Thomas Bolin, «Rivalry and Resignation: Girard and Qoheleth on the Divine-Human Relationship», Vol. 86 (2005) 245-259
This article looks at the repeated gnomic phrase in the Book
of Qoheleth, "All is vanity and a chasing after wind" (NRSV) and reads it as a
disjunctive parallelism in which the terms lbh
and xwr denote mortality and the divine spirit,
respectively, thus showing the sense of the phrase to be, "All is mortal, but
strives for immortality". Using René Girard’s concept of mimetic rivalry
clarifies this reading of the proverb, and shows it to be a concise expression
of a major theme in the Book of Qoheleth, viz., the author’s thoughts on the
difference between humanity and God, understood as paradoxical relationship
based on both similarity and difference between humans and the divine. More
importantly, Girard helps to understand more deeply how and why Qoheleth views
human proximity with the divine as the cause of conflict and pain in human life.
Because this tension is also evident in numerous other biblical and
extra-biblical texts, caution must be exercised, in referring to the Book of
Ecclesiastes as a "radical" or "heterodox" writing.
248 Thomas Bolin
almost inconceivably large number of people (lkl µ[hAlkl ≈qAˆayˆ
wnypl hyhArva), there will be no glory for the young man in the future;
this is lbh. The term is also used in 9,9 as an adjective describing
human life, as Qoheleth counsels his reader to enjoy the fleeting days
given to a man by God with the woman he loves (12).
b) jwr as Life-Breath
The two nouns of the second colon are in a construct relationship.
While commentators agree that tw[r expresses the attempt to control,
either by mastery, or capture, or destruction, there is continued
speculation on its root, with proposals from both Hebrew (h[r:
“pastureâ€, “shepherdâ€; [[r: “be evilâ€, “smashâ€, “shatter)†and Aramaic
(w[r: “willâ€, decisionâ€) (13). The fact that the phrase is as an objective
genitive, with jwr the object of tw[r, gives the phrase the sense that
humankind’s desire is to capture, rule over, control, or master jwr (14).
That being said, there has not been much disagreement over the
meaning of the second term in the bicolon. For the most part, jwr is
translated as “wind†and the phrase “striving after wind†is read as a
metaphor for futility. A representative example is C. L. Seow, who
cites Hos 12,2, where the phrase “herds the wind†(jwr h[r) is in
parallelism with “pursues the east wind†(µydq πdrw), and then cites
examples in the Wisdom Literature where jwr signifies the wind as
something worthless or futile (15).
Yet, jwr also has a figurative meaning that denotes spirit, either as
the agent of divine action or the animating principle of humanity (16).
The term occurs throughout the OT with this meaning, including the
Wisdom Literature in general and Qoheleth in particular (17). By way
(12) Jerome rendered the Hebrew Ëšlbh yyj as vitae instabilitatis tuae, one of
the rare occurrences in the Vg where lbh is not translated by vanitas.
(13) On the objective genitive, see JOÜON-MURAOKA, § 129e, who notes that
the objective genitive may take an impersonal noun (e.g., µrz rts in Isa 32,2). On
the other hand, Fox reads it as a genitive of material, and translates “windy
thoughts†(A Time to Tear Down, 48).
(14) HALAT, s.v., [r III or h[r II. This is how the LXX read the term,
translating it with a participial form of proairevw. T. Perry (Dialogues with
Kohelet. The Book of Ecclesiastes [University Park 1993] 69) derives tw[r from
[r, “friendâ€, and translates the second bicolon as: “an affair with the windâ€.
(15) Seow (Ecclesiastes, 122) citing Prov 11,29; 27,16; 30,4; Job 15,2; 16,3;
followed by MILLER, Symbol and Rhetoric, 92-94.
(16) HALAT, s.v., jwr, sections 6-12 and H. FABRY, “jwrâ€, TDOT 13:365-402
for parallels in Northwest Semitic and Akkadian.
(17) E.g., Job 12,10; 32,8; 33,4; 34,14; Prov 15,4; 16,2; Pss 104,29; 146,4.
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