Ecclesiastes Chapter One
Ecclesiastes 1:1 (NASB) The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
Verse one identifies the author as Solomon. The Hebrew word that is translated preacher is a word that means a collector of sentences. It can mean a preacher, a lecturer, a public speaker, or a debater. Thus the verse could read - "The words of the Debater, the son of David, the king of Jerusalem." This word is used seven times in the Old Testament - all of them in the book of Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes 1:2 (NASB) "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher, "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity."
This verse strikes the key-note of the whole book of Ecclesiastes. In using this expression, "Vanity of vanities!" the author indicates the unity of the book. If you look at the world from a view that there is no God - then all will be vanity. Life without God makes no sense - it has no purpose. The word translated “vanity” in its primary meaning denotes breath or vapor. The word vanity literally means that which vanishes. It's nothing. You go to get it and it vanishes. It's not there. It's an emptiness. It occurs thirty-seven times in this book.
Ecclesiastes 1:3 (NASB) What advantage does man have in all his work Which he does under the sun?
If there is no God - if there is no future reward or punishment - if there is no heaven or hell what difference does it make? He is toiling in vain.
Ellicott has said: "Man is perpetually toiling, yet of all his toil there remains no abiding result. The natural world exhibits a spectacle of unceasing activity, with no real progress. The sun, the winds, the waters, are all in motion, yet they do but run a round, and nothing comes of it."
The phrase "under the sun" refers to the natural world.
Ecclesiastes 1:4 (NASB) A generation goes and a generation comes, But the earth remains forever.
What is the life of a man upon the earth compared to the age of the earth? Many people come and go and the memory of them is soon passed. If I were to mention the name "Xerxes" (519–465 BC) I venture to say that most in this generation would not know it. Yet he was ruler of most of the known world in his lifetime. Trapp has said:
"Xerxes, looking upon his huge army, wept to think that, within less than a hundred years, not one of those many should be left alive. Mortality is the stage of mutability; mere man is but the dream of a dream, but the generation of a fancy, but an empty vanity, but the curious picture of nothing, a poor feeble, unable, dying flash. How then can he here work out unto himself a happiness worth having? Why should he lay up and "load himself with thick clay," as if his life were riveted upon eternity?"
Ecclesiastes 1:5 (NASB) Also, the sun rises and the sun sets; And hastening to its place it rises there again.
The things in nature are always in motion - yet they never change. The sun rises and the sun sets only to rise again. Over and over again this happens and does not end.
Ecclesiastes 1:6 (NASB) Blowing toward the south, Then turning toward the north, The wind continues swirling along; And on its circular courses the wind returns.
The wind continues to blow - coming out of the south heading toward the north and then turning around and headed to the south. Then it will be calm - but don't worry it will blow again. That is what it does - it never stops.
Ecclesiastes 1:7 (NASB) All the rivers flow into the sea, Yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, There they flow again.
All the rivers will flow into the oceans - yet the ocean does not overflow. It is never full. But the rivers never stop flowing and they do it day in and day out. It does not cease.
Ecclesiastes 1:8 (NASB) All things are wearisome; Man is not able to tell it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor is the ear filled with hearing.
All things wear us out. The eye sees - yet wants to see more. The ear hears - yet wants to hear more.
Clarke has said, "It is; impossible to calculate how much anxiety, pain, labor, and fatigue are necessary in order to carry on the common operations of life. But an endless desire of gain, and an endless curiosity to unfitness a variety of results, cause men to, labor on. The eye sees much, but wishes to, see more. The ear hears of many things; but is curious to have the actual knowledge of them. So desire and curiosity carry men, under the Divine providence, through all the labors and pains of life."
Ecclesiastes 1:9 (NASB) That which has been is that which will be, And that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun.
Technology has changed - but has the desires of men? That which has been will always be. There is nothing new under the sun.
Matthew Henry has said, "Men's hearts and their corruptions are the same now as in former times; their desires, and pursuits, and complaints, still the same. This should take us from expecting happiness in the creature, and quicken us to seek eternal blessings. How many things and persons in Solomon's day were thought very great, yet there is no remembrance of them now!"
Ecclesiastes 1:10 (NASB) Is there anything of which one might say, "See this, it is new"? Already it has existed for ages Which were before us.
Fashions change, technology changes, we think we are modern - so did those of ages past. But has the heart of man changed down through the ages? I sit typing on a computer - those of ages ago sat with quill and ink - but yet we both have the same goal in mind down through the ages - to communicate.
Technology in farming has changed - yet it remains the same. The seed must be planted in the soil whether you use a stick to till the ground or a twenty row planter. The seed must still be planted.
Ecclesiastes 1:11 (NASB) There is no remembrance of earlier things; And also of the later things which will occur, There will be for them no remembrance Among those who will come later still.
History is often forgotten. Great civilizations have come and gone yet now their greatness is a fleeting memory.
Ecclesiastes 1:12 (NASB) I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.
Benson has said, "Having asserted the vanity of all things in the general, he now comes to prove his assertion in those particulars wherein men commonly seek, and with the greatest probability expect to find, true happiness. He begins with secular wisdom. And to show how competent a judge he was of this matter, he lays down this character, that he was the Preacher, which implies eminent knowledge; and a king, who therefore had all imaginable opportunities and advantages for the attainment of happiness, and particularly for the getting of wisdom, by consulting all sorts of books and men, by trying all manner of experiments; and no ordinary king, but king over Israel — God’s own people, a wise and a happy people, whose king he was by God’s special appointment, and furnished by God with singular wisdom for that great trust; and whose abode was in Jerusalem — Where were the house of God, and the most wise and learned of the priests attending upon it, and the seats of justice, and colleges, or assemblies of the wisest men of their nation. All these concurring in him, which rarely do in any other man, make the argument, drawn from his experience, more convincing."
Ecclesiastes 1:13 (NASB) And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven. It is a grievous task which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.
His ambition was to find if "worldly ways" could provide any answers to life. He found it to be a "grievous task" for only a life centered in God will give any useful answers. Outside of God it is all vanity.
Ecclesiastes 1:14 (NASB) I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind.
I have seen all that goes on in this world - how men strive to be satisfied without God being the center of their lives and I have found it is like trying to catch the wind. They can pretend they are happy but it is all vanity.
Ecclesiastes 1:15 (NASB) What is crooked cannot be straightened and what is lacking cannot be counted.
Apart from God - that which is crooked can not be straightened. That which is shattered can not be put back together. That which is torn can not be mended. That which is lacking can not be made full. Only God has the power to fix things completely.
Ecclesiastes 1:16 (NASB) I said to myself, "Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge."
Not only was Solomon granted great wisdom from God - but he had personal experience and opportunity to study from a vast amount of resources. His statement about having more wisdom than any kings before him is not boasting - but a fact.
Ecclesiastes 1:17 (NASB) And I set my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly; I realized that this also is striving after wind.
Barnes has said, "A knowledge of folly would help him to discern wisdom, and to exercise that chief function of practical wisdom - to avoid folly."
Just knowing wisdom - madness or folly - is no end in itself. What good is all this understanding without God? I can have a wall full of diplomas - but without God - all it makes me is an educated fool.
Ecclesiastes 1:18 (NASB) Because in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.
Clarke has said, "The more we know of ourselves the less satisfied shall we be with our own hearts; and the more we know of mankind the less willing shall we be to trust them, and the less shall we admire them."
