Over the last few posts, I’ve examined how Matthew and Mark draw their gospels to close. Since Luke has its sequel in the book of Acts, I want to leave it aside for the moment and turn to the gospel of John.
What does Ecclesiastes have to do with the gospel of John? Good question. For starters both Ecclesiastes and John end in much the same way.
This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written. (John 21:24-25)
Ecclesiastes:
In addition to being a wise man, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge; and he pondered searched out and arranged many proverbs. The Preacher sought to find delightful worlds and to write words of truth correctly. The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd. But beyond this, my son, be warned; the writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearing to the body. The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgement, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:9-14)
Notice how both Ecclesiastes and John end with a statement concerning many books. Ecclesiastes warns of an endless craving for books. John suggests that if all the deeds of Jesus were written, the whole world could not contain the books that would be written. Sounds similar doesn’t it?
Well if you think I making mountains out of mole hills there’s also a statistical connection. Out of the sixty-six books in the bible, only these two works end with a statement concerning books.
Dig a little deeper the connection between Ecclesiastes and John grows even stronger. Both endings, surpisingly, are postscripts written by someone other than the main author. The majority of Ecclesiastes is written from a first person perspective. Read it and you will see how many times the first person singular pronoun (a.k.a. “I”) appears. But the end refers to the author in the third person (i.e. the “Preacher”). John, like Ecclesiastes, also ends by the hand of someone other than the main author. “This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true.” Notice how “his” is not included in the “we.”
These connections shouldn’t come as a surprise for those familar with John’s Gospel. John intentionally creates many subtle allusions to the Old Testament. For example…
So the question is why does John establish a connection to the book of Ecclesiastes? I’ll focus on that question in my next post.
