Kohelet i jego dzieło

Abstract

To tell the truth the interpretation of Eccl has already had a long history, yet there are particularly three questions which call for a more precise approach, namely: who was Ecclesiastes? what is the literary structure of the work like? what is its theological message? A philological analysis of the name „Ecclesiastes” as well as the author’s opinions about his book point out that the work was written by a sage who had gained experience from his thorough and wise research into the values of the things which man finds in the world. One may detect a certain compositional layout in which one may distinguish the prologue, the central part and the epilogus. In the prologue, apart from the title of the book (1. 1) and a general maxim (motto) which summarizes the thought of the work, very important is the „programmatic” pericope which contains a list of the most crucial Ecclesiastes’ theses (1, 3-11). The actual work consists of four parts which embrace a couple of literary units bearing the same leading subject-matter. They are closed with characteristic reflections on joy (1, 12-2, 26; 3, 1-5, 19; 6, 1-9, 10; 9, 11-12, 8). The epilogue gives a general characteristic of Ecclesiastes and of sapiential creativity (12, 9-14). The theology of Ecclesiastes can be reduced to three theses: All values of this world pass away; Man cannot make his position on the earth permanent; Man cannot find any concrete order in the world; Life one arth does not grant happiness to man; Man must always remember about the future; A calling for joy. One should distinguish then in the work of Ecclesiastes a penetrating and critical evaluation of the reality in which man lives, and some practical hints on how man should approach to it.