Ecclesiastes 1:1-7
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Important messages
The Vanity of Life on Earth from an individual
perfectly qualified to write of it
Chapter 1
1.
The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
2.
Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
3.
What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?
Liberal minds pervert society in
general, along with its politics and religion. I am convinced that they enter
the world of religion, prepared and energized by the devil to be his advocates
and disrupt the quest of the one seeking for truth. They have no part or parcel
with the things of God. They ignore His ways and attempt to fit their mindset
into a sphere that is completely opposite the one, in which they live. They
exist in the realm of twisted human logic and reasoning, rather than in the
kingdom of healthy faith.
As they try to date the book of
Daniel much later than when it actually was written and attribute the
authorship to someone, living between the Old and New Testaments, so they
meddle with the book of Ecclesiastes. They allege also that it was written at a
much later date by someone other than King Solomon. These claims are easily
refuted by good theologians, who take the text at face value, giving credit to
the claims of the authors and the setting, in time and place, which they
designate. To do otherwise is to tamper with divine inspiration.
Somewhat less dangerous critics try
to assert that Solomon wrote the book before his fall, doubting that God would
restore his inspiration after the fall, which seems to me ridiculous, in the
light of the context, concerning the experiences of his entire life. He speaks
of turning away from his earlier pursuits of earthly things and expresses the
mentality of a king, who is thinking differently. In short, he is manifesting repentance. Charles Finney felt that
Solomon wrote his Song of Songs, lastly,
after his repentance, having received a tremendous revelation of Christ and His
Church. That seems to me much more consistent with the nature of God and the
spirit of the gospel, which, even in the Old Testament, strives to bring every
story to a close in grace, which brings glory to God.
Still others, speak of Solomon, as a
dejected character, writing the treatise in a depression, seeing things from a
very melancholy standpoint. This is only true, concerning the position, about
which he writes, that is, “under the sun”, and from that point of view, he is
entirely justified in writing negatively. It does not mean that Solomon did not
believe in a hope beyond the sun, which
is obtained through the heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.
King Solomon proclaimed himself a preacher and it is possible
that he convened an assembly in Israel for the purpose of expounding the truth
that is written in Ecclesiastes. Even as the chief end of the Law was to bring
people under conviction and condemnation for sin, so the purpose of this
preacher was to show the vanity of finding satisfaction from temporal things.
The message was particularly directed towards the youth: “Rejoice,
O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your
youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that
for all these things God will bring you into judgment” (11:9), and "Remember also they Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, 'I have no pleasure in them'" (12:1).
The book climaxes with this noble advice: "The end of the matter; all has been
heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For
God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good
or evil” (12:13-14). It is at this point that we can go to the gospel to
learn about the salvation that God offers to the penitent sinner, who has
turned from the world to the cross.
The gospel is proclaimed by
preaching and this kind of preaching is largely rejected by society. People
still say, “Don’t preach at me!” Solomon is a preacher, endeavoring to keep
others, particularly young people, from following his example. He is highly
qualified; as a king, he has vast experience. He is a repentant preacher; a
dying man, preaching to dying men, against the transient life under the sun. These
are lessons from a man, who knows what it is to hit bottom. It is the state of
one, who has found the treasures of this world unfulfilling. God has a primary
lesson for the vast majority of the population of the earth – all is vanity!
Depressing Cycles
4. A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains
forever.
5. The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place
where it rises.
6. The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around
and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns.
7. All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the
place where the streams flow, there they flow again.
We remember learning of cycles in
our earliest Science classes in grade school. We were taught that Earth rotates
on its axis and revolves around the sun. The rotation of the earth is the study
of the daily cycle and one revolution around the sun gives us a yearly cycle.
We learned to understand the water cycle and the air cycle exactly as this
ancient king of Israel did.
Solomon saw that the air moves in circuits,
whirling round and round. It whirls clockwise out of a high pressure area (in the northern hemisphere) and
counter-clockwise into a low pressure area (just the opposite in the southern hemisphere). This movement of air is called
wind. Air is forced out of a high pressure area, the pressure lowers in that
area until air begins to be sucked into it again. This science has existed for
thousands of years; since the fall of man, at least, the monotonous air
currents continue, and nothing new ever happens.
The water cycle is similar. All
rivers flow into the ocean, never from the ocean. Yet, Solomon observed, even
though the rivers flow continuously, the over-all water mass of the sea does
not grow, nor do the seas overflow and cover the land. He saw the process of
evaporation and how the moisture formed clouds. The clouds are carried inland,
become heavy and dump their moisture, in various forms of precipitation, over
the mountains. Water collects from numerous streamlets, which run down the
slopes of the mountains, until rivers form and flow down to the sea. The cycle
repeats itself again and again and again.
From our earthly point of view any
place on the planet, the sun rises in the east, moves to the west, where it
sets. Hours later, it appears in the east again and the daily cycle continues
365 times a year. All cycles are depressing, because they do not move in a
straight line towards a final goal. They are simply circles that have no
beginning and no end. They never fulfil a satisfying purpose, but only repeat
continuously a monotonous course.
Perhaps I have forgotten, but I don’t
recall studying the generation cycle in school. It is the most depressing of
all. To the joy of few or many, a baby comes into the world. It grows and
learns, crawls and walks, matures and marries. That individual, let’s say a
man, arises with the sun on its daily cycle, eats breakfast, goes to work,
takes a break and eats at noon, then finishes working his required time. He
arrives home and eats dinner, watches some TV and reads the paper, perhaps, and
then goes to bed. The following day, he repeats the cycle without much
variation.
What motivates him to continue the
cycle? He looks forward to the weekend of relaxation and recreation, only to
return to work for another week. Is there anything besides this routine for
him? Oh yes, there is a yearly vacation to which he can look forward. He has a
week or two, maybe three, in which he can go with his spouse and family, if he
has one, to another scene, of which he is unfamiliar (though the natives there are
very familiar with it). There he can do things, which he is not accustomed to do
(although the local people do them continually). After that, he goes back to
work, repeating the annual cycle, as the earth revolves around the sun again
and again.
Is there anything else in life for
him? Of course, he can look forward to retirement, to some years (he doesn’t
know how many) in which he can do as he pleases, if his health continues and if
he has stored up enough finances over the many years of labor. Now what lies in
the future for him? One by one, the death of his friends and relatives takes
place, and then the death of his wife or of himself, whichever occurs first. He
comes to the end of the generation cycle. In the meantime, new babies are born,
starting another generation… “a
generation comes and a generation goes,” says Solomon. Is there anyone
foolish enough to debate the issue with him?
That’s it, folks, as far as life
goes “under the sun”. Whether our institutions of learning study the generation
cycle or not, or however unpleasant the subject is and however unwilling we are
to face it, the Bible brings us into a confrontation with it. Why? Because our
Creator will have us face reality, rather than escaping it through a dreamy process
of diabolical deception, and look to Him for something beyond the sun. Therefore,
He gives us the life of Solomon and the message of the Preacher. The theme is vanity of vanities, all is vanity under the
sun! Take away the gospel and the person of Jesus Christ and vanity is all
that is left.
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