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CHAPTER 1
Vanity of Vanities
Ecclesiastes 1:1–2
The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
1:1–2
SOCIOLOGIST Jonathan Kozol met Mrs. Washington in the South Bronx. She and her young son, David, were living at a homeless hotel close to East Tremont Avenue, in a first-floor room with three steel locks on the door.
Mrs. Washington was dying, and each time Kozol came for a visit, she was visibly weaker. But, oh, the stories she could tell about life on the underside of urban America — stories about poverty and injustice, drugs, violence, and rape. Mrs. Washington told Kozol about children in her building born with AIDS and about the twelve-year-old at the bus stop who was hit by stray gunfire and paralyzed. She told him about the physical abuse she had suffered from Mr. Washington and about all the difficulties poor people had getting medical care in the city.
The woman and her son also talked about spiritual things. "I wonder how powerful God is," David admitted in one interview. "He must be wise and powerful to make the animals and trees and give man organs and a brain to build complex machineries, but he is not powerful enough to stop the evil on the earth, to change the hearts of people." On a subsequent visit Kozol looked down and saw that Mrs. Washington's Bible was open on the quilt next to her. So he asked what part of the Bible she liked to read. "Ecclesiastes," she said. "If you want to know what's happening these days, it's all right there."
Why Study Ecclesiastes?
Not everyone would agree with Mrs. Washington. Ecclesiastes seems to take such a gloomy view of life that some people doubt the spiritual value of reading it or even question whether it belongs in the Bible at all. When one of the ancient rabbis read Ecclesiastes he said, "O Solomon, where is your wisdom? Not only do your words contradict the words of your father, David; they even contradict themselves." Closer to our own times, scholars have described the book as "the low-water mark of God-fearing Jews in pre-Christian times." Some have even doubted whether its author had a personal relationship with God at all, since his "gloomy sub-Christian attitude" seems so "far removed from the piety of the Old Testament." So what is Ecclesiastes doing in the Bible, and why should we take the trouble to study it?
Mrs. Washington was right: if we want to know what is happening these days or have trouble understanding why a powerful Creator allows evil on the earth or struggle to resolve life's other inconsistencies, it is all right here in this book.
We should study Ecclesiastes because it is honest about the troubles of life — so honest that the great American novelist Herman Melville once called it "the truest of all books." More than anything else in the Bible, Ecclesiastes captures the futility and frustration of a fallen world. It is honest about the drudgery of work, the injustice of government, the dissatisfaction of foolish pleasure, and the mind-numbing tedium of everyday life — "the treadmill of our existence." Think of Ecclesiastes as the only book of the Bible written on a Monday morning. Reading it helps us to be honest with God about the problems of life — even those of us who trust in the goodness of God. In fact, one scholar describes Ecclesiastes as "a kind of back door" that allows believers to have the sad and skeptical thoughts that we usually do not allow to enter the front door of our faith.
We should also study Ecclesiastes to learn what will happen to us if we choose what the world tries to offer instead of what God has to give. The writer of this book had more money, enjoyed more pleasure, and possessed more human wisdom than anyone else in the world, yet everything still ended in frustration. The same will happen to us if we live for ourselves rather than for God. "Why make your own mistakes," the writer is saying to us, "when you can learn from an expert like me instead?"
Then too we should study Ecclesiastes because it asks the biggest and hardest questions that people still have today. As we shall see, there is some debate as to when this book was actually written. But whether it was written during the glory days of Solomon's golden empire or later, when Israel was in exile, it addresses the questions that people always have: What is the meaning of life? Why am I so unhappy? Does God really care? Why is there so much suffering and injustice in the world? Is life really worth living? These are the kinds of intellectual and practical questions that the writer wants to ask. "Wisdom is his base camp," writes Derek Kidner, "but he is an explorer. His concern is with the boundaries of life, and especially with the questions that most of us would hesitate to push too far." Nor is he satisfied with the kind of easy answers that children sometimes get in Sunday school. In fact, part of his spiritual struggle is with the very answers that he has always been given. He was like the student who always says, "Yes, but ..."
Here is another reason to study Ecclesiastes: it will help us worship the one true God. For all of its sad disappointments and skeptical doubts, this book teaches many great truths about God. It presents him as the Mighty Creator and Sovereign Lord, the transcendent and all-powerful ruler of the universe. Reading Ecclesiastes, therefore, will help us grow in the knowledge of God.
At the same time, this book teaches us how to live for God and not just for ourselves. It gives us some of the basic principles we need to build a God-centered worldview, like the goodness of creation and our own absolute dependence on the Creator. Then, on the basis of these principles, Ecclesiastes gives many specific instructions about everyday issues like money, sex, and power. It also has many things to say about death, which may be the most practical issue of all.
In short, there are many good reasons to study Ecclesiastes. This is especially true for anyone who is still deciding what to believe and what not to believe. It is a book for skeptics and agnostics, for people on a quest to know the meaning of life, for people who are open to God but are not sure whether they can trust the Bible. If Ecclesiastes serves as a back door for believers who sometimes have their doubts, it also serves as the gateway for some people to enter a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life, which is why for some people it turns out to be one of the most important books they ever read.
Who Is Qoheleth?
Once we start to read Ecclesiastes for ourselves, the first question we need to consider is authorship. Who wrote this book? The opening verse seems to give us the answer, but it also raises a number of questions. It says, "The words of the Preacher" (Ecclesiastes 1:1). This seems straightforward enough, except that "Preacher" is not the only way to translate the Hebrew name Qoheleth. Some translators refer to the author as the Teacher, the Philosopher, or the Spokesman. Others prefer to leave his name untranslated and simply call him Qoheleth. So which translation should we choose?
Certainly it is safe to call the author "Qoheleth," as I will often do in this commentary. Qoheleth is perfectly good Hebrew even if no one knows exactly how to put it in English. "Teacher" is also defensible, especially given what is said at the end of the book, that he "taught the people knowledge" (Ecclesiastes 12:9). Qoheleth was a public teacher. Yet "Preacher" may be the best translation of all. Let me explain.
The Hebrew root of the word qoheleth literally means "to gather, collect, or assemble." Some scholars take this as a reference to the way the author collected various proverbs and other wise sayings together into one book. However, that is not the way this form of the word is used anywhere else in the Bible or other Hebrew literature. Instead, the verb qoheleth refers to the gathering or assembly of a community of people, especially for the worship of God. So Qoheleth is not so much a teacher in a classroom but more like a pastor in a church. He is preaching wisdom to a gathering of the people of God.
This context is clearly reflected in the title this book is usually given in English. "Ecclesiastes" is a form of the Greek word ekklesia, which is the common New Testament word for "church." An ekklesia is not a church building but a congregation — a gathering or assembly of people for the worship of God. The word "ecclesiastes" is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word qoheleth. Literally, it means "one who speaks in the ekklesia" — that is, in the assembly or congregation. So Qoheleth is a title or nickname for someone who speaks in church. In a word, he is the "Preacher."
In this case, we can be even more specific because the Preacher is further identified as "the son of David, king in Jerusalem" (Ecclesiastes 1:1). Naturally we think first of King Solomon, for although many kings came from the royal line of David, Solomon is the only immediate son of King David who ruled after him in Jerusalem.
Furthermore, many of the things that Qoheleth tells us about his life sound exactly like King Solomon. Who else could say, "I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me" (Ecclesiastes 1:16; cf. 2:9)? No one but Solomon, because God promised him "a wise and discerning mind" like no one before or after, with riches beyond compare (see 1 Kings 3:12–13). Then, as the Preacher goes on to describe the houses he built, the gardens he planted, and the women he kept as concubines, we are reminded of the power and luxury of King Solomon. The description of the Preacher at the end of the book, where he is described as "weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care" (Ecclesiastes 12:9; cf. 1 Kings 4:32), also sounds exactly like Solomon, who fits the context of Ecclesiastes far better than any of Israel's other kings.
From the earliest days of the church, many teachers have identified Solomon as the Preacher. After wandering away from God and falling into tragic sin, Solomon repented of his sinful ways and returned to the right and proper fear of God. Ecclesiastes is his memoir — an autobiographical account of what he learned from his futile attempt to live without God. In effect, the book is his final testament, written perhaps to steer his own son Rehoboam in the right spiritual direction.
In more recent times, some Bible scholars have moved away from identifying Solomon as the author of Ecclesiastes. They point out that he is never mentioned by name (the way he is named at the beginning of Proverbs, for example). If the author wanted to claim full Solomonic authority for his book, why didn't he come right out and say that it was written by Solomon? Instead the opening verse leaves a sense of distance between Solomon and Ecclesiastes; the famous king is obviously associated with the book, but never explicitly identified as its author. Furthermore, the events that tie in well with the life of Solomon mainly appear in the first two chapters, after which he seems to get left behind. In fact, later the Preacher says some things that some people find it hard to imagine Solomon ever saying, such as when he starts to criticize wealthy kings and their officials for oppressing the poor (e.g., Ecclesiastes 5:8).
Then there is the ending of the book to consider. Most of Ecclesiastes is written in the first person. "This is what I saw," the Preacher says; "this is what I said in my heart." Yet at the very end he is referred to in the third person: "Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge" and so forth (Ecclesiastes 12:9ff.). Thus many scholars conclude that at some point Ecclesiastes must have had an editor, and some believe that it was written after the days of Solomon, possibly during Israel's exile in Babylon or even later.
So why does Ecclesiastes give the impression that it was written by King Solomon? Because, it is said, in ancient times it was fairly common for people to write fictional autobiographies. In order to communicate his message, a writer would take on the persona of someone famous. This was not done in order to deceive anyone. In fact, most of these fictional autobiographies were based on the life of someone from history. To illustrate this, the conservative Lutheran scholar H. C. Leupold quotes the opening line of Sir Galahad, by the Victorian poet Alfred Lord Tennyson. The poem begins, "My good blade carves the casques of men." Leupold rightly points out that no one would ever accuse Tennyson of impersonating an Arthurian knight. Rather, by putting words into Galahad's mouth, the poet was using a well-known literary convention.
Many scholars (including some evangelicals) think that Ecclesiastes is the same kind of book — a fictional royal autobiography. The author has taken a well-known figure from history and used that person's life to make a spiritual point. With Qoheleth, writes Derek Kidner, "we put on the mantle of a Solomon." Who better than King Solomon to illustrate the futility of life without God? The man had everything that anyone could ever want. But the world is not enough. If it could not satisfy the richest, wisest king in the world, it will never satisfy anyone.
Judging by what the book says, Ecclesiastes may well have been written by Solomon himself; this is the most natural way to read the Biblical text. But even if another author used Solomon to help make his point, the words of Ecclesiastes are the very words of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit. The end of the book tells us that whatever wisdom we find in this book has been "given by one Shepherd" (Ecclesiastes 12:11), meaning God himself. Furthermore, Solomon's life is clearly presented as the Biblical context for what we read in Ecclesiastes. The book's real-life background — and we need to see it from this perspective — is the story we read about Solomon in 1 Kings and other places.
When we read that story carefully, we discover — somewhat surprisingly — that "Preacher" is a very appropriate title for Solomon. He was the king, of course, so we do not usually think of him as a preacher. Yet when Solomon dedicated the temple in 1 Kings 8, the Bible says that he "assembled" Israel (v. 1), and then it repeatedly says that the Israelites formed an "assembly" (e.g., v. 14). Thus the vocabulary in 1 Kings 8 is closely related to the terminology of Ecclesiastes 1, where we read the words of Qoheleth — the person who speaks to the assembly. Ecclesiastes is Solomon's sermon to people gathered for the worship of God.
What Does the Preacher Say?
What, then, does the Preacher say? His opening words hardly sound very encouraging: "Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity" (Ecclesiastes 1:2). With these encapsulating superlatives, Qoheleth takes the whole sum of human existence and declares that it is utterly meaningless. Then he takes the next twelve chapters to prove his point in painful detail, after which he returns to the very same statement: "Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity" (Ecclesiastes 12:8).
Like the name Qoheleth, the word "vanity" is notoriously difficult to define. But since it shows up dozens of times in the book of Ecclesiastes, it is important for us to try to understand this "multipurpose metaphor." Taken literally, the Hebrew word hevel refers to a breath or vapor, like a puff of smoke rising from a fire or the cloud of steam that comes from hot breath on a frosty morning. Life is like that. It is elusive, ephemeral, and enigmatic. Life is so insubstantial that when we try to get our hands on it, it slips right through our fingers.
Life is also transitory. It disappears as suddenly as it comes. Now you see it, now you don't! We are here today and gone tomorrow. Thus the Bible often compares our mortal existence to a vapor. According to the psalmist, we are "mere breath" (Psalm 39:5); our days will "vanish like a breath" (Psalm 78:33; cf. Job 7:7). The Apostle James said something similar when he described life as "a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes" (James 4:14). So too when the Preacher says "vanity of vanities," he is partly making a comment on the transience of life. Breathe in; now breathe out. Life will pass by just that quickly.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Ecclesiastes"
by .
Copyright © 2010 Philip Graham Ryken.
Excerpted by permission of Good News Publishers.
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