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About this book

Ecclesiastes

About this book
Chapter 11

1 Send your grain overseas, for after many days you will get a return. 2 Divide your merchandise among seven or even eight investments, for you do not know what calamity may happen on earth. 3 If the clouds are full of rain, they will empty themselves on the earth, and whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, the tree will lie wherever it falls. 4 He who watches the wind will not sow, and he who observes the clouds will not reap. 5 Just as you do not know the path of the wind or how the bones form in the womb of a pregnant woman, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.⁠ 6 Sow your seed in the morning, and do not stop working until the evening; for you do not know which activity will succeed—whether this one or that one, or whether both will prosper equally. 7 Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for a person to see the sun. 8 So, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all, but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many—all that is about to come is obscure. 9 Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes, but know that God will judge your motives and actions.⁠ 10 Banish emotional stress from your mind and put away pain from your body; for youth and the prime of life are fleeting.

Texts in conversation

Compare Numbers 15:39 and Ecclesiastes 11:9

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Ecclesiastes 11 inverts the meaning of Numbers 15, where Israel is told not to follow the heart and eyes. Ecclesiastes, by contrast, encourages the young to follow their heart and eyes, creating a direct contrast in meaning and attitude.

Passages

Numbers 15:39

Hebrew Bible
37 The Lord spoke to Moses: 38 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them to make tassels for themselves on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and put a blue thread on the tassel of the corners. 39 You must have this tassel so that you may look at it and remember all the commandments of the Lord and obey them and so that you do not follow after your own heart and your own eyes that lead you to unfaithfulness. 40 Thus you will remember and obey all my commandments and be holy to your God. 41 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.”
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Numbers

Ecclesiastes 11:9

Hebrew Bible
7 Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for a person to see the sun. 8 So, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all, but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many—all that is about to come is obscure. 9 Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes, but know that God will judge your motives and actions. 10 Banish emotional stress from your mind and put away pain from your body; for youth and the prime of life are fleeting.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ecclesiastes

References

"... When scholars note what Thomas Krüger (2004, 196) calls the “provocative allusion” to Numbers 15:39 in Ecclesiastes 11:9, they rarely comment on the nature of the allusion beyond observing, like the rabbis, the way it “blatantly contradicts” Numbers. The rabbis’ concern does seem to be with a potential contradiction in meaning and not necessarily Qoheleth’s direct allusion to and rejection of the Numbers text. One midrashic reading even justifies the necessity of the apparently self-evident command in Numbers 15:39 to choose “the right way” over “any way [one] likes” by arguing that it serves as a corrective to Ecclesiastes 11:9. The lexical connections between the two verses are indeed rather limited. “Heart” and “eyes” are common terms. However, even though the allusion is subtle, when combined with the strong thematic link, it is certainly recognizable, as its recognition by the rabbis and numerous scholars demonstrates. It appears the author of Ecclesiastes had Numbers 15:39 in mind when he wrote and that he wanted his readers to recall the verse as well ..."
Will Kynes, “Follow Your Heart and Do Not Say It Was a Mistake: Qoheleth’s Allusions to Numbers 15 and the Story of the Spies,” in Reading Ecclesiastes Intertextually, ed. Katharine Dell and Will Kynes (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2014), 15–27.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Numbers 15:39 and Ecclesiastes 11:9

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