Preaching Christ from Ecclesiastes: Foundations for Expository Sermons

by Sidney Greidanus

Overview

As Sidney Greidanus points out, the biblical book of Ecclesiastes is especially relevant for our contemporary culture because it confronts such secular enticements as materialism, hedonism, cut-throat competition, and self-sufficiency. But how can preachers best convey the ancient Teacher's message to congregations today?

A respected expert in both hermeneutics and homiletics, Greidanus does preachers a great service here by providing the foundations for a series of expository sermons on Ecclesiastes. He walks students and preachers through the steps from text to sermon for all of the book's fifteen major literary units, explores various ways to move from Ecclesiastes to Jesus Christ in the New Testament, and offers insightful expositions that help the preacher in sermon production but omit the theoretical and often impractical discussions in many commentaries.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467434393
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	05/03/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	376
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

 Sidney Greidanus is professor emeritus of preaching at Calvin Theological Seminary and the author of several books, including The Modern Preacher and the Ancient Text, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament, Preaching Christ from Genesis, Preaching Christ from Ecclesiastes, Preaching Christ from Daniel, and Preaching Christ from Psalms.

Read an Excerpt

PREACHING CHRIST FROM ECCLESIASTES

Foundations for Expository Sermons

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By SIDNEY GREIDANUS

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

Copyright © 2010 Sidney Greidanus
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8028-6535-9

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Chapter One

Preaching Ecclesiastes

Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. (Eccl 1:2)

Ecclesiastes may be the most difficult biblical book to interpret and preach. A major reason for this difficulty is that Old Testament scholars are not agreed on key issues: the number of authors involved in writing this book; the identity of the main author; when, where, and why the book was written; the quality of the Hebrew style; which sections are poetry and which are prose; the book's structure, or lack thereof; and whether its message is pessimistic or positive. Duane Garrett adds, "Perhaps an even greater hindrance to preaching Wisdom is the suspicion many have that it contains no gospel." Small wonder that many preachers consider it the better part of wisdom to omit Ecclesiastes from their preaching schedule. In fact, the Revised Common Lectionary assigns readings from Ecclesiastes for only two worship services: for New Year's Eve (Years ABC), Ecclesiastes 3:1-13; and for the Sunday closest to August 3 (Year C), as an alternative to Hosea 11:1-11, Ecclesiastes 1:12-14 and 2:(1-7, 11) 18-23. Unfortunately, omitting Ecclesiastes from one's preaching schedule is a major loss for the church.

The Value of Preaching Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes offers a unique perspective on human life — a perspective that is extremely relevant for the church today. Iain Provan observes, "In focusing our attention on this life rather than the next, indeed, this book contributes to the correction of an all-too-frequent imbalance throughout the ages in Christian thinking, which has sometimes presented Christianity as if it were more a matter of waiting for something than a matter of living." Sandy and Giese state, "The Book of Ecclesiastes is one of the most important possessions of the Christian church, since it compels us to continually evaluate and correct our understanding of God and our teaching about God in the light of the whole of biblical revelation.... The reflections of the sage in Ecclesiastes unmask the myth of human autonomy and self-sufficiency and drive us in all our frailty and inability to find meaning in a crooked world in the Creator-creature relationship — the ultimate polarity."

Moreover, Ecclesiastes is relevant especially for our culture because it tackles many of the temptations posed by secularism. Leland Ryken calls Ecclesiastes "the most contemporary book in the Bible. Ecclesiastes is a satiric attack on an acquisitive, hedonistic, and materialistic society. It exposes the mad quest to find satisfaction in knowledge, wealth, pleasure, work, fame, and sex."

Before preachers can preach Ecclesiastes with integrity, however, they will have to gain some clarity on the difficulties with which commentators have struggled for more than two thousand years. We shall first explore difficulties in interpreting Ecclesiastes and next difficulties in preaching this book.

Difficulties in Interpreting Ecclesiastes

We shall discuss in turn five major issues in interpreting Ecclesiastes: the nature of wisdom literature, the historical setting of Ecclesiastes, its genre and forms, its structure, and its overall message.

The Nature of Wisdom Literature

One cannot rightly interpret and preach a text until one has taken into account its specific genre. Wisdom literature, like Hebrew narrative, Psalms, prophecy, and apocalyptic literature, is a specific literary genre. Therefore a key question is, What is the nature of wisdom literature? Elizabeth Achtemeier responds, "Wisdom is the result of practical experience and the careful observation of both the natural and human worlds. Out of all of the chaos of experience, Wisdom finds customary 'orders' in the world — ways in which human beings and natural phenomena ordinarily behave. Its aim, then, is to teach men and women these 'orders,' so they may know how to act in harmony with the world around them." J. A. Loader observes similarly, "Wisdom is concerned with the correct ordering of life. Wise action is that which integrates people harmoniously into the order God has created. The rules of life that prescribe how human beings must integrate themselves into that order are the precepts of wisdom."

The Relation of Wisdom to Redemptive History

In contrast to other biblical genres, wisdom literature does not deal with the mighty acts of God. Graeme Goldsworthy observes that this does not mean that wisdom is "a self-contained and alternative way of looking at God and reality." Wisdom, he states, "complements the perspective of salvation history. Indeed, we should go further than that and say that wisdom is a theology of the redeemed man living in the world under God's rule. It is thus as much an aspect of kingdom theology as salvation history is."

There are also clear connections between Ecclesiastes and the beginning of redemptive history as recounted in the early chapters of Genesis. As Genesis 1 teaches that God is the sovereign Creator, so Ecclesiastes proclaims the sovereignty of God (3:14; 8:17). As Genesis teaches that God in the beginning set the times (day and night, 1:3-5) and upholds the seasons (8:22), so Ecclesiastes teaches that God has set the times (3:1-8) and "made everything suitable for its time" (3:11). As Genesis teaches that God created this world good (tôb, 7 times), so Ecclesiastes acknowledges that there is still good to be found in this world (tôb, e.g., 2:24; 3:12-13; 5:18). As Genesis teaches that God created human beings upright, so does Ecclesiastes (7:29). As Genesis (1:27; 2:15) teaches that human beings were created for fellowship with God, so does Ecclesiastes (12:13). Genesis further relates that human beings broke this relationship by rebelling against God (3:6), subsequently hiding from God (3:10), being driven out of the Garden of God (3:24), and suffering the penalty of living in a God-cursed creation (3:17) where meaningful work (2:15) would become toil (3:17-19) and where life would inevitably end in death (3:19, "You are dust, and to dust you shall return"). Ecclesiastes similarly speaks of our present distance from God (5:2), God's curse on the earth (1:15; 7:13), the burden of human toil (1:3; 2:22), and the tragedy of death (3:20; 12:7: "The dust returns to the earth as it was"). Moreover, Genesis reveals that evil resides in the human heart (6:5) and that sin unchecked (4:7) leads to murder — the first victim appropriately named Abel (4:8, Hebel = vanity). Ecclesiastes, similarly, shows that evil dwells in human hearts (7:20, 29; 8:11; 9:3) — one of the reasons for its repeated declaration that "all is vanity" (hebel, 1:2; 12:8).

In spite of these connections with Genesis and the beginnings of redemptive history, Ecclesiastes does not focus on God's redemptive acts. Duane Garrett formulates the contrast this way: "Genesis tells the story of how humans — originally in a state of life, paradise, and innocence — fell into guilt, toil, and mortality. Ecclesiastes tells how persons now made weak and mortal should live." William Brown observes, "Most conspicuous about the wisdom literature is its 'ahistorical' character. Strikingly absent among Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes are the great themes of biblical history, such as the exodus, covenant, and conquest of the land. God's role as deliverer and lawgiver, in turn, is scarcely mentioned in the wisdom traditions. Rather, emphasis is placed upon creation and humanity's place in it."

This does not mean, however, that God is absent from Ecclesiastes. God is the great Creator (12:1) who made and still "makes everything" (11:5). God set the times and "has made everything suitable for its time" (3:11). God gave human beings their breath (12:7) and made them "straightforward [upright], but they have devised many schemes" (7:29). God made "the day of prosperity" as well as "the day of adversity" (7:14). God gives us "the days of life" (5:18; 8:15), "wealth and possessions," and the ability "to enjoy them" and to "find enjoyment [even] in toil" (5:19; 6:2). God gives "wisdom and knowledge and joy" (2:26), as well as "the collected sayings" of wisdom (12:11). God wants people to enjoy life, "for God has long ago approved what you do" (9:7). God tests people (3:18), "has no pleasure in fools" (5:4), and can become angry (5:6). God holds people accountable for their actions and "will judge the righteous and the wicked" (3:16; 11:9; 12:14). Therefore people should "rejoice" in all their years (11:9), remember their "Creator" (12:1), "fear God" (3:14; 5:7; 7:18; 8:12), and "keep his commandments" (12:13).

Goldsworthy notes that wisdom, like salvation history, "finds its goal and fulfilment in Christ.... Three aspects of wisdom confront us in the New Testament. First, the Gospel narratives portray Jesus as the wise man who, in the form and content of many of his sayings, follows in the traditions of Israel's wisdom teachers. Secondly, Jesus goes beyond this actually to claim to be the wisdom of God. Thirdly, certain New Testament writers ... understand the meaning of Christ's person and work in the light of certain wisdom ideas."

Contradictions

Several commentators have faulted Ecclesiastes for its contradictions. Compare, for example, the Teacher's assertions, "I thought the dead, who have already died, more fortunate than the living, who are still alive" (4:2), and, "Whoever is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion" (9:4). Or consider the contradiction within a single passage: "I know it will be well with those who fear God, because they stand in fear of him, but it will not be well with the wicked" (8:12-13), and, "There are righteous people who are treated according to the conduct of the wicked, and there are wicked people who are treated according to the conduct of the righteous" (8:14).

Contradictions, however, are natural in wisdom literature because life is complex. One of the clearest examples of contradictory advice is found in Proverbs 26:4-5,

    Do not answer fools according to their folly,
      or you will be a fool yourself.
    Answer fools according to their folly,
      or they will be wise in their own eyes.

Sometimes it is wise not to answer fools; at other times it is wise to answer them. Instead of faulting Ecclesiastes for its contradictions, one ought to utilize the min seeking to understand the message of the author (see pp. 17-18 below, "Juxtapositions"). As Raymond Van Leeuwen puts it, "Rather than forcing us to erase or 'harmonize' the ambiguities and 'contradictions,' biblical wisdom invites us to ponder the nuances and complexities of life; it invites us to become wise."

The Historical Setting of Ecclesiastes

Since wisdom teaches "customary 'orders' in the world," identifying the historical setting of the author and his recipients is not as crucial as it is for other genres of biblical literature. Nevertheless, having some sense of the historical setting in which Ecclesiastes was written will help preachers better understand the message and discern its original relevance. The questions which we must seek to answer are: Who wrote this book? To whom? When? Where? And why?

The Author(s)

Traditionally biblical scholars identified King Solomon as the author of Ecclesiastes. But Luther already began to question this simple identification. If Solomon were the author, why did he not directly identify himself as he does in Proverbs 1:1, "The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel"? Instead we read in Ecclesiastes 1:1, "The words of the Teacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem." The author is identified as "the Teacher," Qohelet. If Solomon were the author, why would he and his editor conceal his name? Instead of Solomon's using a pen name, Tremper Longman argues, "It is much more likely that the nickname Qohelet was adopted by the actual writer to associate himself with Solomon, while retaining his distance from the actual person. It is a way of indicating that the Solomonic persona is being adopted for literary and communicative purposes. In brief, the wise man who adopts the nickname Qohelet pretends to be Solomon while he explores avenues of meaning in the world."

After Luther rejected Solomon as the single author of Ecclesiastes, the floodgates of speculation opened. Because of the book's contradictions and swift changes in perspective, "at one time there were scholars ready to suggest that two, or three, or even as many as nine different minds had been at work on the book." If all these different minds had been working on this book at cross-purposes, then discerning the specific message of a preaching text would be practically impossible. What would be the context for determining the message of the text?

Fortunately for preachers today, a consensus is emerging for a single author, 26 possibly with one or two editors who wrote the Epilogue of 12:8-14 or 12:9-14 and perhaps the Prologue of 1:1; 1:1-2; 1:1-3; or 1:1-11 (the Prologue and the Epilogue are written in the third person instead of the first person in the body of Ecclesiastes). The key question now becomes whether the final editor, as some scholars propose, critically evaluates (and undermines) the message of the Teacher. The position one takes on this question determines to a large extent how one will interpret the Teacher's message. For example, Longman argues that a so-called "frame-narrator" critically evaluates the teachings of the Teacher. Jerry Shepherd adopts Longman's "frame theory" but expands on it by comparing preaching the wisdom of the Teacher to preaching the speeches of the friends of Job: "The long autobiographical speech of Qohelet in Ecclesiastes is not the word of God but is contained in a book that is God's Word." With the stroke of a pen twelve chapters of the Teacher's wisdom are disqualified by two verses (12:11-12) which are understood to be critical of the Teacher — and the Teacher can no longer get a fair hearing. Iain Provan rightly argues that it is not "generally plausible that Qohelet's voluminous words would be cited in full just so that the author of 12:8-12 could append a few comments allegedly doubting and criticizing them (and even then not managing to do so clearly)." Along with most commentators we shall assume that the Teacher and his editor speak with one voice.

For interpreters this still leaves another crucial question about the author. Several commentators assume that the Teacher is critical of and opposes traditional biblical wisdom. For example, Loader writes, "We have to conclude ... that the Preacher's opposition to the generally optimistic teachers of wisdom never relaxes." Seow even claims that the Teacher at a certain point "employs the rhetoric of subversion." Again the Teacher has been put in a box which precludes a fair hearing of his wisdom. The fact is that we do not know for sure which proverbs the Teacher quotes from traditional wisdom and which are his own compositions. Michael Fox presents a more open-minded position for hearing the Teacher. The Teacher, he asserts, "does not oppose or present antitheses to the doctrines of traditional wisdom. It is not even clear that he recognizes a difference. He is not 'using traditional wisdom against itself.' He is just using it."

The Original Recipients

Internal evidence offers some clues regarding the intended readers of this book. Garrett argues that "the book was not written for the ordinary Israelite. To the contrary, members of its original audience had access to the king (8:3), devoted themselves to the pursuit of wisdom (1:12-18), and either had or were in pursuit of wealth (5:10-17). In short, the first readers were members of the aristocracy." Whybray adds: "Qohelet was ... a Jewish theologian-teacher whose purpose was, out of a genuine religious faith, to show a young but adult male audience how to maintain their faith in circumstances that militated powerfully against this." These people must have been living in the proximity of Jerusalem and the temple, as we can surmise from the exhortation: "Guard your steps when you go to the house of God" (5:1).

Internal evidence suggests further that the original recipients were preoccupied with money. Many of the words used in this book are from the world of commerce. Seow concludes that the Teacher's "'congregants' were apparently preoccupied with all sorts of social and economic issues — the volatility of the economy, the possibility of wealth, inheritance, social status, the fragility of life, and the ever-present shadow of death. Qohelet drew on these concerns and employed idioms that were familiar to his audience in order to subvert their preoccupations."

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from PREACHING CHRIST FROM ECCLESIASTES by SIDNEY GREIDANUS Copyright © 2010 by Sidney Greidanus. Excerpted by permission of William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Preface x

Acknowledgments xiv

Abbreviations xv

Transliterations xvii

1 Preaching Ecclesiastes 1

The Value of Preaching Ecclesiastes 2

Difficulties in Interpreting Ecclesiastes 3

The Nature of Wisdom Literature 3

The Relation of Wisdom to Redemptive History 3

Contradictions 5

The Historical Setting of Ecclesiastes 6

The Author(s) 7

The Original Recipients 9

The Date of Composition 10

The Place of Composition 11

The Purpose of Ecclesiastes 12

The Genre and Forms of Ecclesiastes 12

Reflection 13

Proverb 13

Instruction 14

Autobiographical Narrative 14

Anecdote 14

Metaphor 15

Allegory 15

The Structure of Ecclesiastes 15

Literary Patterns 16

Juxtapositions 17

The Overall Structure 18

The Overall Message of Ecclesiastes 20

Difficulties in Preaching Ecclesiastes 22

Selecting a Proper Preaching Text 23

Formulating a Single Theme 23

Preaching Christ from Ecclesiastes 24

Redemptive-Historical Progression 25

Promise-Fulfillment 26

Typology 26

Analogy 27

Longitudinal Themes 28

New Testament References 28

Contrast 28

2 No Gain from All Our Toil 30

Ecclesiastes 1:1-11

3 The Teacher's Search for Meaning 49

Ecclesiastes 1:12-2:26

4 God Set the Times 69

Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

5 Working in a Wicked World 88

Ecclesiastes 3:16-4:6

6 Working Together 107

Ecclesiastes 4:7-16

7 Worshiping in God's House 122

Ecclesiastes 5:1-7

8 The Love of Money 137

Ecclesiastes 5:8-6:9

9 How to Handle Adversity 157

Ecclesiastes 6:10-7:14

10 How to Act in a Paradoxical World 178

Ecclesiastes 7:15-29

11 Use Wisdom but Know Its Limitations 200

Ecclesiastes 8:1-17

12 Enjoy Life! 219

Ecclesiastes 9:1-12

13 Because of the Harm Inflicted by Folly, Use Wisdom! 239

Ecclesiastes 9:13-10:20

14 Take Risks Boldly but Wisely! 260

Ecclesiastes 11:1-6

15 Remember Your Creator! 275

Ecclesiastes 11:7-12:8

16 Fear God, and Keep His Commandments! 295

Ecclesiastes 12:9-14

Appendixes

1 Ten Steps from Text to Sermon 311

2 An Expository Sermon Model 313

3 A Meditation on Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 315

4 A Sermon on Ecclesiastes 9:1-12 317

Select Bibliography 326

Scripture Index 330

Subject Index 334

Targets for Sermons 337

Topics for Sermons 339

Editorial Reviews

Preaching
"One of those rare volumes that should be read by all preachers who take the task of interpretation and proclamation with great seriousness."

Calvin Theological Journal
"Will help preachers develop homiletical muscle memory that will transform them from workmen into artisans."

Richard J. Mouw
-- Fuller Theological Seminary
"Sidney Greidanus is one of the most gifted advocates of 'redemptive historical' preaching. . . In a time when there is much confusion about what it means to preach in fidelity to the Scriptures, we very much need the lessons that he offers us."

Bryan Chapell
-- Covenant Theological Seminary
"A master stroke from one of the seminal thinkers and writers in homiletics."

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