Part 2 of 8 of the theme "Lessons from Ecclesiastes.' by Gijs van den Brink
The first theme the preacher addresses is that life is empty and fleeting. It is the main theme of the book as expressed in 1:2 "Volatility of volatility," that is, the utmost volatility, the utmost emptiness.
The preacher specifically mentions two drives in this regard, the pursuit of knowledge (1:13-14) and the pursuit of wealth (2:9-11). It is air and emptiness, is empty and meaningless, it cannot give your life satisfaction. He keeps repeating it many times. And even if you obtain wealth, you are not sure to be able to keep it or pass it on to your children. Nor is wealth going to bring you complete life fulfillment and joy (2:1-11, 17-23; 4:7-8; 5:10-17; 6:1-6). With that, the book seems to have a pessimistic tone. But that has a purpose, which is to make believing readers aware of wrong expectations, wrong dreams and false hopes.
The preacher emphasizes that your life and everything that exists passes very quickly. The main problem of man who would like to have a good life is the refusal to accept that he dies. The preacher goes out of his way to convince people of this.
Above all, it is death that indicates that a man is not equal to God. Death ultimately brings the wise and the fool to the same place (2:14-16). And that makes the accumulation of wealth an empty and meaningless thing (2:17-23). The reality of death substantiates the preacher's view of life that it is better to be content and enjoy life and live each day in joy and gratitude to God.
Next time: Part 3 of the series of lessons from Ecclesiastes is entitled Enjoy life ?
See also: Part 1 of 8 of the theme 'Lessons from Ecclesiastes' Does life have meaning?
Author: Gijs van den Brink
From: Study Bible Magazine
This is part 2 of 7 concise blog on the topic "Lessons from Ecclesiastes" from Study Bible Magazine, Some of which we will be posting online in the near future. We hope this will help you understand the Bible better!
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