For the next few months before Christmas, I will be
preaching through the book of Ecclesiastes.
The next few blogs will be given to discussing the enigmatic but very
relevant book of the Bible. This book is part of what is called the ‘wisdom
literature’ of the Bible that also includes Psalms, Proverbs and Job. The broad purpose of wisdom literature is to
help a person live life well. Part of
living life well is believing that without God, this world and everything in it
is ultimately without meaning—it is vanity.
The author, who calls himself Qohelet—the
Preacher uses the word “vanity” 35 times in this short book. The Hebrew word is not easy to translate. It carries the idea that life is a vapor, it
is temporary or ephemeral. It’s like the fog you exhale on a cold
day. It hangs in the air for a brief
moment and then disappears without a trace left behind. Vanity also carries the idea of incomprehensibility. There are so many questions in life that are
unanswerable. Finally, it carries the
idea of futility. There is a futility in life without God that
can cause a person to wonder, “Why should
I put all my energies into anything in this life when in the end everything
just dies or wears out?” This almost
comprehensively negative tone of Ecclesiastes has caused scholars and laymen
alike to describe it as; “the strangest
book in the Bible.” Or, “the most puzzling book in the Bible” or
“an enigma, a mystery.” It’s helpful to compare Ecclesiastes with
other wisdom books. Mark Dever says, “If the book of Proverbs is about wisdom for
people who want success, the book of
Ecclesiastes offers wisdom for people who have
success.” This book is written from
the perspective of a man who has known every pleasure and benefit this world
can enjoy and can say from experience that it is all ultimately
meaningless. To compare Ecclesiastes
with Job, Dever says, “Job learned the
vanity of this world by losing it
all; the Preacher saw it by having
it all.”[1]
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