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.
Wisdom Is Meaningless
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.
John 3:8
Jesus Describes the Wind
8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.
When Solomon said the words meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless...What do we gain from all our labors as we toil under the sun?...Solomon was looking for Someone or Something to tell him why life is not meaningless...And he could not find anyone on earth to to this...
Jesus was not around when He said these words...Solomon came before Jesus arrived on earth...I believe had Solomon have met Jesus the Book of Ecclesiastes would be completely different...Jesus gives us answers to a meaningless life...When one loses their life for Him, they find a new and abundant life...They find a purpose in life...If Solomon had met Jesus, new possibilities would have come forth...Jesus could have answered all of Solomon's questions...Solomon would have better seen both the meaningless and also the gain from all his labors...If the two would have met on earth, they would have discussed with great wisdom, the experience of wisdom and knowledge...Solomon would not have been just chasing the wind, because Jesus knows where the wind comes from and He knows where it is going...