Heritage Reformed Baptist Mission
ECCLESIASTES
Chapter 1
Ecclesiastes 1:1-18
Introduction
No book or portion of Scripture can be properly understood, and personally applied, without the leadership of the Holy Spirit. He is the Author of what is written, using men to write what God determined should be written for the edification of His people and for the warning of all. How Ecclesiastes does that was summed up by Charles Spurgeon when he wrote: "Solomon, the wisest of men, was permitted to make experiments for us all, and to do for us what we must not dare to do for ourselves." ("Morning and Evening," December 2, Evening) In other words, there is no need to experiment with the world (as some would say) in order to know its things are vanity. We learn that from the experience of Solomon as recorded in Ecclesiastes, as well as in other Scriptures such as 1 John 2:15-17.
Solomon's life, as king of Israel, may be divided into three main eras: (1) the initial and increasing glory of his reign, during which he wrote Proverbs; (2) his turning away from obedience to God, during which he married many foreign, idolatrous women, and provided place for their idols in Israel and worshiped them himself [cf. 1 Kings 11:1-8]; and, (3) his repentance in old age, during which he wrote Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes is a sermon in which the Preacher describes life as he saw and experienced it when he was in a state of disobedience to God and the conclusion to which he came as a result. The title of the sermon is found in verse 2 of Chapter 1: "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." Now to the study!
v. 1 - the identity of the author = son of David, king in Jerusalem
- "preacher" = Heb. = "Qoheleth" = collector (of sentences), preacher, public speaker, speaker in an assembly (Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew definitions); one who calls people together for the purpose of speaking to them
v. 2 - Title of the sermon
- "vanity" = Heb. = "hebel" = vapor; breath - cf. James 4:14
v. 3 - "profit . . . labor" = cf. Proverbs 14:23; this is not a contradiction; there is earthly profit (gain) by labor, and only by labor (cf. Genesis 3:19); but in the context of Ecclesiastes, earthly gain does not promote contentment and happiness in this life and is of no value in the life to come
- "under the sun" = this life
v. 4 - "earth abides forever" = insofar as man is concerned considering the shortness and temporariness of his life on the present earth; and there is a sense in which the earth does abide forever, for there will be a new earth created when this one is destroyed by fire (cf. Isaiah 65:17; 2 Peter 3:13)
vv. 5-7 - Without considering the order and purpose of God in making them so, the sun, wind, rivers and sea, by their constant, unchanging movement and seemingly never-ending accomplishment, demonstrate the vanity and restlessness of things in the physical realm - cf. Isaiah 57:20
v. 8 - "man cannot utter" = there are not enough words or time to describe all the things which involve labor, and which are involved in labor; neither eye nor ear is ever satisfied, always wanting to see or hear something new, something else - cf. Acts 17:21
v. 9 - "no new thing under the sun" = the creation, the rising and setting of the sun, the movement of the wind, the moon and stars, etc. continue in the same patterns day after day, year after year; the morality, or lack of it, in men continues the same; the things sought after by men for the purpose of pleasure and contentment in life are the same as they have always been; so there is nothing that is done now or will be done in the future that has not already been done, either in nature or in man's quest for satisfaction
v. 10 - An appeal to all to agree with and understand the truth of v. 9, with a further, positive statement of the absolute truth of it
v. 11 - "There is no remembrance" = the reason why some things seem to be new is that men forget or are ignorant of or history hasn't adequately recorded what has gone before, and that same situation will continue in the future
v. 12 -Basically a repeat of v. 1, the intervening verses being the introduction to his sermon with the basic proofs for what he was about to write of his own experiences
- "was king" = not that he was not king at the time of writing, but shows that he was king when the things he is about to write took place; e.g., "I was a resident of Tennessee when God called me to go to Romania."
v. 13 - "gave my heart . . ." = diligent and purposeful inquiry to acquire knowledge of all things "done under heaven"
- "sore travail" = hard, laborious work; intellectual gain is by the sweat of the brow, too
- "God" = Heb = Elohim; appears 41 times in Ecclesiastes; Yahweh (LORD), God's personal name, not at all, an indication of at least two things: (1) that the Preacher's life in his condition of disobedience had obscured the personal relationship with YAHWEH which he had had; and (2) that Ecclesiastes speaks not only to those who do have a personal relationship with YAHWEH, but also to everyone else
v. 14 - "vexation" = Heb = feeding on/striving (grasping) after wind = not only is the gaining of knowledge laborious, it is also a vain pursuit in terms of happiness, contentment and eternity
v. 15 - Whatever man may find in the physical realm that he believes is crooked he is powerless to remedy; much more so the crookedness of man's sinful nature, the deficiencies of which cannot be counted let alone corrected by human wisdom and knowledge
v. 16 - "communed . . . heart" = recognition and understanding of the wisdom and knowledge acquired; in Solomon's case, GREAT, more than any man before the Lord Jesus Christ, "in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 2:3)
v. 17 - "gave my heart to know" = continual and diligent pursuit
- "madness and folly" = in order to know and discern the difference in contrast to wisdom
- "vexation of spirit" = see v. 18 for the reason
v. 18 - Wisdom and knowledge come by much laborious toil; the more one has, the more apt he/she is to be envied (actively opposed) and/or involved in things which are stressful and difficult to deal with; at any rate, neither human wisdom nor knowledge, no matter how much, provides real joy, happiness and contentment; on the other hand, increased "wisdom from above" and "knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ" does provide those things, and should be sought with all the heart