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THE CHIEF PURPOSE OF LIFE (ECCLESIASTES 1)
When I told my wife I would be preaching from the book of Ecclesiastes she revealed to me for the first time that she attempted to do a study guide for the book but gave up after trying! The book is definitely not for easy digging, decoding or digesting. Three days ago she started working on the study guide.
There is a book with the title, “Every Time I Find the Meaning of Life, They Change it.”
Ecclesiastes is a universal book and masterwork with primal themes. God is Elohim (v 13) not Israel’s Yahweh. It is meant for Adam (v 3), generation before and after (v 4) and the sons of Adam (v 11), everyone. The word “all” occurs nine times in chapter one.
Augustine referred to Ecclesiastes as, "Setting forth the vanity of this life, only that we may desire that life wherein, instead of vanity beneath the sun, there is truth (and eternal joy) under Him who made the sun!"
The purpose of Ecclesiastes, according to biblehub.com, is “to spare future generations the suffering and misery of seeking after foolish, meaningless, materialistic emptiness, and to offer wisdom by discovering truth in seeking after God.”
Kenneth D. Boa says, “The purpose of Ecclesiastes is to reveal the bankruptcy of human wisdom and the need for God's revelation.”
The introductory phrase “the words of” is authoritative in the grand tradition of prophets Nehemiah (1:10), Jeremiah (1:1) and Hosea (1:1). The author introduces himself as a preacher, the son of David and king in Jerusalem (Eccl 1:1). The writer is a poet, a philosopher and a preacher. The book title in Hebrew means preacher, convener or host. In chapter one he measured man from the biological, historical and philosophical viewpoint– three subjects of which I am not an expert.
The vital questions in life are simple and basic:
Who am I?
Why am I here?
Why do I exist?
What is truth?
What do I believe?
What is my purpose in life?
Where are we heading?
Life is As Pessimistic As it is Positive
1 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem: 2 Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” 3 What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun? 4 Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. 5 The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. 6 The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. 7 All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. 8 All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.
Song
Charlie Brown once asked himself sitting on the ground in a vast field at night, “Life sure is strange. And they say we only come this way once. What did I come this way for?”
The noun “vanity” breaks a lot of records in verse 2, repeating as many as five times in one verse – one of the most repeated word in a verse, and the longer phrase and theme “vanity of vanities, all is vanity” (v 2) is found in two places only and nowhere else, in the introductory chapter and the last chapter of the book (12:8),. Vanity does not mean nothing, as in Hinduism and Buddhism; it is “is not” rather than “nothing”:
V 7 the sea “is not” full
V 9 there “is no” new thing under the sun.
V 11 There “is no” remembrance of former things;
Vanity of vanities means utterly most vanity. The fivefold repetition of “vanity” (v 2) conveys extremely vain, excessively and emphatically vain. Vain does not mean that life is disappointing, demanding and defeating, but it is not dependable, definite or dreamlike. Depending on oneself, others and anything other than God is like grasping at straws, running on empty and skating on thin ice. It is slipping, sliding, skidding, sinking, spinning away from us. You did not create life, so you cannot count on life, cheat on life, or calculate your life. You can only do that with Jesus, the Source of life, our Savior in life and Sovereign in all.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
Toil (v 3) is not the regular word for work. Labor (amal) and toil (amal) as the noun and verb form of the same word, the noun followed by the verb. The verb form first appears unsurprisingly in Solomon’s Psalm 127 for laboring to build a house, where heat, dust, injuries, posture and stress take their toll and take victims down. Without God life is a toil and trouble; he is finite, fragile and flawed, with no fullness, future or forever.
The theme of gain or profit (v 3) is extended to and explained in verse 4. Gain (v 3 “What do people gain…toil under the sun”) is translated profit (Eccl 1:3), excellency (Eccl 7:12) and better (Eccl 10:11). Man or Adam (v 3) and his generation (v 4) are soberly, stunningly and skillfully contrasted with the sun (v 3), earth (v 4), wind (v 6), streams/river and sea (v 7). The difference between human and nature is that nature remains to all generations, but people is at the short end of the stick- he is replaced by the next generation.
Generation (v 4) earth (v 4) sun (v 5) wind (v 6) streams/river
Generations come and generations go earth abideth for ever.
ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.
blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from
Replaced
Remain Rush Return Run
Supplanted Stand (Hebrew) Spin Swirl Stream
Once Ongoing Orbit Over and over Open-ended
Man has his turn but he cannot return. Unlike nature, man is substituted, swapped and switched, replaced, relieved and removed. Basically, he enters and exits; he ceases and does not get to continue, circle, or circumvent it. You are canceled.
Wearisome (v 8) tired, worn-out, wear and tear. There are three no’s: no advantage, no ability, no appetite, “enough” is full (Ex 16:8) or filled (Ex 16:12), satisfied (Deut 14:29) or sufficed (Ruth 2:14) in Hebrew. Eye is best used with satisfied or feeding, but ear is best described as full. The first is the attitude, the other is the appetite. Wearisome is in the heart, versus eye and heart (v 8).
Life is As Predated As it is Present
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9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. 11 No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.
A Short History of Medicine
Doctor, I have a headache:
2000 BCE: Here, eat this root.
1000 AD: That root is heathen. Here, say this prayer.
1850 AD: That prayer is superstition. Here, drink this potion.
1940 AD: That potion is snake oil. Here, swallow this pill.
1985 AD: That pill is ineffective. Here, take this antibiotic.
2011 AD: That antibiotic is artificial. Here, eat this root.
Do you agree that there is nothing new under the sun? We just celebrated the Chinese new year, began the church’s new calendar year this month in April, and there’s the new age, new era, new season, new century. On top of that, there are always new products to choose, new places to go and new people you meet. A ppt says, “It’s not new. You just found it too late.”
After covering man from the biological perspective, the author sees things from the historical perspective. What is new today is old almost before it is out. What is new today is old instantly or immediately, in a millisecond or 1000th of a second, a nanosecond or a billionth of a second, or a picosecond or a trillionth of a second. Many consumer advocates advise customers to not to buy a new car because it is not new once you get it off the lot so buy a used one and save money.
Everything Is Different, but Nothing Has Changed.
Everything has changed, but nothing is new.
Everything old is new again new once
It’s the same old, same old. The same old stuff, same old song, same old story, same old day, same old blues, same old fears, same old grind, same old mistakes, same old routine, same old results. A sign says, “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”
Verse 9 and 11 are the main parallel points; there is nothing new under the sun, and there is no remembrance of old things. That is why we never create new things; we just invent things – we only discover, devise and develop things.
Verses 9 contrasts the same “been” in the perfect tense with the imperfect tense “will be,” the same passive (niphal) “is done” in the perfect tense with imperfect tense “will be done,” and verse 10 “new” with “old” and two more “been/is” in the perfect tense, so there are four “been” in the perfect tense altogether,” of which one is passive voice.
Some things seem new, but our genesis is the same, human genes are the same, generations are the same. What is new is the presentation, the packaging and perspective.
Long ago or old (v 10) is not long or old enough, it should be translated as forever, always (Gen 6:3), perpetual (Lev 3:17), old (Deut 32:7), lasting (Deut 33:15), evermore (2 Sam 22:51), continuance (Isa 64:5), ancient (Jer 5:15). The word occurs 439 times in the Bible,of which the most frequent are ever (272x), everlasting (63x), old (22x), perpetual (22x), and evermore (15x).
Nothing is new because of man’s selfishness, sin, and sufficiency. It’s not new; you’ve just weren’t aware, not done it, or seen it or heard about it before. In movie it is either a comedy or tragedy. Life is either a comedy, tragedy, or mystery.
Verse 11’s “remembrance” (zikrown) is not memory but memorial, a memento or memorable thing, day or writing. It is to speak of you highly, honorable and heartily.
The list of “no” in the chapter includes:
Eccl 1:8 not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
Eccl 1:11 neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.
Eccl 1:15 That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.
Three times “cannot” :
Eccl 1:8 cannot utter it:
Eccl 1:15 cannot be made straight:
Eccl 1:15 cannot be numbered.
If you see Chinese dramas enough it is the same old stuff, story, song, blues thing, results., day, thing, feeling, grind, mistakes, A sign says, “meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”
Ayin “no”:
Eccl 1:7 not full;
Eccl 1:9 there is no new thing under the sun
Eccl 1:11 There is no remembrance of former things;
Life is lots of additions, adaptation with no advance, advantage, or adequacy.
Life is As Perplexing As it is Promising
12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind! 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 15 What is crooked cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted. 16 I said to myself, “Look, I have increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind. 18 For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.
A woman hears from her doctor that she has only half a year to live. The doctor advises her to marry a philosopher and to live in South Dakota. The woman asks: "will this cure my illness?" Answer of the doctor: "No, but the half year will seem pretty long."
The personal pronoun “I” from verse 12 on takes over the episode. The author is very involved, invested, introspective and interested in his subject. I: verse 12 on
Eccl 1:12-13
12 I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
13 And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom
Eccl 1:14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun;
Eccl 1:16 I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate,
Eccl 1:17 I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.
Eccl 1:13
to seek and search out by wisdom
KJV
Eccl 1:16
great experience of wisdom and knowledge.
KJV
Eccl 1:16
have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem Eccl 1:17
I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly:
Pursuit Proficiency Pride Perception
Significance Success Superiority Sadness
Compulsion Cumulation Comparison Contradiction
Eccl 1:13 16 16 17 18 wisdom
Philosophy Christianity
Reason Revelation
Question Answer
Pursuit Providence
Inquiry Incarnation
Chaos Creation
Sense Sovereignty
Sagacity Salvation
Thinking Transformation
Condition Choice
Anthropologists ask who, biologists ask what, scientists ask how, historians ask when, geologists ask where, philosophy and Christianity both ask why, but philosophy is negative while Christianity is positive, the former is man-centered while the latter is God-centered, and only Christianity claim answers to man’s origin, destiny and nature.
Philosophy and Christianity are contradictory and conflicting with each other, never compatible or comfortable with each other, although both are candid and conscientious. The limits of philosophy is clear: the means is better than the end, to seek is better than to find, asking is better than answering. There is no salvation, only seeking and searching. The search is better than the solution.
William James says, “The philosopher is likened to a blind man in a dark room and looking for a black cat that is not there.”
Socrates: BY all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you’ll become happy; If you get a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher.
Aristotle: As for me all I know is that I know nothing.
Anthropologists ask who, biologists ask what, scientists ask how, historians ask when, geologists ask where, philosophy ask why, but only Christianity answers who we are, what
The inclusion of “increased (great),” “anyone (all)” and “much (many)” in verse 16 is not exclusive but inclusive in meaning. The author is not boasting but broadening his scope to include all people, period, place, profession or position, whether you are a philosopher or a peasant.
Why is the word “grief” so important? Because it is the last word of the chapter and the chapter has only one “reason” (ki). Grief is translated as sorrows (Ex 3:7), grief (Chron 6:29) and pain (Job 33:19). Grief is unexpected and unwelcome because a philosopher is a lover of wisdom, he uses reason, analysis and logic to solve. He is a pundit who offers views and theories and perspectives on profound questions makes troubles and things easier to digest.
Conclusion: Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6). The way, the truth and the life is not in a path, but the Person of Christ, in His teaching and His Have you found the way? Do you where you’re going to in life? Do you know what is true in life? There is no lie or letdown in Him. Do you have the abundant life (John 10:10) , eternal life (John 3:16) and the new life (Rom 6:4) God has promised those who believe Him and belong to Him? John 1:4 says, “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”
