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Death and Divine Judgement in Ecclesiastes

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Death and Divine Judgement in Ecclesiastes Durham E-Theses DEATH AND DIVINE JUDGEMENT IN ECCLESIASTES TAKEUCHI, KUMIKO How to cite: TAKEUCHI, KUMIKO (2016) DEATH AND DIVINE JUDGEMENT IN ECCLESIASTES, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/11382/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk Kumiko Takeuchi DEATH AND DIVINE JUDGEMENT IN ECCLESIASTES Abstract The current scholarly consensus places Ecclesiastes’ composition in the postexilic era, sometime between the late Persian and early Hellenistic periods, leaning towards the late fourth or early third centuries BCE. Premised on this consensus, this thesis proposes that the book of Ecclesiastes is making a case for posthumous divine judgement in order to rectify pre-mortem injustices. Specifically, this thesis contends that issues relating to death and injustice raised by Qohelet in the book of Ecclesiastes point to the necessity of post-mortem divine judgement. Judging from its implied social and historical context, the book of Ecclesiastes also may have served as perhaps a provocative voice for, or as a catalyst to, the emergence of apocalyptic eschatology and later sectarian conflicts within Judaism during the mid-Second Temple period. Some people in postexilic Israelite society began to raise questions about traditional views of death, Sheol, and divine judgement at a time when retributive justice appears not to be assured or to be absent. One may well ask: what is the book of Ecclesiastes doing, if it appeared on the cusp of the Persian-Hellenistic transition period when the traditional idea of theodicy was perhaps becoming a serious issue in Israelite society, before full-blown apocalyptic eschatology surfaced? The answer seems to be inseparable from questions of how best Ecclesiastes as a book is to be read. Contemporary approaches to reading the book as a unified whole are examined, and a “frame-narrative” reading is argued to be the best approach. The key to unravelling the book’s puzzle lies in realizing that the author probably intended the frame-narrator to have the last say. The role of this “third person” is pivotal for explaining the paradoxes within Qohelet’s monologue and its relationship to the epilogue and uncovering the book’s overall purpose. 1 DEATH AND DIVINE JUDGEMENT IN ECCLESIASTES By KUMIKO TAKEUCHI Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Theology and Religion University of Durham 2015 2 Table of Contents Abstract ………. ............................................................................................................ 1 Table of Contents ........................................................................................................... 3 Abbreviations ................................................................................................................. 7 Declaration …. ............................................................................................................... 8 Statement of Copyright .................................................................................................. 8 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ 9 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 10 0.1 Problems and Issues ...................................................................................... .11 0.1.1 The Problem of How Best Ecclesiastes Is to Be Read………………...11 0.1.1.1 A Brief Summary of Historical Approaches……………............12 0.1.1.2 Advance towards Reading Ecclesiastes as a Unified Whole …...13 0.1.2 Historical and Social Contexts of Ecclesiastes...................................... 14 0.1.2.1 Dating of Ecclesiastes …………………………………..………14 0.1.2.2 Sitz im Leben …………………………………………………….16 0.1.2.3 Summary and Conclusion .....................…………...……………19 0.2 Thesis and Objectives………………………..……………………….……..20 0.2.1 Thesis .................................................................................................... 20 0.2.2 Objectives .............................................................................................. 20 Chapter 1 HISTORICAL CONTEXT .................................................................... 22 1.1 Death, Afterlife, and Divine Judgement in the Ancient Context ................... 22 1.1.1 Egypt ..................................................................................................... 23 1.1.2 Mesopotamia ......................................................................................... 34 1.1.3 Levant: Israel’s Neighbours .................................................................. 40 3 1.1.4 Greece .................................................................................................... 43 1.2 Death, Afterlife, and Divine Judgement in Israel .......................................... 52 1.2.1 Biblical Concepts of Life, Death, and Divine Judgement ..................... 53 1.2.2 Development of Belief in the Resurrection of the Dead in Israel ......... 69 1.3 Summary and Conclusions ............................................................................ 72 Chapter 2 HOW SHOULD WE READ ECCLESIASTES? .................................. 75 2.1 Reading Ecclesiastes as a Unity .................................................................... 75 2.1.1 Canonical Approach by Brevard Childs ................................................ 75 2.1.1.1 Childs’ Interpretation of Ecclesiastes …………………………..79 2.1.1.2 Sheppard’s Interpretation of the Epilogue in Ecclesiastes (12:9–14) .………………………………………………………81 2.1.2 Frame-Narrative Reading by Fox .......................................................... 82 2.1.3 Summary and Assessment ..................................................................... 86 2.2 How Should We Read Ecclesiastes? ............................................................. 89 2.2.1 Re-Defining the Frame-Narrative: Towards a Modification of Fox’s Approach ..................................................................................... 89 2.2.2 The Frame-Narrator’s Role ................................................................... 91 2.2.3 Qohelet and His Role ............................................................................ 95 2.2.4 Which Voice—Qohelet’s or the Frame-Narrator’s? ............................. 98 Chapter 3 ISSUES OF DEATH AND INJUSTICE IN QOHELET’S MONOLOGUE ................................................................................... 102 3.1 Qohelet’s View of Death ............................................................................. 104 3.1.1 One Fate for All ................................................................................... 104 3.1.2 Death, a Leveller ................................................................................. 116 3.1.3 Death Is Evil ........................................................................................ 118 3.2 Qohelet’s View of Divine Judgement.......................................................... 121 in Ecclesiastes ............................................................................ 121 משפט 3.2.1 3.2.2 Injustice Observed ............................................................................... 129 4 3.2.3 Qohelet’s View of Sheol: All Go to Sheol? ........................................ 137 3.3 Summary and Conclusions .......................................................................... 140 Chapter 4 QOHELET’S DILEMMA AND RESOLUTION ............................... 142 4.1 Qohelet’s Dilemma ...................................................................................... 142 4.1.1 Remote God ......................................................................................... 142 4.1.2 The Unknowable ................................................................................. 149 4.1.2.1 Time …………………………………………………………...150 4.1.2.2 What God Does ………………………………………………..153 4.2 Qohelet’s Conclusion and Resolution ......................................................... 155 4.2.1 Everything Is “Hebel” ......................................................................... 156 4.2.2 Carpe Diem : Misquoting Qohelet? ..................................................... 161 4.3 Summary and Conclusions .......................................................................... 165 Chapter 5 FINDING COHERENCE BETWEEN QOHELET’S MONOLOGUE AND THE EPILOGUE ............................................ 167 5.1 Qohelet the Sage: His Final Instruction to a Youth ..................................... 167 5.1.1 Eschatological Poem (12:1–7)? ........................................................... 169 5.2 The Epilogue: Recasting Qohelet ................................................................ 180 5.2.1 The Frame-Narrator
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