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“The Dead Know Nothing”

11/5/2023

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by George Sidney Hurd
 
How are we to understand Salomon’s statement that the dead know nothing? In this excerpt from my book, Extermination or Restoration, I consider this question.
 
 “This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. 4 But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5 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. 6 Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; nevermore will they have a share in anything done under the sun.” (Eccl 9:3-6)
 
Of all of Scripture, perhaps in no other book is the context more important to consider than the book of Ecclesiastes. While all Scripture is inspired by God, not everything recorded in Scripture is true. The book of Job is a good example. It is an inspired writing, yet it contains many statements made by Job’s counselors that were not according to the truth.
 
The book of Ecclesiastes falls into the same category as the book of Job. In Ecclesiastes, King Solomon is writing after having been drawn away from the Lord through the combined influence of his unlimited power and wealth and his 700 pagan wives and 300 concubines. At the time of writing, he had returned to the Lord after living a life of wanton pleasure, having done everything under the sun and experienced firsthand the emptiness and vanity of that lifestyle.
 
Ecclesiastes means “preacher” and his objective is to make his readers see the vanity of living a life without God. He begins and closes his discourse describing the emptiness, futility and self-despair of one living “under the sun” without a heavenly perspective. The phrase “under the sun” is repeated 29 times and the word “vanity” also appears in 29 of its 31 occurrences throughout Scripture. He opens and closes his discourse with the saying: “Vanity of vanities,’ says the Preacher; ‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity” (Eccl 1:2; 12:8). Then, in closing he gives his conclusion or alter call:
 
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all. 14 For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.” (Eccl 12:13-14)
 
There are many sayings in his discourse that those who walk with God know are not true because he is speaking from man’s perspective, “under the sun,” and alienated from God. For example, he says that the dead know nothing and “they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love…”  That may seem to be true from the perspective of a man “under the sun” who does not know God and His promises, but the author of Hebrews tells us: “God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love.” (Heb 6:10). We see throughout Scripture that the Lord remembers us and we will be rewarded for our labor of love. Salomon is simply voicing the vain reasoning of a man in defiance of God.
 
Also, he says: “Do not be overly righteous, nor be overly wise: Why should you destroy yourself?” (Eccl 7:16). Yet throughout Scripture we are exhorted to be holy even as He is holy, in all our conduct (1Peter 1:15; Matt 5:48, etc.).
 
One other example needs mentioning which shows how the Preacher depicts himself as one even questioning God’s promises of life after death. I quote from the New International Version since I believe that it more accurately expresses what Solomon wished to say:
 
“I also thought, ‘As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. 19 Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. 20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?” (Eccl 3:18-21 NIV)
 
Here he depicts himself as a defiant pessimist, questioning the revelation concerning man, as revealed in Genesis. He begins by saying “I thought.” He reasoned that man was no different from an animal. Such reasoning flies in the face of God’s revelation of man as having been created in His own image. Then, observing that both the bodies of men and animals return to dust, he questions the belief concerning our conscious existence after death. He defiantly reasons: “All I see is dust. Who really knows that the spirits of men and animals continue after death as God’s people claim?” Far from teaching us what to believe concerning the afterlife, he is describing the empty reasoning of those who exclude God.
 
Therefore, the saying “the dead know nothing,” taken in context, is actually telling us what not to believe. It describes the vain reasoning of man “under the sun,” who ignores God’s revelation and only perceives with his natural senses that which is physical and temporal, and questions or denies the afterlife, just as the atheists and secular materialists do today.

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    ______________
    Index of Articles and Titles related to Universal Restoration
    Index of Passages Implying a Universal Restoration
    Does God Get What He Wants?
    Created Out of Nothing or Out of God?
    Are there few who are saved?
    Every Knee shall Bow and every Tongue Confess
    Her Gates are always Open
    The Age of All Ages
    “They will go away into Everlasting Punishment”
    Eternal Destruction from the Presence of the Lord
    The Rich Man and Lazarus
    The Fatherhood of God
    Does “All” simply mean “Jew and Gentile alike”?
    Distinguishing Biblical Universalism
    Spiritual Deconstruction
    Has Everyone already been Forgiven?
    Are the Gates of Hell Locked from Within?
    Is Sheol the Grave?
    “The Dead Know Nothing”
    Death is not Cessation but Separation
    The Testimonies of Near-Death Experiences
    Is One’s Destruction the End of all Existence?
    Shall not Perish
    What must I do to be Saved?
    Sulfur, Salt and the Refiner's Fire
    ​Is there Hope for Reprobates?
    Shedding Light Upon the Roman Catholic Dogma of Purgatory
    Understanding the Wrath of God
    Who are the Elect of God?
    Total Depravity and Universal Reconciliation
    ​Does the Restoration of All include the Animal Kingdom?
    True Repentance
    Universalism – The Majority View according to Strong
    Athanasius and the Universal Reversal
    The Future Judgments of God
    Who Destroyed Sodom and Why?
    "Kill all the women except for the virgins"
    Rewards for Good Works
    Is Satan Real?
    What meaneth the phrase, “let the unjust be unjust still?”
    The Theosis or the Divinization of man
    The “Unpardonable” Sin
    Better for Judas Not to have been born
    The Faith of Jesus
    Seeing the Father through Jesus
    The Straight and Narrow Grace-Walk
    True Living Faith Works
    Is Universalism a Deterrent to Evangelism?
    The Unadulterated Gospel
    The Blurring of Biblical Distinctions
    What does the word "Word" mean to Jesus?
    Upon Which Foundation?
    Are All Sins Equal?
    Not Forsaking the Assembling of Ourselves Together
    What should a New Testament Church look like?
    The Role of Women in the New Testament
    What Meaneth This?
    How Literal is the Concordant Literal Version?
    The Inerrency of Scripture
    Biblical Inerrancy throughout Church History (1 of 4)
    Why should we contend for the Inerrancy of the Holy Scriptures? (2 of 4)
    Understanding Biblical Inerrancy (3 of 4)
    ​How was our Bible formed? (4 of 4)
    Has Our New Testament Changed over the Years?
    The Love of God
    Is God’s Love Unconditional? (1 of 3)
    What is Conditional about God’s Unconditional Love? (2 of 3)
    The Love and Hatred of God? (3 of 3)
    The Fear of the Lord
    Understanding the Fear of the Lord (1 of 2)
    Fear Him who can Destroy both Body and Soul (2 of 2)
    The Question of Evil
    The What of Evil (1 of 3)
    The Where of Evil (2 of 3)
    The Why of Evil (3 of 3)
    Understanding the Atonement
    Defining Atonement 1 of 6
    The Sin bearing Servant I (2 of 6)
    The Sin Bearing Servant II (3 of 6)
    Forensic Atonement in Romans (4 of 6)
    Complementary Theories of the Atonement (5 of 6)
    Objections to Penal Substitution (6 of 6)
    The Justice of God
    Is Salvation Transactional?
    Did Christ’s sacrifice on the cross change God’s attitude towards us?
    The Early Fathers and Penal Substitutionary Atonement
    Homosexuality and the Bible
    Does the Bible affirm the Homosexual Lifestyle? (1 of 2)
    The Six So-called Gay Clobber Texts (2 of 2)
    Reincarnationism
    Resurrection or Reincarnation? 1 of 2
    Resurrection or Reincarnation 2 of 2
    Open Theism
    Open Theism - Does God know My Tomorrow? 1 of 2
    Open Theism - Does God know my Tomorrow 2 of 2

    Answers to Objections:

    1) The Restoration of All
    2) The Reconciliation of All
    3) The Universal Reversal
    4) The Salvation of All
    5) The Duration of Punishment
    6) Hope for the Dead
    7) The Testimony of the Fathers
    8) The Logic of Universal Reconciliation
    Has God Rejected Israel:
    1) ¿Has God rejected His People Israel?
    2) Has the Church Replaced Israel?
    3) God’s Irrevocable Promises to Israel
    4) Should we bless National Israel Today?
    God's Glorious Plan for the Ages
    God's Glorious Plan 1 of 2
    God's Glorious Plan 2 of 2
    The Manifest Sons of God
    The Man-Child Company (1 of 3)
    The Manifest Sons of God (2 of 3)
    The Identity of the 144,000 (3 of 3)
    The Trinity and the Deity of Christ
    ​The Importance of the Trinity and the Deity of Christ (1 of 5)
    Jesus is the Yahweh Elohim of the Old Testament (2 of 5)
    The Christophanies of the Old Testament (3 of 5
    Jesus Christ - the Eternal I AM (4 of 5)
    The Triunity of God (5 of 5)
    The Trinity and the Ante Nicene Fathers
    Eternal Preexistence of Christ
    The Eternal Preexistence of the Son of God (1 of 3)
    The Eternal Preexistence of the Son of God (2 of 3)
    The Eternal Preexistence of the Son of God (3 of 3)
    Preterism vs. Futurism
    Where is the promise of His coming? (1 of 2)
    Last Days – Past or Present? (2 of 2)
    Premillennial Futurism – The Belief of the Early Church
    The Objectiv​e Evidences for a Late Dating of John's Revelation (1 of 2)
    Examining the Interpretive Arguments for an Early Dating of John’s Revelation (2 of 2)
    The Two-Gospel Doctrine Examined
    Are there Two Different Gospels in the New Testament? (1 of 4)
    Are there Two Groups of Believers, or are We One Body?  (2 of 4)
    Are there Two Separate Scriptures for Two Groups of Believers?  (3 of 4)
    Are Paul’s Epistles Incompatible with the rest of the New Testament?  (4 of 4)

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