Ecclesiastes has always been my favorite book of the Bible (or more correctly: the only one I really liked). Even when I was a kid it was the only biblical book I read repeatedly. At the Kingdom Hall the speakers would quote from it as if it were the literal word of God -- which caused me to suspect they never bothered to read it all the way through. I think that solves the mystery of how it it got into the Bible & remained there: no Christian ever reads it except in brief quotations.
I suspect the book of Job was originally written in the same spirit as Ecclesiastes. The prologue really doesn't fit the rest of the narrative (most especially the third act). It was probably added later just like the end of Ecclesiastes.
You mentioned that the word translated as 'meaningless' actually means 'breath' or 'vapor' . In the JW Bible hebel was translated as 'vain', but I think a literal translation like 'vapor' would have been much more fitting.
Great essay!
ReplyDeleteEcclesiastes has always been my favorite book of the Bible (or more correctly: the only one I really liked). Even when I was a kid it was the only biblical book I read repeatedly. At the Kingdom Hall the speakers would quote from it as if it were the literal word of God -- which caused me to suspect they never bothered to read it all the way through. I think that solves the mystery of how it it got into the Bible & remained there: no Christian ever reads it except in brief quotations.
I suspect the book of Job was originally written in the same spirit as Ecclesiastes. The prologue really doesn't fit the rest of the narrative (most especially the third act). It was probably added later just like the end of Ecclesiastes.
You mentioned that the word translated as 'meaningless' actually means 'breath' or 'vapor' . In the JW Bible hebel was translated as 'vain', but I think a literal translation like 'vapor' would have been much more fitting.
Thanks. I might write a companion article on Job, but Job is more complicated.
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