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Wisdom Literature: The Mysterious Books of Ecclesiastes & Song of Songs |
| Bible Commentary Series, Vol. 9DOT, written format |
Ecclesiastes, like Job, must be interpreted as a whole. It is a sustained sarcasm through chap. 12. It is a tongue-in-cheek sarcastic look at life without God. The key phrase is "under the sun." Solomon is surely the literary foil of chapters 1-2 because of his wisdom, wealth and position. But there are hints that he is not the true author: (1) in 1:12, "I was king over Israel in Jerusalem" - past tense; (2) in 1:16, "... more than all who were over Jerusalem before" - only David was before Solomon; (3) in 4:1-3; 5:8 and 8:9 governmental abuse is discussed but as hopeless; and (4) the name Solomon does not occur in the book. The very fact of this book's presence in the canon seems to imply that God does not reject the sincere, doubtful seeker. Asking ultimate questions is not discouraged. Ecclesiastes assumes the existence of God and is written within the stream of the OT faith. Evil is a result of man, not God. God's ways cannot be known. Man must struggle for the meaning in life but be content!
Song of Songs, because of its unusual content, experienced difficulty in achieving canonical status: (1) the rabbinical school of Shammai (conservative) opposed the book; (2) the rabbinical school of Hillel (liberal) affirmed the book; (3) at the rabbinical counsels of Jamnia (AD 90) the book was still being discussed and questioned as canonical; (4) under the leadership of Rabbi Akiba (Aqiba) it was finally accepted as canonical. He said of this book, "for all the world is not as worthy as the day on which the Song of Songs was given to Israel, for all the writings are holy, but Song of Songs is the holy of holies." Genre is the main issue in the interpretation of the book. Genre is crucial in identifying the intent of the original author. The book is written entirely in poetry. It affirms the God given aspects of human sexuality. Many see this book in light of the OT analogy of God as husband and Israel as wife. It has no hints of a religious or national theme which is so unusual for a canonical book.
| Other versions: |
CD format |
Audio tapeEcclesiastes |
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Audio tape Song of Songs |