A Time for every Purpose
Ecclesiastes Chapters 1-3
The Ecclesiast
The title of the book comes from the title the author applies to himself. In Hebrew, this word is Koheleth, or more lately Qohelet. The root of this word is “assembly” and the word Ecclesiastes comes to us from the Hebrew through Greek translation and Latin transliteration. As translated, the word means “one of the assembly” but the original Hebrew apparently meant one who addresses the assembly (thus the common translation “teacher” or “preacher”) or perhaps “one who assembles”; the latter placing more emphasis on the role as seeker, rather than disseminator, of knowledge.
The original Hebrew is in feminine form, a form which is not used outside of Ecclesiastes, but the significance of this form is not apparent, as the author clearly identifies himself as a king, and a son of David. From the authors description of himself, it has been assumed that he was, in fact, King Solomon (1:1; 1:12; 1:16). Within the book, the importance of the Ecclesiast as king is the access to wisdom offered by that office, as it is this role of searcher which most importantly defines the author (1:3; 1:13; 1:17).
Vanity!
The object of this search is the meaning of life (1:3) and from the outset, the verdict of the Ecclesiast is that all our struggle is in vain (1:2; 1:4-11). The word hebel means transitory, empty, or unsatisfactory. It is the name of Abel, the second son of Adam and Eve, whose transitory life spanned but a few verses. What the Ecclesiast means by the term is the subject of our study.
As he observes that there is nothing new under the sun, we must consider the conclusion that there can be nothing new – what will be has been before and what we do will not be long remembered. Though he cannot bring himself to say that a life lived wisely is no better than a life of folly, he observes that each end the same (2:12-16). In this observation he is aligned with Job, who has observed that a live of wealth and health ends in the same way as a life of poverty and affliction (Job 21:23-26).
He Has Made Everything Beautiful
The pivot of this discourse is a passage that is surely the best known of the book, one familiar even to those who do not recognize it as scripture (3:1-8). “To everything there is a season.”1 These are often used as words of comfort: assurance that the current trial will pass or that the waited day will come and that whatever we experience is known to everyone who has come before and who will come after. As a theological philosophy, however, it contains as much terror as hope: not only will the life we have been given be taken away, but between that time and this weeping, hating and mourning are as certain as laughing, loving, and dancing. That is life under the sun.
But the Ecclesiast sees something else under the sun: the judgment of God (3:15-17). Though by nature we have the vanity of animals (3:18-21) within that nature is the likeness of the divine (Genesis 1:26-31). Alone among creation we have a sense of our place, even if an understanding is beyond our grasp (3:11). It is the gift of God to bring meaning to our lives; to make everything beautiful in its own time; to give us joy that transcends our existence (2:24; 3:12-13; 3:22).
1Some who do recognize this as scripture are surprised that the words “turn, turn, turn” are missing from their translations.
