Introduction to

Ecclesiastes

Title and Purpose

Ecclesiastes is named after its central character, Qohelet (1:1, 2, 12; 7:27; 12:8–10), which the NIV translates as “the Teacher.” The Septuagint (the pre-Christian Greek translation of the OT) word for “Teacher” is ekklēsiastēs, from which most English titles of the book are taken. Ecclesiastes is one of three OT books that clearly belong to the category of wisdom, the other two being Proverbs and Job (see “Introduction to the Wisdom and Lyrical Books”). Proverbs sets out the main contours of OT wisdom and is the essential background to reading Job and Ecclesiastes. The OT wisdom books wrestle with how to live wisely amid the many challenges of life. Ecclesiastes brings us into the journey of “the Teacher” as he works through his struggle as to whether life is meaningful. Ecclesiastes ultimately affirms life and joy but only as the end result of a struggle with the brokenness of life in a fallen world.

Author

The narrator presents the Teacher as Solomon (1:1, 12), but many scholars now think that the Teacher was not actually Solomon but one whom we are to imagine as like Solomon with his wisdom and power. We know from 12:9–10 that the Teacher was a wisdom teacher who carefully gathered and arranged his material as he taught the people. We do not know the identity of the narrator who presents the Teacher’s sayings, and so overall the author of Ecclesiastes is unknown. To understand Ecclesiastes, however, it is important to note that the narrator, whose voice is heard in 1:1; 7:27 and in the epilogue (12:9–14), presents the Teacher’s journey and teachings in the context of his introduction, conclusion, and note in 7:27.

Date

A variety of dates have been proposed for Ecclesiastes. Some argue that its type of Hebrew and the presence of Persian loanwords confirm that it was not written in Solomon’s time, but this could just mean that a much earlier book was updated at a later time. Ecclesiastes’ skepticism could show awareness of Greek philosophical influence, but evidence for such skepticism is also found much earlier. If the Persian loanwords and Greek influence do indicate the date of writing, then Ecclesiastes was most likely written in the postexilic period, probably in the fourth century BC. At that time it would have appeared to many, in what was left of Israel, as if God’s purposes with them had run aground, thereby giving rise to the sort of questions the teacher struggles with. However, we cannot be sure of the date when Ecclesiastes was written.

Particular Challenges

Ecclesiastes never mentions the OT covenant name for God, “LORD,” but it clearly has this God in mind and is fully aware of many of the OT teachings, including creation, law, and wisdom.

In terms of the OT context, it is particularly important to read Ecclesiastes against the background of Proverbs, which sets out the characteristic character-consequence wisdom teaching rooted in creation. This approach assumes the rich meaningfulness of life and teaches that the fear of the Lord and wisdom flowing from it will in general lead to blessing and prosperity. A wise character will lead to good consequences!

Whenever the author lived, clearly many of his fellow believers were experiencing a crisis of faith. The Teacher sums up his many questions in the opening question of 1:3: “What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun?”

Skepticism was in the air and the Teacher draws from an autonomous, human-centered way of exploring such questions dependent on human reason, observation, and experience alone, using them to examine the question of whether life is meaningful or meaningless. A result is that in the course of his explorations the Teacher expresses some unorthodox views that a reader may find disturbing. It is important to remember that the crisis the Teacher is undergoing is finally resolved and that his unorthodox sayings must be seen in the light of the book as a whole.

Ecclesiastes is a carefully crafted whole, but as befits the Teacher’s search for meaning, the book tracks back and forth as he explores area after area of life. His autonomous way of knowing, starting not with the fear of the Lord but depending on his experience and reason, leads him repeatedly to the conclusion that life is “meaningless” no matter what area of life he examines.

A challenge in Ecclesiastes is how to translate and understand the Hebrew word hĕbēl, which is translated “meaningless” (e.g., 1:2, 14; 2:1, 11, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 26). Hĕbēl certainly indicates the Teacher’s despair in his quest for meaning in life, but it should not be understood as a final conclusion. A parallel expression in Ecclesiastes is “a chasing after the wind” (e.g., 1:14, 17; 2:11, 17, 26), which helps us grasp what the Teacher means by “meaningless.” It is not that there is no meaning in life; rather, if there is meaning in life, the Teacher simply cannot grasp it—just like he cannot grasp the wind. Life is utterly enigmatic.

This would seem to indicate that for the Teacher, Proverbs’ character-consequence teaching is quite wrong! Surprisingly, however, throughout the book, next to his dark conclusions we find joy passages that affirm the meaningfulness of life (2:24–26; 3:12–14, 22; 5:18–20; 8:15; 9:7–10; 11:7—12:7). A major challenge of reading Ecclesiastes is determining how to read the joy passages in relation to the conclusions of meaninglessness. Commentators take a variety of views on this issue: some read them as advocating seeking pleasure amidst the meaninglessness of life, others read them as the answer to the Teacher’s problems, and still others read them as expressing a different view of life that the Teacher cannot reconcile with his findings.

The joy passages are probably not answers to the conclusions of meaninglessness but are set deliberately next to them to show us the extent of the Teacher’s struggle. As a believer, he knows that life is meaningful (as expressed in the joy passages), but his examination of area after area of life leads him to the opposite conclusion (the conclusions of meaninglessness). The resulting tension between these two approaches to life is at the heart of Ecclesiastes. The book poses this question for the believer: How do you resolve this tension when your faith teaches you that life is meaningful but everything you observe and experience seems to point in the opposite direction? Thus the big question Ecclesiastes poses is not just about the meaningfulness of work (1:3) but about how you know if life is meaningful amid circumstances in which nothing seems to make sense. This is a challenge that people have faced through the ages and that can be traced back to Gen 3, where the tree of the knowledge of good and evil stands for the temptation to make ourselves, not God, the center of life and knowledge.

Direction of the Book

In order to see how resolution comes for the Teacher, we have to follow him on his journey. The path to resolution comes from two directions:

First, as his journey progresses, it becomes increasingly apparent that his autonomous method of knowing, based on his experience, reason, and observation alone is not that of wisdom but that of folly. There are two key passages in this respect: (1) Eccl 5:1–7, which some scholars regard as the center of Ecclesiastes, urges the reader to approach the temple cautiously in order to listen to God’s instruction, and it concludes with the similar exhortation to fear God. The teaching of this section is comparable to Proverbs’ insistence that “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov 9:10). (2) Eccl 7:23–29 reveals in dramatic fashion that the Teacher’s autonomous way of knowing has led him right into the arms of Lady Folly! Thus one way in which resolution comes is in the growing recognition that an autonomous way of knowing will get one only into deeper and deeper despair when one is faced with the enigmas of life.

Second, resolution comes through the indication of a better way of knowing in 11:7—12:7. The proverb of 11:7 shines out like a beacon or lighthouse indicating that hope and resolution are possibilities. The two dominating exhortations of this section are to rejoice and to remember. “Remember your Creator” (12:1) is the second major clue to resolving the Teacher’s struggle. Remembrance is far more than a casual reminder; it means letting your whole perspective on life be informed by the view that God created everything. This is precisely what has been missing in the Teacher’s autonomous method; it has all been rooted in himself—indeed one of the great characteristics of Ecclesiastes is the endless use of the first person “I.” The answer to the perplexities of life is to find a way back to the starting point of God as the Creator of everything. This does not take one away from the struggles of life (12:2–7), but it puts one in a position to affirm life and its meaningfulness amid the very real struggles of life in a fallen world.

Like the struggle of the Teacher to fit the pieces of life together, Ecclesiastes is not an easy book to grasp. Some scholars read parts of Ecclesiastes differently than others, as the reader will see in the notes. One must read this book patiently and, as with suffering, wait to see how resolution comes.

Occasion and Purpose

Ecclesiastes is an extraordinary book. We might think the Teacher less than a good example as he goes through his experience and speaks about it so honestly. But 12:9 is clear that the Teacher was wise and taught wisdom! Eccl 12:9 is comparable to Job 42:7, which commends Job for speaking the truth about God, unlike the friends.

Ecclesiastes thus validates the struggle of believers to find the meaning of life when such an experience overtakes them. In the postexilic period or in other times when Israel’s future seemed threatened, many Israelites probably experienced such a struggle, and Ecclesiastes probably was a great comfort to many in such situations.

Ecclesiastes also provides insight into how resolution can emerge from such a struggle. In particular, it shows us the folly of trying to understand “life under the sun” based on our experience, reason, and observation alone. It is only as we start remembering our Creator that we can find a way through such a dilemma.

Genre and Structure

Ecclesiastes is a wisdom book; however, unlike Proverbs but like Job, it also has a story or an autobiographical dimension to it. The narrator introduces the Teacher to us (1:1), sums up his struggle (1:2–3), and provides a poem that evokes the depths of the teacher’s struggles (1:4–11). In 1:12 the Teacher himself comes on the stage, and in 1:12–18 he explains his quest for wisdom. Apart from 7:27, which is the only place in the main body of Ecclesiastes where the narrator’s voice intrudes, we only hear the Teacher speak in 1:12—12:7. In 12:8–14 the narrator concludes the book with the epilogue. Eccl 1:2 and its repetition in 12:8 form a frame for the book, alerting the reader to the theme that Ecclesiastes explores.

Its structure is organic rather than strictly logical. The tension between the Teacher’s analysis of life based on his experience, reason, and observation alone and the positive affirmation of life exemplified in the joy passages, combined with the growing sense that, ironically, his method of knowing is not wisdom but folly, drive the book forward to its denouement in 11:7—12:14.

Themes and Theology

The central theme of Ecclesiastes is the question of whether or not life is meaningful. Proverbs affirms life as full of meaning, but Ecclesiastes looks at life through the eyes of the Teacher, who finds life an enigma no matter what area of life he explores. The Teacher’s examination of life is comprehensive, as captured in the recurring phrase “under the sun” (e.g., 1:3, 9, 14; 2:11, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22). He explores all of life: pleasure, great building projects, wealth, music, work, time, justice and oppression, the problem of death, companionship, government and leadership, etc., but no matter what area of life he explores, he concludes that all is meaningless. At the same time, the joy passages affirm the rich texture of ordinary life: marriage, work, and eating and drinking.

In a fallen world, the meaning of life is often perplexing. Indeed, the same Greek word translated “meaningless” in Ecclesiastes is the one Paul uses for “frustration” in Rom 8:20. The Teacher ruthlessly exposes the many ways in which life does not match up to the character-consequence theme of Proverbs. But he does resolve the tension in his journey by going to the starting point of remembering his Creator (12:1, 6), which is Ecclesiastes’ equivalent of Proverbs’ “the fear of the LORD” (e.g., Prov 1:7; 2:5; 9:10). From this perspective, even amid the brokenness, life is meaningful in all of its many created dimensions. Indirectly, Ecclesiastes thus affirms creation as good, just as God did (Gen 1). Thus, Ecclesiastes opens up a whole range of topics for exploration: pleasure, music, time, work, companionship, justice and oppression, politics, death, etc.

A major theme of Ecclesiastes is determining how to go about knowing and finding truth in a world that is often perplexing. Ecclesiastes rigorously exposes the results of a human-centered quest for truth (cf. Gen 3). If, like the Teacher, we make ourselves the center of truth, then truth will continually evade us, and we will find ourselves in despair.

Ecclesiastes also deals with the theme of suffering. The Teacher’s suffering is less obvious than Job’s. Nevertheless, the intellectual struggle the Teacher goes through has its own agony, and pastorally it is important to note that Ecclesiastes affirms the Teacher’s struggle. Believers are not alien to the sort of existential and intellectual crisis the Teacher finds himself in.

As noted earlier in this section, there is a connection between Ecclesiastes and Rom 8. It is also possible that Paul quotes Eccl 7:20 in Rom 3:10. Both contexts in Romans connect Ecclesiastes and its meaninglessness with the fall and sin. Clearly God’s redemption in Christ shows the meaningfulness of life with much greater clarity than was possible in the Teacher’s day. Nevertheless, prior to the consummation of the kingdom of God, mystery and suffering remain, and we will continue to need Ecclesiastes to help us on our journeys.

Canon

In the Hebrew Bible, Ecclesiastes is part of the Writings (the third section of the Hebrew Bible), and its acceptance as Scripture may have occurred as early as the second century BC. Because of some of the radical statements in Ecclesiastes, it is not surprising that some rabbis in the first century AD doubted its canonicity. Despite that questioning, the view of Ecclesiastes as authoritative Scripture won the day among the rabbis. In the early centuries of the Christian church, Ecclesiastes appears to have been universally accepted as canonical.

Outline

I. Everything Is Meaningless (1:1–11)

A. Title (1:1)

B. Statement of the Theme of the Book (1:2)

C. The Programmatic Question (1:3)

D. A Poem About the Enigma of Life (1:4–11)

II. Wisdom Is Meaningless (1:12–18)

III. Pleasures Are Meaningless (2:1–11)

IV. Wisdom and Folly Are Meaningless (2:12–16)

V. Toil Is Meaningless (2:17–26)

VI. A Time for Everything (3:1–22)

VII. Oppression, Toil, Friendlessness (4:1–12)

VIII. Advancement Is Meaningless (4:13–16)

IX. Stand in Awe of God (5:1–7)

X. Riches Are Meaningless (5:8—6:12)

XI. Wisdom (7:1—8:1)

XII. Obey the King (8:2–17)

XIII. A Common Destiny for All (9:1–12)

XIV. Wisdom Better Than Folly (9:13—10:20)

XV. Invest in Many Ventures (11:1–6)

XVI. Remember Your Creator While Young (11:7—12:8)

XVII. The Conclusion of the Matter (12:9–14)