ECCLESIASTES: INTRODUCTION TO THE LITERARY STRUCTURE

This posting is abstracted from a chapter in my unpublished book The Structure of Scripture. If you wish a copy of the original text, just contact me at elmerphd21@hotmail.com and I will send it to you as an email attachment.

Ecclesiastes is another book in which several issues must be addressed before even attempting to find its overall organizational pattern. First of all is the classical critical stance that views the book as the work of an unorthodox philosopher which was later amended beyond recognition in order to remove or temper those elements that did not fit in with official Jewish thinking. However, as Brevard Childs summarizes, “Increasingly, modern scholars have returned to the position of seeing the book as basically a unified composition of one author.” Below, it is demonstrated that the literary devices in Ecclesiastes are used to reinforce the author's purposefully paradoxical approach to living life under the sun.

Even if one agrees that a single author is responsible for the bulk of the book, was it composed with a plan in mind or is it, as many have suggested, just a loose collection of sayings? And if it really has a plan, why have so many generations of scholars despaired of ever discovering it? Against this almost consensus opinion are those who see the book as consisting of numerous literary units alternating between negative (pessimistic) and positive (optimistic) statements. The weaknesses of this dialectical approach are that (a) the result is not really a true structure for the book but an admission that it consists of many small unrelated units and (b) it is often difficult to unambiguously assign a given passage to one or the other of these two categories.

At the other end of the spectrum are those commentators who divide the book into only two to four larger sections, each with a basic theme. A cursory review of the literature reveals at least fourteen different sets of such divisions, even ignoring the minor differences of opinion regarding the prologue and epilogue. One theory consistent with these data is to indeed admit that there is no organization to the book. Another possibility, however, is that there are somewhat more than four divisions in the book, with each commentator stressing some to the exclusion of others. In fact, several scholars detect about seven to ten major units in Ecclesiastes. But rather than discussing the merits and deficiencies of these various theories, a fresh approach seems in order, beginning with the units that are the most clearly defined.

There is almost universal agreement in seeing 1:1-11 as the opening thesis which sets the tone for the entire book. There is somewhat less agreement regarding the epilogue. Does it begin with verse 12:8 or at the majority view of 12:9? Also, is it one epilogue, or perhaps two with diametrically opposed views on the Preacher's message? The one obvious correspondence between the opening and closing sections is repetition of the complete formula: “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher. All is vanity.” Also similar are the third person references to Qoheleth that contrast the first person character of the body of the book.

In fact, the beginning and conclusion of Ecclesiastes constitute a pair of perfectly symmetrical bookends:

        A. The Words of the Preacher (1:1)

                B. Thesis: All is Vanity (1:2)

                        C. Poem (1:3-11)

                        ---------------------

                        C'. Poem (12:1-7)

                B'. Thesis: All is Vanity (12:8)

        A'. The Words of the Preacher (12:9-14)

The prologue ends on a negative note with “no remembrance of former things.” This is neatly balanced by the opening of the epilogue with its admonition to “remember also your Creator.” Some further corroborating evidence is seen in four additional reversals or contrasts exhibited in the pairs C and C':

1. The first appearance of the sun has it rising/setting/rising in 1:5 whereas it is darkened permanently in its last appearance in 12:2.

2. Similarly, ruah first appears in 1:6 as a restless wind blowing around continuously and last appears in 12:7 where it finally returns to its Maker.

3. The word olam (“eternity”) is initially used in the context of endless generations of mankind in 1:4 but by 12:5, man has returned to his eternal home.

4. In 1:8b, the Teacher complains that “the eye is not satisfied with seeing, or the ear filled with hearing.” But in 12:1-4 he reminds his audience that there will come a time when one will have no pleasure in life because of failing eyesight and hearing.

The strictly chiastic pattern to the pairing of these two sections suggests that the whole book may be similarly arranged. Second to note is that the epilogue contains some concluding verses (12:13-14, or at least 12:13b-14) which do not seem to be an integral part of the section in which they occur. This conclusion contains a positive command or piece of advice on how to live one's life followed by a warning of a more negative nature. As Robert Gordis humorously puts it, the Preacher has “doubts even with regard to skepticism.” This general pattern turns out to be the clue to identifying the conclusions to the other major sections in the book. As confirmation of this approach, the sections resulting from such a division turn out to have beginning phrases that have much in common with one another. Not only that, but each individual section is found to possess an orderly organization, and all of them can be shown to be placed in a mirror-image relationship to one another.

The Overall Structure of Ecclesiastes

A. Prologue (1:1-11)

        B. The ultimate futility of pursuing wisdom (1:12-2:11)

                C. The common fate of the wise man and fool (2:12-26)

                        D. God’s time for everything, including judgment (3:1-22)

                                E. Enjoyment of work better than pursuit of riches (4:1-5:20)

                                            -----------------------------

                                E'. Prosperity and adversity both come from God (6:1-7:14)

                        D'. God’s time for everything, including judgment (7:15-8:17)

                C'. The common fate of the righteous and the wicked (9:1-10)

        B'. Live wisely but realize that success is uncertain (9:11-11:10)

A'. Epilogue (12:1-14)

There is no true center point of emphasis to such a structure: instead, the thought pattern moves outward from sections E and E' toward the important poems that start and finish the book. And it has already been shown that the prologue and epilogue are meant to be read as a pair. Another indication that the above scheme is the intended manner in which to view Ecclesiastes is that practically all the proverbs in the book are symmetrically located in B, B', E and E'. Similarly, within the major sections of the book, the phrase “under the sun” appears only in the opening verses of these same four sections. In addition, the two center units begin with the author considering certain evils he sees in the world.

Whether one reads Ecclesiastes as a chiastically structured composition or simply from start to finish as a logical exposition, the thematic summary resides in the last section of the book. It is therefore appropriate that we should read here, “The sayings of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed.” Ryken points out that these two similes represent, respectively, the negative and positive messages that alternate throughout the book. It is also in this last section that the author directs his son (12:12), and the reader, to the all-important admonitions to fear God, obey His commandments, and be aware of the coming judgment.