Qoheleth’s Quest

In the book of Ecclesiastes the author, who defines himself as Qoheleth (Greek for the Teacher or Preacher), shares with us his quest to find meaning in life.

He tells us how he tried various things in all areas of life.

He starts by devoting himself to studying and exploring by wisdom, “all that is done under heaven,” meaning all there is in this world.

Then he tells us he has seen all the things that are done under the sun, but that all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

The Teacher goes on to explain what it is he’s seen and done. He tells us:

He’s applied himself to the understanding of wisdom and of madness and folly.

He’s tested his heart with pleasure to find out what is good.

He’s tried cheering himself with wine.

He’s undertaken large, fancy projects. He’s built houses, vineyards, gardens, and parks. His building program was so extravagant he even built a reservoir so he could water all his groves of trees.

He didn’t stop there.

He bought male and female slaves.

He bought large herds and flocks. They were larger than anyone in Jerusalem had ever had before.

Through all of these business dealings he piled up a large amount of gold and silver.

Then he got a harem and hired singers to entertain him.

Having gained all these treasures he was by far the richest of anyone who was ever in Jerusalem before him.

The Teacher denied himself nothing and treated himself to any pleasure he saw.

Looking back at his quest he states he has done and experienced so many things that he wonders what more his successors could do than what he’s already done.

It is at this point he realizes that while wisdom is better than madness or folly, fate overtakes both the wise and the foolish, leading them both to the grave, so in the end he doesn’t know what he gains by being wise.

This causes him to hate life and to despair over what he has worked for. He realizes he has put all that effort in and in no time it’s going to be pointless because someday when he dies, he will have to leave behind all the treasures he worked so hard for, for someone else to enjoy. Someone who might not appreciate them or steward them well.

He realizes all these things he’s seen and done are meaningless. They’re like chasing the wind – pointless.

He follows up the description of his quest by saying a man can do nothing better than to eat, drink, and find satisfaction in his work. He realizes this is from the hand of God; for without Him who can eat or find enjoyment?

 

This is a major shift in his thinking.

He’d begun his quest seeking to study and explore all that is done in the world. He was looking for meaning in life. He also wanted to test pleasure to find meaning there.

Instead, he realizes meaning comes only from the hand of God.

The Teacher acknowledges that the man who pleases God is given wisdom, knowledge, and happiness.

He comes to understand all the happiness he was seeking out in the world can only come from God.

The Teacher then spends the rest of the book of Ecclesiastes sharing the wisdom and truths he learned during his quest.

 

As I was reading and studying this, I realized something.

When you step back and look at Qoheleth’s quest, he could be anyone in any point in history, even in our modern times.

He has gone out into the world to find pleasure and satisfaction only to discover that it doesn’t come from the world – it comes from God.

How many of us have done the same thing?

We all have.

We’ve all gone out into the world to experience it’s pleasures in hopes of finding meaning and satisfaction.

Maybe we didn’t do it to the extreme the Teacher did. Maybe we just took a few small steps toward a few small things.

Still – all of us have taken steps into the world and looked to it to please and satisfy us. We’ve chosen to look to things other than God for our comfort and joy.

The question is, did we also realize that God is the answer?

It is God and God alone who gives meaning to our lives.

That stepping out to enjoy the world and all the pleasures it has to offer while turning a blind eye to God? That’s sin.

The desire and inclination to look to the world for meaning is a part of the human condition as a result of having been born into a broken world.

It’s the reason we need a Savior to bring us back to God, to reunite us with our Creator.

It’s the reason we need Jesus.

 

We are all on our own quest.

It’s up to each of us to make sure that we are on a quest to be closer to God and reaching out to Him for meaning and satisfaction.

Anything else is meaningless, like chasing the wind.

 

 

 

(This is part 4 in a series on the book of Ecclesiastes. The series is a brief overview designed to give you a gentle introduction to the book. You can find all the posts here.)