The Book of Ecclesiastes, Chapter by Chapter

We want to take you through the book of Ecclesiastes chapter by chapter. If you have read our study on Proverbs you know that Proverbs tells us how life usually works. Do right and things go well. Be lazy and you will be poor. But everyone knows that life does not always work that way. Sometimes the wicked get rich. Sometimes the wise die young. Ecclesiastes looks at life when it does not make sense. We will tell you what each chapter is about and how it fits into the message of the book. And how it points us to the one God that is revealed in Jesus Christ.

Ecclesiastes is an unusual book. It starts “Vanity of vanities … all is vanity” (1:2). It sounds hopeless. The writer tried everything. Wisdom. Pleasure. Work. Riches. Building. And he found that none of it satisfied. Everyone dies. The wise man and the fool. The man and the animal. Some people think this book does not belong in the Bible. But it is one of the most honest books ever written. It says out loud what many people feel. And then it points to the only answer.

There are three things we want you to take away from this study. Ecclesiastes shows us that life “under the sun” without God is empty. Ecclesiastes teaches us to enjoy the simple gifts God gives while we have them. And Ecclesiastes ends with the answer. “Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man” (12:13). Jesus Christ is the one who fills what is empty. We will explain these points as we go through the book. But we want you to keep them in mind as we begin.

“The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem” (1:1). In Hebrew the Preacher is Qoheleth.¹ It means one who gathers an assembly. The one who calls people together and speaks to them. The Greek word for assembly is ekklesia. That is the word the New Testament uses for the church. From it we get the name Ecclesiastes. The book never says the name Solomon. But the son of David who was king in Jerusalem and had more wisdom and riches than anyone before him sounds like Solomon (1:12, 16; 2:7–9). There is a lot of debate about who wrote it and when.² We will not go into that here. We believe the writer speaks to us as Solomon. A man who had everything and tried everything.

There are two phrases we need to understand. The first is vanity. In Hebrew it is hevel.³ It means vapor or breath. Like your breath on a cold day. You see it and then it is gone. It is used 38 times in the book. Vanity does not mean pride here. It means something that does not last and cannot be held on to. The second phrase is “under the sun.”⁴ It is used about 29 times. It means life looked at from down here. From the earth. Without looking up. Much of the book is the Preacher looking at life only under the sun. And under the sun everything is vapor. Then at the end he looks up.

The book does not break into neat sections. It goes back and forth between searching and conclusions. We will follow it like this. All is vanity (1). Searching for meaning (2). A time for everything (3). Life under the sun (4–5). Riches and wisdom (6–7). The limits of wisdom (8–9). Wisdom and folly (10–11). And remember thy Creator (12). Just like in our other studies we will be using the KJV for our scripture quotations. When we use Hebrew words we will transliterate them and give a brief explanation. And we will let you know where you can find the work of the scholars we reference.

Ecclesiastes 1: Nothing New Under the Sun

Vanity of vanities. That is the Hebrew way of saying the most. Like holy of holies means the most holy. The most vapor. Completely empty. Then the big question. What profit. What does a man get for all his work. Then the Preacher looks at the world. “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever” (v.4). The sun rises and goes down and hurries back to rise again (v.5). The wind goes around and around (v.6). “All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full” (v.7). Everything moves. Nothing gets anywhere.

“The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing” (v.8). We always want more. “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be … and there is no new thing under the sun” (v.9). People think they are doing something new. But it has been done before. And no one remembers the people who came before us. And no one will remember us (v.11).

The Preacher gave his heart to search out everything done under heaven. He saw it all. “And, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit” (v.14). Vexation of spirit means chasing the wind. You run after it. You never catch it. Then he tried wisdom. He knew more than anyone in Jerusalem. “For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow” (v.18). The more you know the more you see what is wrong with the world. Knowledge alone did not fill him.

Ecclesiastes 2: Whatsoever Mine Eyes Desired

“I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity” (v.1). He tried laughing. He tried wine (v.3). Then he tried building. “I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards: I made me gardens and orchards” (vv.4–5). He made pools of water. He got servants. More cattle than anyone. Silver and gold. Singers. Everything men enjoy (vv.7–8). “And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy” (v.10). He had no limits.

He had everything. And it was nothing. People today think if they just had more money or more fun or a bigger house they would be happy. Solomon had all of it. More than anyone. And he said it was chasing the wind. Jesus said “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26).

Then he looked at wisdom and folly. Wisdom is better than folly. Like light is better than darkness (v.13). “The wise man’s eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness” (v.14). But then he saw that the same thing happens to both of them. They both die. And nobody remembers either one (vv.15–16). “Therefore I hated life” (v.17). He hated all his work because he had to leave it to someone else. “And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool?” (v.19). Solomon left his kingdom to Rehoboam. We saw in our 1 Kings study what Rehoboam did with it.

Then the chapter ends with the first ray of light. “There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God” (v.24). “For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy” (v.26). Enjoyment is not something you can grab. It is a gift from God. We will see this again and again in the book.

Ecclesiastes 3: To Every Thing There Is a Season

The Preacher lists 14 pairs. Born and die. Plant and pluck up. Kill and heal. Break down and build up. Weep and laugh. Mourn and dance. Keep silence and speak. Love and hate. War and peace (vv.1–8). Life goes in seasons. We do not control them. God does.

Then one of the most important verses in the book. “He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end” (v.11). The word translated world can also mean eternity.⁵ God has put eternity in the heart of man. That is why nothing under the sun satisfies us. We were made for more than this life. We have a God shaped longing that only God can fill. Jesus told the woman at the well “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst” (John 4:13–14).

“I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him” (v.14). Man’s work is vapor. God’s work is forever. Then the Preacher saw wickedness in the place of judgment. And he said God will judge the righteous and the wicked (v.17). Then he looked at man and animals. They both die. They both go to the dust. “Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?” (v.21). From under the sun no one can see the difference.⁶ But at the end of the book he will answer this. “The spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (12:7).

Ecclesiastes 4: Two Are Better Than One

The Preacher saw people oppressed. “And behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter” (v.1). He saw that a lot of hard work comes from envy. People work hard to have more than their neighbour (v.4). “Better is an handful with quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit” (v.6). Then he saw a man all alone. No child. No brother. And he still worked without end. “Neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither saith he, For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good?” (v.8).

We were not made to be alone. God said that in the garden (Genesis 2:18). We need each other. Jesus sent his disciples out two by two (Mark 6:7). And the church is a body. Then the Preacher said even a king loses his popularity. “Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king, who will no more be admonished” (v.13). The crowds follow the new one. Then they forget him too.

Ecclesiastes 5: Let Thy Words Be Few

Now the Preacher talks about worship. “Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools” (v.1). Go to listen. Not to show off. “Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few” (v.2). Jesus said do not use vain repetitions like the heathen who think they will be heard for their many words (Matthew 6:7). “When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it” (v.4). It is better not to promise than to promise and not pay (v.5).

Then money. “He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase” (v.10). The more you have the more people come to eat it (v.11). “The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep” (v.12). A man can lose his riches and have nothing to leave his son. “As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came” (v.15). That is what Job said (Job 1:21). Paul said “we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out” (1 Timothy 6:7). Then the light again. If God gives a man riches and the power to enjoy them “this is the gift of God” (v.19).

Ecclesiastes 6: The Appetite Is Not Filled

The Preacher saw a man God gave riches and honour. But God did not give him power to enjoy it. A stranger ate it (v.2). A man could have 100 children and live many years. But if his soul is not filled with good he is worse off than a baby that was born dead (v.3). “All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled” (v.7). We work to eat. Then we are hungry again. “For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?” (v.12). Under the sun no one knows.

Ecclesiastes 7: Better Is the End

Chapter 7 sounds like Proverbs. A list of better things. “A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth” (v.1). “It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart” (v.2). A funeral teaches you more than a party. It makes you think about where you are going. “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit” (v.8). “Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this” (v.10).

“Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?” (v.13). “In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other” (v.14). God gives good days and hard days. Enjoy the good ones. Think in the hard ones. Then this. “For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not” (v.20). Paul says the same thing. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

The Preacher searched for wisdom. He found the woman who traps men is more bitter than death (v.26). “One man among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found” (v.28). Remember Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. A thousand women. And none of them was true to him.⁷ That says more about Solomon’s choices than about women. Proverbs 31 shows us a virtuous woman. Then the Preacher finds the real problem. “Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions” (v.29). God made us right. We went wrong.

Ecclesiastes 8: It Shall Be Well With Them That Fear God

“A man’s wisdom maketh his face to shine” (v.1). Obey the king (v.2). But even a king cannot stop death. “There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death” (v.8). Then the Preacher saw why people keep sinning. “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil” (v.11). When judgment does not come right away people think it will never come. Peter says God is not slow. He is patient. Not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9).

But even when it looks like the wicked get away with it the Preacher said this. “Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him” (v.12). “But it shall not be well with the wicked” (v.13). Then he admitted he could not figure out all God’s work. “Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun” (v.17). Even the wisest man in the world could not understand it all.

Ecclesiastes 9: Whatsoever Thy Hand Findeth to Do

The same thing happens to everyone. The righteous and the wicked. The clean and the unclean. The one who sacrifices and the one who does not. They all die (vv.2–3). “For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion” (v.4). A dog was the lowest animal. A lion was the greatest. Being alive is better. “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing” (v.5). This is still looking under the sun. From down here the dead have no more part in this world.

So enjoy life while you have it. “Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works” (v.7). “Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity” (v.9). Then this.

Life is short. Do what you do with all your might. You will not get to do it later. Jesus said “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work” (John 9:4). Then the Preacher said something that does not match Proverbs. “The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all” (v.11). Things do not always go the way they should. He told a story. A poor wise man saved a city from a great king. “Yet no man remembered that same poor man” (v.15). “Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good” (v.18).

Ecclesiastes 10: Dead Flies

“Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour” (v.1). A little foolishness can ruin a good name. Just a few dead flies spoil the whole jar. “A wise man’s heart is at his right hand; but a fool’s heart at his left” (v.2). The Preacher saw fools in high places and rich men in low places. “I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth” (v.7). The world is upside down sometimes.

“He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it” (v.8). “If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct” (v.10). Sharpen the axe first. Work smart. “The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself” (v.12). “By much slothfulness the building decayeth” (v.18). Like Proverbs said. A lazy man’s house falls apart. “Curse not the king, no not in thy thought … for a bird of the air shall carry the voice” (v.20). What you say in secret gets out.

Ecclesiastes 11: Cast Thy Bread Upon the Waters

“Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days” (v.1). Be generous. Give and it will come back. “Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth” (v.2). “He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap” (v.4). If you wait for the perfect time you will never do anything.

“As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all” (v.5). The same word in Hebrew means wind and spirit. Ruach. Jesus told Nicodemus “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). We cannot see how God works. But we can see that he does. “In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand” (v.6).

“Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth … but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment” (v.9). Enjoy your youth. But remember you will give an account.

Ecclesiastes 12:1–8: Before the Silver Cord Be Loosed

Remember God while you are young. Before old age comes. In Hebrew the word Creator is in the plural form.⁸ Some will use this to say there is more than one person in God. But notice this is the same kind of plural we saw with Elohim in our Genesis study. A plural of greatness. The verbs and words that go with God in the Bible are singular. Isaiah 44:24 says the LORD made all things “alone” and “by myself.” Malachi asked “Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us?” (Malachi 2:10). One Creator.

Then the Preacher describes old age with pictures.⁹ The keepers of the house tremble. That is the hands shaking (v.3). The strong men bow. The legs. The grinders cease because they are few. The teeth. Those that look out of the windows are darkened. The eyes. He rises up at the voice of the bird. He cannot sleep. All the daughters of musick are brought low. Hearing goes. They are afraid of heights. “And the almond tree shall flourish” (v.5). White hair like almond blossoms. “And desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home.”

Remember him before you die. Notice verse 7. In chapter 3 the Preacher asked who knows if the spirit of man goes up (3:21). Now he answers. The body goes back to the dust like Genesis 3:19 says. The spirit goes back to God who gave it. God breathed the breath of life into man (Genesis 2:7). And it goes back to him. Then one more time. “Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity” (v.8). Under the sun that is still true.

Ecclesiastes 12:9–14: The Conclusion of the Whole Matter

Now someone steps back and tells us about the Preacher. He was wise and taught the people. He set in order many proverbs. He looked for “acceptable words” and wrote “words of truth” (vv.9–10). “The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd” (v.11). Goads were sharp sticks used to move cattle. Wise words push us. And they come from one shepherd.¹⁰ That is God. We saw in our Psalms study that the LORD is my shepherd. And Jesus said “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11). “And there shall be one fold, and one shepherd” (John 10:16). “Of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh” (v.12). You can read forever and never find the answer in books. Then the end.

After everything. After all the searching. All the questions. All the vanity. Here is the answer. Fear God. Keep his commandments. That is what man was made for. And it matters. Because God will judge everything. Even the secret things. Life under the sun looks like vapor. But life before God is not vanity. Every work counts. Proverbs started with the fear of the LORD. Ecclesiastes ends with it.

We have gone through Ecclesiastes chapter by chapter. Here is what we can conclude. First Ecclesiastes shows us that life under the sun without God is empty. The Preacher had wisdom and pleasure and riches and power. More than anyone. And it was all vapor. Chasing the wind. Death comes to the wise and the fool. The world keeps going around. Nothing under the sun can fill the heart. Because God “hath set the world in their heart” (3:11). We were made for eternity.

Second Ecclesiastes teaches us to enjoy God’s gifts. Over and over the Preacher says eat your bread. Drink your wine. Enjoy your work. Love your wife. Not because these things are the meaning of life. But because they are gifts “from the hand of God” (2:24). The man who tries to squeeze meaning out of them will be empty. The man who receives them from God can enjoy them.

Third Ecclesiastes points to the one God. He is the one Creator (12:1). The one shepherd (12:11). The one who made man upright (7:29). The one who will judge every work (12:14). And the spirit returns to him who gave it (12:7). “Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man” (12:13).

And Ecclesiastes points to Jesus Christ. Paul tells us “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope” (Romans 8:20). That word vanity is the same word the Greek Old Testament used for the Preacher’s vanity.¹¹ The world is vapor because of sin. But there is hope. Jesus said “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). And because Jesus rose from the dead Paul could say “your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58). Under the sun it is all vanity. But in Christ nothing is in vain. Ecclesiastes shows us the emptiness of life without God. The next book shows us the joy of love as God made it. That is where the Song of Solomon begins.