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ECCLESIASTES – Chapter Four

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Copy right to the author-Posted with his permission Gene Whittum

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Chapter three began with the idea that there can be a purpose in life but also tells us that after we have been born, there is a time to die. Following that declaration, there follows a litany of seemingly opposite accounts of issues that face most of us, and it goes back and forth from one kind of action to another so that we realize that even the most brilliant (as Solomon) do not have a perpetual single episode in life that can confine us to boredom. Who would want a perpetual stay in the hospital or a continuous Spring or Winter?

This movement to and fro is “better” (a word he uses some twenty-three times in different ways) then the endless circling of chapter one. However, it does have some unsettling implications for life. Some- times we must dance to a tune that we do not like. Someone else may call for a song we do not know or recognize.

For the believer, all of life’s experiences can have meaning, purpose and will define life. The guy next door may sing a tune or dance or have an experience, but for him it will be meaningless because he is living life “under the sun”. His life offers no final fulfillment even though he may be enjoying his activity while “going in circles”.

A time for this and a time for that may become oppressive if what he pursues has no permanence. Our responses to life may be no freer than our responses to the weather. How freely can we choose what happens to us? Our choices and their ultimate satisfaction must be related to the One “above the sun” in order to not be oppressive.

Sometimes we have very little to say in the circumstances which tend to move us to laugh or cry or to mourn or dance. We may tend to try to find reality in a realm beyond the constant change we face.underthesun

That is the position the author finds himself in chapter four. “Again, I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun.” (Verse 1) Life is harsh no matter where we see it. His complaints of “I saw” (used four times here) seem to threaten the Sovereignty of God. Isn’t there anything God can do to alleviate to oppression and the oppressors? Is the Sovereign God, whom he admonishes us to “remember” in our youth, powerless to end earthly rivalries, hardships, conflicts and isolation? (Chapter 12:1)

Is our experience to be that of Job who was condemned by his friends? Is our righteousness meaningless also? The scenarios in chapter four outline many of the things each member of the human race faces in the quest for happiness and satisfaction. It all seems to work against us. He gives some solutions but they appear quite inadequate to satisfy us in our quest for safety and happiness. In the end, death seems to be the only solution to life’s enigmas.

In this section of his journal (3:16-4:12), Solomon notes that there is wickedness in the courts (3:16-17); men and beasts all die alike (3:18-21); men are oppressed (4:1-3); men are contentious (4:4-6); men are isolated (4:7-12); and popularity and fame are tenuous at best and one can ‘go down’ faster than one can ‘rise to the top’ (4:13-16).

The hint in verse 5 that to drop out is a solution is quickly assuaged (softened) by the mention that to do so is to think and act as a fool. His “better” solutions in the passage do not, mostly, appear to be much different in the final analysis. The entire text of chapter 4 fails to poke any holes in the canopy “under the sun” in order to display any presence of a God above the sun.

The truths, suggestions and advice of the chapter fail to offer any satisfaction at these different levels. If any of them offered even a minimal amount of gratification, none of them would survive the acid trial of death. Even the “better” solutions offer nothing but meaninglessness (verses 4,7,8 and 16).

In spite of all the advantages of the 21st century, we still live in a society that is filled with sorrow and pain and suffering. The ancients did not have near the conveniences and comforts that we enjoy. The question so often raise: “How can there be a (good) God with all this going on?” It is one of the oldest questions the skeptics raise.

It is no accident that Jesus was called a “man of sorrows, acquainted with grief”. When God sent His Son into the world, He sent Him to those who were lost; those who were in pain; those who were suffering. We have been redeemed to minister to those people and we have been ordained as priests before God. We must not forget that the very road to our redemption was the “via de la rosa”, the way of sorrows that our Savior walked to redeem us.

We all have a measure of sorrow and tribulation but God has ordained that we enjoy what we receive from Him. We are not to look for or exalt sorrow, or make it meritorious, but we are to minister to it. We are to acknowledge the ultimate victory of Jesus over death, sorrow, sin and grief.courage

Jesus said: “Be of good courage, for I have overcome the world.” That is not blind courage, He gives us a reason for our joy and we can recommend His salvation to the whole world without hesitation, doubt or apology. It is not just one of many remedies, it is the only remedy for sin, sorrow and suffering.

Chapter Three of Ecclesiastes

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Copy right to the author-Posted with his permission Gene Whittum

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Gene Whittum

Missed our previous posts? Use these links: (Ecclesiastes 1 -Futility of Life ) (Ecclesiastes 1) (Ecclesiastes 2)

The third chapter is a pivotal one in the overall understanding of the book. Out of the Greek skepticism and despair, a school of teleology began which taught and fought against the doubt and agnosticism current in
the life of the Greeks. The teleologists were looking for something that would bring some sort of order, harmony and purpose to life. If all is vanity and emptiness, it eliminates any purpose for life.

The Jewish view, here in Ecclesiastes, is that there is a beginning to the world and there is a goal for all human history as opposed to the circular view of the skeptics, agnostics and atheists. The message of the skeptic was that “what happens now, doesn’t count.” Or, “what happens today counts for only today.” Solomon is saying that the message from God is that there is purpose for all of human history, not just individually, but collectively, for the human race.

The message here is that what happens now, counts forever. It presupposes that there is a forever and that there is Someone, God, who will make certain that everything counts forever. If there is no God, we have no reason to believe that what we suffer or experience in life means anything at all.

In verse one, Solomon states: “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die;” (KJV) In this verse, he is introducing “purpose” into the discussion of life. However, he also adds the phrase “under heaven.” The Tanach, a Jewish translation, puts it: “Everything has its season, and there is a time for everything under the heaven;”.

The word is ‘zaman’ in Hebrew, meaning to ‘fix a time’ or ‘an appointed occasion’. A second word is used, ‘ayth’, a season or a continuation of time. The first could be understood as a ‘moment in time’ and the second word as a ‘continuation’ of time. In other words, there are moments in life that are memorable events in the chronology of life.timeForEverything

Solomon gives several examples following verse one. “A time to be born” and “a time to die.” In between these special events, is a chronology of one’s life and there are specific things that happen between these two poles of life that are of great significance, such as starting kindergarten, graduation, marriage, having children, your occupation, etc. The author is simply saying that all along the chronology of your life, certain events stand out as being important—they have meaning and purpose.

The Greeks would also use two separate words for this passage: “chronos” which means simply, normal, moment by moment, hour by hour passing of time. The wristwatch is technically called a chronometer. It is something that measures chronos, or time. Chronology gives an order of sequences; a chronicle records patterns of movement in history. It denotes a space of time, whether short (Mt 2:7; Lu 4:5), or a succession of times; shorter (Acts 20:18), or longer (Rom 16:25). It is the duration of a period of time.

The second word translated as “time”, is “kairos”, which means a moment in time that is of special significance for time. It is a moment that the chronology beforehand moves toward and then all time subsequent to that moment is defined and conditioned by. We seldom think of time in abstract or technical terms but the critical moments in the chronology of our life define who we are.

One very significant event in the history (chronology) of time is the crucifixion of Christ. We measure and understand time in the Western world with the letters B.C. and A.D. That moment tells us that something of such great importance in history happened in a moment of time that defines everything that comes after it. That is an understanding of the significance of “kairos”.

Broadly speaking, ‘chronos’ expresses the duration of a period, ‘kairos’ stresses it as being marked by special features. In Acts 1:7 “And He said unto them, ‘it is not for you to know the times (chronos) or the seasons (kairos), which the Father hath put in His own power.” It could be said that chronos marks the quantity of time and kairos the quality of time.

The Hebrew view of time is linear, as opposed to the circular view of the humanist. The whole battle between secular humanism and Christianity is the battle between the circle and the line. This battle should bring us to an “either/or” contemplation and consideration of these two opposing philosophical schemes. We must either embrace full orbed(spherical) theism, or we must accept utter nihilism (rejection of social mores and a belief that nothing is worthwhile) the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. He was part of the philosophical roots of the Third Reich.

When examining these two principles of life, and if we are thinking consistently, embracing nihilism and rejecting Christianity is a total cop-out by the people who would have their cake and eat it too. Ponder for a moment the utter folly of nihilism or humanism. Such philosophers teach that man is nothing more than a cosmic accident with no inherent dignity, meaning or purpose in this cosmos (under the sun). He is moving toward total annihilation and his origin and destiny have no significance.

And yet, these people plead for human rights and dignity between the time of being born and dying. While man is alive, they say, he is important, has esteem and dignity and counts for something. However, if his ‘existence’ before birth and his ‘existence’ after death are meaningless, how can they say that their lives are significant? It becomes a total mythology. We must have a view of life that includes the God Who is above the sun and Who brings meaning and purpose to the lives of those whom He created.

The Existentialists, those who do not believe in a Hebrew or Christian God, at least at times are honest enough to say, with Solomon, that “life under the sun” is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. We should take the nihilist seriously because he understands what is at stake. If there is no God, then life truly is one huge cosmic joke; “a tale told by an idiot.”

In verses 9-15 the author begins a discussion of what is within a person as he goes through life and ultimately confronts eternity. Is there an afterlife? Is it attainable to mankind? He again asks the question concerning the worth of all his toil and notes that it is a “burden that has been laid on men (mankind)”.

underthesunSolomon once more “pokes a hole” in the canopy that hides the face of God from the people who are “under the sun”. His next statement is amazing given the tenor of the book thus far. He states that “He (God) has made everything beautiful in its time”, which, again, puts life on a linear plane and points out that life can be beautiful. The beauty is due to the times, or events, in life that are full of meaning. Some parts of life can be dull but the outstanding events remain, not as just memories, but as life changing occurrences.

In the same verse, he wants to astound us by stating: “He (God) has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” This statement does not end the mystery of life nor does it attempt to answer all of its questions. In further chapters, he examines some of the harshness of life which is shown in the injustices and inequities displayed in the world. He is not declaring that “life is not fair, get used to it,” rather, he is pointing out that there is a God Who does know the beginning (of our lives) from the end and is prepared to see us through it (See Romans 8:18-29 for a New Testament discussion on this).

The next three verses (12-14) are critical to the understanding of the passage. However, the statements made are not to be interpreted as fatalism. They are a marvelous encouragement to the believer that there is a God who cares and wants the best for His people. On the other hand, this is also not an argument for the prosperity gospel or a reason to believe that this is the sum total of the believer’s life. We can live lives of happiness and joy but also be confident that there is a God to turn to in our darkest hours.

The ultimate purpose for God’s intervention in our lives is given verse 14c “God does it, so men will revere him.” We are able to see some of the grandeur of life and its frustrations, but the complete tapestry and its design escapes us. It is impossible for us to stand back and watch God’s masterpiece. We are on a shuttle as God sends the weft (a filling thread or yarn as in weaving) to us and we launch it back to Him, all the while the tapestry of our lives emits a pattern seen only to Him. It is the Weaver’s warp and woof of our lives as God designs it. It is our catechism at work: “The chief end of man is to love God and to enjoy Him forever”. It is not, ultimately, about us, but about God our Maker. “Now we see but a poor reflection; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” (I Cor. 13:12)

Verses 15-22 casts a shadow over everything we do. All of our plans and enterprises are, at best, temporary; nothing is permanent. God’s agenda needs no corrections, amendments or our vote of approval. Solomon “saw something else under the sun.” The book is the journal of one man and his observations of life. It is not a steady progression of the goodness of God, but one of intermittent experiences of the “good” and “bad” of life, some above the sun and some under the sun.

This whole paragraph speaks like Romans 11:22: “Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.” The earthbound man (under the sun), is a captive of a scheme he cannot fracture or even bend. The author of it is God. The only solution for the unbeliever is to succumb to it because he is incriminated by his actions.

In contrast, the man of God can endure life’s experiences without fear because God is faithful. He can observe all the wickedness that takes place without any judgment and he can also endure wickedness against his person without any misgivings about God. We can note this in the lives of thousands of martyrs throughout history and the ongoing persecution of today’s Christians—all for the cause of Christ. In the end, God will judge “every activity”. He has appointed a proper ‘time’ for His judgment—for both the believer and the unbeliever.

We could ask the question: “Why does God delay His judgment? Wouldn’t the present be the right time for justice? Perhaps the answer is that it is not our duty to teach God His business, but to learn about Who and What He is and who and what we are. We would learn much more about ourselves in our understanding of God. He is holy. We are unholy. We learn about God and ourselves, in the Scriptures, but we are quite slow to learn the lessons. Job argued with his friends until God began to speak to him; Jacob argued with God until God confronted him at Bethel (Gen. 28:10-17). The apostle Paul fought the Lord till he met Him on the road to Damascus in Acts chapter nine.

All who would serve the risen Christ must have an encounter with Him at which time a decision is made to follow and serve without doubt and question. Until then, we are the beasts in the verses 18-21. A better wording would be: “I said in my heart with regard to the sons of men that God is testing (exposing) them to show them that they are but beasts” (verse 18). “Under the sun”, mankind is not sure where he goes or what happens after death.

Then, in verse 22, Solomon once again pokes a hole in the canopy of existence “under the sun” when he concludes: “So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?” Answer: God can—and He does. We can understand the plan of God but we cannot predict it in the realities of life. The ultimate foe is death, but for the believer, death is no more than a servant to transport us into the presence of God. Whatever comes our way in blessing or sorrow, we can offer it back to God as a sacrifice of praise to Him.

Ecclesiastes Chapter Two

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Solomon ends chapter one with a confession: Verses 12-18 “I, Koheleth, was king in Jerusalem over Israel. (13) I set my mind to study and to probe with wisdom all that happens under the sun.—an unhappy business, that, which God gave men to be concerned with! (14) I observed all the happenings beneath the sun, and I found that all is futile and pursuit of wind: (15) A twisted thing that cannot be made straight, a lack that cannot be made good. (16) I said to myself: “Here I have grown richer and wiser than any that ruled before me over Jerusalem, and my mind has zealously absorbed wisdom and learning.” (17) And so I set my mind to appraise wisdom and to appraise madness and folly. And I learned—that this too was pursuit of wind: (18) For as wisdom grows, vexation grows; To increase learning is to increase heartache. (from Jewish Publication Society 1982 Kethubim, The Writings)

underthesunSolomon again acknowledges that in spite of his having great wisdom and immense wealth and authority, life “under the sun” is futile and vain. The past cannot be changed and nothing can be added to life already lived. We cannot manipulate history or the mistakes of life.

Chapter two continues his pursuit of the meaning of life and the substance that makes it worth living. His experiments toward that goal begins with thoughts of merriment and pleasures (which includes wine and all that goes with it. Verse 3 NIV).
His conclusion comes quickly in the passage. “Laughter”, I said, “is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?” He apparently did not take these indulgences to extremes but was still able to note that he “wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven (the sun) during the few days of their lives.” (verse 3 NIV)

His testimony continues with further examples of his attempt to find satisfaction in life “under the sun”, without reference to the God Who is above the sun. However, he will later interpret every aspect of his life theologically, acknowledging that there is a God, and that we cannot take liberties with Him. There are many inherent implications with reference to God and His sovereignty over His creation. The world has an obstinate resistance to the meaning of life apart from God.

The litany of accomplishments given in verses four to nine would stagger most of us. Solomon admits that in this pursuit, his wisdom stayed with him. His conscience is apparently becoming seared while he includes huge gardens, trees, parks, slaves, herds, flocks, gold and silver, entertainers and a harem. His conclusion, again, is that it was all “meaningless, a chasing after the wind; and nothing was gained under the sun.” Vs 11)

He turns next to “consider wisdom, and also madness and folly”. Solomon’s book of Proverbs provides a great deal of information regarding madness, folly and wisdom. He seems to clamor after these ideas in a way that only Solomon could. It is a severe attempt to investigate these seemingly opposite pursuits and everything in between. Folly and wisdom are far apart; there are several words to describe a fool in the book of Proverbs, the most serious being ‘nabal’,a total fool, described in I Sam 25. He was the man whom David encountered and who later died. David then married his widow, Abigail.

(The first chapter of Proverbs describes wisdom, what it is, and how to attain it—an important chapter to begin one’s understanding of wisdom. Verse seven states that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” The “beginning” means the “chief part”, and without a “fear of the Lord” wisdom will not be forthcoming. For instance, the chief part of music is notes; the chief part of math is numbers and the chief part of writing is the alphabet. Without these, there would be no music, math or writing).

Solomon delved into madness, folly and wisdom in the manner in which he approached every other venture to define and decipher life and its meaning. He apparently became some sort of “fool” in order to limit and interpret madness and its connection to life “under the sun”. The results were that “wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness”. (verse 13) This contrast will be seen later as he continues his probe of life.

In verses 14-16, he recognizes another truth regarding wisdom and folly, namely, that both the wise man and the fool, while walking in their separate and distinct values of life, have the same fate. The outcome for both is death, which is something that he talks about in future considerations of ones journey “under the sun”. Note the number of times he uses the phrase “under the sun” in chapter two.

He ponders a further question when he asks: “What then do I gain by being wise?” Is there any advantage to being wise? (vs 15c). He says to himself, “This too is meaningless”. Is there any advantage to being wise when one considers the ultimate end of life? Is it worth it?

His next reflection involves being remembered beyond death and a concern with respect to all of the toil he put into the accumulation of “stuff”. Who will he leave it too? What kind of a person will inherit it? Will he be a wise man or a fool? He undoubtedly assumes that the one who assumes ownership will also face the same problems but without the wisdom and wealth that he had. It turned out that the one who did inherit the throne from him did turn out to be a fool (I Kings 12). His lament was that he hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was, “grievous to me.” (vs 17. “All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless.” (vs 23).

Kohelet’s conclusion comes in verses 24 and 25. Remember that “God” is mentioned some forty times in the book. Ecclesiastes is the journal of one man’s journey through life in a most honest and brutal way. He is living “under the sun” but his goal is to see the God of eternity who is “above the sun”. There is, to the fool, a canopy above the earth and to him he is living in a closed universe, without any reference to the God Who is above the sun. Solomon, in the next verses, begins to poke holes in the canopy above the sun so as to reveal the Deity who alone has the answers to the challenges of life.

He writes: “A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work”, as opposed to the prior “chasing after wind” in one’s toil. He continues: “This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness . . .”

The message to us today is the same. Rather than hating life and toil and the work of our hands, we are given the hope, through Christ, of a relationship with the God Who is above the sun; above the circumstances that tend to discourage and defeat us. We do have hope. He is answering the question of the book which is: “Is there any meaning to the time that I spend in this world?” which we mentioned earlier. He has begun to show that by the eternal, discernible fixed course of all earthly things, and the experience of the empty and unsatisfactory striving of earthly wisdom and selfish gratifications, there can be a God-fearing enjoyment of life. We can gladly accept the blessings and present good of life because the results of our striving are not of our own making, it is a gift of God.

As one progresses though Ecclesiastes, it will become more apparent that it is not a discourse of despair and gloom. The treatise begins with very dark colors but begins to brighten as one progresses through the teaching. Chapter three begins to put the debate of life on a different plane and introduces more encouraging truths about life.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 1; Secularist and Christian View of Time:

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In an article in the August 2012 National Geographic (page 38) there is a short illustration of the battle between the secularist and the Christian view of time. Chapter one speaks about the circular view of time (1:4-11) in which there is a continuous repetition of events and outcomes. The article concerns the Oglala Lakota Indians on the Pine Ridge Reservation which is near the site of Wounded Knee Creek where Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer fought the Sioux Nation and was annihilated. The statement simply says: “Partly because time is not linear for the Oglala Lakota but rather is expressed in circular endlessness and beginnings, and partly because many can recite the members of their family trees, branch after branch, twig after twig, vines and incidental outgrowths included . . . ”

I mention this simply to illustrate that the concept of the circular view of history is not dead. There are millions of religious people in the world who believe in reincarnation and the repetition of history. It is a meaningless pursuit “under the sun”. Solomon introduces the Hebrew view in chapter three, which is linear. It is time which has a definite beginning and end with important events along a chronological time line. We will discuss that later. We are still seeing the elaboration of this ancient form of skepticism and pessimism. It is not only in chapter one of Ecclesiastes, but we find it in Egyptian pessimism and ancient versions of Greek skepticism which have been most formative in the development of Western civilization.

The Greeks developed what they called the cyclical view of history. It means, simply, that history has no definite point of beginning and no definite point of ending. It repeatedly goes around and around and around in an endless repetition in a meaningless, vicious circle of insignificance.

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), in the 19th century spoke of the myth of the eternal return in which he called attention to this same idea of the circle. In his writings, he spoke of the image of Apollo, the god of classical Greek beauty, form, harmony, rationality, order and teleology (purpose) which was a characteristic of the high age of Greek culture. Not all Greeks accepted that view of history.

Competing all of this time, was the figure of Dionysus who was connected with the god Bacchus, the god of wine and debauchery. He was the god of irrationality, chaos, and the father of the bacchanalia which was an ancient Roman festival in honor of Bacchus. They were drunken revelries and orgies and carousing in honor of Bacchus. The people would seek to escape the controls of rationality and just respond with abandon in order to escape the meaninglessness of the world. Nietzsche said “we must side now with Dionysus.” He was using the image of the circle coming around again. That is life “under the sun”, without meaning, purpose or definition. After this kind of teaching, there is a severe time of skepticism and depression in society.

Traditional Parisian merry-go-roundA more modern apostle of despair was Ernest Hemingway who wrote the book “The Sun Also Rises” in which he borrows Ecclesiastes words (1:5). He said that ultimately death wins and the only way we can have victory over death is for us to determine the time and the place of our demise. The only way to cheat death is by suicide. In 1961 he used one of his rifles and killed himself. He was completely consistent with his ‘philosophy’. The sun rises, the sun sets; the sun rises, the sun sets. The image of the circular view is that “everything that goes around, comes around”.

Ecclesiastes -Chapter One: The Futility of Life

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The Book begins with a morbid and negative range of ideas which continue throughout the book. The pessimistic motif of the book is quite contrary to the rest of Scripture. To account for the pessimistic pattern isn’t always easy.The antidote to the pessimism is to recognize the positive verses that are scattered throughout the chapters as well as the subjects under discussion by Solomon.

For instance, the observations of life in chapter four can be reversed and taught as warnings concerning the hazards of life. If one prepares for the negatives in life, it must be accompanied by positive approaches mentally and spiritually. Mental and spiritual preparation comes only from an fuller understanding of the rest of Scripture as well as a positive relationship to the God of the Bible. Another is in chapter five where the reader is admonished to “guard your steps when you go the the house of God.” Solomon then gives warnings concerning the approach to the God who is “above the sun” as opposed to the life of one who is constantly “under the sun.”

Verse 2. “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanitiy of vanities; all is vanity.” (KJV) Solomon was not alone in his study of wisdom literature. There were other writers in the ancient world who discussed life’s problems that included serious philosophical essays in which they would probe the depths of the same questions that atheists and existentialists do today. It is a strand of literary pessimism in which the authors would raise the question as to whether life was ultimately worth living.underthesun

In chapter one, Solomon is not giving a weather report or a scientific discussion of the sciene of evaporation and precipitation. He is addressing the idea of many cultures and religions concerning the ebb and flow of time as being a futile recurrence of the same thing. The Eastern philosophy of reincarnation is probably the prime example of what Solomon is really discussing.

The word “futile” is the most gross obscenity in the human language. A person can take most any kind of disappointment or discouragement as long as there is a ‘light at the end of the tunnel.’ However, if one believes that all of life is nothing more than an exercise in futility, it becomes unbearable and completely vain and meaningless. That is the message that Solomon is addressing and that is what a person faces when approaching life entirely “under the sun”.

Solomon (vs. 12) then gives his credentials and authority for writing the Book. We must remember the great wisdom that was given to Solomon by the Lord; he is well qualified to face the problems of life but admits that he was facing a “heavy burden that God had laid on men!” He had seen “all the things that are done “under the sun” and “all of them are meaningless, a chasing after wind.” (vv 13-14 NIV)

(continues in column to the right)

He admits in verses 15-17 that even his great wisdom is insufficient regarding events and knowledge “under the sun.” In chapter two, he gives his testimony of his experiences of life “under the sun”.

“All if futile”. That is the message of the skeptic, the nihilist. These are words to describe the philosophy of despair. The life of despair is so severe that the only conclusion is that it IS meaningless. There are no values, no purpose for life and human existence that we are at best a kind of cosmic joke. If that is all we have, then life, truly, if vain.

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), the German philosopher and poet, is one of the ‘fathers’ of modern nihilism. He examined life and came to the conclusion that God is dead and that the end of life is nothingness, the ‘nihil’. The same sentiment is taught again and again in schools and universities in our day. Our children are flooded by the philosophy of the absurdity of life. Philosophy begins with a contemporary novel or book; the motion picture industry promotes it and ultimately it filters down to teaching in grade schools and mingles into the lives of our children.

His French contemporary, Albert Camus, made the comment that the only serious question that is left for philosophers today is the question of suicide (written about by the ancient Egyptians). Much of these attitudes came into out country as a result of reaction to the revelation of the holocaust of WWII where as many as 8,000 people (mostly Jews) were killed every day. When many Nazis escaped punishment, the pessimism became even more ingrained the populations of the world. There is much more that could be said regarding the development of the philosophy of despair and the doctrine of reincarnation,but the reader can study that on his own.

One more thought on Nietzsche’s philosophy of nihilism. When he declared that God is dead, the world rejoiced that they no longer had to be accountable to a “dead” God. The problem was that some of the existentialists looked at that and then looked at the other side of the coin. Their determination was that: “If I am no longer accountable, that means that I am also no longer of any account.” If God is dead, there is no standard of good and evil, right or wrong and the philosophy of nihilism is magnified and life truly becomes “meaningless” and “futile” “under the sun”. The existentialist and philosophers have nowhere to go and nothing to offer.

Such lack of meaning can explain the chaos that exists in societies throughout the world today. However, Solomon goes on to examine life “above the sun” and continually brings the God of the universe back into the picture. He is not dead, but alive and working in the hearts of men and women around the world. His book is summarized in chapter twelve where he begins with “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth . . .”

Ecclesiastes – Part 2

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Gene Whittum

Gene Whittum

Ecclesiastes is the quest of one man seeking the meaning of life “Under the sun”. When you look for the ‘interpretation’ of a book such as this, it helps to see what words are prominent, especially in the Wisdom Literature of the Bible.

1. Vexation occurs some 10 times 2. Under the sun about 31 times 3. Vanity occurs 33 times 4. Folly 7 times 5. Profit 6 times 6. Enjoy 6 times 7. God, occurs some 40 times 8. Labor about 23 times 9. Work 15 times 10. Wise, wisely, and wisdom about 30 times. There will be other words that stand out to you in your study of the book. (Gene often uses the N.I.V. Other translations may have different numbers)

What the author is looking for is what is ‘above’ the sun, and the question that he seeks to answer is: “Is there any meaning to the time that I spend in this world?” [JIV: ‘under the sun’ would be ‘in this world’]

We are born in a certain year and die in a certain year. In between our birth and death, we live out our lives. Is the time we spend here significant, or not? He asks the question early on in 1:3 “What does a man gain from all his labor at which he toils ‘under the sun’?” (The Apostle Paul answers that in I Corinthians 15:58 when he writes:”Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is NOT in vain.”)

Solomon’s sermon begins with dark colors and as he develops his theme(s), the colors get brighter. Note that “God” is mentioned some 40 times in his discussion and what he is doing is poking holes in the canopy that is “under the sun” and letting the light of the knowledge of God shine through the ‘holes’ so that we can see the God that is “above the sun”. It is not a book of pessimism, but of encouragement to those who live in a dark, dreary and disappointing world. Solomon is simply looking at life under the sun, giving examples and explanations of that kind of life which seemingly stymies any chance or thought of happiness.

So, the collision course, or the deeply rooted question in the human heart is: “Am I doing this for nothing? Would it be easier to do nothing?” The ultimate answer and his conclusion is “NO”. The message is simple: There is a reason for one’s life; there is a reason for our suffering, pain and joy. The Apostle Paul answers this in the New Testament in Romans 8:28″And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”In all things–circumstances of life, or in the midst of negative experiences, God is working for THE good. The rest of the chapter defines what the good is and what it leads to.

Solomon is plumbing the depths of some heavy questions that have been asked throughout history and were prevalent even before his lifetime. Note that the Queen of Sheba had a list of difficult questions that she brought to Solomon and she was impressed at his answers. Undoubtedly her own ‘wise men’ were unable to satisfy her curiosity.

There was, in the ancient world, a strand of very pessimistic literature and Solomon begins his book with such a statement in 1:2 when he says: “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” It doesn’t seem that there is any hope when “everything is meaningless.” What chance does a person have with such an outlook?

The book is heavily philosophical in nature and Solomon is certainly acquainted with the literature extant [existing] in his day. (Note: Solomon’s history in I Kings 3-11 and 2 Chronicles 1-9 which will give an overview of his experience in Israel).

There is a sense in which the book deals with literary pessimism but is not really dealing with it in its basic message. It is, rather, addressing the issue of literary pessimism. Both ancient and modern philosophers deal with the meaning of life and some existentialists (Camus and Sarte e.g.) determine that life is not really worth living. The futility of life is as old as life itself. It is not a modern innovation but an investigation of life that people have struggled with whenever they have looked at and examined the significance of life.