Modern Age - Winter 2017 - 59

THE ANGELS OF ECCLESIASTES

	
	
	
	
	
	
	

a time to kill and a time to heal;
a time to break down and a time to build up;
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time for mourning and a time for dancing;
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them;
a time to embrace and a time to abstain from 			
embracing . . .

Involving, as this statement does, purpose here, implied fulfillment there, considerable inferred purpose behind the negative
as well as the positive-in many ways, this is a quite comprehensive and remarkably positive statement about the meaning of
human activity.
Immediately after this passage, however (indeed, in the very
next line of the text!), we are back to the speaker's opening litany:
"What profit has the worker from his labor?" And then a bit later,
"Man has no advantage over beast, for everything is futility. All
go to the same place: all came from the dust, and to the dust all
return."
Indeed, precisely because human beings recognize purpose,
fulfillment, and timeliness, the larger nonfulfillment and lack of
deeper meaning evident in human life grate all the more harshly.
Thinking further about the scholar's statement, quoted above, it
isn't just those few optimistic statements of "traditional piety" at
the end of this short work that "are in conflict with the rest of the
text": the text is in deep conflict with itself.
Looking elsewhere, one also sees some definite if limited
meaning in the various proverbs that the speaker has sprinkled
throughout this book of wisdom, some of which are at least as
gripping as the best passages from the Book of Proverbs. "Wisdom
				moder nagejour nal .com 	

59



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Modern Age - Winter 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Modern Age - Winter 2017

Contents
Modern Age - Winter 2017 - Cover1
Modern Age - Winter 2017 - Cover2
Modern Age - Winter 2017 - Contents
Modern Age - Winter 2017 - 2
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