JULY 10 ECCLESIASTES 1-6

Ecclesiastes 1-6

First, I want to register a complaint. Ecclesiastes is a difficult, but fascinating and rewarding book in the Bible; I cannot believe that they (Who are they, anyway?) are rushing us through it in just TWO DAYS! Its truths take time to sink in.

Oh well!

The traditional view is that Solomon wrote this book; if he didn’t, he certainly influenced its content. The first two chapters sound so autobiographical that I will just assume Solomon wrote it. There he recounts his several significant attempts at finding meaning in life. He pursued wisdom and knowledge; pleasure and self-indulgence; great building projects; a multitude of possessions; and the joy of the arts. None of it did he find fully satisfying; it was little more than “chasing the wind.” (1:14, 17; 2:11, 17, 26)

What’s Solomon’s verdict? “There is nothing better for a person that to eat, drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, [he] saw, is from the hand of God.” (2:24) Solomon is saying: “Do everything in its time (3:1-8); just don’t forget that it’s all from the Lord!” My favorite verse in this section is Ecclesiastes 3:11:

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. 

Also, he has put eternity into the human heart,

Yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”

Apart from God, Solomon says, we’re nothing but dust (3:20), and life is meaningless. Even the famous “Two are better than one” passage in Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, used so often in weddings, concludes with a hint that even two are not enough: “A three-strand cord is not easily broken.” As I told Greg and Emily Hickey at their recent wedding: “Their 3rd Cord is the Lord!”

Many of the themes of Ecclesiastes1-3 are revisited in 4-6, but I always take note of two warnings in chapters 5 and 6, warnings people have issued to us preachers for centuries:

The more words, the more vanity... (Ecclesiastes 6:11)

Therefore, let your words be few. (Ecclesiastes 5:2)

If I had a nickel for every time I’ve been reminded of these truths...

I better stop talking. Tomorrow, we finish Ecclesiastes!

Your fellow wisdom wanderer,
Pastor Gary