The Art of Ecclesiastes
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- Опубліковано 21 сер 2024
- In this video I look at how exactly is everything vanity.
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| Transcription |
Welcome back to the Bible is Art where we explore the literary artistry of the Bible and this week we’re talking about the book of Ecclesiastes and how everything is vanity.
Imagine this. The wisest man whoever lives comes to town and you get to go hear him give a talk. You’re excited because you think that now he’ll be able to bring everything together, make sense of it all, provide some secret that we haven’t uncovered yet. But the first thing he says is that everything is vanity and he repeats that throughout his whole hour long talk.
You leave and as you process it you think that you must be missing something, he’s the wisest man who ever lived. So you start to think and puzzle. And you start to wonder maybe what he says and what he means are two different things. Maybe he’s trying to do something with words. Maybe he doesn’t actually believe that everything is vanity but in order to get us to understand that he has to tell us that everything is vanity. Maybe the fact that you’re spending so much time thinking is part of the point.
This is exactly what is going on with Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes opens up with Solomon declaring, “Vanity of Vanities, All is Vanity.” And this is repeated throughout the book.
But Solomon doesn’t actually believe that everything is vanity at least not in the way that you might think and there’s reasons in the text that indicate that for us, but the first thing to understand is that Ecclesiastes is a riddle.
You see, Ecclesiastes is wisdom literature, that is it’s designed to make the reader wise and as any great artist or author knows you don’t make people wise simply by giving them simple facts to memorize. Sometimes you learn things better when they’re difficult than when they’re easy.
In the introduction to the book of Proverbs Solomon gives us a list of the ways that he will teach wisdom and one of them is by means of riddles.
Proverbs 1
To know wisdom and instruction,
to understand words of insight,
3 to receive instruction in wise dealing,
in righteousness, justice, and equity;
4 to give prudence to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the youth-
5 Let the wise hear and increase in learning,
and the one who understands obtain guidance,
6 to understand a proverb and a saying,
the words of the wise and their riddles.
And this is because sometimes hard intellectual work Will do a better job of working wisdom into us then clear statements. Later in Proverbs were told that it is the wisdom of God to hide things and the wisdom of kings to search things out.
So how is it that Ecclesiastes is a riddle. Well, it’s a riddle because it was written with a great contradiction a paradox that needs to be resolved. Solomon, the wisest man whoever lives, says that everything is vanity. Now that’s a riddle because the wisest man knows better than everyone else that the world is not vain.
The Bible up to Ecclesiastes as well as after it communicates that it is not vain. Everything from God redeeming the slavery of Joseph where he will say to his brothers that what they meant for evil God meant for good, to David declaring that the heavens declare the glory of God, to Paul in Romans saying that God works everything for good.
So if Solomon knows that everything is not in vain why does he say that it is?
Ecclesiastes is one of my or possibly my favorite Biblical book. Maybe from hearing Turn Turn Turn by The Birds as a young boy back in 1965. Who knows what imprints on your psyche? Good insights in this lesson. Thanks!
everyone who watched it is so blessed by your efforts and wisdom in reading Ecclesiastes and particularly "vanity." May God bless you with more wisdom and grace
"You dont make someone wise by simply giving them facts to memorize" - I'm always talking about this, thank you so much for showing that its found here, I didnt even think of that. Blessings on all your awesome hard work!
Yea, I was discussing this book with my wife, talking about how much it reminds me of the Bhagavad Gita. The idea that “hevel” refers to a sacrifice makes it sound even closer to the Bhagavad Gita, the idea that every action we take is a sacrifice to God.
Great video. Something different from the usual dry speaking on Ecclesiastes, where they just repeat one another.
Thank you, that was meaningful to me and clarified the meaning of ecclesiastes 1:1. The bible is art. I have often thought that. It's so beautiful to have God's Word with so much confusion everywhere. I am so grateful to Him. I love Him, my all in all.
Absolutely glorious and unbelievably awesome. Thank you SO much!!!
Myki Lee thanks!
The Bible is Art I am so glad UA-cam’s algorithm helped me to stumble to your channel. I am very much looking forward to these incredible videos. Thank you so much for such depth of revelation.
You brought to mind the way Hebrews 11 mentions Abel. How do you think that relates to your video? If at all.
Thank you for your labor.
Matt Taylor thanks so much. I don’t think there’s any direct connection, just a general connection concerning Abel’s faithfulness. But who knows, maybe I’m missing something:)
Thank you for the video, truly expanded my comprehension of that scripture. God bless ❤️💯🤗🔥
Nice work, would be interesting for you to include your references. I applaud your work here, the quality is excellent.
Dr. Carp this is actually all original research. There has been some work on the allusion to Abel here www.academia.edu/1626006/The_Story_of_Abel_The_Narrative_Substructure_of_Ecclessiastes and in the footnotes but they don't conclude as much as I do. Thanks for your kind words.
Great video! I subscribed.
👏 thank you. Looks like you've done your extensive research. Indeed you have to look for references in different Books of the Bible. It's like a riddle. Super fun when you really get into it. Lol
Nic V thanks!
Very interesting thesis; but the text doesn’t really support your equivalence of hevel with *sacrifice*. In fact, Eccles 5:1 seems to contradict that idea, by obliquely referring to the fact that sacrifices were performed for accidental wrongs. (Gen 4 doesn’t treat Abel’s death remotely like a sacrifice either.) Hevel most often means illusion or misbelief in Koheleth-human mistakes on a higher level than folly.
Please explain
This is Good stuff
7:00
Sacrifices are not vapour, but everything else is.
We are living sacrifices and so not vapour.
Is that what you are saying?
Let me know if ya'll have any questions or comments.
Mind. Blown.🤯
How can i as a teenage christian gain great wisdom from God? And be more dedicated to him without getting bored
good job
Thanks
@@TheBibleisArt youre most welcome
To be honest, reading the Bible message/verse Genesis 4:10-11, that you mentioned, correct it would have been the sacrifice of his brother, blood wasn’t accepted by God. It was from the death he realized his action was from vanity, that did not benefit anyone, not even Canan himself. Blood of animal is accepted only when kill/sacrifice an animals for means of food and if we were to kill an animal with no intention of eating it then it that kill would be out of vain.
Hi Zeba Khawaja , I’m not really understanding, can you clarify?
All is Hevel (הבל) not vanity!