“This chapter actually concludes the part of Ecclesiastes which is the most difficult to understand and interpret. Up to this point Solomon has written a lot of things which, to a Christian, do not make any sense at all. What is the explanation of this? … We find it impossible to believe that “all is vanity,” a declaration that occurs dozens of times in the book. Nor can it be true that men and animals have the same fate. Who can believe that, “Eat, drink, and be joyful,” is, in any sense whatever, the ultimate meaning and employment of life? It is impossible to believe that the “dead know nothing,” except in a limited sense. Moses and Elijah stood on the mountain of transfiguration and carried on a conversation with Jesus Christ. Of course, Solomon lived before the magnificent revelation of life and immortality that were brought to mankind in the life and teachings of the Christ; but Solomon’s father David certainly would never have said a lot of things that one finds in Ecclesiastes.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
That brother Coffman was trying to extend examples beyond what they were intended to make.<\/p>\n
“For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; Nevermore will they have a share In anything done under the sun<\/em>” (Ecclesiastes 9:5-6).<\/p><\/blockquote>\nWhy do the dead have no\u00a0more\u00a0<\/strong>reward? Because people who live after them have forgotten them. This is not about eternal reward because we have not received that yet, let alone have more of it. The rewards here are about the honors people give in memory of what you have done.<\/p>\n“All things come alike to all:\u00a0One event happens<\/strong>\u00a0to the righteous and the wicked; To the good, the clean, and the unclean; To him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; He who takes an oath as he who fears an oath. This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that\u00a0they go to the dead<\/strong><\/em>” (Ecclesiastes 9:2-3).<\/p><\/blockquote>\nSolomon’s point is that one event (death) happens to everyone. It doesn’t matter if you are good, bad, clean, unclean, religious, or faithless. In a sense, Solomon is saying it is a shame that how a person lives here on earth doesn’t change whether they die or not.<\/p>\n
The claim that Solomon didn’t know enough is one that denies that Ecclesiastes was written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,\u00a0for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit<\/strong><\/em>” (II Peter 1:19-21). That brother Coffman was unable to understand what Holy Spirit wrote through Solomon only reflects brother Coffman’s lack of understanding and not that the Spirit’s words could not be understood and are consistent with the rest of the Scriptures.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Question: In your article, “Do people know what is happening on earth after their death?“, you plainly state the dead don’t know what happens on Earth. After looking at Coffman’s Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 9 he points out interesting points in the chapter. If dead refers to “dead people” in verse 5, what is meant by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[109,791],"class_list":["post-41693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-death","tag-ecclesiastes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10465,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-people-know-what-is-happening-on-earth-after-their-death\/","url_meta":{"origin":41693,"position":0},"title":"Do people know what is happening on earth after their death?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 21, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do saved people, after they go to heaven, know what is going on down here on earth? Answer: Those who have died are no longer involved in the activities on earth. \"For the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing, and they have no more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41750,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-bow-to-elders-or-at-the-graves-of-those-who-had-died\/","url_meta":{"origin":41693,"position":1},"title":"Is it wrong to bow to elders or at the graves of those who had died?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 29, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I have a few questions, I hope you don't mind. In East Asian countries, it is customary to bow to elders and those older than you. Is this not allowed? Also, it is customary to bow to ancestors who've passed away at their graves. Is this not allowed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38508,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-moses-and-elijah-on-the-mountain-prove-that-the-dead-can-be-involved-in-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":41693,"position":2},"title":"Does Moses and Elijah on the Mountain prove that the dead can be involved in life?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read your post in response to a question posted by someone on\u00a0why Protestants don't say the rosary. But one thing I need more clarification on is this statement you made: \"Besides, the Bible is very clear that those who have died are no longer aware of events on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20187,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-it-wrong-to-pray-to-saints\/","url_meta":{"origin":41693,"position":3},"title":"Why is it wrong to pray to saints?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why is it wrong for Catholics to pray to saints? Answer: Well, first of all, prayers to someone dead is an exercise in futility. The dead cannot hear your prayers. They are no longer involved in life. \"For the living know that they will die; but\u00a0the dead know nothing,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31658,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-there-ghost-amongst-us\/","url_meta":{"origin":41693,"position":4},"title":"Are There “Ghost Amongst Us”?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jack Wise Jr. \u00a0 Many believe the spirits of dead people walk on the earth. Many \"psychics\" claim they can speak to the dead. Is it true? Do the spirits of the deceased rise from the grave and walk amongst us? Solomon, the wisest man to have ever lived,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/ghost.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":32133,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-stillborns-or-children-who-die-at-a-very-young-age-get-a-second-chance-at-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":41693,"position":5},"title":"Do stillborns or children who die at a very young age get a second chance at life?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello. I have one question. If you are a baby and you die as a stillborn or die at a very young age, do you get a second chance to prove yourself to God? Thank you. Answer: \"And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41693\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}