Take Risks Boldly but Wisely! Ecclesiastes 11:1-6
260
15. Remember Your Creator! Ecclesiastes 11:7–12:8
275
16. Fear God, and Keep His Commandments! Ecclesiastes 12:9-14
295
Appendixes 1. Ten Steps from Text to Sermon 2. An Expository Sermon Model 3. A Meditation on Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 4. A Sermon on Ecclesiastes 9:1-12
311 313 315 317
select bibliography
326
scripture index
330
subject index
334
targets for sermons
337
topics for sermons
339
ix
CHAPTER 1
Preaching Ecclesiastes
Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
(Eccl 1:2)
Ecclesiastes may be the most difficult biblical book to interpret and prea major reason for this difficulty is that Old Testament scholars are not agre key issues: the number of authors involved in writing this book; the ident the main author; when, where, and why the book was written; the quality Hebrew style; which sections are poetry and which are prose; 1 the book’s ture, or lack thereof; and whether its message is pessimistic or positive. Garrett adds, “Perhaps an even greater hindrance to preaching Wisdom suspicion many have that it contains no gospel.”3 Small wonder that m preachers consider it the better part of wisdom to omit Ecclesiastes from preaching schedule. In fact, the Revised Common Lectionary assigns reading from Ecclesiastes for only two worship services: for New Year’s Eve ( ABC), Ecclesiastes 3:1-13; and for the Sunday closest to August 3 (Year C alternative to Hosea 11:1-11, Ecclesiastes 1:12-14 and 2:(1-7, 11) 18-23
1. See Whybray, Ecclesiastes, 16. 2. “There is scarcely one aspect of the book, whether of date, authorship or interpre that has not been the subject of wide difference of opinion.” Gordis, Poets, Prophets, and Sage (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1971), 326. 3. Garrett, “Preaching Wisdom,” 108. 4. Compare this minimal use of Ecclesiastes with the practice of some Jewish commu of reading all of Ecclesiastes during the annual feast of Sukkot (Tabernacles). Some of t sons suggested for reading Ecclesiastes during this feast are: “Qohelet recommends re which is the mood of Sukkot; . . . he declares the transience of human life, which is well s
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Preaching Ecclesiastes nately, omitting Ecclesiastes from one’s preaching schedule is a major loss the church.
The Value of Preaching Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes offers a unique perspective on human life — a perspective that extremely relevant for the church today.5 Iain Provan observes, “In focusin our attention on this life rather than the next, indeed, this book contributes the correction of an all-too-frequent imbalance throughout the ages in Chris tian thinking, which has sometimes presented Christianity as if it were more matter of waiting for something than a matter of living.”6 Sandy and Gies state, “The Book of Ecclesiastes is one of the most important possessions of t Christian church, since it compels us to continually evaluate and correct ou understanding of God and our teaching about God in the light of the whole o biblical revelation. . . . The reflections of the sage in Ecclesiastes unmask th myth of human autonomy and self-sufficiency and drive us in all our frailty and inability to find meaning in a crooked world in the Creator-creature rela tionship — the ultimate polarity.”7 Moreover, Ecclesiastes is relevant especially for our culture because it ta les many of the temptations posed by secularism. Leland Ryken calls Ecclesi tes “the most contemporary book in the Bible. Ecclesiastes is a satiric attack an acquisitive, hedonistic, and materialistic society. It exposes the mad quest find satisfaction in knowledge, wealth, pleasure, work, fame, and sex.”8 Before preachers can preach Ecclesiastes with integrity, however, they w
ized by a temporary booth; and . . . autumn is the season evocative of mortality.” Michael Fo Ecclesiastes, xv. 5. According to Ellen Davis, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, 160, “Martin Luther said we should read ‘this noble little book’ every day, precisely because it so firmly rejects sentim tal religiosity!” 6. Provan, Ecclesiastes, 42. Cf. Brown, Ecclesiastes, 21, “Contrary to what is commonly preached, life is not simply a journey of edifying experiences, a pilgrimage of glee. It is abo confronting inevitable despair, disillusionment, and, yes, death face to face, the via negativa. clesiastes, in short, covers the gamut of life down under, that is, ‘under the sun’ and under G His is a theology from below, not for liberation’s sake but for navigating the turbulent waters the living of these days in reverence to God. Qohelet is a teacher for preachers who has live tell about it all . . . barely.” 7. D. Brent Sandy and Ronald L. Giese, Cracking Old Testament Codes: A Guide to Interpreting the Literary Genres of the Old Testament (Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 1995), 271. 8. Ryken, “Ecclesiastes,” 274. Cf. Garrett, “Preaching Wisdom,” 119: “Ecclesiastes . . . st away the ideologies and false hopes by which men and women live and loosens the grip that quest for wealth, power, and education hold over people. In so doing, Ecclesiastes eloquen turns the reader toward God, the only hope of eternal meaning and life.”
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Preaching Ecclesiastes
have to gain some clarity on the difficulties with which commentators struggled for more than two thousand years.9 We shall first explore diffic in interpreting Ecclesiastes and next difficulties in preaching this book.
Difficulties in Interpreting Ecclesiastes We shall discuss in turn five major issues in interpreting Ecclesiastes: the of wisdom literature, the historical setting of Ecclesiastes, its genre and its structure, and its overall message.
The Nature of Wisdom Literature
One cannot rightly interpret and preach a text until one has taken into ac its specific genre. Wisdom literature, like Hebrew narrative, Psalms, prop and apocalyptic literature, is a specific literary genre. Therefore a key qu is, What is the nature of wisdom literature? Elizabeth Achtemeier resp “Wisdom is the result of practical experience and the careful observati both the natural and human worlds. Out of all of the chaos of experience, dom finds customary ‘orders’ in the world — ways in which human beings natural phenomena ordinarily behave. Its aim, then, is to teach men women these ‘orders,’ so they may know how to act in harmony with the around them.”10 J. A. Loader observes similarly, “Wisdom is concerned wit correct ordering of life. Wise action is that which integrates people harm ously into the order God has created. The rules of life that prescribe ho man beings must integrate themselves into that order are the precepts o dom.”11
The Relation of Wisdom to Redemptive History
In contrast to other biblical genres, wisdom literature does not deal wit mighty acts of God. Graeme Goldsworthy observes that this does not mean wisdom is “a self-contained and alternative way of looking at God and rea Wisdom, he states, “complements the perspective of salvation history. In
9. See the extensive historical review by Craig Bartholomew in his Reading Ecclesiastes: O Testament Exegesis and Hermeneutical Theory, 31-205. 10. Achtemeier, Preaching from the Old Testament (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1989), 166. Cf. von Rad, Wisdom in Israel, 92-95; and Bernhard W. Anderson, Contours of Old Testament Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1999), 264-67. 11. Loader, Ecclesiastes, 4.
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Preaching Ecclesiastes
we should go further than that and say that wisdom is a theology of the re deemed man living in the world under God’s rule. It is thus as much an aspe of kingdom theology as salvation history is.”12 There are also clear connections between Ecclesiastes and the beginning redemptive history as recounted in the early chapters of Genesis. As Genesi teaches that God is the sovereign Creator, so Ecclesiastes proclaims the sov eignty of God (3:14; 8:17). As Genesis teaches that God in the beginning set times (day and night, 1:3-5) and upholds the seasons (8:22), so Ecclesias teaches that God has set the times (3:1-8) and “made everything suitable for time” (3:11). As Genesis teaches that God created this world good ( nôb, 7 tim so Ecclesiastes acknowledges that there is still good to be found in this wo (nôb, e.g., 2:24; 3:12-13; 5:18). As Genesis teaches that God created human b upright, so does Ecclesiastes (7:29). As Genesis (1:27; 2:15) teaches that hu beings were created for fellowship with God, so does Ecclesiastes (12:13). G sis further relates that human beings broke this relationship by rebelling agai God (3:6), subsequently hiding from God (3:10), being driven out of the Garde of God (3:24), and suffering the penalty of living in a God-cursed creation (3:17) where meaningful work (2:15) would become toil (3:17-19) and where would inevitably end in death (3:19, “You are dust, and to dust you shall r turn”). Ecclesiastes similarly speaks of our present distance from God (5:2 God’s curse on the earth (1:15; 7:13), the burden of human toil (1:3; 2:22), an tragedy of death (3:20; 12:7: “The dust returns to the earth as it was”). Moreo Genesis reveals that evil resides in the human heart (6:5) and that sin un checked (4:7) leads to murder — the first victim appropriately named Abel (4 Hebel = vanity). Ecclesiastes, similarly, shows that evil dwells in human hearts (7:20, 29; 8:11; 9:3) — one of the reasons for its repeated declaration that “ vanity” (hebel, 1:2; 12:8).13 In spite of these connections with Genesis and the beginnings of redemp tive history, Ecclesiastes does not focus on God’s redemptive acts. Duan Garrett formulates the contrast this way: “Genesis tells the story of how h mans — originally in a state of life, paradise, and innocence — fell into guil toil, and mortality. Ecclesiastes tells how persons now made weak and mort should live.”14 William Brown observes, “Most conspicuous about the wisdom literature is its ‘ahistorical’ character. Strikingly absent among Proverbs, Jo
12. Goldsworthy, Gospel and Kingdom, 142. 13. See Charles G. Forman, “Qohelet’s Use of Genesis,” JSS 5 (1960) 256-63; Robert Johnso “Confessions of a Workaholic,” CBQ 38 (1976) 22; Roger Whybray, “Qoheleth as a Theologian 247-48; Walter Kaiser, Ecclesiastes, 36-37; Arian Verheij, “Paradise Retried: On Qohelet 2:4-6,” JSOT 50 (1991) 113-15; and David Clements, “The Law of Sin and Death: Ecclesiastes and Genesis 1–3,” Themelios 19/3 (1994) 5-8. 14. Garrett, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, 279.
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Preaching Ecclesiastes
and Ecclesiastes are the great themes of biblical history, such as the exod enant, and conquest of the land. God’s role as deliverer and lawgiver, in t scarcely mentioned in the wisdom traditions. Rather, emphasis is placed creation and humanity’s place in it.”15 This does not mean, however, that God is absent from Ecclesiastes. G the great Creator (12:1) who made and still “makes everything” (11:5). G the times and “has made everything suitable for its time” (3:11). God ga man beings their breath (12:7) and made them “straightforward [upright they have devised many schemes” (7:29). God made “the day of prosperi well as “the day of adversity” (7:14). God gives us “the days of life” (5:1 “wealth and possessions,” and the ability “to enjoy them” and to “find e ment [even] in toil” (5:19; 6:2). God gives “wisdom and knowledge and (2:26), as well as “the collected sayings” of wisdom (12:11). God wants pe enjoy life, “for God has long ago approved what you do” (9:7). God tests p (3:18), “has no pleasure in fools” (5:4), and can become angry (5:6). God people accountable for their actions and “will judge the righteous and wicked” (3:16; 11:9; 12:14). Therefore people should “rejoice” in all the (11:9), remember their “Creator” (12:1), “fear God” (3:14; 5:7; 7:18; 8 “keep his commandments” (12:13). Goldsworthy notes that wisdom, like salvation history, “finds its goal fulfilment in Christ. . . . Three aspects of wisdom confront us in the New Te ment. First, the Gospel narratives portray Jesus as the wise man who, i form and content of many of his sayings, follows in the traditions of Isr wisdom teachers. Secondly, Jesus goes beyond this actually to claim to b wisdom of God. Thirdly, certain New Testament writers . . . understand meaning of Christ’s person and work in the light of certain wisdom idea
Contradictions
Several commentators have faulted Ecclesiastes for its contradictions. pare, for example, the Teacher’s assertions, “I thought the dead, who ha ready died, more fortunate than the living, who are still alive” (4:2), and, “ ever is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a lion” (9:4). Or consider the contradiction within a single passage: “I kno will be well with those who fear God, because they stand in fear of him, will not be well with the wicked” (8:12-13), and, “There are righteous p who are treated according to the conduct of the wicked, and there are w people who are treated according to the conduct of the righteous” (8:14 15. Brown, Ecclesiastes, 11-12. 16. Goldsworthy, Gospel and Kingdom, 149.
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Preaching Ecclesiastes
Contradictions, however, are natural in wisdom literature because life i complex.17 One of the clearest examples of contradictory advice is found in Proverbs 26:4-5, Do not answer fools according to their folly, or you will be a fool yourself. Answer fools according to their folly, or they will be wise in their own eyes.
Sometimes it is wise not to answer fools; at other times it is wise to answ them.18 Instead of faulting Ecclesiastes for its contradictions, one ought to u lize them in seeking to understand the message of the author19 (see pp. 17-18 low, “Juxtapositions”). As Raymond Van Leeuwen puts it, “Rather than forcin us to erase or ‘harmonize’ the ambiguities and ‘contradictions,’ biblical wisdo invites us to ponder the nuances and complexities of life; it invites us to beco wise.”20
The Historical Setting of Ecclesiastes
Since wisdom teaches “customary ‘orders’ in the world,”21 identifying the hi torical setting of the author and his recipients is not as crucial as it is for ot genres of biblical literature. Nevertheless, having some sense of the histori setting in which Ecclesiastes was written will help preachers better underst
17. Some scholars seek to explain the contradictions in terms of changing thoughts over lifetime or changing circumstances. Crenshaw, Ecclesiastes, 49, states, “I believe the tensions o the book represent for the most part the fruit of a lifetime’s research. Changing circumstan evoke different responses to conventional wisdom and to one’s own former thoughts. Differ ences in societal concerns also dictate a variety of expressions. . . . But the contradictions sugg more than the result of time’s passage. They express the ambiguities of daily existence and absurdity of human efforts to understand it.” Other scholars use the contradictions to argue f multiple authorship (see p. 7 below). 18. Similar “contradictions” are found among English proverbs: sometimes we have to sa “The early bird catches the worm,” but at other times “Better late than never” is more suita sometimes we need to say, “He who hesitates is lost,” but at other times “Look before you le or “Haste makes waste” is more fitting. 19. Cf. Fox, A Time to Tear Down, 3, “The contradictions in the book of Qohelet are real and intended. We must interpret them, not eliminate them.” See this whole section “On Readin Contradictions,” ibid., pp. 1-26. See also his Qohelet and His Contradictions, and his “The Inner Structure of Qohelet’s Thought.” 20. Raymond C. Van Leeuwen, “Proverbs,” in A Complete Literary Guide to the Bible, eds. Leland Ryken and Tremper Longman (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993), 266. 21. See p. 3 above.
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Preaching Ecclesiastes
the message and discern its original relevance. The questions which we seek to answer are: Who wrote this book? To whom? When? Where? And w
The Author(s)
Traditionally biblical scholars identified King Solomon as the author of Ec astes. But Luther already began to question this simple identification. 22 If mon were the author, why did he not directly identify himself as he do Proverbs 1:1, “The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel”? Instea read in Ecclesiastes 1:1, “The words of the Teacher, the son of David, king i rusalem.” The author is identified as “the Teacher,” Qohelet.23 If Solomon w the author, why would he and his editor conceal his name? Instead of mon’s using a pen name, Tremper Longman argues, “It is much more likel the nickname Qohelet was adopted by the actual writer to associate hi with Solomon, while retaining his distance from the actual person. It is a w indicating that the Solomonic persona is being adopted for literary and municative purposes. In brief, the wise man who adopts the nickname Qo pretends to be Solomon while he explores avenues of meaning in the worl After Luther rejected Solomon as the single author of Ecclesiastes floodgates of speculation opened. Because of the book’s contradictions swift changes in perspective, “at one time there were scholars ready to s that two, or three, or even as many as nine different minds had been at w the book.”25 If all these different minds had been working on this book at c purposes, then discerning the specific message of a preaching text wou practically impossible. What would be the context for determining the me of the text?
22. “Martin Luther was probably the first to deny the Solomonic authorship. He reg the Book as ‘a sort of Talmud, compiled from many books, probably from the library of Ptolemy Euergetes of Egypt.’” J. Stafford Wright, “Interpretation of Ecclesiastes,” EvQ (1946) 19. 23. The Septuagint translated Qohelet as Ekkl3siast3s. “In classical Greek ekkl3siast3s mean ‘one who sits or speaks in the ekkl3sia,’ that is, an assembly of local citizens. The Hebrew qohelet — which occurs only in this book — is almost certainly a participle of the verb qhl, ‘to assemble,’ which is in turn related to the noun q#h#l, ‘an assembly’ (often rendered as ekk the Septuagint).” Whybray, Ecclesiastes, 2. 24. Longman, Book of Ecclesiastes, 4-5. A few commentators still defend Solomonic author ship (e.g., Kaiser, Ecclesiastes [1979], 25-29, and Garrett, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs [1993], 264, 266). For arguments against Solomonic authorship, see, e.g., Young, Introduct the Old Testament, 347-48; Kidner, Wisdom of Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes, 105; and Long Book of Ecclesiastes, 4-8. 25. Kidner, Time to Mourn, 14. The nine authors were suggested by D. C. Siegfried, “Pre und Hohelied,” in W. Nowack, Handkommentar zum Alten Testament (Göttingen, 1898).
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