The Meaning of Life

Ecclesiastes is the book following Proverbs in the Old Testament. It has probably never been as relevant and as forgotten as in our post-modern age. Its main character is a king-philosopher who calls himself the Preacher.

The book immediately strikes a tone of hopelessness in its opening verses.

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?
(English Standard Version, 2016)

It was no less optimistic 400 years ago.

Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
(King James Version, 1611)

We could continue our time travel another few thousand years back. No matter how far we go, the Preacher sounds eerily like a contemporary atheist.

The Preacher is an elderly man who looks back on his life and is endlessly disappointed. Was this all? His disappointment is lengthy, exact in its details, and well-turned. He never found the meaning of life even though he asserts that he made an all-out effort to find it.

Ecclesiastes is part of the Bible. The big question: is all is vanity what the Bible teaches about the meaning of life?

Background

Going into the text, you will find that the Preacher is King Solomon. He reigned over Israel during 967-931 B.C., approximately. His father, King David, was the one who, in spite of several flaws, brought his country to its historical peak. King David was a warrior king while the reign of King Solomon was characterised by peace, international trade, and prosperity. It was the golden age of Israel.

King Solomon became famous in all the ancient world for his wisdom. Some very visible results of that wisdom were the grand building projects he carried out. One of them was the temple he built to become the centre of Jewish culture and religion for centuries, more exactly up to 586 B.C. when it was destroyed by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar.

The wisdom of Solomon was also expressed in writing. The Bible has three books written by him: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs. The three are very different from each other. The most pessimistic book, by far, is Ecclesiastes. It actually stands out from all other Bible books with its boundless pessimism. It is our current subject.

The Message of Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes sums itself up in its introduction that we quoted above.

All is vanity.

As if called upon, Ecclesiastes devotes twelve entire chapters to carve out all the minute details of emptiness and meaninglessness.

Circularity contributes to the destitution. Nothing is new; all ideas are recycled.

Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It has been already in the ages before us. There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after.
Ecclesiastes 1:10-11

The irony is that this applies to Ecclesiastes itself!

The attitude of Ecclesiastes is shared today, well into the 21st century, by people who regard themselves as modern. They assume that they have broken free from old traditions and outdated thinking. The fact that their philosophy was written down 3000 years ago is all but forgotten. That is what the Preacher predicted: his words would be forgotten, and people would come up with the same ideas later and believe they were new.

Meaning Sought, Emptiness Found

The Preacher was exhaustive when he sought meaning; he tried everything. He began by seeking wisdom.

And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind. For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
Ecclesiastes 1:17-18

Having read Proverbs, we are really baffled. Hey Solomon, in Proverbs you wrote that wisdom is the number one companion in life! And now you say it is just chasing after wind?

The Preacher kept searching. He was king and commanded all imaginable resources. He started ambitious projects and, at the same time, enjoyed life, no holds barred.

And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil.
Ecclesiastes 2:10

It ended in disappointment anyhow.

Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 2:11

Not just disappointment. The Preacher is a disillusioned person who lost all lightheartedness.

So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.
Ecclesiastes 2:17

The Preacher noted many things going on in the world and got depressed by what he saw.

• Talented people are shoved aside; power and influence end up with psychos,
• Honorable people get into trouble, while bullies and clowns live in prosperity,
• The poor and people with limited resources are ruthlessly oppressed by those in power,
• Those who work and toil are motivated by envy to annoy their neighbours. Some succeed and make loads of money, but they are so busy making money that they never have the time to enjoy their possessions,
• Others are successful, acquiring large properties, but pass away, having their inexperienced heirs squander the inheritance.

The last item touched the Preacher personally.

I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.
Ecclesiastes 2:18-19

It is remarkable that he did not know his own children better. His worry was valid. His son Rehoboam, who inherited his throne, made a mess immediately. When his people complained, his reaction was to bulldoze them. As a result, ten out of the twelve tribes of Israel rebelled against him, broke away, and set up their own kingdom.

The Simple Life

From his elevated position, the Preacher seems envious of those who live an uncomplicated life. The Preacher repeatedly returns to contentment as an admirable attitude—to cherish the little delights that God provides. A good wife. A moderately demanding job without great ambition. Food and drink. Fibre and a good selection of tv channels, I almost added but you will not find that in Ecclesiastes.

Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 9:7-9

Not even the simple life seems to escape vanity.

The Image of Success

We have seen the reverse side of the life of the Preacher, his desperation over the abounding meaninglessness of his life. Here is the front, the external display.

As king at the time he had absolute power over his kingdom.

He became abundantly rich.

All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver; silver was not considered as anything in the days of Solomon.
1 Kings 10:21

He had an abundant supply of women.

He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines.
1 Kings 11:3

One thing he did not have was someone who could intervene and pull the brake.

The attraction in what he himself called folly was too strong. I suspect he overrated his wisdom. When he went to extremes, he may have have thought, I can handle this.

I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life.
Ecclesiastes 2:3

Rather than just observing folly, he got stuck in it. There are telltale signs of going off-balance.

• Women became expendable,
• He got increasingly depressed,
• He got alienated from God.

Let us have a closer look at the Preacher’s view of God.

The Preacher and God

The Preacher was definitely not an atheist, but what exactly was his view of God?

God created man, for sure, but the Preacher vacillates. On one hand, the delights of life proceed from God.

There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?
Ecclesiastes 2:24-25

On the other hand, God does not provide joy only.

Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked? In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other…
Ecclesiastes 7:13-14

The Preacher claims that good and bad both originate from God.

The Preacher repeatedly mentions that God is the one who judges. Here are the last words of Ecclesiastes.

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

Isn’t all this a common view of God today? That everything, good or bad, originates from God, and that he really enjoys judging people?

However, it is not what the Bible teaches.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
James 1:17

A word by Jesus:

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
John 3:17

Someone might object that those examples are from the New Testament, implying it is different. Let us check out the father of the Preacher, King David. Here is a quote from one of his most famous poems—which is Old Testament, of course.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Psalm 103:1-5

The experience of David was that God forgives rather than judges. Additionally, God fills his life with vigour, health, and good things. A well-known line from another poem by David is this:

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Psalm 23:6

By these short examples, it seems like God was not religion to David but a relationship.

Our conclusion: Ecclesiastes does contain things that do not agree with the rest of the Bible.

It may be worth mentioning that David, who was also king, as part of his royal staff, appointed a prophet of God who could pull the brake. The prophet intervened and rebuked David on more than one occasion.

Maybe Solomon, in all his wisdom, imagined that he could do without someone who could restrain his harmful way of life?

Ecclesiastes and the World

The Preacher deviates from the rest of the Bible when he claims that life is nothing but emptiness. As for a gloomy outlook on the world, however, the Preacher is quite in line with the Bible. Here is a sample from the New Testament.

We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
1 John 5:19

The Bible is clear about a personal evil, sometimes called Satan, being active in the world. This is an extensive and uncomfortable subject we can only mention in passing here. The main point of the four Gospels and much of the New Testament is that Jesus Christ has overcome that evil.

Life “Under the Sun”

There is a short phrase that appears in Ecclesiastes over and over again. It is used to label life according to Ecclesiastes. Here it is:

• under the sun

In Swedish as well as in English, there is a saying, nothing new under the sun, referring to Ecclesiastes.

Life under the sun is the life of abandoned man, alienated from God, at the mercy of unfeeling laws of nature that keep the earth and its inhabitants trapped in a machinery that certainly moves, but without purpose.

An Alternative

Is there a way of life different from the life under the sun? Yes, the life with God.

Life under the sun, as the Preacher states, is a life on perpetual repeat. Nothing is new.

Life with God is exactly the opposite, a life that is constantly being renewed.

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”
Revelation 21:5

The Preacher was not an atheist, but obviously there is more than one may to know God. The Preacher does not at all share the passionate enthusiasm for God that his father David had, as we previously saw.

King Solomon wrote Proverbs as well as Ecclesiastes. None of the pessimism of Ecclesiastes is apparent in Proverbs. On the contrary, there is an assumption, mostly tacit, that life is meaningful in all its complexity.

In Ecclesiastes, King Solomon, the same person, finds only emptiness in life.

It seems like the meaning of life is something you can find but also lose. It is up to you: you may choose life with God or life under the sun, meaning or emptiness.

Ecclesiastes has been there for thousands of years as an authentic, elaborate, and clear-cut portrayal of life under the sun. Nowhere in the Bible is Ecclesiastes condemned or discredited. It is just there to inform us and let us exercise our free will.

What reason is there for choosing life under the sun?