Ecclesiastes

What is Ecclesiastes all about?

Commentators have arrived at different conclusions what this book is about, or whether it is even a coherent book, or only a random collection of sayings. E.g. one view is that Ecclesiastes recommends to make the most of an otherwise meaningless life by endulging in sensual joys and materialism, moderated perhaps by some moralistic overtones to avoid (temporal) punishment by a celestial policeman for any excesses. However, one can see that Kohelet could tell the difference between such Epicurean and Christian joy by his observation that not even the power to be content resides within ourselves, let alone in our possessions, and that therefore all material goods without the gift of the joy of pleasing God (2:26; 9:7) are no blessing, but rather a terrible evil (6:1-3). While it surely requires no special grace to enjoy common gifts such as food and wealth, enjoying God does. Therefore, to say that Kohelet only affirms the goodness of God’s creation, and that enjoying the creation is the same as enjoying God would miss the point.

This study explores as the main theme the futility of man’s own attempt to redeem himself. The futility of his attempt led the writer to the verge of suicidal despair about a seemingly meaningless cruel world (2:17; 2:20; 4:2). This is then contrasted to the blessing of God’s own redemptive work in believers (to be fully revealed only later by Jesus Christ and his resurrection and ascension). Despite the frustrations of this life (5:20), God’s own work taught him in his brokenness to live, work and overcome (e.g. 9:10; 11:6) by finding lasting joy from resting in God (4:6), with eyes fixed on God’s just final judgment (11:9) and on eternity (12:7).

AUTHOR

Kohelet, lit. ‘the assembler’, also translated ‘preacher’ (Luther), writes in the name of a son of David bestowed with proverbial Solomonic wisdom surpassing all before him ‘over Jerusalem’ Eccl 1:12-16. However, unlike Proverbs (Prov 1:1), the book of Ecclesiastes nowhere directly states that it was authored by Solomon. Instead, the author describes himself as one who was ‘king’ (not one who is) and who found faith in God only late in life, and not before discovering this: Pleasure, accomplishments, wealth, even wisdom – nothing can substitute for resting in God as our source of lasting satisfaction. By contrast, Solomon started out wise in youth, but ended as an idolator. Until his death, Solomon resisted God’s verdict that 11 of the 12 tribes of Israel will be given to Jeroboam, 1Ki 11:40. To fit the profile of Kohelet, Solomon would have had to repent of his idolatry instead of fighting its consequences. The fact that no such repentance is reported anywhere in the Bible is not accidental: If Solomon would have repented, no clerical biographer would have omitted to mention it as a good example.

STRUCTURE

I. Ecc 1:1-4:4 The thirst for meaning, and why it cannot be quenched by any of our own achievements

What profit has a man from labor in which he toils under the sun (1:3)? Answer: All is vanity (hebr. hebel) because our own toil cannot make straight what is crooked and instead is frustrated by the reality of death. And while we have a sense of eternity, we are unable by ourselves to find out ‘the work of God‘ (Ecc 3:11; 8:16-17). God’s work consists in awakening faith in Him as the very source of life everlasting, working in and through those who hear and believe (cf Jn 6:29; Eph 2:8).

II. Ecc 4:5-6:12  Lasting satisfaction is God’s gift for a community of hearers who believe in His work instead of their own

Ecc 4 teaches that to have God’s blessing and to build up community instead of destroying it, our daily work must be done with ‘one handful of tranquility’. This is the main theme of Ecclesiastes observed in this study: ‘One hand’ resting in God (Ecc 4:6-8) to be empowered by joy and thereby enabling the other hand to overcome the world by doing the works of God (Ecc 9:10; 11:6; cf Jn 5:19; 5:36; 14:12; Eph 2:10)

Ecc 5 is about the path how to find that restfulness: By listening to God, not by vain religious sacrificing.

Ecc 6 grieves (with God) that not everyone can receive God’s gift of finding joy in Him, because they are not interested in God’s grace and therefore will not even in death (burial, v3) share in the tranquility and peace of the believers. From the self-reliant, God must withhold that gift, for only if they realize from their mortality that they lost divine status, and only after frustration over their own achievements they will ever feel their need for God as their savior.

III. Ecc 7:1-11:10  God’s work is to preserve believers through faith to overcome evil with good by perseverance

• from the reality of death what is worthy of pursuit, 7:1-6
• to cope with adversities, 7:7-12
• to continue to depend on God, 7:13-24
• to escape shipwreck from sexual follies, 7:25-29

• they teach us to persevere in allegiance to the son of David (Christ)
• they cannot be ‘explained’ by faith, but are to be overcome through contentment in the joy of resting in God (Eccl 8:15)

• is humbly aware that even man’s love or hatred for God (‘free’ will) is beyond our own control, Ecc 9:1-2 (cf Jn 1:12, 3:8)
• is the source of hope for sinners since they may repent and entrust themselves to God, Ecc 9:4 (cf Lk 16:29, parable about Lazarus)
• is God’s remedy to not utterly despair in hardships (needed because also we who have the Spirit are still subject to futility and are still ‘groaning’ in this life (cf Ro 8:20-23)
• is essential to warn believers, that even faith does not put man in control, but that we have this treasure in jars of clay, cf 2 Cor 4:7
• is the basis for assurance of forgiveness and salvation, and hence for liberating our ‘other’ hand to do the works for which God has created us, Ecc 9:7-10, (cf Eph 2:10), in ‘white robes’ as priestly intercessors (cf Lev 6:10; 16:23-32; 1 Sam 2:18-19; Dan 11:35; 12:10; cf Rev 3:4) and forever sealed with the gladdening Spirit of God (cf Heb 1:9), through faith in the gospel of Jesus (cf Eph 1:13)

• is the way to deal with wicked authorities and superiors, Eccl 10:4
• requires the wisdom that is given to those who find rest in the ‘city of God’, Eccl 10:10-15 (cf Ps 107:4-7)
• requires being still and minding your own business, Eccl 10:16-20

• Faith diversifies the portfolio, knowing that God does not reveal his secret will, Eccl 11:1-7
• In faith, invest your talents, 11:4
• Faith prepares for giving an account, Ecc 11:8-10

IV. Ecc 12:1-7 Conclusion of the whole matter