Part 1 of 3
“What is the meaning of life and is life worth living? Is your life worth living?”
These days, the answer to that question is often based on what is known as the quality of life. If life falls below a certain level or standard (however that standard may be defined), then that life may be terminated. But if it is still above it, then life is deemed to be worth living.
But what is that standard? How do we measure it? What is it that must be there in order for life to be meaningful and without which life becomes worthless and meaningless?
Is life’s meaning determined by the work that you do? Or is it dependent on how much wealth or possessions you have or how much pleasure and enjoyment you can get? Or is it based on whether you have a good reputation or a good relationship with your family and friends and other people?
What are you living for? What motivates you to get up each day and to carry on living?
Now these are questions which all of us, whether young or old, must face and face regularly. We cannot and should not evade them. The sooner and more frequently we consider such questions, the better.
We’re beginning a new series of articles on the book of Ecclesiastes. Our text for the first three is chapter 1 verses 1-11 and the title is “Labouring and Gaining Nothing…”
These words come from verse 2, which reads, “What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?” Or another translation has it as, “What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun?”
Key and Key Words (vv. 2-3)
Now for many Christians, Ecclesiastes is a very puzzling and difficult book to understand. Many statements in the book are puzzling and some even seem to contradict other parts of scripture. Indeed, the book’s skepticism at some points is shocking to many.
For example in 3:18-22, we read, “I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?
Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?”
And again in 7:15-17, “All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness.
Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself?
Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time?”
Some people have misused such a passage to say that we shouldn’t be too zealous for good on the one hand or too sinful on the other. The safest place to be is in-between. We should take the middle-of-the-road approach when it comes to wisdom and foolishness, and righteousness and wickedness.
But is that correct or is the preacher telling us otherwise?
One of the ways to properly understand this book is to recognise that the preacher looks at life from two different viewpoints. First he stands in one position and then he stands in the other, and he does this alternately throughout the book. He sees the same issues from two perspectives or viewpoints. If we don’t bear this in mind, then the book will be very confusing indeed.
Solomon’s first viewpoint is that of an unbeliever or perhaps a disillusioned, discouraged or deceived believer, while his second viewpoint is that of a believer who is thinking correctly and viewing things from the right perspective.
Now there are three key words or phrases in this book, which will often give us some help in determining which viewpoint the preacher is taking up.
It’s a bit like how we sometimes say “let’s pretend” or “imagine if this were true…” When we heard such words or phrases, we know that the person is speaking hypothetically or is trying to emphasize a point or drive home an argument. He is not actually telling us to think or do that.
Well, the preacher doesn’t use words like pretend or imagine but he does use other words or phrases.
The first is the word vanity or vanities or vain, which occurs about 38 times in this book. The Hebrew word literally means vapour or breeze or breath. In Ecclesiastes, it is often used figuratively to mean lacking substance or useless or futile or meaningless.
So the phrase vanity of vanities can be translated meaninglessness of meaninglessnesses or completely meaningless.
The second key word or phrase is “under the sun,” which occurs 27 times in this book and nowhere else in the whole Old Testament. It is synonymous with the phrase “under the heaven” or “on earth.”
It describes the earth-bound and temporal perspective that does not go beyond this earthly and material and temporal realm. It leaves God out of the picture and ultimately leads to meaninglessness.
So, the word “vanity” and the phrase “under the sun” generally help us to identify those parts in which Solomon is speaking from that godless viewpoint.
The third key word is simply the word ‘God,’ which occurs about 40 times in the book. By looking out for it, you will generally be able to identify those sections where Solomon occupies the second point of view, which considers life in light of what is unseen and eternal. In the next article, we will begin to look at the prologue or introduction to the book.