Scroll to the bottom for thoughts/discussion questions!
One-sentence summary: Solomon's years of experience and searching after wisdom (and folly!) come out in these written observations, which are at times sensible and at times fatalistic.
Solomon declares that these are "the words of the preacher, the king of Israel." Some of his reflections:
All is vanity.
The eye is not satisfied with seeing or the ear with hearing.
All has been done before. There is nothing new under the sun.
He says he set his heart to seek and search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven, the burdensome task God has given to men. His conclusion? All is vanity. (This is repeated many times.)
He says he wanted to know wisdom and folly and that with much wisdom is much grief, and whoever increases knowledge, increases sorrow.
He enjoyed pleasure and says in the end, it is vanity. He wanted to see through experience what folly led to and the pursuit of pleasure, while still letting wisdom lead his heart. He did and had all his heart desired, and in the end, he finds that wisdom excels follow because fools walk in darkness. Yet, he takes a fatalistic approach, saying both fools and the wise die, and he "hated life" because he couldn't see the point of any of it. He laments that he has to leave his possessions to those after him, and so he despaired of all his labor. He asks what man gains for all his labors. "All his days are sorrowful and his work burdensome." A man should eat and drink and enjoy good in his labor, since this is from the hand of God. God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to men who are good in his sight, but to sinners, the work of gathering and collecting to give to those who are good before God.
To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven...
God has made everything beautiful in His time and put eternity in the hearts of men, and yet no one can find out the work He does from beginning and the end. Therefore, there is nothing better for man than to rejoice and do good and to eat and drink and enjoy the good of his labor, because it is God's gift.
Man and animals are alike in that they both die. The spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of animals, to the earth.
He observed that the oppressed have no comforter, so he praises the dead rather than the living. Even better, he says, is the one who has never existed.
Better a handful with quietness than both hands full and grasping after the wind.
There is one alone without companion, yet there is no end to all his labors, and he never asks why he toils and deprives himself of good. This is not good, he says.
Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor, because if they fall, one will lift up his companion, but woe to him who is alone when he falls because he has no one to help him up. If two lie down together, they will keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him, and a three-strand cord is not easily broken.
Walk wisely when you walk to the house of God, and draw near to hear rather than give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know they do evil. Do not be rash with your mouth, and don't let your heart utter anything hastily before God, because God is in heaven and you are on Earth; therefore, let your words be few.
A dream comes through much activity, and a fool's voice, by his many words.
Pay your vows to God. Better not to vow than to vow and not pay. If you say it was an error, God will be angry and destroy the work of your hands.
In the multitude of dreams and many words there is also vanity, so fear God.
If you see the oppression of the poor and the perversion of justice, don't marvel.
If you love money, you won't be satisfied with it. The only profit owners get from more possessions is to see them with their eyes.
The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich won't let him sleep.
Naked we come to Earth and naked we return, and we take nothing with us. He says this is also evil.
He comes again to the conclusion that it is "fitting" to eat and drink and enjoy the good of one's labor, which is God's gift. Wealth is a gift from God, too, and the ability to enjoy it.
He says that it is better to die at birth than to live and not see goodness.
The soul is not satisfied.
Who knows what is good for man in life?
Thoughts/discussion questions:
Some of his musings make me ask: Can one say they have wisdom if they are not walking in it? What do you think? Can you have wisdom in your heart while still walking in foolishness? Does there come a point where your wisdom gets tainted? His reasoning is clearly skewed at times.
Solomon makes many judgements, saying what is good and what is evil. Much of these thoughts seem to be the result of "eating from the wrong tree" (deciding what is right on his own apart from the Holy Spirit.)
In many ways, his life and fatalistic message is a warning.