The Book of Ecclesiastes 1:1-18

¹The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

²“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher;

“Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

³What profit has a man from all his labor

In which he toils under the sun?

⁴One generation passes away, and another generation comes;

But the earth abides forever.

⁵The sun also rises, and the sun goes down,

And hastens to the place where it arose.

⁶The wind goes toward the south,

And turns around to the north;

The wind whirls about continually,

And comes again on its circuit.

⁷All the rivers run into the sea,

Yet the sea is not full;

To the place from which the rivers come,

There they return again.

⁸All things are full of labor;

Man cannot express it.

The eye is not satisfied with seeing,

Nor the ear filled with hearing.

⁹That which has been is what will be,

That which is done is what will be done,

And there is nothing new under the sun.

¹⁰Is there anything of which it may be said, “See, this is new”?

It has already been in ancient times before us.

¹¹There is no remembrance of former things,

Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come

By those who will come after.

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

¹³And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised. ¹⁴I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

¹⁵What is crooked cannot be made straight,

And what is lacking cannot be numbered.

¹⁶I communed with my heart, saying, “Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge.” ¹⁷And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind.

¹⁸For in much wisdom is much grief,

And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

Preamble: The Book of Ecclesiastes (which means the book for the assembly or congregation) is given us through God’s chosen preacher, King Solomon, King David’s son, whom God endowed with such great wisdom and riches so that no one before him, or who would rise after him, would be comparable to him (see 1 Kings 3:1-15; 4:21-34; 10:14-29 etc.). In this regard alone then he stands as a kind of precursor to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now as to the Book itself it stands unique in Bible in that it reveals to one and to all that there is nothing in this life that CAN SATISFY MANS DEEPEST DESIRES apart from having God, who alone satisfies our deepest desires, by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. For every desire and every pursuit of man ends, and will only leave you feeling empty, disappointed and unsatisfied in the end. This then was the experience of King Solomon which he faithfully recorded for us all.

Commentary

Vs. 1-4 ¹The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

²“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher;

“Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

³What profit has a man from all his labor

In which he toils under the sun?

⁴One generation passes away, and another generation comes;

But the earth abides forever.

King Solomon, as the Preacher, thus begins on a despondent note, saying that “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” ^{Vs. 2}

Now this declaration by him was not born out of rashness, but rather after years of pursuits and vast experiences, King Solomon now nearing the end of his life has had some very deep contemplation, of asking himself, what did I achieve by it all? And so Solomon continues this introspection in verse three and four asking,

³What profit has a man from all his labor

In which he toils under the sun?

⁴One generation passes away, and another generation comes;

But the earth abides forever.

For all of one’s labors in which one toils their lives away in their pursuits of…, will only pass away with them, even their compatriots of their generation will also pass away with them, and they will all be forgotten by the generations that come up after them, all which one labors for does not remain with them, for only the earth remains long after we and are labors are gone and forgotten. The transience of our lives and labors is thus noted by Solomon. If you go walking through Assiniboia Park in the city of Winnipeg near the outdoor horticulture structure and building called "the leaf" there is a circle road lined with busks of men and women who made significant contributions to the city of Winnipeg in their various fields. Of all of the busks found there you would be hard pressed to find anyone in that park on any day who could name just five of them from memory. Indeed even to find someone to name three you likely would not find. This is what Solomon is referring to, for if your only building an earthly legacy for yourself, it will be soon forgotten after your generation passes away. 

Vs. 5-8 ⁵The sun also rises, and the sun goes down,

And hastens to the place where it arose.

⁶The wind goes toward the south,

And turns around to the north;

The wind whirls about continually,

And comes again on its circuit.

⁷All the rivers run into the sea,

Yet the sea is not full;

To the place from which the rivers come,

There they return again.

⁸All things are full of labor;

Man cannot express it.

King Solomon here sees these cycles of life like the rising and setting of the sun, or like the winds that come from one direction and end in another, which whirl about continually only to come again on their circuit on the earth. And so it is what one generation does and pursues so does the next (vs. 5-6). Indeed just as the rivers run into the sea, and yet the sea is never full, so too does mankind run around busying themselves here and there only to all come to the same end. And yet the cycle of life continues, birth, life, death. And so it is that all things are full of labor, man cannot express it, for everything in creation works its way around to its place and end in this life, only to have the cycle begin all again. That said, the labor or work done in this life is not bad, it is part of life, for without it there is no life; as Jesus made clear to the Pharisees, (John 5:17). And yet all of our labor or work does not bring our soul’s satisfaction and eternal life, only God does. And this is what the Book of Ecclesiastes reveals to us all, again and again.

Vs. 9-11 ⁹That which has been is what will be,

That which is done is what will be done,

And there is nothing new under the sun.

¹⁰Is there anything of which it may be said, “See, this is new”?

It has already been in ancient times before us.

¹¹There is no remembrance of former things,

Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come

By those who will come after.

King Solomon also saw our inability to change our past, there is no going back but there is a glorious here, now, and future for all who repent and believe in the Gospel! Though again the Book of Ecclesiastes was written before this was available to us all, to show us all the vanity of all things done under the sun apart from having eternal life by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and so it is there is nothing new under the sun, yet inevitably each new generation that arises thinks that they are the, “latest and the greatest”, that what they themselves have discovered and experienced is something new, and yet the peoples of ancient times have already experienced every feeling, every emotion, every exhilaration and rush that is available to mankind, for it has all already been and done, and we in our brief lifetimes can only discover what they already knew and experienced. And yet there is no remembrance of the former things, nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come by those who will come after (vs. 11). There is then a clear vanity in pursuing these things for their own sake. For they don’t last, nor will they remain with you for the inevitable cycles of life will take them all away from you.

Vs. 12-18 ¹²I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. ¹³And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised. ¹⁴I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

¹⁵What is crooked cannot be made straight,

And what is lacking cannot be numbered.

¹⁶I communed with my heart, saying, “Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge.” ¹⁷And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind.

¹⁸For in much wisdom is much grief,

And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

King Solomon as the Preacher now declares that he was king over Jerusalem, and thus God had given him not only the authority and power to search and seek out what would be most profitable for man to do during his brief lifetime down here under the sun. But God had also endowed him with great wisdom and understanding so as to understand it, and He gave him all the wealth and riches and resources he would need to search this out, which he calls a burdensome task by which God tests men. And so Solomon set out by wisdom to explore what would be the most profitable way for man to spend his brief life pursuing and doing? And so it was that Solomon found in all his pursuits that all the works done under the sun (and not under the Son) only amount to vanity and grasping for the wind, for there is an inescapable futility in one’s pursuits while living down here under the sun. King Solomon also found that there are crooked things down here that cannot be made straight, and that what is lacking cannot be numbered (vs. 15). For there are many things down here that cannot be corrected by us, (sin and Satan in this world assures us of that), which again points us all to the Lord Jesus Christ and His Kingdom, for only He can, and will fix it all. King Solomon also reflected then upon his own achievements, how he had attained to greatness, and how he had acquired more wisdom and knowledge that all who were before him in Jerusalem, and yet in this pursuit he also found it to just be vanity and grasping for the wind,

“For in much wisdom is much grief,

And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.” ^{Vs. 18}

Again without God at the center of lives, all of our reasoning abilities, all of our knowledge and understanding and intellectual pursuits, will only leave us wanting and disappointed.

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.