Ecclesiastes
DQ #1. Why is this book seen as being
dangerous?
Because of it’s conclusion, “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole [duty] of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. (12:13-14) The pursuit of both worldly wisdom and pleasure is ultimately meaningless since man is doomed to die. Apart from God, a man’s life, and all that he does, ends at the grave.
This means that man is not the ‘measure of all things.’ Man does not like thinking that he is subordinate to God; that he cannot determine (or establish) meaning or value to his own life nor doe he have understanding. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it.” (8:17) This assaults his pride, and so this is the danger a worldly minded man sees in this book.
DQ # 2. Why have the Rabbis included this book as Holy writ?
(Now I do not know much about rabbinic Judaism. So anything I say from their perspective will be a guess.) I would suppose that it was included by them because of its’ conclusion. “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole [duty] of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. (12:13-14) For it contains the idea to revere God by obeying His commands, and that judgment will befall the wicked and the righteous will be rewarded. I suspect its’ rejection of hedonism as a way to happiness would be another reason. The dangerous idea for the observant Jew is the apparent disparagement of earthly pleasures, which they regard material things as being inherently good. For those who do not hope for resurrection in this life, this book is a threat against world rewards for good behavior. “God gives a man wealth, possessions and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires, but God does not enable him to enjoy them, and a stranger enjoys them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.” (6:2)
From a
Christian perspective, Ecclesiastes demonstrates that hope and meaning
can only
be found in Christ; that pleasure (though it is not wrong to enjoy it.
Deuteronomy 12:18) and worldly wisdom (that it is not wrong to
understand it. Daniel
1:17, Acts 17:22-34) does not bring ultimate satisfaction. Christ is
the One Shepherd
(12:11) though which all wisdom and satisfaction comes to us (John
4:13.) Not
by ourselves but by Him.