TEXT [Commentary]
III. Frame Narrative: Epilogue (12:8-14)
8 “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless.”
9 Keep this in mind: The Teacher was considered wise, and he taught the people everything he knew. He listened carefully to many proverbs, studying and classifying them. 10 The Teacher sought to find just the right words to express truths clearly.[*]
11 The words of the wise are like cattle prods—painful but helpful. Their collected sayings are like a nail-studded stick with which a shepherd[*] drives the sheep.
12 But, my child,[*] let me give you some further advice: Be careful, for writing books is endless, and much study wears you out.
13 That’s the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty. 14 God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad.
NOTES
12:10 The Teacher sought to find just the right words to express truths clearly. This verse is difficult in terms of its syntax and meaning and thus is debated. One can see the disagreement by comparing the NLT translation with the NIV: “The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true.” The grammatical issue is what the relationship is between the main verb “sought” and the word that is translated “wrote” in the NIV and “to express” in the NLT. In other words, is the frame narrator saying that Qoheleth sought to write or express the truth or that he indeed did write truth? As one can tell from the notes below, I side with the NLT. (The technical issues in this debate require a working knowledge of Hebrew grammar; those interested in the details can see my reasoning in Longman 1998:275, note 65.) Even if I am wrong about the translation and the NIV is correct, it does not radically affect my overall understanding of Qoheleth. Below, I will argue that in a limited sense Qoheleth does write the truth when he says, “Life is hard and then you die.” After all, he is talking about life “under the sun.” His problem is that he does not go beyond this worldly perspective. The frame narrator will do that in the last two verses.
12:11 painful but helpful . . . a shepherd drives the sheep. These phrases are not in the Heb., which refers simply to “goads” and “well-driven nails” and concludes “they are given by a shepherd.” The NLT interprets these images and extends the imagery, making explicit what is implicit in the comparison between the words of the wise and cattle prods and the collected sayings (of the wise) and a nail-studded stick. Most commentators agree with the interpretation offered in the translation and expanded upon in the commentary that this refers to the painful, yet helpful messages of the words of wise teachers like Qoheleth.
For comparison, a literal translation of this verse reads: “The words of the wise are like goads, and like firmly implanted nails are the masters of collections. They are given by a shepherd.”
a shepherd. There is a debate about the reference to the shepherd in this verse. It begins with the fact that the Heb. has the word ’ekhad [TH259, ZH285] modifying shepherd. This can either be translated as the number one, thus “one shepherd,” or understood to be an indefinite pronoun “a shepherd.” This explains the difference between the translation in the NLT text and one given in the margin. There is a further interpretative disagreement over the referent of this shepherd. Some who take it as “one Shepherd” capitalize the word and thus show that they understand this to point to God who shepherds his people. The NIV takes the passage in this direction, but this seems awkward in the context, and it is much more likely that the reference points to the wise teachers who are mentioned in the first part of the verse, each one of whom is “a shepherd.”
COMMENTARY [Text]
We can easily see that Qoheleth is no longer speaking in these last few verses because now he is referred to in the third person (“says the Teacher”). Someone is speaking about Qoheleth in these last verses of the book. As we stated in the Introduction, this is the unnamed wisdom teacher who is using Qoheleth’s confused wisdom speech as an instruction to his son (12:12). It is this “frame narrator” who is the authoritative voice in the book, so it is vitally important we listen to what he says.
First of all, he parrots the Teacher’s own words by means of summary. “Everything is meaningless, completely meaningless.” He cites this characteristic phrase in order to give us what he considers to be Qoheleth’s bottom line. This is Qoheleth’s final conclusion. The frame narrator’s comments here should be determinative as we have sought to understand Qoheleth’s sometimes rambling and confused comments in the body of the book. Though sometimes we see what seems to be a glimmer of hope when we isolate a verse or two, we are certain, because of the frame narrator’s summarizing statement here, that Qoheleth’s final conclusion admits the ultimate meaninglessness of life. In the light of this statement, it is also impossible to follow scholars like Kaiser (1979) and Whybray (1982), who say that Qoheleth’s carpe diem passages (those passages when he says there is nothing better than to eat and drink and enjoy life, see 2:24-26; 3:12-14, 22; 5:18-20; 8:15; 9:7-10) are really Qoheleth’s final conclusion. No, the final conclusion is “everything is meaningless, completely meaningless.” Indeed, in this regard it is also significant that the frame narrator began his introduction to the Teacher’s speech with exactly the same words, thus 1:2 and 12:8 form a kind of envelope structure around the body of the book.
After this restatement of Qoheleth’s final conclusion about the meaninglessness of life, the frame narrator continues by evaluating Qoheleth and his writings. Again, though he is not mentioned until 12:12, we should keep in mind that the frame narrator is speaking to his son. This is typical of ancient Near Eastern wisdom texts, as we can see in the book of Proverbs (particularly chs 1–9) as well as in Egyptian and Mesopotamian wisdom texts. As later readers, though, we stand in the place of the son. We are the ones being instructed.
The frame narrator begins with a respectful but reserved tone toward Qoheleth. He calls him wise. More exactly, the Hebrew says that he is a wise person (khakam [TH2450A, ZH2682]). It would be a mistake to read too much of a positive evaluation into these words. It is easy to make that mistake because, if we have read the book of Proverbs, we know that wisdom is associated with all kinds of virtues such as righteousness, honesty, prudence, discipline, and—most importantly of all—piety (“the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom”). However, outside of Proverbs, wisdom and its related terms do not necessarily carry such positive overtones. One does not have to be pious to be wise. Indeed, there are evil wise men recorded in the historical books. One need only think of Jonadab who used his wisdom to teach Amnon how to trick his half-sister Tamar into his bed (2 Sam 13:3-5); or else remember Ahithophel the wise man, who told Absalom how to wage war against his father David (2 Sam 16:15–17:29). In other words, these men were shrewd. They knew how to get things done, even if those things were not honoring to the Lord.
My point is not that Qoheleth was an evil, shrewd man like Jonadab or Ahithophel. It is simply to say that by calling Qoheleth a wise man, the frame narrator is not affirming everything he says as gospel truth. Indeed, when he then goes on to further describe Qoheleth’s role as a wise man, it is interesting that he cites rather mechanical actions (“He listened carefully to many proverbs, studying and classifying them,” 12:9). What is interesting is that there are only a handful of proverbs that are cited in Ecclesiastes (e.g., 1:15, 18). Proverbs are traditional material, and the wise teachers of Israel were the ones who collected them and transmitted them, but again I believe it is significant that the frame narrator first focuses on this role rather than mentioning Qoheleth’s incredible insight into life. The frame narrator is being respectful but not glowing in his comments thus far.
This tone continues into the next verse, where we must pay careful attention to the choice of the main verb “sought.” The NLT has rightly captured this in a way that other translations have not (cf. NIV, KJV, RSV). The Hebrew does not say that Qoheleth found the right words but that he sought to find them. There is a world of difference between the two. It is one thing to seek and another to find. This is especially the case as we remember the use of these words in 7:25-29. There Qoheleth talks about his vain search for something significant. He sought but did not find ultimate meaning.
In this way, the frame narrator is being both respectful and critical toward Qoheleth as he evaluates his words for his son. Why respectful and critical? He is respectful because he knows that Qoheleth is right “as far as he goes”—that is, Qoheleth reads the world quite correctly “under the sun.” It is true that life is difficult and then you die—“under the sun.” After all, according to Genesis 3, the world, created good by God, has been thrust into meaningless futility by human sin. The rebellion of Adam and Eve brought the whole world under God’s curse. They were ejected from Eden to live in the harsh world that we know from our own experience. Death became a reality in human experience for the first time. However, as is explained below in connection with 12:13-14, he is critical of Qoheleth’s thinking because Qoheleth remains under the sun; he does not look beyond this world toward heavenly realities.
Before we proceed to 12:13-14, we need to comment on 12:11-12. Here is where the frame narrator’s critical stance becomes more explicit. The NLT again does an excellent job in capturing the sense of 12:11 (see note for literal translation and issues). The narrator broadens his comments to include not just the words of Qoheleth but of other wisdom teachers as well, and he judges them painful but helpful like “cattle prods.” A prod is painful to cattle, but it also keeps them going in the right direction. In this case, Qoheleth has helped because he has rightly described what this fallen world is like under the curse (life is frustrating and then you die). This message, however, is also painful, and, as I have already suggested from the broader context, it does not go far enough since it does not take us beyond an “under the sun” perspective. The second analogy has the same force. Wisdom sayings are also painful but helpful, “like a nail-studded stick with which a shepherd drives the sheep.” These sticks were used to drive the sheep toward food and away from danger, but they certainly hurt.
In verse 12 the narrator admits that his son might get too much of a good thing. It is good to be exposed to a thinker like Qoheleth who tells it like it is in a frustrating and frustrated, sin-cursed world; however, this view is pretty bleak and is not the final word, so the narrator tells his son not to get too engrossed in such studies, lest they wear him out.
With that, the frame narrator proceeds to his “final conclusion” (12:13-14). We have already observed that Qoheleth’s final word was “Everything is meaningless.” Now it is the frame narrator’s turn, and he makes quite a different statement. The Hebrew is very abrupt as he turns to this final statement. It is almost as if he is saying: “We’ve heard enough of Qoheleth, now let me state clearly what is really important.”
There are three parts to his final conclusion, and each part is packed full of significance. They are (1) “fear God,” (2) “obey his commands,” and (3) realize that “God will judge us.” Certainly, we have seen glimmers of this teaching even in Qoheleth himself but in a different context. When he spoke of the fear of God, it was a horror that led him to avoid God’s presence (see Spangenberg 1996:59). The voice here in the epilogue is more positive.
As a matter of fact, these three statements are a reaffirmation of the basic teaching of the Old Testament. To fear God is to establish a right relationship with God. Imposing an anachronistic theological phrase on it, we might call it the doctrine of justification. To obey his commandments is to maintain that relationship in a way that is pleasing to God. We might call this sanctification. Then, finally, the remembrance of God’s coming judgment gives the whole statement a future-oriented (or eschatological) edge to it.
Furthermore, this threefold statement also is a very clear affirmation of the three main parts of the Hebrew Bible. The exhortation to fear God certainly reminds us of the wisdom literature of the Old Testament (see especially the motto statement at Proverbs 1:7: “Fear of the LORD is the foundation of true knowledge”). The call to obey God points us to the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, which contain the Ten Commandments and the other laws that flow from them. Then the expectation of a future judgment connects us with the prophets. The law, the prophets, and the wisdom books are a threefold, traditional Hebrew way of referring to what Christians today call the Old Testament.
In this way, the frame narrator, who is the controlling voice of the book of Ecclesiastes, concludes the book. He has exposed his son to the “under the sun” thinking of a confused wise man in Israel. He has not written him off by any stretch of the imagination. Qoheleth rightly understood the frustration of a world under the effects of the Fall. Life is hard, and then we die. However, the frame narrator has not let the story conclude with an affirmation of the meaninglessness of the world—he has rather reaffirmed the need for a good relationship with God and in so doing has reaffirmed the entire body of authoritative literature that we today know as the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament.
As is explained more fully under “Theological Concerns” in the Introduction, the story does not stop even with the words of the frame narrator. Paul also reflects on the world that has been subjected to the effects of the Fall (Rom 8:18-21) and indeed alludes to, if not quotes from, Ecclesiastes. Paul knew and proclaimed that the release from all futility was accomplished by Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. Christ is the one who, although he was God, voluntarily subjected himself to the curse of the covenant in order to free us from that curse. Because of his death and resurrection, we may indeed find meaning in life in this world, even though we experience its hard knocks. Even though death still affects our lives, we know that Jesus has defeated death so it no longer holds us forever. He died so that we may live.