For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Eccles 1:1-11

1 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king of Jerusalem:

2 ‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’
    says the Teacher.
‘Utterly meaningless!
    Everything is meaningless.’

3 What do people gain from all their labours
    at which they toil under the sun?
4 Generations come and generations go,
    but the earth remains for ever.
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.
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 No one remembers the former generations,
    and even those yet to come
will not be remembered
    by those who follow them.

A. Find out :

1. What is meaningless? v.2
2. Why does work appear meaningless? v.3,4
3. Why does the world seem meaningless? v.5-7
4. Why is knowledge wearisome? v.8
5. Why is history meaningless? v.9,10
6. What other reason is given? v.11

B. Think:

1. Why do we sometimes think that “meaning” is important?
2. Why does the writer seem to say that everything is meaningless?
3. How can there be meaning in anything?

C. Comment:

This is Scripture? Surely Scripture is supposed to be helpful? Isn’t this just a hopeless cry? Perhaps not. Let’s look and think about it. The writer’s cry is that everything in life is meaningless (v.2). First let’s see WHY the writer is saying everything is meaningless.

His strong contention is that everything just keeps on going, regardless of whether we are there or not. When we are there we work (v.3), but at the end of the world we won’t be remembered (v.11). The world keeps on (v.5-7) with little change and there’s so much to see and take in (v.8) that it’s exhausting just to try. Whatever happens today will have already happened in the past and will happen again in the future (v.9,10)

Second, let’s consider WHAT is the truth about all this? Very well, all he says IS true, let’s acknowledge that first. BUT look at the perspective he is coming from: twice in this passage (v.3,9) and many more times in the book we see the phrase, “under the sun”. Here is the clue: everything on the earth. This is an earthly perspective, a materialistic, mechanistic, view of things.

What is this saying? When there is no reference to God, life IS meaningless.  As we go through the book we’ll see that meaning only comes by reference to God.   Meaning is important, we need that sense that there is more to life than just materialistic living. This is a message our world desperately needs to hear.

D. Application?

1. Thank the Lord that HE made this world for our enjoyment.
2. Life is more than molecules! God brings meaning to material movement.

Passage: Eccles 1:12-18

12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind! 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

15 What is crooked cannot be straightened;
    what is lacking cannot be counted.

16 I said to myself, ‘Look, I have 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.

18 For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;
    the more knowledge, the more grief.

A. Find out :

1. Who is the writer? v.12
2. What had he done? v.13
3. What had he seen? v.14
4. What did he become? v.16
5. What did he conclude? v.14b,17b
6. Why? v.18

B. Think :

1. How did Solomon’s position allow him to speak as he did?
2. What task had he set himself?
3. What two reasons did he say made it fruitless?

C. Comment :

Let’s note first of all who it is who is speaking these words, the king of Israel (v.12) who was able to speak confidently about wisdom. That shows us that it must have been Solomon. (see 1 Kings 3:5-15, 4:29 -34) From this we can conclude that he knew what he was talking about, it was not idle talk.

Second, note what he sought to do: to study and grow in understanding (v.13). As king he would have the time and the resources to study all things. He had been in a good position to do this. We can listen to him and his findings.

Third, note what he achieved: he was able to say he had increased in wisdom more than any previous king (v.16), and that was true! (Look up 1 Kings 4:29-34)

Fourth, note his conclusion: it is all pointless! Why? Because it’s first like chasing the wind (v.14,17), you can’t get hold of it, total knowledge and understanding keeps eluding your grasp, and second, it just shows you so much of the bad side of life and that simply produces sorrow (v.18).

In a day when such importance is given to knowledge and learning we would do well to listen to Solomon. If you exclude God (note the “under the sun” again, v.14, and “under heaven”, v.13) from your thinking, much learning is just futile, it will gain you little. The more we know, the more we realise how much we don’t know. To reverentially fear God is the beginning of true wisdom (Proverbs 9:10 ). When will we learn that?

D. Application?

1. Learning for its own sake will only bring frustration and sorrow.
2. True learning, true wisdom acknowledges the Lord in all things.