Ecc 2

Life is meant to be filled by friendship with God

Leader’s notes: Kohelet began chapter 1 of Ecclesiastes by first defining the problem that his book is addressing, namely: All our efforts to make straight what is crooked are doomed (1:15). Both Scripture as a whole and the immediate context in Ecclesiastes suggest that this was Kohelet’s description of how man is unable to please God: No achievement or wisdom of our own can give us peace with God and its consuming joy. The law of God demands blamelessness (Prov 11:20), and it curses anything less than perfection (Deut 27:26). How then is it possible to ever please God? If God has any solution, we should probably expect Kohelet to say so next: To this end, chapter 2 first re-iterates that it is indeed impossible “apart from Him” (v25, or some manuscripts “apart from Me“, i.e. without the one True Shepherd, God himself whom Kohelet acknowledges as the source, 12:11), and then it defines that “with Him” means to receive it as a gift (v26). That this gift is a hidden work of God will be introduced in Eccl 3 and explained in Eccl 4-6, for this is what Ecclesiastes is all about: Hearing the good news of how we can please God to find such joy, and what it will accomplish (e.g. Ecc 2:24-26; 5:18-20; 8:15; 9:7).

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Warm-up: If you have seen the movie Titanic: How was Rose saved by Jack ‘in every way’ (as she put it)?

Read Ecclesiastes 2

Context:  Chapter 1 began by lamenting  the futility and vanity of man’s attempt to straighten what is crooked by any of our own efforts, including our ‘wisdom’. In chapter 2, he recounts how else he therefore tried to fill his emptiness, and that he found all such efforts to be in vain too, because nothing but intimacy with God can fill our void.

1) Apart from wisdom, where else did Kohelet search for meaning and satisfaction in life, vv1-8? 

• pleasure, fun, drugs vv1-3
• achievements v4
• gardening, landscaping, jacuzzi: vv5-7
• power and money, v8
• art (opera); promiscuity/polygamy v8

• Compare this to how your own interests and those of your relations have evolved over time: Do you think Kohelet spoke of a real-life experience? Why?

2) Re-read vv9-11: Did Kohelet enjoy the hedonistic life style described above? Why, v10?

• By comparison, what did the wisdom of the actual Solomon say about moderation? Prov 23:31-35.
• v3+12: How consistent was this lack of restraint with the real Solomon’s notion of godly wisdom?
  • Accordingly, how much real wisdom truly remained with Kohelet when he cast off all moderation to fully experience folly, v12?
• To not only tolerate but even boast of his lack of restraint: Was this a purposeful exaggeration?
  • Would he boast of such ‘wisdom’, if he pretended to actually be the real Solomon? Why not? [Hint: How does Solomonic wisdom recognize the boasting in v12 as the conceit of one who is “wise in his own eyes”? cf Prov 26:12]
• What contradiction did Kohelet himself discover in his ‘worldly’ enjoyment, v11? cf Mt 16:26
  • If you have seen the movie Titanic, do you remember why Rose was so dissatisfied with the life of ‘high society’ in which she grew up?

3) What eventually led Kohelet to search for meaning in ‘wisdom’, v13?

• What kind of wisdom is v13 talking about, if it did not ask for moderation? cf Prov 1:7
• Why do philosophers regard such wisdom superior to ‘folly and darkness’, even if it is merely natural wisdom of science and secular education?
• How does such ‘natural’ wisdom tend to affect our attitude towards the uneducated, v14? cf Ro 12:16
• How did Kohelet realize at this point that not even the best education can be the solution? What did eventually shatter his feeling of superiority, v16? cf Lk 12:19-21

4) How did the lack of purpose and meaning affect Kohelet’s work, v18-23?

• Have you ever felt similarly about your own work?
• What has helped or changed your outlook on work since becoming a Christian?
• Or if you find yourself in the same hole where Kohelet says he was, can you identify what disappointment(s) led you there? What was inadequate in Kohelet’s (or your own) religious interpretation of reality thus far?

5) What is lacking in man that he cannot find in himself what Kohelet calls ‘joy’, vv24-26?

• Most translators understand v24 as a counsel to be content with enjoying God’s gifts:
  • e.g. KJV: [There is] nothing better for a man, [than] that he should eat and drink, and [that] he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it [was] from the hand of God.
• Did Kohelet say that everyone will find such satisfaction? (The word translated ‘satisfaction’ (or enjoyment, ESV) literally means to “make the soul good”)
  • Why not? cf Ecc 5:19 and Ecc 6:2?
• The Lutheran translation captures well the meaning of v25: For apart from him (God), who can eat and have enjoyment?”: How does that define what Kohelet means by enjoyment?
  • Hint: In the movie Titanic, why did Rose feel so empty that she wanted to jump over board?
  • How did Jack help her to see this? [Rose was found out by Jack how empty she felt when he observed even from afar that there was no love between her and her fiancé]
• Many who believe that God exists are not necessarily more satisfied than others. What exactly do we need from God to find the joy he is talking about, v26?
  • v26 defines such joy as as an exclusive gift of God to those who please him (but not to sinners): What does it mean ‘to please him’?
    • Hint: How did Rose find out that she was loved by Jack, but not by her fiancé? What happened to her emptiness as a result?
    • Another illustration: What makes infants find or lose their peace? i.e. What makes them certain whether they are accepted and thus safe with their parents?]
  • How was Kohelet required by Jewish law to please and be acceptable to a perfectly holy God, cf e.g. Deut 27:26; Prov 11:20?=>
    • According to the previous chapter, how successful was he to achieve this by effort or wisdom, Ecc 1:15-18?

6) What did Jesus say is needed to please God? cf Jn 14:1 plus Heb 11:6; Gal 3:11 (see also Gal 3:21-22)

• Compare Jn 14:27 with Jn 15:11 and 17:13. What is so unique about Jesus that he could say to God-fearing (!) Jews that both peace and joy are up to Him to give?
• In other words, why would God depend on Jesus to give such joy and peace? Why not e.g. the Dalai Lama?
• Or why depend on anybody at all, Jn 17:13? cf 1Jn 2:1

7) Personal & application

• Eccl 2 implies that lasting satisfaction not only requires God, but that we actually please God: Does that match with your own experience?
• What can or does get in your way to please God?
  • Has Kohelet already told anything about this so far?
    [He said that it cannot be done by our own works, but instead is received by some as God’s gift]
• How has the gospel of Jesus changed in which way you expect to please God, or where you derive your confidence whether you please him?