Intro to Ecclesiastes

Vanity of vanities… Ecclesiastes 1

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

Preacher: qu-he-let: Ecclesiastes - leader or speaker of the assembly.

The Hebrew title of the book is “Qoheleth.” The word “Qoheleth,” from which the name “Ecclesiastes” derives, has been variously explained as a personal name, a nom de plume, an acronym, and a function. The difficulty of comprehending the meaning of the word “Qoheleth” is compounded by the fact that it seems to be understood differently within the book itself, where “Qoheleth” has the article at least once (12:8, although the same verse occurs in 1:2 where Qoheleth lacks the article). In all likelihood, the article also appears in 7:27, where “Qoheleth” has a feminine verb form, although the word “Qoheleth” is otherwise always construed as a masculine. The LXX supports a redivision of the consonants in 7:27, yielding ʾmr hqhlt (“says the Qoheleth”).

The name occurs seven times:

The words of Qoheleth son of David, King in Jerusalem (1:1)

The ultimate absurdity, says Qoheleth, the ultimate absurdity; everything is absurd (1:2).

I Qoheleth have been king over Israel in Jerusalem (1:12).

Look, I have discovered this—says Qoheleth—[adding] one to one in order to find the sum (7:27)

The ultimate absurdity, says the Qoheleth, everything is absurd (12:8).

In addition to the fact that Qoheleth was a sage, he also taught the people knowledge (12:9a–b).

Qoheleth sought to find pleasing words and accurately wrote down trustworthy sayings (12:10).

Son of David, king in jerusalem. The author has always been presented as Solomon. Both by rabbis, scribes, scholars and pastors. The preacher is the king and son of David was the king who is his daddy

Now just for beans, H/T to 2 Kings 18. just saying David was his dad doesn't mean he was. Other kings said that David was his father though wasn’t. Because they were spiritually more like that than other others.

Jesus was called son of David, Joseph (Jesus earthly)

The king - 2 Kings 18:1–2  “ Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah.”

2 Kings 18:3  “ And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.” 2 Kings 18:4–7  “ He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden image and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan. 5 He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him. 6 For he held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses. 7 The Lord was with him; he prospered wherever he went. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.”

Rather than say Ahaz was his father, he appealed to his ancestor, his true king, David.

Ecclesiastes 1:2  “ “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.””

Ultimate absurdity one translation said. He-bel: breath, vanity, idols. That which is meaningless, absurd. Its also translate in the NKJ as futility, vapor, empty, and so on.

Ecclesiastes 1:3–11 

3 What profit has a man from all his labor In which he toils under the sun? 

4 One generation passes away, and another generation comes; But the earth abides forever. 

5 The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, And hastens to the place where it arose. 

6 The wind goes toward the south, And turns around to the north; The wind whirls about continually, And comes again on its circuit. 

7 All the rivers run into the sea, Yet the sea is not full; To the place from which the rivers come, There they return again. 

8 All things are full of labor; Man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing. 

9 That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun. 

10 Is there anything of which it may be said, “See, this is new”? It has already been in ancient times before us. 

11 There is no remembrance of former things, Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come By those who will come after.

One of the things you teach people to get to know the text is to say it in your own words.

what do you really profit from, working day to day? people come, people go, but the planet keeps spinning. Sun goes up/down. The winds blow, The rivers run, everything keeps going. We keep working sometimes without knowing why, never satisfied with what we see/hear. Its always something else. But always the same old thing. Everything is old news new news. But we always forget.