The Nudge

March 28, 2018

“I just got off the phone with Yala. They want us to lead a day’s seminar on the Wisdom Literature. I’ll do Job, so you can do the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, or Song of Solomon.” Joel hung up while I wondered what in the world I could possibly do with any of those in a half day seminar. I suppose I should have jumped into the Psalms. I could talk about Hebrew poetry, about the different kinds of Psalms, their organization, and the Messianic psalms. It could only be an introductory overview, but I think I could manage it. 

Unfortunately, my first thought went to Ecclesiastes, a rather pessimistic philosophical tome that historically, many have wondered why it was included in the canon of Scripture. The key word in Ecclesiastes is “vanity;” in which the author speaks of the futility of life and the emptiness of human effort. It’s perhaps the darkest book in the Bible, even surpassing the dirge of Lamentations that bemoans the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian armies. I haven’t paid much attention to Ecclesiastes since college days when I took a course on Wisdom Literature, in which this book took a minor role. I have to admit I’m a bit nervous; I have less than a week to put this teaching together. On the other hand, the challenge is a gift, one of those hard blessings that force us to rise to the occasion or go under. I don’t plan on doing the latter, so I guess I’ll have to do the former, thankful for the nudge to dig into the text and learn.