(א) דִּבְרֵי֙ קֹהֶ֣לֶת בֶּן־דָּוִ֔ד מֶ֖לֶךְ בִּירוּשָׁלָֽ͏ִם׃ (ב) הֲבֵ֤ל הֲבָלִים֙ אָמַ֣ר קֹהֶ֔לֶת הֲבֵ֥ל הֲבָלִ֖ים הַכֹּ֥ל הָֽבֶל׃ (ג) מַה־יִּתְר֖וֹן לָֽאָדָ֑ם בְּכׇ֨ל־עֲמָל֔וֹ שֶֽׁיַּעֲמֹ֖ל תַּ֥חַת הַשָּֽׁמֶשׁ׃ (ד) דּ֤וֹר הֹלֵךְ֙ וְד֣וֹר בָּ֔א וְהָאָ֖רֶץ לְעוֹלָ֥ם עֹמָֽדֶת׃ (ה) וְזָרַ֥ח הַשֶּׁ֖מֶשׁ וּבָ֣א הַשָּׁ֑מֶשׁ וְאֶ֨ל־מְקוֹמ֔וֹ שׁוֹאֵ֛ף זוֹרֵ֥חַֽ ה֖וּא שָֽׁם׃ (ו) הוֹלֵךְ֙ אֶל־דָּר֔וֹם וְסוֹבֵ֖ב אֶל־צָפ֑וֹן סוֹבֵ֤ב ׀ סֹבֵב֙ הוֹלֵ֣ךְ הָר֔וּחַ וְעַל־סְבִיבֹתָ֖יו שָׁ֥ב הָרֽוּחַ׃ (ז) כׇּל־הַנְּחָלִים֙ הֹלְכִ֣ים אֶל־הַיָּ֔ם וְהַיָּ֖ם אֵינֶ֣נּוּ מָלֵ֑א אֶל־מְק֗וֹם שֶׁ֤הַנְּחָלִים֙ הֹֽלְכִ֔ים שָׁ֛ם הֵ֥ם שָׁבִ֖ים לָלָֽכֶת׃ (ח) כׇּל־הַדְּבָרִ֣ים יְגֵעִ֔ים לֹא־יוּכַ֥ל אִ֖ישׁ לְדַבֵּ֑ר לֹא־תִשְׂבַּ֥ע עַ֙יִן֙ לִרְא֔וֹת וְלֹא־תִמָּלֵ֥א אֹ֖זֶן מִשְּׁמֹֽעַ׃
(1) The words of Koheleth son of David, king in Jerusalem. (2) Utter futility!—said Koheleth—Utter futility! All is futile!
(3) What real value is there for a man
In all the gains he makes beneath the sun? (4) One generation goes, another comes,
But the earth remains the same forever. (5) The sun rises, and the sun sets—
And glides back to where it rises. (6) Southward blowing,
Turning northward,
Ever turning blows the wind;
On its rounds the wind returns. (7) All streams flow into the sea,
Yet the sea is never full;
To the place [from] which they flow
The streams flow back again. All such things are wearisome:
No man can ever state them;
The eye never has enough of seeing,
Nor the ear enough of hearing.
From "Kohelet, a Map to Eden" by David Curwin.
...Kohelet is traditionally attributed to Shlomo at the end of his life. After having gone from an early life imbued with love of God and the divine promise of a reign of unmatched wealth and success, only to end with disgrace and God’s castigation, he certainly looked back with regret over how he arrived at this low point. Looking back in history, Shlomo would find one person whose path most closely resembled his own: Adam. As the first human, Adam represents all humanity, and through his reputation, Shlomo was the first representative of Israel to be universally known. The entire known world was in Adam’s dominion, and Shlomo could acquire whatever he desired, from anywhere; no figure in the history of the nation had such a universal scope.
Both Adam and Shlomo started out with enormous potential and a unique relationship with God. Both desired knowledge, both had wives that “led them astray” (although the ultimate responsibility for their failings was their own), and both experienced a form of exile from God’s special place: Adam was expelled from the Garden, while Shlomo abandoned the Temple of God4 and strayed to the shrines of Khemosh and Molekh.
Shlomo identified with Adam’s life, and so he wrote Kohelet in a way that reflected both Adam’s life and his own. By writing as Adam, Shlomo shows that nothing has changed; the downfall of man has existed since the very beginning. The opening chapter of Kohelet is dedicated to this concept: What has been is what will be, what was done will again be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Something may make a person say, “Look at this: it is new!” – it already existed in all the eons that came before us. (Kohelet 1:9–10).
This idea is repeated later in the book: “Do not say, ‘What happened, that times gone by were better than these?’ It is not wisdom that leads you to ask” (7:10). Shlomo knows he was not the first to suffer from these mistakes; they go all the way back to Adam.
Curwin makes a compelling case for the thematic parallels between Kohelet and Bereshit. But is Adam really the most compelling candidate for who the Speaker identifies with? What if it was someone else? What about Chava?
וְנָתַ֣תִּי אֶת־לִבִּ֗י לִדְר֤וֹשׁ וְלָתוּר֙ בַּֽחׇכְמָ֔ה עַ֛ל כׇּל־אֲשֶׁ֥ר נַעֲשָׂ֖ה תַּ֣חַת הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם ה֣וּא ׀ עִנְיַ֣ן רָ֗ע נָתַ֧ן אֱלֹהִ֛ים לִבְנֵ֥י הָאָדָ֖ם לַעֲנ֥וֹת בּֽוֹ׃
To increase learning is to increase heartache.
(6) When the woman saw that the tree was good for eating and a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate.
Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and [she] named him Seth, meaning, “God has provided me with another offspring in place of Hevel,” for Cain had killed him.
Woman and Nature: the Female Drama in the Book of Genesis by Dr. Ronna Burger
The decisive choice is initiated by the first woman and we are given a glimpse into her mind through the first biblical dialogue, which begins with the first biblical question, in the voice of a talking serpent. Why does this “most cunning of the beasts” enter into an exchange specifically with the woman—or is he the projection of something essential in female nature?
He succeeds, at any rate, in arousing the woman’s interest in the forbidden fruit of knowledge of good and evil, assuring her that the penalty of death accompanying the divine prohibition is meant only to preclude humans from having their eyes opened and becoming like God.
If the resentment fostered by the serpent is the crucial influence, the woman’s motive looks like Platonic spiritedness, thumos. When, however, the woman looks at the forbidden tree through her own eyes, what she sees is fruit good to eat and a delight to the eyes—like all the fruit in the garden (2:9)—but with one feature all its own: it is desirable for wisdom (3:6). Her motive, in that light, sounds like Platonic eros, or philosophy.
Out of one passion or the other or both in conjunction, the woman takes the fruit and shares it with her husband. We hear nothing at all of what he is thinking as he accepts her offering...
Or maybe the speaker identifies not with Adam or with Chava but with Kayin.
(כג) וַיִּשָּׁבַע֙ הַמֶּ֣לֶךְ שְׁלֹמֹ֔ה בַּיהֹוָ֖ה לֵאמֹ֑ר כֹּ֣ה יַֽעֲשֶׂה־לִּ֤י אֱלֹהִים֙ וְכֹ֣ה יוֹסִ֔יף כִּ֣י בְנַפְשׁ֔וֹ דִּבֶּר֙ אֲדֹ֣נִיָּ֔הוּ אֶת־הַדָּבָ֖ר הַזֶּֽה׃ (כד) וְעַתָּ֗ה חַי־יְהֹוָה֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר הֱכִינַ֗נִי (ויושיביני) [וַיּֽוֹשִׁיבַ֙נִי֙] עַל־כִּסֵּא֙ דָּוִ֣ד אָבִ֔י וַאֲשֶׁ֧ר עָשָׂה־לִ֛י בַּ֖יִת כַּאֲשֶׁ֣ר דִּבֵּ֑ר כִּ֣י הַיּ֔וֹם יוּמַ֖ת אֲדֹנִיָּֽהוּ׃ (כה) וַיִּשְׁלַח֙ הַמֶּ֣לֶךְ שְׁלֹמֹ֔ה בְּיַ֖ד בְּנָיָ֣הוּ בֶן־יְהוֹיָדָ֑ע וַיִּפְגַּע־בּ֖וֹ וַיָּמֹֽת׃ {ס}
(19) So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him about Adonijah. The king rose to greet her and bowed down to her. He sat on his throne; and he had a throne placed for the queen mother, and she sat on his right. (20) She said, “I have one small request to make of you, do not refuse me.” He responded, “Ask, Mother; I shall not refuse you.” (21) Then she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to your brother Adonijah as wife.” (22) The king replied to his mother, “Why request Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Request the kingship for him! For he is my older brother, and the priest Abiathar and Joab son of Zeruiah are on his side.” Thereupon, King Solomon swore by GOD, saying, “So may God do to me and even more, if broaching this matter does not cost Adonijah his life! (24) Now, as GOD lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of my father David and who has provided him with a house, as he promised, Adonijah shall be put to death this very day!” And Solomon instructed Benaiah son of Jehoiada, who struck Adonijah down; and so he died.
(9) יהוה said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” (10) “What have you done? Hark, your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground! (11) Therefore, you shall be more cursed than the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. (12) If you till the soil, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. You shall become a ceaseless wanderer on earth.”
William Shakespeare, Henry V, IV.1.
HENRY:
O God of battles! steel my soldiers' hearts;
Possess them not with fear; take from them now
The sense of reckoning, if the opposed numbers
Pluck their hearts from them. Not today, O Lord!
O, not today, think not upon the fault
My father made in compassing the crown!
...
Five hundred poor I have in yearly pay,
Who twice a-day their wither'd hands hold up
Toward heaven, to pardon blood; and I have built
Two chantries....More will I do;
Though all that I can do is nothing worth,
Since that my penitence comes after all,
Imploring pardon...
Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act III.3
CLAUDIUS:
O, my offence is rank it smells to heaven;
It hath the primal eldest curse upon't,
A brother's murder. Pray can I not,
Though inclination be as sharp as will:
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent;
And, like a man to double business bound,
I stand in pause where I shall first begin,
And both neglect...
My fault is past. But, O, what form of prayer
Can serve my turn? 'Forgive me my foul murder'?
That cannot be; since I am still possess'd
Of those effects for which I did the murder,
My crown, mine own ambition and my queen.
May one be pardon'd and retain the offence?
In the corrupted currents of this world
Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice,
And oft 'tis seen the wicked prize itself
Buys out the law: but 'tis not so above...