Animals, Justice and Work Eccl. 3:16-4:8
Animals, Justice, and Work: 3:16-4:8
Theme Verse:
“I said in my heart with regard to human beings that God is testing them to show that they are but animals. For the fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and humans have no advantage over the animals; for all is vanity.” Eccl 3:18-19
Central Truth:
Qoheleth launches into various streams of thought, literary sound bites, in the next several chapters. Each sound bite has its own story to tell, and in some way its own independent theme. In verses 16-22, Qoheleth decides to talk about the animals. Until the last hundred years humanity has been confident in showing how we as humans are different from the animals. In the past century there has been a lot of discussion on the subject of man and animals, particularly around Darwinian evolution and the idea that humanity descended from apes.
Having been a part of many of those discussions my self, I have often heard cited that humanity differs from the animals because we create, we have art. I have always found that argument rather convincing, but here Qoheleth lays all arguments of the differences of humanity and animals aside with one word, death. The reality is we all die. We die just as the animals die, and in Qoheleth’s world view, that makes us no better than the animals.
After dispelling the notion that we as humans are better than the animals, Qoheleth tackles a popular theme in the prophetic writings, the theme of justice. Here we might think Qoheleth is going to defend God and that God always brings about justice. The reality is that Qoheleth in this passage may fit in better with liberation theologian Gustavo Gutiérrez and the stark examination of justice in our societies. However, while Gutierrez reaches the conclusion of God’s justice coming through the kingdom of God, Qoheleth never makes that jump. Qoheleth reaches the conclusion that we cannot understand the mind and nature of God. God is the divine Other!
Qoheleth then concludes this section with a diatribe against work. Qoheleth, who earlier writes, “it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil,” now speaks out against toil. Yet his gaze on work is narrow and focused; Qoheleth is speaking here about toiling for gain. The issue that he is pointing to is the desire for wealth, not toil for substance, just as the New Testament states the “love of wealth is the root of all kinds of evil.” Another facet of toil that Qoheleth is speaking out against is the jealousy that accumulates along with wealth.
Food for Thought: Questions
What do you think of Qoheleth’s assement of humanity versus animals?
What might Qoheleth’s comments on working for gain mean for your life and our society?
What do you think of justice in our society?
Connections:
Our society has numerous issues; one is that we like to see ourselves as above nature, particularly with our consumption of our world’s resources. In the United States we consume more energy than the rest of the planet. We live as if the earth is a never-ending resource, when the reality is that our resources are dwindling remarkably fast. We are relying on our ingenuity to get us out of this problem, and we are not new in comparing ourselves to nature and perceiving ourselves to be better than it. We think we can beat nature, we can outsmart nature, and we are different from nature. Qoheleth is ahead of his time; while looking at the purpose of life he realizes that we aren’t any different than the animals around us. Qoheleth acknowledges that we are unable to know what happens after death, and as such there is no reason to assume that we are any better off than the animals around us.
Qoheleth’s realization is not an indictment upon consumption, but an indictment against having hope in something you don’t know or don’t see. Qohelet is not living with the hope we have in Christ. He is living and trying to make sense of the world within his own parameters, by not relying on orthodoxy, and relying only on what he can see. But this isn’t the only problem he brings to us in this passage.
We like to see ourselves as better than our fellow human being. We have created prisons to hide people, and we disenfranchise them with no hope of recovery. In essence, as Qoheleth points out, where there should be justice there is evil. In the United States today, many of our prisons are for-profit corporate entities. These institutions are not interested in justice, they are interested in money. For instance, in 2010 there were the troubles in Arizona and the “Papers Please,” law where people must provide proof of citizenship if they are stopped and asked for it. One of the numerous problems with the legislation is that two of the advisers to the governor have direct ties to the prison industry. One in particular would benefit from people who are arrested for having no proof of citizenship. The issue here, as Qoheleth pointed out thousands of years ago is, that where there should be justice, there is not justice.
We also like to see ourselves as free from financial consequences. Just recently our country experienced an economic collapse as a result of this mindset about financial consequences. Qoheleth speaks out in this passage about excessive gain, which is what our economy seems to be built on. Qoheleth talks about quiet gain in one hand, rather than excessive toil in two. Gain isn’t the issue here, hence one-hand gathering; but excessive gain causes all sorts of problems. You work and work and in the end you still die. Having excess won’t ease the passing. In this case, the old saying, “You can’t take it with you,” rings all the more clear.
Application:
Questions:
Discussion:
How do the sentiments that Qoheleth expresses apply to your life today?
What might our society look like if we sought to live with a “handful with quiet than two with toil?”
Theme Verse:
“I said in my heart with regard to human beings that God is testing them to show that they are but animals. For the fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and humans have no advantage over the animals; for all is vanity.” Eccl 3:18-19
Central Truth:
Qoheleth launches into various streams of thought, literary sound bites, in the next several chapters. Each sound bite has its own story to tell, and in some way its own independent theme. In verses 16-22, Qoheleth decides to talk about the animals. Until the last hundred years humanity has been confident in showing how we as humans are different from the animals. In the past century there has been a lot of discussion on the subject of man and animals, particularly around Darwinian evolution and the idea that humanity descended from apes.
Having been a part of many of those discussions my self, I have often heard cited that humanity differs from the animals because we create, we have art. I have always found that argument rather convincing, but here Qoheleth lays all arguments of the differences of humanity and animals aside with one word, death. The reality is we all die. We die just as the animals die, and in Qoheleth’s world view, that makes us no better than the animals.
After dispelling the notion that we as humans are better than the animals, Qoheleth tackles a popular theme in the prophetic writings, the theme of justice. Here we might think Qoheleth is going to defend God and that God always brings about justice. The reality is that Qoheleth in this passage may fit in better with liberation theologian Gustavo Gutiérrez and the stark examination of justice in our societies. However, while Gutierrez reaches the conclusion of God’s justice coming through the kingdom of God, Qoheleth never makes that jump. Qoheleth reaches the conclusion that we cannot understand the mind and nature of God. God is the divine Other!
Qoheleth then concludes this section with a diatribe against work. Qoheleth, who earlier writes, “it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil,” now speaks out against toil. Yet his gaze on work is narrow and focused; Qoheleth is speaking here about toiling for gain. The issue that he is pointing to is the desire for wealth, not toil for substance, just as the New Testament states the “love of wealth is the root of all kinds of evil.” Another facet of toil that Qoheleth is speaking out against is the jealousy that accumulates along with wealth.
Food for Thought: Questions
What do you think of Qoheleth’s assement of humanity versus animals?
What might Qoheleth’s comments on working for gain mean for your life and our society?
What do you think of justice in our society?
Connections:
Our society has numerous issues; one is that we like to see ourselves as above nature, particularly with our consumption of our world’s resources. In the United States we consume more energy than the rest of the planet. We live as if the earth is a never-ending resource, when the reality is that our resources are dwindling remarkably fast. We are relying on our ingenuity to get us out of this problem, and we are not new in comparing ourselves to nature and perceiving ourselves to be better than it. We think we can beat nature, we can outsmart nature, and we are different from nature. Qoheleth is ahead of his time; while looking at the purpose of life he realizes that we aren’t any different than the animals around us. Qoheleth acknowledges that we are unable to know what happens after death, and as such there is no reason to assume that we are any better off than the animals around us.
Qoheleth’s realization is not an indictment upon consumption, but an indictment against having hope in something you don’t know or don’t see. Qohelet is not living with the hope we have in Christ. He is living and trying to make sense of the world within his own parameters, by not relying on orthodoxy, and relying only on what he can see. But this isn’t the only problem he brings to us in this passage.
We like to see ourselves as better than our fellow human being. We have created prisons to hide people, and we disenfranchise them with no hope of recovery. In essence, as Qoheleth points out, where there should be justice there is evil. In the United States today, many of our prisons are for-profit corporate entities. These institutions are not interested in justice, they are interested in money. For instance, in 2010 there were the troubles in Arizona and the “Papers Please,” law where people must provide proof of citizenship if they are stopped and asked for it. One of the numerous problems with the legislation is that two of the advisers to the governor have direct ties to the prison industry. One in particular would benefit from people who are arrested for having no proof of citizenship. The issue here, as Qoheleth pointed out thousands of years ago is, that where there should be justice, there is not justice.
We also like to see ourselves as free from financial consequences. Just recently our country experienced an economic collapse as a result of this mindset about financial consequences. Qoheleth speaks out in this passage about excessive gain, which is what our economy seems to be built on. Qoheleth talks about quiet gain in one hand, rather than excessive toil in two. Gain isn’t the issue here, hence one-hand gathering; but excessive gain causes all sorts of problems. You work and work and in the end you still die. Having excess won’t ease the passing. In this case, the old saying, “You can’t take it with you,” rings all the more clear.
Application:
Questions:
Discussion:
How do the sentiments that Qoheleth expresses apply to your life today?
What might our society look like if we sought to live with a “handful with quiet than two with toil?”
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