Ecclesiastes is a wonderful, uplifting book in the Old Testament (as long as you don't actually read it). Atheists love this book and Christians try to avoid it; as a person in love with the Old Testament (especially the controversial parts!), I find it a joy to let Christians know that Ecclesiastes is a wonderful book, and I want people to understand what it's all about. The truth is, a lot of Christians don't know what to do with Ecclesiastes: it's controversial and it blatantly contradicts much of what is stated in the New Testament. This is Part One of a two-part series I am doing on the book of Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes was not written in a book; rather, it is a speech inscribed on paper. In the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible), the book's name is Qoheleth (we'll get to what this means in a second); in our Bibles, the book's name is Ecclesiastes, derived from the Greek name of the book in the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation of the Jewish scriptures); the Greek word is Ekklesiasticus, and it means (in short) "assembly". The message of Ecclesiastes, as stated, is a speech given to the assembly of the people of Israel. These assembles were called by one of three people: priests, prophets, or kings. In this case, the assembly was called together by the king (King Solomon), and it serves three purposes for King Solomon: he is imparting his age-old wisdom to the people, he is publically repenting of his "falling away" from God, and he is warning the people, "Don't do what I did!" This speech took place in the latter days of his life, perhaps even near his death (in chapter 12, he seems to know what old life is like!).
King Solomon was the son of the Great King David and the last king to rule over the "united monarchy" of Israel (following him, Israel was divided into two sections: Israel to the north ruled by his "enemy" Jeroboam, and Judah to the south ruled by his son Rehoboam). Solomon is known for his great wisdom, which he gained by exploring all the wisdom of the world, gathering it together, pondering it, and searching out its truth (Eccl 12.9-10). Sadly, Solomon could not apply this wisdom to his own life (he was a very self-centered man). Solomon experienced true love; although he had a harem of thousands of girls, he found love with one of them and lived in an intimate dance of marriage with her (she wrote him a love poem that we know as the Song of Songs). Tragically, she died (exactly how, we don't know). This sent Solomon over the edge, and in his depression he sought out the intimacy he had lost, grabbing at all the women of his harem to the point of being lulled over by their gods, dragged into worshipping pagan gods by such grotesque acts of worship as child sacrifice. He lived a life separated from God and suffered the penalty (a divided kingdom), but at the end of his life, he repented. Ecclesiastes, I believe, is his public repentance before the people of Israel (according to ancient custom, his repentance would have to be public). This is how I interpret (in brief) the story of Solomon.
Before one reads Solomon's speech before the assembly, one must understand the conflict between inspiration and divine revelation. The truth is, not everything in the Bible is right! There's lots of bad theology! A lot of people cringe at this idea, but hear me through. Take the story of Job, for instance: if we base our theology off of Job's conversations with his friends, we have bad theology. The conversations are people talking about things way above their head and getting it wrong (much like all the theologians of today, like you and me). Ecclesiastes is Solomon's observances from life, and it is told from his perspective, not God's; it is his words, not God's. Some of the things Solomon says are blatantly heretical when compared to the rest of the scriptures and must be understood as Solomon's (faulty) understanding of life (some of Solomon's misconceptions involve his statements that man and beast are no different and all will return to the earth with no afterlife, that there are no good women n the world, the best that we can do is just have fun before we die, and that fatalism rules our lives). Once again, Ecclesiastes is Solomon's speech before the people of Israel; he is a poor, old man full of regrets, not a prophet sent by God.
The main, overriding theme of Ecclesiastes is: "Life is meaningless." All of us are meant for something quite unlike this life we live; we feel empty on this lonely planet orbiting a lonely star in a lonely part of a lonely galaxy in a lonely galaxy cluster in a lonely universe. We are designed for eternity but living in the temporal; we are meant for true life, but we do not experience it. Why don't we experience it? Because of our selfishness, greed, and indifference (sin), we have fallen from the "mold" of life that God originally planned for us (heaven is a return to this way of life in a newly-renovated universe). Solomon feels this ache in his inner being and tries to fill the ache, tries to find meaning in all the typical ways that are repeated by people throughout the world to this day.
Solomon tried to find meaning in education, but he found that (and I quote Straylight Run), "The more I learn, the more I can't understand." He finds education depressing and meaningless, and easily taken away. So many people today try to find meaning in education, spending their entire lives groping for PhDs and Masters degrees, all for the sake of being addressed as "Doctor" and being able to drive a nice car in a nice subdivision. Sadly, when we die, our education will whither and we will be forgotten. Even in this life, our education can be taken in an instant: we can spend forty years gaining infinite knowledge, but in a bad car accident, our brains can be so messed-up that our educuation vanishes.
Solomon found education meaningless, so he turned to pleasure. He found, though, that pleasure, just like education, is depressing and empty! People seeking life in pleasure are not hard to find: why are so many people enslaved to sex or alcohol or drugs (to name the "great sins" of conservative Christianity)? Why do so many people revolve their lives around seeking pleasure as long as they live? I don't know. Eventually they, like Solomon, will realize: pleasure is depressing and empty, and Solomon knew what pleasure was: he had a harem of thousands of girls at his beck-and-call.
So Solomon tried to find meaning in fame. He built a great paradise for himself (it was a hell for everyone else!); in the ancient world, the builders of great buildings were renowned: they held the royal status of fame and fortune and glory. Solomon's great construction undertaking is his grasp at fame and glory throughout all the ages of the earth. Yet he found that it did not bring him meaning and satisfaction; it was empty. People today try to find meaning in fame, ignoring what all historians know to be true: you will not be remembered, not even by your own descendants. And even if you are remembered, [gulp] no one cares.
Solomon then tried to find meaning in wisdom, in living the wise life. What he found, however, was that living a wise life was no better than living the life of a fool, for both die and return to the same place. Solomon, in his disillusionment, went so far as to say that wisdom and foolishness are brothers! These are stunning words coming from the mouth of one of the wisest men in all of human history.
Finally, Solomon tried to find meaning in his labor. He grasped at the American Dream: work day and night to build up a palace of material pleasures here on earth. This palace, however, crumbled: Solomon's nights were without rest, he knew that all his work would go into the hands of someone who could trash it all, and he did not find the satisfaction and meaning he so strongly desired.
At the beginning of life, Solomon says, there is fatalism: everyone is born, everyone lives, and everyone dies; no one is exempt. All will come, pass through, and go, to be forgotten and replaced by another. Between birth and death, one lives a life of sorrows, interspersed with the occasional moments of happiness and contentment. Solomon stood before the people of Israel, pointed at himself and his own life, and croaked in his old voice, "Look at me! I am evidence that life is meaningless and empty!"
What does Solomon advise? "The world is screwed up. Fear God and keep His commandments." Life sucks, it really does. No one can escape this. Whether you are a Christian or not, life is filled with suffering. Yet in this life, mankind has a duty, and that is to fear God in reverence and respect, and to keep His commandments (though all fail in both these regards). Solomon begs the people, "Fear God and keep His commandments, and don't wait until you're on the brink of death to do so!" Solomon spent most of his life away from God, and his greatest regret was not fearing God and keeping His commandments.
The message of Ecclesiastes is simple: "The world is screwed up and life sucks. So fear God and keep His commandments." Is life truly meaningless? Is it truly empty? These are the words of Solomon, his observations, and he is right about how much life sucks. Yes, we are here today and gone tomorrow, forgotten in the whispers of time, our names lost in history. Our accomplishments will fade, our love will disappear from remembrance, and the world will continue as if we were never here. Remember, though, that this is Solomon's perspective. Yes, life does suck! Yes, we are here today and gone tomorrow! Yes, our duty is to fear God and keep His commandments! But, no, life is not meaningless. God's words on the meaning of life are coming up in Part Two of this look at the wonderful (and depressing) book of Ecclesiastes.
