The Congregator's Words Christians Hate the Most

Dabar qoheleth - The words of the congregator, the assembler – the Tanakh rightly footnotes its transliterated "koheleth" with "probably the assembler; i.e., the hearer of sayings".

It is a title, not a name.

Qohelet is a Qal participle from the verb qahal, which in the Niphal means, "to come together" and in the Hiphil, "to bring together", and in its noun form, relates to an "assembly" – as the word is preceded by the definite article "ha" in Eccl 12:8, give credence to the claim that word is intended as a title and a description, but not a personal name.

The words of the congregator.

Tradition holds that the congregator mentioned, the ha'qoheleth, was Solomon. This is based in part no doubt that there was only one "son of David", namely Solomon, who was the "king over Israel in Jerusalem", for kings after Solomon did not rule over all Israel – Eccl 1:12

It is also likely the most sobering written words to nearly all subscribers of the Hebrew and Christian Greek scriptures who hold fast to a belief that man (or woman) is inherently immortality (e.g., that something of man transcends death, and continues on following the death of the body).

If the congregator is clear on one thing, he is clear on death.

It is the final point in each one's ma'aseh (deed, work, action that which comprises one's life) and is the one immutable event that each and every human, animal and other organism must succumb to, and it cuts cleanly across all categories of morality and class. And it is keenly in agreement with other portions of the Bible that treat the same subjects.

For example, it agrees with Genesis on man being made up of a body composed of dust of the ground and being animated by the very life-force of Yhwh and the breath that sustains it (Eccl 3:20-21, Eccl 12:7; Genesis 2:7; Genesis 7:22; Isaiah 42:5).

It affirms the biblical teaching that man was created upright, but willfully chose a path away from his creator, to disobey the life instructions given to him by his creator (Eccl 7:29; Genesis 1:31; Genesis 3:17; De 32:4-5), and it acknowledges Yhwh as the creator (Eccl 12:1; Genesis 1:1).

And it concurs with the rest of the Bible as to the state of the dead.

"For the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten." Eccl 9:5 [NKJV]

"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom." - Eccl 9:10 [NIV]

"His [God's] spirit goes out, he [man] goes back to his ground; In that day his thoughts do perish." - Psalms 146:4

"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou [art], and unto dust shalt thou return" - Genesis 3:19 [KJV]

"The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence" – Psalms 115:17 [KJV]

"He said these things, and after this he said to them: "Laz´a•rus our friend has gone to rest, but I am journeying there to awaken him from sleep." Therefore the disciples said to him: "Lord, if he has gone to rest, he will get well." Jesus had spoken, however, about his death. But they imagined he was speaking about taking rest in sleep. At that time, therefore, Jesus said to them outspokenly: "Laz´a•rus has died" - John 11:11-14

In the Bereshit (Genesis), where was Adam before Jehovah created him from the dust? He was nowhere - he simply did not exist – God formed him from the dust of the ground. So when Jehovah said that Adam would "return to the ground," he meant exactly that - that Adam would die and return to the elements in the ground. There was never any mention Adam would mystically cross over to the spirit realm. At death Adam would once again be nonexistent. His punishment after all was death—absence of life—not a transfer to another realm to continue living .— Romans 6:23.

If you have been following Plotz' bible blog of the Hebrew Scriptures, and you are a Christian, you might do well to note that you are now 85 percent of the way through – and there is no mention of an immortal soul, or immortal spirit, for mankind – as the Qoheleth so correctly notes –

"For there is an eventuality as respects the sons of mankind and an eventuality as respects the, and they have the same eventuality. As one dies, so the other dies; and they all have but one spirit, so there is no superiority of the man over the beast … all are going to one place - they have all come to be from the dust, and they all are returning to the dust." – Eccl 3:19-20.

And of course, without an immortal spirit, the falsehood of a place for eternal torment for people who have died as "unbelievers" or anyone else - becomes impotent and exposed. You would think it would give cause to a small spark of thought to the average believer in the biblical texts that those two such important doctrines in Christianity (and to a lesser degree modern Rabbincal Judaism) as the immortal soul of man and eternal punishment in hell – are never spoken of in the Hebrew words of Yhwh.