WHAT DO YOU EXPECT:
Ecclesiastes for Today
By Melvin Tinker
EP Books. 198 pages. £9.99
ISBN 978 1 783 970 063
If you want an introduction to Ecclesiastes that is direct and readable, start here.
Melvin Tinker deals with the main problems posed by this enigmatic piece of biblical wisdom without getting into the knots that some commentaries seem to.
The main theme is set in the first chapter ‘Bubbles and Smoke’. Subsequent chapters present life’s enigmas that seem to be unsolv-able: everything is passing and slips through our fingers when we try to find some ultimate meaning to hold on to. Whether it be in education, pleasure or work, wealth or political ambition, ageing, suffering and death, ‘life under the sun’ is vanity (hebel). The eternal round never changes from one generation to another. However, this is neither a pessimistic example of modern existential absurdity nor a shunning of the material world as generative of bad karma. The Christian cannot share Monty Python’s view of life! When looked at from the perspective of eternity, life is a gift of God and wisdom recommends we count our days, look to him and enjoy it while it lasts.
The key that unlocks the enigma is found not in this incomplete OT revelation but in the person of Jesus who makes our days meaningful and bright and brings life and immortality to light by his coming. What is missing in Melvin Tinker’s selection of passages, although mentioned several times, is a detailed exposition of the concept of wisdom itself in Ecclesiastes 7 in the light of Proverbs 2: ‘the Lord gives wisdom’. Many of the sources and illustrations the author uses are useful and engaging, even if I admit to be allergic to quotations from Lord of the dance.
