Qoheleth 4'412

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Two is better than One

• Qoheleth 4.4-12

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Tolstoy's "Father Sergius"
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Collaboration

• David Noel Freedman

• Frank Moore Cross

Two Dissertations Early Hebrew Orthography A
Study of the Epigraphic Evidence Studies in
Ancient Yahwistic Poetry
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Open Source-ism

• "When programmers can read, redistribute, and
  modify the source code for a piece of software,
  the software evolves. People improve it, people
  adapt it, people fix bugs. And this can happen at
  a speed that, if one is used to the slow pace of
  conventional software development, seems
  astonishing." http//www.opensource.org/

• Linuss Law "Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are
  shallow" Eric Steven Raymond, The Cathedral and
  the Bazaar

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Collaboration/Open Source Spirituality

• "Individual spiritual dynamics and corporate
  spiritual dynamics are interdependent . . . ."
  Lovelace, Dynamics of Spiritual Life

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Qoheleth 4.4-6

• I saw that every toil
• and every achievement of work,
• that it is envy of each his companion.
• This, also is absurd and senseless!
• The fool clasps his hands together
• and eats his own flesh.
• Better is a palm full earned calmly
• than two fistfuls earned by toil and senseless
  thought.

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Qoheleth 4.7-8

• I turned and saw an absurdity under the sun
• There was a solitary one, but he did not have a
  companion (a second),
• Either was there a son nor a brother to him.
• Yet there is no end to his toil,
• also, his eye is not satisfied with wealth.
• "So for whom am I toiling and depriving myself of
  good?"
• This, also is absurd and a terrible business.

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Qoheleth 4.9-10

• Better are two than one,
• because they have a good reward for their toil.
• For if they fall, one can help his companion up.
• But woe to the lone one that falls,
• and there is not another (second) to lift him up.

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Qoheleth 4.11-12

• Furthermore, if two lie down they will be warm,
• but how can the lone one keep warm?
• And if someone attacks the lone one,
• the two can stand against him.
• The three-ply cord will not quickly be snapped.

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Qoheleth in General

• Interpretative Options
• Qoheleth as being too cynical and therefore not
  usable for Christianity
• Qoheleth as a Nihilist (Sekine)
• Qoheleth as a Skeptical Seeker (Crenshaw)
• There is actually a positive message to the
  Qoheleth.

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Qoheleth as a Preacher of Joy

• 1. "What good things God has given us are
  intended for our enjoyment, and in the giving of
  them he has shown his approval of our actions. To
  enjoy them is actually to do his will." Whybray

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Qoheleth as a Preacher of Joy

• 2. "We must accept our ignorance of Gods
  purposes and of the reason why he has permitted
  evil to exist in the world and we must take life
  as we find it and enjoy what we can, because
• We cannot change the fate which God has chosen
  for us
• We cannot know what God has in store for us
• Life is short and death inevitable." Whybray

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Qoheleth as a Preacher of Joy

• 3. "The recognition that toil is part of what God
  has allotted to us in this life, and that
  reliance on our own efforts is vain, enables us
  to find enjoyment even in our toils." Whybray

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1. Envy verses Companionship

• Qoh 4.4 "I saw that every toil and every
  achievement of work, that it is envy of each his
  companion. This, also is absurd and senseless!
• ". . . envy inspires competition and thus twists
  the noble sense of vocation into an exercise in
  rivalry, into an upward and onward quest in the
  pursuit of dominance." W. Brown

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2. Without Companionship

• Qoh 4.8 There was a solitary one, but he did not
  have a companion (a second). Neither was there a
  son nor a brother to him. Yet there is no end to
  his toil. Also, his eye is not satisfied with
  wealth. "So for whom am I toiling and depriving
  myself of good?" . . . .

• Rashi wrote, "He conducts his affairs alone. He
  does not take a disciple (who is like a son), or
  a companion in Torah study (who is like a
  brother), or a business partner, or a wife (who
  would be a helpmate)."

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3. The Reward is Better

• Qoh 4.9 Better are two than one, because they
  have a good reward for their toil.
• Toil has worth when the benefits can be share
  with others!

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4. Help When We Fall

• Qoh 4.10 For if they fall, one can help his
  companion up. But woe to the lone one that falls,
  and there is not another (second) to lift him up.
• "Since it is not ordinarily difficulty to get up
  after a fall, we should understand the saying as
  alluding to any trouble or failure in life." M.
  Fox

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5. Warm together

• Qoh 4.11 Furthermore, if two lie down they will
  be warm, but how can the lone one keep warm?

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6. When Attacked

• Qoh 4.12 And if someone attacks the lone one,
  the two can stand against him. The three-ply cord
  will not quickly be snapped.
• Qohelet intimates that because life's journey is
  difficult and perilous, it is better that one not
  face it alone. L. Seow

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Gilgamesh and Hubbaba

• 102. Gilgamesh answered Enkidu
• 103. Stop, Enkidu! the 'second' companion will
  not die. The towed boat will not sink.
• 104. No one can sever the three-fold cord.
• 105. In the protection of the wall, no one will
  be swept away.
• 106. In the well-woven hut the fire will not be
  extinguished.
• 107. Help me, and I will help you and who can
  trouble us?

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Companionship

• Companionship, in toil and life's many hardships,
  is the Qoheleth's answer to "redeem an
  intolerable situation." Ogden
• Companionship gives meaning and purpose to life.

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Martin Luther

• "In his preface to The German Mass Luther
  suggested that one way in which the church might
  be transformed was through ecclesiolae in
  ecclesia, little churches within the church,
  consisting of groups of earnest and seeking lay
  people meeting for prayer and instruction in
  homes." Lovelace

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Johann Arndt Philip Spener

• "At the end of the sixteenth century Johann Arndt
  made use of collegia pietatis, as the groups were
  called . . . ." Lovelace
• The collegia was included in Philip Jacob Spener,
  infamous Pia Desideria. It was what he suggested
  needed to happen in the church to bring about
  reforms.

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Count Zinzendorf Herrnhut

• "Brotherly Agreement" "In essentials, unity in
  non-essentials, liberty in all things charity."
• "There can be no Christianity without community."

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John Wesley

• The Holy Club at Oxford
• Methodist The Class Meetings The Band System
• "To speak each of us in order, freely and
  plainly, the true state of our souls, with the
  faults we have committed in thought, word or
  deed, and the temptations we have felt, since our
  last meeting." "Rules of the Band-Societies"

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Two is better than One