The Long View | SL 1.10 (July 2020)
In this newsletter
- Update on Travel, Teaching, and Corona: The Long View
- Paintings by Mel Arzamarski
- The Gift of Perspective: Reading Eccl 12:1–8
- Pray With Us
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The Long Pause, oil on panel, by Mel Arzamarski
Traveling, Teaching & Corona: The Long View
Years and years ago, back in my January newsletter, I wrote this:
My prayer for this year is that I would constantly rejoice in all the good things that the LORD has set in front of me and remember that life and ministry is here and now, not in a theoretical future (when I finish my PhD, for instance). This is the best way, I think, to be faithful day by day and to feel the LORD's joy in our work wherever we find ourselves.
I had no idea at the time what an important prayer that would prove to be. It is high time that I give you all, who pray for and empower everything that I am doing in the world, a bit of an update on where things stand with the work and ministry that I had planned.
Here was my list from January of ways we get to serve together in 2020. I've added some commentary to bring the report up-to-date.
For the rest of the academic year, I'll be focusing on making as much progress on my PhD thesis as I can.The academic year is over as of last week in the UK. This is more of a symbolic change than anything else cause PhD researchers work independently and year-round. I'm turning my attention now toward developing concrete steps to finish by next Fall.In July, I'll travel to N. India with TLI to teach pastors in a Muslim-dominated region how to read and interpret New Testament Epistles by studying the book of Ephesians. Incredible.This trip has been canceled. It's been quite a while since I was out there actually teaching in a classroom overseas, so I was really looking forward to this. It is not lost on me that this is "what I am paid to do." Nevertheless, the global pandemic has made international travel, especially to the developing world, impossible for the moment. If you haven't had the chance to read it, TLI has released a statement about Covid-19 and is monitoring the situation closely. We all desperately want to get back to the pastors and churches overseas that we partner with, and for my part I am happy to trust the leadership at TLI to make the call on when they feel that is safe again. I know they will do so at the earliest responsible moment.- In October, I'll be in Colorado to teach the inaugural Old Testament course on the Torah for an exciting new seminary called William Tennent School of Theology. This work is moving forward. As of right now I still intend to travel to CO in October. Worst case scenario here will have me teaching on Zoom if travel becomes impossible, but we're moving forward. This work has so much potential.
- In November, I'll attend the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in Boston, MA, where—LORD willing—I'll be presenting a paper and strengthening relationships with friends and colleagues in academia. My paper proposal was accepted, I'm slotted to present and registered for the conference. As of today the conference is moving forward, but again, the viability of this happening depends on the vagaries of viruses and governments, national and local.
- In December, I'll be back in Serbia with TLI to teach Old Testament II for the faithful, beleaguered future pastors of the Balkan states—one of my favorite places to teach and one of the most strategic locations where TLI works. Tentatively, this is also moving forward. Our partners in Serbia are holding classes and, barring a major flare-up of the virus, I intend to travel there in person. (This is significantly easier than coming from the States—Belgrade is a 3-hour flight and just one time zone from London).
In the meantime—during this long pause—we are actually still working. Thank you for supporting us and investing in us and in God's kingdom even when the exciting parts of the work are on hold. Each day I am sitting at my desk reading and writing furiously toward the day when I will get on an airplane and once again open God's word with faithful pastors of the global church who are eager to learn.
If you're interested I've put together a little thank-you for partnering with us in the form of a resource for studying the book of Ecclesiastes. In April and May I had a wonderful time working through that book with a number of you. Now, I want to make the notes available to everyone who might be interested in reading/studying through the book, whether on your own or with a friend or small group. Do know that these notes are quite rough around the edges, but I am excited to share them cause I think they will still be valuable and helpful to many. I'd love to know if they are useful to you or if you have suggestions to improve them.
FREE RESOURCE: Ecclesiastes: Finding Meaning in Life Despite Everything
Thank you for journeying with us.
A View of the Woods, oil on panel, by Mel Arzamarski
Work & Ministry Happenings
- William Tennent School of Theology goes live Aug 3, we have an online orientation for incoming students on Aug 5 and then we're up and running. I'm putting the finishing touches on the reading material for my Torah course over the next month.
- I've designed an aggressive research/writing schedule, while still trying to be realistic. I'm going to attempt to submit by October 2021. We'll see...
The Enduring Chill (II), gouache on paper, by Mel Arzamarski
Paintings by Mel Arzamarski
The art this month is by Mel Arzamarski, my super-wonderful sister-in-law. Mel's work is currently being featured in an exclusive group show at the Shin Gallery in Manhattan. If you want to see more or learn a little about her process Mel has had some nice features in the last couple of years in BOOOOOOOM and It's Nice That.
Here's an artist statement she wrote for New American Paintings:
Trompe l’oeil, fiction, and surrealism are the major influences on my work. When you believe in a trompe l’oeil painting, you are believing in nothing, and when that moment is broken, reality is questioned. This, in part, is the genre’s connection to surrealism. The play between the real and the unreal. Where there is an opportunity to question reality there is also an opportunity for the viewer to question themselves. Fiction plays at this slippage of reality. In a work of fiction, reality is concentrated. It is not naturalistic. All of the boring bits are cut out, and events unfold in rapid succession. What the reader is left with is the occasion to come to new understandings about reality in the work of fiction. The paintings offer the viewer parts that they, in turn, complete with their own experience.
I appreciate Mel's work because it reimagines the mundane as the magical. Mel takes patterns and perspectives that can appear tacky and old fashioned and makes you contemplate depth and beauty in them.
A Late Encounter with the Enemy, gouache on paper, by Mel Arzamarski
The Gift of Perspective: Reading Eccl 12:1–8
In the last few newsletters I’ve spent some time reflecting on the three thematic poems that frame the book of Ecclesiastes: 1:3–11; 3:1–8; and now 12:1–8. As Corona resurges and our news feeds flood with videos of senseless murder and violence, Qohelet (the Hebrew name of the teacher in Ecclesiastes) wants us to slow down and reflect on death. What value can this bring? You simply won’t feel the joy of life if you don’t feel the futility of death.
Eccl 12:1–8 (NET Bible)
1 So remember your Creator in the days of your youth—
before the difficult days come,
and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;
2 before the sun and the light of the moon and the stars grow dark,
and the clouds disappear after the rain;
3 when those who keep watch over the house begin to tremble,
and the virile men begin to stoop over,
and the grinders begin to cease because they grow few,
and those who look through the windows grow dim,
4 and the doors along the street are shut;
when the sound of the grinding mill grows low,
and one is awakened by the sound of a bird,
and all their songs grow faint,
5 and they are afraid of heights and the dangers in the street;
the almond blossoms grow white,
and the grasshopper drags itself along,
and the caper berry shrivels up—
because man goes to his eternal home,
and the mourners go about in the streets—
6 before the silver cord is removed,
or the golden bowl is broken,
or the pitcher is shattered at the well,
or the water wheel is broken at the cistern—
7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was,
and the life’s breath returns to God who gave it.
8 “Absolutely futile!” laments the Teacher,
“All of these things are futile!”
The Trappings of Death
The obscure yet vivid imagery of this poem intrigues us. We won’t be able to sort out every image here—no one can—but the message is not in the meaning of specific details or symbols but in the literary affect of the whole. More important than deciphering every image is making a decision about what you think the whole thing is describing, then even the images that you don’t understand can find a place within that larger picture.
Here’s an ancient Jewish interpretation of this passage from the Aramaic translation of the Old Testament called the Targum. It captures the allegorical “old-age reading.” Think of the Targums like an ancient version of The Message—a loose translation that was intended to capture a particular interpretation in everyday language.
Eccl 12:1–7 in the Aramaic Targum
1 Remember your Creator, to honor Him in your young days before evil days come upon you and years befall you about which you say, “I have no pleasure in them;” 2 before the splendor of the glory of your face, which is like the sun, and before the sight of your eyes is blinded, and before the beauty of your cheeks becomes blackened, and before the pupils of your eyes, which are like the stars, become dull, and before your eyelids flow with tears, as clouds after the rain; 3 in the day when your knees knock and your arms shake and the teeth of your mouth are useless so that they cannot chew food, and your eyes, which look through the window of your head, become dim; 4 and your feet will be prevented from going out into the street, and your desire for food leaves you, and you are awoken from your sleep on account of the sound of a bird as if on account of the sound of thieves, who go about in the night, and your lips will not be able to sing a song; 5 also, as for things that happened beforehand, you will be afraid to remember them, and a small heap in your sight will be like a tall mountain when you walk on the road, and you see the top of your spine like an almond because of deterioration, and your ankles are swollen, and you are hindered from the bed, for man turns to go to his grave, and the angels that seek your judgment go about as scribes, who go about in the streets to write the judgment of your account; 6 before your tongue becomes mute, (unable) to speak, and the brain in your head is crushed, and the gall of your liver is emptied, and your body runs to your grave; 7 and your flesh, which was created from the dust, returns to the earth, just as it was beforehand, and the spirit of your soul returns to stand in judgment before the Lord, who gave it to you.
This old-age reading is popular and enduring, but in order to make the interpretation work you have to take certain images as literal while others become elaborately symbolic. In v. 3 “those who keep watch over the house” are knees and the “the virile men” are arms while the “grinders” are teeth and “those who look through the windows” are eyes. The teeth and eyes make sense, but why are “those who keep watch” the knees and not the arms? Still other details in the poem are interpreted in a more literal manner—the fearful high places of v. 5 are hills that the very elderly will struggle to climb, but in v. 4 the song of a bird remains merely the song of a bird.
The obscurity of the images and the creativity of these interpretations suggests that we are not actually putting our finger on the original compositional idea of the poem. It is even possible that Qohelet has been deliberately obscure with his imagery so that it is not possible to pin it down to one clear context (think about modern poems by people like T. S. Eliot or W. H. Auden or ancient poems like Song of Songs).
Reading the Poem
For my part, I favor reading the poem as a description of a household economy coming to a standstill because of a death. Nevertheless, the poem is layered, dense, and evocative. The household in turn is described in imagery reminiscent of a human body with an introduction that uses apocalyptic language. All of this is highly metaphorical and open to a wide variety of interpretations. The poem describes the mourning process surrounding an individual’s death in cosmic terms. At the end of his book about the futility of human striving apart from God, Qohelet is pushing you to think about your own death against a cosmic backdrop.
The opening verses implicitly connect our failing bodies to a diminishing cosmos. As the days of extreme old age when the body fails draw near, you’ll have days where it is difficult to find pleasure (v. 1). Work, eating, and drinking can all become difficult. This is futility—our bodies begin returning to dust even before we die (Eccl 12:7, cf. Gen 2:7). But in v. 2 our bodies returning to dust is linked to the fates of the heavenly bodies. This language of the heavenly lights going dark is common in prophetic texts as a portent of judgement and the end of all things (Isa. 13:10; 14:12; Ezek 32:7; Joel 2:10, 31; Matt. 24:29; Mark 13:24, 25). The rhythms of our lives and the rhythms of creation are set against one another (cf. Eccl 1:4ff.; Enns 2011, 108).
With the use of “when” in v. 3, Qohelet zooms in on the time of death itself. If we picture the economy of a large, prosperous household, like the one Qohelet himself would have presided over, then we have images of guards (v. 3a), noble men (v. 3b), and women working at mills (v. 3c). The final line suggests the face of someone looking through a window “growing dark” (v. 3d). This could be a reference to people beginning to mourn, perhaps eyes filling with tears, or even to the master of the house—who typically watches over this economy—passing away. Stuart Weeks summarizes, “The images here are of various people, caught at a single moment of grief, when the household is shocked by a death.”
In light of the presence of death in the house, it is closed for business. Verse 4a–b describes a double door onto the marketplace being shut as all production ceases (the term used here shuq/street survives in Arabic to this day meaning “market stalls”). The next three lines are extremely obscure, but they seem to refer to bird song breaking the silence as mourners begin to sing. Incapable of having foreseen Covid-19, Dan Treier writes, “A social/apocalyptic understanding is possible too, for people seem to be ‘closing up shop’ due to nervousness, hiding quietly at home rather than boisterously enjoying music in the public square.”
The almond blossom, grasshopper, and caper berry have been interpreted in various ways—perhaps as symbols of old age, perhaps as further symbols of mourning or of loss of life. At the end of v. 5, however, it seems that whomever has died is being taken to the burial site by a progression of mourners through the streets. Stuart Weeks reflects, “We are supposed to envisage, perhaps, a procession that moves through the streets, against a background of natural fertility: the almond blossoms, ready to bear its fruits, the grasshopper carries within itself the next stage of its own development—pregnant, as it were, with the body that it will wear after its next moult—and the caper berry splits open to release its mass of seeds.” Death can’t stop the Spring. Nature goes on and on and on (Eccl 1:4–8).
In verse 6, Qohelet switches back to the “before” time frame and stacks up a series of images that likely all represent the moment of death: the sudden and irreversible destruction of life. The silver cord and golden bowl are images of a lamp or perhaps priceless jewelry. Either way they connote light. The pitcher and the wheel are integral to human life because they relate to the apparatus of collecting water. Life is a priceless shattered drinking vessel that can never be put together again.
Qohelet clearly has Genesis 2:7 in mind as he closes.
Gen 2:7
then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
Eccl 12:7
and the dust returns to the earth as it was,
and the life’s breath returns to God who gave it.
The climax of the poem brings all of this together by connecting each individual death full circle to the creation of the first man.
Seize the Eternal Day
Now that we’ve walked through Qohelet’s evocative poem together, maybe take a moment to circle back and re-read the whole slowly and meditatively. Notice its rhythms and tones. Qohelet is not teaching doctrines in propositions here but rather laying image on image to show rather than tell. He is drawing you into a feeling, a theological mood that is crucial to your discipleship. Life is good and God wants you to enjoy it whenever and wherever you are able, but you won’t feel the joy of life if you don’t feel the futility of death.
Death is inescapable. You can’t take your possessions with you. It will bring everything to a halt and then that’s it. You’ll go in the ground and you’ll stay there. Back to your creator with you. If we don’t feel the impending futility of death we will probably fail to live in the moment and will instead invest most of our time and our energy into pursuits and goals that have no lasting value.
In his dirge of an ending, Qohelet is looking death in the face one more time and urging us all to reflect on the therapeutic, moral nature of death. From dust you came and to dust you will return. This deeply humbling truth—if we take it to heart—forces us both to live in the present and to live in light of the final judgement. The kind of language that Qohelet uses, however, is picked up later by another sage who is extending his point. Like Qohelet, Jesus is making the point that death and judgement is coming for each of us and our present life is contingent upon it whether we realize it or not.
Matt 24:29–31, 40–51
29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. …
40 Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. 42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? 46 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 47 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. 48 But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ 49 and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, 50 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know 51 and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Jesus’s call to remember death and judgement is, if anything, significantly more bracing than Qohelet’s. But in Christian theology the restoration of all things only comes through death and judgement. There is no way to resurrection except through death. There is no way to justice except through the cross. This apocalyptic reflection on death and dying and the end of all of humanity opens up through judgement onto the New Heavens and the New Earth where there, famously, will be no more anxiety because “death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore," but rather Christ will make all things new (Rev 21:4–5). Qohelet’s call to remember our Creator is a call both to remember Christ and to remember our own mortality.
When you sit and reflect on your death or the death of a loved one it can clarify all this for you in light of Jesus Christ. The futility of pursuits in which we invest years of struggle and strain comes clear in a moment (Eccl 6:1–9). When we reflect on Qohelet’s poem in light of Christ it forces us to ask crucial questions:
What value does this or that pursuit that I am stressing over and pouring time into have in light of my death and in light of Christ's death?
The calculus can get complicated, but the answer is often simple. If we asked ourselves that question daily we would give up many of the things that Qohelet calls “futile… chasing the wind.” (Eccl 6:9). If we could, in the words of St. Benedict, “keep death daily before one’s eyes,” then we would be free to live in the moment, present to God and to those people he has placed before us (Eccl 9:7–10; 11:7–10). We might also then find that we enjoyed our lives more and in so doing we would bring glory to God and draw people toward his Kingdom and new life in Christ.
Your own personal death is a part of something much larger. Your own personal enjoyment of this life is a part of something much larger. When you enjoy your life in light of your death, you are enjoying the new world to come in light of Christ’s death, resurrection, and the coming judgement. It’s a bold move. One that rests deeply in God.
LORD help us to keep death daily before our eyes. Not so that we are filled with despair, but so that we are free from futility and chasing the wind. May we live each moment with eyes toward Christ and his Kingdom.
The Crop (II), gouache on paper, by Mel Arzamarski
Pray With Us
- Pray that world leaders would exercise wisdom as Corona continues to rage. Pray that true knowledge and best practices would prevail.
- Pray that my projected teaching and ministry with TLI & Tennent would be able to move forward safely and effectively.
- Pray for the people, churches, and ministries in the developing world who are facing undue strain and powerlessness in the face of Corona and it's economic impact.
- Pray that I am able to keep my research and writing on pace to finish my PhD by October 2021.
The Rain in Spain, oil on panel, by Mel Arzamarski
Notes:
- Peter Enns, Ecclesiastes (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans 2011), 108.
- Stuart Weeks, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Ecclesiastes, vol. 2, Commentary on Ecclesiastes 5:7–12:14 (London: T&T Clark, forthcoming), ad loc. 12:3–8.
- Daniel J. Treier, Proverbs & Ecclesiastes (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2011), 224.