Podcast 86 Ecclesiastes, “Pt 1”

King Solomon, son of David, the last king of a united Israel, is known for his wisdom. Also famous for building King Soloman’s temple, he is the author of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Songs of Solomon. Thank you for joining Linda and me as we discuss Ecclesiastes, an incredibly rich book from the mind and heart of one of the Lord’s anointed Kings who helped shaped the world.

Ecclesiastes 1:1

The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

Ecclesiastes is written as if King Solomon is an old man looking back on his life, perhaps with some regret for his life has been far from perfect. Solomon inherited an empire built largely by his father, the warrior king David, who also collected the materials for the temple. Tragedy followed the first king, Saul, then David, and then Solomon, fulfilling the prophesy of Samuel that a curse would be on Israel if they selected kings over judges.

1 Samuel 8:11-18

And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day.

That is exactly what happened, particularly under King Solomon. In fact, the twelve tribes split after the Death of King Solomon because Rehoboam (about 931 BC), Solomon’s son who replaced his father, would not reduce the taxes. The ten northern tribes, consisting of Reuben, Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Ephraim & Manasseh, followed Jeroboam 1, and the southern tribes followed Rehoboam. The southern tribes consisted of Judah and Benjamin and the greater part of the tribe of Levi who exercised the priesthood. Samaria became the capital of the northern tribes, also referred to as Ephraim or Israel. Jerusalem remained the capital of the southern tribes, also referred to as Judah. The tribes became enemies and often tried to destroy each other. That split led to their total downfall. First the Northern tribes became scattered and lost to the world after being conquered by the Assyrians; next the southern tribes became scattered throughout the world after being captured by the Romans. The nation of Israel was lost.

Fortunately, we have many of the words of both David, the Psalmist, and Solomon, the Preacher. Some of King Solomon’s most famous lines are,

Ecclesiastes 1:2

Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

Think about King Solomon, perhaps the richest man on earth, summing up his life in such a simple word as ‘vanity.’ He captures the concept of vanity so beautifully.

Ecclesiastes 1:3-4

What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.

Of all the doctrines of King Solomon, perhaps none is greater than his observation above, “The earth abideth forever.” He anticipates John the Revelator by a thousand years.