Okay, gang. So I was in the process of doing some research on how various translations handle Ecclesiastes 11:5, and then I decided to check out the Hebrew for Ecclesiastes 11:5, as this is how I would translate the text myself. is Ecclesiastes 11:5, as I would translate it from Hebrew:
“Just as you do not know the way/path of the spirit like/as/to the bones in the womb of her that is full (pregnant), so also you do not know (yada) the works of G-d who makes all things.”
The text is made up of two phrases, set parallel in comparison to one another.
The spirit and the bones, and their way in the womb, are unknown to us, just as G-d is unknown, Solomon claims.
Now, I think Solomon’s theology was off.
It was off because as an Exhorter, he was designed to know G-d and just chose to not do so. He maxed out everything but that one bit: knowing G-d and making Him known.
“Yada” was used in Genesis 4:1 (Adam knew Eve), and Proverbs 3:6 (in all your ways, yada Him-KNOW Him). We can, and ought to know Him, even as we are fully known (1 Cor 13).
And I violently resist the idea that we cannot know, even in part, our Bridegroom. We were made, nay, DESIGNED, to search Him out.
It is the glory of G-d to conceal a matter and the glory/honor of a king to search the matter out (Proverbs 25:2, Revelation 1:6).
We should seek with all of our heart, soul, and might to adore, seek, love, and know Him (Deuteronomy 6:5).
Likewise, we should set ourselves to hunt for clues to the activity of the spirit.
And Ecclesiastes 11:5 gives us a clue on an activity of the spirit. Stay with me.
Within that phrase “the way/path of the spirit like/as/to the bones”, is a single Hebrew character, called a particle. This particle is translated “like/as/to”.
In Hebrew, we call this a Particle of Comparison, Proportion, or Similarity. It compares, relates, or sets in proportion two different objects: in this case, the spirit and the bones.
The English Standard Version translates the phrase “the way the spirit comes to the bones”.
What I like about the ESV on this point is that it communicates an idea that is near to something that is hinted at in the AHS teachings…
1) There is an importance of the skeletal system to life.
2) Therefore it was important that that system remain undefiled in Christ.
3) Likewise, the spirit is critical to life.
4) Therefore, perhaps we can say there is a life-giving tandem that is designed to occur between bones and spirit.
5) Perhaps the spirit is what clothes and vivifies the bones, as reflected in Ezekiel 37:3, and Proverbs 17:22 (extend the principle),
A half-baked potato, perhaps. And a theory I will hold onto loosely.
But, there you go.
My take on Ecclesiastes 11:5
This is really interesting. I’m going to think on this quite a while….