Readings

by Rick Dietrich

What Did Koheleth Know — in 500 Words, or Less?

Admit it: you do this, too. There's a Bible in your bathroom, and you pick it up and open it at random, and you read.

And you wonder! Ecclesiastes 11:1 - Cast your bread upon the waters, / for you will find it after many days. You wonder how: won't it have dissolved? Or, two verses hence: If the clouds are full of rain, / they empty themselves on the earth. Fair enough, but then this: and if a tree falls to the south or the north, / in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie. What then, if it falls to the east or the west—it won't lie there?

There's probably little that is truly random about this kind of exercise. When I was in high school, a friend told me that she had decided that faith was foolish and the Bible was bull but that she was fair and would give it one more chance. So she opened her grandmother's Bible to see if what she came upon made good sense or nonsense. "Ask, and it will be given you; seek and you will find" is what she found. What could she do? I pretended delight at the results of her "experiment." I didn't suggest to her that any well-used grandmother's Bible was likely to fall open to the Sermon on the Mount.

And my bathroom Bible falls open to Ecclesiastes—because it always make sense.

Cast your bread upon the waters. This, of course, has nothing to do with the bread you eat; it has to do with the bread you earn. Here, in particular, we are dealing with overseas investments, as the next verse deals with diversification of portfolio: Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, / for you know not what evil may happen on earth. All very clear. Invest abroad; you'll get a return. In an unsure economic climate, diversify.

// the clouds are full of rain . . . Then, as the Traveler's ads use to say, "Get under the umbrella." This verse clearly deals with insurance. Make it a sturdy umbrella, be — cause in the middle of the storm, a tree may fall on your house if you live to the north or the south — and you'll want to be protected to full replacement value.

So, verse 7: Light is sweet . . . Remember: you saw it here first . . . unless you didn't.1

1Verses one and two have, in fact, a fairly long history of financial interpretation, as a search through the commentaries on the shelves that line your bathroom wall will tell you. It's the line Sibley Towner takes in The New Interpreter's Bible, for example. For more on the history of that interpretation, check William Brown in the Interpretation series or Roland Murphy in the Word Biblical Commentary. My favorite Ecclesiastes commentary, incidentally, is Ellen Davis' in the Westminster Bible Companion series. A prosperous new year to you all.

Rick Dietrich is the Pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Stranton, VA. For more from Rick log onto Theologic Al's Bar and Grill