ECCLESIASTES

Ecclesiastes is a provocative wisdom book written by Solomon which surprises by its negative outlook and its unorthodox statements.
Many sentences in Ecclesiastes – if taken by themselves – are in quite obvious contradiction with the rest of the Bible, for example ‘the earth remains forever’, ‘the same fate befalls all humans’, ‘there is no difference between humans and animals’ to name a few. There are also contradictory statements in the book of Ecclesiastes itself, for example it says both that death is better than life and that life is better than death. These unorthodox and contradictory statements raise questions as to what really is biblical in this piece of writing.
The author is described as the ‘preacher’, the son of David, King over Israel in Jerusalem. This description fits only Solomon, and also Jewish tradition unanimously holds Solomon to be the author. Since the author deduces his conclusions from much personal experience (Ecc 1:12-2:11), it is assumed that Solomon wrote it in the latter part of his life. But we know that Solomon was disobedient to God and became an idol worshiper (1 Kin 11:1-8). Some people thus think that this book reflects Solomon’s fallen state, but it is brought to a more orthodox conclusion by an editor: ‘The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments…’ (Ecc 12:13). Some think the book was written by a repentant Solomon, trying to warn Israel not to do as he did. Yet others think that it was written by a godly Solomon who used this provocative, pessimistic style to make his readers think about God and what is really important in life and coaxing them to stand up for what they believe. His words are like goads (Ecc 12:11), pricking people to ascertain truth and go the right direction.
The most famous repeated phrase in Ecclesiastes is ‘All is vanity and a chasing after wind’. What does the word ‘vanity’ mean? It literally means vapor or smoke, something that can be seen but not held on to. It is transitory, unsubstantial, empty, frustrating, a cheat. It can’t be grasped, fully understood nor controlled. Solomon declares everything to be a vanity, even things that are usually held up in the Bible to be good like life, family, good work, pleasure and wisdom. Why that? What is the problem with these good things?
One answer is that they are selfishly used, feeding jealousy and creating resentment when the time to let go comes. Another answer is that even though the Law teaches the ‘if then’ principle, and even though that is often happens so (doing good leads to blessing), it it not always so. Humans cannot demand happiness or think they have a right to well-being. Things don’t always work out and it is godly to accept reality as from God’s hand, rather than running into a wall with one’s sense of entitlement. Another answer is that some things are good but they shouldn’t be made top priority or the sole source of contentment, otherwise they become idols. To insist on something becomes to insist on something apart from God, which is problematic.
Another famous phrase in Ecclesiastes is ‘there is nothing new under the sun’. Ecclesiastes contains many depressing sentences of everything repeating, everything being the same, everything being weary and dreary, no true change, no real development, no impact by any human. Nature runs in circles, human generations come and go, injustice and frustrations remain. Solomon piles on depressing and suffocating pictures, to provoke the readers to put up a fight, to realize what is worth living for, to disagree and to stand for the truth.
In opposition to this depressing cyclical time, Ecclesiastes holds out a more positive concept of ‘there is a time for every matter under heaven’ and ‘he has made everything beautiful in its time’ (Ecc 3:1,10). A willing acceptance of what God happens to give right now is the attitude that will allow us to go through things well and also that will allow us to enjoy the good things in life: ‘to accept their lot and find enjoyment in their toil – this is the gift of God’. And though not always, yet most of the time those who fear God, who keep his commandments (Ecc 12:13) and who remember their Creator in the days of their youth (Ecc 12:1) will have a good life, and a hope beyond.

Uniqueness of Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes is a unique book in the Bible for its provocative, pessimistic outlook and its unorthodox statements.
Many sentences in Ecclesiastes – if taken by themselves – are in quite obvious contradiction with the rest of the Bible, for example ‘the earth remains forever’, ‘the same fate befalls all humans’, ‘there is not difference between humans and animals’, ‘death is better than life’ to name a few.
There are also contradictory statements in Ecclesiastes itself, for example it says both that death is better than life (Ecc 9:4) and that life is better than death (Ecc 4:2). It says that wisdom and foolishness lead to the same fate (Ecc 2:14) but then again that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness (Ecc 2:13). It says that to pass on possessions to descendants is vanity (Ecc 2:18) but for parents to have nothing to pass on to children is also described as tragic (Ecc 5:14). It says to have a slave as king in grievous (Ecc 10:5-7) but then commands a poor youth for his leadership (Ecc 4:13-16). These unorthodox and contradictory statements raise questions as to what exactly is biblical in this piece of writing.
Yet still, many very famous passages and widely known Bible verses come from Ecclesiastes, like ‘there is nothing new under the sun’ which is used as a proverb till today and even by unbelievers.

Solomon as author
The author is described as the ‘preacher’, the son of David, King over Israel in Jerusalem, meaning over the yet undivided kingdom (Ecc 1:1, 1:12). This description fits only Solomon, and also Jewish tradition unanimously holds Solomon to be the author. Also many other descriptions in the book match Solomon: the wisdom surpassing all who were before (Ecc 1:16), the great works, houses, parks, many slaves, much wealth and many concubines (Ecc 2:1-8).
Since the author deduces his conclusions from much personal experience (Ecc 1:12-2:11), it is assumed that Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes in the latter part of his life. But we know that Solomon was disobedient to God and became an idol worshiper towards the end of his life through his many foreign wives (1 Kin 11:1-8). Was Ecclesiastes written by a fallen Solomon? If so, how can his words be considered authoritative Word of God? These questions together with the unorthodox and contradictory statements in the book have given rise to different interpretations of Ecclesiastes:

Different approaches to Ecclesiastes
1 A repentant Solomon
Some people think that Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes at the very end of his life, when he, disillusioned, turns back to God and repents from his sin. This book then is basically his confession of having gone wrong and his warning to Israel to not make the same mistake as he has made. The book then would be an attempt to undo the damage done by his bad example. The problem with this approach is that there is no evidence from the Bible that Solomon ever repented.
2 A fallen Solomon’s writings used as a warning
Some people think that this book reflects Solomon’s fallen state, but that it is brought to a more orthodox conclusion by an editor: ‘The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments’ (Ecc 12:13). It is taken then that Solomon wrote Ecc 1:1-12:8 but that Ecc 12:9-14 was written by an editor, to invert Solomon’s message before. According to this approach Ecclesiastes is a writing by a disillusioned, fallen Solomon from which a godly reader can at least take a sober warning. The problem with this approach is that it does away with twelve chapters of the Bible by declaring them unorthodox in one stroke. Also the evidence for an editor inverting the prior message is not that strong.
3 A good Solomon to Israel
Some people think that Ecclesiastes was written by a godly Solomon who used this provocative, pessimistic style (that was familiar to his audience) to make his readers think about God and what is really important in life. He provokes them to respond and stand up for what they believe. His words are like a shepherd’s goads (Ecc 12:11), pricking people to ascertain truth and go the right direction. The problem is just that we today do not know how to read this provocative-pessimistic style very well.
4 A good Solomon to the nations
Some people think, due to the universal appeal of the book and due to the absence of typical Jewish theology in the book, that a godly Solomon wrote it to reach out to non-Jews, using a provocative-pessimistic writing style common at that time to motivate people to look to God. Solomon definitely had a wider audience and influence than any king before (1 Kin 4:34, 1 Kin 10). The problem with this approach is that it seems quite negative for an ‘evangelistic’ testimony to other nations.

Background information
In summary king Solomon, who reigned from 971 to 931 BC, wrote Ecclesiastes from Jerusalem, probably in the later part of his life. He wrote it for contemporary Israelites, but – as with all Bible writings – also had future generations of Israelites in mind. Maybe it was also meant as an outreach to other nations.
It is written about half in poetry and about half in prose, and uses much repetition, many contrasts, rhetorical questions and emphatic statements. Its provocative-pessimistic writing style may no longer be familiar to readers, but it was not uncommon at the time. Works similar in style to Ecclesiastes that are preserved till today are the Egyptian ‘The man who was tired of life’ and ‘Song of the Harper’ (around 2100 BC). Following a quote from the former to show the similarities to Ecclesiastes: ‘Life is a transitory state,’ he complained to himself; ‘you are alive but what profit do you get? Yet you yearn for life like a man of wealth.’ Death is ‘a bringer of weeping’; never again afterwards will a man ‘see the sun’. Little can be done. ‘Follow the happy day and forget care.’

All is vanity
The most famous repeated phrase in Ecclesiastes is ‘All is vanity and a chasing after wind’. What does the word ‘vanity’ mean? It literally means vapor or smoke, something that can be seen but not held on to. It is transitory, unsubstantial, empty, frustrating, a cheat. It can’t be grasped, fully understood nor controlled. The word ‘vanity’ is repeated twenty-nine times and Solomon declares everything to be a vanity, even things that are usually held up to be good in the Bible, like life, happiness, good work, diligence, marriage, family, pleasure, knowledge and wisdom. Why that? What is the problem with these good things?
One answer is that they are selfishly used, feeding jealousy and creating resentment when the time to let go comes. Another answer is that even though the Law teaches the ‘if…then’ principle, and even though it often happens so (doing good leads to blessing), it is not always so. Humans cannot demand happiness or think they have a right to well-being. Things don’t always work out and it is godly to accept reality as from God’s hand, rather than running into a wall with one’s sense of entitlement. Another answer is that some things are good but they shouldn’t be made top priority or the sole source of contentment, otherwise they become idols. To insist on something becomes to insist on something apart from God, which is problematic.

Chasing after wind, a vexation of the Spirit
Another repeated expression that adds to the same overall message is that of ‘chasing after wind’, also translated as ‘feeding on the wind’, ‘grasping’ or ‘vexation’ which occurs almost twenty times.

There is nothing new under the sun
Another famous phrase in Ecclesiastes is ‘there is nothing new under the sun’. It is used twenty-seven times in depressing sentences of everything repeating, everything being the same, everything being weary and dreary. There is no true change, no real development, no impact by any human. Nature runs in circles, humans generations come and go, injustice and frustrations remain.
Solomon piles on depressing and suffocating pictures, to provoke the readers to put up a fight, to realize what is worth living for, to disagree and stand for the truth. If there nothing new under the sun, then what is above it??
It is interesting that many things, like the daily rising of the sun, the provision of wind, weather and rain are seen as dreariness in Ecclesiastes (Ecc 1:4-10) whereas in other parts of the Bible it is a celebration of the daily faithfulness of God (for example Psa 147:7-11).

Cyclical time or time that moves forward?
In opposition to this depressing cyclical time (Ecc 1:4-10), Ecclesiastes holds out a more positive concept of time: ‘there is a time for every matter under heaven’, an affirmation of the different issues of life and the time they might come up. There is wisdom in not fighting this but accepting the change of seasons, for ‘he has made everything beautiful in its time’ (Ecc 3:1,10).
There is also the interesting sentence: ‘moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds’ (Ecc 3:11). God has made humans aware of time. Humans are creatures in time, unlike God who is beyond time, and to understand this is wisdom. The questions that arise from this understanding of time – Where do I come from? Where do I go? What happens after death? What is my role? – are good questions for humans to ask.
Ecclesiastes also talks about the human desire to be remembered: ‘The people of long ago are not remembered, nor will there be any remembrance of people yet to come by those who come after them’ or ‘For there is no enduring remembrance of the wise or of fools, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten’ (Ecc 1:11, 2:16). Humans yearn for eternity, they yearn to not cease to exist, to leave a lasting legacy behind.

Accepting what God gives
With the theme of time and ‘a time for every matter under heaven’ comes the willing acceptance of what God happens to give right now. ‘This is what I have seen to be good, it is fitting to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of the life God gives us, for this is our lot. All to whom God gives wealth and possessions and whom he enables to enjoy them, and to accept their lot and find enjoyment in their toil – this is the gift of God’ (Ecc 5:18-19). This is the attitude that will allow humans to go through things well, the attitude that will help them to enjoy the good and simple things in life as they come. Contrarily, when we expect or demand a certain outcome, a certain blessing or pleasure, when we insist on it, that’s when we hit the wall, because it just might not happen so. Therefore Ecclesiastes cautions: ‘Do not say ‘why were the former days better than these?’ For it is not from wisdom that you ask this. ‘In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider, God has made the one as well as the other’ (Ecc 7:10,14).
Even though there is adversity, and even though death is certain (Ecc 12:1-8), still most of the time those who fear God and keep his commandments (Ecc 12:13) and those who remember their Creator in the days of their youth (Ecc 12:1) will have a good life, and a hope beyond.

Self-focus
In Ecclesiastes the preacher mentions himself seven times as such. In addition the pronouns ‘I’ and ‘myself’ are mentioned another eighty times. This conscious or unconscious focus on oneself is part of what sets a person up for frustration. For example concerning wealth: He gains it, but then is partially annoyed he can’t enjoy it all himself (Ecc 6:1-2), partially worried about more consumers (Ecc 5:11) and that he has to pass it on to descendants who may not care about it (Ecc 2:18-19). Partially he is worried about those who have no-one to pass it on to (Ecc 4:7-8), that in the end he might not have anything to pass on after all (Ecc 5:14).

Work and Toil
The word ‘work’ or ‘works’ is repeated twenty-one times in Ecclesiastes, its more negative corollary ‘toil’, meaning the wearying hardship of labor is mentioned another twenty-two times.
Solomon claims that he has done it all, and Kings and Chronicles bears out that there is no lack of great works in his life. But Solomon shows that though work is a needful thing (Ecc 6:7), work and even great works as an end in themselves will not suffice, they become empty and can’t satisfy (Ecc 1:3, 2:11, 2:18, 2:20, 2:21, 2:22, 3:9, 4:4, 4:8, 5:15, 8:17, 10:15). Yet if work is done under God, if one is not selfish about its fruits, it can be enjoyable, a blessing and gift from God (Ecc 2:10, 2:24, 3:12-13, 3:22, 4:9, 5:18-19, 8:15, 9:9). So he encourages his readers to work wholeheartedly: ‘Whatever your hand finds to do, do with you might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going’ (Ecc 9:10).
As with everything in life, to give a thing – anything – highest priority, making it the sole goal, the source of one’s life and satisfaction, means to thereby undermine and destroy the very thing that is pursued. Anything can become an idol, and anything – if given it’s proper place and priority under God – can be a blessing. This is particularly true of pleasure, another thing Solomon pursues, idolizes and then finds wanting (Ecc 2:1-11).

Death
Death is a strongly repeated theme in Ecclesiastes. Anything that claims to give joy, meaning and fulfillment Solomon measures against the reality of death.
Death is the great equalizer. All people have to die, both wise and foolish, both rich and poor, both the good and the evil (Ecc 6:6, 9:3). Solomon provocatively states that in the face of despair death is better than life, and that only death brings an end to endless oppression and injustice (Ecc 4:2). He asserts that death in the equalizer also between humans and animals (Ecc 6:6). Death, where there is no longer any self-consciousness, is better than a life with no enjoyment (Ecc 6:3-6).
Like the better part of the Old Testament, Solomon holds that human existence ends with death (Ecc 12:8). Death is the final reality: ‘The dead know nothing… have no more reward… no memory… all has perished with them’ (Ecc 9:5-6). It bases on Gen 3:19 ‘from dust you were taken, to dust you shall return’. The concept of a resurrection beyond death only steals into Hebrew thought very late (with Hosea, Ezekiel, Daniel), and in Ecclesiastes death is still a crushing reality which tests all the claims about life one might hold.

Government and Leadership
On a closer look Ecclesiastes talks quite extensively about government and leadership. Solomon loudly complains about justice being perverted into wickedness (Ecc 3:16), about severe oppression of people with no one to comfort them (Ecc 4:1-2), about selfish use of power (Ecc 8:9), about lack of just judgment perpetuating evil (Ecc 8:11), about the innocent being treated as guilty and the guilty as innocent (Ecc 8:14) and finally about religiously sanctioned evil (Ecc 8:10). He mentions positive examples of a poor youth and a wise men giving good leadership (though they are later forgotten, Ecc 4:13-16, 9:14-18). He advises officers to give blind, unquestioning obedience to the king (Ecc 8:2) and to faithfulness (Ecc 10:4). He does assert that God will ultimately judge the wicked (Ecc 3:17, 12:14).
All of this, though more orthodox than other statements, doesn’t match up: It is like an abdication or excuse of a king who is too negligent to fulfill his role as government. The government’s role – according to the Law – precisely is to ensure lawfulness, just judgment, prevention of injustice and oppression and protection of the innocent in the land. The positive examples he mentions are private people giving good leadership, but he in no way challenges himself as king or other government officials to give the just leadership they should. Rather he indulges willful and arbitrary use of power.

Summary of themes
There are many more topics Solomon addresses, and as seen before he usually makes positive statements (green color) as well as negative statements (red color) about any of them. He thus shows the complexity of what humans on earth face. See the picture for a summary.

The conclusion
At the very end Solomon (or maybe an editor who tries to use his writings to teach people what not to do) concludes this provocative-pessimistic monologue by drawing practical conclusions, which sound a lot more orthodox: Heed the sayings of the wise, which prick but lead the right direction (Ecc 12:11). Do not exhaust yourself trying to understand every paradox of life (Ecc 12:12). Fear God and keep his commandments (Ecc 12:13). Be assured that God will ultimately bring justice (Ecc 12:14). Those who remember their Creator in the days of their youth (Ecc 12:1) will mostly experience the blessing of a good life, and a hope beyond.

Uniqueness of Ecclesiastes

• How does the book feel?
• There is nothing else in the Bible like Ecclesiastes. The most close thing is Job, but still great differences
• Atmosphere? Emotion? > vanity, senselessness, focuslessness, nothing makes a difference, depression, drabness, making you tired reading it, pessimistic, pulling you down, dreary
• Like Job it is famous and has made its way into the consciousness of people, though it is so confusing and negative
• Why is it that the most confusing or contradictory books of the Bible are the most famous?
  • maybe people like questions better than answers, though answers are given, veiled-ly
  • maybe suffering, depression and seeing no sense are perennial issues all humans experience > therefore appealing?
• Yet still, many very famous passages and widely known Bible verses are from Ecclesiastes … there is nothing new under the sun … (used as a Proverb even today and even by unbelievers)

Questions Ecclesiastes raises

• Ecclesiastes seems to have straight contradictions of basic orthodox bible teachings:
  • Ecc 1:2 All is vanity, senseless, pointless. Versus Rom 8:28
  • Ecc 1:4b The earth remains forever. Versus 2 Pet 3:7
  • Ecc 1:9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done. Versus Isa 43:19
  • Ecc 2:14 The same fate befalls all of them. Versus Deu 28
  • Ecc 3:11 Humans cannot find out what God has done. Versus Rom 1:20
  • Ecc 3:18-20 Humans are animals. There is no difference between humans and animals. Versus Gen 1:26
  • Ecc 7:1 The day of death is better than the day of birth. Versus Rev 20:11-15
  • Ecc 9:11 Time and chance happen to all. Versus Deu 28
• If you cut Ecclesiastes into verses, you can ‘prove’ pretty much anything. Don’t read, quote or use Bible verses without context! Especially in wisdom literature!
• As with Job, where you only find out in ch 42 that you have been hearing some 20 chapters of false counsel.
• Or as with Proverbs, where only by reading all proverbs on a topic you will get a more complete picture.
• Ecclesiastes also has straight contradictions within itself.
  • Ecc 1:17 Wisdom is vanity.
  • Ecc 2:14 wisdom and foolishness lead to the same fate
  • Ecc 2:13 But wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness.
  • Ecc 6:3-6, 9:4 death is better than life
  • Ecc 4:1-3, 9:4-6 life is better than death
  • Ecc 2:18-24, 6:1-6 have to leave possessions to possibly foolish descendants and others
  • Ecc 5:14 not having anything to pass on is tragic
  • Ecc 10:5-7 slaves as kings is grievous
  • Ecc 4:13-16, 9:13-18 poor wise youth or poor man are commended for their leadership
• Ecclesiastes is very unorthodox, very depressed and very depressing, it has no eternity perspective, no bless-others perspective, screwed values, not even really much of a God perspective.
• What is a book like this doing in the Bible? How can this be God’s inspired word? What to do with outright contradictions in the book itself? Or of the book with the Bible?
• If today we had to make a decision whether it was to be included in the Bible we would definitely vote against inclusion! … yet there it is in the Bible (both Jewish and Christian) from way past

Questions Solomonic Authorship raises

• Did Solomon write this? If yes, when he still was in good state? or half-fallen state? Or fallen state? If in good state, why is the book so depressed? If in fallen state, why then is this Bible? how can this still be God’s authoritative word? How then are we to take it?
• What is the orthodoxy, inspiration or authority of such a negative and unorthodox book?
• Because the book is so un-orthodox, different approaches have bee suggested:

Different approaches

1 Corrective confession by repentant Solomon

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It is written by a repentant Solomon, apologizing for his failed and derailed life by confessing his wrong and trying to redirect Israel away from his wrong example … maybe he can’t do it himself anymore but he still has the wisdom to point in the right direction (?)

• This would be more orthodox.
• Problem: we have no evidence from the Bible that Solomon indeed did repent. We just know he got deeper and deeper into idolatry and fiercer with his opposition. Did he really see his problem? then he then didn’t heed his own message. Also there could have been a lot clearer ways to recant his life than this book.

2 Edited by godly people inverting the message

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It is written by a fallen Solomon, expressing his skewed, depressed and God-less view … and then used and edited by godly people to show readers the exasperating hopelessness of a god-less life with the goal to drive the readers towards a godly life. They present Solomon’s skewed teaching in full length and then invert it in the last two verses, which alone are written by them: … “the end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for that is the whole duty or everyone. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.”

• Plus point: It organizes away the contradictions and unorthodox statements.
• The problem with this approach is that it seems a bit daring to declare whole Bible passages to mean the opposite of what they are saying. How good is the evidence for an inversion and for the last 2 verses being written by them?

3 Still godly Solomon shaking the complacent by provocative statements

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It is written by a still godly Solomon, using his life experience and wisdom to write a book using a common writing style (pessimistic wisdom) to engage and provoke Israel into deeper thinking about God & life & sense … shaking up the believers

• More orthodox in the sense that Solomon really is the author and ‘means what he says’, even though provocatively
• The problems with this is, that the book is really depressing, really contradictory, really seems to have no ‘life beyond death perspective’ and no selflessness-perspective. Is this really showing God’s perspective?

4 Written by Solomon as apologetic-evangelistic outreach to Gentiles

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It is written by a still godly Solomon, using his life experience and wisdom to write a book in a style known to Gentiles. Therefore no typical Israel-theology. His purpose is sharing about God > pointing to the grim alternative of life without God

• Would be more orthodox
• The problems with this is, that the book is (if seems) more depressing and contradictory than needed.
• Also since in that time everybody was a believers in some god, the question apologetics need to address is: ‘which god?’, and there Ecclesiastes doesn’t seem strong on this at all. Though it is strong to say: ‘God is better than no god’.

Background Information

Author

• Ecc 1:1, 1:12 the author is a son of David, a king, a king over Israel in Jerusalem (not yet split!). This strongly points to Solomon.
• Ecc 2:10 full sell out to pleasure
• Ecc 1:16 great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, great wisdom and knowledge
• Ecc 2:7 great possessions, more than any before me in Jerusalem > Solomon
• 1 Kin 4:29-34 Solomon’s description fits the Ecclesiastes description
• Throughout tradition: Solomon. Much debate among scholarship.
• ‘Teacher’, ‘Preacher’, (in Hebrew ‘Qoheleth’), meaning ‘one who gathers an assembly to address it’. English: ‘Ecclesiastes’, ecclesia meaning assembly.

Date

Solomon’s reign is 971-931 BC. Maybe towards the end of his life?

• established wisdom, greatness, wealth, having ‘done it all’, a preoccupation with death / thinking about posterity
• maybe in a fallen state, yet still having wisdom?
• but, would he still have been ‘godly enough’ to write something that would be considered orthodoxy? And Ecclesiastes isn’t that orthodox!
• at the end he descends into idolatry, so probably before that

Audience

• Israel of Solomon’s day / future Israel > challenging their priorities, redirecting them from a bad example, apologizing?
• Gentiles? Universal appeal? > common form of pessimistic wisdom / evangelistic aspect / no ‘Israel theology’
• Maybe to his many sons? Teaching them from a distance, since personal involvement is difficult? Other kings?

Where from

• Jerusalem, still united kingdom

Literary Questions

• Literary Type? mostly prose (> literal interpretation), some poetry (> figurative interpretation) like Ecc 1:1-11, 1:15, 3:2-8, 7:1-13, 8:1, 10:1-4, 10:8-20, 11:1-4
• Structure? wisdom literature, provocative, pessimistic wisdom (well-known kind from the ancient near east), monologue
• Composition? comparisons, contrasts, repetition
• Outside Parallels In an Egyptian work, The Man Who Was Tired of Life, written between 2300 and 2100BC , a man disputed with his soul whether life was worth living or whether suicide was the only logical act. `Life is a transitory state,’ he complained to himself; `you are alive but what profit do you get? Yet you yearn for life like a man of wealth.’ Death is `a bringer of weeping’; never again afterwards will a man `see the sun’. Little can be done. `Follow the happy day and forget care.’ Another Egyptian work is called the Song of the Harper 2100BC which contains striking parallels to Ecclesiastes.

Importance of the book

• Writing of their wisest king at their greatest time > wide and lasting influence, possibly beyond Israel
• Life without God and without eternal perspective and without selflessness is indeed vain
• By speculative provocative, pessimistic statements driving us to value the normal, practical life in the fear of God

Main ideas / topics

• If not for God, if not for, by and under God and lived in the fear of God > life and all in live is vain, even good things like knowledge, work, pleasure, possessions, relationships, leadership, life …
• Everything, even good things can become empty, dissatisfying, frustrating, meaningless and contradictory if pursued independently of God, solely for their own sake or selfishly.
• God is eternal, sovereign, infinite, generous and a judge > there is good now, and eternity and responsibility
• God grants to humans to live good lives of meaningful work & leadership, enjoyment of pleasures & possessions, good relationships and lasting legacy

Main reasons / goals

• challenging current and future Israel to re-think their lives, priorities and live full lives by the fear of God
• by provocative, negative, biting statements pricking the readers to assert what is good, true, positive
• maybe Solomon evaluation his life publicly > correcting and redirecting the nation away from his own example
• maybe evangelistic to Gentiles, pushing people towards God

STRUCTURE OF ECCLESIASTES

• One commentator lists twenty-three commentators who virtually abandoned the task of seeking coherence in the book.
• Many see the work as a string of meditations held together by a common thread.
• As we see there are issues that are repeated a number of times, in a weaving, non-linear fashion (similar to 1 John).
• With the repetition of the theme of hopelessness there is interspersed the kind of wisdom writing we are used to in Proverbs. Such as Ecc 7:1-13, 8:1, 10:1-4, 10:8-11:6. The flow is sometimes hard to see and grasp. Ecc 3:1-8 and Ecc 3:9-15 are bringing in the topic of time.
  • Ecc 1:1 pursuit of wisdom & pleasure is vain life experienced by Solomon examining life > all is vanity / vexation
  • Ecc 3:1 toil is vain, God is sovereign life experienced by everyone
  • Ecc 6:1 wealth, power, reputation is vain folly versus wisdom conclusion: nobody can find out
  • Ecc 9:1 wisdom is to accept limitations excellence of wisdom conclusion: humans can’t find out
  • Ecc 12:9 the fear of God remains, the end of the matter. Summary: enjoy normal life but fear God
• What are main themes? How are they linked? Good luck at answering that question! Here is an attempt:
• There are some main themes that come again and again … I think 7 main themes (see picture)

picture

• Each one is looked at (by returning to it again and again) from a negative but also from positive angle. Negative red. Positive green.
• Contradictions galore can be found!
• Ecclesiastes in unorthodox in slashing and ripping apart what traditionally would have been held as good values: righteousness, work, wealth, knowledge, leadership, life, relationships, a lasting legacy.
• But Ecclesiastes is orthodox in that it is not so much the thing itself that is criticized, but it’s unmitigated pursuit, its being made into a god, its being looked to to fulfill things only God can.

REPEATED THEMES IN ECCLESIASTES

Some repeated themes that can be found:

• Vanity / running after Wind > futility, senselessness, limitation, frustration
• Under the sun > limited perspective, only the here and now, no eternal or outside perspective
• In this vain life >
• No resurrection, death is the end
• All go to the same place
• No difference through morality Ecc 9:3
• Death as foe / death wish > no beyond, no eternal perspective
• No profit / selfishness > no lasting profit / can’t take with you / another enjoys what I toiled for / even children /
• A lot of the futility comes from this mentality of ‘no eternity / no joy in leaving something to posterity

Repeated Theme Vanity – a swipe at everything in life (29x)

• Ecc 1:2 / 12:8 all > vanity of vanities
• Ecc 1:14 all works under the sun > vanity
• Ecc 2:1 test pleasure / enjoyment / wine / houses / gardens / riches / sex > vanity
• Ecc 2:11 all the works I made > vanity
• Ecc 2:15 same fate to wise and fool, so why was I wise > vanity
• Ecc 2:17 all my works grievous to me > hated life > vanity
• Ecc 2:19 all my works > enjoyed by another, wise or fool > vanity
• Ecc 2:21 works with wisdom & knowledge > enjoyed by another > vanity, great evil
• Ecc 2:23 mortals’ days full of pain / sorrow / grief / no rest > vanity
• Ecc 2:26 to sinners God gives gathering > enjoyed by righteous > vanity
• Ecc 3:19 same fate to humans & animals > same breath > both die > vanity
• Ecc 4:4 all work / skill comes from envy > vanity
• Ecc 4:7-8 solitary individuals, no children, much work, no enjoyment > vanity
• Ecc 4:16 no end to the people the youth led, but those after him will not rejoice in him > vanity
• Ecc 5:7 multitude of dreams and many words > vanity
• Ecc 5:10 he that loves silver shall not be satisfied by it, loves abundance with increase > vanity
• Ecc 6:2 if riches / wealth / honor but God does not give the power to enjoy it > vanity, evil disease
• Ecc 6:4 stillborn comes into vanity, vanishes into darkness
• Ecc 6:9 better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire > vanity
• Ecc 6:11 the more words > vanity
• Ecc 7:6 laughter of fools > vanity
• Ecc 7:15 just man perishing, wicked man prolonging his wickedness > seen in my days of vanity
• Ecc 8:10 dead wicked (behaved religiously / praised in the city) > vanity
• Ecc 8:14 it happens to the just according to the wicked, vise versa > vanity
• Ecc 9:9 live your life of vanity with the wife you love, as God has given as your portion
• Ecc 11:8 days of darkness coming / death, all that comes > vanity
• Ecc 11:10 remove sorrow from your heart for childhood, youth > vanity

What does this word mean?

• The word is # H1892 “hebel, habel”, also translated vapor, smoke, vanity, emptiness, transitory, unsatisfactory, altogether, vain.
• One interpretation: vain, focused on good looks, importance on appearance, looking good but empty , appearance over substance … Greek! Empty, hollow, no substance, no real value, proves to be empty, is a cheat, frustrating, doesn’t really work, doesn’t last nor satisfy, proves senseless. Frustrating because of perceived value but proves futile, proves a misjudgment, it’s ‘overrated’.
• Another interpretation: can’t be grasped, can’t be nailed down, can’t be fully understood, can’t be controlled. It remains an enigma.
• List of what all is called ‘hebel’? … well, all, hard work, good life, pleasure, wisdom, foolishness, injustice, justice, death, life … many of these things are actually good things, things the Bible commends elsewhere, God-give things, blessings.
• What then is the problem? … no giving heart, selfishness, jealousy, resents things being left behind for others, even own children, resentment of others having, oneself not having … if this is my attitude: selfishness, self-centeredness, then I will see many things as a vexation, but that doesn’t need to be so.
• What then is the problem? … some points are the ‘if then’ inverted, which is serious and frustrating indeed. There it’s an issue of time, of patience, of stamina, of faith to wait till God’s ‘if then’ comes into reality, latest in eternity, often before then.
• What is the problem? … to pursue things for their own sake, exclusively, giving priority to them. In other words: idolatry: making something my center, my everything, my source for life, joy, contentment … if I deify anything, even a very good God-given thing, it will turn hollow, deceptive, even oppressive.
• What is the problem? … to demand it, to assume its presence, to think it will always be so. Often to demand something, to think myself entitled destroys the very thing (happiness, relationships, sex etc.). To falsely rely on something destroys the very thing (anything we set above God, even very good things).

Repeated Theme – ‘vexation of spirit’ or ‘chasing after wind’ (16x)

• H7469 ‘rehoth’, feeding on, grasping after, vexation
• H7475 grasping, feeding on, grasping, vexation 3x
• H7307 ruach spirit / breath / wind /
• Ecc 1:14 all works under the sun > vanity
• Ecc 1:17 I applied my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived > chasing after wind
• Ecc 2:11 all the works I made > vanity > chasing after wind
• Ecc 2:17 all my works grievous to me > hated life > vanity > chasing after wind
• Ecc 2:26 to sinners God gives gathering > enjoyed by righteous > vanity > chasing after wind
• Ecc 3:19-21 same fate to humans & animals > same breath > both die > vanity > spirit goes up / down
• Ecc 4:4 all work / skill comes from envy > vanity > chasing after wind
• Ecc 4:6 Better is a handful with quiet than two handfuls with toil , and a chasing after wind. > chasing after wind
• Ecc 4:16 no end to the people the youth led, but those after him will not rejoice in him > vanity > chasing after wind
• Ecc 5:16 born naked, will go away empty, what use of toil for the wind? > for the wind
• Ecc 6:9 better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire > vanity > chasing after wind
• one of two points are added, but very similar to ‘vanity’

Repeated theme – “Under the sun” 27x

• Ecc 1:3 all toil done under the sun > no profit
• Ecc 1:9 nothing new under the sun, all happened before, all that will happen
• Ecc 1:14 all works done under the sun > vain
• Ecc 2:11 all works I did under the sun > vain / no profit
• Ecc 2:17 all works done under the sun > vain > hated life
• Ecc 2:18 all works I did under the sun > left to another after me > hated my works
• Ecc 2:19 all my works under the sun > left to another after me > may be wise or a fool yet rule over all my works > vanity
• Ecc 2:20 all my works under the sun > despaired in my heart
• Ecc 2:22 all works done under the sun > vain > what good?
• Ecc 3:16 under the sun > in the place of judgment / righteousness > wickedness
• Ecc 4:1 under the sun > power is with the oppressors / oppressed have no comforter
• Ecc 4:3 under the sun > stillborn child is better than dead & living for it has not seen the evil work
• Ecc 4:7 under the sun > vanity
• Ecc 4:7 a vanity under the sun > solitary individuals > no children, endless toil, no satisfaction
• Ecc 4:15 under the sun > all the living following the youth that replaced the king
• Ecc 5:13 an evil under the sun > riches kept by owner for their own hurt, riches lost > nothing to leave to children
• Ecc 5:18 / 8:15 it is good to eat / drink / enjoy the good of labor under the sun
• Ecc 6:1 an evil under the sun > God doesn’t enable the rich to enjoy their possessions > a stranger enjoys them instead
• Ecc 6:12 no man knows what shall be after him under the sun > who knows what is good for mortals and their life as a shadow?
• Ecc 8:17 no man knows what shall be after him under the sun > though seek it out, won’t know
• Ecc 8:9 under the sun > one man rules another to his hurt
• Ecc 9:11 under the sun > race not to the swift / battle not to the strong … chance happens to them all
• Ecc 9:13 wisdom under the sun > poor man who saves his city from a siege, but he is not remembered
• Ecc 9:3 an evil under the sun > same fate comes to all
• Ecc 9:6 dead (their love / passion / envy ) > never again any share in what happens under the sun
• Ecc 9:9 live life joyfully with your wife that God gave under the sun all your vain life > God given portion
• Ecc 10:5 an evil under the sun > folly / slaves set in high places, rich / rulers in low place
• What does “under the sun” suggest? What does this picture project?
• All, all under heaven, all on this earth, reality of living down here, in this world, here, where I am, where humans are, our immediate reality, this realm
• Excludes things above or beyond the sun, excludes God, us contained down here, the world without God, where He is not, reality without him, men left to themselves without God.
• It’s like a picture of a lid pressed down on us, a barrier, a pressure … pressing, limiting, suffocating
• It’s a limited perspective, atheistic world, world in a box, world cut off from God, godless reality, godless perspective …
• This is cutting off our breath, deeply troubling, scary, depressing, hopeless … truly a God-less universe is scary
• By this pressure the writer forces the reader to assert himself, to bear up, to throw off the lid, to resist forcefully, to fight for breath, to free himself from this suffocating picture / lid
• It’s a powerful picture of the hopelessness of a world without God, of humans shut up in their own minds
• It’s a powerful statement of our desperate need for God, even to live daily lives, our need for the greater perspective, the vision, the eternal reality

Repeated theme – work / works

• “work” 21x H4639 ‘maaseh’ action, work, activity, labor
• “toil” 22x H5999 ‘amal’ toil, wearing effort, worry, grievance, iniquity, labor, misery, pain, sorrow, trouble
• Toil if an end in it’s self, it is empty, but if it is not an end in it’s self, the good hand and generosity of God can be see in it, and it can be enjoyed:
• Toil as an end in itself will break down Ecc 1:3, 2:11, 2:18, 2:20, 2:21, 2:22, 3:9, 4:4, 4:8, 5:15, 8:17, 10:15.
• Yet work is a good and needful thing Ecc 6:7.
• Enjoy it, it can be a blessing & gift from God Ecc 2:10, 2:24, 3:12-13, 3:22, 4:9, 5:18-19, 8:15, 9:9
• Work whole-heartedly! Ecc 9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do with you might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going
• Very positive view of work in the Bible overall

Repeated theme “I” / “myself”

• “Teacher” or “Preacher” 7x, “I” 70x,“ 10x in the first 4 chapters, not anymore after that
• One of the grievances with toil is that > it can’t be enjoyed why? why does God only give to some to enjoy?
• Another main grievance with toil > that somebody else gets the fruit of it … Ecc 5:16 naked they came, can take nothing for their toil, what gain to they have for toiling?
• Why is this so very much a problem? If I am selfish, this is a frustration, but really it could be source for joy, for significance, for making a lasting contribution, to own descendants or others … and ultimately God
• Self-focus will limit my sight, perspective, influence, power to do and give … but also it will ‘eat from inside out’ the very thing I am pursuing or trying so hard to ensure for myself.
• Some things cannot be gotten by running after them:
  • Happiness > rather focus on doing what is right and good, and you will find yourself happy more times than not.
  • Pleasure > rather focus on being righteous, fair and not too selfish in my pursuit and more times than not you will have and be able to enjoy pleasure.
  • Peace > don’t just avoid conflict, run away and always choose the easiest way … in the long run that is not a recipe for peace. Rather look to God, do right, be generous, think of others, repent > peace will come.
• Example: People having petty quarrels at the most beautiful and luxurious tourists spots.

Repeated theme “all”

• 58 verses, 72 x the word “all” maybe adding to the provocation, the biting, maybe a conscious overstatement to prick.

Repeated theme ‘time’ and ‘cyclical time’

• Ecc 1:3-11 “A generation comes, a generation goes … the sun rises, sets … the wind goes in circle …streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full”
  • Conclusion: all things are wearisome, nothing is new. Everything is cyclical, drab, boring, repetitive. Time is cyclical.
  • This conclusion is not automatic. The Bible typically comments on things like this very positively: the faithfulness of God is new every morning! God giving sun, warmth, light, growth, water, weather and everything needed is a blessing, something to be grateful for.
• Ecc 3:1-8 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; …
• Ecc 3:11 He has made everything suitable (some translations: beautiful) in its time … seasons come, seasons go. There is good in each season, though change comes. Time is Linear.
• What does this mean? Is this even true? Is everything good?
  • Death, killing, losing, war (as taken from the list) was not the will or creation of God … these things entered the world as a fruit of sin, of bad human choices. Death is only introduced after the fall (Gen 3:19 … “from dust you were taken, to dust you shall return”). The first murder is after the fall (Gen 4 Cain killing Abel)
  • But then how can things be called ‘appropriate’ in their time? (One English translation: God makes everything beautiful in its time)
  • Acceptance of the realities of a sin-affected world: we now are mortal, we will die, some good things will not last, others’ sin will affect and hurt innocent people.
  • What kind of an acceptance is godly? To accept what is unchangeable, to accept our responsibility as humans in general, to accept my limitations, but to also accept my responsibility to act within this world, to affect what I can reasonably affect.
• Ecc 3:11 “moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds … He has put eternity into their minds.”
• Humans – unlike God – are creatures of time, are within time, bound to time. God is outside or beyond time. Linear
• God helps us to understand the importance of time, he puts a sense of time into human hearts.
• Why is this significant?
  • It describes a sense, a longing all humans have.
  • David Richardson’s book “Eternity in their hearts” describing how in every ever so remote tribe, there are the questions of future, the desire for peace, for being eternal, a good eternity in peace with God.
  • In every human heart (within or without the Judeo-Christian tradition) these question arise, these are things he has ‘written on our heart’: Where do I come from? Where do I go? What happens after death? What is my role?
  • and God uses them to speak, to draw us to himself (Rom 1:20). These are powerful ‘bridge-builders’ if we witness to people from very different cultures and backgrounds.

Repeated Theme “Remembrance”

• Ecc 1:11 “The people of long ago are not remembered, nor will there be any remembrance of people yet to come by those who come after them.”
• Ecc 2:16 “For there is no enduring remembrance of the wise or of fools, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten.”
• Ecc 9:5 “The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no more reward, and even the memory of them is lost. Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished; never again will they have any share in all that happens under the sun.”  Time is linear here.
• Why is this a problem? … Humans yearn for eternity, to not cease to exist themselves, but also to leave a lasting impact for good on this world, to contribute something of importance
• Jesus’ promise in Jhn 15:16 “I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last” … is a real promise, answering a real desire in our hearts
• In modern Christianity we have reduced this issue as to just ‘make it to heaven’, a personalized assurance of “I will be well” … and even though that is definitely included – and needed – it is not really all that God promised, and definitely not ‘good enough’.

Repeated theme ‘Acceptance or God’s gift’

• Ecc 5:18 “This is what I have seen to be good, it is fitting to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of the life God gives us, for this is our lot.”
• Ecc 5:19 “all to whom God gives wealth and possessions and whom he enables to enjoy them, and to accept their lot and find enjoyment in their toil – this is the gift of God.”
• Ecc 7:10 “Do not say ‘why were the former days better than these?’ For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.”
• Ecc 7:14 “In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider, God has made the one as well as the other, so that mortals may not find out anything that will come after them.”
• Acceptance of what gives, not claiming of some perceived right to a blessing, a peaceful and trusting submission to God’s ways and timing.
• This way well be an overall theme: It is precisely when we demand an outcome, expect a blessing or pleasure, that we run into walls, and making that thing and over-focus.

Repeated theme “Sheol” H7585 1x

• Ecc 9:10 “Whatever your hand finds to do, do with your might; for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.”
• Repeated theme “death” 3x
• Repeated theme “dead” 5x
• The author is somewhat flirting with death, expressing controversial things … probably again to provoke:
• Ecc 4:2 “the dead are more fortunate than the living” in the face of oppression
• Ecc 4:3 “dead is better than living, and stillborn better than both …”
• Ecc 6:3 “stillborn better than living who can’t enjoy”
• Ecc 6:4 “stillborn has rest rather than living …”
• Ecc 6:6 “living 1000 years twice over no gain with no enjoyment …”
• Ecc 6:6 “do not all go to one place … do not all have same fate?” (animals & hunans, righteous and sinner)
• Ecc 7:1 “the day of death is better than the day of one’s birth”
• Ecc 7:26 “more bitter than death is the woman who is fetters” … death is bitter
• Ecc 8:8 “No man has power over the spirit to retain the spirit, neither power in the day of death”
• Ecc 9:3 Evil: same fate to all > men are full of evil, madness in their heart … and after that they go to the dead
• Ecc 9:4 a living dog is better than dead lion
• Ecc 9:5-6 dead know nothing, have no more reward, no memory, all has perished with them
• Hebrew thinking (the OT so far) death is inevitable and the existence of things ends with death … Gen 3:19 “from dust you were taken, to dust you shall return”
• The concept of Sheol is not a ‘paradise after death’, not even a ‘place of punishment’, it simply means ‘where the dead are’, or ‘all the dead’, but nothing happens there, it is over: ‘no work or thought or knowledge’ is there. It is sometimes dramatized metaphorically to make a point: “Sheol is opening its mouth, ready to receive you” in the prophets, but still: to go to Sheol is descending into nothingness, not into a parallel universe.
• So there is not really (yet) a perspective beyond death … it all finishes with death … death is the great equalizer … Ecc 12:8 body to dust, breath back to God … no perspective of an on-living.
• As said before: the concept of a ‘life after death’ and ‘resurrection’ only steals in very late into Hebrew thought.

Repeated theme “mind”

• “I have seen” 6x, “see” 6x, “I perceived” 2x,  “heart / mind” 32x, “seek / sought” 7x
• Limitation of mind without God, we can’t go ‘behind our own thoughts’, we get stuck, danger of self-induced uncontrolled thoughts spiraling into depression
• Solomon argues logic, but his logic is flawed, the perspective is limited, self-confined. Here are some of his perceptions or conclusions:
• Ecc 1:4-8 return of the sun, wing (rain), rivers > conclusion: wearisome, more than one can express
• Ecc 1:4-8 > could conclude: God’s faithfulness, new every morning, providing
• Ecc 2:15 wisdom is vanity, wisdom and folly leads to the same
• Ecc 2:13 wisdom excels folly like light darkness
• Ecc 2:26 God gives the sinner to gather for the righteousness > vanity
• Ecc 3:16 in the place of justice wickedness
• Ecc 6:12 mortals do not know what will be after them under the sun
• Ecc 1:9-10:, 6:10 … nothing new under the sun, what was will be again …
• Ecc 2:9 Solomon excelling all before but still it’s only what has already been done
• Ecc 1:19 the one inheriting is wise or foolish …
• Ecc 4:7-8 those without family ask: for whom am I toiling? > vanity …
• Ecc 5:14 parents with nothing to give to children …
• Ecc 5:16 grievous ill … riches kept to own hurt
• Ecc 5:16 grievous ill … naked they came, can take nothing for their toil, what gain to they have for toiling

Repeated theme “leadership / king / justice”

Ecclesiastes has quite a strong repeated theme on issues like leadership, justice or the absence thereof. Maybe this should not surprise, given that Solomon is a king:

• Ecc 3:16 under the sun: in the place of justice > wickedness
• Ecc 3:17 God will judge the righteous and the wicked at an appointed time … but if there is no life after death, when will that be? … therefore justice will not be done

God gave justice as main job of Government, here is seems that Solomon abdicating responsibility, being negligent with the duty of the king. Rather he is melancholy, wistful, almost blaming God or vaguely hoping that God will somehow see to it in this earth?! He says:

• Ecc 4:1 “I saw all oppression, no one to comfort them …”
• Ecc 4:13-16 “poor wise youth > old foolish king …no end to the people he led … people will not rejoice in him > vanity”
• Ecc 7:19 “wisdom gives strength to the wise more than ten rulers that are in a city …”
• Ecc 8:2 unquestioning obedience to king demanded, he does whatever he pleases, no one can challenge him, just obey … > unaccountable leadership, leadership above the law
• Ecc 8:9 “one person exercises authority to another’s hurt under the sun”
• Ecc 8:10 religiously sanctioned wicked … Ecc 8:11 sentence unexecuted > sinners keep doing evil … Ecc 8:12-13 God will ultimately reward / punish those who did and didn’t fear him.
• Ecc 8:14 vanity: righteous treated according ot wickedness, wicked treated according to righteous.
• Ecc 9:14-18 story of a poor wise men delivering a city under siege > not honored, his words not heeded
• Ecc 10:4 “if ruler angry > do not leave your post, calmness undoes great offenses”
• Ecc 10:5 “evil under the sun: slaves on horseback, princes walking on foot”
• Ecc 10:16 “happy land when king is nobleman, princes feast at proper time for strength and not for drunkenness”
• Ecc 10:10 do not speak against king even in secret, it could be reported

Repeated theme ‘Family’

• Ecc 2:18-19 toil > must leave it to others, who may use it foolishly 🙁
• Ecc 4:7-8 solitary individuals, no posterity … for whom toiling? 🙁
• Ecc 4:9-12 value and help of friendship 🙂
• Ecc 5:14 parents that have nothing to leave behind for their children, due to bad venture 🙁
• Ecc 7:26-29 woman who is a trap, a chain … found not one good one among a thousand 🙁

Repeated theme ‘Profit’

• Ecc 2:15 same fate befalls fool and wise
• Ecc 2:21 toil with wisdom > enjoyed by another
• Ecc 3:18-21 same befalls humans and animals
• Ecc 7:15-16 righteousness as wickedness?
• The writer asks consistently: what profit is it to me? which is a self-centered question, the motivation is my benefit. If my labor doesn’t make a difference, so what?
• Ecc 9:11 race is not to the swift etc
• Ecc 9:2 same fate to all
• Should I do something because it is lucrative? Smart? Looks good? Or because it is true? Right? Worthy of God? Just? Whether or not there is profit

Repeated theme ‘Pleasure’

• Ecc 2:1-3(8) try out pleasure
• Ecc 2:9-10 complete sell-out to pleasure but no real joy
• Ecc 6:1-3 no ability to enjoy things
• Ecc 5:10 lover of money not satisfied with wealth
• Ecc 2:24, 3:12, 3:19 God enables human enjoyment
  
  • making pleasure, enjoyment or goal or measure of all things > turns vain, no joy, peace, satisfaction
  • everything gets its full function and fulfillment when it submits to God’s greater goal, when it obeys God, not an idol.
• Ecc 12:1 no pleasure in age (bodily view?)

Repeated Theme ‘Confusion’

• Ecc 3:11 “humans cannot find out what God has done from beginning to end”
• Ecc 7:14 “God made food life and adversity so humans cannot find out”
• Ecc 8:14 those acting righteously get results as if acting wickedly and vice versa

Repeated Theme ‘Comparison’ or ‘Selfishness’

• Ecc 2:9 “more than all I …”
• Ecc 2:11 “toil … must leave it”
• Ecc 4:4 all toil is motivated by jealousy or envy of another

Repeated Theme ‘Positive Passages’

• Ecc 2:13 wisdom excels folly
• Ecc 2:24 eat, drink, joy in toil
• Ecc 3:12
• Ecc 4:18
• Ecc 5:19
• Ecc 9:7-10 *
• Ecc 12:13-14 *

Repeated Theme ‘Economy’

• Ecc 2:4-8 good works
• Repeated theme “toil”
• Ecc 5:12 laborer’s sleep is sweet
• Ecc 5:13-16 can’t take things with you, nothing to pass on
• Ecc 7:14 prosperity or adversity
• Ecc 9:10 wholehearted work
• Ecc 10:18 through sloth > roof sinks in
• Ecc 11:1-6 innovation, diligence, risk taking, dividing up means as no certain success of any one venture

Summary

• Without God, life is meaningless, but with God it can have meaning. When the Teacher introduces God, it is as: a generous God, one who gives. ie: Ecc 2:26, 3:13, 5:19, 8:15.
• But the Teacher is not introducing God into the picture as an “easy answer all the problems of life”, he makes it clear that there are many issues that are hard to grasp, and we will have many questions unanswered. This is because of the finiteness of our humanity.
• Ecc 7:14 Good times and bad are the reality of life, and if we allow them to they can lead us to faith, by trusting God, if we want answers we may struggle.
• Ecc 8:17 We just have to be happy not to know everything, not to have every question answered. Those who claim to have all the answers are suspect.
• Ecc 11:5 There are some things that we just do not know. We must accept it. In all the difficulties of life, rather than rejecting God, and ending up in hopelessness, we should accept the reality of God but also accept the fact that there are things we can not understand. The fact that we cannot understand some of the ways of God (some things about life) simply points us to the fact that God’s ways are higher and greater than us.
• But this being the case, means we must live your lives in the light of His existence. Because there is a God, this life is not all that there is, but we will one day have to answer to Him. Life must be lived in the fear of the lord. In each of the four places that the Fear of the Lord is referred to, the fact of Judgement is mentioned.
• Ecc 3:14-17 The Teacher speaks of the sovereignty of God causing us to fear Him, because of His awesome power. v16, even though there is a delay in God’s justice, it will come.
• Ecc 5:1-7 In the context of worship, prayer and vow making, we should fear God, lest we come under His judgement (why should God be angry at your words).
• Ecc 8:10-13 Again the Teacher speaks of the responsibility we have to live right, in the light of the fact that God is the judge, even though it seems that God is slow to judge, and the wicked seem to get away with it. The Teacher knows that in the light of eternity, they will not get away with it!
• Ecc 12:13 The above thinking seems to be the whole point of the book as the final works of the teacher point to this. The summary, the conclusion, the end of the matter, is to fear God, for we must all stand before His judgement seat and give an account of what we have done.