Things You Need to Know... from Ecclesiastes
Notes
Transcript
1 Tim 4:13 We are commanded to do the public the public reading of scripture in our worship services.
Sometimes we forget that it is the word of God that has power. We may have even mistakenly thought that the power is in the preaching. It is not. It is the word of God that gives power to the preaching of the word of God. Do not worship the light bulb and think that the lamp or the light socket is of little value. The preacher is simply a dim bulb, useless unless connected to the true source of power.
Listen or read along with the ESV. Don’t use a different translation - it will distract you.
The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
The Title: Ecclesiastes
The title Ecclesiastes is an anglicized or transliterated word. Just as baptism is the greek word baptizo, which means to immerse or plunge a person or thing fully under the water, Ecclesiastes is from the Greek word ekklesia which means assembly.
The title - the word Preacher - ekklesia - assembly ekklesiastes (grk), Qoholeth - hebrew - both words mean assembly or may the title of one who addresses the assembly. used also in 12:8, the title
The Book of Ecclesiastes
Antiligomena - too pessimistic
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon - wisdom literature, the problem of practical application
The ESV Study Bible Purpose, Occasion, and Background
Proverbs is the prime example of “Wisdom Literature” in the OT, the other books being Job, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon, together with the wisdom psalms (e.g., Psalm 112). In the NT, James is usually counted as a wisdom book, and parts of Jesus’ teaching belong in this category as well. (See Introduction to the Poetic and Wisdom Literature.)
It is sometimes said that the Wisdom Literature is separate from the rest of the OT, lacking an interest in God’s choice of Israel and his overarching purpose for the nations, the law, the temple and priesthood, and sacred history. Wisdom Literature, it is said, is more about living in the creation than it is about God’s work of redemption. This is a false opposition for several reasons.
First, the OT presents God’s redemption as restoring the damaged creature, man, to his proper functioning (as set out in the creation narrative of Genesis). This covenant given through Moses does not specify all of God’s rules; its purpose is to set out the constitution of the theocracy, to give general moral guidance, and to provide a system by which God’s people can know his forgiveness.
Solomon
The Solomon of 1 Kings
At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.”
Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?”
And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore, so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt.
He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005.
The Solomon of Ecclesiastes
The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.
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.”
So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil.
Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.
In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.
Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him.
Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.
Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;
Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.
The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
(1) Even the greatest of men need Christ
(2) A life lived without Christ is an unfulfilled life
(3) The richest of theology may be the most sobering theology
the vanity of life, the futility of life, the evil in the world, the evil in the heart, the shortness of life, the unfairness of life
the sovereignty of God is not always what we would want to experience
(4) We must see Christ in the Book of Ecclesiastes
not leaping off the page, not twisted into verses like 4:9-12 - two are better than one, the threefold cord.
The value of opposites in Bible study: Jesus did live a life of vanity. Jesus, as the perfect God man, did not seek pleasure to find purpose.
Jesus is to be revered. Jesus lived in full relationship with God the Father and God the Spirit.
Ecc 7:2 - Jesus went to the mourning and the broken. Blessed are those who mourn
Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.
The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
