SESSION 31: Ecclesiastes

If you desire an email of this session for ‘Thinking through the Bible’, send your request by email to carlsonpj@gmail.com. You may also request a full set of notes on the OT Books of Poetry if you want to read more than this summary of the session presented on Sunday morning. Those who attend the sessions on Sunday mornings benefit the most by reading the Book of the Bible as if they were living at the time of the Book we are covering in the session.

Introduction

All human achievements are empty and disappointing when pursued as ends in themselves. Vanity occurs 38 times in Ecclesiastes, and it summarizes the basic theme of the book: Vanity of vanities, all is vanity (1:2). The word does not address sinful living as much as that which is empty and futile. One after the other, the author shows how wisdom, pleasure, hard work, popularity, wealth, and fame do not bring lasting satisfaction.

Sharing:

• There’s no point to life if we are trying to create a point! Life is meaningless in itself.

Setting

While reading and thinking through God’s Story, fit Ecclesiastes into 1 Kings 1-11 and 2 Chronicles 1-9, during the reign of Solomon as king of Israel. It has been noted that Solomon most likely wrote the Proverbs early in his life, and Ecclesiastes later in his life, after he sought satisfaction in science (new things) and philosophy (but in vain). He found pleasure, cheerfulness, drinking, building, possessions, wealth and music, but they were all empty. He tried materialism, fatalism, and deism, but these were also in vain. He also pursued natural religion and morality, but found them fruitless.

The aim of the book represents the wisdom that Solomon could produce after he had degenerated from God’s ways (1 Kings 11:1-13). He shows a view of life that leaves you cold and unsatisfied. When someone places God way out there away from us, irrelevant to our daily lives, then Ecclesiastes is the result. The teacher concludes that God sovereignly controls the affairs of both the righteous and wicked (9:1-2).

Sharing:

• Solomon was the richest ruler. He asked for wisdom. He received both riches and wisdom. They did him in – he didn’t finish well!
• He had experience with many things, but at the end of life he reflects back and concludes that everything but serving God is vanity.
• Life is a big disappointment if the process of living and dying is all one looks at.
• What we learn from history is that we don’t learn anything from history!
• We need to know what is important in life: ‘riches’; or ‘loving God’, which leads to ‘loving others’.
• Solomon admits that sin has an allure (appeal), but only for a time.

Structure

Ekklesiastes means “convenor of an assembly”. The book is often referred to by its Hebrew name, qoheleth, which means “preacher”. Think of it as a ‘teacher’. This book was read at the Feast of Tabernacles (October), which was a kind of exhibition of the hardships that the Israelites experienced while they wandered during their desert journey.

There are two characteristics of the book that we lose in the English Version:

• The only name of the Divine Being found in the book, except the title Creator, is the common name for God, Elohim, which is used forty times. Jehovah, the covenant name used by Israel for God, is not found once. The relationship of God with Israel is not in the mind of the author.
• The name most frequently used for man is the generic name Adam, indicating mankind or man in general. It occurs forty-seven times. The name for man as an individual is used only seven times. The writer is considering the nature of man.

Sharing:

• The way God’s name is used makes one wonder if Solomon was even talking about the one and only true God at times!
• Just because Solomon was used by God to build the temple, and just because he was wise, doesn’t mean that he was a righteous (godly) man. That can be scary!

There are three cycles in the book that arrange the two themes of optimism and pessimism:

• The first cycle contains three pairs of sections about work and wisdom (1:12-15; 1:16-18; 2:1-11; and 2:12-17; 2:18-26; and 3:1-8). The conclusion is that although the employment of human labor and understanding provides satisfaction of accomplishment, the profit achieved by a person is cancelled by death.
• The second cycle (3:9-6:7) treats the theme of human labor as contrasted with God’s perfect enduring works. God’s simple blessings in this life are to be enjoyed, even in the face of human oppression.
• The third cycle (6:8-12:7) expands the human wisdom, contrasting it with the inscrutability of God’s ways.

Message

Ecclesiastes has a powerful message about selfishness and materialism in every age. It teaches that great accomplishments and earthly possessions alone do not bring lasting happiness. True satisfaction comes from knowing God and obeying Him. With eternity in their hearts (3:11), although man is limited by time, he is related to eternity in his innermost being. The book ends by stating that there is a God who will hold us accountable for the deeds of our lives. Life under the sun will be judged from a heavenly perspective.

Without God “all is vanity”:	Godless:	Leads to:	Ecclesiastes
	learning	pessimism	1:7-8
	greatness	sorrow	1:16-18
	pleasure	disappointment	2:1-2
	labor	hatred of life	2:17
	philosophy	emptiness	3:1-9
	eternity	un-fulfillment	3:11
	life	depression	4:2-3
	religion	dread	5:7
	wealth	trouble	6:2
	existence	frustration	6:12
	wisdom	despair	11:1-8
Godly fear leads to:		fulfillment	12:13-14

Another important truth from Ecclesiastes, which we often overlook, is that life is to be enjoyed. The preacher says that the best reward God gives you on this earth is a wife: Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity; for that is your portion in life, and in the labor which you perform under the sun (Ecclesiastes 9:9; refer to Proverbs 5:18-19; 18:22; 19:14).

The preacher speaks of finding joy in the simple pleasures of life: "There is nothing better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor – it is the gift of God" (3:12-13). Our grateful acceptance of God’s daily blessings can bring a sense of joy and fulfillment to our lives.

Ecclesiastes has been understood as an attempt to recommend faith in God by way of answering negative arguments. The conclusions to the arguments always point to the fact that faith in God is the only means to true satisfaction in life. This book is addressed to God’s people, rather than to those who are ignorant of God or in rebellion against Him. The book is God’s wise counsel to those who know His ways but have found them perplexing and troubling.

Sharing:

• Solomon said everything right; He did everything wrong!
• He did it all wrong, but begged others not to follow him.
• He may have repented or had a depressing day, but then he went back to wrong-doing!
• Solomon was sucked up by fame and the cares of the world so that he choked out God.
• According to the requirement for a king in Deuteronomy 17:15-20, Solomon broke every rule; so do we – we are no better!
• Innocence does not equate with righteousness. It is not necessary to try out everything to know what is sinful.
• Chapter 2 is where Solomon admits that he tried everything in life, but nothing meant anything. He was left sad. It’s hard to believe that it is the same man in chapter 3!
• Solomon was too wise for his own good!
• Ecclesiastes 3:11 shows that everyone knows right and wrong because God has put eternity in their hearts.

Balance in Life

One of the most moving passages in the Bible is the poem from Ecclesiastes on the proper time for all events: "A time to be born, and a time to die" (3:2). This text, if taken seriously, can restore balance to our living. Another powerful passage is the figurative description of the aging process (12:1-7). The preacher realizes that old age with its afflictions looms ahead for every person. So he counsels his audience, "Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come" (12:1). It is good to acquire the habit of gratitude to God before old age comes on. Ingratitude (complaining and grumbling) is one of the hardest habits to die – don’t wait until you are old to deal with it! The agony of aging without God is depicted in Ecclesiastes 12:1-7. Aging ‘gracefully’ is a skill in life.

Contentment

The teacher asks in Ecclesiastes 6:12:

For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he passes like a shadow? Who can tell what will happen after him under the sun?

He acknowledges a Creator in Ecclesiastes 3:11:

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also he has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

He acknowledges a just Judge in Ecclesiastes 3:17:

I said in my heart,

“God shall judge the righteous and the wicked,

For there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.”

He acknowledges God’s appointments in Ecclesiastes 7:13-14:

Consider the work of God;

For who can make straight what He has made crooked?

In the day of prosperity be joyful,

But in the day of adversity consider:

Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other,

So that man can find out nothing that will come after him.

The “conclusion to the matter” is that living with reality on earth provides contentment when we:

Fear God and keep His commandments,

For this is man’s all.

(Ecclesiastes 12:13)

Loyal submission to the rule of God leaves the outcome of life to Him:

For God will bring every work into judgment,

Including every secret thing,

Whether good or evil.

(Ecclesiastes 12:14)

Sharing:

• What we want life to be like is not the issue; it’s what God wants.
• It is for us to see God at work.
• We are privileged to know God in our pointless life because then it makes our lives have a point!
• God looks at our hearts – nothing else matters.

Next Session

Come prepared to share from the Song of Solomon in our next session. Look for the meaning of life in love.