Credo
17 March 2025
The average Christian may not appreciate much of what is written in the book of Ecclesiastes. They may not have personally read the book.
Preachers who preach from the book usually confine themselves to a select few passages, such as chapter 3 on time and the seasons for everything or the one where we find the observation that a cord of three strands is not easily broken (applying it to the importance of a married couple having God in their lives), or the classic description of the aging body breaking down before death in chapter 12.
Most people think that the book is too pessimistic and philosophical, being mostly the ruminations of a sceptical and depressed writer. The author has traditionally been believed to be King Solomon who is alluded to in some places, though he is not specifically named.
Jewish rabbis of old said that Solomon wrote Song of Songs when he was young, Proverbs when he was middle-aged, and Ecclesiastes when he became senile!
We should examine carefully whether reading Ecclesiastes will be spiritually profitable. To begin with, we must recognise that it is in the biblical Canon, that is, it is one of the 66 books in the Bible and is traditionally read during one of the annual Jewish festivals. Why is it in the Canon since we also believe that God guided His people to recognise the authoritative books in the biblical Canon?
Paul wrote, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:16-17). Is Ecclesiastes useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness? It has to be so since Paul refers to all Scripture.
Keeping this in mind, how then should we read and apply Ecclesiastes? Readers are often disturbed, puzzled, or turned off when they read how Ecclesiastes begins – declaring that “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless” (1:2). In the final chapter, this complaint is repeated (12:8).
The author sounds like a depressed agnostic or atheist. Why should Christians read what he has written? In the book, he goes to great lengths to repeat his assessment of meaninglessness in everything that people seek to find purpose and meaning in: wealth, work, pleasure, family, power, achievements, wisdom, and even religion.
Do we not go to church to hear an uplifting and edifying sermon? Why bother with Qoheleth (translated as Teacher or Preacher), the author of Ecclesiastes when he sounds so negative and nihilistic?
The challenge is to understand what Qoheleth is trying to do. Some interpreters think that the contents of the books reflect inner turmoil in the author.
One of the best modern commentaries on Ecclesiastes is the one written by Craig Bartholomew (published by Baker Books). He sets out two sets of texts found in Ecclesiastes that are opposed to one another. One set is of the “everything is meaningless” kind, while the other is of the “Fear God and obey Him” and the “Enjoy the gifts God has given you” kind.
The question is: Does this represent a confused writer who struggles between choosing his dark thoughts on what is wrong with the world and thoughts about God and a proper relationship with Him? Bartholomew (and many others) think that Qoheleth is not confused but attempts to offer a clear contrast between the two sets of texts.
Perhaps we can think of a wise professor who will be giving a talk entitled “The Meaning and Joy of Life”. Respected widely as a sage, he is also a creative and interesting lecturer. On the day of the lecture, the auditorium is packed. The professor begins his lecture by writing on the white board, “Everything is meaningless!”
He then launches into a survey of various academic disciplines and popular pursuits and declares each as ultimately meaningless. The audience starts fidgeting in the seats, wondering whether they had made the right decision to hear the lecture. Some decide to leave the auditorium.
Towards the end of the lecture, the professor says something that begins to make sense to the audience. He reveals something that is the answer to the question, “Where can we find True Meaning and Joy?”
Qoheleth does something similar in Ecclesiastes. After pronouncing his thesis that everything is ultimately meaningless, he then goes on to examine the common ways in which people try to find meaning and joy. He ends up showing the bankruptcy of each, whether it is worldly wisdom, wealth, work, family, education, achievements, power, and governance.
He deconstructs each, showing their inadequacy and inability to give ultimate meaning and joy. French writer George Bernanos writes, “ln order to be prepared to hope in what does not deceive, we must first lose hope in everything that deceives”. This is what Qoheleth sets out to do.
In this survey of various ways people look for ultimate wellbeing, Qoheleth shows the eventual emptiness of life “under the sun” – life lived on earth without an acknowledgment and experience of God.
He is thus, as Michael Eaton writes, “slamming every door, except the door of faith” that leads us to God. Ecclesiastes deconstructs all attempts to find human autonomy without God, a sinful enterprise that began with Adam and Eve.
Throughout his “lecture” on the meaninglessness of life under the sun, Qoheleth drops hints about the only way out for us. Scholars call these carpe diem (seize the day) passages: 2:24-26; 3:12; 3:22; 5:18-20; 8:15; 9:7-10, and 11:7-10.
In the end, Qoheleth reiterates his point that without God, what we seek on earth is eventually meaningless and futile. He thus urges his readers to “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth” before old age and death arrive (12:1).
The narrator who makes final comments in the book commends Qoheleth for his godly wisdom and reiterates, “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (12:13). Without God who creates, blesses, and will judge us, we are hopelessly lost in what appears to be a tragic and perplexing world.
What Ecclesiastes does is to prepare us to receive the gospel of Christ, and at the entrance of every road that represents the popular broad road that Jesus warned against (Matt 7:13-14), it stands with a placard warning “Meaningless!”. If we take heed, we will find the narrow road of salvation and fulfilment in Christ.
