Ecclesiastes: Intro

Come and learn from me seems to be how the preacher calls us.

In the original Hebrew, the preacher is known as Koheleth, which means one who addresses a congregation. The Greeks translated the Hebrew word into Ecclesiastes.

Both are not names, but are rather titles. They speak of the task he performed which is a role he plays.

Individuals for many centuries have answered his calling and sat at his feet to listen, ponder, argue, and learn. There is nothing trivial in the themes he discusses. They are time, meaning, work, profit, piety, death, joy, grace, freedom, and vanity (mystery).

Altogether these make an incredible scriptural learning experience.

Ecclesiastes is a briefer view of wisdom when compared to the heavier and longer wisdom books of Proverbs and Job but this sharp and shorter book has captured the attention of many generations of those who have wanted to learn life clearly and live it wisely.

We must understand that while it has long been accepted that Solomon wrote the book, as the preacher is described as “son of David” and “king of Jerusalem” the name of Solomon is never mentioned.

The book is at times a baffling chest of puzzles which seems to become more complex each time we open the chest. It is a part of God's Word to us, and we know all scripture is given of inspiration so while at times the book seems to imply God is distant, we must rest assured that He is not absent.

One of the most profound questions asked by the preacher is whether or not life has meaning. We all know the death rate in modern days is 100% and the preacher insists we recognize that fact. We see quickly in this wisdom book that the times and seasons of life are only held in God's hands (chapter 3). God commands prayer, sacrifice, and faithfulness (chapter 5). He insists we obey, fear, and always remember Him as we rejoice in His gifts (chapter 12). But through all this wisdom there remains the question of our own limitations and frustrations as to the vast gap between God's knowledge and power and our ignorance and weakness. 

It is this forever strain between the two themes of vanity (mystery) and joy that sets the rhythm of the book for our study. There is a mystery in how life works within the Lord's plan and there comes joy when we finally accept that God's cloudiness of His sovereign will contains a silver lining of grace. 

There are several lessons waiting for us in our study of this wisdom book:

1. A sinful life is a negative life. An obedient life is a positive life. Solomon did not know a fraction of the life trials of Paul but Paul was positive and Solomon negative.

2. Getting all you desire is not the best path to happiness. Happiness also includes self-denial and self-control.

3. Giving higher wisdom is not necessarily the best way to achieve God's goal. On the spiritual level God allowed great wisdom to Satan and on the human level God allowed great wisdom to Solomon. Satan led a rebellion of God's holy angels and Solomon may have been the worst idol worshipper ever seen on the throne of the Lord's chosen people.

4. Without faithful obedience great wisdom is useless. It becomes corrupted.

5. Compromise of worship of the true living God pollutes that holy effort.

6. This book gives us the opportunity to compare God's wisdom and perspective with the best the world can bring.

7. There is a strong lesson in the book that we should remember that when we are dealing with a person who seems to have much wisdom, it is not necessary that this one is practicing that wisdom in life. Which has more true value in life, words or actions?

For historical context, we should remember that Solomon lived and ruled between 

900-1000 years before Jesus ministered on the earth. His father, David, had united all tribes and the two nations of Israel and Judah under one crown. But even in these most ancient days, we can see the basic human characteristics are unchanged from that time to our time. 

There is still a human yearning to know and understand. Man seems never satisfied.

There remains the same moral values of life and they are aspects of eternity given to our souls by our creator.

Our nature is fallen. We remain in rebellion to our Lord.

As wise as we think we are, we remain ultimately accountable to God for how we have used the gift of life he has so kindly granted.

Let's study deeply together these truths and see how we may apply them to our own lives as we ourselves seek wisdom and His will.

Ecclesiastes - Chapter 1

A sweeping conclusion (1-2):

Throughout the 12 chapters, Solomon (the preacher) argues one main point. It is very difficult for us as human beings to gain a grasp of life that will take us beyond anything that is futile. This is the meaning of the beginning verses of our book:

• “Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher,

• Vanity of vanities, all is vanity”

Everything is so puzzling that it looks empty or hollow. Life is not what it seems, and not what we want it to be.

A guiding question (3):

Is there profit in work?

What profit comes from a man's labor? This word “profit” will be used 10 times in the book, and is to be found nowhere else in the Old Testament. Its use here is more general than simply the financial margin realized after costs are paid. It is used by Solomon to be more extensive. He uses the term to guide us toward the larger question as to whether  there is contentment or satisfaction within us after we spend our lives working.

Life is hard. The pressing question is whether the harshness of human existence has an adequate payoff for us in the long run. The initial use here of the phrase “under the sun” is an ancient description of life as it is carved out in this world. In the entire Old Testament, only Solomon uses the phrase. It reinforces the sense of the unchanging nature of life. God in heaven does His will and we cannot change it and are many times at a loss to know what it is. 

The tone of the book is set. We begin with the dual thought of our human inability to understand life's mysteries and our inability to change these life realities.

Work does not make the ultimate difference in life. We do not fully subdue the earth, no matter how hard we try. The effort wears us down, generation after generation. The preacher wonders and worries about work's value. Much of what we do is routine and may be a monotony which seems never to end. Yet we must go on working.

The constancy of creation (4-11):

The preacher takes a sweeping look at the natural world in which human life exists. In the world we have symbols of constant things, the sun, the wind, the streams. Their course is set and their path is determined and their pace is fixed.

Our meaning is blunt and simple. You will not be able to make significant change in the course of life because creation itself is stamped with a pattern that allows little, if any at all, human alteration.

The picture of creation's stability is full. It embraces the four essential elements of earth, sun, wind, and water. It ranges to all points on the compass, the east west move of the sun, the south to north course of the wind (normal in the Holy Land). The rivers flow forward and dump their waters into the sea and next year have the same supply to carry outward again.

• The human response is given in three points:

• Man cannot truly describe it in words.

• Eye cannot see it clearly enough to be satisfied.

• Ear cannot ever be filled with hearing about it.

Once more, the “labor” of trying to grasp the meaning of these life matters is vanity (remains a mystery). It is an unending task, fully beyond human understanding.

These verses end with a strong denial in 9-11. Nothing new happens in life, in creation or in personal history to break the pattern. This denial is based upon two arguments:

• There is nothing new under the sun.

• There is no remembrance of former things.

Any notion of novelty or newness is an illusion, based upon limited perception or faulty memory.

It is here that we begin to see the error of the thoughts of the preacher but we must remember he lived and wrote almost 1,000 years before Jesus came to earth. So the thoughts he wrote are far before the teachings of our Lord, but ARE significantly different. There may be nothing new under the sun in this world according to the preacher, but we as followers of Jesus are born again into new life through the Holy Spirit and our new life is filled with new things:

• A new name (Isaiah 62:2 & Revelation 2:17)

• A new community (Ephesians 2:14)

• A new help from angels (Psalm 91:11)

• A new commandment (John 13:34)

• A new covenant (Jeremiah 31:33 & Matthew 26:28)

• A new and living way to heaven (Hebrews 10:20)

• A new purity (1st Cor 5:7)

• A new nature (Ephesians 4:24)

• A new creation in Jesus Christ (2nd Cor 5:17)

• All things become new (2nd Cor 5:17 & Revelation 21:5)
  

Seeking wisdom (12-15):

The preacher begins to teach that wisdom was not the solution to all human problems. He has searched for wisdom in a deliberate way, setting his heart upon it, with intense focus. The search was thorough and was wide ranging (all that is done under heaven). Solomon found the wisdom he was searching for, but then found that the search did not answer all his questions as upon finding it, discovered it was insubstantial, undependable, and finally was futile. He tells us that wisdom cannot change reality. 

Wisdom may finger the problem but it cannot straighten out what is crooked.

Attaining greatness (16-18):

Here is a self description which adds more to the search. He advises that he has attained greatness and gained more wisdom than any who have come before him in Jerusalem. His heart has found both wisdom and knowledge. But he has found that wisdom, once found, can increase sorrow. So he says that this answer leads him to know that wisdom's value is in doubt.

As doubtful as the preacher has become, he does not suggest it may be better to be ignorant or foolish. He has discovered through his search what wisdom cannot do. He sees the value of the wisdom he sought as slight or even futile.

Again, we must look forward to Jesus to gain the best understanding we need for our hearts. In Matthew 12:42 Jesus teaches us that while even the Queen of Sheba came to Solomon to seek out his great wisdom, that one greater than Solomon was now here and through His wisdom we move beyond futile wisdom to divine wisdom which has been given to us not from under this sun (our natural world) but given from the divine Son from above. This divine wisdom does indeed change reality.

Ecclesiastes - Chapter 2

The lure and snare of pleasure (1-11):

Solomon speaks to his own heart as this chapter opens saying that he will test it with mirth and because of that testing pleasure should be enjoyed.

We saw in chapter one that the search for wisdom was external. Now his test for pleasure is internal. The point of the test is to determine whether pleasure is all it is said to be and if it will bring more satisfaction than wisdom. In just one verse he then allows us the results of the search as futile (vanity/mystery) while allowing that laughter is madness while mirth accomplishes little.

Here the preacher is not speaking of true cheerfulness that should mark the attitude of a godly man, but rather he speaks of idle laughter and the mirth of the fool. He speaks of the love of pleasure as a grand pursuit of life.

It seems important for us to not let the blunt conclusion so soon given that pleasure is empty to make us overlook the lure of pleasure itself. From the standpoint of our senses it would seem that pleasure is what we were made for. The preacher sought to test that view by abandoning himself to pleasure, giving his senses every chance to thrill him.

In verse 3 he tells us just how difficult is the human quest for meaning. The good in life is not at all apparent, so he had to search diligently. He tells us that it is only in the worldly area may it be sought and also that the time to seek it was always diminishing.

Pleasure has also another lure. It lifts our lives above the normal routine when so much of life seems just ordinary. Here he speaks of more than sensuous pleasure, speaking of pleasure in his accomplishments. Achievements that are extraordinary provide delight as they lift us above the routine. These were useful, attractive, and productive works, such as building his own palace (after the temple was completed).

It took 13 years to build, almost twice as long as the building of the Lord's temple.

Solomon devoured many delights which he details for us in verses 7-10. Here the testing of pleasure moves beyond construction into personal wealth and pleasures of the flesh. He accounts for his accumulation of silver and gold and special treasures as well as telling us that his wealth allows him to acquire many side benefits, singers, musical instruments, and the interesting acquiring of “delights”, likely the intimacy of his 700 wives and 300 concubines. Who among us would not like to write a description of success that he gives in verse 9?

Despite the serious seeking of pleasure that Solomon details, he now admits in verse 11 that all was vanity, grasping for the wind, and finding there was no profit in wordly matters (as he describes as “under the sun”).

He knew the lure of pleasure and he knew it's snare. He had found that pleasure promises more than it produces. Living for pleasure has another snare as well. Pleasure only satisfies during its moment and the moment must be repeated again and again to regain it. The pursuit of it results in boredom or frustration. If we gain our goal in it we soon tire of it. If we do not we are filled with disappointment.

When the snares of pleasures are examined we see why Solomon reached his negative conclusion. If we look for a foundation on which to build a life, do not count on pleasure as it does not have the substance to sustain us.

Here is a good warning. Even the richest, wisest, most accomplished of us can find ourselves in futility if pleasure is the aim. To move beyond futility, we must take another path.

Jesus gave us the answer. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness and are humble of spirit find true joy. That true joy is not found apart from serving the Lord. In his service is found no emptiness nor hollow worldly things that prove temporary. In Him is found the permanence of the fulfilled life.

Lack of permanence (12-26):

• The focus in these verses is divided into three sections:

• No difference between the wise and the fool (12-17)

• No assurance that labors will last (18-23)

• No better solution than to enjoy the present (24-26)

The reality of death dampens the enthusiasm of the wise. Yet that wisdom lacks any permanent worth, because death is always present and threatening. Death is the one event that catches both the wise and the foolish equally. Solomon even makes clear his understanding of this fact in verse 15 when he says “...it also happens to me...”, and then once more says that such a thing is vanity.

It sounds as if death was holding him by the neck and shaking the joy of life out of him as he says in verse 17 “... I hated life...”. In all of scripture only the sad verses of parts of Job, portions of Jeremiah (chapter 20), and the book of Lamentations rival the despair of this statement. Death also has one more sad whim to Solomon. It leaves all of our accomplishments for others to use.

We should contrast this moment in this section with the opposite reflection of Paul who teaches us in Phillipians 1 which teaches us that “... to live is Christ...”.

The mood of this passage is depression. His use of the phrase “I hated” sets the tone for what follows. The heart of his depression is that as grand as his achievements are, another man will enjoy them who has not earned them. This makes no sense to him and again seems to be vanity (mystery). No other passage of our Bible paints  a picture more grim of how fragile success in this life is. 

Death is a haunting reality which diminishes the value of wisdom. Even the memory of the wise can be erased by death. So Solomon comes to his conclusion:

• Enjoy life while you can.

• Surrender to God's decisions.

• Expect nothing better.

These last thoughts have much merit. They stir us to seek joy in God's daily gifts but still provide no permanent solution to death.

It took the greater wise & Holy One to bring that message. He replaced death as the ultimate reality when He said “... I am the resurrection and the life...”. Through our Lord we are taken out of the hand of death and held in the hand of our Savior, from which there is no one with power to remove us.

The resurrected people of God will live on to enjoy wonderful fellowship with our maker who has fully and finally dealt with death.

Ecclesiastes - Chapter 3

Human freedom is restricted. Time and God's ways are unchanging (1-22):

Whatever regulates our time curtails our freedom. This is the struggle which the preacher Solomon faced in one of his most famous passages. The preacher calls this lack of freedom futility because our plans are limited, our ability to change our schedule of time is removed from us, and our potential for changing our destiny is almost not possible.

The book of Proverbs speaks clearly on this matter as well in 19:21:

“There are many plans in a man's heart,

Nevertheless the Lord's counsel – that will stand.”

Solomon has come to the conclusion that total submission to what God has determined was the best anyone could do. The mystery, difficulty, and even the futility of trying to catch life's hidden meaning, and especially trying to change life's destined course was the reality the preacher was seeking to demonstrate.

In verses 1-11 he shows us that probing life's meaning is a frustrating matter because evidence shows only God is in control, through His plan of time for His own purpose, not mindful of the purpose of man. These few verses have been called the perfect poem in all of scripture to reveal that the Lord is sovereign in His will over all things we as humans experience. In these fourteen pairs of contrast Solomon gives us the basics of human experience as well as their opposites. These are the cycles of human life as set and regulated by God.

As quite different from the view of our last chapter, these events are all human events, not from nature like earth, sun, wind and sea. From the experience of birth and death to the practices of the harvest, from the delights and restraints of friendship to the waging of war and the pursuit of peace, the preacher teaches us his wisdom of how human life unfolds. His conclusion on these things was bleak:

“What profit has the worker from that which he labors?” (verse 9)

Here our attention is focused upon the ever present limits to human freedom.

These frustrating restrictions were a major theme of this argument, along with God's planned time. It is HIS plan that counts, not ours. Our lives are under restriction because of the great gulf between Him and us. The vexing problem is our ignorance of God's ways for He alone controls our time here.

Solomon says he has looked over the shoulders of people he sees and tried to determine any link between what they do and what happens to them. He allows no thoughts that he sees evidence of any of them more able to control their destiny.

It is God's ways that are good as verse 11 teaches as God has made everything beautiful IN ITS TIME. But the same verse has another lesson. God has placed in man's heart eternity, a sense of concern over our fate and final destiny.

We yearn to be free enough to control that destiny but we cannot, for the Lord shapes both our lives and times plus only He is in control of our destiny. There always remains a tension between our time set by God and our inability to know the purpose of God.

No sensible person who believes fails to understand that God's grasp of life and its meaning is higher than ours. Scripture so teaches clearly (Is 55:9).

Solomon's frustration is that we cannot truly comprehend any part of it, not the beginning, not the end, not anything in between.

Where does this leave us? Solomon says our possibilities are limited. Verses 12-13 teach that we do not have full freedom as God keeps the calendars of our lives. Our task here is to submit to His will and determination, and to do it properly and humbly. We should receive God's gift of life and make the best of it. The simple delights of life such as food and drink and work come from His hand, and they are our tokens of His grace.

We see now the deeper view of this wise chapter. Here our preacher teaches us of the absolute sovereignty of God, and His changeless rule over human time. Verse 14 summarizes the matter for us:

“God does it, that men should fear before Him”

Our proper response should be to trust Him with our WHYS and WHENS and to be thankful for the WHATS.

Time, with its series of events that contain both pain and joy is more than a calendar of simply appointments. It is also a call to worship and obedience. Our responses should also include humility without despair. If our times are completely in another's hand, who better to hold them than our loving and everlasting Lord?

We cannot know all that God's hand is doing in the mysterious ebb and flow of our lives. But the daily supply of grace afforded in our everyday gifts from Him should convince us that His hand is a good one and in that fact should come joy and comfort.

We are no longer under the frustration described by Solomon concerning man's inability to know freedom. Jesus has led us elsewhere away from such sorrow by granting us true freedom which Solomon never knew. John 8:36 is our clear evidence.

“Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed”. 

What Ecclesiastes wishes for in its own grim and empty search has been granted to us. The darkest threats to our freedom have been defeated. The threat of judgment has been overcome by the forgiveness of His love. The threat of death has been sent away by His resurrection showing us eternal life awaits us. God still controls all our futures but it is a grand and excellent future for all who are His, not a hollow and unknown future that our preacher saw ahead.

Ecclesiastes - Chapter 4

The tragedy of oppression (1):

After a brief look at hope in the beginning of chapter 3, Solomon turned again to despair at the chapter end and continues that view in chapter 4 when he considers the problem of injustice. Now he considers all the oppression of the world (under the sun).

• Compassion for the oppressed is a common theme in the Old Testament:

• Oppression of people by a king (Proverbs 28:16)

• Oppression of a servant by his master (Deuteronomy 24:14)

• Oppression of the poor by the wealthy (Proverbs 22:16)

• Oppression of the poor by bureaucrats (Ecclesiastes 5:8)

• Oppression of the poor by other people (Proverbs 28:3)

• Oppression of the outsider, the fatherless, and the widow (Jeremiah 7:6)

• Oppression by charging high interest rates (Ezekiel 22:12 & 29)

• Oppression by using false weights and measures (Hosea 12:7)

Solomon thinks of the painful lives of the oppressed in this world (under the sun) where this life seems to be all there is and men and women seem not to give thought to a world to come. The tears of the oppressed are bitter and they have no comfort.

Because of oppression and sadness man is better off dead (2-3):

The thought of both the oppressors and their victims finding no justice in eternity was so bitter to the preacher that he thought the dead were fortunate. In their world the dead do not have to think on such painful things. He could only praise the dead in this way because he in his time had no certain knowledge of a world to come, and he wrote most of Ecclesiastes with a worldly view. If he knew and accepted what happens to the unrighteous dead, he would never have said such things.

He takes the idea of praising the dead even further, to where he praised even those who never were born into the oppression of this life. There is nothing sadder in the whole book than the words in these verses pointed at the dead and the unborn.

Success often brings the envy of one's neighbor (4-6):

The preacher thought of those who gain success through toil and skillful work and how it brings envy and sometimes hard feelings from others. The common jealousy of success made life seem like vanity (empty) and it was like grasping for the wind.

He also speaks of the ones who envy to be lazy. He says they fold their hands and do nothing and so waste away. These people consume their own flesh.

This expression means they destroy themselves, or the phrase may also be translated to bring ruin upon themselves.

What is the value of contentment? It is better to have less and be content (with quietness) than to have more and be constantly grasping for even more than you have.

Solomon weaves together some profound themes:

Hard work and success are good and are not to be envied.

Laziness is wrong and destructive.

Even the one with full hands must learn contentment.

What good is success if you cannot pass it on (7-8)?

Solomon thinks of a man who is alone, without family or friends. The man he is describing works hard and wants to gain more and more.

The preacher thought this type of life which is unexamined for happiness, with no one to share it becomes vanity and a grave misfortune.

He was correct from a worldly view. Under that view there is no place for an eternal accomplishment. Here is a picture of lonely, pointless busyness, somewhat like the jealous rivalry of verse 4 and it shows there seems to be no blessings for hard work while here.

Without a friend, accomplishments are vain (9-12):

Solomon thought how even in our world, living alone made life worse. He develops this idea by saying that two are better than one with some good reasons.

Two working together can accomplish more than each could alone. The sum will be greater than the parts. When two work together they can help each other in difficult times. They can bring comfort to the lives of each other. They can bring security and safety to each other. If one may be overpowered, two together can withstand.

These four verses show us the great value of human relationships, that two are better than one. Living and working together is a great advantage to living and working alone. Being together adds the following to our lives:

• Productivity (they have a good reward for their labor)

• Help in need (if one fails, the other will lift him up)

• Comfort in life (they will help and keep each other warm)

• Safety & security (two can withstand where one may not)

In a final thought, Solomon gives praise not to a twofold cord for its strength, but praises a threefold cord, and the idea is that two with God are stronger than two alone.

The vanity of fame and its short lifespan (13-16):

The preacher says that it is better to be poor and wise and young than to be old and foolish with wealth. A young man rises from obscurity to become king with great status and wealth yet those who come after him will not rejoice over him. Even if his fame lasted his entire lifetime, it would be gone as soon as he was. 

He says again that this is vanity and grasping for the wind. Another example is given of an empty achievement.

This chapter is a long cry for justice. This cry was heard by Jesus almost 1,000 years later as He ministered on the earth. Not only did he hear this cry over what was wrong with human life, He also did something about it. He acted in force and love, and became the rewarder of those who believe and the final judge of those who do not. In Him exists no vanity.

Ecclesiastes - Chapter 5

Critics are not among the most admired people we see in society, but they do indeed make a valuable contribution to social life. It was just this kind of contribution that the preacher and Ecclesiastes tried to make. His society needed to hear what he had to say.

They had overvalued wisdom, almost using it to try and control God on their terms. They had overvalued pleasure hoping that through it life's true meaning might be found.

They had perverted justice by diminishing the rights of the poor and the oppressed. And they had overestimated their own freedom to make life changing decisions by ignoring the mystery of God's ways and the manner in which death is unchanging.

The preacher, through these factors, has accused them of living hollow, shallow, and vain lives. Then he gave them profound thoughts of how to find real meaning, that there was joy in God's simple gifts of food, drink, and work.

Worship gone stale (1-7):

The religious practice of Solomon's countrymen did not escape his sharp eye. Usually wise men left these matters of prayers, sacrifices, vows, and ritual to the temple priests. But not Solomon. Fake religion or stale practice distressed him as much as proud wisdom, vain pleasure, abused justice, or hollow freedom.

His people had come to show a mechanical attitude toward the sacrifices God had commanded. They were offering them in huge volume with great attention to detail but they were missing the deeper meaning and key purpose of these animal offerings. Solomon tells them that listening to God is better than sacrifice.

He called this missed opportunity of his people a sacrifice of fools. He reveals to them in the two words “walk prudently” the requirement of reverent obedience and humble repentance.

What were they doing wrong? They were treating sacrifices to God like magic. They thought blood and smoke were what God wanted. They forgot that spirit and heart were the essentials of true sacrifice. Psalm 51 (David's repentant Psalm) was so clear on this matter:

“You do not delight in burnt offerings, The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and contrite heart...”

What Samuel had told Saul needed to be repeated:

“Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice...” (1st Samuel 15:22)

His second criticism was that brief prayer truly prayed is better than fancy long prayers. God sees through fancy words and looks into the heart.

His last criticism was that people were offering vows to God in shallow promise and were not fulfilling vows given:

“...better not to vow than to vow and not pay...”

We can surely understand this portion of our preacher's message. He has been saying to us that God must be taken to heart with strong seriousness. These shallow & hollow efforts are without value. God knows better and deserves better when we worship.

Government is corrupt (8-9):

Learning to live with bad governments was something the Jews certainly had mastered. They had suffered the tyranny of foreign domination for almost 400 years before Solomon preached. Assyrians had ruled the land for 130 years. Babylonians had ruled it for 65 years. Persians had ruled for over 200 years. Later the Romans arrived and ruled for about 350 years and they were followed by the Byzantines who ruled Palestine until Islam arrived in the seventh century A.D. Among all these ruling nations, the Jews tried to rule themselves with kings who were in many cases corrupt and not God fearing. 

Solomon teaches of high and higher and still higher officials who allow oppression and perversion of justice and righteousness. He is strongly condemning a long history before and one to come later as corrupt.

Greed is empty (10-12):

From the specific form of greed found in governments, Solomon now turns to the general problem of greed that seems to reside in those who have enough already but seem always to want more.

His words are aimed at those who are richer than they are wise. Long after they have the security of life they seek, they strive for more. He comments on a condition we still see today in our wealthy but greed based system inside our own nation.

Jesus spoke clearly on this matter in Mark 12 when he told all to render to Caesar that which he was due BUT to also render to God that which was His. Empty greed was seen by Solomon to accumulate abundance but never seemed to reward those receiving it to properly pay the Lord His due in providing it.

Risk of the wealthy (13-14):

The wealthy lead risky lives. Our preacher labored over this point. His main point was that with money, gain is usually related to risk. As more risk is taken more can be lost. One can lose all if one is not prudent. When wealthy people assume too much risk to accumulate more, all can be lost, leaving emptiness, futility and grief.

Failed circumstance rots the spirit of the broken man. Wealth lost can be life shattered. Lives based only upon money and not based upon dwelling closer to God  means that when money is gone, nothing else remains.

A suggestion to the wealthy (18-20):

The best answer the preacher gives  is to enjoy what we have, whether little or much, and not try to hoard it. What we have is a gift from God , provided by Him, sustained by Him, and that like His creation, gifts He bestows are good. We are to value them and learn to be thankfully grateful to Him for all He allows. 

Ecclesiastes - Chapter 6

At the end of chapter 5 the preacher spoke of the failed circumstance that can harm the wealthy. In chapter 6 he will press onward with the similar view but with suggestions on how to deal with that circumstance. The best answer Solomon gives to the final thought of chapter 5 is that we should enjoy what we have, whether it be much or little, and not try to hoard it, which can be a compulsion for those who are blessed with much.

What we have is a gift from God, created and provided by Him. Like all of His creation, these gifts are good (as He so kindly taught us in Genesis).

The frustrations of the wealthy (1-9):

Solomon reminds us that the primary frustration of those with wealth is that it may be taken from them at any moment. If the aim of one is to gather wealth in this life, there is no greater worry.

Here Solomon introduces another observation by his clear and concise words of

“... I have seen...” meaning he has observed it for himself as opposed to having been told of it from others. He speaks of the potential of financial loss and he is quite direct in observing that when it occurs, it comes from the sovereign hand of God. The Lord is the source of wealth, and further is the driver of the status and esteem that is derived from it. These are His gifts of grace which, according to the preacher, accounts for why some are given much and some are given little. In his day, just as in ours, grace is seen but is not fully understood by man as some are subject to more grace and some are not.

Solomon uses the example of a “stranger” (someone from outside) who assumes control of wealth of others and proceeds to enjoy it. His conclusion is now familiar to us as he decides in verse 9 that it is vanity and grasping for the wind (again). Once more  we see he concludes a verdict of vanity and we see the mystery that plagues life's situations which are impossible to make sense of and become baffling.

The reflection on these matters centers on the plight of the one who suffers. Solomon puts it as bluntly as we have ever heard in all of scripture. He is better off dead.

Nothing can compensate him for his loss adequately, not a large family nor a long life. The most powerful comparison our preacher allows comes next. This one who suffers is compared to a stillborn child. This one who suffers loss, now deprived of the pleasure of enjoying the fruits of his labor is worse off that a baby born deprived of life. Mystery and lack of life's identity are pictured as the fate of the infant. Vanity (mystery) once more is said to be the reality of why some babies are taken from life in the womb while others come into the world kicking & screaming with life. Why is it so?

The stillborn have an advantage as they are not subject to the pain of vexing loss. The leveling effect of death is once more evident.

Verse 9 begins a final proverb of this small but powerful section. Those who study these writings are advised to make the most of our present circumstances, described as the events and things that lie in “... the sight of the eyes...”.

Be content with what you have, work, food, family and do not count on that which may be beyond your reach. What you see with your eyes you can deal with. What you crave in your soul may not be able to be gained. Life may not get better while we remain here on earth.

The limits of freedom (10-12):

Now the preacher turns to the subject of the reflection on the limits placed upon freedom of human life. Human destiny is fixed in God's hand and fretting about the past or striving to plot some grand future are things on which no energy should be spent. Even our ability to talk gives human beings no advantage. Who can out argue God, especially since He knows our hearts and we do not know His?

The ultimate human limitation is the inability to know our future. A double question haunts us within these verses. Who knows and who can tell? No one but God knows and He is not telling. The uses here of the words “vain” and “shadow” suggest life without substance that rests in our control. Life is not understandable, not reliable, and certainly not meaningful.

Here is much pondering for no gain. 

The serenity prayer helps many who suffer addiction to grasp that they need to ask for the serenity to know the difference between what they can change and what they cannot.

Jesus preached on this very topic in Matthew 6 when He taught:

 “... therefore do not worry saying... what shall we eat?... what shall we drink?... what shall we wear?... your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things”.

Doing God's will is more important than gaining goods. Being rich toward the Lord should be our effort and nothing less. Here is a good time to recall the further teaching of our Lord in Mark 10 which confirmed that those who give up the possession of this world to serve the Lord will be repaid 100 times in the next and much better world.

Ecclesiastes - Chapter 7

In this chapter we find our preacher granting more strong words of advice as to life and the mysteries it brings. He centers his advice upon thoughts that are solemn caution and compromise with what life brings. He views life so far as an existence of low hope and he advises us by what is better and what is not. Mostly, Solomon uses comparisons to convey the meaning of this chapter. His sayings in chapter seven are a somber view, colored as gray, measured in tone, not sparking joy, and avoiding false optimism. His thoughts are not meant to make life exciting but rather to make it bearable.

Serious is better than frivolous (1-7):

Here the preacher elaborates on a tune he has played for us before, when he praised the dead as better than the living and the stillborn to those who have lost their wealth. The wise man teaches us here that death continues to be the enemy of hope.

These are strong and dark words but if Solomon were here today he would say they are realistic. He looked at the certainty of death and it seemed so large that it made life itself seem small. In the light of it, levity and laughter were luxuries that only a fool could indulge in. The wise and serious had to pay their full attention to death.

To sing a song of hope was just folly. Mindless pursuit of festivities were badly misleading in his view and all who engaged in this pursuit were fools. Yet, even the wise cannot escape life's hazards freely. They should not waste their energy on empty or idle songs as they travel the dark path of life. So the preacher says that even the wise may at times engage in frivolous things which bring nothing.

Caution is better than quick action (8-10):

When it comes to the human spirit, patience is much better to cultivate than pride. One way to cultivate patience is to a long range view of life. He seems to be preaching that caution is better than rashness of action. Go slow, take your time, be sure of your view, and do not hurry. It is better to do things slowly and correct than to hasten and be in error.

Wisdom is better than folly (11-12):

Our first lines here relate wisdom to wealth. Next we see wisdom connected to the art of living. The subject of inheritance describes possessions passed from generation to generation at death. They may seem reliable because they are already in the hand of the family but without wisdom in their use, they may be squandered or taken as we saw before in chapters 5 & 6. Nothing here seems to blow away the dark clouds of death thoughts that hang over our preacher.

Be resigned (13-14):

We see once more two critical themes of our book:

1. Our incompetence to change life as we would like.

2. Our inability to learn anything valuable about our future.

We must never ignore these two vexing limitations that occupy the mind of the preacher.

These words are a call for sober reflection and are a confrontation with divine sovereignty. God's name has not appeared now for more than 20 verses. Suddenly we are told to consider how God works in making life crooked and bringing prosperity as well as adversity. Here is a caution to humility. Life at all crucial points is in higher hands than our own. We cannot prevent what God wants to do nor can we predict what God is going to do.

Why can't we change what we do not like? Are we stuck with constant problems of  joyless work, ceaseless pain, endless hassles, and fruitless efforts to understand? The preacher says that often we are! But it is better to let God's sovereign hand work than to consume ourselves with anger over that which we cannot control.

Integrity is better than being pretentious (15-22):

The thought here is triggered by the observation that neither the righteous (the just) person or the wicked always get appropriate reward. Since this is the case, it is no good pretending to be what we are not, very righteous or very wise. We are to fear (respect) God in reverence and this wisdom is the key to integrity.

Claiming to be better than we are  is playing at wisdom and can be seen as a deadly sin and we are warned concerning it in verse 16. The self-destructive nature of this conduct is made clear in a question on this commanding verse and we are taught that pretending is bound to find us out.

To remain in integrity, we should close both our heart and our ears to what others may say about us. To take seriously the words of others is to put ourselves at risk of being hurt or of judging others harshly. 

Reflections on our human limits (23-29):

Here we see a test and its results. It tells of the preacher's persistent attempts to use his wisdom as the means of putting to the test his various theories about finding true profit and ultimate meaning in life. We see the limited and negative results of that test.

We see here how he considers the following:

• Confession of failure in finding true wisdom.

• How the test ranged from profound wisdom to crazy foolishness.

• A discovery of the dangers of a grasping woman.

• Final thoughts on the contrast of what God created and what mankind became.

What he found were the schemes of man that bring us no closer to understanding life, future, or God. It is as if he feels we have learned not one thing since that day of disobedience or damnation to sin in the garden. 

It would be almost 900 years until a view of light and love would change this view in a manger in Bethlehem.

Ecclesiastes - Chapter 8

Respect for authority (1-9):

The first human sin was a contest for authority. What God had ordered, our first parents rejected. They pitted their will against God's word and set a pattern of rebellion that all of their descendants (except one) have followed.

Probably no book in the O. T. better shows the feelings of sinners toward authority than Ecclesiastes. With sharp insight, Solomon observed the ways of kings and their subjects and the conflict between them caused by the use and abuse of authority. The problem with authority that he saw was a part of the mystery that marks our lives.

Just as wisdom, pleasure, and wealth offer much less than they appear to offer, so authority as a goal in life has the same emptiness which deceives those it seeks to serve.

The deeper question is the way in which human authority is outranked by death and its refusal to operate on a predictable schedule. Authority has its dangers. The preacher knew them well. The first danger that he saw was that it often seeks to intimidate. Disobedience to the authority of the king is here described as an “evil thing”.

It appears he thinks of this type of disobedience to the king as an act of rebellion, a change of loyalty, or a conspiracy against the king.

Much authority works in unhappy ways however. The purpose in which it is given, the care with which it is supposed to be exercised, and the obligations it carries, are blurred when the ruler becomes arrogant in power.

The second danger Solomon saw was that authority sometimes shows an arrogance that rejects limitations. The power to that comes in wielding authority can easily be confused with the right to exercise total authority, perhaps without mercy. 

Our preacher is teaching that all authority except God's must work under severe limits. He brings a lesson in humility on this matter in verses 6-8. The advice in these verses is that the limits to govern should be shown by patience and prudence. Affairs in government are not exempt from God's sovereign control. He says these are included in “every matter”.

In this regard we are given in verses 7-8 what may be the most powerful thought in all of the Old Testament concerning the absolute sovereign rule of the Lord over our life. 

God's purposes have all their own seasons of fulfillment. All life is ordained and known by God, fixed in divine purpose, fixed in His unfailing wisdom, fixed in His boundless love for each of us. No man knows the future and those who are His saints submit and are faithfully glad to do so. They see a Father's hand and a Savior's sympathy. They would not alter it if they could and in faith they meekly leave the future to the Lord who wills it.

For all of his amazing accomplishments, man knows almost nothing more of the mystery of the spirit than Adam knew in the beginning. We still cannot explain how the Holy Spirit dwells within flesh, how the two are bound for a time in unity after the human heart says yes to the Lord. We still cannot explain how these two part ways at the death of the body when Solomon tells us there is no power within us to retain the spirit.

God wills it and does not explain how or why. He speaks, unheard by us, and immediately it is done and the spirit returns to Him who made it.

Our efforts are understand are truly vanity. Ignorant, reckless, and sinful man cannot slightly affect these things. Our remedy, planned before the foundation of all things is Jesus Christ, in whom the Father has placed the judgment of all things, including each and every soul.

Since Adam's day, the war of death has continued. There is no cease fire, no exchange of prisoners, no treaty except that written in blood on the cross. Here is our hope of peace for our soul for those who die in faith die only in body, not in spirit.

No spiritual death visits those who are His.

In verse 9 we see the preacher's added warning that authority can be dangerous when it is misused and becomes abuse. He tells us he has seen it happen and his conclusion is that when it does, it is hurtful to those oppressed. As a result any hope was clouded.

One reason why the message of Jesus exploded through the ancient world like a gust of fresh air was that it carried new hope. It shed brilliant light on a future that in the time of Solomon had been wrapped in gloom. The answer of Jesus was encouraging because it was the hope of a glorious coming, bright with power and righteousness. 

Solomon taught that death was too certain to allow for hope and that the uncertain time of death (which no man knew) was dark on the future. Jesus brought the answer that it did not matter when death visited because there was the promise of resurrection and life eternal.

The mysteries of divine justice (10-14):

It seemed to Solomon that divine judgment lingered so long for the wicked that the fear of it did not correct society's inclination to sin. His view was that there was a mystery in which wicked people were not condemned and righteous people were not rewarded in this life. The death of the wicked seemed slow in coming.

The mysteries of divine activity (15-17):

With no answer seen to the mystery of divine justice, Solomon now turns to the thought of trying to understanding divine activity.

The simple graces of the hand of God are the daily food of life. It is these daily graces that we should lean on when we may be baffled and close to spiritual defeat.

Now he turns to what is the heart of his search throughout the book of Ecclesiastes which is seeking the wisdom to understand divine activity. In these verses he teaches us that he has reached the end of his limits and concludes in verse 17 that he knows he will not be able to find it. He reaches back to the despair of chapter 7 but with even greater intensity.

His final thought is dominated by the repetition of the failure of the quest, no matter how resolved a man may be in his intentions. The problem seems to defy solution. More time devoted, greater intelligence brought to bear, better methods, or new researchers are not the answer. The problem lies in the difference between the activity of the divine and the strongly limited grasp of those He created.

The eager quest Solomon began at chapter 1, verse 13, and its unsatisfied conclusion in chapter 8, verse 17, says that we are called to live as well as we can within the limits imposed upon us by the basic differences between us and God. To seek to go beyond those limits is dangerous. 

The preacher will reserve his strongest words of advice on these matters in the remainder of the book in chapters 9 through 12.

Ecclesiastes - Chapter 9

Death is certain and universal (1-6):

Our preacher returns to the topic that has given him so much pain along the way, the topic of death. What seems to baffle him most are two things:

1. The lack of connection between the timing of death and the human conduct of the one who dies. The wicked may live long and the righteous may die young.

2. The fact that death is not to be escaped as neither man nor beast, or wise or fool can avoid it or delay it.

These few verses allow us to see into the mind of Solomon and we see that there are two consequences of his thoughts on death:

1. The time or the kind of death tells us nothing about a person's standing with God.

2. Almost any kind of life is preferable to death.

The principle of God's mysterious sovereign will over death is illustrated in verse 2 and we are then given a list of duties that show the preacher's regard for the religious practices of his day. Those devout in practice as well as the unrighteous are both captured by death, which he calls the “evil”. It cannot be escaped and its dark reality haunts the human heart to the point our preacher calls “madness”. However meager, feeble, or painful is our life, we are told it is better than death. He summarizes by saying that a living dog is better than a dead lion.

While he tells us here that any life is better than death, he has told us in other parts of Ecclesiastes the opposite (for example in 4:2 where he praises the dead more than the living). What can we say about this contradiction? Here he uses exaggeration, overstating his point to sharpen the ears of those who will read his words. Even in modern days we see ourselves certain preachers say one thing one time and something different in other situations, just for effect.

Living in the middle of mystery (7-10):

This section of our text is alive with grace notes.

Our efforts to please have been accepted and the acceptance has become a feast and we are therefore to avoid despair. In the very face of death joy is not only possible but is demanded. Only God's grace can make it so. We are taught back in chapter 3 that there is a time for everything and now, whenever now is for each of us, we are to have a time of enjoyment.

The mystery of God's providence (His will) (11-12):

Here is another adventure into the area of divine mystery. Our preacher tells us that input does not always equal output. Life is not an exact predictable computer.

He is challenging the opinions of other wise men. Basic to their teaching was the conclusion that good conduct brought good results and good causes brings good effects.

They say speed wins the race and strength wins the battle. Solomon says NO, it is not so.

God's patterns are not predictable by man. Chance often has as much influence on our well being as our behavior.

Supreme virtues are not always enough. Timing may upset the best of plans and the best of our abilities. The most talented among us may find accidents occurring that overcome plans and we have no way of predicting when this may happen.

Divine mystery and human mortality are not symbols of the past. The realities are our daily companions. We do not know why death comes early or late.

What we do learn later from the words of Jesus is that we have a heavenly Father whom we can know. This personal relation comes not from painful search, as Solomon so diligently tried to solve, but from the revelation of the Son of God, sent to save the lost.

Jesus teaches us that length of life is no longer to be thought of as a gauge of the quality of life. Eternal life as given by the acceptance of full grace has come into the picture and has given us to know that loyalty and godliness are to be rewarded in eternity while rebellion and rejection are to be punished beyond this life. Through this new teaching of our Lord, divine justice is shown as possible to all.

The preacher was right to dread the sting of death and to resent the victory of the grave. Given what he knew, he could do nothing else. The Greater Wise Man, our Lord, has provided us with “the way, the truth, and the life” and we can follow Him with hearts untroubled.

Jesus made perfectly clear that the divine inclination toward his human family is overwhelming love. 1st John 4:8 teaches us on this side of the cross that God IS love.

Wisdom - employed and then forgotten (13-18):

It is always much easier to point out a problem than it is to find a solution. We must always identify what is wrong in life in order to set it straight. The preacher was wise enough to know this fact. Though he is best known for the sharp and observant way he pointed out the false values to which his people seemed dedicated, he should also be remembered for the practical solutions he gave to so many human problems.

These practical suggestions will fill out the rest of the book and these are broken down for us as follows:

• Guides to practical living   (9:13 – 10:20)

• Principals of financial investing (11:1-8)

• Ground rules for the young (11:9 – 12:8)

We see in the rest of this chapter the life lesson that forgetfulness is evident just when wisdom may have worked a victory. A poor wise man had delivered a city against a powerful king who had come to attack it. By his wisdom the city was saved. But when the situation had ended wisdom and the man himself were not remembered.

Solomon gives us three messages in this small story:

1. It is irony to see wisdom come to outrank strength.

2. Wise words, even from a poor man, should carry their own authority.

3. Wisdom in the end outfought even weaponry.

Earlier in chapter 1, verse 18, the preacher had written that much wisdom brings much grief. In this small story he brings light to that previous teaching.

Ecclesiastes - Chapter 10

Foolishness has its dangers (1-3):

Our preacher warns those who may read his words or listen to him against the dangers of being foolish, expressed as folly.

Folly has dangers and wisdom has limits. Folly is so powerful that a little of it, like a bad smell, can overwhelm a large amount of wisdom. Folly is so dangerous because it heads us in the wrong direction. Solomon highlights the contrast between the sound judgment of the wise man and the poor judgment of the fool. This poor judgment noted is not a well kept secret. The fool's actions speak for themselves. By making poor decisions he announces that he is a fool.

Power can be used or abused (4-7):

Wisdom is a guide in the affairs of government. This is a point that the preacher returned to more than once. It seems he is allowing a very basic idea that is whether we thrive or not depends upon how we are governed. This advice was practical and shrewd.

He is essentially saying that we should stay on the good side of the powerful. We are to use our own power of self control to offset the abuse of power we may see in those above us who govern. His lesson is thoughtful here. The self controlled person who has less rank is really more powerful than the superior one who may be out of control.

The preacher is careful to note that we should be aware of the injustices of life. He had seen rulers make mistakes when they often put the wrong people in positions of power. The warning is as strong today as it was under Solomon. Inequities seem to always arise, especially in government. He further seems to warn us to do all in our own power, even if limited, to prevent such events if possible.

He makes the point that the rich may make better officials because they usually have more experience in managing large operations and their potential for success has already been tested and is evident. He seems to be teaching that the issue is not actually class but is competence.

Work can be careless and cautious (8-11):

The verses here should be read as a warning against the hazards of everyday work which can be harmful if caution is neglected. Wisdom, with its cautious common sense, coaches workers to be careful and therefore cut down on the possibility of accidents. Wisdom prevents accidents, such as the foresight to charm a snake before it bites. Simple practical wisdom keeps folly from showing itself and hurting us.

Words can be graceful and calling (12-15):

Solomon knew that his students were headed for positions of responsibility either in government or business. When in the positions of authority, they had to watch their language. Success or failure would be determined by the accuracy of their speech.

He also wishes to explore the other side of this topic, which is the negative outcome of the talk of the fool. First, the fool is self destructive. The more a fool speaks, the worse their speech and state of mind become. Their endless efforts at talking accomplish nothing. Their lack of wisdom is surely exposed as they seem to be unable to curb their lips.

Rulers can be decadent and disciplined (16-20):

This section of teaching takes us to the palace and alerts us to the unique temptations that are found there. Both the dark and bright side of political life is contrasted. The cause of the trouble observed by the preacher is an unfit king. Chaos results from one ruling who was so unprepared. Leadership was lacking and because of that factor, even public buildings were in disrepair. Money was wasted which was seen to be a public crime. Who was reporting these things?

Verse 20 mentions a “bird” which was in itself a warning to any would be critic to hold his tongue while in the king's court because there was a controlling network of informers to tell the king any bit of gossip about those who may be critical. Just as in our time today, those who wish to gossip but do not wish to name names just say “a little bird told me”. Some things never change.

In these verses Solomon has provided his last words about what goes on at the court of a king, caution in work, wise speech, and wisdom's virtue over folly. He has done his best to equip his students  to handle life as it comes with patience and poise.

Jesus also believed that God's people should have the wisdom to deal with life's problems. When he sent out His disciples, He gave them this advice in Matthew 10:16:

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, Therefore be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves”.

The wise preacher wanted his students to understand how life worked. The Greater Wise Man called His followers to know the One who makes life work. Jesus took His pupils beyond the wisdom of the older preacher when He instilled in them a stronger sense of the power of love. He encouraged His disciples to pray for their enemies and to do good to those who mistreat them. Make love your aim, not success in worldly things because love IS success by the Lord's measure. 

Ecclesiastes - Chapter 11

Words of Advice on Investment

Diversity (1-2):

Solomon spoke much on the futility of life when people try to make profit or pleasure or prestige or permanent things their aim. He used proverb like small stories to help his students and readers make their way beyond what is futile and what is vain. How to become fruitful in a world where he saw so many lives as barren was one area where he used these small proverbs to improve life.

Fruitfulness meant both prosperity and joy. Having things was not enough if a person could not enjoy what they had. Solomon seems to be teaching that life is a double path. We walk a middle line between these two pathways with one foot on the side marked prosperity and the other foot on the side marked joy. As he saw life without the one we have no chance for the other. If we live in error seeking only one side we are pursuing only half a life.

The theme here seems to be that we should use wisdom boldly and carefully but humbly, taking joy from life while we remember that our days of joy are limited by the coming certainty of death (a constant theme for this preacher).

Who knows what crop will fail or what ship carrying our goods will be taken by pirates or what merchant may make off with our profits? He teaches to spread your investments widely (he suggests 7 or 8 places) so that no one or two calamities can wipe you out. This advice was (and is) crucial to the road to prosperity.

Observation (3-5):

The preacher believed that certain observable trends in the patterns of wind and rain had to be right for them to do their work successfully, especially in sowing and reaping.

Learn to watch the weather for it is God's work on God's schedule and you must seek understanding of it by observing it constantly.

While wisdom might be drawn from observation to help learn important things, there are other things that wisdom could not tell them. Solomon warned his students not to try to guess from observation ALL of God's ways, just because patterns of creation taught them SOME of His ways. Some of God's way are as mysterious as trying to understand how the unborn grow in the womb.

Diligence (6):

The reason Solomon taught diligence is that the mystery of which the seed grows and how it does so (prospers) is in God's hands and can never be known by us. Here is just basic common sense. Each of us who has farmed or has farmers in our family that came before us understands that diligence is simply always working hard, doing all we can possibly do and then praying and leaving the increase to the Lord.

Celebration (7-8):

Alongside the path to prosperity the wise preacher lined out for us the road to joy. Find the beauty in everyday life was his simple advice as he concludes his thoughts on small proverbs to teach important points. He reminds us that life is fragile and that the limits of our understanding of life make evident the need to celebrate every hour of daylight. He uses the strong word “sweet” to picture for us the immense joy each day can bring. Then he uses the word “pleasant” to picture the blessings that the gift of each day of sunlight can offer.

Enjoy the tasks at hand and savor each bit of food and drink while you share your joys. Make the most of what you have for the “days of darkness” are coming when this enjoyment will end. Death will black out the light of life. He also gives a strong but negative thought to close this section that the days we are dead are many. No matter how long we live, we will all be dead a lot longer than we are alive.

Rejoice in youth (9-10):

Since his last words in the previous verses were full of anxiety, might we think that he warns us of the foreboding future because it was his own aging that he dreaded? Was he raising the volume of his voice in his writing to calm his own fear?

He was not afraid to vent his feelings from the beginning of his book, especially on life and work and wisdom and folly and he has consistently seemed to say that all these things are nullified by the timing and circumstance of death over which there is no control.

So now he teaches us to live a life of  joy motivated by the knowledge that God will judge our life and that we should be wise, avoid all pain and loss we can while remembering that youth is brief. On this matter we have a strongly similar teaching from the half brother of our Lord (James 4:14):

“... For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away”. 

Maybe James had read and studied the works of Solomon.

Most of this Old testament advice has been affirmed by the most holy Wise Man of the New Testament, our Savior. He too believed that we should make the most of what we have. This was part of what He had in mind when He gave us the parable of the talents. We must not forget His stinging words in this teaching:

“Thou oughest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received my own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it to him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath”. Matthew 25:27-29

Our abilities, goods, wealth, and opportunities are divine gifts of which we are only stewards. One of the things Jesus will do at His second coming will be to judge how well we have used His gifts. 

Part of our due to the Lord is to invest our money, time, and energy into things that will pay dividends to further build His kingdom here. Solomon was right but he did not tell the whole story for he lived and gained his knowledge and wisdom on the other side of the cross. We are to rejoice in the gifts received. Yet we are more than just receivers. We are meant to adore God in His person, His Son, and His Spirit. These are the efforts of those who seek His grace of salvation through His gift of faith. In that effort Solomon could only see dimly. In Jesus Christ all becomes clear.

Ecclesiastes - Chapter 12

Remember your creator (1-8):

The point of this first portion of the final chapter is to motivate us to make the most of life for the glory of God while we can. Do not wait until the days of old age when it may be difficult to find pleasure in our lives. Remember God and live for Him,

before your arms and hands grow weak, before your legs are bent and feeble, before you lose your teeth, before your eyes grow dim. Remember the creator and give Him praise.

Before your soul leaves your body to be reunited with the Lord who gave it, use the gift of life on earth to give Him glory in all that is done.

The last words written by our preacher nearing the end of his book are filled with some anxiety over a future that foreshadows the end of life. He looks back and now speaks to those who are in their youth and strongly advises them to make God the center of attention. Make the most of the gifts of life while you are young and vital while keeping in mind the final curtain that waits for all. The details of the aging process are not necessarily the main focus but he does remind his students that old age does indeed bring an end that those still young may not consider as they should.

He paints a word picture in these verses concerning death.

It is like the coming of winter, after the autumn rains, when cloudy and cooler weather would come. There are leafless trees, fruitless vines, and cloudy skies, all are symbols of winter itself. These are also symbols of the dark and unknown state of death.

For Solomon, death removes us from all the good things of God's creation. He next pictures a funeral scene which always brings to mind the complete stop of all activity of life. The scene begins at a house, probably the house of the one who has died. The normal activities of everyday life are not seen or are slowed down. The scene shifts to the actual procession of the funeral itself with sadness where those who grieve are bowing low.

There is nothing gentle about this word picture. The verbs “shattered” and “broken” are words for destruction. Life is broken and destroyed by the final call of death upon the one who has left. We see burial language in verse 7 and some of the most  revealing words of our book. The body returns to the dust from where it was taken and the the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Here in this graphic moment, the one who was said to have been given more understanding than any other man, is explicit in teaching that it is in spirit that we return to the Lord when death separates us from the body.

The teacher's discipline (9-11):

Here the preacher makes three strong points:

1. He identifies the chief task is teaching the people.

2. He says that the ministry of teaching must be careful and upright.

3. He witnesses that there is pain in the teaching, designed to correct bad behavior and to guide all those who hear and read towards the good path.

The student's duty (12-14):

Our subject makes a sharp turn toward a specific student (or a group being taught together) as he uses the term “my son”. His aim in these verses seems to be to spell out that the students have a double obligation that is put upon the shoulders of those who  want to seek wisdom teachings and apply them to their own lives:

1. They are to follow the advice given by the preacher diligently.

2. They are to discount opinions of others and center their lives on God.

They will demonstrate this effort by obedience to God's commandments, knowing that God holds them accountable for all they do, even deeds that no one else may see.

In the end Solomon warns his students to give attention to the whole matter, to the whole duty of man, to every work, and even to every secret thing.

While our preacher, Solomon, sought to find and detail the true meaning of life and found instead that in spite of all that he had been given and all that God allowed him to possess, even that which was against the commands of the Lord, he found instead that none of the riches brought peace or happiness. His gold or his wives brought him no contentment. The more he examined life and tried to make sense of it, the more he saw that his pursuit of worldly things made life futile and vain.

His book does bring us some strong lessons that are just as profound in our own time as they were when Solomon wrote them. Some of these are:

True wisdom is always conditional on an attitude of submission and obedience to God.

We MUST not forget a perfect example of this lesson that is given to us in Ezekiel, who wrote about 400 years after Solomon lived. In Ezekiel 28:12 we are told that Satan had been originally created filled with wisdom. In 28:17 we are taught that he had corrupted his wisdom and was cast down.

True happiness and contentment come from GIVING not from GETTING. Solomon looked in the wrong direction for joy and fulfillment and his pursuit in that wrong direction took him further away from the answer he sought. Selfishness and the pursuit of things of this world above spiritual things leads to frustration, misery, and bitterness. We see all three in the life of this wise one.

Sin always makes people negative. Obedience to God makes people positive. Solomon, while wisest of all men, lived life in a negative pursuit while Paul who had very little and was not graced with the type of wisdom Solomon had, lived his life of obedience to God (after his conversion) almost always positive.

God gave great wisdom to Solomon when he asked for it. But that God given understanding did not stop him from pursuing a life of compromise with the worship of false idols, brought upon him by his continued disobedience of the Lord's command that His appointed rulers not multiply wives EXACTLY for this reason.

Without faithful obedience great wisdom is corrupted and becomes useless. Paul gave us this strong lesson in 1st Cor 3:19:

“... the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God...”

Ecclesiastes: Solomon’s Situation

Within our study of Ecclesiastes it will seem apparent by the multitude of his confessions that King Solomon wrote the book after many backslidden years.

His strong prayer in 2nd Chronicles 6 & 7 is likely the longest and most quoted of all the prayers in the Old Testament. But as we will see, at this point in his life, he looked back and saw his departure from the source of all life, the Lord.

He looked as if he had a wonderfully fulfilling life, but in reflection he realized the deeds, pleasures, and accomplishments did not mean anything without a close relationship with the Creator. The world had stood and noticed all that Solomon had done, but he admits clearly and without shame that all he had done and possessed without having God was meaningless.

Throughout the book, we see Solomon use two consistent phrases:

• “under the sun” used 27 times meaning “of the world”

• “vanity” used 16 times meaning “mystery”

Solomon conveys to us the profound fact that when a person lives his life without God's grace, he will end up with a sad and unfulfilled life for something important is desperately missing. 

It is accepted that Solomon died in his fifties, an indication that the Lord was displeased with him and had not extended the allowance of long life (as promised in Exodus 20:12) for those who obey His commandments.

Early in this king's reign, the Lord had appeared to him in a dream (1st Kings 3:5). At that time Solomon asked the Lord for a heart of “understanding”. He did NOT ask for wisdom. But the Lord was pleased with the request and gave him a “wise AND understanding heart (1st Kings 3:12 & 4:29).

After 20 years (1st Kings 9:10), during which time Solomon built the Temple for 7 years and his own palace for 13 years, God appeared to Solomon a second time (1st Kings 9:2) and God set before Solomon a CONDITION. God said, “If you will walk before me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom upon Israel forever” (1st Kings 9:4-5).

But Solomon did NOT continue to walk before God. Solomon compromised himself. God tells us in 1st Kings 11:5 that Solomon “... went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination god of the Ammonites. And so Solomon “DID EVIL” in the sight of the Lord (verse 6). Solomon even built a high place (an altar) for Chemosh, the evil god of Moab and for the human sacrifice god Molech, in surrender to his strange wives (verses 7-8).

The result was that God was ANGRY with Solomon. Despite God appearing to Solomon twice, Solomon disobeyed the Lord willingly and sinfully.

When we read the rest of chapter 11 in 1st Kings, we see that God sent his prophet “Ahijah the Shilonite” to tell Jeroboam that 10 tribes would be taken from Solomon.

Solomon taxed the people far beyond excess and through that oppressive taxation he lived a life of regal splendor never seen before or since. When Solomon's son, Rehoboam, succeeded him as king after his death, he was asked by the people to lower the harsh taxes and he gave the royal reply that “... I will add to your yoke... my father hath chastened you with whips but I will chasten you with scorpions” (1st Kings 12:11).

So Israel rebelled and installed their own king, Jeroboam, and the 10 tribes were removed from the authority of the throne, just as God had promised. Afterward only the tribe of Judah remained under the throne. Rehoboam sought to align himself with the tribe of Benjamin to retake the 10 tribes but the Lord sent him a strong message against such action in 1st Kings 12:24 saying, “... Ye shall not... fight against your brethren the children of Israel... for this thing is from me”.

We see no evidence that Solomon repented of his path among the idols of his many wives, nor showed any remorse for the many shrines and altars he had built to them. Scripture tells us that all these things remained in place for over 300 years inside the Holy promised land until they were torn down by King Josiah (2nd Kings 23:13).

Ecclesiastes allows us a glimpse into the high price Solomon paid for his life turning away from God. He violated the Lord's original command not to multiply wives by marrying 700 women plus having 300 concubines. There is no scripture that seems to say that he led any of these women to God rather he allowed their idol worship and he himself joined in it. 1st Kings 11:4 tells us that “... he turned his heart to other gods...”. As a consequence of his turning away, after his death God divided the kingdom into two parts and thereafter the northern kingdom, Israel, was ruled mostly by wicked kings while Judah was ruled by descendants of David. 

In his writings of the book of Ecclesiastes, we see no sign of humility from Solomon. He was powerful, strong, and held riches beyond measure but understood in later life that all these things of this world are without value if gained and held without God. In this book of much study, it has always been mentioned by teachers & students alike that this king was filled with himself. The book holds only 222 verses and in them Solomon uses the personal pronoun “I” 87 times in 65 verses. We see he uses “I” two times for every five verses. The focus is on himself and his personal views.

His wisdom allowed him power of observation but when he moved past those things he observes into things of his opinion, Solomon was WRONG many times as we will see in the study chapters.

THAT IS THE MIND WHICH PRODUCED ECCLESIASTES.

As we travel down these pathways with Solomon, we will see him reflect on most profound truths.

These are:

• LIFE WITHOUT GOD IS MEANINGLESS (1:1 – 2:26)

• LIFE WITHOUT GOD IS UNFAIR (3:1 – 5:20)

• LIFE WITHOUT GOD IS UNFULFILLING (4:1 – 9:18)

• LIFE WITH GOD IS THE ONLY LIFE THAT MAKES SENSE (9:1 – 12:14)

Despair seemed everywhere in life to this king. Nothing seemed to work right, at least where man was involved and lived life apart from the Lord. Even after a lifetime of searching, Solomon could not figure out everything. He encouraged us to do the wise thing, seek the Lord, from where wisdom, justice, joy, and life itself came.