Jul 22 2018 Wisdom: Intro to Ecclesiastes

The book of Ecclesiastes explained – the BibleProject.com

Over the next 6 weeks, we will be working through the book of Ecclesiastes – we’ve looked at Proverbs on and off, we’ve looked at Job – and now we are looking at Ecclesiastes.
Proverbs says… Live the way of wisdom, and life will be good, and things will make sense.
Job says… Sometimes when you live the way of wisdom, things don’t work out, for no apparent reason
Ecclesiastes says… If you live the way of wisdom (or not) the world, life, and God do not work out; nothing makes sense – and none of it can be trusted – at least, that is what it appears to say.
These books are meant to work together – giving a broad sense of wisdom. To be wise, we need to understand all 3 perspectives. Ecclesiastes is not the primary voice of Biblical wisdom, but it is a legitimate and important voice that we must hear.
I used to practice “A proverb a day” – whatever day of the month it is – read that Proverb. – But I would encourage you – if you do this – at least once/year – read Ecclesiastes and Job to balance it out.
Ecclesiastes is tough for black and white, all or nothing, literalistic thinkers. It is a hard book for certainty seekers. Wisdom teaches us that God is relational and relationships are not always black and white.
The purpose of the book can be found in the first few verses:
The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2 "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher, "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.“ (NAS)
Vanity appears about 40 times. He talked about it being enigma or paradox – some say absurd. The meaning of the word has changed – many think of it as self-absorption – like Carly Simon’s You’re so vain – you probably think this song is about you, don’t you, don’t you.
But Paul uses the word vanity a different way – because of the resurrection, your labor is not in vain in the Lord – it is filled with purpose and lasts – and Ecclesiastes talks about vanity – no purpose and it does not last. We try so hard and things don’t last – and even when things work out, we die – lose everything – and are forgotten forever. Encouraging message! That seems to be the message of The Teacher in Ecclesiastes – It seems to contradict biblical wisdom. It gives us practical perspective on wisdom – not theological – and it teaches us two things: when things fall apart and no longer make sense – the only response can be to fall on our knees before God.
The second thing it teaches – focus on death so we might learn to live in the present – that we might
Seize the day! As the phrase goes – to take hold of every moment.
Ecclesiastes also confronts a false and oversimplified theological perspective.
Ecclesiastes 1:12 I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven. It is a grievous task which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with…
16 I said to myself, "Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge."


What this king has done: he has given himself to study and in that study has developed some strong and solid understanding and conviction of how faith and how God works in this world – under the sun – but his experience and reality do not match his great learning and Biblical understanding – and what happens – it creates a crisis of faith in this teacher. It will happen to all of us at some point. Our understanding of how life and God works will not match our experience and our reality at some point.
Tim Mackey – the theologian who does the talking in the BibleProject videos – he calls it the myth of religious fulfillment – (this was huge when Ecclesiastes was written -and it is even huger (I know you shouldn’t say it that way!) but it is huger now) – If I am a good Christian, my life will be better, I will be happier, and things will work out! That is the myth of religious fulfillment.
We even incorporate this into our gospel presentation – don’t we? If you come to Jesus – you will be happier. But this creates a flawed contract – if I am a good Christian, then God’s role is to do his part – to make me happy! Ecclesiastes (and Jesus Himself) would say that is a flawed Biblical faith expectation – and it is even bigger and more compelling than God making me happy and everything working out nice! And we ask – what is bigger and more compelling than me being happy? That is what we will find out. Because there is something much bigger and better and more compelling than that!
Lord, thank You, as we began and touched this book this morning- we look forward to how we can be your servants and live a compelling life through this book – in Your name we pray…

Script from The Bible Project overview of the Book of Ecclesiastes

The book of Ecclesiastes. It’s part of the Bible’s wisdom literature
and it opens with this line:
The words of “Qohelet”, the son of David, king in Jerusalem
Now in Hebrew the word “Qohelet” means someone who has gathered people together
and in this case it’s to learn so it’s often translated in english as teacher
and the teacher said to be a son or a descendant of King David
and so there are different views about who this figure might have been
Many think that it refers to King Solomon
Others to maybe one of the later kings of David’s line
and still others think that it’s actually a later Israelite teacher
who has adopted a Solomon like persona as a teaching aid
whichever of these uses correct the key thing is to recognize that the teacher is a character in the book
and is different than the author of the book who remains anonymous
so we do here the teachers voice for most of the book but it’s actually a different voice, the author
who introduces us to the teacher in the first sentence
and then at the end concludes the book by summarizing and evaluating everything the teacher just said
so the author is someone who wants us to hear all that the teacher has to say and
then help us process it and form our own conclusion
so what does the teacher have to say
Well the author summarizes the teacher’s basic message at the beginning and right at the end
and it’s “Hevel”, “Hevel”, Everything is utterly “Hevel”
Now most English Bibles translate this word “Hevel” as meaningless
but that doesn’t quite capture the heart of the idea
In Hebrew, “Hevel” literally means vapor or smoke
and the teacher uses this word 38 times in the book as a metaphor
to describe how life is first of all temporary or fleeting like a wisp of smoke
but secondly also how life is an enigma or a paradox
Like smoke, it appears solid but when you try and grab onto it there’s nothing there
So there’s so much beauty or goodness in the world
but just when you’re enjoying it tragedy strikes and it all seems to blow away
We all have a strong sense of justice but all the time bad things happen to good people
so life is constantly is unpredictable
It’s unstable or in the teachers words like chasing after the wind, “Hevel”
now that’s kind of a downer so why is he saying all of this
the authors basic goal is to target all of the ways
that we try to build meaning and purpose in our lives apart from God
and he lets the teacher deconstruct these
So the author thinks we spend most of our time investing energy and emotion in things
that ultimately have no lasting meaning or significance
and he lets the teacher give us a hard lesson in reality
you can see this most clearly in the opening and closing poems
which focus first of all on time and then on death
so the teacher says you can spend your whole life working and achieving
because you think that makes your life meaningful
you should really stop and consider the march of time
For all of the human effort that takes place in the world, nothing really ever changes
So sure! We develop technology
and we build nations that rise and fall
but go climb a mountain and see if it cares
it was there long before any of us and it will be here long after
I mean no one’s even going to remember you or anything you did a hundred years from now
But that mountain it’ll still be there
and the ocean will still be breaking on the beach
and the Sun will still rise and set
and so time will eventually erase you and me and everything that we care about
and if that’s not disheartening enough
the teacher also can’t stop talking about death all the way through the book
but especially in this poem near the end he says death is the great equalizer and
it renders meaningless most of our daily activities it devours the wise and the
fool the rich and the poor no matter who you are
what you’ve done good or bad we’re all going to die and it’s inescapable
So with these two ideas in hand the teacher goes on to consider all the activities
and false hopes that we invest our lives in to find meaning and significance
like wealth or career or social status or pleasure
So you think working hard is going to make life worth it
think about the stress and the toll that takes on you all the anxiety and the sleepless nights
and by the time you actually earned some wealth
you’re going to be too old enjoy it anyway
and then by the time that you have to pass it on to someone
they may not even be someone who cares about anything that you did
or maybe you think pleasure is going to make life worth it for you
go for it you know live for your vacations live for the weekend party
monday always comes
“Hevel”, “Hevel”, everything is utterly “Hevel”
so what does the teacher advocate then
that we become pure hedonists or relativist
Well No! that would be “Hevel” too
the teacher acknowledges the ideas from Proverbs that living by wisdom and the fear of the Lord
that these have real advantages on the whole life will probably go better for you
See that the problem is that even living by wisdom and the fear of the Lord
they’re “Hevel” too- because they don’t guarantee a good life
Good people died tragically and horrible people live long and prosper
There’s just too many exceptions and so even wisdom is “Hevel”
Again not meaningless but an enigma
wisdom doesn’t work the way you think it should all of the time
so what’s the way forward in the midst of all this “Hevel”
and here paradoxically, the teacher discovers the key to the true enjoyment of life under the Sun
it’s accepting “Hevel”
it’s acknowledging that everything in your life is totally out of your control
about six different times at some of the bleakest moments in his monologue
the teacher talks about the gift of God
which is the enjoyment of simple good things in life
like friendship or family a good meal or a sunny day
you can’t control these things you’re certainly not guaranteed them
but that’s their beauty when I come to adopt a posture of total trust in God
it frees me to simply enjoy my life as I actually experience it
not as I think it ought to be
because even my expectations about what life ought to be are ultimately
“Hevel”, “Hevel”, everything under the Sun is utterly “Hevel”
and so the teachers words come to a close
right here at the end the author speaks up again
and he brings it all to a conclusion
he says the teachers words are very important for us to hear
he liked into them to a shepherd’s staff with a goat too pointy end
which might hurt when it pokes you
but he says the teacher is trying to poke you to get you to move in the right direction towards greater wisdom
the author then warns us that you can actually take the teachers words too far
and you could spend your whole life buried in books
trying to answer life’s existential puzzles
Don’t try~ he says you’ll never get there
and so instead the author offers his own conclusion
and it’s this: Fear God and keep his Commandments
this is the whole duty of humans
For God will bring every deed into judgment every hidden thing whether good or evil
and so the author thinks it’s good to let the teacher challenge your false hopes
and remind you that time and death make most of life completely out of your control
but what gives life true meaning is the hope of God’s judgment
the hope that one day God will clear away all of the “Hevel”
and bring true justice to our world and it’s that hope
that should fuel a life of honesty and integrity before God
despite the fact that I remain puzzled by most of life’s mysteries
and that’s the wisdom of the book of Ecclesiastes