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.
The sun rises and sets on it’s regular path. The winds blow around and around to where they began. The streams flow to the sea which is never full, yet the waters return to where they started.
In short, nature repeats itself, doing the same thing over and over.
He notices that just as they go out and do their thing, they return to where they came from. They never vary much nor stray from their routine. They do nothing new.
It’s the same with the generations of people that come and go – they are born and then return to the dust they came from.
So, really, what’s the point? he asks. You work, you die, you’re forgotten.
People come, people go, yet the world goes on.
It’s the same over and over, day after day without end.
It’s all meaningless.
He carries it further, saying what was will be again.
There’s nothing new under the sun.
Here he’s not talking about new inventions or technology. He’s looking at the bigger picture.
Men are born, they die. The sun comes up and goes down. Nature acts the same day after day.
We see things, but they aren’t new – there’s nothing new under the sun – they’re only new to us.
He’s talking about things in nature, but he’s also talking about the universal things in life – love, hate, deception, loyalty, floods, famine, war.
All these things are new to people – they discover them yet they were always there.
The people die and new people come. They, too, see things of old that have previously been. Yet these old things aren’t known to them so they will be discovered by these people as if they were new.
The Teacher talks about how all things are wearisome. Even more than one can say or tell.
The amount of labor and toil it takes to make it in this life wears a man out. They don’t satisfy. Even as a person is working, his mind is restless, listening and watching but never filled or satisfied.
He ends the opening statement by pointing out there are many great men in each generation, but no one remembers them long after their death.
Who remembers the great men who died? Nobody.
As the new people come along the older are forgotten. Even the newer generations will be forgotten by those who come after them.
It all sounds so sad and depressing, but really it’s not. It’s a statement of truth concerning the natural progression of life and how temporary our lives really are.
Chapter 1, verse 4 sums it up best –
Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.
As we go further in our study, we will see the Teacher elaborate on the points in the opening passage and explain what led him to his conclusions. I hope you will join me as we explore them.
For Further Reading
“Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” (NIV) – James 4:14
(This is part 3 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.)