How Should We Understand Ecclesiastes 2:26?
Surveys the three main scholarly approaches to the closing verse of Kohelet's 'royal fiction' — reading it as poetic justice, Divine arbitrariness, or a later pious gloss — and argues that each is internally inconsistent with Ecclesiastes' own worldview, concluding that the verse is best understood as a quoted position that Kohelet ultimately rejects as hevel.
Pinker examines the notoriously difficult closing verse of the “royal fiction” section of Ecclesiastes (1:12-2:26), which describes God granting wisdom and joy to one person while burdening a “sinner” with the toil of amassing wealth for another. He walks through the three classical readings — poetic justice, Divine arbitrariness, and later pious interpolation — showing each to be at odds with Kohelet’s broader outlook, and concludes that the verse most likely represents a popular view that the author cites only to brand as futile.
Aron Pinker has an M.Sc. in theoretical physics and mathematics from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and a Ph.D. in mathematics from Columbia University. He was professor of mathematics at Frostburg State University and a Principal Operation Research Scientist at ANSER. He resides in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Cite this article
Aron Pinker. "How Should We Understand Ecclesiastes 2:26?." Jewish Bible Quarterly 38, no. 4 (October – December 2010): 219–229.
Aron Pinker. "How Should We Understand Ecclesiastes 2:26?." Jewish Bible Quarterly, vol. 38, no. 4, 2010, pp. 219–229.