Eccl. 9:5 when it says the dead know nothing, no more reward, does it mean..?

Question

just the physical body knows nothing and has no more reward, or the soul or spirit also knows nothing and just sleeps. I take it to mean the physical body only. (and the spirit that leaves the body does go on somewhere).

Answer 1

As in other scriptures it is saying that the dead are not conscious.

Compare the following:

Job (in Job 14:13) prayed to be hidden in h**l. Why?

Because, in the Old Testament the Hebrew word "sheol" (generally translated "h**l") is described as an unconscious sleep-like state:

Job 14:10-13

Psalm 6:5

Psalm 13:3

Psalm 115:17

Psalm 146:4

Ecclesiastes 3:19,20

Ecclesiastes 9:5-10 (read the other verses)

Isaiah 38:17-19

Daniel 13:13

In the New Testament the Greek word "hades" (also generally translated "h**l") is also described as an unconscious sleep-like state:

John 11:11-14

Acts 2:29

Acts 2:34

Acts 7:60

Acts 13:36

1 Corinthians 7:39 [Greek]

1 Corinthians 15:6

1 Corinthians 15:51

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14

Moreover, the idea of torment in the New Testament is the result of people being unfamiliarity with the Old Testament.

For example where Jesus describes "Gehenna" (generally translated "hellfire") at Mark 9:47-48, both his original audience and the early readers of the New Testament would have recognized the reference Jesus was making.

They were familiar with this quote from the last verse in Isaiah. They knew what it talked about; not people being tormented; but rather about dead carcasses being consumed by fires.

Others cite the "parable" of Rich man and Lazarus, as proof of hellfire and torment. Luke 16:19-31. To do this, they deny that this is a parable. They claim it is literal.

However, in Luke 8:10, Jesus clearly told his disciples that he spoke openly ONLY to them, "but to the rest in parables."

So, to whom was Jesus speaking here? In Luke 16:14 we are told: "The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things."

Therefore, either this is a parable (and should be taken as such), or else Jesus lied to his disciples.

Even in Middle English verb "to h**l" does not mean "to cook" it means "to bury" In turn, h**l comes from the Old English word "helan" that means to "conceal" or to hide."

Answer 2

  The physical body is simply a tool   for your soul,   You are in fact your soul.  .Nothing ever dies but  only changes form. At the time we call death we return to God and are given a new and perfect body..There is no longer a purpose for the body left behind.  .You take your memory and experience with you.  .God bless  There is no valid reason to mourn the death of anyone..

Answer 3

I suggest, respectively, to cease reading into the text with a preconceived belief. Instead focus on what the bible says and take that as your point of departure.

Pre-Christian Israelites didn't see it the way you did. Take the time to look up what Solomon said about this at Ecclesiastes 3:18-22 & 9:4-10, for as he points out there, when a person dies he or she is just dead.

Answer 4

Yet elsehwere in scripture we see that the righteous dead rule over the unrighteous...we read that Christ, while "dead" preached to the souls in prison...we see the souls of the martyrs under the altar in heaven calling out for vengance...and many other examples...GOD IS GOD OF THE LIVING, NOT THE DEAD.

What is meant by ECCL 9:5 is that the dead are beyond helping themselves and are no longer concerned with the daily toil of life.  If SOUL SLEEP were true...how could Christ promise the Good Theif to be with him that day in paradise...and how could Paul say that to die was to gain Christ?

Answer 5

This is in the Old Testament before Jesus came to die for our sins. Everyone has a soul/spirit man. When Jesus died on the cross and took the keys of death from satan, right after there was an earthquake, and the dead (the ones that were in right standing with God) arose from their graves and was ascended into heaven.  

Answer 6

If Ecclesiastes is read in context . it is clear that when it says the dead know nothing the preacher is talking from an earthly view. the phrase "Under the Sun" is used frequently to denote the view point from which the preacher is going from. To me it means that from the view point of the wicked the dead know nothing and have no reward.    

Answer 7

Great question!

It means the dead body decomposes and knows nothing.

Personally, I believe when we die, our bodies decompose, but our souls go back to the God that gave it. We die, and even though time continues on this earth, the very next thing we experience after the point of death is being awakened by God for judgement. So we don't even realize time had passed from the second we closed our eyes at death, to the point where we open them right up.

Just like if a person goes to sleep, time passes, but it doesn't feel like it to the person that just woke up. Then they wake up, and remember things right before they went to bed (exluding dreams of course). So in a way we are in a "soul sleep' but in a way not really, since it will be like closing our eyes in death, and then opening them right back up to see God during judgement/resurrection. That is all I think we will experience.

Have a great night.

Answer 8

That is your interpretation. That sort of thing is forbidden to the religious. Perhaps it means just what it says instead of what your religion says it means.