Search
(1)
Scripture Reading: Eccl. 1:1-11
In this message we will give an introductory word to the life-study of Ecclesiastes and then begin to consider the book itself.
Ecclesiastes in Hebrew is Qohelet, meaning "preacher" (or "teacher"), one who gathered and spoke to an assembly of the children of Israel.
The writer of Ecclesiastes was the wise King Solomon (Eccl. 1:1, 12; 12:9; cf. 1 Kings 4:32).
The time of writing was about 977 B.C., after Solomon's fall.
The place of writing was Jerusalem (Eccl. 1:1, 12).
The contents of Ecclesiastes are a description by Solomon, after his falling away from God and returning back to God, concerning the human life of fallen mankind under the sun, which is in the corrupted world. He set his heart to seek and to search out all that is done under the heavens, and he observed that according to the natural phenomena all the things done in cycle remain the same, generation after generation, all wearisome and nothing new. In his conclusion, this is all vanity of vanities and a chasing after wind to the human life of fallen mankind. Such a conclusion of the wise king by his wisdom may be considered a history of the vain life of a fallen man. His conclusion in this book is like a dirge to a man whose end is in misery.
According to Ecclesiastes, human history, from its beginning to the present, is vanity. Because creation has been made subject to vanity and to the slavery of corruption, everything under the sun is vanity. Paul's word concerning this in Romans 8:20-21 corresponds to Ecclesiastes. Today everyone is actually not living but dying. We have been born to die; that is, we have been dying since the day of our birth. From this we see that human life under the sun is vanity of vanities.
Solomon had unequaled wisdom, the supreme position, unsurpassed wealth, and hundreds of wives and concubines, and fell in the indulgence of his lust to an unparalleled extent. Through all the positive and negative experiences of the human life under the sun, his thought was deeply impressed and occupied with the central thought of this book, that is, the vanity of vanities of the human life under the sun in its falling away from God. Man was created by God with the highest and most noble purpose, that is, to express Him in the resemblance of Him in His life, nature, and expression. But God's enemy, Satan the devil, came in to inject himself as sin into the man created by God for His purpose. Through this fall of man, man and all the created things that had been committed by God to his dominion were brought into the slavery of corruption, made subject to vanity (Rom. 8:20-21). Thus, the human life in the corrupted world also became a vanity, a chasing after wind. The writer Solomon had fully realized this and stressed this to the uttermost in his description. Yet he was not fully disappointed in this, but rather he instructed men that there is a way to get out of this vanity, that is, to come back to God and take God as man's everything, redemption, life, wealth, enjoyment, pleasure, and satisfaction, that man still may be used by God to fulfill His original purpose in man for the fulfillment of His eternal economy (Eccl. 12:13-14).
Eccl. 1:1-11 is the opening word.
Verse 1 indicates that the writer was Solomon, the son of David, king in Jerusalem — the Preacher.
In verses 2 through 11 we see that the theme of this book is vanity of vanities.
All the works of man under the sun are done in cycle (vv. 3-4). Every day the sun rises and goes down. Every year one season follows another. Parents bring forth children and eventually die. The children grow and bring forth children of their own, and then they die. The cycle goes on and on, with nothing new.
All remain the same, generation after generation, like the phenomena in nature (vv. 4-7).
All are wearisome, nothing is satisfying, nothing is new, and nothing is remembered (vv. 8-11).
Ecclesiastes 1:12—6:12 is a lengthy section concerned with the writer's experiments.
The first experiment is in wisdom and knowledge (1:12-18). The writer says that it is grievous travail that God has given to the children of men to travail in (v. 13). What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted (v. 15). In much wisdom is much vexation, and the increase of knowledge increases sorrow (v. 18). To know wisdom and to know madness and folly also are a chasing after wind (v. 17).
Eccl. 2:1-11 we have the experiment in pleasure, in particular of enjoyment (vv. 1-2), drinking (v. 3), building and planting (vv. 4-6), possessions (v. 7), silver and gold (v. 8a), music (v. 8b), and the delights in concubine after concubine (v. 8c). Solomon's unparalleled experiences of these pleasures with his wisdom were all found by him to be vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was no advantage under the sun (vv. 9-11).
Verses 12 through 26 describe the experiment in being a wise man or a fool.
To be a wise man is better than to be a fool, but after death both become a vanity, a chasing after wind. So Solomon hated life under the sun which was grievous to him (vv. 12-17).
Solomon, as a man who had labored with wisdom, knowledge, skill, and striving and would leave the issue of his labor to a man who had not labored, hated all his labor under the sun and despaired of it because he would leave his gain to the man after him, considering it a great evil, sorrow, and vexation that caused his heart to have no rest in the night. Hence, all this was vanity and a chasing after wind to him (vv. 18-23).
Solomon considered that nothing is better for man than to eat, drink, and make his soul taste enjoyment in his labor and recognized that this is from the hand of God, who gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to the man who is good in His sight (Eccl. 3:13; 5:18-20), but to the sinner, the travail of gathering and heaping up for him who is good in God's sight. To him this also was vanity and a chasing after wind (Eccl. 2:24-26).
In 3:1-15 we have a word regarding the experiment in fate under God's sovereignty.
There is a season for everything, appointed by God. What profit does the worker have in all that he labors? (vv. 1-9).
Solomon goes on to list the reasons why God appointed a season for everything.
God has given the children of men to travail in travail (v. 10).
God has made everything beautiful in its own time and has put eternity (an aspiration for the things in eternity) in man's heart, yet so that man does not find out what God has done from the beginning to the end (v. 11). In His creation of man, God put something into man which Solomon called "eternity." This means that in man there is a kind of aspiration for God, an aspiration for something eternal. Physical things may be enjoyable, but they are temporal.
Many successful people can testify that when they were endeavoring to advance in their career, they sensed that there was an emptiness within them. They began to realize that they were seeking something eternal. After they gained something they wanted, they felt that it was nothing. This feeling comes from the aspiration in man's heart for something eternal.
According to our own experience we know that whenever we have a success in our human life, we also have an empty feeling. This indicates that within man there is an aspiration for eternal things. God has put such an aspiration, such a seeking, in man's heart so that he will seek God. Every person, especially every thoughtful person, has within him this longing and seeking for eternity.
Verses 12 and 13 say that there is nothing better for man than to rejoice and do good in his lifetime, eating, drinking, and tasting enjoyment in all his labor; it is the gift of God.
God created man for Himself, but man was seduced by Satan to give God up, and thus man became fallen. Nevertheless, God still blesses man so that he may have a good living and enjoy various material things. By blessing man with material things, God maintains the existence of mankind from generation to generation. God has preserved man in this way for the sake of the redemption of His chosen ones.
Apart from God's blessing no one could bear to live on earth. On the one hand, everything under the sun is vanity of vanities and is subject to the slavery of corruption. On the other hand, certain things in human life, such as education, work, and marriage, are still very appealing. If we did not strive to gain an education or to succeed in our work or to have a good married life and family life, we might be tempted to commit suicide. God uses man's striving for these things in order to keep man on earth. If mankind ceased to exist, God could not gain His chosen ones from among the fallen human race. If mankind had been terminated, Christ could not have come, for there would have been no lineage for His incarnation.
Although man is fallen, God continues to bless man, causing the sun to shine and the rain to fall and maintaining a proper order in the universe. As a result, people have the desire to go on living. In this way mankind is preserved for God to fulfill His purpose in choosing us before the foundation of the earth.
We were born at the right time and in the right place. Therefore, we all are here today for God's purpose. Without God's sovereign preservation of physical, human life, none of us could exist for His purpose. I believe that this is the correct understanding of Solomon's thought when he wrote that "every man should eat and drink and taste enjoyment in all his labor; it is the gift of God" (v. 13).
God, in His sovereignty over all, has appointed all things which are in the present and which will be in the future and seeks to reemploy the things which took place in the past. Whatever God does will be forever; nothing can be added to it, nor can anything be taken from it, that all would fear Him that they may have His wisdom to realize the real meaning of human life (vv. 14-15).
Ecclesiastes 3:16—4:16 is concerned with Solomon's experiment in ranks and classes in human society.
The judgment of God in the appointed time brings the righteous down to the same level as the wicked (Eccl. 3:16-17).
This is for God to prove that men are but beasts, bringing men down to the same level as beasts. Thus, there is nothing better than that a man take his portion to rejoice in his works, for who will bring him to see what will be after him? (vv. 18-22).
The oppressed are in tears and the oppressors have power, but both have no comforter. Solomon praised the dead more than the living and even the more the one who has not yet been and has not seen the evil work under the sun (Eccl. 4:1-3).
All labor and all skill in work cause man's jealousy for his neighbor. The fool folds his hands together and consumes his own flesh. One handful with quietness is better than two hands full with labor. All these are vanity and a chasing after wind (vv. 4-6).
One who is alone and without a second, having no son or brother, labors without end. His eye is not satisfied with riches, but he labors and deprives himself for no one. Two are better than one, and three are even better than two (vv. 7-12).
A poor but wise youth is better than an old and foolish king who no longer knows how to be admonished (vv. 13-16).
