"There is nothing new under the sun" the author of Ecclesiastes said. Generations come and go, streams run to the sea, the wind blows where it will, and all is vanity.
"A man eats and drinks and finds happiness in his work; this is a gift from God" (Ecclesiastes 3:13). This so aptly describes where many are today in their spirituality. They are too busy living and being content with their work to even feel true gratitude to the giver of all gifts. They are not seen in church Sunday or any other morning.
Not one day goes by where we could breath, live or move without God's mercy and grace. Do we sing our praise and gratitude?
Goods, wealth and contentment are God's gift to keep our hearts occupied (Eccl. 5:19). If we are given enough wealth and substance there is nothing left to desire. Man toils to eat, yet his belly is never filled (6:7).
Qoheleth, the author of Ecclesiastes talks of pursuing pleasure - pleasing the eye and heart, amassing property and wealth; yet all is empty. It is chasing the wind or vanity. Being human is unfulfilling and emptiness. Knowledge, wealth, love, life itself are illusory, a meaningless succession of events.
Death befalls all - the wise and the foolish, the rich and the poor, the man and the beast. Qoheleth forces us to consider the human enigma, the need for a new revelation. Though scholars tell us there may have been as many as eight authors of Ecclesiastes, there seems to be a unity of purpose leading the reader to a conclusion.
We are invited to life: "Sow, don't just stare at the clouds. / In the morning sow your seed" (9:6). "Go eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a glad heartwhat you do God has approved beforehand Spend your life with the woman you love, through the fleeting days of the life God has given you under the sun" (9:7).
The paradoxes in PART TWO Chapter 7 invite us to the need for a new revelation:
Better mourning than fasting
Better sadness than laughter
Better a wise man's reprimand than a fool's laughter
Better the end of a matter than the beginning
Better patience than pride
In the epilogue Qoheleth gives us concluding advice: fear God and keep his commandments, since this is the whole duty of man. For God will call all his hidden deeds, good or bad, to judgment.
Though we are invited to enjoy life's pleasures while we are young, the time will come when "the grasshopper drags itself along and desire failsthe mourners will go about the streets; before the silver cord is snapped, and the golden bowl is brokenand the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the breath returns to God" (12:5-7).
What was lacking in Qoheleth's vision has been given to us. Our spirituality includes the incarnation and Christ's Resurrection.
We can end our poem with:
When the silver cord is snapped
And the golden bowl is broken
I know my Redeemer lives.
