01-14-2008, 12:00 AM
Hi Bob.
It's great to see you post here.
"Ecclesiastes says there is a time to speak and a time to keep silent."
It seems to me you have a beautiful and poignant interpretation of the Bible verse that inspired the song "Turn Turn Turn" by the Birds.
On one level, it's simply saying that there's a time to speak and a time to listen, and that it's not necessarily about mental quietude.
Do you believe the author purposely hid one idea inside another? Why not simply say "Silence is a fundamental spiritual exercise"? Why do you suppose the author would want to say something so cryptically?
I'm not asking about IF the ideas are purposely couched within each other, I'm asking what it accomplishes to be so arcane.
I am thinking about the story of Elijah, waiting to hear God. God was not in the wind, God was in the "Still small voice".
To me, that's a more purposeful allusion to mental quietude, even though it's also about the difference in what God and men think of as being important. It indicates that the Bible will speak plainly about the subject of silence.
Why would Ecclesiastes be so obtuse?
"Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength"
It's great to see you post here.
"Ecclesiastes says there is a time to speak and a time to keep silent."
It seems to me you have a beautiful and poignant interpretation of the Bible verse that inspired the song "Turn Turn Turn" by the Birds.
On one level, it's simply saying that there's a time to speak and a time to listen, and that it's not necessarily about mental quietude.
Do you believe the author purposely hid one idea inside another? Why not simply say "Silence is a fundamental spiritual exercise"? Why do you suppose the author would want to say something so cryptically?
I'm not asking about IF the ideas are purposely couched within each other, I'm asking what it accomplishes to be so arcane.
I am thinking about the story of Elijah, waiting to hear God. God was not in the wind, God was in the "Still small voice".
To me, that's a more purposeful allusion to mental quietude, even though it's also about the difference in what God and men think of as being important. It indicates that the Bible will speak plainly about the subject of silence.
Why would Ecclesiastes be so obtuse?
"Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength"