One of the most familiar, best loved, and most often quoted books in the Bible is the Psalms. Right after that in the Old Testament Table of Contents you will find the book of Proverbs, also familiar to many and often quoted. And right after Proverbs is Ecclesiastes, a book not as familiar and not as loved by so many.
There are good reasons for this neglect. Ecclesiastes is a most maddening book. It is strange, irreverent, skeptical, inconsistent, and filled with despair and hopelessness. Its words are sometimes wise and beautiful, and sometimes cynical and dismal. In about 200 B.C. when the old rabbis were deciding what books to include in the Hebrew Scriptures, Ecclesiastes just barely made it. Yet, in its own way, it is wonderful and powerful and very helpful to many people (though by no means everyone). It is one of my favorites, and it was also one of Martin Luther’s favorites. Luther wrote a long, profound, and refreshingly down-to-earth commentary on it.
The rest of today’s meditation will contain samples of verses from Ecclesiastes. Read as many or as few as you want. You may not want to read them all; or, you may want to get out your Bible and read all twelve chapters. Expect to be confused. In the next two meditations I will tell you why this book is important, and why I believe the Holy Spirit guided those ancient rabbis to include it in our Bible.
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FROM CHAPTER ONE:
“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun?… All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun…
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! I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. What is crooked cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.
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.” 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. For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.
FROM CHAPTER TWO:
I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless. “Laughter,” I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?” I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives. I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them… I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem as well—all the delights of a man’s heart. I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.
I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil.
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun…
… So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun.
FROM CHAPTERS THREE and FOUR:
I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”…
Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed— and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors— and they have no comforter.
And I declared that the dead, who had already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive. But better than both is the one who has never been born, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun…
FROM CHAPTER FIVE, SIX, AND SEVEN:
Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless. Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands. This too is a grievous evil. As everyone comes, so they depart, and what do they gain, since they toil for the wind? All their days they eat in darkness, with great frustration, affliction and anger.
…A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. It comes without meaning, it departs in darkness, and in darkness its name is shrouded. Though it never saw the sun or knew anything, it has more rest than does that man— even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place? Everyone’s toil is for their mouth, yet their appetite is never satisfied…
In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: the righteous perishing in their righteousness, and the wicked living long in their wickedness.
CHAPTER NINE:
This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead. Anyone who is among the living has hope — even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!
For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing;
they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten.
Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished;
never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.
CHAPTER TWELVE:
Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.
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