Chapter One
Is Life Worth Living?
(Ecclesiastes 1:1â3)
Vanity of vanities,â lamented Solomon, âall is vanity!â Solomon liked that word vanity; he used it thirty-eight times in Ecclesiastes as he wrote about life âunder the sun.â The word means âemptiness, futility, vapor, that which vanishes quickly and leaves nothing behind.â
From the human point of view (âunder the sunâ), life does appear futile; and it is easy for us to get pessimistic. The Jewish writer Sholom Aleichem once described life as âa blister on top of a tumor, and a boil on top of that.â You can almost feel that definition!
The American poet Carl Sandburg compared life to âan onionâyou peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep.â And British playwright George Bernard Shaw said that life was âa series of inspired follies.â
When you were studying English literature in school, you may have read Matthew Arnoldâs poem âRugby Chapelâ in which he includes this dark description of life:
Here and thereâeat and drink,
Chatter and love and hate,
Gather and squander, are raised
Aloft, are hurlâd in the dust,
Striving blindly, achieving
What a relief to turn from these pessimistic views and hear Jesus Christ say, âI am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantlyâ (John 10:10). Or to read Paulâs majestic declaration, âTherefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lordâ (1 Cor. 15:58 NKJV).
Life is ânot in vainâ if it is lived according to the will of God, and that is what Solomon teaches in this neglected and often-misunderstood book.
Before we embark on a study of Ecclesiastes, letâs first get acquainted with the author and his aim in writing the book. We also want to get an overview of the book so we can better understand his approach to answering the question âIs life really worth living?â
THE AUTHOR
Nowhere in this book did the author give his name, but the descriptions he gave of himself and his experiences would indicate that the writer was King Solomon. He called himself âson of Davidâ and âking in Jerusalemâ (1:1, 12), and he claimed to have great wealth and wisdom (2:1â11; 1:13; see 1 Kings 4:20â34; 10:1ff.). In response to Solomonâs humble prayer, God promised him both wisdom and wealth (1 Kings 3:3â15); and He kept His promise.
Twelve times in Ecclesiastes the author mentioned âthe king,â and he made frequent references to the problems of âofficial bureaucracyâ (4:1â3; 5:8; 8:11; 10:6â7). Keep in mind that Solomon ruled over a great nation that required a large standing army and extensive government agencies. He carried on many costly building projects and lived in luxury at court (1 Kings 9:10â28; 10:1ff.; 2 Chron. 1:13â17). Somebody had to manage all this national splendor, and somebody had to pay for it!
Solomon solved the problem by ignoring the original boundaries of the twelve tribes of Israel and dividing the nation into twelve âtax districts,â each one managed by an overseer (1 Kings 4:7â19). In time, the whole system became oppressive and corrupt, and after Solomon died, the people begged for relief (2 Chron. 10). As you study Ecclesiastes, you sense this background of exploitation and oppression.
King Solomon began his reign as a humble servant of the Lord, seeking Godâs wisdom and help (1 Kings 3:5â15). As he grew older, his heart turned away from Jehovah to the false gods of the many wives he had taken from foreign lands (1 Kings 11:1ff.). These marriages were motivated primarily by politics, not love, as Solomon sought alliances with the nations around Israel. In fact, many of the things Solomon did that seemed to bring glory to Israel were actually contrary to the Word of God (Deut. 17:14â20).
No amount of money or authority could stop the silent but sure ripening of divine judgment. The famous Scottish preacher Alexander Whyte said that âthe secret worm ⊠was gnawing all the time in the royal staff upon which Solomon leaned.â The kingâs latter years were miserable because God removed His hand of blessing (1 Kings 11) and maintained Solomonâs throne only because of His promise to David. After Solomonâs death, the nation divided, and the house of David was left with but two tribes, Judah and Benjamin.
Ecclesiastes appears to be the kind of book a person would write near the close of life, reflecting on lifeâs experiences and the lessons learned. Solomon probably wrote Proverbs (Prov. 1:1; 1 Kings 4:32) and the Song of Solomon (1:1) during the years he faithfully walked with God, and near the end of his life, he wrote Ecclesiastes. There is no record that King Solomon repented and turned to the Lord, but his message in Ecclesiastes suggests that he did.
He wrote Proverbs from the viewpoint of a wise teacher (1:1â6), and Song of Solomon from the viewpoint of a royal lover (3:7â11), but when he wrote Ecclesiastes, he called himself âthe Preacherâ (1:1, 2, 12; 7:27; 12:8â10). The Hebrew word is koheleth (ko-HAY-leth) and is the title given to an official speaker who calls an assembly (see 1 Kings 8:1). The Greek word for âassemblyâ is ekklesia, and this gives us the English title of the book, Ecclesiastes.
But the Preacher did more than call an assembly and give an oration. The word koheleth carries with it the idea of debating, not so much with the listeners as with himself. He would present a topic, discuss it from many viewpoints, and then come to a practical conclusion. Ecclesiastes may appear to be a random collection of miscellaneous ideas about a variety of topics, but Solomon assures us that what he wrote was orderly (12:9).
Letâs consider now the aim and the development of the book.
THE AIM
Solomon has put the key to Ecclesiastes right at the front door: âVanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?â (1:2â3). Just in case we missed it, he put the same key at the back door (12:8). In these verses, Solomon introduces some of the key words and phrases that are used repeatedly in Ecclesiastes, so we had better get acquainted with them.
Vanity of vanities. We have already noted that Solomon used the word vanity thirty-eight times in this book. It is the Hebrew word hevel, meaning âemptiness, futility, vapor.â The name âAbelâ probably comes from this word (Gen. 4:2). Whatever disappears quickly, leaves nothing behind, and does not satisfy is hevel, vanity. One of my language professors at seminary defined hevel as âwhatever is left after you break a soap bubble.â
Whether he considers his wealth, his works, his wisdom, or his world, Solomon comes to the same sad conclusion: all is âvanity and vexation of spiritâ (2:11). However, this is not his final conclusion, nor is it the only message that he has for his readers. We will discover more about that later.
Under the sun. You will find this important phrase twenty-nine times in Ecclesiastes, and with it the phrase âunder heavenâ (1:13; 2:3; 3:1). It defines the outlook of the writer as he looks at life from a human perspective and not necessarily from heavenâs point of view. He applies his own wisdom and experience to the complex human situation and tries to make some sense out of life. Solomon wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (12:10â11; 2 Tim. 3:16), so what he wrote was what God wanted His people to have. But as we study, we must keep Solomonâs viewpoint in mind: he is examining life âunder the sun.â
In his Unfolding Message of the Bible, G. Campbell Morgan perfectly summarized Solomonâs outlook: âThis man had been living through all these experiences under the sun, concerned with nothing above the sun ⊠until there came a moment in which he had seen the whole of life. And there was something over the sun. It is only as a man takes account of that which is over the sun as well as that which is under the sun that things under the sun are seen in their true lightâ (Fleming H. Revell Company, 1961, p. 229).
Profit. The Hebrew word yitron, usually translated âprofit,â is used ten times in Ecclesiastes (1:3; 2:11, 13 [exc...