By James Riley Strange, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of New Testament, Samford University
When Life Feels Empty
Ecclesiastes 1:1–14
Today we begin a series on the Book of Ecclesiastes. It is one of God’s gifts to the Church yet it is a difficult book.
The author calls himself “the teacher” or “the preacher” and says he was king in Jerusalem. Many Jews and Christians understand that to be a reference to Solomon.
The book is difficult because the teacher expresses despondency at the futility of life. People are powerless to change their circumstances, which are bleak. All people, good and bad, suffer the same fate, he says. All die and while alive both good and bad people have the same experiences. The teacher isn’t sure people can discern God’s purpose in creation.
Some Jewish leaders disputed the book’s status as Scripture in the second century AD and as late as the fifth century some Christian leaders still debated the issue.
But God gave Ecclesiastes to the Church and we will use our best, prayerful reading. Isn’t that one of the purposes of Scripture — to bring us into the presence of the One who gave it? Before beginning the series read the entire book; it isn’t very long.
Throughout the study, look for these repeated refrains:
1. “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” In his new translation Robert Alter renders this phrase, “Merest breath, all is mere breath.” Nothing exists for long, says the teacher, including our lives. “Breath,” or hebel (“Abel”) in Hebrew, is also the name of the murdered son of Adam and Eve.
2. All [human deeds] are a “chasing after the wind.” Alter translates this phrase “herding the wind.” Both are metaphors of futility: you can neither catch the wind nor make it blow where you wish.
3. The teacher often says nothing is new “under the sun” or “under heaven.” Others have already experienced everything we experience. If “heaven” is a circumlocution for God the author is saying, “God has seen it all before.”
The passages we read in this first lesson come from what some call the poetic prologue, in which the teacher introduces himself and some of the refrains. He distills the wisdom that he has gathered.
Without Christ, what we do in life can feel pointless. (1–7)
The teacher speaks of creation’s cycles. This is an expression of human futility, for what can mortals do to change the rising and setting of the sun, the direction of the wind, the flow of rivers?
The implication is that all of life’s contingencies are like these: we can change nothing and we must enjoy life while we can.
Without Christ, what we do in life does not satisfy. (8–10)
Not only can we change nothing, we also experience nothing new, says the teacher. All things are too wearisome to express, he says, and people find no satisfaction in what they see or hear.
Without Christ, what we do in life is a miserable task. (11–14)
Some might answer the teacher by saying that at least we will be remembered for our deeds. Not so, he says. He then shifts from poetry to prose to tell a little bit of his story.
Futility should not have the last word in today’s lesson. Why not? First, when we fall into despondency the teacher would understand. Second, he hints at a solution at the end of the book, which we will cover in a future lesson.
For now we can ask the question, “Would there be a reason to live righteously if we received no reward for doing so?”
I hope it is not spoiling the end to suggest that the teacher says, “Yes there would be. Righteousness is its own reward.”
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