'Wisdom to Live By: Modern Reflections on an Ancient Text'.
SINCE time immemorial
human beings have been pondering over the meaning of life. "Why
is there something, and not nothing?", enquired the ancient
Greek philosophers. What is the purpose of life? What is the meaning
and goal of human striving?
The exponential growth of knowledge that is witnessed in our modern
world has not made the discovery of the answers to these questions
any easier. We have succeeded in exploring the far reaches of
space and in uncovering the hidden secrets of our genes. But the
meaning and purpose of our lives still continue to elude us.
In the final decade of the last century, the renowned Russian
author of The Gulag Archipelago, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, could
write, "The victory of technological civilisation has also
instilled a spiritual insecurity in us. Its gifts enrich, but
enslave us as well. All is interests - we must not neglect our
interests - all is a struggle for material things; but an inner
voice tells us that we have lost something pure, elevated and
fragile. We have ceased to see the purpose."
Questions about the meaning of life have assumed a perennial character.
They are taken up and examined with brutal honesty by the writer
of the Book of Ecclesiastes, who calls himself the Preacher. The
Preacher stands squarely within the Wisdom Tradition of the Old
Testament, and Ecclesiastes belongs to that body of literature,
which includes Proverbs. Yet the Preacher's approach is unique,
and there is not a book in the Old Testament that speaks quite
in his tone of voice.
This has proved problematic for a number of the interpreters of
Ecclesiastes. The Preacher's probing and provocative approach
has caused some to conclude that he was a sceptic or a pessimist.
His exacerbating cry at the very beginning of the book, "Vanities
of vanities", or "Utter futility", certainly makes
him vulnerable to such misinterpretation. To make matters worse,
the absence of quotation marks in Hebrew makes it difficult to
tell whether he is expressing his own views or quoting the views
of others.
The striking omissions of the Preacher also leave some of his
interpreters with no choice but to conclude that he was a pessimist.
The Preacher uses phrases like "under the sun", "under
heaven" and "on earth" to denote man's earthly
life as it is seen from a secular perspective. Viewed from this
standpoint, life takes character of sheer futility. Mankind gains
nothing "under the sun" - his pleasures do not bring
gain (2:11), and his efforts and achievements in the end bring
him nothing but grief (2:17f).
Even the most noble of human pursuits - that of wisdom - leaves
man dissatisfied, empty and sorrowful at the end (1:18). Whatever
wisdom might be able to do for man, it cannot do anything the
eventuality of human life.
The Preacher points out that in the end the
wise man will perish together with the fool (2:15-17). Death is
the great equaliser! Such is the bleak pessimism of those who
would live life under the sun. The Preacher's arguments are compelling.
The picture that he paints depicts life as a road to nowhere,
as a meaningless pursuit of things that would evaporate into nothing,
and a chasing after empty dreams that will only terminate in death.
But although the Preacher develops this pessimistic picture with
a dizzying intensity, he is not recommending that his readers
adopt this approach or outlook to life. In Ecclesiastes, the Preacher
does not begin straightaway with God, but with observable reality,
and with the concrete world, so to speak. To grasp what the Preacher
is getting at, we must not read only the opening chapters and
form our conclusions based on them. We must read the whole book.
The Preacher leaves God out of most of the account. But when he
suddenly and dramatically introduces God, everything begins to
change. It is as if the sun suddenly appears on the horizon, shedding
light on the grey and gloomy surface of our world and radically
transforming it.
When God is introduced, the "under the sun" terminology
recedes to the background. When the world is interpreted in light
of the purposes of God, everything changes. Suddenly, even mundane
activities like eating and drinking are interpreted as divine
grace, i.e., as coming from "the hand of God", and as
gifts from God (2:24f). Suddenly, too, the Preacher speaks of
the joy of man (2:25; 3:12; 5:18, 20; 9:7; 11:7-9) and recognises
the divine generosity towards him (2:26; 3:13; 5:19).
In his intermittent references to God, the Preacher invites the
reader to look at the world through radically different lenses.
He invites his readers to enter into this "world" where
God is ever present and where life itself is interpreted as nothing
less than a precious gift from God. In other words, to the question,
"Where can we find the meaning of life?", the Preacher
stoutly and resolutely replies, "The meaning of life is found
in God!"
It is my sincere hope and prayer that as we reflect on the pages
of the book of Ecclesiastes, we will hear God's Word in them,
come to acknowledge the futility of life without God, and learn
to "fear God and obey his commandments". (12: 13).
Dr Roland Chia, a lecturer at Trinity Theological College,
is also the Director of the Centre for the Development of Christian
Ministry at TTC. A member of Fairfield Methodist Church, he worships
at Fairfield Preaching Point in Woodlands.
QUOTE:
MEANING OF LIFE
'In his intermittent references to God, the Preacher invites the reader to look at the world through radically different lenses. He invites his readers to enter into this "world" where God is ever present and where life itself is interpreted as nothing less than a precious gift from God. In other words, to the question, "Where can we find the meaning of life?", the Preacher stoutly and resolutely replies, "The meaning of life is found in God!" '