Lecture

Hello and welcome to this series of lectures on the book of Ecclesiastes. My name is Knut Heim, and I am Professor of Old Testament at Denver Seminary in Colorado in the United States.

At this point I briefly want to introduce to you what we are going to do in this lecture series. You will discover that the book of Ecclesiastes is a wonderful book to inspire us to get to know God better, to love God more, and to learn how to live our lives well in love for our neighbor so that we will live purposeful, meaningful, and happy lives.

So in this, our first lecture on the book of Ecclesiastes, I want to begin with telling you what you can expect to learn in this lecture. There are three things. First, you will become familiar with the book of Ecclesiastes as Christian Scripture. Secondly, you will know its main contents and flow. And thirdly, you will learn how the main approaches to interpret the book work and what particular approach you and I are taking in our lectures on Ecclesiastes as we work through the book together.

So there is a wonderful continuity between the content and significance of the Old Testament texts and also the texts from the New Testament. What do I mean by that? Well, they both talk about the same God because also human nature has remained essentially the same over time and space, even with all the cultural and technological advances across history. And so, the experiences of the author of the book of Ecclesiastes are very similar to what most human beings across space and time, even on different continents and into the present-day experience.

Let’s then begin at the chapter one of the book of Ecclesiastes. The beginning of the book asks a universal question. What is the purpose of life? Let me read it to you. “Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2 NRSV). And now comes that question, “What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:3 NRSV)? And then when we turn to the end of the book, we find the answer to this question, and that answer is in fact identical to the answer of Jesus. The charge to fear God and keep His commandments in Ecclesiastes 12:13 NRSV is really equivalent to the summary of Jesus: “Love God and love your neighbor” in Matthew 22:37–40 NRSV.

So we’ve already mentioned at the beginning of the book the author asks this universal question. What is the purpose of life? What is the purpose of my life? What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun? The end of the book puts it like this in chapter 12 verse 13. “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for that is the whole duty of everyone.” So really the summary of Jesus is, love God and love your neighbor, and this fits very well with Matthew 5:17-20 NRSV, Matthew 7:12 NRSV, and of course the passage we’ve already briefly mentioned, Matthew 22:37-40 NRSV. So the summary of Jesus, love God and love your neighbor, in chapter 5 verse 17 in Matthew says, “Do not think I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.”

And then 7:12, it says, Jesus says, “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.” And then in chapter 22, a scribe tries to trick Jesus into saying something that gets Him into trouble. And he asks, “‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ [And Jesus] said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’” And as we discover in our lecture series on Ecclesiastes, also the book of Ecclesiastes.

Now let us briefly look at the main contents and flow of the book of Ecclesiastes. In 1:1–3, we learn about the author. We hear a thesis statement. We’ve already heard that briefly. “Vanity of vanities, everything is vanity.” And then we hear this research question that Ecclesiastes, our author, is considering with us as we go through the book. “What do people gain from all their toil?” Or in other words, what is the purpose of life?