Ecclesiastes 1 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Ecclesiastes 1

All Is Vanity

1:1 The words of the Preacher,¹ the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

2   Vanity² of vanities, says the Preacher,
    vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
3   What does man gain by all the toil
    at which he toils under the sun?
4   A generation goes, and a generation comes,
    but the earth remains forever.
5   The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
    and hastens³ to the place where it rises.
6   The wind blows to the south
    and goes around to the north;
  around and around goes the wind,
    and on its circuits the wind returns.
7   All streams run to the sea,
    but the sea is not full;
  to the place where the streams flow,
    there they flow again.
8   All things are full of weariness;
    a man cannot utter it;
  the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
    nor the ear filled with hearing.
9   What has been is what will be,
    and what has been done is what will be done,
    and there is nothing new under the sun.
10   Is there a thing of which it is said,
    “See, this is new”?
  It has been already
    in the ages before us.
11   There is no remembrance of former things,⁴
    nor will there be any remembrance
  of later things⁵ yet to be
    among those who come after.

The Vanity of Wisdom

12 I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I applied my heart⁶ to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 14 I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity⁷ and a striving after wind.⁸

15 What is crooked cannot be made straight,
and what is lacking cannot be counted.

16 I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.

18 For in much wisdom is much vexation,
and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

Footnotes

[1] 1:1 Or Convener, or Collector; Hebrew Qoheleth (so throughout Ecclesiastes)
[2] 1:2 The Hebrew term hebel, translated vanity or vain, refers concretely to a “mist,” “vapor,” or “mere breath,” and metaphorically to something that is fleeting or elusive (with different nuances depending on the context). It appears five times in this verse and in 29 other verses in Ecclesiastes
[3] 1:5 Or and returns panting
[4] 1:11 Or former people
[5] 1:11 Or later people
[6] 1:13 The Hebrew term denotes the center of one’s inner life, including mind, will, and emotions
[7] 1:14 The Hebrew term hebel can refer to a “vapor” or “mere breath” (see note on 1:2)
[8] 1:14 Or a feeding on wind; compare Hosea 12:1 (also in Ecclesiastes 1:17; 2:11, 17, 26; 4:4, 6, 16; 6:9)

Commentary

v1: Solomon the preacher, see v12. The Hebrew title of the book was Koheleth, the preacher.

In Every Good Endeavour, Tim Keller comments: ' Old Testament scholar Tremper Longman points out that there was a literary form at that time called "fictional autobigraphy." In this form, the writer could introduce a fictional character, give a description of his or her life's course, and then conclude with general thoughts and teachings drawn from the case study of the recounted life.'

v2: The preacher's 'text' and summary, the subject of the whole book. Today we may speak of nihilism and anarchy. Similar phrases occur around 40 times in the book.

v3-11: The cycle of life without God; life only has meaning because God exists. Unless God is present, life truly is "meaningless" or 'vanity of vanities'. While life is only that which is "under the sun," it must remain meaningless. This phrase, or similar, occurs more than 30 times.

Creation itself continues in cycles, the sun, wind, water, and human life follows a similar pattern. Material gain is worthless if a man loses his soul (Mark 8.32; 1 Tim 6.7).

The lessons of the past are not learned, and we therefore inevitably repeat the mistakes of the past.

v12-18: Solomon set his heart to know wisdom, and even to understand madness and folly, but such knowledge for its own sake brings only grief and sorrow; contrast Prov 1.5; 9.9.

In Prov 4.7, the same writer, Solomon, had urges his readers to seek wisdom above all things. Yet here, as his gaze turned from God to himself. Without God, wisdom proves useless.

Whilst Proverbs insists on a real personal commitment to God, Ecclesiastes is the sad experience of the backslider, the one who departs from God.

Solomon had attained and gained and understood, yet the result was a grasping for the wind, with grief and sorrow; it is often the open hand, rather than the grasped fist, which holds more.