Introduction to Ecclesiastes (Pt 2)

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

Go ahead and take out your copy of God’s word. You can turn to Ecclesiastes and take out your notes, your note sheets. And we’re going to jump right in this morning so that you can have the maximum amount of time in your small groups to talk about really the part to the final part, hopefully at least, in this introduction to the book of Ecclesiastes. Last Sunday morning we started the introduction. And when we start a new book study, obviously when we start a new book study as a group, when you start a new book study as an individual, you really do always want to do some background study. You always want to get some setting, some background, some environment type of information.

It can really make a large difference in understanding some of the things that are written throughout that letter especially. some of the Gospels and the Old Testament books, really all of the Bible, were benefited by having some introduction to its main characters, its main themes, the time that it was written, and some of the things like that. And so that’s what we started last week, and we got halfway through the first question. And my goal this morning is to quickly get through the rest of the first question on who is the author and then give you just a few more details. No keynote presentation for you this morning. You’ll actually just have to listen. Huh, I know that can be tough sometimes but but uh we’ll do it anyway.

Last Sunday morning we started talking about the author of the book of Ecclesiastes who is Solomon, King Solomon. Even though there is much debate on who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes, there is solid evidence, I think, that points to their solid evidence outside of the book of Ecclesiastes and their solid evidence within the book of Ecclesiastes itself that points to Solomonic. Did you use that word this week? Hopefully you did Solomonic authorship. We talked about last week the first two elements won the proof of Solomonic authorship. We talked about the claims of the author right there in chapter 1 verse 1 in Ecclesiastes. Look at that. The words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Now David didn’t have any other son who was a king other than Solomon. The words themselves naturally point to the biological offspring of King David and the only, again, biological son, the only son that David had who was a king was Solomon. Down in chapter 1 verse 12, I the preacher have been king over Israel

in Jerusalem. And again, there’s no other description of any other person that fills the descriptions that the author gives of himself. The claims of the author in particular here in chapter 1 verse 1 and verse 12. And so the author I think claims to be Solomon. As I mentioned last week most of the people who deny that Solomon wrote it don’t deny that the book claims to be written by Solomon. They just say that it was somebody later who claimed to be Solomon writing it just using his name. And again I think that’s forgery, that’s lying, that’s bad, and then you die. Also for the proof of Solomonic authorship not only the claims of the author but the descriptions of the author. Remember just quickly we talked about his unrivaled wisdom.

Chapter 1 verse 16 mentions that. We talked about his exploration of pleasure, chapter 2 verses 1 through 3, his extensive building projects, chapter 2 verses 4 through 6, his large number of servants, chapter 2 verse 7, and his unsurpassed wealth, chapter 2 verse 8. Again, no other descendant of David measures up to those kind of descriptions. And then lastly, chapter 12 verse 9, the preacher collected and arranged many proverbs, and again we know that to be who? King Solomon. So the claims of the author, the description of the author, and third the moral journey of the author. If you read, if you read or you have read 1 Kings chapters 2 through 11 and you, those are the chapters that talk about Solomon, if you have gone back to read those, It’s very difficult to see how the book of Ecclesiastes could be referring to anybody else, at least in scripture, other than Solomon.

The testimony that Solomon gives in Ecclesiastes is very similar to, again, the chronicle of his life in 1 Kings 2-11. So the proof of Solomonic authorship, I’ll tell you what, as we go through the book of Ecclesiastes, I am wholeheartedly convinced that Solomon wrote it. And so you’re not going to get any questions in my mind about that as we go through. Solomon is the one who wrote it. I think there’s much proof to demonstrate that. So then we move to talk about a profile of Solomon’s life. That was the second major point, the proof of Solomonic authorship. And then secondly, the profile of Solomon’s life.

We talked about his family background as the 10th son of King David, the second son of who was his mother, Bathsheba. Happy Mother’s Day, Bathsheba. No, I don’t think she could hear that probably, but that was his mother. He had obviously learned much growing up in the King’s house. There were all kinds of problems in David’s house, largely related to much of David’s sin. But then we talked not only about Solomon’s background, his family background, we talked about his request in 1 Kings chapter 3. After becoming king, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream and a vision and asked Solomon what he wanted. And I remarked last week, I just can’t imagine that. I cannot imagine God coming and saying, ask me for what you want and I’m gonna give it to you. And Solomon, instead of asking for riches or power or all those kinds of things, Solomon asked for what? He asked for wisdom, and that request pleased the Lord so much that we read 1 Kings chapter 3 that God not only then made him wiser more than any before or any after, but then he

gave him everything else on top of it. All the riches, all the power, all those different kinds of things. And then we talked a little bit about Solomon not only being so wise, we looked at a couple examples of that, which we talked a little bit about him being rich beyond our wildest imaginations. I did go back, I guess the MacArthur Study Bible says that 666 talents in 1 Kings 10, 14, is that the right chapter? 1 Kings 10, 14. The MacArthur Study Bible says that that’s only 25 tons of gold, only 25 tons. I said 41, I got that in a commentary, went back and basically, yeah, I saw everything from 20, somebody who thought it was 21, to somebody who thought it was 41, and everywhere in between tons of gold.

As far as I know, a ton of gold is a lot. Let alone like multiple tons of gold, but we do want to be accurate, so I did appreciate I wasn’t trying to exaggerate the story to make it seem, you know, more better if if you want to speak that way more better. But he was rich. We definitely know that he was the last king of the United monarchy. After Solomon the the kingdom split into two, the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel. We talked about the fact that Solomon collected more than 3,000 proverbs and wrote more than 1,000 songs. Now by the way, that means that at best we have lost 2,500 of his proverbs. So he collected 3,000, collected, wrote 3,000. We have about 500 of those. 2,500 of them are missing. And there are only two Psalms that bear Solomon’s name, meaning that he wrote, you know, 998 other songs that we have no record of.

Not that I know of at least. So a lot of that work is gone, useless, and he might even have something to say about that at the end of the book, but nevertheless. Psalm 72 and 127 have Solomon’s name in the title. There are other Psalms that don’t have a name in the title, but typically speaking if you were the king and you wrote a song, they probably put your name on it.

Because then the choir master probably was expected to have everybody sing that one, whether it was good or not. If the king wrote it, you’re probably saying it. So I would think that even though there are other ones that are somewhat anonymous, that we don’t have a name in their title. I’m guessing if they knew Solomon had written others of them then they would have included his name. I think that makes sense. Solomon was responsible for building the temple. That’s a pretty big project. I’m not going to go into all the details about the temple, but that’s a huge project. He erected many other buildings in Jerusalem and in other parts of his kingdom. He built his royal palace over 13 years. Now my current house remodel might take 13 years but that’s not because it’s going to be a palace. That’s just because at least I don’t know what I’m doing. So that’s why it takes longer from from my standpoint.

But 13 years to build his palace, one of his palaces at least, constructed many other great things. And a turn to 1 Kings chapter 4. 1 Kings chapter 4. Some of you guys have your Bibles who are sitting right in the front row who are not doing anything. That’s just a bad place to sit and not even take it out when I ask you to do that. 1 Kings chapter 4 verse 34. This is kind of the ultimate comment about his wisdom and his prestige that Solomon had. 1 Kings 4.34, “…and people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon and from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.” Now once you got to be a king, you probably didn’t ask a lot of people for their advice. I mean you probably had counselors but you probably listened to those counselors like yeah tell me what you think. Okay that’s stupid and then if it really was a good idea you might go do it anyway. But I mean if you were the king that was a great idea that I had wasn’t it? That you got from you know one of your buddies who was in the king’s court. Anyway here is an example

of the prestige and the wisdom that he had because kings of the earth would actually come and listen to Solomon’s wisdom and an amazing thing. The problem was that God warned him multiple times that even in giving him all of this wisdom that if he rejected obedience to God’s commands that God was not going to establishes throne forever. In 1 Kings chapter 3, immediately after he gives him, after he grants him the request of giving him wisdom, he says, but you need to obey me. And then in chapter 9, look over in chapter 9, I think we mentioned this near the end last week. 1 Kings chapter 9, verse 6, this is the dedication of the temple. That’s the context. And God is expressing that he is happy with the building of the temple, but he says in verse 6, but if you, talking to Solomon, if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I’ve set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have

consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight. You know what, this temple is a great thing, but it is nothing to me compared to your obedience. And I don’t care about this house that you have built for me if you then worship other gods. And I will happily see this temple, this wonderful, magnificent architectural piece, I will happily see it destroyed and Israel cut off if you do not obey me because I am the priority more than any building. I am the priority more than any other thing that you could be searching after. God says, follow me and obey me and keep me first or I will cut you off. And with that clear instruction and that clear warning, still we find that Solomon blew it. And that leads us to the third major element of the author, the problem of Solomon’s folly. The problem of Solomon’s folly. We know more about Solomon than just his successes, don’t we? Most of us who have at least grown up in church are very familiar with his moral downfall. His sin is recorded for prosperity’s sake.

No, for posterity’s sake. And by the way, just a little footnote, I was thinking about this, preparing for the message. How would you like to have your sin written down and put in a book so that everybody for the rest of time would read it? I don’t know that that would be like my favorite thing to go through and yet Solomon’s sin is recorded for us. And a footnote to that footnote, you realize the Bible is full of stories about sinners because that’s all there are.

The Bible doesn’t sugarcoat the great people of the Bible and make it sound like they’re not sinners. It actually exposes their sin, and I think that’s even intended to get us to look past them to God. Anyway, we know more about Solomon than maybe he would like us to know. His downfall, his undoing is recorded for us in 1 Kings chapter 11 in particular and what was the primary cause of his undoing? Well sin definitely what was his primary sin? Girls. It was girls. It was the ladies. Solomon was a apparently a ladies man and they brought his ruin. Look at 1 Kings chapter 11. Bad news. 1 Kings chapter 11. Now King Solomon loved many foreign girls. Verse 2, from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, you shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn your heart away after their gods. Almost like God understood what he was saying in giving that counsel.

Almost like God knew what he was doing when he said, don’t marry women, don’t give your daughters to marry men of the other nations that worship other gods because they’ll turn your heart to worship other gods. Not evangelistic dating, Pastor Z was talking about that in first service this morning. evangelistic marrying among the nations. God told them don’t do that. Not to mention the fact that God told them only to have one. So only have one, and it needs to be from within Israel if you were an Israelite. Verse 3, I’m sorry we got to get the end of verse 2, Solomon clung to these in love. Verse 3, he had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines, and his wives turned away his heart. Now the polygamy was bad enough, let alone not even marrying all of them, you know, as part of his harem. I mean, if you got 700, what’s 300 more to just make them your wife? I mean, if you’re going to go that far, at least have a thousand wives.

That’s a nice round number. But 700 wives, 300 concubines. The polygamy, again, was bad but it led to what? The polygamy led to idolatry, just like God had said. You love people who are pursuing other gods and you know what? You will not change their heart, they will change yours. And can I add just again another little asterisk, a little footnote, I think that that principle applies to us today. You start pursuing and loving people who are pursuing something other than God and and they will turn your heart to what they’re worshiping and loving rather than you turning their heart to what you know you ought to be loving and worshiping that is God himself.

I think that principle applies today even though maybe we don’t have names for those other gods like Asheroth and you know whatever else it might be. Maybe it’s not a little carved out you know wooden statues and idols that we worship but you start you start getting involved in a relationship with, you know, somebody else who you think is just such hot snot, but you are drawn to them for some reason, they will draw your heart away from God if that’s not where their heart is as well. That definitely was the case with Solomon. Look down at verse 6. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord as David his father had done.” Major breakdown.

But you know Solomon was actually disobedient to more laws than just those concerning adultery and idolatry. Look in Deuteronomy chapter 17. Deuteronomy chapter 17 verses 14 to 17 gives some specific commands for kings. Specific commands for kings. And specifically look at verse 16. Again, Deuteronomy 17 verse 16. Only he that is the king must not acquire many horses for himself. Look down at verse 17. And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold. Now there were only two kings that preceded Solomon. We mentioned that last week. Who were the first two kings?

Saul and his father David. Solomon was only the third king. It’s pretty unlikely that he had forgotten this message as only the third king. Pretty unlikely that he was unaware of this command here in Deuteronomy for kings. Not to get for themselves many horses, not to accumulate possessions of silver and gold, certainly a reminder not to have more than one wife. And again, the repetition, because if you have more than one, they will turn your heart to other things. And Solomon brazenly rebelled against these clear commands. I think it’s a fair question to ask at that point then, And in light of Solomon’s personal life, how could God ever call him the wisest human ever?

I think that’s a really good question. That sparks my curiosity as well. In light of his moral downfall, his moral failures, how could God possibly say, I will make you wiser than any before and any after and actually make that come true? How do those things go together? Well, part of the answer relates to Solomon’s request for wisdom. Look back at 1 Kings chapter 3. This is part of the answer. It’s not all of the answer, I don’t think. 1 Kings chapter 3. When God came and asked Solomon what he wanted, Solomon asked for wisdom. But you know what? Solomon’s request for wisdom was actually a little bit more specific.

Look at chapter three, verse nine. Solomon is answering the Lord, give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people that I may discern between good and evil for who is able to govern this, your great people. Now that’s, I think, interesting and helpful that Solomon’s request was not just a blanket request for all kinds of wisdom. He specifically requested wisdom to govern and to rule. The gift of wisdom given to Solomon then primarily related to matters of government. Again I say primarily, and I’ll have more to say here in just a moment, but he was a judge between quarreling defendants. That’s the story right there in 1 Kings chapter 3 between the two mothers that bring the babies, the one dead and the one living.

Solomon judges between people in a court-like case. He had great wisdom when it came to those kind of issues. Solomon was a master city planner. He built great buildings.

He was a master architect, obviously, in the building of the temple and the building of the palace and some of those other things. He was the commander in chief over the Israeli army. Israel had peace throughout his whole reign. He apparently stationed his troops and had enough training in the army that nobody wanted to attack them. I mean obviously God is the one who protected them as well but perhaps God was using Solomon’s military wisdom as part of the governing to keep them safe and protected. Not only that, really Jerusalem was the center of the international economy. As you read through the story of Solomon, people from all over were coming and bringing things to him and trading things there and so he had great financial and economic wisdom. All those things related to how he governed. He had judicial wisdom, he had civic wisdom, he had military wisdom, and he had economic wisdom. There’s no doubt about any of those things all related to governing. Now we do find, look over at chapter 4 verse 33. We read this

last week as well. He had wisdom outside of just governing because in chapter 4 verse 33 it says, he spoke of trees from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall. He spoke also of beasts and of birds and reptiles and a fish. He had knowledge of botany and zoology, so definitely his wisdom was was beyond just governing things, but I think that’s primarily the kind of wisdom that God gave him. Now that’s a partial answer to how he could be the wisest person ever and still commit such moral atrocities against God. That’s a partial answer that his wisdom primarily consisted in how to govern.

Now the reason that that’s not a complete answer why we can’t just say, oh that makes perfect sense. He didn’t have any wisdom for how to live personally. All of his wisdom was, you know, just in governing. Why can’t we say that? There’s this whole other book of the Bible called Proverbs. The majority of which were written by Solomon. And most of the Proverbs don’t have anything to do with governing. They have to do with how you’re supposed to live as a person. Right? Oh, this is crazy. Solomon is the one who wrote Proverbs 5 and 6 and part of 7 on beware the strange woman, the foreign woman. Solomon is the one who wrote that about the destruction that she can bring, about the peril and folly of following after women.

Solomon wrote that. Solomon wrote about not having too much or too little, about moderation. Solomon wrote about it being better to be poor in certain circumstances and have peace in your house than to be rich and have all kinds of pain in your house. Solomon is the one who wrote those kinds of things, and yet he still didn’t follow his own counsel. More than that, Solomon is the one who wrote the theme to the book of Proverbs in chapter 1, verse 7. You know what that is? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. from Solomon’s own pen or his own quill as it were. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and so as nice as it would be to put it in a box and say Solomon’s wisdom only related to governing and had nothing to do with personal issues and that’s why he failed. We can’t say that completely because he clearly had wisdom in how to live personally and yet he still blew it. He He still blew it.

He had a mental grasp of what was right. But look at Ecclesiastes chapter 2. Knowing all that, Ecclesiastes chapter 2 verse 10, whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure. And honestly, guys, I think that the proper response to that is, you’re an idiot. Or at least he was acting like one at that point. He was not acting with the wisdom that he had. God said he was the wisest of all those who came before him, and he would be the wisest of all those who came after him, and yet in his own personal decision making, he did not follow his own advice for wisdom. Now, I got to tell you what, I think that’s terrifying.

I think that is absolutely and critically terrifying in my own heart, for me and for you. It’s terrifying because knowing stuff does not guarantee right living. I don’t think you can have right living without knowing the right truth. I mean you’ve got to think right in order to do right. depends on doctrine. You got to have the truth. There’s no doubt about that. We focus on making sure that you get the truth and that you know the truth and that you can even explain back the truth. You got to have the truth. You got to have the smarts, the wisdom, the knowledge, the truth of God. You got to have that, but you know what? Just having that does not guarantee anything sadly. You can answer all the questions in your Bible classes. You can answer all of the right questions to your small group leaders, you can answer all the right questions to your mama today on Mother’s Day, you can know and have your mind filled with wisdom, God’s wisdom, God’s truth, and still choose sin and blow it.

And again, that’s terrifying to me. That brings me some fear. And you know what? That’s what’s supposed to happen. We are always to be fearing God. And to have not just a head full of knowledge, but a heart full of love and fear and awe and dependence on God. Solomon’s life shows us that the perils of power, I made these up last night, the perils of power, the ruin of riches, and the danger of dames.” Yeah. The peril of power, the ruin of riches, and the danger of girls, or guys, as may be the case. Guys, you know what? Those things are powerful and can turn your heart away from God. And you think, oh, it’s, I mean, it’s just a little.

You think, oh, you know, I’m not like Solomon. I’m not giving myself every pleasure like he was, but I’m telling you what, a little will lead to more and that more will lead to you wanting more and eventually your heart will be turned to those things away from worshiping God. Here’s the thing, self is a very powerful God and that’s really what the power and the riches and even the opposite gender, Really, those things are not ends in themselves. Those are things to get you what you want. And self is a very powerful God, and it is very difficult to turn your worship from self to the God. And you start building habits and cultivating patterns of choices and thinking and loves.

You start loving a bunch of other things than God in your heart right now, as small as they may seem, and they will eventually overcome your heart, and you will love them more than God.” And Solomon is pleading with us in Ecclesiastes to get his point and to get his message so that we would avoid the pitfalls that he fell headfirst into. And that leads us to the fourth thing about Solomon is the power of Solomon’s message. You know, again, how could Solomon be the wisest person ever? Well, I think part of that is because just being wise does not guarantee right living. And somehow he was the wisest and still blew it.

Another good question is, knowing how bad he blew it, how could he write something that’s in the Bible? I mean, why would God use Solomon to communicate his message knowing how much Solomon had pursued other gods?

much Solomon was an idolater? That’s a good question. Well I believe that Solomon is, the the book of Ecclesiastes is Solomon’s message, Solomon’s sermon after a return and a repentance from his folly. I don’t think through the book of Solomon we see, and you know what, I pursued the riches and actually they do offer a lot to you, just not a complete amount. So pursue them and God. You don’t find that in Ecclesiastes to get all this other stuff, but make sure that you have God in there. His conclusion is, look, I pursued to the extreme. Really, we could probably add more than you ever could. I pursued all these things to the extreme and they offer nothing. They are empty. God is what it’s all about. And because he actually had gone down all of those trails, his message is a powerful one saying there’s nothing there. And I think that’s exactly why God would have it included in his Word. No amount of gathering or experimenting brought any contentment or happiness or sense of accomplishment. There was nothing under

the Sun, nothing in this fleeting world apart from God that gives us anything but frustration and feelings of despair. Life can’t be had anywhere except in God and that is the power of Solomon’s message because he pursued all those other things. He wants us to pay attention and to get that from him and And so the tone of Ecclesiastes is a clear warning that it is profitless to gain the whole world and lose your soul. It’s profitless. We get the impression from Ecclesiastes that Solomon was turning away from that unfaithfulness and that folly. You know, God uses sinners, and he has to because that’s all that there are.

God uses sinners. How can the book of Ecclesiastes be included in the holy Bible? Well because God uses sinners. And in this case, God used the sin of Solomon to warn us about the emptiness of pursuing all those other things. Now by saying that God uses sinners, does that mean that we should run off and try to commit as much sin as possible so that God can use us? know where sin abounded wisdom at the end of that sin abounded much more? No.

We’re not to go against God’s clear revealed will like Solomon did, but even though Solomon did that, God could still use it. And I think he does. That’s the power of his message. Well, quickly let me just give you a few other background details. For example, the audience. That’s the author. Who’s the audience of the Book of Ecclesiastes? On the one hand, it seems like, in reading through the Book of Ecclesiastes, on the one hand it seems like this book was written to people who had access to the king and probably people who were, you know, in the king’s court, people who were, you know, having enough money that they could do at least similar to what Solomon was doing. You know, it kind of seems like that. Kind of seems like he’s talking to people who, you know, were living a leisureable life or a comfortable life or who had enough money, enough possessions to try to get satisfaction out of them and to say, look, you keep doing that and you’re not gonna get anywhere. Kind of seems like he was writing

to maybe some older people who, again, were in the position of already pursuing it or perhaps had already pursued it and found that it was empty, and now Solomon is explaining to them why they found it empty. I think this book is a powerful message to old people that have spent their life in a career or doing things that have amounted to nothing and they still have this gaping hole in their heart, or so they feel that way. And I think this book is an answer for why that’s the case. But ultimately, the book of Ecclesiastes does not say it’s written for those people who have already been there, done that, and found it empty.

The book is written for you and me. I’m still a young person. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 11. For as much application as it may have for anyone of any age in any stage of life, The book of Ecclesiastes itself mentions at least who it’s written for. Ecclesiastes chapter 11 verse 9, rejoice, oh young man in the days of your youth and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Look at chapter 12 verse 1, remember also your creator in the days of your youth. It is for you to get the point ahead of time. It is preventative medicine. This is not just medicine for when you’ve already got the ulcer. This is medicine for how to avoid getting it in the first place.

This is not as much an explanation of what to do when you’ve pursued everything in life and found it empty. And here’s the reason why. It’s an explanation. Look, don’t even go down that road. Don’t miss the point. There is nothing down there. Turn away and seek God. The audience is clearly young people. You should realize that life is hard and then you die. So serve God. Serve God. Don’t waste your life. Excellent book by Piper. waste your life searching for life outside of God. Find it now in God. That’s the point of Ecclesiastes. Well, when was this book written? The time. We’ve answered who wrote it, who was it written for, when was it written? The time. 10th century BC, approximately 935 BC. Just to set some things quickly in your mind. This is after Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses. It’s after those guys, okay? It’s after Saul and David. He’s the third king.

Ecclesiastes was probably written later in Solomon’s life. Most people suggest that he wrote Song of Solomon when he was young, that he wrote Proverbs when he was in between, and that now Ecclesiastes is when he’s old and reflecting back on this life where he ended up pursuing other things than God. Solomon regretted his folly and wasted time. And so not only do we then know within the history of Israel when the book was written, but in Solomon’s own life it was written near the end of his life. Just to make sure that you get some of these things as well, there was no electricity, there was no internet, no No cell phones, no cars, no guns.

Likely their system for indoor plumbing was not as efficient maybe as ours was, though they probably did have some kind of thing like that. So just remember, we’re talking about a different time for as modern as it sounds like he’s being. We are talking about a long time ago, 3000 years ago is when this book was written. Footnote studying something 3000 years old that’s kinda cool. Okay the reason why, last thing the reason why who wrote it, who was written for, when it was written, the where was it written Jerusalem I mean Israel where where the king was. That’s not necessarily adding a whole lot to us right now to nowhere, but it was in Israel, Jerusalem. But the reason why, and I really have already said it, it’s a corrective. It’s a correcting kind of book for us. It It corrects our limited, unwise mindsets that think we’re going to find life in all the stuff that this world has to offer.

It’s a corrective, much like the book of James in the New Testament, corrects us, corrects us, points us back to the right path. It’s exactly what Solomon’s book is here. He writes it because he had gone on a quest, remember as the message described him as the quester. He had gone on a quest to find the purpose and meaning in life. Why am I here? What am I supposed to do? What is the meaning? What is the purpose of life? Solomon had gone on a quest to find that out. Ecclesiastes is his own testimony, his own explanation, that everything in life that you seek for happiness outside of God only provides a bitter aftertaste, and it’s really not fulfilling anyway.

I don’t think that this book is purely pessimism. It can sound rather pessimistic to say that there are two guarantees in life, two inescapable facts of life. Like, life is hard and then you die. That sounds kind of pessimistic, perhaps. But I don’t think that Solomon leaves us there. Solomon wants us to get that life is hard and then you die. He wants us to get that to drive us to God. That’s what he’s doing. This is actually, and I’m actually gonna say her name, Layla mentioned this yesterday when we were talking about at our staff meeting, that they’re actually, depending on how you read Ecclesiastes, there’s actually a lot of hope in it.

It’s actually pretty freeing when you read Ecclesiastes if you stop trying to be in control because you can’t control it. And if you realize that you’re gonna die, it frees you up to actually do the things are important. Do the things that are right rather than get stuck and frustrated in some rut pursuing empty things. It’s actually a very hopeful book if you look to God. If you keep not looking to God, you keep just looking to life under the Sun. Yeah, it’s pessimistic, it’s frustrating, and you’re gonna die.

But if you take the point of Solomon and are driven to look at God, it’s almost evangelistic. It’s a kind of good news. It is good news that life is hard and then you die if you have God. That’s not good news at all if you ignore God. Want nothing to do with him. Throughout the book of Ecclesiastes, God is the giver of every good gift to 26. He is sovereign over everything, 7, 13, and 14. He’s our Creator, 12, 1. We owe our existence, our entire existence to Him, chapter 12 verse 7. God is here in the book of Ecclesiastes and Solomon is driving us to see God and to worship Him and to fear Him. That is the meaning of life. Now the typical evangelistic presentation today is God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life and that’s why you should serve him. You know what? The message of Ecclesiastes is God may have an absolutely horrible plan for your life and then you die, but you can have real life in God. God may, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life is so sugary and cotton candy because life is

hard and you’re going to die and okay wonderful plan for my life well that’s really wonderful thanks for that wonderful no that’s not the message the message is life is found in God Solomon had the greatest mental material and political resources ever combined in one man and more than any other person he is qualified to write on the proper philosophy of life and it is our joy and our obligation I think to listen to him as he preaches to us the preacher through the rest of Ecclesiastes and I’m looking forward to getting into that with you in the coming weeks all right father thank you for this day help us to not miss Solomon’s point. It’s a crucial point. He’s not just an angry, bitter, old, mad man. He’s a wise man who wants us to get his message. Help us by your spirit to do that. Help us even now in our small group time to have some good or at least start some good conversation about all the other things maybe that we’re pursuing. Maybe even all the wisdom that we have, the knowledge of truth

that’s in our minds that maybe we’re just not heeding and obeying right now. Correct us from worshiping, loving anything other than you. And we pray this in Christ’s name, Amen.