1 The words of Kohelet the son of David, king in Yerushalayim:
2 Pointless! Pointless! — says Kohelet —
Utterly meaningless! Nothing matters!
3 What does a person gain from all his labor
at which he toils under the sun?
4 Generations come, generations go,
but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises, the sun sets;
then it speeds to its place and rises there.
6 The wind blows south,
then it turns north;
the wind blows all around
and keeps returning to its rounds.
7 All the rivers flow to the sea,
yet the sea is not full;
to the place where the rivers flow,
there they keep on flowing.
8 Everything is wearisome,
more than one can express;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
the ear not filled up with hearing.
9 What has been is what will be,
what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new
under the sun.
10 Is there something of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It existed already in the ages before us.
11 No one remembers the people of long ago;
and those to come will not be remembered
by those who come after them.
12 I, Kohelet, have been king over Isra’el in Yerushalayim. 13 I wisely applied myself to seek out and investigate everything done under heaven. What a bothersome task God has given humanity to keep us occupied! 14 I have seen all the activities that are done under the sun, and it’s all pointless, feeding on wind.
15 What is crooked can’t be straightened;
what is not there can’t be counted.
16 I said to myself, “Look, I have acquired much wisdom, more than anyone ruling Yerushalayim before me.” Yes, I experienced a great deal of wisdom and knowledge; 17 yet when I applied myself to understanding wisdom and knowledge, as well as stupidity and folly, I came to see that this too was merely feeding on wind.
18 For in much wisdom is much grief;
the more knowledge, the more suffering.
-------The book of Ecclesiastes is an Old Testament book of Hebrew poetry. We do not know for sure who wrote this book. The writer calls himself the "Teacher." Many people think that King Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes. The writer talks about being a king of Israel and having great wisdom and wealth. Those things describe King Solomon very well.
As you study the book of Ecclesiastes, you will see that the writer is trying to find answers to his questions about life. In Ecclesiastes 1:3, the writer asks a question. "Do people really gain anything from all the hard work they do in this life?" Throughout the book, the writer talks about what he has observed about life. At the end of Ecclesiastes, he concludes by telling us what he has learned is most important in life.
As the writer of Ecclesiastes looks for answers to his questions, he shares several important lessons that he has learned. These lessons are good for Christians today, too. For the next few days, we will look at these lessons and see how they can help us be closer to God.
Thank God today for His Word, the Bible. And ask Him to help you learn more about serving Him.
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