The
book of Ecclesiastes, which hardly anyone reads nowadays, if they ever did, is
part of the Wisdom literature of the Old Testament, along with Psalms, Proverbs
and the Song of Solomon. There are two main reasons why no-one or hardly anyone
reads it, I think. One is that despite its inclusion in the body of wisdom
literature the general tone of the book has appeared to many to be sceptical
and cynical, despite its reputed author being Solomon. People remember the
phrase ‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity’, the pessimism of the Preacher, and
nothing much else. The second reason is that the book appears to have been
ignored in the New Testament, for it seems that there is not a single quotation
from Ecclesiastes to be found in it. So there seems to be no warrant for us as
Christians to read and learn from it.
I
don’t take this view. Being part of wisdom literature, which has the function
of applying the Old Testament torah
to every day, we should open the book expecting to gain an insight into the
sort of wisdom that ought to be practiced by the people of God. The second
reason is more personal. It has been said that of all the books of the Old
Testament, Ecclesiastes comes the nearest of all to providing a ‘philosophy’,
not in the sense that it offers purely rational arguments for its conclusions,
but because it offers general conclusions about what is and is not worthwhile
in life, a ‘philosophy of life’. It draws these general conclusions about life
from what the author has observed gong on around him. Insofar as this is true
Ecclesiastes has for me, a philosopher, an added interest.
The
outlook
The
argument of Ecclesiastes is first to show, as a result of what the writer has
observed, that various well-known and obvious ways of living lead only to what
the writer calls ‘vanity’. What does the writer mean? A vanity in this sense is
something that does not last, but is insubstantial or fleeting or disappointing
or unfulfilling as the key to how we should live. Whatever it might at first
promise, it turns out never to fulfil it. A vanity is a goal, but not an
abiding goal. We might think of what the writer calls ‘vanities’ as the outcome
of our planning and searching; if we place our hopes upon them they will
invariably disappoint. However, this fact does not prevent fallen human beings
from hankering after and seeking fulfilment in such ends – which are abundantly
available in the Vanity Fair of John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, another book not much read these days.
The
writer considers several of these vanities, pleasure in eating and sex, the
search for wisdom, planning, success of various kinds. Each he closely (and in some cases repeatedly)
inspects, and comes to the conclusion that they cannot sustain our lives from
beginning to end. For none of them provides us with a big idea that invests a
life with a satisfying goal. So the writer pronounces ‘they are vanities!’. For
they do not deliver what they promise, and this for a variety of reasons: because
of the nature of human life, that whatever our plans and ambitions we grow old
and die. Nothing lasts. This leads the writer to describe and discuss a
cyclical way of understanding life. We don’t appear to be going any where. One
generation succeeds another without the first getting anywhere. Because of the
behaviour of others who come after us, and we are forgotten. And because of those
who presently get in the way of us realising our dreams. Wisdom and
righteousness are not appropriately rewarded
The writer at work
Let
us briefly see the writer work at these themes
Ch.
1. Circularity, no end of all that happens is apparent ‘under the sun’ life,
and lives go round. There is change but not progress. As the sun rises and
sets, so a generation of human settle succeed an earlier, leaving it behind,
and forgotten. And human satisfaction is short-lived.
Self-indulgence
is not the answer, for the author has been in the position of denying himself
nothing – Ch.2. And even his technological success (v.4) gives no lasting
pleasure.
Further
the pursuit of wisdom, the fear of God do not ‘pay’ – all things happen alike
to all and to successive generations, so that there is no ‘progress’ nor
degeneration. 2.12. All life is ‘a striving after the wind’. (2.17)
What
about a life in pursuit of justice? Justice is mingled with unrightousness. And
all (the just as well as the unjust) ‘go to one place’. We are from the dust
and we shall return to it, just and unjust alike. People work motivated by envy
and not because they gain satisfaction through the worthwhileness of what they
are doing. (To ch.3 end))
See also
No permanence 2.18, ch.6
Injustice 3.16
Oppression
ch.4
Disproportion
ch. 9
So what should we do?
No
big, satisfying projects ‘under the sun’. So - we should seek fulfilment in the
here and now, in a certain kind of small ends that are provided for us and which we
overlook or undervalue. ‘Gifts of God’ as the writer describes them. Here is
what he says -
2.24 'There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find
enjoyment in his toil. His also I saw is from the hand of God, for apart from
him who can eat or who can have enjoyment. For the one who pleases him, God has
given wisdom and knowledge….'
3.22
'So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his
work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what can be after him?'
5.18f
'Behold what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find
enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of
his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth
and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to rejoice in his lot and rejoice
in his toil – this is the gift of God'.
8.
15 And I commend joy, for man has no good thing under the sun but to eat and
drink and to be joyful , for this will go with him through the days of his life
that God has given him under the sun.
9.7 'Go, eat your bread in joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has
already approved of what you do. Let your garments be always white. Let not oil
be lacking on you head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you live all the days of
your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because this is your
portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. Whatever your
hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or
knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you going'.
11.
6-8 'In the morning sow your seed, and at the evening withhold not your hand,
for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike
will be good…..So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all,
but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is
vanity'.
12.13 'The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into
judgement, with every secret thing, whether good or evil'.
Present-ly
Are
these simply further expressions of secular
cynicism? Not at all. The writer draws word
pictures of a life of present enjoyment of work and of everyday circumstances.
Note the emphasis on joy, merriness, toil. But we don’t know what we do will
prosper, or not. Such times are our ‘lot’, our ‘portion’. They are not
permanent, but they are real. Framing such a life is the knowledge that we have
a Creator, and that there is a judgment to come, and God is to be feared. So whatever
the ‘message’ of the book, it does not celebrate
a secular outlook; the themes of Creation, eternity, judgement and the fear of
God recur. As in this -
5.
1f. Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is
better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are
doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, or let your heart be hasty to utter a
word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your
words be few.
While
we are to live in the present, we are
not to live for the present. We are
to do our best at work, and enjoy the company of those we love. These are God’s
gifts to us now. As young people our
tendency is to live in the future, investing all our hopes and energies in it;
as older people, we tend to live more and more in the past. But both these
attitudes should be corrected, by the recognition that God has given us the
present. We don’t know what’s around the corner. In a way we should ‘live each day as if thy
last’, and ‘for the great day thyself prepare’ as the old hymns put it.
