ECCLESIASTES
PART 1
Tonight we are going to begin looking at the book of Ecclesiastes, which was written by Solomon later in his life around 935 B.C. Some scholars try to say that someone other than Solomon was the author, but consider the following verse:
Ecclesiastes 1:1 The
words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in
Solomon is the only son
of David that was king in
When you read through this book, it seems that Solomon is writing about his personal experience from when he fell away from God. Much of what he writes looks at how empty our lives are without God in the picture. He reveals to us that ones life will be completely empty and void of hope when he relies on the things of this earth separate and apart from God. Solomon would know because he had everything that life could offer, money, wisdom, kingship, property, and a multitude of wives, concubines and children, yet he considered it all vanity.
The key word in our book is vanity, which occurs 37 times.
The key chapter is Chapter 12. In this last chapter, Solomon challenges us to put things in the proper perspective by remembering our Creator and understanding how we must put our trust in Him and not the folly of the world. He concludes the chapter with our purpose in life that will bring us true happiness:
Ecclesiastes 12:13 Let us
hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments,
For this is man's all.
This idea has not changed because Paul expresses a similar thought for us in:
Colossians 3:1 If
then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where
Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
Solomon will teach us how unimportant the pursuit of riches is and how fame will never bring you true happiness. Instead, he will show us that the key to true happiness comes from a loving God, having a reverent fear of Him, putting Him first, and keeping His commandments. Without God in our life, we will feel empty, but when He becomes the center of our universe, we will learn to be full and experience true happiness.
Guy N. Woods outlined Ecclesiastes this way:
1:1-11 Introduction
1:12-18 Solomon seeks happiness in wisdom
2:1-26 in wealth
3:1-5:20 in prominence, power, prestige
6:1-8:17 in pleasure.
9:1-12:7 Solomon discovers that genuine happiness is not in wisdom, wealth, prominence, or pleasure, but through devotion to duty, and preparation for the life to come.
12:8-13 Conclusion.
Now, let’s examine our text:
Ecclesiastes 1:1 The
words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in
Let begin with verse 1:
Ecclesiastes 1:1 The
words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in
This clearly identifies the author as Solomon. As mentioned
earlier, Solomon is the only son of David to be a king over
"Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher;
"Vanity of vanities, all is vanity."
This is the theme of our book and Solomon will be telling how everything under the sun is worthless without the hope the God provides for us.
3 What profit has a man from all his
labor In which he toils under the sun?
As Solomon was examining
all that he accomplished in life, he realized that there is no lasting profit
from it for him, which is why he asked this question. Just as side not this
phrase under the sun occurs 30 times in Ecclesiastes, which is referring to
everything we do on this earth. Jesus asked even a better question:
Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he
gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
If we focus on nothing
but our accomplishments in our life then we have missed the meaning of life. No
matter how hard we work, no matter how many things we build, they will not
profit us in the end. Those who rest their hope in this world and what it has
to offer are basically exchanging something temporary for eternity with God in
heaven. How sad, but many follow this path.
One generation passes away, and another
generation comes; But the earth abides forever.
The earth is going to out
live us all. As one generation replaces another, the work we accomplished will
slowly be forgotten. Some religious groups have taken the last part of our
verse to mean that the earth will never cease to exist, but that is not what
word forever means in the original language. It simply means age lasting or
another way to put it is that it will continue to remain as long as God allows
it.
For example, this same
word forever is used to describe the Sabbath (Ex. 31:17) the Passover (Ex.
12:14), and burnt offerings (Ex. 29:42), but they only lasted until the time of
the cross when Jesus nailed these requirements to the cross (Col. 2:14). These
things lasted as long a God willed it. The same is true with the earth because
we know that when Jesus comes again that the earth will be burned up:
2 Peter 3:10 But the
day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will
pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat;
both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
Solomon is simply
pointing out how life goes on without you as future generations continue to
live on the earth. Solomon continues his thought in:
5 The sun also rises, and the sun
goes down, And hastens to the place where it arose. 6 The wind goes toward the south,
And turns around to the north; The wind whirls about continually, And comes
again on its circuit. 7 All
the rivers run into the sea, Yet the sea is not full; To the place from
which the rivers come, There they return again.
Solomon uses these
examples to show how nothing really gets accomplished, it just simply repeats
itself. The sun continues to rise and set. The wind continues blow, the rivers
continue to put water back into the ocean, yet never fills up. Instead, the
water returns back to where it came from. In the same way, man continues to
labor and build on this earth. There is no end sight or purpose in life when
God is not in the picture.
The section of Scripture
also offers some scientific foreknowledge of the Bible because it describes the
water cycle, which wasn’t confirmed until the 15th or 16th
century.
8 All things are full of
labor; Man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor
the ear filled with hearing. 9
That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what
will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there anything of which it
may be said, "See, this is new"? It has already been in
ancient times before us. 11 There
is no remembrance of former things, Nor will there be any
remembrance of things that are to come By those who will come
after.
Again, the thought is
continued about how man will continue to labor and do the same things again and
again. No matter what they create or possesses, it will never be enough to
satisfy because we will always want more or want something different. Solomon
says there is nothing new under the sun, and even those who think they have
done something new it has already been done by someone else it has only been
forgotten. We must keep in mind that Solomon is expresses his thoughts from a
worldly perspective without God being in the picture.
Next, Solomon is going to
talk about the vain things that men seek after and how they have no value.
Ecclesiastes 1:12 I, the
Preacher, was king over
Once again, verse 12
indentifies Solomon as the author because Solomon is the only son of David that
was king over all
And I
set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under
heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they
may be exercised.
Solomon had a choice of
what he wanted from God early on, but his choice was an understanding heart or
we could say wisdom. Notice God’s response to his choice:
1 Kings 3:11 Then
God said to him: "Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked
long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the
life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern
justice, 12 "behold, I
have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and
understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor
shall any like you arise after you. 13
"And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor,
so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days.
Solomon was one that
wanted to be wise. Now he was setting his heart on finding the wisdom of the
things done under the sun. This is his conclusion:
14 I have seen all the works that are
done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the
wind. 15 What is crooked
cannot be made straight, And what is lacking cannot be numbered.
In other words, there is
no wisdom in the works done under the sun. No matter how smart man becomes, it
will serve no purpose in the long run without God in our life and that He has to
offer. We are basically spinning our wheels when we live without God.
SOLOMON IDENTIFIES AT
LEAST 18 THINGS THAT ARE VAIN
1. All the works of men
(1:14).
2. Pleasure (2:1).
3. The profit from one’s
labor (2:11).
4. The quest for wisdom
(2:15).
5. The focus on earthly
accomplishments (2:21).
6. An over-emphasis or
mis-emphasis on life and living (3:19).
7. Competition (4:4).
8. Stockpiling riches
(4:7,8).
9. Trying to please
everyone (4:16).
10. The foolish use of
words and promises (5:4-7).
11. Money (5:10-12).
12. Having wealth but
failing to properly use it (6:1-6).
13. Being able to use
words masterfully (6:11).
14. Associating with those
who do not think soberly about life (7:6).
15. Man’s attitude toward
evil (8:10).
16. The system of justice
and retribution (8:14).
17. The desire to
retrieve the past (11:8).
18. Death itself
(12:1-8). (WVBS)
Everything under the sun
is vanity. It is only when we bring God back into the picture that life has any
meaning whatsoever. The atheists of our world would do good to read the book
Ecclesiastes and learn from its wisdom because they are living their life like
there is no God and as much as they like to claim happiness without God, they
have no idea what true happiness is. I feel sorry for them to have to live a
life that is so empty with no hope and only death to look forward to.
Finally, Solomon writes:
Ecclesiastes 1:16 I
communed with my heart, saying, "Look, I have attained greatness, and have
gained more wisdom than all who were before me in
This is another statement
made by the writer that certainly sounds like Solomon because of the great
wisdom he had learned. He even went so far as to learn about madness and folly
because they are the opposite of wisdom, which would help him to know exactly
how to distinguish between wisdom and foolishness.
He also felt that
learning so much wisdom was like grasping for the wind because the more he
learned the more he understood that he had not even begin to scratch the
surface of what could be learned. There are several reasons why much wisdom can
cause one grief and increase sorrow. The more you know about things, the more
it can perplex your mind.
For example, if I gave
you some food to eat and it tasted good, you would be happy. However, if you
had learned that I made it with gross animal parts and prepared it with tainted
hands then you would not be very happy and you would not even take one bite. As
the saying goes “ignorance is bliss.”
Also the more you learn
about God and His ways, you almost always have to make changes in your life and
the way you used to do things. This can be hard, but we cannot be the kind of
people that willfully remain ignorant of God’s Word because God no longer will
excuse us for our ignorance:
Acts 17:30
"Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men
everywhere to repent, 31
"because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in
righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained.
The more wisdom we
acquire about how ugly sin is and its affect on mankind, it will cause us great
grief and sorrow for what it has caused God’s creation to become.
In conclusion, as we make
our way through this book, we will see it is full of negative thoughts from the
perspective of man trying to make it on his own without God, but we will also
see Solomon teach us a long the way that only God and what he promises can make
our life not meaningless and full of vanity.