Job and Ecclesiastes
by Russell Earl Kelly, PHD
May 21, 2016
Though
written centuries apart from each other, both of these inspired biblical books
have one thing in common --- they reveal how unenlightened men reasoned and
understood life in their time periods. They give the reader a very close look
into the hearts and minds of men struggling with life’s inequalities,
opposites, disappointments, losses, gains, curses, blessings and search for
spiritual reconciliation. This information is crucial for Bible students
attempting to understand the people of His Word. It also gives insights into
our own searches for spiritual meaning today.
Job
deals primarily with the questions of suffering, and, it must be noted, God
does not answer any of those questions. Neither
Job nor his four “friends” are inspired with special revelation or the Word of
God to know why Job suffered. While Job appears to be wiser and (correctly) refuses
to accept personal guilt for his suffering, they are all reflecting only what
uninspired knowledge his revealed. Again, unlike the reader, neither Job nor
his friends have been shown what is really behind Job’s suffering. While much
of what each of them says is correct, it is also true that much of what each of
them says is incorrect – including Job (“words without knowledge” 38:2). Therefore
teachers and preachers should tread very lightly when using Job for sermon material
except when God speaks.
Ecclesiastes,
like Job, is an inspired demonstration of how unenlightened men viewed and
interpreted their circa 1000 B. C. The reader is privileged to compare his/her
views with those of Solomon’s era. While reading Ecclesiastes, it would be
helpful to mark, underline or circle the words “vanity” and “under the sun.”
Without special revelation from God, all is vanity, nothing has a goal or
eternal value. All life --man, animal and plant-- comes into existence, lives
and dies and repeats the meaningless cycle.
Following
37 confusing chapters of ignorant false accusations and denials, God speaks after
Job says “God respects not any man that is wise of heart” (37:24). God says
that Job has been using “words without knowledge” (38:2) –even Job was wrong in
much of what he had said. For four chapters God throws questions at Job (38 to
41). After Job repents for daring to question Him (42:6), God rebukes his
friends because Job had been correct in not accepting personal blame for his
suffering (41:7-10). Finally, God restores Job with more than he had before
(41:11-17).
Ecclesiastes
has the same kind of unenlightened wisdom of man in all except its last two
verses of chapter 12. Much of what we believe is correct, but much of it is
wrong. “Vanity” occurs 36 times in 12 chapters while “under the sun” occurs 29 times.
To ignore these words is to miss the meaning of Ecclesiastes!
For
example, when Ecclesiastes 12:7 says “Then shall the dust return to the earth
as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it, “it does not mean
(as SDAs and JWs interpret it) “there is no immortal soul and man ceases to
exist at death” because 12:8 immediately says “Vanity of vanities, saith the
preacher; all is vanity.” 12:7 is an example of unenlightened vain logic “under
the sun.”
“Without
an afterlife resurrection and judgment of the dead, nothing makes sense – the wicked
go unpunished and the righteous go unrewarded; life is a meaningless cycle. Ecclesiastes
12:13-14 “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep
his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment,
with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”
