A Time to Throw Away Stones: Qohelet’s Enigmatic Reference to Stones as a Hinge for the Themes of War and Peace in the Time Poem

Abstract

The time poem in Eccl 3.1–8 reflects a marked structure and progression of themes. These connections suggest that the initial lines of vv. 2, 5, and 8 open their respective stanzas by focusing on a similar theme: war and peace. This thread clarifies the meaning of Qohelet’s enigmatic throwing and gathering stones, activities for which no fewer than nine interpretations have been suggested. While interpreters have favored a reference to sexual intercourse, this view is unlikely. I contend that a preferable solution modifies an earlier interpretation relating the throwing and gathering of stones to acts of wartime and peacetime. The throwing away of stones relates to the demobilization of the military, while the gathering of stones relates to the mobilization for war (1 Sam 17.40; 2 Chron 26.14–15). This interpretation offers a more consistent approach to the themes of war and peace developed in the poem’s stanzas.