The Book of Ecclesiastes - Part 15

Well, we've been going through this amazing book, and it's very complex. And of course, many people have different ideas about all of what it means. And I will mention something about that here a little bit as we go. But I'm going to try to hit two sections right now. One is one verse, really. We already have read this verse, but we're going to read it again.

It's a verse that the book opened with, and it's a verse that sort of the book closes with, but it's not yet the conclusion. It's Ecclesiastes 12 and verse 8. It's after we've just read through all of this information about old age and dying. And very sad because the opportunity vanishes at that point. Verse 7, We saw the dust returns to earth as it was, and the Spirit returns to God who gave it. And verse 8 of Ecclesiastes 12, Vanity of vanities, says the preacher, the thinnest of vapors, all is vanity.

And having just detailed the decline of old age and death, Solomon concludes this segment here with a declaration of vanity, as he did at the end of the two preceding segments. We saw that in chapter 11, verse 8 and verse 10. Both of those talked about life's vanity after talking about darkening times to come in life. And this one really hits home because it's for the whole book. He goes further, lamenting, vanity of vanity, says the preacher, all is vanity.

And so again, like I said, he comes back to the very words that opened the discussion at the beginning of the book in chapter 1, verse 2. Following his initial introductory note in verse 1 of the beginning of the book of who he was. So the segment closes here in 12.8 is doing double duty, as both a segment ending within this final subsection of the book and an overall concluding lament in context of all he's discussed in the book.

It thus declares vanity in what he's just covered, but more than that, it declares all of this life under the sun to be one great vanity. Recalling the opening lament of the whole work and the numerous declarations of vanity throughout the chapters up to this last concluding time. Yet with all that he has covered in this book, and we've gone through this, and I know, you know, everybody hasn't been here to go through this, but I'm sure you've read this book many times. This book has a lot of negative things to say, but it also has a lot of positive things to say and a lot of encouragement it gives.

So why is the opening problem being repeated here at the end of the book? It might feel, to some, like being punched in the gut, being kicked while you're down. Again, why say this at the end of the book? It could seem that we're right back where we started from, with the argument of the book not having gotten very far, but of course it has.

So let's recall that the word vanity is translated from the Hebrew word hevel, meaning breath or vapor. And the phrase vanity of vanity is, as I said, could be the thinnest of vapors. There's an insubstantiality here, something very difficult to grasp or to hold on to. Some view this in the sense of meaning fleeting. Here today, gone tomorrow, and that certainly fits with life slipping away, coming to an end in the poetry that we saw in the beginning of chapter 12.

But the vanity or vapor seems more typically in the book to have the sense of frustration, as attempts to fully understand or make sense of everything ultimately prove futile, which is another meaning of vanity. Efforts are frustrated. Expectations are frustrated. Hopes and plans are frustrated. Everything in this life ends in frustration, with the ultimate frustration being the end of life and opportunity.

This is something we need to understand. We should never base our hopes and dreams in this world. We should never try to derive happiness from this world. This is not to say there's no good to be found in this world, but finding it comes only something else beyond this world, someone else, and receiving the blessings that only he can give. Now, consider that the frustration that we see in this book is the worst for those who have failed to remember their Creator. That's where we started at the beginning of chapter 12, Remember Your Creator in the Days of Your Youth.

Those who failed to do that and have failed to properly experience life's joys through Him, thus squandering their opportunity. One of the sources we've been following, Dr. Walter Kaiser, he writes in his book Ecclesiastes Total Life, How feudal to have lived and not to have known the key to living. What a waste to have died without having enjoyed life or known what it was all about.

That is the tragedy of tragedies, a great waste. We might also consider that Solomon may himself have been going through some of what he detailed in the poetry on aging, while now looking ahead to the end of this life and recalling his wayward years very somberly.

No doubt he was still dealing with serious regrets, thinking of how much of his own life he had wasted. We can almost envision him sighing in declaring it all so much immense frustration. As it seems he came to repent, but now had no time to live out life and enjoy it as God intended. That does not mean that he was hopeless or that we should be hopeless. We should not be. If we're turning to God in later years, it's always worth it to repent and turn our lives over to God at whatever age, though it's of course better by far to do so when we're young.

The whole point of the poem is at the beginning of chapter 12. And realize that Solomon is apparently writing his treatise more for others than for himself to help them learn not to make the terrible mistakes in life that he did and that he has observed in all he's seen. I'm going to interject something in my notes here because another reviewer going through the program has really convinced that Solomon never did repent. And there's a good reason for thinking that because if you read about the accounts of Solomon's life and other places in the Bible, it doesn't mention anything about him as repenting.

It just mentions him going off and building these pagan things for his wives and being carried away. And even really bad people like Manasseh and some of these other guys, it mentions their repentance late in life. But it doesn't mention anything about Solomon unless this is the mention of it, which is possible. But there's another possibility, and I was thinking about this a little bit more, and it's actually even more tragic. Solomon is the author of this work, and even at the end, there's a question about this very last part. There's an appendage on the end, so people think, well, Solomon just ended here in verse 8, and somebody else wrote the rest of it.

I don't believe that. I believe it's the cohesive work, and that Solomon did put the conclusion on here. However, what is possible is Solomon lived into the 80s or something. It's possible that he wrote this while he was getting old. Maybe he had a time of clarity. Maybe he came to some point where he was able to declare all this, and then maybe even after that, he still botched it. But he just went off, and that is horrible to contemplate. It's very possible, and it certainly is a warning to everyone that even you can come to some kind of clarity and give even something like this, and yet still go off the rails.

We definitely want to keep that in mind. There may be, in the vanity of vanities limit of verse 8 and in much of the book, a sense of catharsis. This is why do you come back and say vanity of vanities again? A catharsis, a purging of emotions by allowing them to well up, giving voice to them, and enabling them to be faced to be dealt with. As we view the negative aspects of the world and our own problems, it's understandable that we would sigh and cry out about how awful it all is.

It's not even healthy to keep it all stuffed down and pretend that everything is all okay. It's needed at times to give vent to frustration and saying how frustrating life is.

Solomon did so, but we feel it right along with him as we read. Of course, we're not to be complainers. We see that in the Bible many times, Philippians 2.14, for instance. We do all things without complaining. But it's right to contemplate and be mournful over the plight of the world and ourselves. We see this in the Psalms, concerning particular circumstances again and again. Here in Ecclesiastes, we see it concerning the whole human condition.

Alas, so much frustration. But this recognition is not to leave us upset or in despair still. It's so we can move past the grief and deal with life and even enjoy it as God is intended. That's what the repeated refrains in the book say. Remember, Solomon said to cheer up and he's repeatedly encouraged us to receive God's gifts with joy.

The preaching the word commentary states on the return to the vanity declaration in verse 8, quote, We should not think, however, that the preacher merely repeats himself. Ecclesiastes 12.8 does bring us back to the same place where we began, but we are not the same people. Really, Ecclesiastes has given us a bigger perspective on life. The preacher has shown us how vain life is. So when we hear him make the same statement at the end of his book, it strikes us with much greater force, end quote. We have indeed seen so much in this book. In fact, maybe the best way to understand verse 8 at this stage of the book is in light of what Solomon has been showing us throughout the book about how worthless and frustrating this life is apart from God.

The same commentary further states, What the preacher mainly wants us to see is how meaningless life is without God, how little joy there is under the sun if we try to leave our Creator out of his universe. And moreover, the book is not quite over yet, as we'll see, vanity does not get the last word, either in the Bible or in the Christian life.

Now some have argued that Ecclesiastes should properly end with this final vanity declaration of verse 8, so that the description of death in the verses immediately preceding verse 8 will be the last things that we originally meant to contemplate. So the idea is that the book is utterly hopeless in the face of inevitable death, that the message here is that this life is all there is, that the book is telling us to try to maybe grab a little pleasure because the course of life is, we live, we suffer, we die, we're gone forever, too bad, so sad. But of course, from everything we've seen in the book up until here, we should realize that this assertion is all nonsense. Let's even note the context of verse 8 following verse 7. The statement here in verse 7, which we just looked at, that the human spirit returns to God shows that there's more to come. The intent of verse 7, as we saw, is indeed to show finality. It's the end of opportunity. Dust returns to dust. The spirit returns to God. God gave life and now God takes it back. It's over. That is what it's intending to say. However, the fact that the spirit goes back to God and is not destroyed from existence is a cause for hope, especially in light of the various places in the book that point to a future day when God will set things right. It will be reiterated in the actual conclusion of the book to follow, which is actually labeled the conclusion, as we'll see, that a day of judgment is coming. There will, in fact, be life beyond this life today under the sun.

Now, what we just saw about dying in verses 5 through 7 of chapter 12 could seem to present a hopeless picture, especially following a miserable depiction of growing old and having discussed so many other problems of this life before that. But recall that the light is still sweet, as said earlier in chapter 11, and there remains life to rejoice in, especially as we contemplate eternity with our Creator. Consider that the following words—and I'd like you to turn over here if you would—hold your place here and turn over to Psalm 71. Let's look at that. Psalm 71. We'll look at the words of the aged psalmist here, who was likely David, Solomon's father, which would mean Solomon knew these words.

These words of seeking God in hope and trust are for all of God's people as we grow old. And we can start here in verse 1, where it says, And we'll skip down to verse 9, too.

And sorry, I just turned off of where I was.

This whole psalm is about this subject in that sense, so it's very good to review that. But down to verse 17, it says, And then verse 20, So that is a wonderful, trusting attitude that we all need to have as we near the end of this life.

But there's something important, going back over here to Ecclesiastes 12, there's something important we need to realize about the poem that describes old age in the beginning of Ecclesiastes 12. It actually points us to the present, as we are not dead yet. And in fact, neither was the psalmist when he wrote the words that we just saw over there in Psalm 71. He hoped in a future resurrection. Yet his words were also meant metaphorically of God's deliverance in this life. You know, when he says, God, you will bring me up from the depths of the earth, he wasn't just saying in the future resurrection, he meant now, in this life. All of us today still have opportunity remaining in our present life under the sun, so we must make the most of it. And when this life does finally end, we know that God's promises endure. For those who trust in God, we know that he will raise us to eternal life with a new body, and then we will be, for time without end, forever young. In light of the image of a rundown house that we saw in the beginning of chapter 12, consider what the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5, verses 1 through 4. I'll just read this to you. 2 Corinthians 5, 1 through 4, for we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house made not with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation from heaven, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. That's what we think of this rundown house of our body. That's not the end of the story. Thinking about a temporary structure to be ultimately replaced by a permanent home, we may recall here the Feast of Tabernacles, or Sukkot, the great harvest and thanksgiving festival observed by the Israelites with temporary dwellings, branches, and fruit. Read about that, of course, in Lev. 23, describes all of that. During which the book of Ecclesiastes is read in Jewish synagogues, and possibly the first occasion for Solomon proclaiming the words of this book to the people of Israel, as we mention at the outset of the series here. The Jews call this festival the season of our rejoicing, because of the repeated commands to rejoice during it before God with food, wine, and fellowship, having gathered in the produce of labor. We say that in Deuteronomy 16, 13-15.

And we should observe the clear parallel with the repeated refrains and Ecclesiastes about enjoyment of these things through God.

The festival also fits well with the fleeting nature of life today. Commentator James Lindberg puts it well in his book, Encountering Ecclesiastes, A Book for Our Time. And I just thought this was extremely well-worded. He said Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, is a celebration of the beauty of things that don't last.

The little hut which is so vulnerable to wind and rain and will be dismantled at week's end. The ripe fruits which will spoil if not picked and eaten right away. The friends who may not be with us for as long as we would wish. And in northern climates, the beauty of the leaves changing color as they begin the process of dying and falling from the trees. Sukkot comes in the fall. Summer is over. And sometimes the evenings are already chilly with the first whispers of winter.

It comes to tell us that the world is full of good and beautiful things, food and wine, flowers and sunsets, and autumn landscapes, and good company to share them with. But that we have to enjoy them right away because they will not last. They will not wait for us to finish other things and get around to them. It is a time to, as it says in Ecclesiastes 9.7, eat our bread and gladness and drink our wine with joy. Not despite the fact that life does not go on forever, but precisely because of that fact, because it does not go on forever, is a time to enjoy happiness with those we love and to realize that we are at a time in our lives when enjoying today means more than worrying about tomorrow.

It is a time to celebrate the fact that we have finally learned what life is about and how to make the most of it." Of course, in observing the Feast of Tabernacles, while we are learning to appreciate our many blessings today, we are also anticipating the permanence of life and joy yet to come. We're very thankful for that knowledge. Finally, we should note here concerning the vanity declaration of Ecclesiastes 12.8 that in repeating the opening statement of the second verse of the book, Solomon bookends his work, thus forming a literary construction that we mentioned earlier, an inclusio, in this case spanning most of the book.

That's where you have the same thing repeated at the end of a section. He has basically brought his treatise to an ending climax, but is now ready to summarize the intent behind his work and what he intends for us to take away from it. Yet in this conclusion, he will not end with what he started with. This was the last mention of vanity or frustration. His final response is on how to face the problem, as pointed to in many prior passages. So I want to look at these verses now.

This is in, we'll look at verses 9. Actually, we'll look at verses to the end of the book, starting in verse 9. And moreover, because the preacher was wise. He still taught the people knowledge. Yes, he pondered and sought out and said in order many proverbs. The preacher sought to find acceptable words, and what was written was upright words of truth. The words of the wise are like goads, and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails given by one shepherd.

And further, my son, be admonished by these, of making many books there's no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God, and keep His commandments. For this is man's all, for God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. So here we are in the final verses of this masterful work.

And as we've seen in verse 8, Solomon returns there to the opening vanity of vanity, all is vanity, as an inclusio, starting and ending a work in similar fashion as a common technique in writing, and public speaking even today, as papers and speeches start with an introduction, culminating in a thesis or proposition being set forth, then give supporting material, then conclude, beginning with a restatement of the initial thesis, and leaving off with the value of what's been said. Another way this formula is described is as follows. Tell them what you're going to tell them.

Tell them, and then tell them what you told them. Solomon began by stating this life is vanity or frustration. He followed with a great deal of evidence to support this proposition, and then he restated it as clearly established. Solomon has certainly shown this life to be terribly vain or frustrating. However, other key themes run throughout his work as well that help us bear up under life's difficulties and frustrations, which is actually the point of the book. These other themes are vital, that vanity refers to life under the sun while man and God are separated, that in the face of life's vanity we need to receive everyday enjoyment of life through God, and that we need to live life in the proper fear of God with focus on what is to come.

Indeed, Solomon does not merely leave us with a restatement of the opening lament.

Yes, it's given as a climax in cathartic vent to how bad things are, as we earlier saw. Yes, it begins a conclusion to the work, serving as a transitional verse in that regard, but no, it does not leave us with hopelessness and nothing else to think about, and no, it is not even the principal focus of the conclusion, as Solomon leaves us with something else for that, as we just read in these verses following. The real conclusion, he tells us very directly in the last two verses, is to fear and obey God, keeping future judgment in mind. And we will give this important ending for the consideration a little bit later when we wrap all this up. Before the last verses, though, we must give attention to the first part of Solomon's epilogue here in verses 9 through 12. And we might notice here that there's sort of a concentric arrangement of material, you know, called the chiasmus or chiasm in the way we set up this poetry. We've got A, B, C, D, C, B, A, or just A, B, B, A, that format. With the opening of the book, Solomon began in Ecclesiastes 1-1 concerning his authorship, the words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. That was the beginning of the book. And then in the next verse, verse 2, he said, vanity of vanities, all is vanity, that declaration. And then now at the end of the book, he in opposite order follows the restatement of vanity of vanities with concluding notes in verses 9 through 12 about his role in credentials in the book's material and the context for it, why he wrote it, as well as the ultimate author behind the work, as we'll see. So it's kind of an A, B, B, A thing on the way it begins. And the way it ends. Now some, I mentioned, argue that the book originally ended with the vanity declaration of verse 8. And they typically view the preacher not as Solomon, but as some later wisdom teacher. And they suggest that verses 9 through 12 were appended by a disciple. And that verses 13 through 14 may have been added later still by a Jewish moralist, wanting to give the book a more biblically normative ending. Part of the basis for this is the third-person description of the preacher. Because they say, well, he was talking to the first person and now it switches to third person because the preacher was wise. He did this. Yet we've seen this in other places, including the opening words of the book, you know, of who he was, was in third person. And I might mention that the people who would contend this about verse 8, verse 8 is in third person. You see that? It says, vanity of vanity says the preacher all is vanity. So that is also... that's not in first person. And then the next verse it switches. 8 is also in third person. So he's kind of just wrapping up the way that the book began. Moreover, in addressing the reader or here as my son in verse 12, notice that in verse 12. And further, my son, you know, the words are clearly meant to be understood as coming from the teacher. In fact, if you look at the book of Proverbs, it's like in there like 21 times or something. My son is all with many Proverbs and statements. He keeps... that's the way the wisdom teacher teaches. And so that would be very odd if this was, you know, somebody else sticking that on here. They're clearly trying to make it look like this is from Solomon. But wouldn't that itself be a deceptive thing if it really wasn't Solomon? It just doesn't seem to be true here.

Another factor is the absence of similar epilogues in other biblical books. That's another reason people give. But many of the Bible's books are unique in some way. And we do find parallels in other ancient literature, like in the instruction of Tahhotep and the instruction of Aani in the Egyptian literature. They have epilogues. And that's set in the same time frame as this works. So there's no real reason to think that this is some kind of correction or contradiction to the earlier parts of the book.

Now, let's note the particular wording in the passage starting in verse 9. It says, and moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge. Yes, he pondered and sought out and set in order many proverbs. Another argument against the preacher having also written these words here is that we would not expect him to be praising himself, saying, Hey, I'm wise!

But that is a mischaracterization of what he's saying. Even if he were noting himself to be wise here, the context would just mean he knew what he should do, continue to teach and gather wisdom to share. But in verse 9 here, this probably actually says, as it could also be translated, that the preacher was a wise man or sage. And various Bible translations say that. That is, he's one of the wise, referring to his role and responsibility. So he wouldn't just really be calling himself wise, but simply a wisdom teacher.

Dr. Kaiser notes, quote, we would argue that the term wise marked him as a member of one of the three great institutions of his day, prophet, priest and wise man. We see those mentioned in Jeremiah 8 and 18 and Ezekiel 7, these three categories. The designation was a technical one, marking him as a member of the wise to whom God gave wisdom, just as the priest had the law and the prophet had the word. Therefore, his claim is no sign that he lacked modesty, for it's a claim that the wisdom and ecclesiastes came from God in a revelation, just as the prophet's word also was given by divine inspiration.

I think that does make sense there. The preacher, in fact, states the source of this wisdom, more overtly, in verse 11 here. Thus, what we read in verse 9 is that Solomon, after all his investigation, coming to terms with the vanity of this life, probably even after having wasted many years living contrary to God, now continued in his role as a wisdom teacher, recognizing it as his responsibility, not just to rule his king, but to teach the people right knowledge and words of true wisdom to remember and pass on.

Verse 10 here in the New King James says, The preacher sought to find acceptable words, and what was written was upright words of truth. And fulfilling his role, Solomon looked through troves of ancient wisdom literature, seeking and putting together just the right words to communicate what was morally upright and true. The phrase acceptable words can be rendered pleasing words, words of delight.

But they are not so pleasing, as Tyndale says, as deceased to be upright. Kaiser comments, there was a careful composing, investigating, and arranging of the proverbs and lessons he wrote. Remember all the way from chapter 9 to the end of the book? It was just basically all proverbs strung together, one after another. This was no haphazard spouting of negative thoughts in negative language, as many imagine of Ecclesiastes.

On the contrary, Solomon deliberately searched for pleasant words or words of grace. In no way can that be a description of the work of a pessimist, nihilist, or Epicurean hedonist, with an eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die mentality. Few passages in the Bible tell us more about the literary method used by the writer. His description removes all doubt about alleged hastyness of thought and expression. The result of his searching for the right words was that he communicated words of truth and not trite remarks.

He wrote in uprightness, that is, in perfect sincerity without any pretense. And the next verse shows the words to be, as with other true wisdom, from the very source of truth. Look, verse 11 here says, The words of the wise are like goads, and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails given by one shepherd. Again, the wise, hakameen plural there, denotes wisdom teachers. The parallel description for them, translated scholars here, is ba'ali asupot, masters of collections or masters of assemblies, which refers either to those skilled in gathering wisdom or to public speakers before audiences, which is close to the meaning of Solomon's self-designation of coelet, of ecclesiastes, of gatherer in that sense.

The words of the wise are like goads, or one who gathers people, an audience, to address it. The goads mentioned here were, in shepherd life, wooden rods with iron points, used to prod the oxen into action or increase speed. So his words are designed to prod the sluggish into action. They goad him to doing something. The New American commentary adds that the goads were to keep the cattle moving in the right direction, and so represent moral guidance and stimulus and human affairs. But the words are not meant just to drive forward and keep in line, but to keep some things fixed in place.

The well-driven nails could be tent pegs, used by shepherds to fasten down their tents, or where people would hang their furnishings. They would put pegs and stuff to hang all their pots and pans and everything else on, and their clothes, and these kind of pegs are also mentioned in the Scriptures. But that would, in that sense, be mental hooks, giving stability and perspective to life. So what we see here is that the words serve multiple helpful purposes to the one who receives them. At one time, they're pricking his conscience, perhaps a single proverb. Another time, they're fixing themselves in the memory, this Kaiser says, like a central nail on which an important everyday article of clothing or cooking are kept.

At the end of verse 11, we are told where the goads and pegs, the words of wisdom, come from. They are, quote, given by one shepherd. That is to say, they all come from the same shepherd. Now, it could be imagined that the preacher is speaking of himself, having gathered so much wisdom from others, and carefully culled and shaped what was valuable, delivering that to his audience.

As a pastor, he was acting as a kind of a shepherd of people. And he'd also identified himself at the beginning of the book as king over Israel in Jerusalem, which is clearly Solomon. And kings in the ancient world were often portrayed as shepherds. You see the pharaoh image with the hook and flail. These are shepherd images. Scripture presents Israel's leaders as shepherds. However, these were said to be shepherds over God's flock, the Israelite kings, as he was the ultimate shepherd, as it says in Ezekiel 34. Solomon, having sat on the throne of the Lord as king, it says in 1 Corinthians 29, 23, consider furthermore that Solomon has not referred to himself as shepherd, but as preacher or gatherer up to this point in the book, including twice in the previous two verses.

He didn't all of a sudden call himself that again. As the preaching the word commentary states, what seems more likely is that the shepherd is none other than God himself, which is why the term is capitalized in the English Standard Version and some other translations. This is the first time that the title shepherd has appeared in Ecclesiastes, which seems to distinguish the shepherd from the preacher rather than to identify the two.

Furthermore, shepherd is one of the noble titles for God in the Old Testament, not only in Psalm 23, but also in a place like Psalm 80, where he's called the shepherd of Israel. Thus, the one shepherd in Ecclesiastes and only shepherd, God Almighty. So what we're being told in verse 11 then is that the wisdom that's being communicated comes from God, even if collected from others, as God is the real author of wisdom and is the one causing it to be compiled and presenting it for the benefit of those receiving it.

And I will end here for this time, and I believe we will next time finally finish this awesome work of the book of Ecclesiastes.