General Comments on Ecclesiastes I don't have much to say on this book. However, I will comment on 9:5. This passage is used as a proof text by Jehovah's Witnesses of their doctrine that spirits are immaterial and when we die we entirely cease to exist outside of God's memory of us, a doctrine called "Annihilation of Spirits". I consider this interpretation to be problematic. Here is the KJV: For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. The interpretation above hinges on the last line. However, if we look elsewhere at similar statements we see that it is a Semitism and a curse: Exod. 17:14 And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. Deut. 7:24 And he shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven: there shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them. Deut. 32:26 I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men: Isa. 26:13-14 O LORD our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name. They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish. Ezek. 21:31-32 And I will pour out mine indignation upon thee, I will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of brutish men, and skilful to destroy. Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire; thy blood shall be in the midst of the land; thou shalt be no more remembered: for I the LORD have spoken it. It is plain that being "no more remembered" is a curse. These are people who have no offspring left living (cp. 1 Sam. 2:30-34) and who become lost and forgotten in history. The nation is annihilated. Thus, this passage does not serve well as a proof text for the doctrine of annihilation of spirits. Copyright © 2002 by S. Kurt Neumiller . All rights reserved. No part of this text may be reproduced in any form or by any means for commercial gain without the express written consent of the author. Digital or printed copies may be freely made and distributed for personal and public non-commercial use.