Perrydox.com is devoted to the pursuit of truth, whether plain or paradoxical, whether simple or sublime, or simply absurd yet absolute.
Ecclesiastes – Zebra + Purple = 26
Purple + Zebra = 26. That is the problem I gave to my high school/college class to solve.
The first response was, “That’s impossible! They are incompatible”. I retorted, “Are you sure?”
Doubt about its impossibility solidified, so they guessed numerical values for the color and animal. That failed.
Annoyance and irritation increased as every minute passed by. Finally, after 18 minutes, I told them that the answer had already been given. They got more frustrated as they tried to remember what was said.
When I told them the answer was the first answer, “That’s impossible”, they got flabbergasted as to why I made them continue to guess.
So, I asked, “Why is it impossible?” More irritation arose when the student who first gave that answer said, “Because we don’t know the numerical value of purple and zebra”. I retorted, “Nope, that’s not why its impossible to solve”. Then their exasperation got to be so high that I gave them the answer.
“It is impossible to solve because it is nonsense”. And “The whole purpose of this exercise was to waste your time.”
Irritation and annoyance now became confusion. “Why would you waste our time on something impossible?”
Next, I asked them what were some translations of the Hebrew, hevel, in Ecclesiastes 1:2? They responded, “Pointless, futile, vanity, meaningless”. Then I queried, “Just like this problem, purple + zebra = twenty-six”? Then they got the point of the whole exercise. We were reliving the book of Ecclesiastes.
I reminded them how the writer of Ecclesiastes tried to solve the problem of happiness, contentment, and the purpose of life with women, alcohol, music, possessions, and other things. Problem was that these things are incompatible with answering why are we here on earth (Ecclesiastes 2).
Finally, I asked them to scale from one to ten how irritated they had been trying to solve an impossible problem. Then I added, “You spent 18 minutes, now imagine spending 18 years wasting your time!” That was a sobering thought as one student remarked “That’s my whole life!” We don’t know how long Solomon performed his exercise; but they said they knew of people who were wasting their lives like Solomon.
The ultimate answer to happiness, contentment, and finding our purpose is given at the end: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this the whole (purpose) of man (12:13).
Yes, I know this was a verbose devotional, but it needed to be to help you experience our class. I hope, if you finished reading this, that you didn’t consider it a waste of time. Don’t waste your time living under the sun. The reason is,
“For God will bring every act to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil.” (CSB’17 Ecclesiastes 12:14)
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