BIBLICAL HERMENEUTICS - Biblical hermeneutics is all about finding the correct interpretation of the inspired text. The purpose of biblical hermeneutics is to protect us from misapplying Scripture or allowing bias to color our understanding of truth. God’s Word is truth. We want to see the truth, know the truth, and live the truth as best we can, and that’s why biblical hermeneutics is vital. Scripture is always the best interpreter of Scripture - we always compare Scripture with Scripture when trying to determine the meaning of a passage - Biblical hermeneutics is the study of the principles and methods of interpreting the text of the Bible. Second Timothy 2:15 commands believers to be involved in hermeneutics: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who . . . correctly handles the word of truth.” The purpose of biblical hermeneutics is to help us to know how to properly interpret, understand, and apply the Bible. The most important law of biblical hermeneutics is that the Bible should be interpreted literally. We are to understand the Bible in its normal or plain meaning, unless the passage is obviously intended to be symbolic or if figures of speech are employed. The Bible says what it means and means what it says. Biblical hermeneutics keeps us faithful to the intended meaning of Scripture and away from allegorizing Bible verses that should be understood literally.

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Biblical Hermeneutics

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Biblical hermeneutics is all about finding the correct interpretation of the inspired text. The purpose of biblical hermeneutics is to protect us from misapplying Scripture or allowing bias to color our understanding of truth. God’s Word is truth. We want to see the truth, know the truth, and live the truth as best we can, and that’s why biblical hermeneutics is vital. Scripture is always the best interpreter of Scripture - we always compare Scripture with Scripture when trying to determine the meaning of a passage

What is biblical hermeneutics?

Got Questions Ministries

Biblical hermeneutics is the study of the principles and methods of interpreting the text of the Bible. 

Second Timothy 2:15 commands believers to be involved in hermeneutics: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who . . . correctly handles the word of truth.”

The purpose of biblical hermeneutics is to help us to know how to properly interpret, understand, and apply the Bible.

The most important law of biblical hermeneutics is that the Bible should be interpreted literally.

We are to understand the Bible in its normal or plain meaning, unless the passage is obviously intended to be symbolic or if figures of speech are employed.

The Bible says what it means and means what it says.

For example, when Jesus speaks of having fed “the five thousand” in Mark 8:19, the law of hermeneutics says we should understand five thousand literally — there was a crowd of hungry people that numbered five thousand who were fed with real bread and fish by a miracle-working Savior.

Any attempt to “spiritualize” the number or to deny a literal miracle is to do injustice to the text and ignore the purpose of language, which is to communicate.

Some interpreters make the mistake of trying to read between the lines of Scripture to come up with esoteric meanings that are not truly in the text, as if every passage has a hidden spiritual truth that we should seek to decrypt.

Biblical hermeneutics keeps us faithful to the intended meaning of Scripture and away from allegorizing Bible verses that should be understood literally.

A second crucial law of biblical hermeneutics is that passages must be interpreted historically, grammatically, and contextually.

Interpreting a passage historically means we must seek to understand the culture, background, and situation that prompted the text.

For example, in order to fully understand Jonah’s flight in Jonah 1:1–3, we should research the history of the Assyrians as related to Israel.

Interpreting a passage grammatically requires one to follow the rules of grammar and recognize the nuances of Hebrew and Greek.

For example, when Paul writes of “our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” in Titus 2:13, the rules of grammar state that God and Savior are parallel terms and they are both in apposition to Jesus Christ — in other words, Paul clearly calls Jesus “our great God.”

Interpreting a passage contextually involves considering the context of a verse or passage when trying to determine the meaning.

The context includes the verses immediately preceding and following, the chapter, the book, and, most broadly, the entire Bible.

For example, many puzzling statements in Ecclesiastes become clearer when kept in context—the book of Ecclesiastes is written from the earthly perspective “under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:3).

In fact, the phrase under the sun is repeated about thirty times in the book, establishing the context for all that is “vanity” in this world.
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A third law of biblical hermeneutics is that Scripture is always the best interpreter of Scripture.

For this reason, we always compare Scripture with Scripture when trying to determine the meaning of a passage.

For example, Isaiah’s condemnation of Judah’s desire to seek Egypt’s help and their reliance on a strong cavalry (Isaiah 31:1) was motivated, in part, by God’s explicit command that His people not go to Egypt to seek horses (Deuteronomy 17:16).

Some people avoid studying biblical hermeneutics because they mistakenly believe it will limit their ability to learn new truths from God’s Word or stifle the Holy Spirit’s illumination of Scripture.

But their fears are unfounded.

Biblical hermeneutics is all about finding the correct interpretation of the inspired text.

The purpose of biblical hermeneutics is to protect us from misapplying Scripture or allowing bias to color our understanding of truth.

God’s Word is truth (John 17:17).

We want to see the truth, know the truth, and live the truth as best we can, and that’s why biblical hermeneutics is vital.

Got Questions Ministries seeks to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by providing biblical, applicable, and timely answers to spiritually related questions through an internet presence."
GotQuestions.org is a ministry of dedicated and trained servants who have a desire to assist others in their understanding of God, Scripture, salvation, and other spiritual topics. We are Christian, Protestant, evangelical, theologically conservative, and non-denominational. We view ourselves as a para-church ministry, coming alongside the church to help people find answers to their spiritually related questions.

https://www.gotquestions.org/Biblical-hermeneutics.html

CAST YOUR BREAD UPON THE WATERS - Sow seeds of goodness every day, even when it doesn’t make sense to do so. In due season you will reap a reward. Be diligent about sowing goodness, and accept no excuses! Then goodness will become a part of who you are, not just a thing that you do, and the world will be a better place because of it - The instruction to “cast your bread upon the waters” is a metaphor for being generous, even if a return seems unlikely. A couple translations emphasize this meaning: “Be generous, and someday you will be rewarded” (CEV). “Do good wherever you go. After a while, the good you do will come back to you” (ERV). Casting bread or sowing seed on water seems to be an exercise in futility. But you don’t know what the actual results will be, says Solomon; in faith be generous, and in faith expect a return somewhere down the road. This accords with Proverbs 11:18, “The one who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward”; and Galatians 6:9, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” The passage as a whole communicates the principle of doing as much good as you can, knowing two things: the results are in God’s hands, and you don’t know when you yourself will be in need of someone else’s generosity. The book of Ecclesiastes is unique in the Hebrew Scriptures. It is the only book that overtly philosophizes.

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Cast your bread upon the waters

What is the meaning of ‘Cast your bread upon the waters’ in Ecclesiastes 11:1?

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Sow seeds of goodness every day, even when it doesn’t make sense to do so. In due season you will reap a reward. Be diligent about sowing goodness, and accept no excuses! Then goodness will become a part of who you are, not just a thing that you do, and the world will be a better place because of it

Got Questions Ministries

Ecclesiastes 11:1 says, “Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days” (ESV).

This maxim has led to a variety of interpretations, some better than others. We will take a look at a couple of them in this article.

One view is that the instruction to “cast your bread upon the waters” has to do with international commerce.

The principle is that, if you invest your “bread” or “grain” wisely, in a broad enough market, you will garner a return.

A couple of Bible translations bring out this meaning:

“Ship your grain across the sea; after many days you may receive a return” (NIV).

“Invest your money in foreign trade, and one of these days you will make a profit” (GNT).

The problem with seeing this verse as advice on international trade is that the context doesn’t much support it.

One of the themes of Ecclesiastes is that financial gain is “vanity” (see Ecclesiastes 5:10–17), so why would the author, Solomon, near the end of the book, be giving advice on how to turn a profit?

Another view is that the instruction to “cast your bread upon the waters” is a metaphor for being generous, even if a return seems unlikely.

A couple translations emphasize this meaning:
“Be generous, and someday you will be rewarded” (CEV).

“Do good wherever you go. After a while, the good you do will come back to you” (ERV).

This second, metaphorical view is probably more in line with the intent of the verse.

Casting bread or sowing seed on water seems to be an exercise in futility.

But you don’t know what the actual results will be, says Solomon; in faith be generous, and in faith expect a return somewhere down the road.

This accords with Proverbs 11:18, “The one who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward.”

And Galatians 6:9, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

Carrying that interpretation forward, we look at Ecclesiastes 11:1–2 together:

“Ship your grain across the sea;
after many days you may receive a return.
Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight;
you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.”

The passage as a whole communicates the principle of doing as much good as you can, knowing two things: the results are in God’s hands, and you don’t know when you yourself will be in need of someone else’s generosity.

The book of Ecclesiastes is unique in the Hebrew Scriptures. It is the only book that overtly philosophizes.

Specifically, Ecclesiastes is a book of practical philosophy — it is based on observation and experience, not on strained, esoteric ideas.

The topic in Ecclesiastes 11:1–6 is not how water affects bread.

It is about how our goodness affects the world.

The bread and water are used as imagery.

The “bread,” which by metonymy is best understood to be the seed of the bread (its grain), represents our goodness, and the rest of the passage encourages us to be undeterred in our “sowing.”

We must “cast our bread” — we must liberally extend our goodness, even when it doesn’t seem to be doing any good (cf. Matthew 5:44 and Luke 14:13–14).

We should note that Ecclesiastes 11:1 is not a holy algorithm that says if you do X in the Y way then Z will happen.

Rather, Solomon gives us a precept and a prescription.

It is not a formula like those used in laboratories that necessarily yield the same results time after time.

Sowing goodness comes under the realm of social science.

Solomon is offering good advice based on his observations.

But since people are involved — and since people are volitional creatures — the maxim cannot guarantee a positive result in every case.

This “no guarantees” aspect of benevolence is shown by the phrase “upon the waters.”

We cast our bread out into the world, and we simply cannot know if every seed will find a place to grow.

What we do know is that a significant number of seeds will grow.

We should not get hung up on the fact that some of the seeds will not thrive (cf. Mark 4:3–20).

Casting bread upon the waters evokes the law of sowing and reaping. The seed in this case is one’s acts of goodness.

There will be a harvest in heaven, if not in this world.

But the point Solomon makes is more than that we should sow goodness in order to reap a future harvest; the idea is for us to become people who will do good for goodness’ sake, irrespective of the harvest.

Ecclesiastes 11:1–6 can reasonably mean, “Sow seeds of goodness every day, even when it doesn’t make sense to do so. In due season you will reap a reward. Be diligent about sowing goodness, and accept no excuses! Then goodness will become a part of who you are, not just a thing that you do, and the world will be a better place because of it.”

Got Questions Ministries seeks to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by providing biblical, applicable, and timely answers to spiritually related questions through an internet presence.
GotQuestions.org is a ministry of dedicated and trained servants who have a desire to assist others in their understanding of God, Scripture, salvation, and other spiritual topics. We are Christian, Protestant, evangelical, theologically conservative, and non-denominational. We view ourselves as a para-church ministry, coming alongside the church to help people find answers to their spiritually related questions.
We will do our best to prayerfully and thoroughly research your question and answer it in a biblically based manner. It is not our purpose to make you agree with us, but rather to point you to what the Bible says concerning your question. You can be assured that your question will be answered by a trained and dedicated Christian who loves the Lord and desires to assist you in your walk with Him. Our writing staff includes pastors, youth pastors, missionaries, biblical counselors, Bible/Christian college students, seminary students, and lay students of God’s Word.

https://www.gotquestions.org/cast-your-bread-upon-the-waters.html

EVERYTHING IS MEANINGLESS - “‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’ says the Teacher. ‘Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless’” Solomon had it all, and he had tried everything, but when he left God out of the equation, nothing satisfied him. There is purpose in life, and it is found in knowing God and keeping His commands.

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Meaningless

Meaningless

Everything is Meaningless

What does it mean that everything is meaningless?

The book of Ecclesiastes starts out with a startling exclamation:

“‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’
says the Teacher.
‘Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless’” (Ecclesiastes 1:2).

Other translations have the word vanity or futility in place of meaningless.

The point is the same: Solomon in his old age has found everything in this world to be empty and void of meaning. This lament becomes the theme of the whole book.

Saying that everything is meaningless sounds depressing, but we must keep Solomon’s point of view in mind.

This is found in Ecclesiastes 1:14: “I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”

The key phrase is “under the sun,” which is repeated throughout the book.

Solomon is sharing an earth-bound perspective. He is only considering life “under the sun”; that is, a human life lived to the exclusion of any consideration of God.

From that godless perspective, everything is indeed “meaningless.”

In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon discusses ten vanities — ten things that are “meaningless” when considered from the limited point of view of “under the sun.”

Without God,

- human wisdom is meaningless (Ecclesiastes 2:14–16);

- labor (Ecclesiastes 2:18–23);

- amassing things (Ecclesiastes 2:26);

- life itself (Ecclesiastes 3:18–22);

- competition (Ecclesiastes 4:4);

- selfish overwork (Ecclesiastes 4:7–8);

- power and authority (Ecclesiastes 4:16);

- greed (Ecclesiastes 5:10);

- wealth and accolades (Ecclesiastes 6:1–2); and

- perfunctory religion (Ecclesiastes 8:10–14).

When Solomon says, “Everything is meaningless,” he did not mean that everything in the world is of zero value.

Rather, his point is that all human efforts apart from God’s will are meaningless.

Solomon had it all, and he had tried everything, but when he left God out of the equation, nothing satisfied him.

There is purpose in life, and it is found in knowing God and keeping His commands.

That’s why Solomon ends his book this way:

 “Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the duty of all mankind” (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

Are you struggling with a big decision or wondering how your eternal future will play out?

Why not talk to the God of the universe and let Him work in your behalf?

He says, “I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you" (Psalm 32:8).

Ask God to show you what to do. Pray the following prayer:

“Heavenly Father,

I admit that I am a sinner and my sins have separated me from You. I now want to turn away from my past sinful life and begin a new life with You.

Please forgive me. I now receive your Son, Jesus Christ as my Savior, my Master and my Lord. I believe and confess that Jesus Christ died for my sins, was buried, and rose from the dead.

I want to receive all that Jesus Christ has provided for me as my Savior. Your Word says, ‘Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved’ (Romans 10:13).

I believe and confess that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no man comes unto the Father, but by Him.

Lord Jesus, I pray and ask You, to come into my heart and be Lord of my life. I thank You that you have given me eternal life, and according to Your Word, I am born again.

Heavenly Father, thank You for the gift of the Holy Spirit Who is in me now. I surrender my life to You. I promise to study Your Word – the Bible.

Use me for Your glory.

In Jesus’ Name. Amen.” 

https://www.gotquestions.org/everything-is-meaningless.html