Get Ready
Ecclesiastes is one of the most unusual books in the whole Bible. It has a human point of view. Most of the Bible gives us God’s perspective on his creation, including us, so we can understand his nature and our relationship with him. Ecclesiastes is essentially about us – from our perspective.
Author
King Solomon, David’s son, is usually credited as the author of Ecclesiastes. We get this from the description in the first chapter. The first verse says the book is “The words of the Teacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.” The writer then refers to himself as “king over Israel in Jerusalem,” [v 1:12]. We know that God gave Solomon greater knowledge and wisdom than any other person alive at that time, (you can get the details in 1 Kings 3 or 2 Chronicles 1).
The writer also describes himself as “the Teacher.” The Hebrew word here is not used anywhere else in the Bible. The word appears to be derived from the Hebrew word for “assembly,” (“ecclesia” in Greek) so the English take has been “teacher,” “preacher,” or even “leader of the assembly,” depending on the translation.
Some scholars do not believe that Solomon wrote this book. They argue that the vocabulary and style of writing is different than most writings from the time of Solomon, and is closer to the linguistic style of later writing – sometime between 450 BCE and 250 BCE. They suggest the author uses Solomon as the “speaker” to make his points about life “under the sun,” [1:9].
Context
Solomon followed his father, David, as king of a united Israel. Shortly after David’s death God appeared to Solomon in a dream and asked him what he wanted as king. Solomon replied that, “here am I among your own chosen people, a nation so great they are too numerous to count! Give me an understanding mind so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong.” God granted his request and included “riches and honor” as well, “and if you follow me and obey my commands as your father, David, did, I will give you a long life,” [1 Kings 3:8-14].
Solomon followed God for a long time, but eventually he began ignoring God’s commands. He built up a huge standing army and built lavish palaces. He took 700 wives, many of them pagan, in violation of God’s prohibition on marrying “foreigners.” And, as God had warned, they led Solomon away from trusting God to worshipping their gods. God told Solomon that was the end of his help and the end of the kingdom of Israel; the kingdom would be divided during his son’s reign, [1 Kings 11:1-13].
Structure
There are four sections in Ecclesiastes:
- The Prologue presents Solomon’s message: “All is vanity (or meaningless),” [1:1-11].
- The second part develops and “proves” the primary theme [1:12-6:12].
- The third part presents Solomon’s conclusions or findings about life “under the sun,” [7:1-12:8].
- The Epilogue provides the real answer to life’s meaning: “Fear God, and keep his commandments; for that is the whole duty of everyone,” [12:13].
Major Themes
Solomon’s theme is very obvious. He hits us with it right after he identifies himself: “All is vanity,” [1:2]. He closes the book with the same phrase, [12:8]. And in between he uses it 28 other times. The Hebrew word means “empty” or “without purpose” and NIV translates it “meaningless.”
There is some irony in the fact that the wisest person in the world, not to mention the wealthiest person in the world at that time, looks at the world and can only conclude that nothing is worthwhile.
We have to dig a little deeper, however, to understand why Solomon wrote this book, and why it is part of the Bible.
Ecclesiastes is Solomon’s attempt to understand life by relying only on his human wisdom – it is the record of his exploration and evaluation of this world from an earthly perspective.
In addition to the primary conclusion, “everything is meaningless,” Solomon uses two other phrases that show his purpose and his method.
The first is “under the sun,” (sometimes “under heaven”). The writer uses this phrase to identify the scope of his search: information or data that is available to our senses, that is part of this world. Unlike Proverbs, there is no discussion of spiritual things, and no mention of any type of revelation.
The second phrase is “I thought in my heart,” or “I thought to myself.” This is Solomon’s intent to use only his own, admittedly great, powers of reason and analysis. He may have examined much of the world as he knew it, but he used only his own intelligence to evaluate it.
Ecclesiastes is the record of Solomon’s search for meaning in this life on this planet. He concludes that, without God, there is none.
Many people consider Ecclesiastes the counterpoint to Proverbs, but other scholars believe that Ecclesiastes is the counterpoint to the Psalms – our intellect alone or our spiritual response to God.
Get into the Word:
1. Who wrote this book? What evidence supports this conclusion? What does the author call himself? Why is this title appropriate? What is the other idea about who is the author? Why do some people believe this?
2. What is the probable situation of the writer? How has he changed since the earlier part of his life? How have his experiences contributed to this book? How have they shaped his approach to the subject? How have they influenced his conclusions?
3. How is Ecclesiastes organized? What are the major sections of the book? Does this structure make it easier or more difficult to understand?
4. What is the major theme of the book? How often does the author state it? What are the other messages of the book? How does the writer frame these ideas?
5. How does the author limit the scope and point of view of the book? How do these limits affect the information available to the author? How does this affect the conclusions?
Bible Trivia:
Many of the Psalms have become memorable songs in the church, both classic and contemporary; but Pete Seeger took the first 8 verses of Ecclesiastes 3 and turned them into the popular ballad, “Turn, Turn, Turn.”
Bonus Passage
In addition to the poem about time (next page), Ecclesiastes has another poem about age: Remember your creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come, and the years draw near when 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 with the rain; in the day when the guards of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the women who grind cease working because they are few, and those who look through windows see dimly; when the doors on the street are shut, and 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, when one is afraid of heights, and terrors are in the road, the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along and desire fails . . . and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the breath returns to God who gave it. [12:1-8]
31:Everything has its time – Ecclesiastes 3: 1-22
Get Ready
What is your favorite time of the year? Why do you like it? Which season is your least favorite? Why? By the way, which version of the song, “Turn, Turn, Turn,” do you prefer – that of Pete Seeger (who wrote it), Bob Dylan or the Byrds?
The Word
3For everything there is a season,
and a time for every matter under heaven:
2 a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
7 a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
The God-Given Task
9 What gain have the workers from their toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. 11 He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; 13 moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil. 14 I know that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has done this, so that all should stand in awe before him. 15 That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already is; and God seeks out what has gone by.
Judgment and the Future Belong to God
16 Moreover I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, wickedness was there, and in the place of righteousness, wickedness was there as well. 17 I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for he has appointed a time for every matter, and for every work. 18 I said in my heart with regard to human beings that God is testing them to show that they are but animals. 19 For the fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and humans have no advantage over the animals; for all is vanity. 20 All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again. 21 Who knows whether the human spirit goes upward and the spirit of animals goes downward to the earth? 22 So I saw that there is nothing better than that all should enjoy their work, for that is their lot; who can bring them to see what will be after them? NRSV
Get into the Word:
1. What is the general theme of the opening? Why do you suppose the writer chose the actions listed here? What is significant about the number of actions and their pairing [see Notes]? Might a contemporary writer use different actions?
Such as . . . ?
2. What does the author think about God’s creation? How does he describe the world? Humanity’s relation to creation? God’s purpose in creation? What purpose do the seasons serve?
3. How does the writer respond to injustice? What does the author say about our human condition? Why do you think the author focused on the similarities?
4. What does the writer conclude from looking at the seasons? From examining injustice in the world? From the similarities between humans and animals?
Get Personal:
Do you agree with the writer’s view of our work (vv. 12, 22)? How does God help you understand the purpose and value of your work?
Notes . . .
3:1. Season — this unusual Hebrew word usually refers to an “appropriate time.” Even though humans have the ability to decide when to do something, God created the cycles of this world (“under heaven”) so there is an appropriate time for many activities. The poem has seven pairs of opposites. Seven often represents completeness in Hebrew poetry and the use of paired opposites can imply “everything.” Psalm 139 uses the same literary device: You know when I sit down and when I rise up . . . and are acquainted with all my ways, [v. 2-3].
3:2. Born . . . die — interestingly, the author begins with the two activities that God controls, not the person. Job also talked about God’s control: Their days are determined, and the number of their months is known to you and you have appointed the bounds that they cannot pass, [14:5].
3:3. Kill — the Hebrew word here usually means killing an animal or reacting violently to another person, but not premeditated murder. It is not the same as the word in the sixth commandment.
3:4. Weep . . . laugh — the Bible contrasts joy and sorrow often: For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for lifetime! Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning, [Psalm 30:5], and, may those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy, [Psalm 126:5].
3:5. Stones — one of the farmer’s tasks was to get the stones out of the fields – sometimes by throwing them into the field of an enemy.
3:9. toil — as in 1:3, this refers to work that is very hard to do, a crushing burden.
3:11. Suitable for its own time — this reinforces the idea of purpose in creation in v. 1. “Suitable” can be translated “proper” or “appropriate.”
A sense of past and future — God has given humans the ability to conceive of time other than the 24/7/365 of this world, the ability to understand – at least partially (“cannot find out”) – the kind of “place” where God is. David called on God to “teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom,” [Psalm 90:12].
3:14. Whatever God does — this is a preview of Solomon’s conclusion at the end of the book [you can peek at 12:13, if this isn’t enough]. Solomon is affirming that God created the “seasons” of this world, but he is not bound by them; he exists in a different realm.
Stand in awe — the meaning here is the same as “fear” in Proverbs: understanding and respecting one’s relationship to God.
3:16-17. Here Solomon acknowledges the injustice in this world (“under the sun”) and concludes that eventually (“in due season”) God will balance things out.
3:18. Show they are but animals — on the surface there is no difference between humans and the other animals: both are born, breathe, die and decompose. There is no visible evidence of any difference (v. 21: “who knows whether . . . ?”).
3:22. Nothing better — since we don’t know God’s purposes or whether our work will have any value in the future, Solomon concludes that the best response to this meaningless situation is to take some enjoyment in doing one’s work in this life; and he notes, again, that this is a gift from God. Jesus had a slightly different perception of this issue: Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today, [Matt 6:34]
Memory Verse
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven, [3:1].
Next Lesson
Song of Solomon
