Eccl 3:11

Post by **_Rae** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 11:19 pm

"He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end."

What in the WORLD does this mean?? I love the book "Eternity In Their Hearts", but this is the verse that the book is based off of, and it does not look to me like the verse is saying what the author is wanting it to say.

Anyone wanna help me out?

Post by **_Paidion** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 3:59 pm

Okay, I'll try. I am not convinced that my interpretation is correct, but it's the best I can do. I have looked at the Greek septuagint, and at the Hebrew words (little as I know) and at a number of conflicting commentaries.

First we need a good translation. I regret that I cannot retain the beautiful, literary "eternity in their heat", since "eternity" is NOT the meaning of "owlam" in Hebrew, or "aiOn" in Greek. The following seems to be a correct translation:

He has made everything beautiful in its time; also he has put the age into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out [all] that God has done from the beginning to the end.

Everything is beautiful in its time. Butterflies, although short-lived are beautiful. There is beauty in animals, plants, and mankind itself. God has put "the age", that is, the duration of our lives, or rather, that which we experience during our lives, into our hearts and minds. We find out many things about God's beautiful creations. But these experiences which God allows us to have, are limited in such a way that we cannot find out all, not even all about any individual subject. For example, we can study a butterfly, and the longer we study it, the more we learn. But we realize we can always learn more, and that we cannot come to an exhaustive knowledge of that butterfly ---- or any other of God's creations.