The Opening Statement of Ecclesiastes
The book of Ecclesiastes opens up with the author telling us, “Meaningless! Meaningless,” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless.”
He’s letting us know that he believes everything in the world is meaningless.
At first glance, it may look like he is saying everything is pointless for a negative reason, but he’s not.
This is actually his opening statement to preface the rest of the book. He’s declaring a truth he’s learned the hard way through years of living and exploring.
As the book unfolds he unpacks chapter 1 and explains why and how he realized this.
He waits until the last few verses of the last chapter of the book to explain the remedy, choosing to first explain all that he has witnessed that has brought him to this conclusion.
In his opening statement, contained in the first 11 verses of chapter 1, he asks an important question – “what does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?” In other words, what’s the point? Why bother?
Then he points out an important truth – generations of people are born and die, but the earth remains forever.