Maddening Repetition in Ecclesiastes

It’s hard to know the precise source of my increasing difficulties creating dialog for the final chapters of Ecclesiastes. Is my brain weary? Are extra stressors draining my creative juices (watching my dementia-inflicted wife slowly vanish is anguish; my client case load keeps me on my toes, I still don’t have a healthy routine for shopping and cooking)? Is the repetition in Ecclesiastes making me numb? 

Let’s explore this last possibility, repetition. At a later date I hope to describe my “energy managing strategy” for coping with grief. And if I get bored I can talk about my love/hate relationship with grocery stores and kitchens.

As I’ve said many times, I’m plowing through the book of Ecclesiastes one verse at a time, mulling over each phrase and imagining how a classroom of modern university students would react to Qoholeth’s utterances. In the early chapters the ideas came easily. How witty or insightful they are remains to be seen; for now I am purposely not rereading what I’ve written but rather tackle each new phrase without benefit of hindsight. Once I complete this first draft THEN I reread and edit, streamline, etc. 

But as the chapters progress (I’m up to 10:17) I find Mr. Q saying the same things over and over. This taxes my limited powers of imagination. At the risk of totally boring readers of this blog, here are his most repeated phrases (conveniently cut and pasted from the Westminster Theological Journal 37 (1974) 57-73. Copyright © 1974 by Westminster Theological Seminary. QOHELETH'S WORLD AND LIFE VIEW AS SEEN IN HIS RECURRING PHRASES by H. CARL SHANK: 

Phrase 1: “All is vanity" or “This is vanity" (1:2, 14; 2:1, 11, 17, 26, 15, 19,21,23; 3:19; 4:4, 8, 7, 16; 5:7(6), 10(9); 6:2, 4, 9, 11, 12; 7:6, 15; 8:10, 14; 9:9; 11:8, 10; 12:8 repetition of 1:2) 

Phrase 2: "under the sun" (1:3, 9, 14; 2:11, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22; 3:16; 4:1, 3, 7, 15; 5:13, 18; 6:1, 5, 12; 8:9, 15, 17: 9:3, 6, 9, 11, 13; 10:5) 

Phrase 3: "striving after wind" (1:14; 2:11, 17, 26; 4:4, 6; 6:9) 

Phrase 4: (a) "I perceived" (1:17; 2:14; 3:22) (b) "I said in my heart" (2:1, 15; 3:17, 18; 9:1) ( c) "I gave my heart to consider" & variations (1:13, 17; 2:3; 7:25; 8:9, 16; 9:1) 

Phrase 5: "There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink and make his soul enjoy good in his labor" (2:24; 3:12, 13; 3:22; 8:15; 5:18, 19; 9:7, 9 

Phrase 6: Instances employing some variation of “fear God" (5:7; 12:13; 3:14; 7:18; 8:12, 13) 

To which I add Phrase 7: Intimations that human knowledge is limited 

1. man will not find out the work which God has done 3:11

2. Who will bring him to see what will occur after him? 3:22 

3. It never sees the sun and in never knows anything 6:5 

4. Man may not discover anything that will be after him 7:14 

5. What has been is remote and exceedingly mysterious; who can discover it? 7:28 

6. I am still seeking but have not found out 7:28

7. who knows the interpretation of a matter? 8:1 

8. no one knows what will happen 8:6 

9. I concluded that man cannot discover the work which has been done 8:17a 

10. He cannot discover. 8:17b 

11. the dead do not know anything 9:5 

12. man does not know his time 9:12 

13. no man knows what will happen 10:14 

14. he does not even know how to go to a city 10:15 

15. you do not now what misfortune may occur 11:2 

16. you do not know the path of the wind 11:5 

17. you do not know (which) will succeed 11:8 

 How do I keep this repetition from driving readers crazy? How do I keep them from driving me crazy? This challenge inspires me and fuels my eagerness to get up early and stay up late. I enjoy working on this and 100 other puzzles in this Ecclesiastical literary and (eventually) artistic project.