Ecclesiastes 2:7

     7 I bought male and female slaves
        and had other slaves who were born in my house.
       I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. (NIV)

The Hebrew words here are ‘ebed (male slave, or simply slave) and shiphchah, "female slave." Solomon also says that other slaves were born in his house, a fair translation of the Hebrew phrase "and there were sons of the house for me," meaning that some of his slaves were not captured, bought or given, but born into slavery under his roof. I want it to be clear that Solomon isn't using terms that could be misunderstood, as if he is misquoted while talking about paid employees. Solomon was a slaveholder, and a slave owner. He also mentions vast herds and flocks because Solomon had to feed his thousand wives and his many, many slaves.

What does the Bible say about slavery? God acknowledges that slavery exists; he does not command it, but he does regulate the rights of slaves in the Law of Moses. When that law was given on Mount Sinai, God's people had only just been freed from slavery in Egypt a few months before. Abraham moved in a culture of slavery (Genesis 20:17) and himself owned one slave, who was freed when she became his concubine (Genesis 21:10). Some of King David's subjects were slave owners (2 Samuel 6:20).

In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul makes a specific point to slaves who become Christians that their new faith does not necessarily mean that they can demand their freedom (1 Corinthians 7:21), "although," he adds, "if you can gain your freedom, do so." It is sometimes argued that Jesus or Paul should have condemned slavery. But Christianity doesn't change governments or regulate nations. It changes hearts and in fact make all of us willing servants (the New Testament writers even said "slaves") of Christ. The point of the Bible is not to make the world a better place. The point is to bring us to faith so that we trust in our saving God with the ultimate goal of eternal life in heaven.

Ecclesiastes 2:4-6

    4 I undertook great projects:
        I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. 
    5 I made gardens and parks
        and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 
    6 I made reservoirs
        to water groves of flourishing trees. (NIV)

Solomon goes into detail now about some of the other pleasures he undertook. In verses 4-6, the pleasures are bright and done in full view for all to see. Verse 7 will show us a darker side of Solomon's culture and of Solomon himself.

Solomon would have needed houses, many houses, to provide for his vast harem of a thousand women (1 Kings 11:3). We are told in the Bible that he also provided his many foreign wives with shrines and temples for their detestable gods and goddesses, like Ashtoreth, Milcom, Molech and Chemosh.

The Hebrew word for "garden" is common to several languages. It's the word paradise, which occurs in Assyrian, Babylonian and Aramaic. The Greeks also borrowed it. It's usually a reference to an enclosed garden with shrubs, trees and a water-source; what we would think of as a park. In the Bible, the Hebrew form only occurs here, in Song of Solomon 4:13 ("orchard") and Nehemiah 2:8 (a reference to "the king's forest"), although the Greek word paradise is of course on our Savior's lips on the cross ("today you will be with me in paradise," Luke 23:43), on Paul's mind when he describes his own vision of heaven (2 Corinthians 12:4), and it's the word that comes to John's mind when he, too, see a vision of the world to come (Revelation 2:7). In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the word paradise is used more than a dozen times to describe the Garden of Eden.

Finally in verse 4 Solomon refers to "reservoirs" and "groves." Perhaps these are the same reservoirs Solomon calls "the pools of Heshbon" (Song of Solomon 7:4).

Solomon's parks and gardens were a wonderful undertaking; Israel bloomed and became green under his leadership. Perhaps his public works resembled the ideals of President Roosevelt in the days of America's recovery from the Great Depression. But notice that he keeps saying, "I made...I undertook." Solomon did these things for himself, in his own interest.

But making the world a better place, as noble as it sounds, is not our main goal in life any more than enjoying wine or having fun. Solomon is systematically weeding out his garden of pleasures to see what will remain when he finally burns away the last of his vanities. It shouldn't surprise us at all to find our relationship with God standing there alone, with all of our pleasures and all of our good works missing, and nothing at all besides.

What counts for us in eternity is our Savior. And his forgiveness surrounds us on every side like new flowers blooming in an early spring. The nightmare of our sinfulness is ended in the dawn of Christ's resurrection.

Ecclesiastes 2:3

3 I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly-- my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives. (NIV)

In this verse, Solomon is just continuing what he said in verses 1-2. Another kind of pleasure is the pleasure of wine or any alcohol. We could apply this to any substance people use for pleasure, but we'll keep using Solomon's own word, "wine." Solomon doesn't say he got falling down drunk, since his mind was "still guiding" him "with wisdom." Solomon is talking about enjoying, not abusing, his wine.

But even though the mere enjoyment of alcohol for its own sake, in moderation, isn't sinful (1 Timothy 5:23), it has to be evident to anyone, that getting buzzed is not the point of living. God's plan for us goes beyond the pursuit of happiness, and goes beyond even happiness itself. God's plan for us is the rescue of our souls, and that comes through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

Abusing the pleasures of life, such as wine, is also destructive. Getting drunk is a violation of the Fifth Commandment, since we are hurting and/or harming a human being's body--our own. And when we fall into this sin, as with any other, we ask God for forgiveness and for the strength and courage to turn away from this temptation in the future. His forgiveness covers over our sins, and in our thanks, we keep on asking for his help.

His mercy endures forever.

Ecclesiastes 2:2

2 I said of laughter, "It is madness," and of pleasure, "What does it accomplish?"  (NASB)

This is good verse to show how important it is to take a verse in its context to understand what's being said. Solomon is not saying that laughter or pleasure are sinful things. God himself laughs (Psalm 2:4; 37:13), and laughter is counted as a blessing from God (Genesis 21:6). It's even the meaning of Isaac's name. As for "pleasure," it's the word used in the Bible for the rejoicing that God's people enjoy when they keep his festivals and holidays.

But in the context of Solomon's quest for God's wisdom, fun as a thing must be set to one side. Whether such fun is "laughter" or the "pleasure" of a celebration, it is not the point of life. It's a blessing, like so many things, but it's not our goal. Our goal is Godly wisdom, the wisdom that is about God. It's also a wisdom that only comes from God. And that faith-wisdom accomplishes everything, because it connects us to Jesus.

Ecclesiastes 2:1

In chapter 1, Solomon grabs our attention with his pathetic cry: "Meaningless! Meaningless!" He proceeds from the general "Everything is meaningless!" (1:2-11) to the specific "Wisdom is meaningless!" (1:12-18) and will continue to spiral downward in chapter 2 ("Pleasures are meaningless," 2:1-11, "Wisdom and folly are meaningless," 2:12-16, and "Toil is meaningless," 2:17-26), but always in the background is the unasked question: "Is everything really meaningless?" which he will answer in chapter 3, that there is in fact a time for everything; a time given by God.

Paul sums up the discouraging nature of seemingly meaningless human labor by pointing us toward the labor of God:

"For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God." (Romans 8:20,21)

2 I said to myself, "Come now, I will make a test of pleasure; enjoy yourself." But behold, this also was vanity. (RSV)

Solomon opens the second chapter of Ecclesiastes with a test, but it's a test of pleasure. Was he thinking of us in the Twenty-first century? How many people think that "the pursuit of happiness" means that our government must supply us with happiness? Or that happiness itself is a human right, rather than its pursuit?

What things do people think will make them happy? Most of us are like children when this question is raised. What a blessing to be able to say, "I am happy, and I am content, just as I am." What a rare day when we can say, "I wouldn't change a thing." Not because of the blue sky; not because of the cooperation of the thermostat and the barometer, but because of Christ on the cross, and the work of the word and the Holy Spirit in my heart.

Ecclesiastes 1:16-18

 16 I thought to myself, "Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge."  17 Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind. 

Who ruled over Jerusalem before Solomon? Saul did not; it was captured by David from the Jebusites. But Solomon might also be talking about a men like Melchizedek (Genesis 14:18) and the Amorite king Adoni-Zedek (Joshua 10:5). Solomon even says that he pursued the understanding of "madness and folly," quickly learning that no enlightenment lies along that path. Luther thought that Solomon meant that he tried to keep "madness and folly" away from his kingdom by promoting other qualities, which could certainly be the case. But either way, he found that this was "a useless anxiety," (I'm quoting Luther now), "therefore the wisest thing is compose oneself in such a way that one can stand anything" (LW 21).

Such things led Solomon to express himself once again in poetry:

    18 For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;

        the more knowledge, the more grief.  (NIV)

If spend our whole lives worrying, we will waste them. Knowledge itself is a blessing, but knowledge without faith is useless. It would be the same with anything--even a pair of shoes. Without faith, our shoes keep our feet dry and healthy and preserve our feet from wounds and infections and keep us alive, but if they do all this for someone without faith, what good have they done? Better to be a shoeless cripple who will have eternal life through faith than to wear the best shoes that money can buy without any faith at all.

We thank God for everything we have--teaching, tennies, and even troubles that lead us back to God. Everything we have is a gift, but the greatest gift is the Son of God himself, who gave himself to rescue us from the madness and folly of sin, and to bring us to eternal life.

Ecclesiastes 1:14-15

   14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun;

        all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.  (NIV)

   15 What is crooked cannot be made straight;

        what is lacking cannot be counted. (NRSV)

Solomon still hasn't said it, but he is gradually leading us to comprehend: Without God in our lives, any pursuit we follow will be meaningless. Without God, we can't make the crooked straight; without faith, we can't make the rough places smooth. The second half of verse 15 means this: A person who truly pursues wisdom will eventually discover that even those things that are missing from human knowledge are so vast that they are uncountable.

These things are not meant to frustrate us with the pursuit of knowledge nor with education or universities. These things are meant to point us to the place where everything that is lacking--as uncountable and impossible as it may seem--is filled in and supplied by Christ. What is missing from our human nature is the holiness demanded by God. What is impossible to us is obedience to God's commandments, but that's exactly the what Jesus has given to us with his perfect obedience.

What it so beautiful about Solomon's Ecclesiastes is precisely this persistent message: We are incomplete without God; we are condemned without Christ. And so we turn to Jesus again and again; every day we turn to him like it was the first time, answering his loving call in the gospel. Only in Christ can we say with Job, "I am pure and without sin, I am clean and free from guilt" (Job 33:9). But in Christ, we can say it with confidence, with faith, and with the assurance that all of our sins have been atoned for; we are truly clean, because we have been forgiven.

Ecclesiastes 1:13

13 And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven. It is a grievous task [NIV: heavy burden] God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with. (NASB)

Solomon tells us that he spent a great deal of study in the pursuit of "all that is done under heaven." We know from Scripture that Solomon wrote quite a lot of music, that he wrote many proverbs, and that he personally catalogued plant life and animal life including animals, birds, reptiles and fish (1 Kings 4:32-34). The quest for knowledge and for wisdom is something God has placed in mankind, but we can't buy that knowledge. We must learn it, scrap by scrap, deduction by deduction, and we must enter into many frustrating dead ends and cul-de-sacs before we really learn anything at all.

But Solomon is coaching us throughout his book: The pursuit of ordinary human knowledge is a very heavy burden indeed if there is no knowledge of the true God. Without the certainty of the resurrection, all learning would be useless and worthless. Without the gospel of forgiveness, all of life would be an impossible burden.

Has God laid a heavy burden on you? Turn right back to him and lay your guilty conscience and your other troubles at his feet. He will give you strength as he pours out his love, his compassion and his healing into your life. Trust him, and he will carry you.

Ecclesiastes 1:12

12 I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. (KJV)

Some translations say "Teacher" for "Preacher" here; both are attempts to understand the meaning of the title koheleth, one who collects, preaches and teaches the wisdom of God.

The word "was" in English reflects the tense of the Hebrew accurately; it has made some people question whether Solomon would talk this way about himself. But drawing toward the end of his reign, it's not surprising at all that Solomon would talk about himself in the past tense. Solomon had walked in number of sins in his lifetime, with the kind of reckless abandon that tragically lies in wait for the very wealthy or very powerful.

In Solomon's life, he had fallen in adultery, marrying many more than the one wife God intended for any one man (Mark 10:8). He had fallen into idolatry, letting his many wives lead him into the worship and veneration of many false gods, including Ashtoreth of the Sidonians, Molech of the Ammonites, Chemosh of the Moabites, and many others (1 Kings 11:4-8). This book will show us some of Solomon's repentance for these sins.

Power and wealth don't make a person's actions right. The ability to hide a sin doesn't atone for that sin. Only in Jesus is there forgiveness; and in Jesus, that forgiveness covers over all of our sins.

Ecclesiastes 1:8-11

    8 All things are wearisome,

        more than one can say.

     The eye never has enough of seeing,

        nor the ear its fill of hearing. 

    9 What has been will be again,

        what has been done will be done again;

        there is nothing new under the sun. 

    10 Is there anything of which one can say,

        "Look! This is something new"?

     It was here already, long ago;

        it was here before our time. 

    11 There is no remembrance of men of old,

        and even those who are yet to come

        will not be remembered by those who follow. (NIV)

Solomon's goal with these words is partly to describe his own weariness with the world. In his position, the most powerful man in Israel and perhaps in his day one of the most powerful men in the world, there was nothing denied to him. Solomon had everything he wanted. But nothing was new. Nothing surprised him. Nothing made him feel right inside, of all the things and experiences and ideas in the world. None of it filled the hole in his soul.

And so the other part of his goal with these words is to show us the same thing. Solomon is performing a task for us very much like something my brother used to do for me. When Dan and I were young, we would sometimes take walks along the creek that ran through our town. And when we would step on the frozen water in the winter, Dan would turn back to me and say, "Step here, it's too thin there," and things like that. He had been there already. He knew what dangers were ahead for me, and he told me about them. Solomon, who had everything, is turning back to us to say, "Step this way; don't step over there--it's too dangerous." Solomon is guiding us to see that there is only one thing we should spend our time pursuing.

Even a name or a memorial for ourselves is something we shouldn't bother with; if one of us will have a memorial one day, it should be raised by the people who follow him; not by the man himself. And if he isn't remembered, what difference does it make? What matters isn't that people later in time remember us, but that God knows us in eternity.

Solomon wants us to be worn out and exhausted by his words. He wants us to give up on trying to seek pleasure for ourselves in the world. And so Solomon can seem to be writing a very modern, very Western, and even a very American book. He wants us to turn our backs on comforts and pleasures and the joys of having enough, because secretly behind the joy of having enough is always the longing to have just a little bit more. But there is emptiness in "more." Solomon is preaching the Law to us. Give up on your "enough" and your "more," and seek God, the one and only Shepherd.

When we are content with God, and when we have joy in our relationship with God, we will be truly blessed. The greatest blessing of all is not something we need to strive for or earn or discover at all. It's the forgiveness we already have in Jesus Christ. And that's something that we will never run out of; something we can never hear too often.

We are at peace with God.

Ecclesiastes 1:3-7

3 What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun? 

    4 Generations come and generations go,

        but the earth remains forever. 

    5 The sun rises and the sun sets,

        and hurries back to where it rises. 

    6 The wind blows to the south

        and turns to the north;

     round and round it goes,

        ever returning on its course. 

    7 All streams flow into the sea,

        yet the sea is never full.

     To the place the streams come from,

        there they return again. (NIV)

Steve Martin once joked that life would be completely pointless if it weren't for his "lucky astrology mood watch." Even in humor, man reaches for something beyond this world. Without something beyond, the world is a grim place of pain, loss and the experiences we can appreciate before death inevitably takes us. I have officiated at more than a hundred funerals, I have attended many more, and one day, the funeral will be my own--but what comes after that it what I'm really looking forward to. I don't dread the casket; I'm looking forward to the place Jesus has ready for me in heaven.

What makes the difference in funerals is what the family believes will happen next. When they have faith in their savior, the kind of faith that takes God at his word (like the royal official in John 4:50), then the family can dry their tears, hear the saving message of forgiveness and the resurrection, and be comforted. When faith isn't there; when a family is bound by possessions and the desperate need to have a "celebration of life" for the deceased, then there will be a focus on what a great person this was, on what great things this person did, or on how much they will be missed. And those tears will dry, too--but only in bitterness, doubt and fear.

Solomon does us a favor by getting right into the gritty emptiness of a life that doesn't look to God. The hopeless turn of the clock and the wild cycle of the world's weather brings no comfort without the Spirit of God bringing the message of forgiveness and peace. Where there is faith, then a "celebration of life," if a family still insists on it, can really take place. We celebrate life because God is the one who gives it, just as God gives eternal life, too.