Ecclesiastes

Introduction and Study Guide

From ancient times the Hebrew Scriptures have typically been recognized according to a threefold division, namely, The Law (Torah), The Prophets (Nevi'im), and The Writings (Ketuvim). Within the category of The Writings, however, we might divide further between books of History and books of Wisdom (or Poetry). The Wisdom literature of the Scriptures includes Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs (or Song of Solomon).

I would not wish to claim that the whole of the Christian Scripture are not useful for forming the affections of the Christian heart, because they certainly are, but I would wish to emphasize the particular power of the wisdom literature for this purpose. Job teaches believers how to suffer well through physical pain and emotional loss all while seeing the enduring goodness of God. The Psalms teach believers to sing God’s praises at all times, when we are exultant and when we are low, when we are fearful and when we are confident, when are destitute and when he have abundance, when our enemies surround us on all sides and when we are in the presence of saints. Proverbs is a book of prudence, imparting to the believer practical wisdom amidst life’s varied circumstances, temptations, and opportunities. Song of Solomon affirms to the Christian that there is such a thing as righteous romantic love, that sexuality within marriage is a gift from God, and that passion has its place. In short, the poetical books of Scripture teach believers as much about how they should feel as it does about how they should act in this life. Whoever first said “I cannot help how I feel” certainly never read the Scriptures which constantly command us to feel certain ways about certain things.

How, then, does the book of Ecclesiastes fit into this motif of shaping the thoughts and affections of the believer? Many Christians have looked at this particular book with a kind of bewilderment. Though we know the book to have been written by Solomon (c.f Eccl. 1:1) its tone is certainly a stark contrast to the confident and up-beat book of advice which he gave us in Proverbs and the cheerful and love laden text of Song of Songs. Indeed, the text has strong overtones of despair throughout much of the text. Job suffered more greatly than most men throughout history ever have had to endure, yet he continued to hope in God with confidence. In many of David’s Psalms he paints pictures of situations which are nigh hopeless, yet he still confidently reasserts his hope in Yahweh again and again. The Solomon we meet in Ecclesiastes is an older Solomon, approaching the final years of his life, and he has everything a man of the world could want, yet he is somber to say the least.

In Ecclesiastes Solomon conducts a kind of review of his life’s accomplishments and he concludes that it was a waste. In fact, he concludes that the greater portion of all human interests and affairs are a complete waste. After identifying himself as the author of this text he begins his somber book by stating,

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

The Hebrew term הֶבֶל (which transliterates to “hebel”) is what lies behind the typical English translation of “vanity” and it may also be rendered as “mist,” “vapor,” or “mere breath.” In short the term carries the notion of intangibility, that which cannot be laid hold of. It is this term which Solomon tells the reader applies to all of human life and activity.

His meaning seems to be at least twofold. First, by calling all of life and human interest הֶבֶל (vain) Solomon seems to mean that life is hopelessly impermanent. Anything which we deem good, whether it be the work of our hands, the people we love, all that we achieve, life itself, it is passing away and it cannot be held onto. All of these things come to an end eventually, they slip through our fingers like smoke, and there is nothing we can do to suspend their passing away. The earth and the sun remain, but all generations of men underneath and upon them cycle through in their fleeting and frail existences and vanish. Second, by calling all of life and human interest הֶבֶל (vain) Solomon seems to mean that life is all ultimately meaningless. No matter how great a man may be in his short life, soon he is forgotten and all that he has gained becomes the property of another who days will also soon end and be forgotten in turn. Because man and his works do not last, unlike the things which God has made, they are futile.

Solomon looks back upon his life, at all the wealth he amassed, the renown he gained, the incredible buildings he erected, all the works of one of history’s greatest and most lauded kings, the wisest of all earthly kings, and he says that none of it mattered. Soon he would die and all he had done would belong to someone else who would die in his own turn. All that he made would come to nothing in the end, decay over time and be forgotten. So it is for every man who toils under the sun.

How does such a book accord with the rest of the Christian Scriptures? What place does this depressing work of philosophical despair have in the canon of Hope? King David has often been characterized as having had a whole heart for God while his son had a kind of half-heartedness for Yahweh. Solomon, despite his great wisdom, often failed to be prudent. Here lies the great difference between wisdom and prudence, the former means knowing what one ought to do, the latter means actually doing it when the time comes. Solomon was a wise fool who often allowed his heart wonder from its proper affections. You can read the majority of his story in 1 Kings and, as you do, you’ll read about the truly great things he did as well as his many compromises with worldliness.

The book of Ecclesiastes should be seen as a book of sober reflection. As Solomon looked over the years of his own life and all that he had accomplished he saw what most men would deem the pinnacle of human achievement and success, but in it he recognized only vanity. He had done nothing that would last forever. Eternity is where meaning lies. So must we all look upon our own lives and achievements insofar as they are not dedicated to the Lord and done in his service. Whatever degree of greatness a man may achieve on his own, it is merely fodder for the abyss, doomed to be forgotten and come to nought, if he has done it for his own glory. Sadly, Solomon spent too many of the few short years God allotted to him in pursuit of self and, as he drew near the end, he saw it all for what it was, emptiness.

The lesson to be learned from this God-inspired book of despair is to not be like Solomon. Solomon’s life is a warning that is perhaps best captured by the Psalmist who wrote¹:

Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.

Solomon had lived a life of confidence in the flesh. The apostle Paul, many years later, would reflect upon eh value of such a life as this.

If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.²

Solomon lived the life which Jesus would later warn his disciples earnestly against.

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”³

Solomon, now an old man, saw that he had squandered his life. He had chased after wind and now held in his hands absolutely nothing of consequence. The world would say he had it all, but he knew better…finally. His last message to the world was an exhortation to not be like him. He urges us even now to not forget, as he had forgotten, why we are here and to whom our lives and all that we do with them should be directed. He pleaded with us to remember that the last day of our lives will come and it will come soon. All that we have made and done will perish with us (or not long after). If there is anything that matters in this life it is not those things which we can make for ourselves and put into our own hands. It is the things which we can entrust to God’s hands which will endure forever and this can only be done in faith.

At the end of his treatise Solomon urges the reader:

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low— they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets— before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.⁴

As his life drew near the end, Solomon saw not what he had gained but all that he had lost. His affections had been broken and twisted to love and prize that which was worthless instead of the one thing which was infinitely valuable. He pleads with us not to do as he had done and to set our affections upon Yahweh our God. Did he, by God’s grace, gain in his last days the only thing that ever really mattered in the first place? We may hope so. We may hope so.

Below you will find links to each section of the study guide for Ecclesiastes as they become available. Any edition of the ESV bible will work great for this study, but THIS IS THE ONE I recommend for our study guides. For a list of other Great Books study guides already available, in development, or planned for the future you can click HERE.

Lesson 1: Ch. 1-2

Lesson 2: Ch. 3-4

Lesson 3: Ch. 5-6

Lesson 4: Ch. 7-8

Lesson 5: Ch. 9-10

Lesson 6: Ch. 11-12

1. Psalm 127:1

2. Philippians 3:4-11

3. Matthew 6:19-21

4. Ecclesiastes 12:1-8