A Few Quotes on Ecclesiastes

This week I've been preparing to teach the book of Ecclesiastes in our Bible Overview Sunday morning group. 

The words of the Teacher, a son of David, king in Jerusalem: “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun? (Ecclesiastes 1:1-3)

The first few verses of Ecclesiastes give us the repeated themes often revisited throughout the book. The phrase “Under the sun” appears 29 times throughout the book and the word for “Meaningless” appears 38 times throughout the book. 

This is truly a book that searches the breadth and depth of human experience to see what in life is lasting, valuable, purposeful, and meaningful. The book invites it's readers to consider all of life "under the sun" and explores pleasure, legacy, history, relationships, work, wealth and power, and comes to the conclusion that these things are either A) meaningless or B) a tremendous gift from God. Therefore the writer concludes the book by speaking of God's judgment and the duty of all mankind:

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)

I've been blessed to preach and teach on Ecclesiastes a few times throughout my life. Ecclesiastes was very helpful as a missionary in thinking through and engaging with the struggles of unbelievers. Below are a few quotes which have been helpful in considering Ecclesiastes. 

"Ecclesiastes gives the appearance of having been written with our time in mind. Of course, it was not; all biblical books address the time period in which they were written. However, Ecclesiastes’ main voice, calling himself Qohelet, expresses a skepticism that sounds modern. Consequently, many people have turned to this book for help when they have experienced disillusionment with their world and even with their God."

- Page 288 of "An Introduction to the Old Testament" by Longman & Dillard (Click here to view book)

"The Scope of Ecclesiastes is to show the vanity of all mere human pursuits, when made the chief end, as contrasted with the real blessedness of true wisdom, that is, religion."

- Robert Jamison (Click here for the source of quote)

"The Chief Good is that the possession of that which makes us happy, is to be sought as the end, for its own sake; whereas, all other things are but means towards it. Philosophers, who made it the great subject of inquiry, restricted it to the present life, treating the eternal as unreal, and only useful to awe the multitude with. But Solomon shows the vanity of all human things (so-called philosophy included) to satisfy the soul, and that heavenly wisdom alone is the chief good."

- Robert Jamison (Click here for the source of quote)

"He looks out upon humanity, and sees that in one aspect the world is full of births, and in another full of deaths. Coffins and cradles seem the main furniture, and he hears the tramp, tramp, tramp of the generations passing over a soil honeycombed with tombs, and therefore ringing hollow to their tread. All depends on the point of view. The strange history of humanity is like a piece of shot silk; hold it at one angle, and you see dark purple, hold at another, and you see bright golden tints. Look from one point of view, and it seems a long history of vanishing generations. Look to the rear of the procession, and it seems a buoyant spectacle of eager, young faces pressing forwards on the march, and of strong feet treading the new road. But yet the total effect of that endless procession is to impress on the observer the transiency of humanity. And that wholesome thought is made more poignant still by the comparison which the writer here draws between the fleeting generations and the abiding earth. Man is the lord of earth, and can mould it to his purpose, but it remains and he passes. He is but a lodger in an old house that has had generations of tenants, each of whom has said for a while, ‘It is mine’; and they all have drifted away, and the house stands."

- Alexander Maclaren (Click here for the source of quote)

"There are indeed many things in this book which are dark and hard to be understood, and some things which men of corrupt minds wrest to their own destruction, for want of distinguishing between Solomon's arguments and the objections of atheists and epicures; but there is enough easy and plain to convince us (if we will admit the conviction) of the vanity of the world, and its utter insufficiency to make us happy, the vileness of sin, and its certain tendency to make us miserable, and of the wisdom of being religious, and the solid comfort and satisfaction that are to be had in doing our duty both to God and man."

- Matthew Henry (Click here for the source of quote)

"This wisest man devoted this whole book to a full exposure of this vanity, evidently with no other object than that we might long for that life in which there is no vanity under the sun, but verity under Him who made the sun."

- Phillip Schaff (Click here for the source of quote)

It may seem to some a sad thing that the world should be so unsatisfactory. But when we understand the reason of it, and the blessed result, we will surely praise the Lord with all our hearts that He has so arranged it. For He has commanded us to hate the world and to forsake it, and how could we obey Him if it was attractive and satisfying? If there should be poison in our food, would we not be thankful if it had so bitter a taste as to make it impossible for us to eat it? And, since there is a fatal poison in the world to all who love it, shall we not be thankful that the Lord has given it such a bitter taste as to make it too nauseous to be enjoyed? If we understood this, dear friends, I think we should not grieve so bitterly over the spoiling of our pleasant pictures, nor think it so mysterious that disappointments should come. For it is a grand victory not to love the world; and the soul that has gained this victory finds itself set in a large place, and cannot but be thankful for whatever disappointment may have brought it there.

- Hannah Whitall Smith (Click here for the source of quote)

"[12:13] The conclusion - The sum of all that hath been said or written by wise men. Fear God - Which is put here, for all the inward worship of God, reverence, and love, and trust, and a devotedness of heart to serve and please him. The whole - It is his whole work and business, his whole perfection and happiness; it is the sum of what he need either know, or do, or enjoy. 

[12:14] For - All men must give an account to God of all their works, and this alone will enable them to do that with joy. Every secret - Not only outward and visible actions, but even inward and secret thoughts."

- John Wesley (Click here for the source of quote)