Bible Study Ecclesiastes, A Bible Study by Chopper & Reba.

[Chopper]

Ecclesiastes 1:5;
"The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises".

A few people have given different interpretations as to what it might mean.
Nice interpretations at that.
But no one can see it as literal because it contradicts modern science.
In the first 11 verses, they are all literal except this verse.
That doesn't make sense to me.
No one can give me a good reason to believe that I should accept this verse as being something other than literal while I should accept all the other verses as being literal.

According to my knowledge of the english language, that is confusing and not something I was ever taught to accept.
Under any circumstances.
So why has everyone tried to sweep my comments under the rug and move on as though I am in agreement with everyone else.
I am not.
I have expressed that.
No one acknowledges it.

Here's what I see.
No one knows how to answer me and to agree with me, one would have to question the science they have been taught all their lives.

For me, it's easier to question science than it is to question the Word of God.

Rollo, quite frankly, I haven't answered you because you're a jokester, and kind of a funny wise guy. I never know if you're being honest or messing with my mind. Ok, lets look at the verse....

Ecclesiastes 1:5;
"The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises". What's wrong with that? I think it is sort of interesting. I see the sun as a person who has a huge light. I rise in the morning so as to give everyone daylight, then in the evening, I go back down, then I jump in my hot rod and speed back to where I started so as to not be late for the rising. Each day this goes on, BORING!!

 

[Rollo Tamasi]

Rollo, quite frankly, I haven't answered you because you're a jokester, and kind of a funny wise guy. I never know if you're being honest or messing with my mind. Ok, lets look at the verse....

Ecclesiastes 1:5;
"The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises". What's wrong with that? I think it is sort of interesting. I see the sun as a person who has a huge light. I rise in the morning so as to give everyone daylight, then in the evening, I go back down, then I jump in my hot rod and speed back to where I started so as to not be late for the rising. Each day this goes on, BORING!!

Thank you.

 

[GodsGrace]

I would say that everything that happens has been allowed by God, but not that He causes everything to happen.

I'm SO happy to hear ONE OTHER person say this.
God allows evil. We don't know why.
But He certainly cannot CAUSE evil. In the O.T., and also in the N.T., believers attributed everything to God. This does not mean they should have. Belief that God causes everything to happen is to deny the existence of satan.

Wondering

 

[Angel]

Angel some of us learn from a hug not to do XYZ again ... As for myself a hug would be a point of agreement or approval.. Want me to learn get my attention with a 2 by 4 up side my thick head...

I dont understand

 

[reba]

Some people learn the hard way .. You learned the streets were not good the hard way,,,, some folks learn wiht less personal hurt.
I learn the hard way

 

[ezrider]

I dont understand

I think what reba might might be saying is we can learn in different ways. Would a simple hug demonstrate and re-afirm the sincerity of an apology? Sometimes a spanking is needed to get someones attention. When they finally come around, what message does a hug give?

 

[Angel]

Some people learn the hard way .. You learned the streets were not good the hard way,,,, some folks learn wiht less personal hurt.
I learn the hard way

ahh ok Yup true!

 

[Angel]

I think what reba might might be saying is we can learn in different ways. Would a simple hug demonstrate and re-afirm the sincerity of an apology? Sometimes a spanking is needed to get someones attention. When they finally come around, what message does a hug give?

I see!

 

[reba]

I have 1 sister and 3 brothers i got more spankings then them all together..

 

[Angel]

LOL

 

[GodsGrace]

The scriptures teach us very clearly about God himself sending judgment on his people. Just because he uses angels to do that doesn't mean it does not come from him.

Did I say something about angels?
Satan causes evil, not God.
Satan causes someone to get sick, not God.
God is the power that heals.
God USES what satan dishes out to allow us to learn and to strengthen our faith.
If I know someone who commits a really big sin and then dies, am I to assume that GOD killed him?

We like to think of God as likened to a father here on earth. It could work. It could help us to understand things in a human way. But God is greater than all that. What is grace all about anyway? We keep saying it's about God's love for us. If my father is sick, I prefer to believe that God is helping me to bear the situation, and is standing by me - not that he caused my father to be sick so he could learn a lesson or that I could learn a lesson. But that through that sickness I could become stronger or learn something would make sense since God gives us wisdom.

John 3:16
1 John 3:1
1 John 4:8
Ephesians 2:4-5
1 Peter 5:6-7

To me it sounds like God loves me - not that he wants to make me sick so I could learn something. I USE the sickness to learn something.
Again, Romans 8:28

Wondering

 

[GodsGrace]

Angel said: ↑
Do we consider all painful experiences to be from God?

Jethro answers:
I don't. Sometimes I suffer for my own foolishness as a matter of consequence in a world built on cause and effect. But I know God can use them to teach me the disciplines of holy living.

Sounds like we agree then...

W

 

[GodsGrace]

I still haven't gotten past verse 5.
You're way ahead of me.

Did you get stuck at Genesis 1:1-31 when God created the earth in 6 days? Do you believe the earth was created in 6 days? Do you believe it was created 6,000 years ago?

It's obvious that it wasn't created 6,000 years ago. As far as the time it took to create it - who can know for sure? It could be that the six days is a figure of speech. It could be that the earth was forming, as science says it did, for millions of years and then God just decided to quicken up the pace so He could prepare a garden for man.

So you read Genesis and keep going. Trusting that God is the Creator and that, somehow, He created everything.

Ecclesiastes 1:5 is the same.
Psalm 19:4-6 and Psalm 113:3 also refer to the sun as rising and setting.

The person writing Ecc. was noticing that the sun rises and sets as if it has a set place that it goes back to every time it sets. It does look like this. We only know it's different because science has explained to us that it's really the sun going around the sun that makes it seem to be rising and setting and going back to a set place.

So the writer is making a point. He's saying that everything is always the same. Sun goes up, sun goes down, the wind blows north and south, rivers flow into the seas. verse 7 - Everything is wearisome and boring. verse 8. - The past is the same as the future. verse 9 - There Is Nothing New Under The Sun. Nothing changes on New Year's Day.

He's making an important point. Would you have liked for God to interrupt His inspiration to the writer of Ecc. and go into a lesson on science? Of course not. The writer is not interested in the sun or how it rises and sets, but on how Everything Is The Same - Nothing new under the sun.

But, it's interesting Rollo, if you check Ecc 1:7 it's saying that the rivers flow to the sea and the sea does not become full - then the waters return to where they started and then flow again.

Now that's scientific! How could they have known this back then? There are many instances where the bible agrees with science. There's no need to question either one. I'm sure Professor Google could help out here.
But the main reason for the bible is not for it to have to agree with science (although it does a lot) but to explain WHY things exist.

Listen. Science agrees with the bible for the big stuff:
The Big Bang... =
Let There Be Light...

Wondering

 

[Rollo Tamasi]

Did you get stuck at Genesis 1:1-31 when God created the earth in 6 days? Do you believe the earth was created in 6 days? Do you believe it was created 6,000 years ago?

It's obvious that it wasn't created 6,000 years ago. As far as the time it took to create it - who can know for sure? It could be that the six days is a figure of speech. It could be that the earth was forming, as science says it did, for millions of years and then God just decided to quicken up the pace so He could prepare a garden for man.

So you read Genesis and keep going. Trusting that God is the Creator and that, somehow, He created everything.

Ecclesiastes 1:5 is the same.
Psalm 19:4-6 and Psalm 113:3 also refer to the sun as rising and setting.

The person writing Ecc. was noticing that the sun rises and sets as if it has a set place that it goes back to every time it sets. It does look like this. We only know it's different because science has explained to us that it's really the sun going around the sun that makes it seem to be rising and setting and going back to a set place.

So the writer is making a point. He's saying that everything is always the same. Sun goes up, sun goes down, the wind blows north and south, rivers flow into the seas. verse 7 - Everything is wearisome and boring. verse 8. - The past is the same as the future. verse 9 - There Is Nothing New Under The Sun. Nothing changes on New Year's Day.

He's making an important point. Would you have liked for God to interrupt His inspiration to the writer of Ecc. and go into a lesson on science? Of course not. The writer is not interested in the sun or how it rises and sets, but on how Everything Is The Same - Nothing new under the sun.

But, it's interesting Rollo, if you check Ecc 1:7 it's saying that the rivers flow to the sea and the sea does not become full - then the waters return to where they started and then flow again.

Now that's scientific! How could they have known this back then? There are many instances where the bible agrees with science. There's no need to question either one. I'm sure Professor Google could help out here.
But the main reason for the bible is not for it to have to agree with science (although it does a lot) but to explain WHY things exist.

Listen. Science agrees with the bible for the big stuff:
The Big Bang... =
Let There Be Light...

Wondering

Thank you.

 

[RevSRE]

Here's what I see.
No one knows how to answer me and to agree with me, one would have to question the science they have been taught all their lives.

THe Question?
Ecc 1:3 What advantage does man have in all his work Which he does under the sun?
The answer, in poetic triads 1 2 3 It happens, it repeats, nothing changes
Ecc 1:4 A generation goes and a generation comes, But the earth remains forever.
Ecc 1:5 Also, the sun rises and the sun sets; And hastening to its place it rises there again.
Ecc 1:6 Blowing toward the south, Then turning toward the north, The wind continues swirling along; And on its circular courses the wind returns.
Ecc 1:7 All the rivers flow into the sea, Yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, There they flow again.
Ecc 1:8 All things are wearisome; Man is not able to tell it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor is the ear filled with hearing.
Ecc 1:9 That which has been is that which will be, And that which has been done is that which will be done. So, there is nothing new under the sun.
There is no science here just a statement of what one would see looking at life It happens, it repeats, nothing changes.
DO not get lost in one statement and not see a poetic stanza over several verses.
Please try to see what it says not modern science or ideology, but a simple beautiful poetic statement.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

Sounds like we agree then...

W

You did note the SOMETIMES, didn't you?

 

[Jethro Bodine]

If I know someone who commits a really big sin and then dies, am I to assume that GOD killed him?

If you are gifted to do that. Paul obviously was. He said some of the Corinthians were ill , and even some died, because of the way they treated some in the church with contempt.

I'm SO happy to hear ONE OTHER person say this.
God allows evil. We don't know why.
But He certainly cannot CAUSE evil. In the O.T., and also in the N.T., believers attributed everything to God. This does not mean they should have. Belief that God causes everything to happen is to deny the existence of satan.

Wondering

No offense, but I'm confident I will be wasting my time to fully explain to you what my school of thought actually means instead of the erroneous, incomplete view you have of it now. Here's something for you to consider:

18Micaiah said, “Therefore, hear the word of the LORD. I saw the LORD sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing on His right and on His left. 19“The LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab king of Israel to go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said this while another said that. 20“Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD and said, ‘I will entice him.’ And the LORD said to him, ‘How?’ 21“He said, ‘I will go and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ Then He said, ‘You are to entice him and prevail also. Go and do so.’ 22“Now therefore, behold, the LORD has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of these your prophets, for the LORD has proclaimed disaster against you.” (2 Chronicles 18:18-22 NASB)

"11For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness." (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 NASB)

Read them carefully and thoughtfully and see just how God can and will purposely cause bad things to happen.

 

[Malachi]

1:3 What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?

Once again we see the futility of life without God and without Christ. If someone would stop with simply that philosophy, he would commit suicide.

In stark contrast, we see the ministry given to Christ on earth, which must be continued by the Church (all believers) (Luke 4:16-21):
And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me
(1) to preach the gospel to the poor;
(2) he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
(3) to preach deliverance to the captives,
(4) and recovering of sight to the blind,
(5) to set at liberty them that are bruised,
(6) To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

 

[GodsGrace]

Once again we see the futility of life without God and without Christ. If someone would stop with simply that philosophy, he would commit suicide.

In stark contrast, we see the ministry given to Christ on earth, which must be continued by the Church (all believers) (Luke 4:16-21):
And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me
(1) to preach the gospel to the poor;
(2) he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
(3) to preach deliverance to the captives,
(4) and recovering of sight to the blind,
(5) to set at liberty them that are bruised,
(6) To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

Beautiful Malachi

God is our strength and our hope...

W

 

[GodsGrace]

Thank you.

Thank You is always appreciated.
But a fuller response stating your thoughts would also be appreciated.
Are you still stuck at 5? Why?

W