| 16 Furthermore, I have seen under the sun that in the place of justice there is wickedness and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness. |
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In the last section, we were told that God does what He desires, nothing interferes with God’s purposes. This construct brings up an ancient question, why does God allow wickedness? Why is evil allowed to corrupt justice and righteousness? If this side topic interests you, search the term theodicy. Theodicy is any argument which defends the problem of evil. In Ecclesiastes, the question of the problem of evil is not resolved. Just as in Job, the solution is nowhere to be found. |
| 17 I said to myself, “God will judge both the righteous man and the wicked man,” for a time for every matter and for every deed is there. |
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| 18 I said to myself concerning the sons of men, “God has surely tested them in order for them to see that they are but beasts.” |
| God judges, שָׁפַט – to judge, govern, acting like a judge, plead, pleads, pronounce judgment, rule, rulers, vindicate. The judgement of God is that man and beast are the same, they are mere beasts. |
| 19a For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same. As one dies so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath and there is no advantage for man over beast, |
| Earlier in the scroll we were told that both the wise and the foolish will die in the end, neither have an advantage. The collector of sentences replaces the fate of the wise and righteous with the fate of people in general. The fate of the fool, the mad, and the wicked, is replaced with the fate of beasts. Another phrasing of, both man and beast live by the same breath. |
| 19b for all is vanity. |
| Death and being forgotten are the vanity, both comes to the people and beast the same – vanity |
| 20 All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust. |
| So far wind, vapor, and spirit have been related to vanity, Now the author connects vanity to the dust of the ground. This idea is often repeated at funerals and relates to Genesis 3:19 By the sweat of your face – You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.” |
| 21 Who knows that the breath of man ascends upward and the breath of the beast descends downward to the earth? |
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| 22 I have seen that nothing is better than that man should be happy in his activities, for that is his lot. For who will bring him to see what will occur after him? |
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