Posted by Baldmartyr on February 16, 19101 at 08:01:26:
In Reply to: Re: Simulacrum posted by Eliezer Eisenberg on February 15, 19101 at 17:53:34:
Hi Eliezer,
I spent hours trying to pin down the exact definition of simulacrum in order to answer the question as to where it might exist within Ecclesiastes. I came to the conclusion that if a literary simulacrum is like a visual simulacrum - that is, seeing objects as one might see in an ink blob or in the shapes of clouds - it is quite valueless, or perhaps I should say "meaningless". After all, if I claim that a cloud looks like a rabbit and another says it resembles Mother Theresa, who could possibly be wrong? Or for that matter right? My advice is to accept Ecclesiastes as a dark comedy (it is quite satirical isn't it?) with very serious undertones and to know that the answer to "meaningless" or "vanity" or however your translation renders the main theme, is found in 3:14 and ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
That said, I’ll take two stabs at where a simulacrum might be found in Ecclesiastes, though, as stated above, who can possibly know?
1
Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, "I find no pleasure in them"--
2
before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain;
3
when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop, when the grinders cease because they are few, and those looking through the windows grow dim;
4
when the doors to the street are closed and the sound of grinding fades; when men rise up at the sound of birds, but all their songs grow faint;
5
when men are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets; when the almond tree blossoms and the grhopper drags himself along and desire no longer is stirred. Then man goes to his eternal home and mourners go about the streets.
6
Remember him--before the silver cord is severed, or the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, or the wheel broken at the well,
7
and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
If we take simulacrum to mean “An unreal or vague semblance”, than one might consider this shadowy representation of old age to fit the bill. I should think, however, that the above is simply a metaphor.
Baldmartyr