The Book of Ecclesiastes, far from being an enigma, abounds with truth and wisdom, and has a particular message for the believer in Christ because it reveals man in his real perspective. The chapters are illuminated by a profound understanding of human psychology, and show a penetrating insight into human motives and conduct.
God has not presented us with a riddle, because He is not the author of confusion, but we have been given a work of deep authority, a religious document aimed unerringly at materialism, personal ambition and cant. It is a book intended to make us think soberly, and to see ourselves as we really are.”Koheleth”, the Preacher, or more correctly, “one who collects” or “assembles” people for the purpose of addressing them, gives a preview of his final judgment in the first chapter: “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” The Scofield Reference Bible gives a very good interpretation of the word “vanity” in its Scriptural application: “Vanity, in Ecclesiastes, and usually in Scripture, means, not foolish pride, but the emptiness in final result of all life apart from God. It is to be born, to toil, to suffer, to experience some transitory joy, which is as nothing in view of eternity, to leave it all, and to die”.
We may argue that our worship before God, and our life in Christ could not, justly, be termed vanity; an arbitrary and summary judgment we might think. But let us ponder deeply the words of Koheleth, and analyse the implications, then compare his words with those of Paul in Romans: “There is none righteous, no, not one. . . . There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. . . . They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.- Of this we can be sure: our personal lives, when viewed in the light of Bible teaching, give us no cause for complacency or self-righteousness.
The first chapter, a magnificent exposition of human folly and fruitlessness, sets the tone of the book, the succeeding chapters being a moving catalogue of human limitations and failure. The thread of human inadequacy runs strongly through the book showing the futility of unbridled ambition and self-reliance when contrasted with the requirements of God.
The words of Koheleth are an indictment of self in human behaviour. It is this that alienates us from God and which condemns us unless we can rise above it and put on the whole Christian conscience. The theme declares positively that by virtue of his nature and inward thinking man becomes estranged from God, and, therefore, all things become vanity and folly: “All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.”
In all this God has provided a way out for us who were without hope in the world, by redemption through Christ Jesus. Koheleth is well aware of the provision of a merciful hope by God, and he does not condemn man, who, in his extremity searches for salvation: “. . . he that feareth God shall come forth of them all.” His condemnation is reserved for those who wilfully flout the commandments of God, and for them he sees no hope: “But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his clays, which are as a shadow: because he feareth not before God.” It all leads back to the Fall, where human nature sought its own desire and repudiated the way of the Lord.
If we centre the ambitions in this temporal order then we become extraneous to the purpose of God, and the end will be disillusionment and despair: “Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.”
Koheleth correctly analyses the net result of all human ingenuity and achievement: “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. . . . For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.”
Pleasure and indulgence, which is allowed free rein in contemporary life, is regarded by Koheleth as empty and valueless: “I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity. . . . I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?” He considers these to be vanities in a world of corruption, where the human instincts try to achieve positions of comfortable appointment, with no effort being spared for the gratification of self.
The administration of justice in this our day reflects human fallibility and limitation, whereas the Overseer of heaven and earth is a Righteous Judge, able to discern the heart and mind: “If thou seest the oppresion of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they.” Koheleth doesn’t think much of man’s justice because it is not tempered by spiritual values, and often fails in its attempt to create a better society.
Koheleth likens wisdom to an abiding inheritance: “Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see the sun.” He sees wisdom as an attribute of strength and stability: “Wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten mighty men which are in the city.” He goes to some length in encouraging the cultivation of wisdom so that humanity may look upward, not to the earth, for guidance and righteousness.
Koheleth stresses the just recompense of a moderate enjoyment of labour: “I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice. . . . And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.” This is a balanced statement, and is characteristic of his philosophy which is not to condemn unreservedly.
The Book of Ecclesiastes enjoins men and women to a reverent fear of God, which is to be a distinguishing feature of belief: “. . . surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him.”
It is interesting to note Koheleth’s reference to diligence,and it will be observed by the student that the Bible is insistent in regard to this quality in the line of duty: “Whatever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” This is indeed wisdom’s voice, with a clarity for all to understand. Nowhere is the psychology of human behaviour more graphically depicted than in the Book of Ecclesiastes, where the theme is all too familiar to the honest reader.
Koheleth leaves us in no doubt as to the mortality of man, and he expresses this fundamental truth with a directness that allows of no misconstruction or dubiety: “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. . . . Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.” And if by reason of intransigence one would question this evidence, then, surely Koheleth removes any vestige of doubt with plainness of expression:
“For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man bath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. . . . All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.”
The reference to “time and chance” would, on the surface, appear to be enigmatic, although Moffatt interestingly renders it “death and misfortune”, and yet there would appear to be no necessity to go beyond the Authorized Version, especially in view of the succeeding verse: “For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net. And as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.”
Our belief that we become “sons of God” (and daughters) by induction into Christ seems valid reason for trusting that we receive protection from God in a world of violence and upheaval: “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?”
A life in Christ can be likened to a sanctuary wherein we find consolation and security, for the things of God hold the certainty of salvation for the saints, and a Merciful Providence protects us from being “snared in an evil time”, a natural legacy attendant upon carefree living among the “sons of men”.
Koheleth is meticulous in drawing attention to vows that are made, and is insistent that they be honoured, for with God there is no variableness, and He is no respecter of persons. That which is promised to God must be fulfilled in the spirit of willing obedience: “When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he bath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou bast vowed. . . . Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than thou shouldest vow and not pay.”
In the last chapter of the book Koheleth finalises his theme with a clarity of expression that cannot fail to make its impact upon the student. It represents the synthesis of his teaching, and is declared to be the “conclusion of the whole matter”. Let us observe how the words are intended for the edification and spiritual welfare of man: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”
Koheleth does not omit, as some seem to think, to make allusion to a future life, and he does so in unmistakable language in chapter 7. 18, “. . . he that feareth God shall come forth of them all”. In answer to the question “come forth to what?” the attention is directed to the last verse of the last chapter, where reference to the Judgment is made: “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”
This is indeed a fitting end to the Book of Ecclesiastes, a book devoted to the rescue of man from vanity and folly, and urging him to the fear of God and wisdom.
Reflections on the Potter and the Clay