Ecclesiastes 1:1-18
Everything is Meaningless
1 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:
2 “Meaningless! Meaningless!”
says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.”
3 What do people gain from all their labors
at which they toil under the sun?
4 Generations come and generations go,
but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises and the sun sets,
and hurries back to where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south
and turns to the north;
round and round it goes,
ever returning on its course.
7 All streams flow into the sea,
yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from,
there they return again.
8 All things are wearisome,
more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing,
nor the ear its fill of hearing.
9 What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there anything of which one can say,
“Look! This is something new”?
It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time.
11 No one remembers the former generations,
and even those yet to come
will not be remembered
by those who follow them.
12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 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! 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
15 What is crooked cannot be straightened;
what is lacking cannot be counted.
16 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.” 17 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.
18 For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.
The Book of Ecclesiastes does not come right out and tell us that Solomon is the author, but a few verses suggest to us that he is the writer of this book...The name Ecclesiastes is a translation of the Hebrew word koheleth, which means “one who convenes an assembly” or simply a preacher (see Bible Dictionary, “Ecclesiastes”)...
The author gives us a series of questions and seems to be in despair about life here on earth...We see that vanity, emptiness, toil, short lived things, temporary things, and death are discussed and awaiting us as we live our daily lives...The author talks about the life we are given on earth...What do we gain from our labors on earth...He considers wisdom, knowledge, pleasure, and our work...He looks at many things on earth and is looking lor purpose and meaning in our daily living...And he tells us that life is meaningless...Our Teacher in this writing reveals we seek happiness on earth through different things...But these short term pleasures and happiness are only shortly-lived and temporary in our lives, which make life short lived with pleasures spread throughout our earthly life...
But as we read Ecclesiastes, the book give followers of Jesus hope...And that hope is eternal life...Jesus changes the temporary to eternal with His resurrection...Jesus is a Savior who brings not only salvation, but a hope for finding a meaning to be living...
In the end, the author believes that our faith in God is the only way to find personal meaning in life on earth...Everything else is meaningless...In a thousand years after our death, no one will even know our name on earth...Only God and His Son will know that we have died...In our brief stay on earth, everything is meaningless without God and His Son...Eternal life and heaven give life hope and give life purpose...
Let us focus on the things of eternity, the infinite, and heaven and God and Jesus who give life purpose and us purpose...