Series: Ecclesiastes
Sermon #33: It’s No Secret!
Ecclesiastes
10:1-3
[Audio file from Internet Archive at https://archive.org/details/Ecclesiastes101-3.]
1 Dead
flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so
doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour. 2
A wise man’s heart is at his right hand; but a fool’s heart at his left. 3
Yea also, when he that is a fool walketh by the way, his wisdom faileth him,
and he saith to every one that he is a fool.
Introduction:
Probably not one of your favorite passages of Scripture
Probably not good news
Probably not where you would prefer to go when examining
yourself in the mirror of the Word
Outline:
I. The Stink of Folly (10:1)
II. The Danger of Foolishness (10:2)
III. The Notoriety of Failure (10:3)
I. The Stink of Folly (10:1)
Dead flies cause
the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour:
so doth a little
folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.
Cp. 9:17-18
1. A Stinking Savour — Dead flies cause the ointment of
the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour
2. A Little Folly — so doth a little folly him that is in
reputation for wisdom and honour
1. A Stinking Savour — “Dead flies cause the ointment
of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour”
The fly in the oinment
Not that you would want a fly in your ointment, but why
would it make it stink?
NKJV note:
“Lit. Flies of death
NKJV note:
“Tg., Vg. omit putrefy
Given the significance of this in the Law, it is doubtful
whether we are to understand this as simply perfume for perfume’s sake!
Ex. 30:22-33 — 22 Moreover the LORD spake unto Moses,
saying, 23 Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five
hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty
shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels, 24 And of cassia
five hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil olive an
hin: 25 And thou
shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of
the apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil. 26 And thou shalt
anoint
the tabernacle of the congregation therewith, and the ark of the testimony, 27
And the table and all his vessels, and the candlestick and his vessels, and the
altar of incense, 28 And the altar of burnt offering with all his vessels, and
the laver and his foot. 29 And thou shalt sanctify them, that they may be most
holy: whatsoever toucheth them shall be holy. 30 And thou shalt anoint
Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister unto me in the
priest's office. 31 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, This shall be an
holy anointing oil unto me throughout your generations. 32 Upon
man's flesh shall it not be poured, neither shall ye make any other like it,
after the composition of it: it is holy, and it shall be holy unto you. 33
Whosoever compoundeth any like it, or whosoever putteth any of it upon a
stranger, shall even be cut off from his people.
You may have heard the expression: “There is something
rotten in Denmark!” This comes from William Shakespeare, Hamlet, prince of Denmark, Act I, Scene IV. The original quote is
spoken by Marcellus to Horation, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.”
— William Shakespeare, Hamlet, prince of Denmark, ed. Kenneth
Deighton (London: Macmillian, 1919), pg. 24; s.v. Act I, Scene IV, line 90; on shakespeare online at http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/hamlet_1_4.html
[accessed 2 JUL 2016]; and on Internet
Archive at https://archive.org/details/hamletprincedenm00shakuoft [accessed
2 JUL 2016].
2. A Little Folly — “so doth a little folly him that
is in reputation for wisdom and honour”
Notice that this is not about a fool!
This is not about a great deal of foolishness.
This is about “a little folly.”
The Scriptures will not back us up when we assess
foolishness with, “Well, it’s not that big a deal!”
We do not have the Word of God on our side if we take a
dismissive attitude toward even comparatively small amounts of foolishness.
Consider some other translations on this clause:
NASB — so a little foolishness is weightier
than wisdom and honor.
ESV, HCSB, and NIV — so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.
Notice the
renderings in these cases of the Hebrew word here as “weightier” or
“outweighs.”
Remember the title of C. S. Lewis’s most famous sermon,
“The Weight of Glory.”
When you do something right others might observe, “Attaboy!”[1]
When you do something dumb you might say, “Oops!”
To paraphrase how this plays out in the military as a
question:
“How many “oopses” does it take to wipe out a dozen
“attaboys”?”
Bottom line: It doesn’t take much to stain a good
reputation. It takes a great deal to build up a good reputation, but very
little to tear it down.
II. The Danger of Foolishness (10:2)
A wise man’s heart
is at his right hand; but a fool’s heart at his left.
1. Whose Heart? “A wise man’s heart….a fool’s heart…”
2. Which Way? “…at his right hand….at his left."
1. Whose Heart? “A wise man’s heart….a fool’s heart…”
“In
by far the greatest number of cases it is intellectual, rational functions that
are ascribed to the heart — i.e., precisely what we ascribe to the head and,
more exactly, to the brain; cf. I Sam. 25.37.”
— Hans
Walter Wolff, Anthropology of the Old
Testament, trans. Margaret Kohl (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1974; from Anthropologie des Alten Testaments,
Munich: Chr. Kaiser Verlag, 1973), pg. 46.
“In
contexts such as these, heart can in general be translated by ‘understanding’. Cf. Eccles. 10.2f.;
Prov. 19.8.”
—
Wolff, op. cit., pg. 50.
Eccl. 2:14 — The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the
fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth
to them all.
2. Which Way? “…at his right hand….at his left."
How many left handed folks are here today? Please don’t
take this personally!
The New Living Translation paraphrases “left” as “wrong,”
so instead of right and left we end up with “right road” and “wrong one.”
Please understand that this is not a translation. Throughout the Scriptures the
right and the left bear a great deal of significance. These connections should
not be paraphrased away.
“10:2 right . . . left. These had the
conventional meanings of good and bad, or blessing and cursing, in the ancient
world”
— New Geneva Study Bible
(Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), pg. 998, note.
“10:2 right…left. This proverb is bases on
the fact that commonly, the right hand is more deft than the left.”
— John MacArthur, MacArthur Study Bible, rev. ed. (Nashville:
Thomas Nelson, 1997), pg. 936, note.
“10:2 right . . . left. The “right hand” is
often associated with strength and blessing in the OT (e.g., Ex. 15:6, 12; Ps.
16:11; 17:7; Is. 41:10, etc.), and the Preacher is either referring to the
“left hand” with a corresponding negative connotation (Gen. 48:14; Judg. 3:15)
or else is simply stating that wisdom and foolishness invariable reveal themselves in one’s
behavior (cf. Eccles. 10:3; see also the note on 8:1).”
— ESV Study Bible
(Wheaton: Crossway, 2008), pg. 1207, note.
“The right (yāmīn)
and the left hand (śemō’l)
are distinguished, for example, in the description of the embracing of the
beloved (S. of S.2.6):
His left hand is under my head,
and
his right hand embraces me.
But they also represent the contrast between strength and
weakness (Gen. 48.14), wisdom and foolishness, or happiness and unhappiness
(Eccles. 10.2).”
— Wolff,
op. cit., pg. 68.
“…
“Right hand,” is used in cases where a specific act of emphasis, vigor, or
identification is intended.”
— Richard
Patterson, “The Song of Deborah,” in Tradition
and Testament: Essays in Honor of Charles Lee Feinberg, eds. John S.
Feinberg and Paul D. Feinberg (Chicago: Moody Press, 1981), pg. 140.
Patterson’s footnote 113 at this point: “See H. Cremer, Biblio-Theological Lexicon of New Testament Greek, 4th ed.
(Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark, 1954), pp. 72-73.
“The
left hand/right hand motif is, indeed, a familiar one and when used symbolically
carries with it the ideas of totality and completeness of action, often with
concentration upon a fixed goal
(e.g., Deut. 2:27; 5:32; 17:11, 20; Josh. 1:7; 23:6; 1 Sam. 6:12; 2 Kings 22:2;
Prov. 3:16; Ezek. 39:3; Dan. 12:7; Jonah 4:11). In some cases the prominence of
the right hand is underscored by contrasting it with the left hand (e.g., Gen.
48:13-19; Eccles. 10:2), but in all such cases the normal word (‘sem‘ōl) “left hand,” is
employed.”
— Ibid.
The wrong
way of the fool may be illustrated with an urban legend:
“ACTUAL transcript of a US naval ship with Canadian
authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October, 1995. This radio conversation
was released by the Chief of Naval Operations on 10-10-95.
Americans: "Please divert your course 15 degrees to
the North to avoid a collision."
Canadians: "Recommend you divert YOUR course 15
degrees to the South to avoid a collision."
Americans: "This is the captain of a US Navy ship. I
say again, divert YOUR course."
Canadians: "No, I say again, you divert YOUR
course."
Americans: "THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS ABRAHAM
LINCOLN, THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES' ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE
ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS. I
DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH. THAT'S ONE-FIVE DEGREES
NORTH, OR COUNTER MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS
SHIP."
Canadians: "This is a lighthouse. Your call."”
— “The Lighthouse Joke,” on America’s Navy at http://www.navy.mil/navydata/nav_legacy.asp?id=174 [accessed 1 JUL 2016]. See also: Matthew LoFiego, “Classic
Bilge: The Lighthouse Vs. The Aircraft Carrier” (29 Mar 2009), on Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) at http://www.moaablogs.org/battleofthebilge/2009/03/classic-bilge-the-lighthouse-vs-the-aircraft-carrier/ [accessed 1 JUL 2016]; David Mikkelson, “The Obstinate
Lighthouse,” on Snopes at http://www.snopes.com/military/lighthouse.asp [accessed 1 JUL 2016];
“Lighthouse and naval vessel urban legend,” on Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lighthouse_and_naval_vessel_urban_legend [accessed 1 JUL 2016]; and “A Game of Chicken Between a
Lighthouse and An Aircraft Carrier-Fiction!” on Truth or Fiction at https://www.truthorfiction.com/lighthouseandaircraftcarrier/
[accessed 1 JUL 2016].
III. The Notoriety of Failure (10:3)
Yea also, when he
that is a fool walketh by the way,
his wisdom faileth
him, and he saith to every one that he is a fool.
1. The Occasion for Failure: “when he that is a fool
walketh by the way”
2. The Occurrence of Failure: “his wisdom faileth him”
3. The Output of Failure: “and he saith to every one that
he is a fool.”
1. The Occasion for Failure: “when he that is a fool
walketh by the way”
This is the occasion for the exhibition of the fool’s
character.
As he goes through live making decisions, i.e., “walking
by the way,” he is walking his own way, living based on what he thinks is best.
2. The Occurrence of Failure: “his wisdom faileth him”
His wisdom? Does a fool have wisdom? Is this sarcasm?
Perhaps what is intended here is whatever he may have in the way of wisdom, or
whatever degree of wisdom the fool has short of an absolute condition of
foolishness.
His wisdom fails him when he fails to exercise wisdom, or
follow wise examples.
Notice that there is a play on words here. In this play
on words, a figure of speech is involved. It is as if wisdom is personified,
and gets the blame for the failure. However, it is not really his wisdom who
fails him, but the fool who fails himself by failing to act upon whatever
degree of wisdom he may have.
Pr. 18:2 — A fool hath no delight in understanding, but
that his heart may discover itself.
“The fool is not one who is mentally deficient, but is
morally bankrupt. It is not that he cannot learn wisdom, that that he won’t. He
refuses to know, fear, and obey God.”
—MacArthur, op. cit., pg. 928, note, “2:14 fool walks in darkness.”
3. The Output of Failure: “and he saith to every one
that he is a fool.”
Pr. 13:16 — Every prudent man dealeth with knowledge: but
a fool layeth open his folly.
“A person lacking wisdom will manifest that in daily
conduct.”
—MacArthur, op. cit., pg. 936, note, s.v.
“10:3 fool….walks.”
Foolishness is evidenced in the life.
Lack of wisdom affects one’s behavior.
Failing to exercise wisdom cannot be hid from those
around us.
Whether we have wisdom or not will be obvious to all who
observe how we live.
Conclusion:
If it smells like a duck, and walks like a duck, it is
probably not an ostrich!
If how someone lives smells like folly, is driven by
foolishness, and walks in failure, then he is a fool.
1. The source of ultimate foolishness
2. The nature of Gospel foolishness
3. The cure for natural foolishness
4. The response to human foolishness
1. The source of ultimate foolishness
1 Cor. 2:14 — But the natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he
know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
The natural man is the fallen man, and one who is dead in
trespasses and sins according to the Word of God. You are what God says you are
whether you agree or not. You are totally depraved in your sinful condition as
you come into this world, and utterly incapable of exercising spiritual
discernment in your natural condition. That is what God says in His Scriptures
about you. The Spirit of God inspired the Word of God and you cannot receive
the things of the Spirit of God for two reasons: 1) because that is the way you
are, and 2) because God said so.
How did we get that way? We were born that way! We are
born foolish! We are natural born fools!
A.A. Hodge (1823-1886) offers this observation as
corroborating “Evidence of Original Sin”:
“If dice, being thrown 1000 times,
always turn up sixes, you say the dice are loaded. So with babies. They come
into the world as thick as those flakes of snow to-day: and they always come
“sin up.” How do you explain it? The dice are loaded.”
— Charles Adamson Salmond, Princetoniana: Charles & A. A. Hodge:
with Class and Table Talk of Hodge the Younger (New York: Scribner &
Welford, 1888), pg. 206; on Internet
Archive at https://archive.org/details/princetonianacha00salm
[accessed 2 JUL 2016];
and on Google Books at https://books.google.com/books?id=NUAXAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
[accessed 2 JUL 2016]; cited in “The Hodges, Father and Son,” The Literary World: A Fortnightly Review of
Current Literature, Vol. XIX: January—December 1888 (Boston: E. H. Hames
& Co., 1888), pg. 219.
Believing the lie of Satan, swallowing his bait, and
following his tempting line of reasoning was the initial source. It remains so
to this day. From the first sin to the last, all sin is gross foolishness, so
none of us are exempt from the cautions of these verses!
Do not be shocked when the unregenerate treat spiritual
things including the Word of God as foolishness. Don’t be surprised when those
who are not born again disrespect the things of the Spirit of God. On the
contrary, you should expect nothing else until the Spirit of God gives them
eyes to see and ears to hear in the new birth!
2. The nature of Gospel foolishness
1 Co:15:36 — Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not
quickened, except it die:
Disbelief in the supernatural work of God is an evidence
of foolishness.
Dependence on human reason in opposition to the Word of
God is an exhibition of foolishness.
3. The cure for natural foolishness
There is a cure!
1 Cor. 3:18-19 — 18 Let no man deceive
himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become
a fool, that he may be wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is
foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own
craftiness.
1 Cor. 4:10 — We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are
wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are
despised.
1 Cor. 1:18-27 —
Come to the Cross!
Do what the Corinthians did, and repent! (2 Cor. 7:7-11)
4. The response to human foolishness
Christians have a responsibility towards foolishness
beyond minimizing it in their own lives!
1 Pet. 2:15 — For so is the will of God, that with well
doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:
The first requirement for doing this is humility!
This cannot be done apart from the fruit of the Spirit of
God!
There is a way to silence the ignorance of foolish men
around us.
It is the will of God that this be done.
God’s way for silencing the ignorance of fools is by His
people setting the example as living contrasts.
[Sermon preached 3 JUL 2016 by Pastor John T. “Jack”
Jeffery at Wayside Gospel Chapel, Greentown, PA.]
Complete Outline:
I. The Stink of Folly (10:1)
1. A Stinking Savour — Dead
flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour
2. A Little Folly — so doth a
little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour
II. The Danger of Foolishness (10:2)
1. Whose Heart? “A wise man’s
heart….a fool’s heart…”
2. Which Way? “…at his right
hand….at his left."
III. The Notoriety of Failure (10:3)
1. The Occasion for Failure: when
he that is a fool walketh by the way
2. The Occurrence of Failure: his
wisdom faileth him
3. The Output of Failure: and he
saith to every one that he is a fool.
Conclusion:
1. The source of ultimate
foolishness
2. The nature of Gospel
foolishness
3. The cure for natural foolishness
4. The response to human foolishness
Select Sources on Ecclesiastes:
J. Sidlow Baxter, Explore The Book: A Basic and Broadly
Interpretive Course of Bible Study from Genesis to Revelation, 6 vols. in 1
ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, n.d., 1960 printing).
William D. Barrick, Ecclesiastes:
The Philippians of the Old Testament, Focus on the Bible series
(Fearn, Ross-Shire, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2012).[2]
Charles Bridges, An
Exposition of the Book of Ecclesiastes (New York: Robert Carter &
Brothers, 1860).[3]
C. Hassell Bullock, An
Introduction to the Old Testament Poetic Books: The Wisdom and Songs of Israel
(Chicago: Moody Press, 1979).
Franz Delitzsch, “Commentary on The Song of Songs and
Ecclesiastes,” trans. M. G. Easton, in Commentary
on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes, C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Vol. VI: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon:
Three Volumes in One (Grand Rapids:
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., n.d., 1975 reprint), III:179-442.
Michael A. Eaton, Ecclesiastes:
An Introduction and Commentary, Vol.
16, Tyndale Old
Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity, 1983).
ESV Study Bible
(Wheaton: Crossway, 2008).
Sinclair B.
Ferguson. The Pundit's Folly: Chronicles
of an Empty Life (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1995).
Duane A. Garrett, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Vol. 14, New American Commentary
(Nashville: Broadman, 1993).
Donald R. Glenn,
“Ecclesiastes,” in The Bible Knowledge
Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, eds. J. F. Walvoord, and R. B.
Zuck (Wheaton, IL: Victor, 1985).
William Henry
Green, “Scope and Plan of the Book of Ecclesiastes,” Biblical Reparatory and Princeton Review 29 (1857), pp. 419-40; on Gordon Faculty Online at http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/Ted_Hildebrandt/OTeSources/21-Ecclesiastes/Text/Articles/Green-ScopeofEccl-1857.pdf [accessed 7 NOV 2015].[4]
Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., Coping With Change: Ecclesiastes (Fearn,
Roth-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2013).[5]
Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., Ecclesiastes:
Total Life, in Everyman’s
Bible Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1979).
Derek Kidner, The Message of
Ecclesiastes: A Time to Mourn, and a Time to Dance, in The Bible Speaks Today, Old Testament series ed. J. A. Motyer (Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity
Press, 1976).
H. C. Leupold, Exposition of Ecclesiastes (Grand
Rapids: Baker, 1952).
Tremper Longman III, The Book of Ecclesiastes, New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997).
John MacArthur, MacArthur Study Bible, rev. ed.
(Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1997).
Tim Mackie, “The book of Ecclesiastes explained with illustrations,”
on The Bible Project at http://www.jointhebibleproject.com
[accessed 18 JUN 2016]; includes downloadable full resolution video (700+ mb),
and poster; for the video see also “Read Scripture Ecclesiastes” (10 JUN 2016),
on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrsQ1tc-2wk
[accessed 18 JUN 2016].[6]
Roland Edmund
Murphy, Ecclesiastes, Vol. 23A, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas:
Word, 1992).
New Geneva Study Bible
(Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995).
John G. Reisinger, Studies in Ecclesiastes
(Frederick, MD: New Covenant Media, 2008).
Philip Graham Ryken, Ecclesiastes:
Why Everything Matters, in Preaching the Word, gen. ed. R. Kent Hughes
(Wheaton: Crossway, 2010).
Philip
G. Ryken, Why Everything Matters: The
Gospel in Ecclesiastes (Fearn, Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus
Publications, Ltd., 2015).
Benjamin Shaw,
“On Reading Ecclesiastes,” in The Hope
Fulfilled: Essays in Honor of O. Palmer Robertson, ed. Robert L. Penny
(Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2008), pp. 47-58.
Peter B. Steese,
ed., Ecclesiastes, gen. ed. Leonard
F. Dean (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc., 1966).
Tom V. Taylor, Studies in
Ecclesiastes (Port Colborne, Ontario, CA: Gospel Folio Press, 2013).[7]
Addison G. Wright, “The Riddle of the Sphinx: The Structure
of the Book of Qoheleth,” in Reflecting
with Solomon: Selected Studies on the Book of Ecclesiastes, ed. Roy B. Zuck
(Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994), pp. 45-66; originally published in Catholic Biblical Quarterly 30 (1968),
pp. 313-334.
J. Stafford
Wright, “Ecclesiastes,” in Psalms-Song of Songs, Vol. 5, Expositor's Bible Commentary, ed.
Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1991).
J. Stafford Wright, “The Interpretation of Ecclesiastes”, in Classical Evangelical Essays in Old Testament
Interpretation, ed. Walter C. Kaiser Jr. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1972), pp.
135-150; from J. Stafford Wright, “The Interpretation of Ecclesiastes,” Evangelical Quarterly 18 (1946), pp.
18-34; on Rediscovering the Bible at http://rediscoveringthebible.com/InterpretationOfEcclesiastes.html
[accessed 7 MAY 2015].
Ronald F. Youngblood, “Qoheleth's 'Dark House' (Eccl.
12:5),” in A Tribute to
Gleason Archer, eds. Walter C. Kaiser and
Ronald F. Youngblood (Chicago: Moody Press, 1986), pp.211-228; also published
in Journal of the Evangelical Theological
Society 29:4 (DEC 1986), pp. 397-410; on Biblical Studies at http://www.etsjets.org/files/JETS-PDFs/29/29-4/29-4-pp397-410_JETS.pdf
[accessed 4 APR 2016].
Notes:
[1]
“Origin and Etymology of attaboy: probably alteration of that's the boy. First
Known Use: 1909.” Merriam-Webster at http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/attaboy
[accessed 2 JUL 2016].
[2] Barrick’s
lecture notes (PDF files) and audio (mp3) are on Dr Barrick at http://drbarrick.org/teaching/ecclesiastes/ [accessed
3 FEB 2016].
[3] On Internet
Archive at https://archive.org/details/expositionofbook00bridrich [accessed 11 MAY 2015]; on Google Books at http://books.google.com/books?id=e4kOAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false [accessed 11 MAY 2015]; and linked on Precept Austin at http://preceptaustin.org/proverbs_commentaries.htm#cb [accessed 11 MAY 2015].
[4] Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. inexplicably refers to this as
an “unsigned article” on at least two occasions in his commentary despite the
facts that: 1) William Henry Green is clearly indicated as the author under the
title on the first page of the article (pg. 419), and 2) one of his own faculty
members (Ted Hildebrandt) has posted the article on the school’s web site where
Kaiser served as both faculty member and President. Walter
C. Kaiser, Jr., Ecclesiastes: Total Life,
in Everyman’s Bible Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1979); and Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., Coping
With Change: Ecclesiastes (Fearn, Roth-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus,
2013).
[5] Although not indicated on the copyright page, this
appears in all respects to be a revised edition (2nd ed.) of the Moody Press
1979 original. The relationship to the original is referenced in the “Preface,”
where the author mentions the inclusion of his own translation of Ecclesiastes
in this revision as one significant change. “Dale Ralph Davis compares the two
and says, “the ‘bones’ are much the same but the whole has been updated and
expanded.” Source: Tim Challies, “Best Commentaries on Ecclesiastes” (18 NOV
2013), on Challies at http://www.challies.com/resources/best-commentaries-on-ecclesiastes [accessed 7 NOV 2015].
[6] “This video explores the main ideas and flow of
thought of the book of Ecclesiastes.
The Bible Project is a
non-profit creating animated videos that explain the narrative of the Bible.
These videos are free to use for personal and educational purposes. Download a
full resolution version of this video along with a study guide at
www.jointhebibleproject.com.”
“About the author:
Tim Mackie is a Pastor of Door of Hope church and a
Professor at Western Seminary - timmackie.com”
[7] See also the “Thomas V. Taylor Library” on the Interdisciplinary Biblical Research Institute at http://www.taylorlib.ibri.org/ [accessed 27 NOV 2013].
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