We have come to the book of Ecclesiastes, the second of three books attributed to king Solomon.  Ecclesiastes is also a book about wisdom, however it is written from the other side of life.  The book of Proverbs is a book written by a wise king at the beginning of his reign.  Solomon was visited by God, as recorded in 2 Chronicles 1, and upon Solomon’s request God granted him all the wisdom of the world.  One of the results of that was the book of proverbs, a sort of collection of all the wise sayings of the king throughout his reign.  The book of Ecclesiastes comes from the opposite side of his reign, the waning years of his life when he evaluates all that he did.  It is almost like two books written by one person about being a particular career.  One he wrote fresh out of college with all the theory and book knowledge that his education had given him and the other after 40 years of working and toiling, a reflection on all that has happened.  You will notice that the thesis is the same, having to do with honoring and fearing the Lord, yet the perspective is notably different, which indicates a great deal of growth on Solomon’s part.

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When you begin to read this book, you’ll probably notice that it seems as though the book is taking a decidedly negative tone.  Everything is vanity, or meaningless, and nothing really matters is the presumed theme that we encounter here.  However, I think that this gloomy outlook on life needs some perspective of its own so that we can better understand what Solomon is saying in this book.  You see, Solomon, those wiser than anyone ever, did not necessarily follow his own advice.  As we read in the beginning of 2 Chronicles, Solomon had extraordinary wealth and power, but was drawn to women so much so that he had hundreds of wives.  One would think that a man that can talk so well about wisdom and wives would have been rather wary of women, but instead Solomon allowed them to lead him astray.  At the time of this writing, Solomon was likely an old man and was looking back on his life and seeing what a fool he actually was.

The Theme and Purpose of Ecclesiastes
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Ultimately though, what Solomon writes here also falls under Wisdom’s thesis statement in Proverbs 1, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”  He comes back to this time and again in this book, pointing out that everything under the sun is meaningless unless it is done for the Lord to please him.  There is wisdom in the toil that we do here, even if it is left to another when we die.  Solomon realizes that no amount of wisdom or hard work will spare him the death that eventually comes to all, both wise and foolish.  So what’s the point then?  It seems like Solomon is on a mission to destroy our hope… actually some people ask this question a lot in Christian circles, just with a different spin on it.  “If we are saved, and our sins are forgiven, then why does it matter how I live my life?”  I think that question and the idea that Solomon is trying to destroy our hope is a misrepresentation of what is happening here.  Solomon is actually working to direct our hopes to the only One who can truly fulfill them.  He affirms the value of wisdom, knowledge, work, relationships, and even pleasure, but he affirms them only in their proper place.  Alone they are indeed meaningless, temporal things that will eventually fade into history.  However, we have hope in something greater than ourselves and our experience, and when these things are seen in light of the eternal, they find their true place in our lives and gain meaning beyond all that we could ever give on our own.

One final thought: Ecclesiastes is a book that build on itself.  One could be tempted to jump ahead to chapter 12 and just see Solomon’s summary and conclusions, but let me encourage you to read through the whole book… for it is not at all meaningless.

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