Why is Ecclesiastes so negative?

In my opinion, Ecclesiastes has to be the strangest book in the Bible. It begins with an evaluation of life with which no Christian today would ever agree: that life is vain and purposeless. Solomon begins his strange thesis about life on earth with the words: “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” In using the word vanity, Solomon is not talking about ego. He is declaring that life is vain — all life, all our lives, all our activities, and all that happens “under the sun” (one of his favorite expressions) is in vain and without any real purpose.

This is hardly a Christian worldview. We who are in Christ see life as incredibly significant and purposeful. We must wonder, “How is it that Solomon could be so gloomy?” The general tenor of the book of Ecclesiastes seems more philosophical than theological, and it is a pretty gloomy philosophy at that.

We must understand that during the days of the Old Testament, there was no widespread revelation of eternal life. In fact, the Old Testament says very, very little about the afterlife — so little that there was a major theological group existing in Jesus’ day who firmly insisted that there was no afterlife. Once you died, that was it, so if God was pleased with you, you could be sure you would be blessed in this life — since there were no blessings and indeed no life at all after death. This group was known as the Sadducees. Their main argument for believing as they did was by reason of omission — you just couldn’t find plain, clear references to Heaven or any life after death in the writings of Moses (Genesis through Deuteronomy).

Early Sadducee

Solomon seemed to be of this persuasion long before the Sadducees appeared on the scene. He had a great life for the present. He was the king of Israel and the wealthiest and wisest man on earth. He had all his heart could want in possessions, wives, concubines, entertainers, gold, silver, and just about anything and everything a man of his times could ever desire. He was a royal, and he lived royally.

But as Solomon aged, something began to bother him. The reality of his own eventual death became more and more depressing to him. Sure, he had it all for now. And he would probably enjoy these blessings for a while. But sooner or later, he would do as all the rest of the world did. He would age, he would weaken, and he would finally die and leave everything. Every bit of his gold and silver, all his wives, all his servants, all his fancy robes and crowns, everything he possessed, all he had accomplished, and all which gave him such pride and satisfaction would remain, but he would be gone.

Throughout the twelve chapters of the little book of Ecclesiastes, the gloomy king complains again and again about this inevitable and irresistible conclusion to human life. Let’s consider a few of his ramblings on this subject. In chapter one, we read (Ecclesiastes 1:3-4, NKJV):

“What profit has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun. One generation passes away, and another generation comes.”

Solomon was a hard worker. Throughout his life, he was constantly building, creating, and improving Jerusalem. He took much pride in his accomplishments, but it just didn’t sit well with him that one day he would die, and all his labor, all his efforts, and all his accomplishments would fall into the hands of others. He uses a phrase here that we will see repeated throughout the book. That phrase is: “What profit…?” He might have said, “What good does it do?” Regardless of how skilled we are and how hard we work, and all that we manage to accumulate, it will all at some point be unceremoniously ripped from our cold, dead hands. So what is the point?

No Remembrance

Later in the first chapter, Solomon laments the fact that the day will probably come when he will be entirely forgotten and receive no credit by future generations for all he has done. He states: “There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come by those who will come after” (Ecclesiastes 1:11). Not only will he die and have to leave everything behind, but in future generations, everything he has done, all his labors and triumphs and sorrows and memories will be forgotten. What’s the use?

In the second chapter, Solomon carries this theme further still. He writes (Ecclesiastes 2:14-16):

“The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I myself perceived that the same event happens to them all. So I said in my heart, ‘As it happens to the fool, It also happens to me, and why was I then more wise?’ Then I said in my heart, ‘This also is vanity.’ For there is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever, since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come. And how does a wise man die? As the fool!”

Solomon feels it would be acceptable if only fools and wicked people died while the wise and righteous people live on. But to his consternation, it doesn’t happen this way. Wise men die as well as fools; godly people die right along with the wicked. And to make matters worse, wise men are forgotten just about as quickly as the fools! No matter how much you accomplish, no matter how many people you help, no matter how high you may rise in this life, you will die right alongside the village idiot, and both of you will eventually be forgotten. It just isn’t fair!

What Solomon was saying and seeing was not something particularly novel or brilliant. Everybody knew that death was both real and inevitable, from the peasant farmer to the highly educated scholar. But Solomon felt it far more keenly than most. Perhaps this was partly because he had so much to lose.

But another reason was simply the very nature of the man. Solomon was by temperament a philosopher. He didn’t just observe life; he thought about it, analyzed it, pondered its meaning, and desperately tried to make sense of it all. But he could never get around the immoveable, impenetrable, distasteful reality of death — particularly the thought of his own death.

Dead Like a Dog

As the gloomy king observed life and death, he came to a miserable conclusion: the deaths of men and women aren’t all that different from the deaths of animals, which made him wonder if we are all that superior to the beasts. He wrote (Ecclesiastes 3:18-20):

“I said in my heart, ‘Concerning the condition of the sons of men, God tests them, that they may see that they themselves are like animals.’ For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity. All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust.'”

Who is wiser: a dead man or a dead dog? Who is happier: a dead lady or a dead mouse? As Solomon pondered these questions — questions which few men and women ever paused to consider — he came to some unhappy conclusions. Although men and women may be smarter and cleverer and accomplish far more than the animals, we all die the same way. We all appear to go into a state of eternal unconsciousness where we see nothing, do nothing, say nothing, enjoy nothing, and are, in effect, non-existent.

It was not a pleasant thought, especially for the philosophically-minded king who had so much to lose at life’s end and had so much time to think about it while he still lived. And as he wrote this little book we call Ecclesiastes, these kinds of melancholy thoughts and meditations were freely distributed throughout his essay.

A Severe Evil

As we move through the book, we find more of the same. (Ecclesiastes 5:15-16):

“As he came from his mother’s womb, naked shall he return…. And he shall take nothing from his labor…. And this also is a severe evil — Just exactly as he came, so shall he go.”

This idea of dying and being unable to take even the smallest possession or accomplishment with you seems to Solomon a great tragedy. He does not call it evil; he declares it is a “severe evil.” It is strange that what billions of men and women have accepted without much thought (the idea of our eventual death) throughout earth’s history is, to Solomon, a huge problem. This is not some small thing; this is a big, big deal!

And of course, he is right if you subtract God and Christ, and the promise of eternal life through Christ, from life’s equation. Without the hope Jesus gives, life becomes a cruel joke, a terrible Shakespearian tragedy foisted upon billions of people who live out their lives, and work and sweat, and attempt great things, as though life has some purpose, which in fact it surely does not — if there is nothing beyond the grave.

If the soil and the worms and a permanent state of extinction and non-existence are the destiny awaiting every one of us, what does it matter whether we live nobly or poorly, whether we achieve much good or no good at all, whether we try with all our might to “make our lives count” or live selfishly and foolishly all our days? Eventually, even our earth itself will cease to be, and all the struggles and accomplishments and the collective memories of billions of people and families and nations will be erased with a permanent, cosmic deletion. No one will be left to know or care or remember anything any one of us ever did or said or wrote or achieved.

Solomon concluded that in light of all of this, the only thing we can do is to try to enjoy our vain lives while we still live: “So I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry….” (Ecclesiastes 8:15).

Paul recalled this statement as he wrote in his epistle to the Corinthians about the resurrection from the dead. He made the point that apart from a hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ, “If the dead do not rise, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!'” (1 Corinthians 15:32).

Vivid Contrast

We may be tempted to wonder why God would include this pessimistic, melancholy little book in the Holy Scriptures, particularly since its tone entirely contradicts the writings of the Apostles and the teachings of our Lord Jesus. Does God really want His children going around spouting, “It’s all vanity. Life has no purpose. We might as well eat and drink it up, for we’ll all soon be dead!”

I am convinced that God wanted to give us a vivid picture of what life would be like apart from the hope that springs through the Cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Solomon had no such hope. In his mind, the grave was a place of total cessation: all joy and work and consciousness end when we take our last breath. Solomon wrote: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going” (Ecclesiastes 9:10).

This is the polar opposite of the theology espoused by the Apostle Paul, who wrote: “But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better” (Philippians 1:22, 23).

What a contrast! Solomon sees death as the ultimate enemy; Paul sees it as a doorway to a greater life with His Savior, Jesus Christ. Solomon sees it as loss; Paul sees it as gain. This sure and joyous expectation of a life after this life in the presence of Jesus is known biblically as our “Blessed Hope” (Titus 2:13).

But this idea of hope is more than wishful thinking. It is a glorious looking forward to a wonderful future that Jesus has promised us. And with this hope, we can endure all things, counting them, as Paul did, a “light affliction, which works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”

Afterthoughts by Dr. Reagan

I’m sure many of you must be thinking at this point, “How could one of the wisest men who ever lived end up with such a pessimistic, unbiblical view of life?”

Not only was Solomon gifted with great wisdom (1 Kings 3:5-14 and 4:29), he was also a man who believed in God and who greatly honored his Creator when he dedicated the Temple in Jerusalem. On that occasion, he offered a sacrifice to the Lord of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep (1 Kings 8:63). He also led the priests and the people in a magnificent prayer that began with these words: “O LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing lovingkindness to Your servants.…”

Solomon is also the one who wrote the following words, recorded in Psalm 72:18-19, NASB:

“Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, Who alone works wonders. And blessed be His glorious name forever; and may the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen.”

Why the Depression?

So, why all his despair in the book of Ecclesiastes? Well, as Dennis Pollock so well points out in his article, Solomon did not have a clear conviction of life after death. And so, as he approached death, he began to wallow in self-pity over the seeming meaninglessness of life. He was wrestling with the idea that “we are here today and gone tomorrow,” soon to be forgotten like a dead dog.

But there is more to it than that. Despite his wisdom and his spirituality, there came a point in Solomon’s life when he got his eyes off God and strayed significantly from the center of God’s will for his life. There were problems from the beginning. He was hardly coronated as king when he decided to engage in a political marriage with one of the daughters of the Egyptian Pharaoh (1 Kings 3:1). This act constituted a severe violation of God’s command against marriages with non-Hebrew women (Deuteronomy 7:3-4). He also burned incense on high places that were dedicated to false gods (1 Kings 3:3).

The Descent into Apostasy

The turning point in Solomon’s life occurred in the year that he received 666 talents of gold (1 Kings 10:14). From that point on, almost to the end of his life, he was obsessed with money, horses and women (1 Kings 11:1-8 and 2 Chronicles 1:14-15).

In the process, he became deeply involved in idolatry, paying tribute to Ashtoreth (the goddess of the Sidonians), Milcom (the god of the Ammonites), Chemosh (the god of Moab) and Molech (the god of Ammon). As the Scriptures put it, “his heart turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel” (1 Kings 11:9).

Looking back at this turning point in Solomon’s life, is it any wonder that the number, 666, came to symbolize apostasy? Undoubtedly, it is the reason the number is used in Revelation 13:16-17 to signify the coded name of the Antichrist.

I believe Solomon wrote the book of Ecclesiastes while he was caught up in his spiritual apostasy, and it is, therefore, an expression of the emptiness of a life being lived in rebellion against God.

The Revival

But the good news is that Solomon must have repented before his death and was reconciled in his relationship with God. This is reflected in the final chapter of Ecclesiastes, which begins with his admonition to young people: “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, ‘I have no delight in them'” (Ecclesiastes 12:1). It’s pretty obvious that he is speaking of his own experience.

Further, in verse 5, he refers to the dead going to their “eternal home.” He declares that the body will return to dust, but “the spirit will return to God who gave it” (verse 7). He even refers to judgment after death (verse 14), and judgment by God certainly gives meaning to how we live here and now.

This last chapter of Ecclesiastes clearly indicates that Solomon got his eyes back on God, either by special revelation about the reality of life after death, or else through the Holy Spirit directing him to relevant passages in the portions of God’s Word that existed at that time.

Resurrection Scriptures

One of those passages is contained in what scholars consider to be the oldest book of the Bible — the book of Job. In Job 19:25-27, the author affirms that a day will come when he will be resurrected and stand before his Redeemer here on earth.

Resurrection to eternal life for believers can also be found in the writing of Solomon’s father, David. In Psalm 16:10, David says he is confident that his soul will not be abandoned in Sheol (the holding place of the spirits of the dead). And in the next psalm, David declares that he will one day “behold the Lord’s face” when he awakens from the dead (Psalm 17:15).

In Psalm 133:3, David speaks of “life forever.” And in his most famous psalm, David proclaims that believers “will dwell in the house of the LORD forever” (Psalm 23:6).

The sons of Korah, a priestly choral group from the time of David, affirmed the resurrection of the soul in Psalm 49:15, where they wrote: “God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, for He will receive me.” The prophet Asaph, also a contemporary of David, wrote in Psalm 73:24 that a day will come when believers will be “received to glory.”

In the Hebrew Scriptures, there are many other references to resurrection and eternal life for believers, but the ones cited above should have been available to King Solomon.

Conclusion

As he read these passages from his father and his contemporaries, King Solomon must have begun to understand that life really does have meaning, and so does the way we live it. This resulted in his ending his maudlin book in chapter 12 with these glorious words of triumph:

“The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil” (verses 13-14).

His declaration that all of us will face judgment before God for the way we live gives meaning to life. So, as Solomon faced death, he must have ceased his repetitious muttering of “vanity, vanity, vanity!” Instead, his heart must have been filled with rejoicing that he would see his God.

 

The Spirit Warns

Psalm 2 begins with David speaking as a prophet, lamenting over the way the world’s rulers scoff at the Lord. It proceeds with the Lord laughing over the feeble attempts of men to frustrate His will. It is then punctuated by a proclamation of Jesus in which He announces His Father’s promise that He, the Son, will one day triumph over all the kingdoms of the world.

The psalm concludes with a warning given by the Holy Spirit:

“Now, therefore, O kings, show discernment;
Take warning, O judges of the earth.
Serve the Lord with reverence,
And rejoice with trembling.
Do homage to the Son, lest He become angry,
and you perish in the way,
For His wrath may soon be kindled” (Psalm 2:10-12a)

The Audience

The Spirit’s warning is addressed to the kings and judges of the earth. It is a solemn call for the political leaders of the world to clean up their acts and submit themselves and their nations to the Lord’s will before He bursts from the heavens in wrath.

Unfortunately, this stern warning seems forever to fall on deaf ears and hardened hearts. The warning was spoken 3,000 years ago, and power grubbing and political corruption continue unabated to this day. The world’s political leaders continue to thumb their noses at God and mock His Anointed One.

But a “day of reckoning” (Isaiah 2:12) is fast approaching, and what a day it will be! The book of Revelation says that on that day “the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong…” will hide themselves in caves and will cry out to the rocks of the mountains: “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb” (Revelation 6:15-16).

The Lord has delayed the outpouring of His wrath because He does not desire that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). But there is a limit to the Lord’s patience, and while He waits, “He reserves wrath for His enemies” (Nahum 1:2). The Lord may be slow to anger, but “He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished” (Nahum 1:3).

But the political leaders of the world are not the only audience for the Spirit’s warning. The warning is also aimed at the redeemed, for — as I have already pointed out — we will one day serve as the kings and judges of this world. So, let the redeemed take notice of what we are called to do as we await the Lord’s return.

A Call to Worship

First, we are called to “worship the Lord with reverence” (Psalm 2:11). The actual Hebrew word here is “serve” rather than “worship.” But I like the use of the term “worship” because it emphasizes that our ultimate worship of the Lord is expressed in how we serve Him.

We so often think of worship only in terms of what we do when we come together corporately as a congregation of believers. Don’t get me wrong — corporate worship is extremely important. We were created to worship God (Deuteronomy 6:13), and God actively seeks people who are worshiping Him in spirit and truth (John 4:23).

But the ultimate worship is expressed in what we do when we leave the congregation and return to the world. Do those who come in contact with us recognize that we have been in the presence of the Lord? Do we return from worship “to bless our household,” as was the case in King David’s life? (2 Samuel 6:20)

Do you have a passion to worship God? Do you desire to celebrate Him for who He is and what He has done? And do you desire to express that worship not only with the praise of your lips but with the labor of your body and the money you have earned?

One other thing — Do you understand that one day soon You will stand before the Lord and be judged of your works?

A Call to an Unusual Form of Rejoicing

The future judgment which we face for our works is the reason that the Spirit expresses His next command in such an unusual way. He calls us to “rejoice with trembling” (Psalm 2:11).

Have you ever thought about what a strange command this is? A person normally rejoices with laughter, dancing, singing, or hand-clapping. How does one rejoice with trembling?

I think the command relates to the tension that exists in the Scriptures between grace and works. We are saved by grace, and we should rejoice over that and over the completion of our salvation (the glorification of our bodies) that we will enjoy when the Lord returns. But at the same time, we should tremble over the prospect of standing before Jesus to have our works judged.

There is both good news and bad news about the Lord’s forthcoming judgment of the redeemed. The good news is so good that many Christians find it hard to believe, but it is true nonetheless. The incredible, good news is that the redeemed will not be judged of their sins to determine whether they will spend eternity in heaven or hell.

The reason, of course, is that we have already been judged of our sins. That judgment took place at the Cross when all our sins — past, present, and future — were placed on Jesus, and He received the wrath which we deserve.

That’s why the Bible teaches that if you are covered by the blood of Jesus, your sins have been forgiven and forgotten (Isaiah 43:25 and Hebrews 8:12). They have been removed from the presence of the Lord “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12-13). As Corrie ten Boom used to say, “The Lord has placed our sins in the deepest part of the ocean, and He has put up a sign that says, ‘No Fishing!'” (See Micah 7:19.)

What does it mean for the Lord to “forget” our sins? It means they will never be held against the redeemed again with regard to the determination of their eternal destiny. That’s why the writer of Hebrews could confidently assert that when Jesus appears a second time, He will come “for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him” (Hebrews 9:28).

So, if our sins have been forgotten, what will be the nature of our judgment when we, the redeemed, stand before the Lord? This brings us to the bad news that should cause us to tremble. We are going to be judged of our works, not to determine our eternal destiny, but to determine our degrees of reward. And in regard to our works, our shortcomings and failures will be remembered.

This news comes as a great shock to most Christians, for most seem unaware that their works have any significance, and others do not realize that there will be degrees of reward.

Degrees of Reward

The concept of degrees of reward is clearly spelled out in the Scriptures. In 1 Corinthians 3:8, Paul says, “Each will receive his own reward according to his labor.” He then says that our works will be tested by the Lord to determine their quality (1 Corinthians 3:13). He indicates that some will, in effect, be saved with their tail feathers smoking! This is because their works will not stand the test of the Lord’s “fire” (His judgment). He thus concludes, “If any man’s work is burned up, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire” (1 Corinthians 3:15).

Some of the last words Jesus spoke on this earth had to do with degrees of reward. Those words are recorded in Revelation 22:12 — “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.”

The Judgment of Works

How will the Lord judge our works? What criteria will He use?

I believe the starting point will be the gifts of the Spirit which we received when we were born again. The Word teaches that at the moment of salvation, every redeemed person receives at least one gift of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:7 and 1 Peter 4:10). Some receive more than one gift, and some may receive additional gifts as they develop in the Lord, particularly if they are good stewards of their initial gifts (Matthew 25:14-30).

I believe the Lord will ask each one of us how we used the gifts He gave us for the advancement of His kingdom. And then I believe He will test our works in terms of quantity, quality, and motive.

What about you? Do you know what gifts you have been given by the Spirit? Are you using them to advance the kingdom? And are your motives pure? Are you serving the Lord in the power of His Spirit for the purpose of His glory?

A Call to Commitment

As we await the Lord’s return, we are to “worship the Lord with reverence,” and we are to “rejoice with trembling.” The third thing the Spirit calls us to do is to “do homage to the Son” (Psalm 2:12).

What the Hebrew actually says here is very clear but is seldom literally translated because it sounds so strange. Literally, the Hebrew words say “Kiss the Son.”

For years I wondered what those words meant. I consulted commentaries and found a lot of conjecture, but none of the answers seemed to click in my spirit. So, I continued to pray that the Lord would show me the true meaning of the words.

One day, as I was reading the book of Hosea, the Spirit suddenly impressed a verse upon my heart that gave me the answer I had been seeking. The verse is found in chapter 13.

As this chapter begins, Hosea has just completed his preaching tour of Israel, in which he calls the people to repent of their idolatry. To his horror, when he arrives back home, he finds a neighbor bowing down before a silver calf, and he cries out, “Men kiss calves!” (Hosea 13:2)

When I read those words, the Spirit witnessed to my spirit. I immediately thought of the words of the psalmist: “Kiss the Son!” Suddenly, this strange statement made complete sense to me.

You see, if Hosea were alive today and could preach to us about America, I think he would say, “I have traveled all over your land to seek its spiritual temperament, and I say to you, everywhere I go, I find men kissing calves!”

Except, I suspect he would put it in modern English: “Everywhere I go in this land, I find men kissing CD’s in the bank, chrome-plated automobiles, and audacious houses. I see men in love with money, power, and fame. I say to you, take all that the world has to offer, set it aside in a junk pile, and put God first in your lives. Fall in love with Jesus!”

That’s what it means to “Kiss the Son”! It is a call to commit your life to Jesus by falling in love with Him and putting Him first in your life — above career and family. It’s a call to make Him the Lord of everything in your life — your family and job, your hopes and dreams, your thoughts and words, your music, reading material, food, drink, recreation — everything!

By making Him your refuge, you will be delivered from the wrath that is to come (Romans 5:9 and 1 Thessalonians 5:9), and you will come to know the full meaning of the last line of Psalm 2: “How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!”

The Message

God is on His throne. He is in control. Three thousand years ago, He promised Mankind that His Son will triumph in history. He is currently working out that purpose in history.

God has the wisdom and the power to orchestrate all the evil of Man to the victory of Jesus. The world may appear to be out of control, but what we are experiencing are the death throes of a worn-out world and the birth pangs of a new one.

End-time events may be fearful in nature. But believers can find peace and comfort in the assurance of Psalm 2 that Satan will be defeated and Jesus will triumph as King of kings and Lord of lords.

The signs of the times tell us that Jesus is at the very gates of Heaven, ready to return any moment to take His church out of this world. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Live with an eternal perspective. Rest in the confidence that while evil men scheme and Satan plots, God sits on His throne in Heaven and laughs.