Joel M Bradshaw

12I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 14I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.–Ecclesiastes 1

Taking a break from the book of Luke to ponder the philosophical book of Ecclesiastes. It was written by man who called himself Qoheleth, which means the Teacher or Preacher. Most think he is Solomon, but he never names himself. If he was not Solomon, then he wants you to picture a king like Solomon in your mind as a handy reference for both success and excess. Nobody was as rich and successful as Solomon. Nobody lived the kind of life Solomon lived. Did one like Solomon find peace and purpose on his journey? We will have to find out what Qoheleth has for us.

He uses words like ‘under the sun’. Picture the world of toil day and and day out under the scorching heat. People do the same things every day and it felt purposeless and depressing to Qoheleth. He saw that there’s nothing new in this type of life ‘under the sun.’

The other major word is MEANINGLESS or VANITY. This also could translate as ‘vapor’ or ‘breath’. There is nothing lasting about a vapor of smoke. It exists for a moment and then wisps away. Qoheleth will process the various pursuits of life in Ecclesiastes. Today he proclaimed the pursuit of wisdom to be vanity. Anyone reading the Proverbs knows that this is simply not true. So what could he have meant?

We should pursue God’s wisdom. Wisdom has a source that we trust and a goal in mind. As Christians we trust God and believe his Word is essential for understanding how to best live life. The goal of that life is to please God. Qoheleth pictured a life of pursuing wisdom SIMPLY IN ITSELF. I have a philosophy degree. It is useless on its own unless I apply what I have learned in other areas of my life that are not philosophy. The pursuit of knowledge and wisdom has no practical value unless it is applied in a system or worldview. We will ponder what Qoheleth’s worldview was as he pursued life. Wisdom is good, but pursuing it nebulously as your life’s goal is not profitable.–JMB