Although not many people seriously think that Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes, it’s fascinating to read it as if he did. The life which stared out so promisingly, ends in world weariness and despair, yet still has the spark of insight and wisdom that was Solomon’s greatest gift.
Riches and poverty
Ecclesiastes 5:8-20
Man’s inevitable end
Ecclesiastes 6:1-12
Incurable evil of man
Ecclesiastes 7:1-29
Mystery of divine providence
Ecclesiastes 8:1-17
World’s wrong values
Ecclesiastes 9:1-18
Looking back on his life, the Preacher finds it all to be pointless. “who knows what is good for a person in life, during the few and meaningless days they pass through like a shadow? Who can tell them what will happen under the sun after they are gone?” (6:12) What’s the point in trying hard? What’s the point in wisdom? Everyone ends in the same way, so why bother to be good?
And yet, for all this pessimism, there is a feeling that this isn’t really what he means. Other passages say, you might as well enjoy it while you’ve got it, try hard, do your best, what have you got to lose? “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.” (9:10)
So he’s not completely in despair. He’s not suicidal. But what is he really saying? What does this man actually think?
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