Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs (NIV Application Commentary | NIVAC)

Top Highlights

“With the word hebel he refers to the fragile, fleeting nature of existence, which should cause us to seize the moment and live well in it before God, while at the same time leading us to spurn the desire for any control of life and to disdain that insane grasping after yitron, which so often characterizes human activity.” (Page 57)

“The universe has a flow and a regularity to it that is beyond any human control and renders futile all attempts at ‘profit.’ The wise person lives life in the light of this massive truth.” (Page 87)

“It is certainly true that to translate hebel as ‘meaningless,’ as the niv does, causes serious difficulties for the interpretation of the book as a unified work, for even a cursory reading of Ecclesiastes demonstrates that Qohelet does not consider everything ‘meaningless.’ On the contrary, he is constantly to be found recommending certain ways of being to his listeners precisely because it is possible for human beings to know the goodness and joy of existence (cf., e.g., 2:24–26; 3:12–13, 22). ‘Everything’ is not ‘meaningless.’” (Page 51)

“Above all, then, Ecclesiastes is to be encountered with openness—openness to God and openness to change. For we must always consider the possibility, when we encounter a difficult biblical book, that the problem lies not with the book but with ourselves. The ‘difficulty’ may be that the book speaks truly about reality while we are devoted to illusions. The ‘difficulty’ may be that we are not too keen to embrace the truth, but prefer to embrace half-truths or lies.” (Page 25)