Ecclesiastes... Introduction
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I have to
say that I´m sorry for having neglected this blog over the past weeks and I
haven´t written anything new. What I intend to do for the rest of these summer
months is present, beginning today, an expository study on the book of
Ecclesiastes. I hope, in October, to write about Revelation. If possible, I want
to have this study finished by then.
Personally,
I have enjoyed studying Ecclesiastes over the years. I remember having taught
in the U. S. from the book in a night school, which covered the whole Bible in
a period of three years. Solomon, with the inspiration and under the capability
of the Holy Spirit, presents irrefutable arguments against living for the
things that earthly life offers. There is not a comparable book on this theme
in all of human literature.
I saw a lot
of value in combining messages over Ecclesiastes with message from
the Gospel of John. From the former, I demonstrated the vanity of living for
the world and, from the latter, I tried to show what God from heaven purposes,
offering the believer eternal life.
In these days, I have been
thinking and preaching much over the brevity of life “under the sun”, as
Solomon called it. I have said that all the knowledge and possessions accumulated
will come to an end in a cemetery. Nothing that the world gives can reach beyond
death. In this expository study, we will consider and emphasize this
indisputable fact. It is one of the most essential lessons that a human being
can learn. It will tarnish the brilliant and powerful deception, under which
countless millions have fallen and are involved in at this moment.
An Expository Study of Ecclesiastes
Introduction
The book of Ecclesiastes is
titled from a Greek word, meaning preacher, and even a casual glance at
the word shows that it is obviously derived from the same root as the Greek
word for church, ekklesia. Ekklesia
means literally called out and
applies to an assembly of people, who are called out of the world’s population
to be a special possession of God.
Peter, the preacher on the
day of Pentecost, gave the standard and first exhorted the unbelieving Jews,
gathered for the feast, “To you is the
promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as
the Lord our God shall call unto him…
Save yourselves from this crooked generation (race)” (Ac.2:39-40). In his first epistle, Peter defined that assembly
and their purpose: “You are a chosen
race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that
you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 P.2:9).
He personally heard the words of the Lord Jesus, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it” (Mt.16:18).
The title in the original
Hebrew was Koheleth. It means, one who calls the assembly together and then
preaches to it. Certainly, throughout his life, Solomon was a preacher. We
have the example of the dedication of his temple, when he assembled and then
addressed the congregation: “Then Solomon
assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of
the fathers' houses of the people of Israel, in Jerusalem… King Solomon and all
the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were before the ark…
Then Solomon said…” (2 Chr.5:2,6; 6:1{-11}).
In
the New Testament, the method given for the proclamation of the Gospel is by preaching. Jesus said that it is
necessary, according to the Scriptures, that “repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name unto
all the nations” (Lk.24:47). Paul taught, “After that in the wisdom
of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” (1
Co.1:21). Throughout the book of Acts, this is exactly what the apostles and
evangelists did. Solomon already preached the vanity of living for the things
of the world in the Old Testament times. His intention was especially to cause
youth to see the futility and deception of earthly treasures, before they
invested time and effort to seeking them.
In
our study of this book, we will never take into account the critics, who, in
practice, put their logic and conclusions over the inerrancy of Scripture and
deny its authority. As in the case of the book of Daniel, they question the
timing of this book and attribute its authorship to another writer. Some
statements in Ecclesiastes have been used by the sects to assert their errors
and to contradict the general doctrine of Scripture. In truth, all these are
enemies of the Holy Spirit-inspiration of the Bible. At the onset of this
exposition, all we need to do is ask three questions, the correct answer of
which, will clarify totally the contents:
1. Q: Who is the writer (the preacher) of the book?
A: Solomon, king of Israel, who had experienced all that this world had to
offer and, after terribly backsliding, informs his readers of the consequences
and his conclusions.
2. Q: What is the total scope of the book? A: Life
under the sun… strictly earthly life from
a physical point of view.
3. Q: What is its theme? A: According to his
observations, life under the sun is simply
vanity.
If
we keep these three things in mind, we will avoid potential error and easily
dismantle the arguments of false teachers. We will profit from gems of truth,
many of which are negative, and divert our attention from all the offers of the
world and its system. Therefore, the book is a tremendous aid in presenting
irrefutable proof of the absurdity of all the strenuous efforts to prepare for
and then strive to reap the benefits of life under the sun. It is a great tool
of an evangelism, which leads people to repentance. It demonstrates that all
the wisdom of this world from its greatest experts, all the institutions of
higher learning, along with their professors, all the accumulation of its
knowledge and its wealth terminate in a cemetery. They cannot lead anyone one
step beyond… and that fact is simply undeniable!
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