Page 125 - The Poetic Books - Student Text

this life (a topic he takes up in chapter seven). The writer’s conclusion in 12:7-14 points in an entirely
different direction, as we will see.

Chapter four considers several new situations.
Three are introduced by the clause “Again I looked
and saw (4:1, 4, 7).” Due to oppression, the dead is
better off than the living. In fact, the one who has
never been born is better off than either. He has
never had to witness the evil so rampant and the
frustration that goes with it (4:1-3). Due to envy so
much work is empty, even though work is better
than the fool who refuses to work (4:4-6). Due to
lack of contentment, wealth is often spoiled Figure 61: Rest in peace?
making it a “miserable business” (4:7-8). It is true
that friends help in life (4:9-12). It is true that wisdom helps a king rule better than folly (4:13-16a). Yet in
both cases, no one can say what will happen next. A fool might take over. We are left with “a chasing
after wind” as life’s work (4:16b).

One of the remarkable aspects of Ecclesiastes is the way people in different countries can identify with
the writer. Peter Godwin, writing about the tragic situation in Zimbabwe today finds parallels with the
injustice described in 4:1-3. “But if you read on, beyond the nominated lines [3:1-8], it gets much darker,
and it starts to resonate with the cowed country around us, where the populace has been beaten back
so many times that now the master only has to so much as reach for his whip for them to skulk off back
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to their hovels in fear.”

Chapter five takes a different approach in considering the worship aspect of life. Again, commentators
are tempted to bring in references to the OT law, but “the house of God” should be taken as any worship
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site including those used by pagans. Anyone with any concept of a powerful God should be careful in
the god’s house whether offering sacrifice, praying, or fulfilling a vow. People often wonder if God has
given them a dream. But dreams and words before a god are meaningless. He will not speak. Live and
fear and let it go at that (5:1-7).

206 Peter Godwin, When a Crocodile Eats the Sun (New York: Back Bay Books, 2006), 311.
207 Longman, The Book of Ecclesiastes, 150.
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