Abigail Denton

Growing up in the church, I studied quite a few books of the Bible. I’m privileged to say that I have studied and been exposed to several books and passages of the Bible throughout my childhood and early adulthood. There are several though, that I don’t know if I’ve ever read through, at least outside of a “read the bible in a year” (sometimes looking at words more than actually reading them). Ecclesiastes is one of those books that I’m not sure I’ve ever intentionally read though, let alone studied. I recently started working through this book with a friend and thought it would be interesting to write out some thoughts I’m processing while I’m studying.

Today, I’d like to share what I’m learning as far as an introduction goes. As I begin a new book study, my habits are to do a little research into the book itself. Here are some interesting things I’ve found.

I had assumed that Solomon is the author based on what I was taught in childhood, but scholars are a bit split on this fact. There are some that say literary factors would put the book time stamp at a later date than Solomon lived. There are some that say based on Jewish and Christian tradition Solomon is the author. There are still some that say there’s no way to know for sure. For me, things that are widely and historically debated leave me in the camp of not knowing for sure and not claiming it as a hill to die on. Most scholars give authorship to Solomon for two reasons: tradition has always given authorship to Solomon, and there’s no evidence in the Bible to dispute it. For this reason I’m going to name Solomon as the author, “the Teacher.”

The theme of the book is a little more complicated than I had thought as well. Which makes sense when my only study of it was in childhood. I had thought the book was somewhat atheistic and confusing. It seemed to contradict scripture, and it’s not quoted very often in Christian communities. I was wrong in thinking though that the book isn’t relevant or applicable to the world today, and my own life. “The book helps the reader develop a God-centered worldview and recognize the dangers of a self-centered worldview.” The book is somewhat of an autobiography. Solomon writes about his pursuits to find the meaning of life and traces this theme through the pursuit of knowledge, pleasure, and work. He writes the main purpose statement in chapter one verse two: vanity, vanity, all is vanity. Everything under the sun is vanity. Towards the end of the book, the author shifts perspective. He responds to life’s vanity and reminds the reader that everything under the sun is indeed vanity if it’s not to glorify God and founded in Him.

The book is placed into the wisdom category of genres in the Bible. There are two types of wisdom literature, proverbial and speculative. Proverbial wisdom is practical or wise sayings to apply to different aspects of life. Proverbs and some passages in Psalms would be an example of proverbial wisdom genre. Speculative wisdom is more of a reflection on different aspects of life and thoughts in the form of dialogue or monologue. Job would be an example of speculative. Ecclesiastes is speculative as well, and therefore more like Job than Proverbs in literary terms.

The book of Ecclesiastes is very applicable to our everyday lives. The Preacher explores all kinds of vanities, and I could add my own version in several ways. Finding purpose and identity in things “under the sun,” such as being a wife, a mother, a business owner, creating a beautiful home, beauty and many more. The Preacher speaks to the emptiness found in pursuing only those things. He offers a case study of a life filled with things on earth alone. He “decides to accept the fact that life is brief and ultimately worthless without God.”

To move from collecting information on the book to study of the actual book I like to read through the whole book in as few sittings as possible. Sometimes I’ll use the YouVersion Bible app and listen and read at the same time. I’ve sometimes printed out an unmarked copy, meaning a copy that doesn’t have verses, chapters, or section titles. We have a Reader’s Bible that is printed this way and is helpful to move through a book without getting distracted by things added in. You could also copy and paste from BibleGateway.com and remove everything except the text. You can find chapter one below if you’d like to use the NIV version.

I am so excited to start this study in a book I’m pretty unfamiliar with. It feels like I’m starting on an adventure that is full of wonderful things just around the corner that I can’t yet see. I’d love if you went along with me. I’ll be posting my thoughts each week and I’d love to know what your thoughts are. If you’d like to follow along in a deeper way, read though the resources I’ve linked below and then work through chapter one for next week. Happy studying friends!

For more research:

• An article to explain wisdom literature differences: https://www.britannica.com/topic/biblical-literature/Proverbs
• An article on the summary of the book of Ecclesiastes: https://www.gotquestions.org/Book-of-Ecclesiastes.html
• A free online commentary of the book of Ecclesiastes: https://planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/pdf/ecclesiastes.pdf
• Ecclesiastes online: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes+1&version=NIV

Ecclesiastes Chapter One:

 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:

 “Meaningless! Meaningless!”
    says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
    Everything is meaningless.”

What do people gain from all their labors
    at which they toil under the sun?
Generations come and generations go,
    but the earth remains forever.
The sun rises and the sun sets,
    and hurries back to where it rises.
The wind blows to the south
    and turns to the north;
round and round it goes,
    ever returning on its course.
All streams flow into the sea,
    yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from,
    there they return again.
All things are wearisome,
    more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing,
    nor the ear its fill of hearing.
What has been will be again,
    what has been done will be done again;
    there is nothing new under the sun.
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.
No one remembers the former generations,
    and even those yet to come
will not be remembered
    by those who follow them.

I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 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! I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

What is crooked cannot be straightened;
    what is lacking cannot be counted.

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.” 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.

For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;
    the more knowledge, the more grief.