Lecture

Hello and welcome to our second lecture on the book of Ecclesiastes. In this lecture, we will focus on Ecclesiastes 1:12-2:28 NRSV, and discover that conspicuous consumption does not lead to true success and happiness.

It’s really. . .This chapter is a thought experiment about the persona of one Qoheleth, who introduces himself as the son of David, king in Jerusalem. And then in 1:12, at the opening of this sequence that we’re looking at in this lecture, he says about himself, “I, Qoheleth, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.” And of course, many people realize that the only person that fits that description perfectly is King Solomon, the son of David. Whether or not this really was the actual historical persona of Solomon or somebody who adopted his persona in order to help us understand this experiment is beyond our lecture here. And for that one, we would need to have a lot more time and I won’t go into this, but let’s assume, for the sake of the argument, and for the experiment that we have a Solomonic persona speaking, someone who has access to fabulous riches.

And yet this very person at the beginning of the book has already told us, “Vanity of vanities, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” And on the basis of that basic observation, he now asks the question, “What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun?” And I just need to explain a few of the words here in verses two and three.

The first one is, when our author of the book asks, “What do we gain under the sun?” In Hebrew, the phrase “under the sun” is pronounced tachat hashemesh, and it literally means “under the sun.” But very likely this is like an idiom, a metaphoric way of speaking about life on earth and life, not without the existence of God, but life without orientation towards God.

The second word that’s worth exploring is when our author asks, “What gain do people have?” The Hebrew word there is called yitron, and it refers to profit, success, or happiness, an emotionally satisfying achievement that lasts.

And the last word that I want to briefly explain is the word hevel, and this word means “vanity.” Literally the word is “breath” or “mist,” and it is a metaphoric way to refer to something that is illusory that’s not real, that does not last, something that is meaningless, or absurd even, because it does not deliver what it promises.

And it’s against this kind of overall questioning in the book that we now have this experiment in 1:12. “I, the Teacher, when king over Israel in Jerusalem, applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven” (NRSV). And what we learn is that the attempt to gain profit, success, and happiness through the unlimited satisfaction of human desires ultimately leads to disappointment, frustration, and even despair.

Now, the structure of this experiment is, first of all, there’s a preamble to the experiment in verses 12 to 18. And what we learn here is, we don’t have time in our lecture to go through all details of the text, but what we learn here is that our author, the person who conducts this experiment, really gives himself the opportunity to explore and enjoy everything that most people think is good in life, unlimited satisfaction through everything he wants, he gives himself and exposes himself. And so, what we have is a combination of empirical research, if you like, plus introspection. If I do this, if I do this, if I do this, I get this, everything I wanted, everything I ever wanted. What does that make me feel? And in this preamble, he already tells us, “Ultimately, I was disappointed.”

So let’s now look more briefly at the specific methodology that our author uses in 2:1–3. “I said to myself, ‘Come now, I will make a test of pleasure; enjoy yourself.’ But again, this also was vanity.” You get the idea. We then jump to verses 4–10 in the book, and here now, our author gives us a report on his experiment. And again, I won’t read the whole section. I encourage you to read that for yourself and reflect on it against the background of what we are learning together in this lecture, but you’ll get a snapshot of what he is doing. This is what he says. “I made great works; I built houses and planted vineyards for myself; I made myself gardens and parks . . . I made myself pools from which [water flows.] I bought male and female slaves . . .” for myself, for myself, for myself, me, me, me, unlimited satisfaction. And what he’s saying basically is, I got it all, and for a moment, it was amazing.

And then we turn to verses 11–17, and here now our experimenter is sharing with us an analysis of his experiment. Let me again read a few of the verses so that we get a sense of what’s going on here. In verse 11, he says, “Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and again, all was vanity and a chasing after the wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.” He got it all and it was disappointing. It was frustrating because it had all been an illusion. There was no gain after all his effort.

We now jump to his emotional response to all of this, his whole experiment, which may very well have lasted many years, of course, for him to achieve everything he’s telling us in his report. And the emotional response to his life experience is truly sobering. Let us look together at verses 18–23, and again, I’ll read a few of the verses and encourage you to study it for yourself a little bit more. I’ll read from verse 18. “I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to those who come after me.” Then in verse 20, this also is vanity, “So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labors under the sun.” Verse 22, “What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun?” Verse 23, “For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.”

And we’re now going to conclude our lecture by looking at the conclusion to the experiment in verses 24–26. And what we find here is that our author begins to realize that the missing ingredient of all that he was striving to achieve was God and living a life oriented towards God. Let me read it for you. “There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in their toil. This also, I saw, is from,” wait for it, “the hand of God; for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the one who pleases him God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy.”

And there are a few other comments that he makes there which we don’t have time to explore in depth, but we have really gained the full impact of what he is trying to tell us here near the beginning of the book. What matters is not material satisfaction of all of our desires. What matters is the missing ingredient, living in orientation towards God because He is the one who can help us enjoy life. Whether we have much or little, there is nothing better than to live in the presence and enjoy the good things of life, as and when He gives them.