Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today we begin the book of Ecclesiastes, often considered one of the most puzzling books in the Bible. The book of Ecclesiastes is about a person known only as “Qohelet”, a Hebrew word often translated into English as the “Teacher” or the “Preacher”, or “Ecclesiastes” in Greek. Qohelet looks back on his life and draws a number of conclusions based on his life experiences. Traditionally Qohelet has been identified with King Solomon for many reasons: he is described as a “son of David” (1:1), was “king over Israel in Jerusalem” (1:12), had more wisdom than anyone who ruled in Jerusalem before him (1:16), undertook huge projects (2:4-6), amassed incredible wealth (2:7-8a), owned a harem (2:8), imparted knowledge to the people (12:9), searched out and arranged many proverbs (12:9) and came up with many of his own wise sayings (12:10). All that certainly sounds like Solomon, although his name is never mentioned explicitly in the book. Some scholars question whether the author of Ecclesiastes was actually Solomon. They instead argue that Ecclesiastes falls within a genre of ancient Near Eastern writing known as a fictional autobiography, where someone adopts the persona of a famous person (in this case, Solomon) in order to communicate their ideas. Ecclesiastes reads like an old, jaded, disillusioned King Solomon in his later years, expressing what is left of his faith in God after he had married many foreign wives and worshiped many foreign gods. Whether the writer of Ecclesiastes was actually Solomon or not, there is much we can learn from this book in the Bible.
Even more puzzling than who actually wrote the book of Ecclesiastes is the contents of the book. Pessimism and hopelessness fill many of its verses. Ecclesiastes seems to call into question, at least to some extent, the wisdom we find in other parts of the Bible, like the book of Proverbs. What are we to make of this book and how do we reconcile what this book teaches with the rest of the Bible? We’ll try to look at all this together as we study the book of Ecclesiastes.
Today’s passage is Ecclesiastes 1:1-11. Let’s go!
Ecclesiastes 1:1-2 (NIV)
1 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:
2 “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”
On verses 1-2: Right from the start we are introduced to one of the main themes of Ecclesiastes, the idea that “everything is meaningless” (v2). The word which the NIV translates here as “meaningless” is the Hebrew word hebel, which literally means “vapour” or “breath”. Depending on the context, the word hebel carries with it the idea of something being fleeting and temporary, or vain and having no lasting value, or absurd and making no sense. Indeed, throughout the book of Ecclesiastes, Qohelet is going to point out a number of specific things in life that to him are hebel. The first is in verses 3-8.
Ecclesiastes 1:3-8 (NIV)
3 What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?
4 Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course.
7 All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again.
8 All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.
On verses 3-8: The first thing Qohelet describes as hebel (meaningless, pointless, and making no sense) is the work at which people labor. He says in verse 3, “what does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun”. In verses 4-8 describe this seemingly endless cycle of busy activity going on in the world – generations coming and going (v4), the sun rising and setting (v5), the wind blowing one way and then another (v6), streams ever flowing and yet never filling the sea (v7). To Qohelet, all of these are examples of seemingly meaningless activity that amounts to nothing and doesn’t satisfy (“the eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing” – v8).
Ecclesiastes 1:9-10 (NIV)
9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.
On verses 9-10: Qohelet observes that in this endless cycle of activity, not only does nothing satisfy, but even more, as verses 9-10 express, nothing is new. That might surprise some of us. We think about the latest technological advances that have impacted how people live and think, “This didn’t exist 100 years ago.” But understand what Qohelet is saying. He’s saying that from a big picture perspective, nothing is really new. At the end of the day, no matter how many new things people come up with, they’re all basically the same thing: ambitious attempts to make life better, but in the end do they really make life better? Aren’t these “new” things really just the latest in a ongoing series of hopeless and ultimately unsuccessful attempts to find happiness and make life better?
Ecclesiastes 1:11 (NIV)
11 There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow.
On verse 11: Let me try to illustrate what Qohelet is saying here. Unless you’re a sports buff, you probably don’t remember and don’t care who won the Stanley Cup in 1995. Unless you’re a movie historian, you probably don’t remember and don’t care who won the Oscar for best actress in 1982. Other than trivia stars, can anyone name more than 2 people who have won a Nobel prize for conferring “the greatest benefit to humankind”? The point is that of the billions upon billions of people who have lived in this world, the vast majority of them will not be remembered, and even the most famous of them will be forgotten in some way. That is Qohelet’s observation.
What are we to make of all these hopeless conclusions that Solomon has reached? (Keep in mind we’re only at verse 11 of chapter 1!) Let me put it this way: when you live as Solomon did in his later years – when you live as the centre of your own universe, following your own desires above God’s commands, listening to your own wisdom instead of God’s wisdom – “life under the sun” eventually becomes hebel (meaningless, vain, fleeting, absurd). But it doesn’t have to be that way. When you live your life with Jesus at the centre, life “under the sun” (v3, 9) gives way to life with and through the Son. And that life is not meaningless, but meaningful; it’s not fleeting, but eternal; it’s not absurd, but full of purpose and hope.
In the chapters that follow we’ll see more differences between a hebel life “under the sun” and a meaningful life with and through the Son.
Father, for all of us today who find that life is hebel – meaningless, fleeting, absurd – help us today to see our lives in the light of Your Son Jesus. Thank You that life under the sun can give way to life with and through Your Son, and that because of Jesus, life can be meaningful, eternal, and full of purpose and hope. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
Copyright © 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.
