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Here's a small book of the Bible, often sub-titled "The Preacher." It has a few rather interesting passages, and was a rather depressing little read. It's most famous for quotes like "To everything there is a season..." and the funeral quote "Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust." Let's look at a few less well-known passages, shall we?
Ecc 3:18-20 - 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 animals; for all is vanity. All go to one place; all
are from dust, and all turn to dust again.
The writer here is saying that we are
ultimately the same as the other animals, a subject I deal with in
my philosophy
page. The writer appears to find this
depressing, but I see it in a positive light.
Ecc 7:13 - Consider the work of God; who can make straight what he
has made crooked?
Another verse stating that God predestines all
he creates. Now THAT's a thought to depress the firmest
believer!
Ecc 9:5,6 - The living know that they will die, but the dead know
nothing; they have no more reward, and even the memory of them is
lost. Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished;
never again will they have any share in all that happens under the
sun.
This goes along with what I noticed in the
covenant in Leviticus: God's promised rewards for keeping to the
Mosaic laws were only for the living. To those people, death was an
end to existence, as this passage also states. The idea of an
immortan soul was a late addition to the Jewish religion.
Ecc 10:20 - Do not curse the king, even in your thoughts, or curse
the rich, even in your bedroom; for a bird of the air may carry your
voice, or some winged creature tell the matter.
Now, we're back to some old-fashioned
superstition and magical thinking! I expect this particular
admonition came because the writer saw a parrot or mynah bird doing
its "thing." Mix this in with paranoia, and you get a Bible verse
warning you to not even think bad thoughts against those in
power!
