I am going to post a video because I think people are behind. The Summer months for some reason make us say “I will read later”….and then we don’t. If you didn’t read these 12 chapters, pop your device up…and while cooking, folding laundry, or just taking a break, watch this”
2 Video Options: (I liked them both so I couldn’t pick one)
I posted an Overview last night if you didn’t see it.
I am NOT going to preach during this post about how LIfe without the Lord will never bring us satisfaction: I will let you dig into the scriptures and hear that from HIm.
Solomon sits and investigates not just his life, but everyone’s life. Psalm 144:4 says:
4 They are like a breath;
their days are like a fleeting shadow.
Man do I feel it! I am at a point in my life when I think I am wasting the time I have on earth. I am 48 years old and lay in bed thinking…Wow, in 10 years I will be 58. In 20 years…will I still be alive? Time is fleeting! I heard a pastor once say the most important thing in your life is the “dash” on your tombstone. 1973 – ?. The “dash” between the dates sums up your life.
Solomon sits here and investigates his dash. “I saw”, “I realized”, I concluded”. In the end, he summarizes in Chapter 2:15-16 that both the wise and the fool both die, life’s great equalizer. BUT we start to see glimpses that Solomon knows the secret of the “dash” in 2:24
A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?
Chapter 3: Time- this IS the dash. Solomon begins to examine that we all do have seasons in our life. This might be a familiar chapter to read if you are old enough to have seen the first footloose.
In each verse, there is a “favorable” and an “unfavorable” but the conclusion for both comes in verse 10:
He has made everything beautiful in its time.
I have read this book several times, and I always look at it as “what is my purpose during this time”, but this year something else stood out….what is NOT my purpose. 2021 is a crazy year! But I take comfort in this:
16 And I saw something else under the sun:
In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,
in the place of justice—wickedness was there.
17 I said to myself,
“God will bring into judgment
both the righteous and the wicked,
for there will be a time for every activity,
a time to judge every deed.”
Chapter 4- Solomon begins with examining society. Chapter 4:1-3 should hurt your heart it is so true. The human race as a whole, ignoring the oppressed, makes Solomon jealous of those who were never born because they never had to witness it with their own eyes! Ouch!
Solomon examines everything. By verse 4 he looks at our “work” and how God has designed us to work together. He designed us to pick each other up, keep each other safe, and protect us when we are attacked.
9 Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labor:
10 If either of them falls down,
one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
and has no one to help them up.
11 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
12 Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
Chapter 5. Read this carefully, money this is NOT the root of all evil. This attitude is about our heart, our attitude, towards money.
Verse 10-12 is the introduction to the “love of money”
Verse 13-17 is the effect of living an empty life when we put love first.
Verse 18-20 is the opposite. When it is NOT, the love of our life God will bring gladness in our heart from the profit of our heard work.
Finally, chapter 6 is our turning point for tomorrow’s read: End with verse 9 BUT then tomorrow start at verse 10…See you tomorrow.
Ecclesiastes in Hebrew means Koheleth “to bring together” “to assemble” but the Greek translation is Qoheleth meaning Teacher, Preacher, Speaker, or Philosopher. This book was written by Solomon about 1000 years before Christ. The theme of this book is going to be very human to us: What is the meaning of Life? What is the point of living? Is this all there is to Life?
Ecclesiastes may seem quite pessimistic at first, the word Meaningless comes up 37 times in only 12 Chapters. There are 5 ‘Wisdom’ books in the Bible and we are about the read the last of them.
If you have been to college you may have taken Philosophy as a course. Philosophers are divided over the Meaning of Life. Oh how they go round and round like it is an unsolvable question. This book refers to Our time on this earth as “Life under the Sun”.
Here is what the author is writing about: Apart from God what is life about? The author writes this book from experience. He tries to find joy, satisfaction, meaning but without the Lord. He tried science, philosophy, drinking, possessions, wealth, music, materialism, fatalism (predetermined), and Religion (legalism).
The book does not condemn any of those concepts as a part of life but to recognize that those without God will leave us feeling meaningless. Human effort will never complete us.
I am extremely excited to read this Book of Wisdom. I just know that when I am done with these 12 Chapters I will be changed.
Reading the Bible - 2021 