Tags
Creation, Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes 2, Fall, Genesis, Genesis 2, Solomon
Comparison of Solomon’s Work with Eden (the formatting came out strange):
Ecclesiastes 2:1 (ESV) 1 I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” |
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But behold, this also was vanity.
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Genesis 4:2 (ESV) 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground.
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Ecclesiastes 2:2 (ESV) 2 I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?”
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Ecclesiastes 2:3 (ESV) 3 I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life.
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First wine: Genesis 9:21 |
Ecclesiastes 2:4 (ESV) 4 I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself.
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Genesis 2:8 (ESV) 8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. First “house”: in the ark: Gen. 6:14 First vineyard: Gen. 9:20
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Fredricks:
His ordered gardens may have been relaxing, but even then they were a visual metaphor in the ancient world for the control a king had over his entire kingdom. Furthermore, with terminology reminiscent of the Garden of Eden, Qoheleth describes his achievements as those of one who took seriously God’s primary commission of earth’s management (Gen. 1:26-28). As Verheij notes, common words to both the End account and Eccelsiastes 2:4-6 include ‘plant’, ‘garden’, ‘trees of all fruits’, ‘to water’, ‘to sprout’, ‘to make or do.’ Just as the Edenic passage is the first manifestation of human sovereignty over and earthly domain, Solomon’s activities are a description of an aggressive management of an economic and political enterprise. Another Solomonic tradition, 1 Kings 4:33 at those the Genesis account of humanity’s primary commission where, in addition to being extolled specifically for his botanical knowledge, it is said, “he spoke of trees, a cattle, a fowl, of creepers and fish”, all in Hebrew terminology that in Genesis 1:26, 29. Furthermore, id., as a garden, was not a place for idle pleasure; it was a place of work and responsibility, even before the Fall (Fredricks, Ecclesiastes, 93).
[1] סְגֻלָּה (seḡǔl∙lā(h)): n.fem.; ≡ Str 5459; TWOT 1460a—1. LN 57.1–57.21 treasured possession, i.e., valued personal property, what is owned by someone, which the owner has special affection or holds special value (Ex 19:5; Dt 7:6; 14:2; 26:18; Ps 135:4; Mal 3:17+); 2. LN 57.25–57.35 personal wealth, i.e., a personal accumulation of values, as contrasted with a governmental treasury (1Ch 29:3; Ecc 2:8+) James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament), electronic ed. (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).
[2] רעה: see II רֵעַ for the connection of this verb with that sbst., see also MHeb. vb. ריע hif., and Akk. râʾu; according to KBL basic meaning to have to do with one another; similarly J. Fichtner Gottes Weisheit 89: to associate with each other, keep company with one another. Ludwig Koehler, Walter Baumgartner, M.E.J Richardson and Johann Jakob Stamm, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, electronic ed. (Leiden; New York: E.J. Brill, 1999), 1262.