A time to search and a time to give up
A Time for Everything

A time to search and a time to give up. Do you recognize that? Maybe it reminds you of a song by The Seekers – Turn, Turn, Turn. Which was based on a passage in the Bible. Either way, I feel like it’s time. Maybe it’s time for you as well?

You probably recognize the source for the adjacent image. Sherlock Holmes. Master detective. He can find anything and anyone.

Sometimes we need to do some searching too.

I need to. But not to find something anyone wants. Not even me.

Instead, I’m looking for something to “lose”. To get rid of. To, in a Biblical sense, give up.

It’s not a New Year’s resolution. Although, if it helps you, it could be one.

No. The things I’m looking for are things that seem to be taking me away from the things I really want to do.

A time for everything

A time for everything. Does that help you identify the source for the title?

A Time for Everything

Ecc 3:1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

Ecc 3:2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

Ecc 3:3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

Ecc 3:4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

Ecc 3:5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

Ecc 3:6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

Ecc 3:7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

Ecc 3:8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
…

There it is – the first portion of verse 6.

A time for everything isn’t easy

Sometimes it’s hard to know what to do with Ecclesiastes. It can be so sarcastic. And it often makes everything appear to be pointless. Even life itself. And yet, it reaches a conclusion that tells us life isn’t pointless at all.

And sometimes it has things like this passage. It’s so true. So important.

It’s also so contradictory, even within an individual verse.

But then, doesn’t that make it all the more relevant to our lives? And therefore, also very important in our lives?

It’s funny though. The software that tells me how “good” my title is says this: I have no emotional words. No power words. And the title has a positive sentiment. Really? I think few people would agree with any of those assessments. Unless, of course, they already know what this is about. Or if they’re minimalists.

But even there, with the contradictions built into the verses, how can they not be emotional? How can they not be powerful? And how can they be positive, when there’s a built-in opposite that should scream negativity?

A time to search isn’t easy

So, if you agree with the assessment of my AI title analyzer, wake up! It’s time to search.

This isn’t meant to be positive. Sure, the result is. But the path to the end shouldn’t be. We’re talking about giving up things and throwing them out! Things we, for whatever reason, have been hanging onto.

It’s not going to be easy. It is, in a very real way, like a mini version of becoming a Christian. Changing our desires from what we want for ourselves to what God wants for us.

And it’s supposed to be that way. At least it is for me. Because that’s the problem. I feel like I’m being dragged away from the things I want to do for God’s Kingdom. If you’re a regular reader here, you probably noticed that the number of things I’ve written has dropped the last few months. Practically dropped off a cliff would be more like it.

So that’s what I’m searching for. What caused that? It’s time to search and find out.

a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away

When you read the four things above, you probably think you know what they all mean. I’ll probably grant that you do know search, keep, and throw away. But you may very well be surprised about “give up”. Why? Because we read “give up” in our English scriptures that we call The Bible. But they’re originally Hebrew words in Jewish Scripture. And the Hebrew word doesn’t line up so neatly with “give up”.

Here’s some info on that Hebrew word:

6 אָבַד (ʾā·ḇǎḏ): v.; ≡ Str 6; TWOT 2—1. LN 20.31–20.60 (qal) destroyed, ruined, be lost, i.e., be in a state of ruin and destruction pertaining to an object, including the death of a person (Ex 10:7); (piel) destroy, annihilate, exterminate, wipe out, i.e., cause to destroy an object (Nu 33:52); (hif) destroy (Dt 7:10); 2. LN 13.69–13.103 (qal) not exist, i.e., have a state no longer existing (Eze 19:5); 3. LN 28.1–28.16 (qal) be lost, i.e., be in a state of wandering, in which the whereabouts of an object is unknown, so in a state lacking knowledge about an object (1Sa 9:3); 4. LN 15.18–15.26 (qal) wandering, act as a nomad, i.e., to go from place to place with no particular plan, as a lifestyle of some groups of people (Dt 26:5); 5. LN 57.146–57.151 (piel) squander, waste, i.e., showing a total lack of value for the object wasted (Pr 29:3), see also domain LN 65.1–65.16; 6. LN 15.160–15.164 (piel) expel, i.e., to drive one by force from an area (Eze 28:16); 7. LN 25.288–25.296 unit: (qal) אָבַד לֵב (ʾā·ḇǎḏ lēḇ) lose courage, formally, ruin of heart, i.e., be in a state of hopelessness, lacking confidence in a future situation (Jer 4:9); 8. LN 88.262–88.270 unit: (qal) אָבַד אֵת לֵב (ʾā·ḇǎḏ ʾēṯ lēḇ) internal corruption, formally, ruin the heart, i.e., engage in a behavior which is a moral deviation from what is right (Ecc 7:7)  ²Swanson, J. (1997). In Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.). Logos Research Systems, Inc.

Tell me – which of those bolded words sounds anything like “give up”? If you need a hint – none of them.

Assuming the grammar was correct, some of those options can be eliminated. Having said that, I often wonder about these kinds of grammar checking things. I know my grammar isn’t always correct. I write the way I talk – hopefully to be more understandable. Today. Not years and years from now.

In any case, even if we include only the correct grammatical forms, we’re still left with:

6 אָבַד (ʾā·ḇǎḏ): v.; ≡ Str 6; TWOT 2—

1. LN 20.31–20.60 (piel) destroy, annihilate, exterminate, wipe out, i.e., cause to destroy an object (Nu 33:52); 

2. LN 13.69–13.103 

3. LN 28.1–28.16 

4. LN 15.18–15.26 

5. LN 57.146–57.151 (piel) squander, waste, i.e., showing a total lack of value for the object wasted (Pr 29:3), see also domain LN 65.1–65.16;

6. LN 15.160–15.164 (piel) expel, i.e., to drive one by force from an area (Eze 28:16);

7. LN 25.288–25.296 unit:  ³Swanson, J. (1997). In Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.). Logos Research Systems, Inc.

Now that we’ve narrowed it down, it still doesn’t sound like “give up”.

If anything, this is a search and destroy mission, not a search, catch, and release kind of thing.

Does אָבַד (ʾā·ḇǎḏ) really mean destroy?

So, what does אָבַד (ʾā·ḇǎḏ) really mean? Is it give up, or is it destroy?

Let’s go to my normal version, Young’s Literal Translation, to see what it has for this verse:

6 A time to seek, And a time to destroy. A time to keep, And a time to cast away.  ⁴Young, R. (1997). Young’s Literal Translation (Ec 3:6). Logos Bible Software.

It says destroy.

Why?

Does אָבַד (ʾā·ḇǎḏ) mean “give up” or “Destroy”?

So which is it? Why does one Bible translation have something benign like “give up” while another has the very drastic and emotional destroy?

Get your Sherlock Holmes gear together.

And if you’re not really curious yet, please try to find some curiosity. It might’ve killed the cat, but curiosity is good for those who want to understand the Bible.

If we don’t know what it meant when it was written, how can we hope to extrapolate that to our world today?

Let’s begin our search for an answer. An answer that, oddly enough, will cause us to keep one word, but give up the other.

Oops – the meaning of אָבַד (ʾā·ḇǎḏ) depends on …

Would you believe, the meaning of אָבַד (ʾā·ḇǎḏ) depends on who we believe wrote Ecclesiastes? And if that wasn’t bad enough, the reason it depends is that who wrote it puts it on either side of the following piece of information I found.

(6) To lose.—Elsewhere this word means to destroy, but in the later Hebrew it comes to mean to lose, like the Latin “perdere.”  ⁵Ellicott, C. J., ed. (n.d.). A Bible Commentary for English Readers (Vol. 4, p. 370). Cassell and Company, Limited.

So the meaning of אָבַד (ʾā·ḇǎḏ) comes down to whether it’s considered “later Hebrew” or not. That’s not so odd. We have usage changes in our languages today as well. But here’s why the argument over its meaning gets kind of strange.

Who wrote Ecclesiastes and why it matters

I used Bing Chat to do some research here. I wasn’t looking for the single best/correct answer. Rather, it was a search for various opinions on who wrote Ecclesiastes and, as a result, when was it written. I did check its references, which is one of the good points about Bing compared with other Chat bots, and found them all to be reliable, in my opinion.

There was a time when it was accepted that Solomon wrote it. However, as times change, as people look to make their mark in scholarly literature, and as we live in a time where it’s popular to give up – or is it destroy – knowledge from the past, we now have this to reconcile:

I asked about the relative timelines for Genesis, Malachi, and Ecclesiastes. Since Genesis (or Job) was presumably an early book and Malachi the latest in the Old Testament, it seemed like a possible way to determine whether Ecclesiastes was early or later Hebrew.

According to some sources, the book of Ecclesiastes was written between 450 and 180 BCE, while the book of Genesis was written over a time frame of 1500 years, from about 1400 to 400 BCE. The book of Malachi was written around 430 BCE, shortly after the return of the Jews from the Babylonian exile. Therefore, Ecclesiastes was written after Genesis and around the same time as Malachi.

According to some sources, Solomon was born around 1000 BCE and died at the age of 70. He became king at 30 and reigned for 40 years. He was the son of King David and Bathsheba, and the builder of the first Temple of Jerusalem. He is also known for his wisdom and wealth, as well as his many wives and concubines. He is revered in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as a prophet and a king.

Yes, it is all over the place.

For today’s topic, maybe the issue “only” relates to the meaning of the word we read as “give up”.

However, the impact of things like this is far greater. It can even go to the level of affecting our faith.

I just wrote about that in Who wrote Genesis? Why it matters what you think.

You can see in the inset box, what may appear to be little more than an academic exercise can turn into one huge problem.

I urge you to check it out.

Our very souls could depend on how we approach issues like this one.

So – Does אָבַד (ʾā·ḇǎḏ) mean “give up” or “Destroy”?

It’s probably no surprise, but I go with Solomon as the author of Ecclesiastes for all the reasons given above. Further, I reject the later date, for the reasons given in Who wrote Genesis? Why it matters what you think.

Therefore, I also go with אָבַד (ʾā·ḇǎḏ) meaning “Destroy”?

Having said that, here’s something to consider.

Ecc 3:6. All four verbs in this verse lack direct objects, leading to a deliberate vagueness as to what may be sought, let go of, kept or sent away. The statements highlight that appropriate time periods for any of these activities exist, with reference to any number of things. Any specific referents Qoheleth’s original audience and subsequent readers may supply are not necessarily identical between the first and the second pairs of verbs. This leads to a bewildering multiplicity of choices on any number of things that a given member of Qoheleth’s audience may have wanted to acquire, recover, neglect, abandon, get rid of, keep, guard or protect, reject, share with others, use for investment, and so on. What is the best course of action in the bewildering multiplicity of the complexities of life? These statements evoke the need for discernment in the treatment of material possessions in the complexity of life and highlight how difficult it is for human beings to know the right course of action at any given time.  Heim, K. M. (2019). Ecclesiastes: An Introduction and Commentary: Commentary (D. G. Firth, Ed.; Vol. 18, p. 69). Inter-Varsity Press.

This is very much in line with Jewish thought about not putting God in a box with a single interpretation for a word, phrase, or event. In our English Bibles and American culture, we have a tendency to look for the one best answer to everything that’s in question. Therefore, we must have either destroy or we must have let go. But what if it’s a range? What if it’s both – and everything in between?

With some things, maybe it’s OK to just let them go. With others, maybe destroy is a better concept. For instance, if we have a friend who keeps getting us into trouble, we certainly can’t destroy him/her. But we can walk away from them.

But let’s say alcohol or drugs is our problem. While it would be nice to destroy the desire, that’s just not possible. Neither is merely walking away. There’s just too much temptation, too many circumstances where the desire can/will return. The idea, if not the physical act, of destroying the desire is much more in line with what we must do.

As for literal physical destruction, there might be something we own. Something that has some emotional hold on us. Maybe just giving it away won’t bring “closure”, whatever that might mean in any given situation. Physical destruction is the only way to free ourselves from whatever the hold is.

Who does the seeking and losing/destroying?

Who does the seeking and losing/destroying? So far, we’ve only considered the possibility that the seeking and destroying/losing/giving up is all done by us. But have you thought about it maybe being done by God?

There’s an excellent book on Ecclesiastes: Philip Graham Ryken’s, Ecclesiastes: Why Everything Matters. It’s quite long. He takes a different viewpoint than some commentators. One that I like. Instead of considering Qoheleth’s book about the pointlessness of life, as you can see from the title, he says everything matters. He says this about this sequence of verses in Ecclesiastes in A time for everything:

BOTH/AND

Usually people think of the actions in Ecclesiastes 3 as things that people do, which of course they are. We could demonstrate this from the life of King Solomon, who was a builder of great buildings, a planter of magnificent gardens, and a gatherer of many proverbs. But this poem is not limited to the human level. The activities listed are also things that God does, and that he is said to do in the Old Testament. For example, in Jeremiah 1:12 God says to his prophet: “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.” The verbs in Ecclesiastes 3:1–8 are divine actions before they become human activities.  Ryken, P. G. (2010). Ecclesiastes: Why everything matters (p. 81). Crossway Books.

Notice – The verbs in Ecclesiastes 3:1–8 are divine actions before they become human activities.

If that’s true, and it should be if we’re doing a good job of trying to follow God, then everything really is important.

Now our idea of time to search and time to give up/destroy is no longer only our task. God is involved with us. Not only that, but if we do it right, God is guiding our search and the ultimate outcomes for the things we find in our searching.

Sure, we must try to “discern”, to use the popular Christian word, if God is behind the desires to perform the actions in this passage. If we do our seeking, losing, letting go, and destroying with God, then all the actions we take on the things we find when we seek are incredibly important.

Let’s say we pray Psalm 139. Please see “What does God think of us? Do we care?” for more on that. Then, the things that the Holy Spirit brings to our attention are the ones we need to act on. And of course, He’ll also let us know, in that still small voice, whether to walk away from them, give them away, or in the case of some desires and objects, to destroy them.

That’s one way to help us stay on the narrow path Jesus spoke of.

The Narrow and Wide Gates

Mt 7:13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

Yes, the things which we need to do something between walk away from and destroy are the things that will set us on the wide road to destruction. Maybe they’re big things. Maybe they’re little things. But even little things today can be big things tomorrow. If God’s trying to get our attention about something, we should listen.

Conclusion – A time to search and a time to give up

I was going to get into some searching in A time to search and a time to give up. However, the need to get so deep into whether a time to search leads to a time to let go or a time to destroy made this longer than I anticipated.

Therefore, let’s end it here, for now.

The next part will get into some of the other verses in the passage. Look at some things that I need to do something about to get back on the path I want to be on. Hopefully, you do the examining for yourself along the way as well.

I imagine the title will be something about a time to keep and a time to throw away. We’ll see.

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Footnotes

• 1
  The basis for the summary is from Bing Chat with GPT4, edited by me as needed.
• 2
  Swanson, J. (1997). In Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
• 3
  Swanson, J. (1997). In Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
• 4
  Young, R. (1997). Young’s Literal Translation (Ec 3:6). Logos Bible Software.
• 5
  Ellicott, C. J., ed. (n.d.). A Bible Commentary for English Readers (Vol. 4, p. 370). Cassell and Company, Limited.