Ecclesiastes 3:5 confused me and so I dove down the rabbit hole of online commentaries and YouTube sermons and came up with this. My intention isn’t to disrespect scripture or academia but to have a little fun and take some of the piss out of that sometimes stuffy world.

Highfalutin Scholarly Commentaries Presents Ecclesiastes 3:5

“A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones;”

Yeah, I don’t get it. I have no idea what this verse is talking about. Next. Kidding. Kinda. Not really. Well, “Cast away stones? Gather stones?” What are we talking about? First of all, how big are these stone? Cuz that sounds like a lot of work if they’re big. Well, how big are stones compared to rocks? I mean, geologically speaking, Pebbles was Fred Flintstone’s daughter so, stone’s are bigger than pebbles but Fred and Barney Rubble worked at Slate Rock and Gravel Company, so, I’m leaning towards rocks then gravel then stones then rubble then pebbles. Bam. Got it. Whew! Now, moving on to more peripheral matters.

I assume it has to do with some sort of ancient Jewish agricultural practice, cuz most mysterious references in the Bible do. Either that or it’s about sex. But, I mean, the last time I gathered stones and casted them away was at the beach, skipping them with my kids. And yes, it takes “a time” to find the right kind of stone; thin but not too thin, circular and kinda big and heavy enough to fling but not too big and heavy. And if you don’t take “a time” to gather the right kind of stone, they don’t skip. You’re then just casting away stones with your kids looking at you wondering where the magic is. But I doubt that’s the meaning. I can feel me reading my meaning into the text, prioritizing how I experience the world over and above the context in which the writer and the first audience lived. Anyway, it’s just not good literary anthropological practice to be the standard by which all things are measured. Although, now I’m wondering if people skipped stones back then. There’s nothing particularly modern about skipping stones. Y’know, I could imagine Jesus skipping stones along the Sea of Galilee just before he walked on it or King David teaching kid Solomon how to skip stones along the Jordan river. He was good at flinging stones at giants, he could probably get a lot of skips with a properly shaped stone. But for some reason I kinda think kid Solomon might’ve had a tough time with skipping stones. Y’know because David grew up as the runt of the litter, as a shepherd boy and a song writer, for some reason, that combo paints a picture in my mind of a type of person with the subtle dexterity to be able to skip stones. Not everyone can. It’s not hard but it’s just one of those things that some people take to and others don’t. And with a royal silver spoon upbringing, I don’t know if kid Solomon did. I’m not knocking Solomon. It’s good that he possibly couldn’t. He was wise, he asked for wisdom, it brought peace and prosperity to the kingdom and enabled him to figure out who the real motherof that baby was. That’s a good thing.

If he had obsessed with my conjecture that he couldn’t skip stones, then, when God asked him what he wanted, instead of asking for wisdom, he might’ve asked for the subtle dexterity to be able to skip stones! And then where would we be?

Why would you cast away stones in the first place?

My sister is a bit of a hoarder. She still has a stone collection from when we went to Florida forty years ago. I’m sure it’s crossed her husband’s mind to cast those stones away. And I imagine you would have to cast stones away from your field before you started planting seeds if you were a farmer. Someone on the internet said you would cast stones into your enemy’s field so their crops wouldn’t grow. But then now you’re gathering stones from your field cuz someone did that to you? Serves you right. Another person wondered if these were precious stones, meaning, there’s a time of debt where you have to sell your gem stones, and a flush time when you’re gathering them. It was also a form of judgement, casting stones. And, of course, it definitely sounds like sex but then what the heck does gathering stones mean in that context?

This verse is part of a list that illustrates the seasons of human activities. The list is set up by the phrase, “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven:” Also, the Hebrew word “Hevel”, usually translated as “meaningless” or “vanity”, occurs thirty-six times in this book. Meaning, it’s a big theme of the book. But that word literally means “vapor” and one Rabbi on the internet translates it as “impermanence”. So, one sobering conclusion could be that complete control of our lives and ultimate fulfillment in this life is an illusion. Nothing will completely satisfy the yearnings of our soul in this world. Learn to enjoy the moments as your life ebbs and flows. So... there’s a time to cast away stones, whatever that is, and try to enjoy it but don’t get too used to casting stones cuz it’s impermanent and now it’s time to gather stones. Hey! It’s not my fault and you’re not in control either. So stop griping about how good it was when we were casting stones a moment ago and get on board the gathering stones train. Look, if you hate gathering stones so much, don’t despair, cuz this too is impermanent and before you know it, we’ll be casting stones again. But don’t expect casting stones to give your life ultimate meaning, cuz you’ll only be setting yourself up for disappointment.

Yeah, still not sure but that’s what I’ve gathered and them the stones I’m casting.