Ecclesiastes

     I decided to look up the book of Ecclesiastes, because I don't know it very well, and I wanted to see why Bradbury picked that book for Montag to be. I thought it was very interesting that Bradbury decided to choose a book of the Bible that is not very popular or talked about. The book of Ecclesiastes was written around the third or fourth century B.C. by a man who is called Qoheleth in the book.
     Qoheleth was disturbed by many things he viewed in life; that sometimes bad people lived longer than good people, that those who were most deserving did not always get what they earned, and that those who worked hard for a living had to leave their possessions on earth when they died. Qoheleth really asked the question, "Why should we work so hard to be wise and good?". Ecclesiastes really does not answer this question, but it is one of the earliest books of the Bible that really ponders about the afterlife and what lies after death, which makes it very similar to Revelations.
     One of the major points of Ecclesiastes is that Qoheleth was calling the Israelites to try and understand God and life in a new way. He was trying to get the Israelites to really ponder the meaning of their religion, instead of blindly following it. The point of Ecclesiastes wasn't to answer questions, but the get people to ask them in the first place. I think this is why Bradbury chose this book. Like Granger and the wanderers in Fahrenheit 451, Qoheleth was just trying to get people to think about their lives.