Tag: Solomon

In reading the book of Ecclesiastes there is one section that may be very familiar.  It was used as song lyrics and set to music, which the Byrds recorded in 1965.

Compare Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 with the lyrics to Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There Is a Season).

Songwriter Pete Seeger only added six words to complete the lyric portion of the song.  They are the song’s last six words: “…I swear it’s not too late.”

In considering both the passage these words are taken from, as well as the theme of the entire book of Ecclesiastes, these six words are an appropriate encouragement to not become bogged down with the issues of life, but to take action…because “it’s not too late.”

Who says rock and roll and the Bible don’t mix?

The song, by the way, became a hit, arguably making it the number one hit song with the oldest lyrics.

Thank you King Solomon. You rock!

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

A few years ago there was a popular, yet pessimistic saying: “Life’s a bitch; then you die.”

Although that may be shocking or even offensive to some, I think King Solomon was the originator of this depressing thought.  It permeates his writing in Ecclesiastes and it exudes from the text.  In fact, an apt and concise summary of Ecclesiastes may well be: “Life’s a bitch; then you die.”

After ranting and whining for 12 chapters about the struggle of life and finality of death, it is easy to miss Solomon’s succinct conclusion nestled in the book’s concluding verses. 

At this point in the reading, one is often so overwhelmed with negativity that there’s a tendency to skim to the end, or perhaps to even skip to the end.

Nevertheless, his one gem of useful truth is simply this: fear and obey God.

Perhaps Solomon was on to something after all.

[See Ecclesiastes 12:13.]

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

I am confounded by the book of Ecclesiastes.  As mentioned in the post “…and Then You Die,” Ecclesiastes is a depressing read.  It is pessimistic and its main point to put God first is easy to miss.

Ecclesiastes abounds with negativity and hyperbole, yet it also contains some wise thoughts and astute observations.  Separating the two takes effort and focus.  Yet doing so means to discount some parts of this book as foolishness and to embrace other parts as sound. 

This is unwise, because to do so we must apply our own biases and perceptions of what to accept (such as, obey God) and what to reject (such as, death is better than life).  Reading Solomon’s words in this manner merely reinforces what we already know and teaches us nothing new.

What I do know is that given Solomon’s proclivity towards hyperbole in Ecclesiastes, using his words by themselves as a basis for understanding God is not warranted.  It is imperative to make sure any conclusions made are also supported elsewhere in biblical texts.

So if Ecclesiastes is not much use for direct instruction, then what good is it?

If I read Ecclesiastes strictly as a story, then I do see one lesson emerge: smart people can be pretty whacked out and morose in their thinking.  Is that the point?

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.