Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes 1:1-2

The common belief is that Solomon was the writer of this book; he is the only son of David to be king.  There is evidence that this wisdom was something compiled after Solomon's life.  As king, he could have moved against injustices, yet he writes as though there were nothing he could do.  Regardless, the author or editing doesn't change the wisdom.

Meaningless!  The Hebrews word (hevel) appears 56 times, although it is translated to other words a few times.  The repetition adds weight to the idea, "meaningless, meaningless" means it is very much just that.  We might say something was meaningless; then to carry further we might add 'very' to it: very meaningless.  Or, we might get more serious and say 'extremely' meaningless.  The 'utterly' of verse two is the same Hebrew word as meaningless.  It is repeated again as in the beginning of verse two. 

The NKJV, ESV, NASB and KJV all say 'vanities'. 

The things Solomon views as meaningless are the most outstanding examples.  They have been determined to have no lasting, meaningful value to him.  You may as well know before you go any further that Solomon declares everything under the sun meaning!  It's all futile, in, and of, itself.  The book goes on to describe life as short and meaningless.  Everything is meaningless.

Ecclesiastes 1:3-11

The entirety of life on earth is toil, labor; it's hard and in the end, Solomon said it was meaningless.  People come and go; we work and work and pass on.  Life is short, it's absurd.  It's a repeating cycle; the sun comes up, travels across the sky and goes down.  The next day, the same.  Over and over again.  The wind seems to never stop; it blows south, till it blows north, till it blows south again.  Over and over, round and round.  Solomon sees the same meaninglessness in the water cycles.  The streams appear to be trying to fill the sea, but it never fills.  It feeds the place where the streams come from. 

He sees this as mind-numbing weariness.  This is the only use for the Hebrew word for wearisome.  Words would not suffice to describe how wearisome Solomon was over these things.  The never-ending cycle of meaningless life played out in eyes that could never take enough in, never satisfied as having seen enough, but always looking for something new, better, brighter, more interesting.  The ear was not much different; constantly distracted by something else, always seeking a new sound, a new song, a whisper of something secret or the shout of anger.   It's all happened before, it will all happen again.  Lather, rinse, repeat; there is nothing new under the sun.

Solomon asked who might declare something new.  In reality, he said it isn't so, it's all been done before, seen, experienced and felt.  We've just forgotten those who were before us just as our descendants will forget us.  All that you are going through, others have to.  On and on in a meaningless and absurd cycle. 

Ecclesiastes 1:12-15

Understanding the futility and brevity of life, Solomon sought to understand these things.  He searched out the wisdom that would make sense of it all.  Surely there was some information missing, some key to unlock the answers of life.  As the king, he had access to anything and everything to educate himself.  He was limited only by his time and commitment.  He set his heart and mind to study, to educate himself by exploring everything under the heavens.  This is an incredible undertaking.  One could spend a life time searching and if you missed one thing under the heavens, that might have been the one offering the answer.  It's like an Easter egg hunt when there are no eggs to find.  This is a heavy burden.  Solomon saw them all and found them meaningless.  He found that this search under the heaven was a waste, a fruitless effort of chasing the wind.  All the means of study, fields of study, ways of men were analyzed and found to offer nothing.  This means the total resources of this world, of all the earth, offered no meaning to life.

¹⁵ What is crooked cannot be straightened;

what is lacking cannot be counted. ^[1]

The results of the search made things worse.  He found gaps; things lacking.  He found crooked things; injustices that couldn't be fixed, things that defied any comprehension or logic.  They couldn't be bent to a straight line where all the dots connect leading to the pot of gold.  Life is full of irregularities.

Ecclesiastes 1:16-18

It's not a boast, Solomon is simply stating the outcome of his search in support of his conclusion. 

• He increased in wisdom/
• He experienced wisdom.
• Applied himself to understand wisdom.
• He even applied himself to madness and folly which was also chasing the wind.

The result of this effort is summed up:

¹⁸ For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;

the more knowledge, the more grief.

Yet, in the Proverbs, Solomon wrote:

¹³ Blessed are those who find wisdom,

those who gain understanding,

¹⁴ for she is more profitable than silver

and yields better returns than gold.

¹⁵ She is more precious than rubies;

nothing you desire can compare with her.

¹⁶ Long life is in her right hand;

in her left hand are riches and honor.

¹⁷ Her ways are pleasant ways,

and all her paths are peace.

¹⁸ She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her;

those who hold her fast will be blessed. ^[2]

What's the difference?  Finding wisdom is good in the proverbs, but brings sorrow and grief in Ecclesiastes.  Could it be the purpose for which the eye looks?  The Proverbs offer wisdom and understanding but the wisdom has a starting point.  The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.  The ultimate meaning and purpose are found in God, not in the world or knowledge.  Finite wisdom cannot explain an infinite God's creation and economy, it can only point to it. 

One who seeks the things of the world to find the meaning, end up ignoring the signs pointing to the Lord and jump in faith across greatest of gaps of knowledge to arrive at their presupposition.  They stand on this weak ground arrived at by blind faith and mock those who have found real meaning in our Great God.  A great multitude embrace the vanities of this world and take comfort by saying, "We can't all be wrong!"

However, the vanities embraced a decade ago have been forgotten, replaced by new theories, hopes and assumptions.  Vanities vanish quickly!!  The more wisdom that comes, the more sorrow.  Wisdom comes with accountability.  To ignore that is to suffer the sorrow and grief and bearing, and being crushed under the weight of responsibility to see the One from which it all came.  To ignore that is the judgment in, and of, itself. 

©2018 Doug Ford