Month: June 2023

And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit. Eccl. 1:17 (KJV)

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It is a peculiar verse to grapple with. From a narrative perspective, it does reads like a repetition or reiteration of v13. Or at least, to be read along side it. The v13 states, Qôheleth seeks wisdom to understand ‘all things done under the heaven.’ And that he finds, ‘that which is crooked cannot be made straight.’ (v15) In v17, the search for wisdom seems to be a project of understanding madness and folly. The perspective seems to change from ‘fixing the crooked’ to avoiding the ‘crooked;’ i.e., if all of man’s wisdom cannot fix the crooked, he should find how not to bend the crooked any further. Perhaps, that is not the most eloquent way to put it. But in principle it means, wisdom equals to negative ignorance; here it signified by madness and folly.

Comments:

Qôheleth seems to address the same issue that he undertakes in v13, but from counter-reasoning perspective. “… that he might the better know wisdom, and learn the difference between the one and the other, since opposites illustrate each other; and that he might shun madness and folly, and the ways thereof, and expose the actions of mad and foolish men.” (Gill) But the conclusion seems to remain the same – the attempt of reach wisdom by understanding madness and folly is also ‘a vexation of spirit.’ In other words, even the understanding of one’s own madness and folly is an impossible feat under the sun.

Image: Mary Evans Picture Library, When He Doubts His Mission, God

References:

Gill, J. (1748-63). Exposition of the Old Testament, Eccl. 1:17

I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. Ecclesiastes 1:16 (KJV)

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It is quite peculiar to find Qôheleth communing with his own heart. A phrase like this is mysterious because the word for the heart used here seems eerily similar to Jer 17:9. The ‘heart’ here is derived from H3824,[1] which serves as the root word for the ‘heart’ used in Jer, i.e., H3820.[2] To add to this peculiarity, Seow notes that the ‘heart’ in Ecclesiastes functions as an ‘independent entity.’ (123) Why would Qôheleth consult a heart that is considered to be deceitful? And that too, on the subject of wisdom? Does it have anything to do with the dichotomy of wisdom in Ecclesiastes and Proverbs? Is this a comment on the nature of wisdom ‘under the sun’ and its influence over man? To avoid hasty conclusions, we shall suspend this doubt for now and move forward.

The phrase ‘I communed with mine own heart,’ is a peculiar style associated with Qôheleth; where the independent personal pronoun appears after the verb. Such constructions are intended to put an emphasis on the thought, rather than the subject. (Seow) One may perhaps take ‘communing with heart’ as a heuristic device. We shall put the pin here at the moment.

Comments:

The content although, thematically does not seem to add anything new. We find Qôheleth establish himself (here) as the most fortunate in comparison to his predecessors. His fortune being, ‘my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.’ And in continuation with the previous verses – the highlight is that he had great fortune to enable him to investigate the vanities of life under the sun (to its fullest).

Images: John August Swanson, Jonah 1 – 4

References:

Seow, C.L. (1997). Ecclesiastes, Yale University Press 

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[1] https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3824/kjv/wlc/0-1/

[2] https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3820/kjv/wlc/0-1/