1

The words of the Preacher, the son of David,

king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, says the
Preacher, Vanity of vanities! All is vanity. . . .
(1:1-11).
Ecclesiastes is a book that, if read seriously,
will stimulate a great deal of thought. It is cer-
tainly not an easy book to understand, but it is
one that rewards the thoughtful reader with
tremendous insights about life.
It is also a book which can sometimes be
extremely confusing. One writer has described
this tendency in this way:
The major interpretative problem of Ecclesi-
astes is to understand its apparent internal
contradictions and vicissitudes of thought. At
times the Preacher seems to be gloomy, pessi-
mistic, a skeleton at the feast; everything comes
under his lashing scorn: laughter, drink, pos-
sessions, sex, work, wisdom, riches, honour,
children, even righteousness. Yet, at other
points he urges that we should enjoy life, that
there is nothing better than to eat well, enjoy
our labour, receive with gladness the riches
God gives us but be content if he gives none.
1
Since Ecclesiastes seems to send conflicting
signals, let us try to understand in a general way
just what this book is about.
A BOOK ABOUT A MAN
Although the speaker refers to himself sim-
ply as the Preacher, it is obvious that he in-
tends for the reader to think of him as Solomon,
since he calls himself the son of David, king in
Jerusalem (1:1, 12). Although some uncertainty
exists as to whether or not the author is actually
King Solomon, we will call him that, especially
since what he writes fits so well what we know
about Solomons life.
2
Solomon presents his own
case history as an old man looking back on life
from very near its end and offering the fruits of
his experience. Picture him as you read: He is
old, reflective, sadder but wiser, and concerned
about generations to come.
Throughout much of his life, Solomon tried
to find himself. But by his own admission, he
looked in all the wrong places. He explored the
benefits of wisdom, pleasure, sex, work, power,
possessions. His explorations are an important
theme throughout the book: He had tried every-
thing and found nothing. He had experienced all
that life had to offer and come up empty.
While Ecclesiastes is the real story about a
specific man, it is actually about all of us. We are
supposed to learn from Solomons example so
that we do not repeat in our lives the mistakes he
made in his during his desperate quest to find
2
The reader may consult the commentaries and in-
troductions to the Old Testament for the various argu-
ments concerning the authorship. It seems most likely
that Solomon himself did not write the book, but that a
later author wrote it from what he assumed would have
been Solomons point of view as he reflected on his life.
Since the book never claims to have been written by
Solomon, it is legitimate to regard it as a work employ-
ing the literary device of the actual writer putting him-
self in Solomons place. But since he wishes us to think
of Solomon, we will refer to the speaker in the book by
that name.
1
Michael A. Eaton, Ecclesiastes: An Introduction and
Commentary (Downers Grove, Ill.: Inter-Varsity Press,
1983), 36.

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Ecclesiastes
An Introduction
2
to see that they are but beasts. For the fate of
the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the
same. As one dies so dies the other; indeed,
they all have the same breath and there is no
advantage for man over beast, for all is vanity.
All go to the same place. All came from the dust
and all return to the dust. Who knows that the
breath of man ascends upward and the breath
of the beast descends downward to the earth?
This passage has often been taken as teach-
ing the idea of the annihilation of the human
spirit at the time of death. But Solomon is speak-
ing from an under the sun perspective. As far
as human observation and experience goes, his
statement is entirely true: Both people and ani-
mals have the same fate. But notice his question
in 3:21: Who knows that the breath of man as-
cends upward and the breath of the beast de-
scends downward to the earth? He is frankly
admitting that his observations are limited to
under the sun experience. In fact, many of the
conclusions of Solomon are not about ultimate
values but the lack of them.
Solomon is a realist, and he wants to make
realists of all his readers. Therefore, he gives
repeated glimpses of reality and makes us take a
long, hard look at life under the sun. He says,
. . . It is a grievous task which God has given to
the sons of men to be afflicted with. I have seen
all the works which have been done under the
sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after
wind (1:13, 14).
We are frequently tempted to ignore reality,
but such an approach is unhealthy. As you read
Ecclesiastes, get ready for a big dose of harsh
realitybut reality which points to some great
and important truths.
A BOOK ABOUT FUTILITY
The overriding theme of Ecclesiastes is stated
in 1:2: Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
The Hebrew word translated vanity means
breath, wind, vapor, emptiness. Over thirty
times Ecclesiastes declares that life is ultimately
vanity. This seems to be the point of the memo-
rable poem contained in 1:4-11. Life is merely
endless repetition; there is no ultimate progress.
Everything about life is cyclical and actually
going nowhere.
The theme of vanity has earned Solomon
the reputation of being an incurable pessimist. Old
Testament scholar R. B. Y. Scott described him as
meaning in life. This is the reason Ecclesiastes is
classed among the Wisdom Literature of the Old
Testament; it provides us with profound wis-
dom by giving us the benefits of one mans
negative experience. The inspired wisdom of the
Bible is designed to prevent us from making
every mistake possible, if we are only willing to
learn from the wise men of Israel. While we learn
through our mistakes, having to repeat all of
mankinds mistakes would be an awfully hard
way to learn. What if every new physician had to
learn everything the hard way, learning from
scratch and making every mistake that goes along
with that? To ignore the wisdom and experience
of those who have gone before us is ridiculous in
the extreme.
Solomon pleads with us not to be foolish, but
to look at his experiences and learn from them.
A BOOK ABOUT THIS WORLD
Over and over, Ecclesiastes describes the
realm of human experience as life under the
sun:
What advantage does man have in all his work
which he does under the sun? (1:3).
There is nothing new under the sun (1:9).
Furthermore, I have seen under the sun that in
the place of justice there is wickedness, and in
the place of righteousness there is wickedness
(3:16).
Then I looked again at all the acts of oppres-
sion which were being done under the sun (4:1).
(Emphasis mine.)
It is important to understand the this-
worldly perspective of Ecclesiastes. First, it says
that not all of Solomons statements are words of
ultimate truth, but simply describe the way things
are in this life. For example, 8:14 says, There is
futility which is done on the earth, that is, there
are righteous men to whom it happens accord-
ing to the deeds of the wicked. On the other
hand, there are evil men to whom it happens
according to the deeds of the righteous. I say that
this too is futility. This does not put Ecclesiastes
in conflict with Pauls statement in Romans 2:6ff.
that God will render to every man according to
his deeds, for Ecclesiastes is talking about things
as they take place on earth (i.e., under the sun).
Likewise, 3:18-21 says,
I said to myself concerning the sons of men,
God has surely tested them in order for them
3
a rationalist, an agnostic, a skeptic, a pessimist,
and a fatalist.
3
In reality he is not pessimisticjust realistic!
He exposes several of the big lies of popular
mythology, things that people often say to make
themselves feel better about life, but which are
patently false. We hear:
Every day in every way the world is getting
better and better.
Theres a light at the end of every tunnel.
Things never are as bad as they seem.
These so-called truisms ignore the fact that
people are basically selfish, that the world we
live in is inherently corrupt, and that life for the
majority of people is unfulfilling. That real world
is the world of Ecclesiastes. No wonder Charles
Swindoll has described Ecclesiastes as The Jour-
nal of a Desperate Journey.
4
CONCLUSION
Why bother talking about all of this depress-
ing reality? Is Solomon just being a wet blan-
ket by forcing us to look at life in this way?
No, the point of the book is not to show us the
meaninglessness of existence, but the meaning-
lessness of existence apart from God. The lesson for
us is our inability to find any real meaning in life
without God, so that we will be motivated to seek
and know Him.
5
If nothing is new under the sun, then our
only hope is above it! We are not meant to live a
hopeless existence, but to desire something far
better than what this life offers apart from God.
Creatures are not born with desires unless
satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby
feels hunger: well, there is such as thing as
food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is
such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire:
well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in
myself a desire which no experience in this
world can satisfy, the most probable explana-
tion is that I was made for another world. If
none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that
does not prove that the universe is a fraud.
Probably earthly pleasures were never meant
to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the
real thing.
6
This is why Jesus came, to give us abundance
of life by putting us in touch with God: I came
that they might have life, and might have it
abundantly (John 10:10).
Ecclesiastes is ultimately a book about God
and about our need for Him. Until we recognize
that need and let God fill it, we will never know
what life is all about!
6
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: Macmillan,
1952), 120.
Where Is Our Outlook?
When isolated as a symbol, the word sun
suggests brightness. But, the idiom under the
sun is merely a symbol of location and means
earthbound. . . . The phrase under the sun
refers to the earthbound, temporal outlook and
experience of the natural man, and this is van-
ity, or futility. Thus in Ecclesiastes the phrases
under the sun and vanity refer to the same
thought. The opposite outlook, the hopeful one,
is that which looks toward God, who is above the
sun.
Irving L. Jensen
Ecclesiastes & Song of Solomon
The Influence of One Sinful Person
One sinner destroys much good (Eccles. 9:18).
The influence of a bad man may be consid-
ered:
1. Negatively
The good prevented
2. Positively
The evil done
3. Consciously
What is done deliberately
4. Unconsciously
What is done unwittingly
5. Immediately
The direct result of sin
6. Remotely
The long-term issue
Arthur T. Pierson
The Making of a Sermon
3
R. B. Y. Scott, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, The Anchor
Bible (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1965), quoted in
Eaton, Ecclesiastes, 36.
4
Charles R. Swindoll, Living on the Ragged Edge:
Coming to Terms With Reality (Fullerton, Calif.: Insight
for Living, 1986), 1.
5
And He made from one, every nation of mankind
to live on all the face of the earth, having determined
their appointed times, and the boundaries of their habi-
tation, that they should seek God, if perhaps they might
grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from
each one of us (Acts 17:26, 27).
Copyright, 1997, 1998 by Truth For Today
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED