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 does man gain from all his labor
at which he toils 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 There is no remembrance of men of old,
and even those who are yet to come
will not be remembered
by those who follow.
Wisdom Is Meaningless
12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men! 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 twisted cannot be straightened;
what is lacking cannot be counted.
16 I thought to myself, “Look, I have grown and 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 author of Ecclesiastes has examined nature and life, examined it very, very closely (so it seems) and has come to many conclusions...The author seems to have the characteristics of a cynic, a critical personality, and a very analytic mind...His central theme after trying to figure out life, is that life is meaningless...The author seems full of wisdom, or at least knowledge and then tells us that even wisdom is meaningless...We are told with wisdom comes much sorrow, the more knowledge, the more grief...How could a wise man, come to the conclusions that he comes to?...Is he right?...
The Teacher has examined man, and has looked at how generations have come and generations have gone...The sun rises and the sun sets...This happens over and over and over again...The wind blows south, and then turns north, only to turn back around and it seems over the generations the wind much like life goes in a circle...People and life are a circle, always looking for something new, but what has been done, will be done again...When one says look -this is something new, someone shows them it was already here long ago...Our pleasures, our desires do not get fulfilled...We are always looking -looking for that something, the one next new pleasure, that next new desire, the next thing that will make us happy...Our new inventions, our latest gadget will satisfy the desire for the current moment, but the pleasure is gone...We are then back looking for our next new desire...We have done this for ages...
The wise author has taken us on his journey through life, and as I read through his book, I feel despair and some sadness...He has thoroughly examined these things of nature and man -and he finds that life is boring and pointless...Nature and its cycles seem pretty much repetitive...he sun rises and then it sets...After all, if life is a circle, then we always will wind up in the same place...When we study things over and over and over again, we can come to the conclusions that life can be apathetic, negative, and frustrating...
This can be like looking for happiness...If we try to force happiness on ourselves, we cannot be happy...If we are always looking for the next new thing to make us happy, then we will always be looking, well for that next new thing...Let's say I study happiness day after day, then year after year...Then after many years, I may know a lot about happiness...I then may know more than almost everyone about happiness...The question is will I then be happy...After all, I have learned all about happiness and I know now what happiness really is, and I know now more than almost everyone on the subject of happiness...
Ecclesiastes is a Spiritual Book...Sometimes when we examine things over and over we can feel despair...I am not saying this author is in despair, but him not finding a purpose in life, makes the Book of Ecclesiastes seems perplexing at the very least...Happiness comes to us only after and when we let life come to us...Studying nature and its laws and the cycles of the sun rising and setting each day and its constant repetition over and over again does not make it beautiful...Studying the ocean's tide going in and out and its constant repetition over and over does not make its beautiful either...But sitting with the one you love on a beach watching the sun set as the tide goes in and out is a most beautiful sight...Almost, something spiritual...