The Book of Ecclesiastes

As a piece of liturgy, the book of Ecclesiastes became one of the five scrolls from the third part of the Hebrew Bible, the "Holy Writings". Each of these was read publicly at one of the annual Jewish festivals. Ecclesiastes was assigned to be read during the Feast of Tabernacles.


It is difficult to provide an orderly analysis, or examination, of the contents of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes reads like short sections of material from a philosopher's personal journal during the disappointing years of his life. He begins by stating his basic theme that all of life is meaningless like, "chasing after the wind". Solomon describes the greatest moments of his deeply self-centered life of wealth, pleasure and worldly success. Trying to find happiness through these things led only to dissatisfaction and emptiness. Almost all of the book contains a series of random thoughts about the senselessness and confusion of life that is not centered around God. Life "under the sun" (used 29 times in the book) is a figure of speech describing life as seen through the eyes of those who do not follow God. Such a life is filled with imbalance and lack of justice. It is uncertain, filled with unplanned change and foolish pride. Solomon finds the highest meaning in life only when he looks "above the sun" - to God. Pleasure seeking has no depth. Instead of being responsible, it is reckless and foolish. The book ends by instructing youth to remember God while they are young, so that they do not grow old with bitter regrets and have to give an account to God for a wasted life.


Five major features characterize Ecclesiastes. 1. It is an intensely personal book. 2. The author's negative attitude is very dominant as he delivers the message that life apart from God is hopelessly unstable and completely meaningless. 3. The heart of Solomon's advice occurs in the last two verses: "Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." 5. It contains the Bible's most picturesque allegory, or symbolic description, about a person growing older.


Jesus agreed with the author's conclusion about how meaningless it is to collect worldly possessions when He said that we should not store up treasures on earth (Matthew 6:19-21, 24) and that t is senseless to gain the whole world and lose one's soul (Matthew 16:26). The theme of Ecclesiastes - that life apart from God is meaningless and unsuccessful - sets the stage for the New Testament message that joy, salvation and eternal life come only as a gift of God.