INTRODUCTION
to Ecclesiastes
Why
Read Ecclesiastes: The name
basically means ‘Gatherer of knowledge and wisdom', or simply,
‘The Teacher'. It often seems it is a book you either love or
hate because you either see in it a dry cynicism or wise-although-jaded
counsel. As someone has well-written it is “not God's arguments
but God's record of man's arguments”. To understand it we really
need to understand its perspective and once we see that it makes
a lot of sense and should provide much instruction for our lives
today.
The
Perspective of Ecclesiastes: There
are three things to note:
i)
The historical context:
It is usually suggested that Song of Songs was written by Solomon
when he was young, Proverbs written by him in middle age, and
Ecclesiastes when he was old. Now to catch something of his personal
history we have to read 1 Kings 10 that shows us his incredible
successes, but which is followed immediately in chapter 11 by,
“ King
Solomon, however, loved many foreign women ….. As Solomon
grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his
heart was not fully devoted to the Lord
his God.”
(v.1,4) It was in this latter period
that he
clearly became very jaded about life, out of fellowship with God.
ii)
Overall Perspective: A key
phrase that occurs many times in the book is “under the sun”,
meaning from an earthly perspective. This is a book from a very
human perspective and, even worse, from a jaded human perspective.
iii)
The God Perspective: What
is remarkable to reflect on, is that his successes that made him
one of the richest men in the history of the world [perhaps until
modern times] came through the wisdom that God gave him. He was
blessed, prosperous and famous because of the enabling of God.
It was this that enabled him to become rich, carry out all the
projects he mentions in 2:4-6, and then go on to spend so much
time studying. However it might be suggested that as time passed,
this studying came more and more in a time when he had drifted
away from the Lord and was, therefore, studying to find meaning
in an increasingly unhappy and unfulfilled life. For these reasons
we should take much note of what we find here as salutary warnings
for how we should go about life in the twenty-first century where
we too, have so much prosperity and affluence, in the West at
least.
The
Ultimate Lessons of Ecclesiastes:
T he overall warning is that human
endeavour in the absence of God , whether physically or
mentally, comes to the ultimate conclusion that it is all pointless.
Having said that, despite this overwhelming sense that is there
in the early chapters, Solomon, even in his jaded state, has the
temerity we might say to declare the following:
2:26
To
the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom,
knowledge and happiness
3:12,13
there
is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while
they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find
satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God
. [also
5:18,19]
12:13
fear
God and keep his commandments,
for this is
the duty of all mankind.
It
is also interesting to note that although Solomon has turned away
from the Lord he nevertheless can't help himself referring to
‘God' 37 times in this book. God will still be there, in the background,
if you like, making His presence known despite our folly when
we turn away from Him.
Because
of his time and circumstances of life, we think it is legitimate
to describe Solomon's outlook as jaded in this book and the modern
believer with the New Testament in the other hand, so to speak,
may agree that without God all of these negative assertions are
so often true, but should go on to rejoice that ‘in Christ' we
have purpose, meaning and direction as God leads and guides us
and we need never feel jaded as Solomon has come to be. His main
folly – which is incredible in a man who in his early years had
been gifted by God with immense wisdom – is that he allowed desire
to bypass his intellect so, as the record declares he ignored
the Law in respect of foreign women declaring, “You
must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your
hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them
in love,” and so indeed, as noted
above, “his wives led him astray.
As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods,
and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord
his God.”
(11:3,4) Ecclesiastes is the result!
Unlike
most other books we will not provide a Contents List of the 12
chapters because we conclude that the titles we have given, give
little help as to where to turn next. Our best advice is read
the whole book from beginning to end.