Ecclesiastes 1:1-2 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.

INTRODUCTION

Good morning, Grace. To be honest, it’s been a while since I’ve been this excited to start preaching through a book of the Bible. I think the main reason for my extra excitement is that in a truly unique way (which becomes apparent almost immediately when you begin to read it) Ecclesiastes directly, unblinkingly, honestly, and unashamedly addresses two of the most significant questions for all mankind. It addresses two questions that most of us have felt in our bones for our whole lives. Questions that are at the heart of all the pastoral counseling I’ve done, every bump in every relationship, every pursuit and loss of pleasure, and every believer and unbeliever’s longing for understanding:

1) What is the world like, and 2) What can we do about it?

More specifically, regarding the first question, Ecclesiastes observes, asks, and attempts to answer (over and over and over): Why is life often so frustrating, so disappointing, so confusing, so inefficient, so lonely, so discouraging, so unjust, so short, so tragic, so harsh, unpredictable, so fleeting? Why is it often so hard to experience any prolonged joy, peace, clarity, perspective, or contentment?

And perhaps even more importantly, Ecclesiastes also attempts to answer the question of what we ought to do about the fact that the world is like that? How should we/can we live in a world like the one we’re in?

On one level, there is a heavy, heavy dose of sobriety in Ecclesiastes. It just isn’t a happy book. Nevertheless, I’m excited to spend the next (not sure how) many months working through it with you all because it provides great clarity, which is a far greater gift than fleeting happiness. What’s more, it provides clarity for everyone.

If you are a Christian, you will find immense help in this book to understand the world around you, your experiences in it, as well as how to live an abundant life within it.

If you are a skeptical, board teenager or young adult, you will quickly find that Ecclesiastes explains why you are always trying to find something fun, but that the fun is never quite as fun as you’d hoped and never lasts as long as you want.

And, at the exact same time, if you are the most ardent atheist, you will find that Ecclesiastes deals with the world as it is in a way that you’ll certainly find refreshing. It does not deny, but affirms many of the exact things that drive you to disbelief in God. It joins you in your sense of skepticism and futility, but it doesn’t stay there.

The main message of Ecclesiastes is that under the sun, all is vanity, but there is more than meets the eye in God’s world. The Preacher gives us glimpses of what the rest of the Bible (the NT in particular) makes crystal clear: above the sun is glory beyond imagination. Sin has made it so that we cannot see above apart from God’s help. God’s grace has made it so that we can live below in fullness of joy. The main takeaways are to ask God to help us see the glory above and to live according to His promises as we wait for His answer below.

THE PREACHER

There are three main parts to this sermon. We’ll consider the author of Ecclesiastes, the main themes of Ecclesiastes (the perspective of the Preacher), and the main message of Ecclesiastes. Having started at the end (with the main message and takeaway of Ecclesiastes), let’s back up a bit. I want to show you where I got that from the text, beginning with the author. Of that, I’d like to point out five things.

The Preacher

First, Ecclesiastes begins by naming the author (sort of). As we heard Jen read and as you can see on the screen behind me in v.1, Ecclesiastes contains “the words of the Preacher”. That title (and no other) is mentioned six other times as well.

The word “Preacher” is a translation of the Hebrew, “Qoheleth.” “Ecclesiastes” is the Greek translation. That might sound familiar to you (beyond the title of this book). “Ecclesiastes” comes from the same root as “Ecclesia,” the Greek word that we translate “church”. The basic meaning of the root (in both Hebrew and Greek) is “assembly” (which is what a church is).

The literal meaning in both the Hebrew and Greek is something like “assembly addresser”. And because the term has religious connotations, the idea is “One who addresses a religious assembly.” That’s why the ESV translates it “the Preacher.”

In other words, “Qoheleth” (the Preacher) is almost certainly not a person’s name, but a title.

Traditionally Understood to be Solomon

That leads to the second key regarding the author of Ecclesiastes. Who is “the Preacher”? It’s an understatement to say that there’s been a lot of discussion and debate on this question.

The traditional view has been that King Solomon was the Preacher. This idea derives from numerous passages.

“The son of David, King in Jerusalem” (1:1).

“I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem” (1:12).

“And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven” (1:13).

“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” (1:16).

And when we compare the things the Preacher did in 2:4-9 with the description of the things Solomon did in 1 Kings 3-4, and the proverbs of Ecclesiastes with the Proverbs of Solomon, it’s hard not to make the connection.

Whether Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes or not—that is, whether He is the Preacher or not—it is clear that whoever did purposefully wrote with Solomonic wisdom and voice; that is, Ecclesiastes is clearly written from the perspective of Solomon. That is not to say that the author (if not Solomon) was attempting to deceitfully pass himself off as Solomon, only that he understood that Solomon was the best person to speak to the issues at hand. This was not uncommon in the ancient world.

Purposefully Anonymous

I think the next two points are far more important than definitively answering the questions of who the Preacher was. The third thing to see in the way of authorship, then, is that Ecclesiastes is purposefully anonymous.

We can rest easy not knowing for sure who wrote it because, under the inspiration of God, a title is used (“the Preacher”) where a name could have been provided. If we needed to know who, specifically, wrote Ecclesiastes we would have been told. In that way, Ecclesiastes is like the NT book of Hebrews.

Inspired by God

The fourth point and the most important aspect of the authorship of Ecclesiastes, however, is found at the very end of the book. In 12:11, we’re told, “The words of the wise … are given by one Shepherd [that is, God Himself].”

It is often helpful to know the human author of the books of the Bible, but the most important thing, every time, is the fact that they wrote under God’s inspiration. That seems to me to be of particular importance in Ecclesiastes because it’s such an unusual book and because Ecclesiastes asks questions that we need the rest of God’s Word to answer.

Frame Narrator

There’s one more item of note here. You may have noticed that 1:1-11 and 12:9-14 (along with 7:27) are written in third person (he, the Preacher) while the rest is written in first person (I, the Preacher). Some have suggested that the beginning and end were written by someone that scholars call the “frame narrator,” someone who compiled and framed up the words of the Preacher.

This matters on some level when it comes to interpretation (which I’ll point out at the very end of the book), but what matters most, once again, is that whether there is one human voice or two in Ecclesiastes, the most important and guiding voice is God’s.

Ecclesiastes is in the Bible not because of the wishes of the Preacher, Solomon, the frame narrator, or anyone else under the sun. It is in the Bible because it is the Word of God, maker of heave and earth.

Grace, as I mentioned earlier, I have a particular affinity for Ecclesiastes because of its blunt honesty. I resonate with this book because the author keeps pushing. As I read Ecclesiastes, and as I encountered the Preacher’s peeling back layer after layer, I kept cheering him on. Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” But I’ve always responded with, “Yeah, but I know parents who did and kids who didn’t.” Early on, that made me nervous. My assumption was always that the word of God was right and I was wrong, but I wanted to understand better. That seems to be the disposition of the Preacher as well. I wasn’t sure at first if that was OK, but books like Ecclesiastes helped me to learn that there is a way to honor God in seeking understanding.

THE PREACHER’S PERSPECTIVE

One of the biggest questions—probably the biggest, actually—that we need to settle on in Ecclesiastes is the main message of the book. What’s Ecclesiastes all about? I shared some of my thoughts on that at the beginning, and I’m going to come back to it in greater detail at the end, but in order to get there we need to consider the Preacher’s perspective. How does he see the world?

Vanity Below, Glory Above