{"id":28049,"date":"2023-09-29T22:00:59","date_gmt":"2023-09-30T05:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/2-timothy-4_9-22-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-09-05T18:16:12","modified_gmt":"2023-09-06T01:16:12","slug":"ecclesiastes-1_1-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/ecclesiastes-1_1-11\/","title":{"rendered":"When Life Feels Meaningless"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ecclesiastes 1:1-11\u00a0 \u00a0 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today we begin the book of Ecclesiastes, often considered one of the most puzzling books in the Bible.\u00a0 The book of Ecclesiastes is about a person known only as \u201cQohelet\u201d, a Hebrew word often translated into English as the \u201cTeacher\u201d or the \u201cPreacher\u201d, or \u201cEcclesiastes\u201d in Greek.\u00a0 Qohelet looks back on his life and draws a number of conclusions based on his life experiences.\u00a0 Traditionally Qohelet has been identified with King Solomon for many reasons: he is described as a \u201cson of David\u201d (1:1), was \u201cking over Israel in Jerusalem\u201d (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).\u00a0 \u00a0All that certainly sounds like Solomon, although his name is never mentioned explicitly in the book.\u00a0 \u00a0Some scholars question whether the author of Ecclesiastes was actually Solomon.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Whether the writer of Ecclesiastes was actually Solomon or not, there is much we can learn from this book in the Bible.<\/p>\n

Even more puzzling than who actually wrote the book of Ecclesiastes is the contents of the book.\u00a0 Pessimism and hopelessness fill many of its verses.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 What are we to make of this book and how do we reconcile what this book teaches with the rest of the Bible?\u00a0 We\u2019ll try to look at all this together as we study the book of Ecclesiastes.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Ecclesiastes 1:1-11.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

Ecclesiastes 1:1-2 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-2:\u00a0 Right from the start we are introduced to one of the main themes of Ecclesiastes, the idea that \u201ceverything is meaningless\u201d (v2).\u00a0 The word which the NIV translates here as \u201cmeaningless\u201d is the Hebrew word\u00a0hebel<\/em>, which literally means \u201cvapour\u201d or \u201cbreath\u201d.\u00a0 Depending on the context, the word\u00a0hebel<\/em>\u00a0carries with it the idea of something being fleeting and temporary, or vain and having no lasting value, or absurd and making no sense.\u00a0 Indeed, throughout the book of Ecclesiastes, Qohelet is going to point out a number of specific things in life that to him are\u00a0hebel<\/em>.\u00a0 The first is in verses 3-8.<\/p>\n

Ecclesiastes 1:3-8 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 3-8:\u00a0 The first thing Qohelet describes as\u00a0hebel<\/em>\u00a0(meaningless, pointless, and making no sense) is the work at which people labor.\u00a0 He says in verse 3, \u201cwhat does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun\u201d.\u00a0 In verses 4-8 describe this seemingly endless cycle of busy activity going on in the world \u2013 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).\u00a0 To Qohelet, all of these are examples of seemingly meaningless activity that amounts to nothing and doesn\u2019t satisfy (\u201cthe eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing\u201d \u2013 v8).<\/p>\n

Ecclesiastes 1:9-10 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 9-10:\u00a0 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.\u00a0 That might surprise some of us.\u00a0 We think about the latest technological advances that have impacted how people live and think, \u201cThis didn\u2019t exist 100 years ago.\u201d\u00a0 But understand what Qohelet is saying.\u00a0 He\u2019s saying that from a big picture perspective, nothing is really new.\u00a0 At the end of the day, no matter how many new things people come up with, they\u2019re all basically the same thing: ambitious attempts to make life better, but in the end do they really make life better?\u00a0 Aren\u2019t these \u201cnew\u201d things really just the latest in a ongoing series of hopeless and ultimately unsuccessful attempts to find happiness and make life better?<\/p>\n

Ecclesiastes 1:11 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 11:\u00a0 Let me try to illustrate what Qohelet is saying here.\u00a0 Unless you\u2019re a sports buff, you probably don\u2019t remember and don\u2019t care who won the Stanley Cup in 1995.\u00a0 Unless you\u2019re a movie historian, you probably don\u2019t remember and don\u2019t care who won the Oscar for best actress in 1982.\u00a0 Other than trivia stars, can anyone name more than 2 people who have won a Nobel prize for conferring \u201cthe greatest benefit to humankind\u201d?\u00a0 \u00a0The 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.\u00a0 That is Qohelet\u2019s observation.<\/p>\n

What are we to make of all these hopeless conclusions that Solomon has reached?\u00a0 (Keep in mind we\u2019re only at verse 11 of chapter 1!) Let me put it this way: when you live as Solomon did in his later years \u2013 when you live as the centre of your own universe, following your own desires above God\u2019s commands, listening to your own wisdom instead of God\u2019s wisdom \u2013 \u201clife under the sun\u201d eventually becomes\u00a0hebel\u00a0<\/em>(meaningless, vain, fleeting, absurd).\u00a0 But it doesn\u2019t have to be that way.\u00a0 When you live your life with Jesus at the centre, life \u201cunder the sun\u201d (v3, 9) gives way to life with and through the Son.\u00a0 And that life is not meaningless, but meaningful; it\u2019s not fleeting, but eternal; it\u2019s not absurd, but full of purpose and hope.<\/p>\n

In the chapters that follow we\u2019ll see more differences between a\u00a0hebel\u00a0<\/em>life \u201cunder the sun\u201d and a meaningful life with and through the Son.<\/p>\n

Father, for all of us today who find that life is hebel \u2013 meaningless, fleeting, absurd \u2013 help us today to see our lives in the light of Your Son Jesus.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today we begin the book of Ecclesiastes, often considered one of the most puzzling books in the Bible.\u00a0 The book of Ecclesiastes is about a person known only as \u201cQohelet\u201d, a Hebrew word often translated into English as the \u201cTeacher\u201d or the \u201cPreacher\u201d, or \u201cEcclesiastes\u201d in Greek.\u00a0 Qohelet looks back on his life and draws a number of conclusions based on his life experiences.\u00a0 Traditionally Qohelet has been identified with King Solomon for many reasons: he is described as a \u201cson of David\u201d (1:1), was \u201cking over Israel in Jerusalem\u201d (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).\u00a0 \u00a0All that certainly sounds like Solomon, although his name is never mentioned explicitly in the book.\u00a0 \u00a0Some scholars question whether the author of Ecclesiastes was actually Solomon.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Whether the writer of Ecclesiastes was actually Solomon or not, there is much we can learn from this book in the Bible.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28051,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28049"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28052,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28049\/revisions\/28052"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}