Ecclesiastes 7:1-14, Overview of Ecclesiastes

We hope your meditations over the last few days have been beneficial.  The “holy days” of the Passion Week can be good opportunities to think about the blessings of the gospel.  I do want to remind you that our Lord gave us His “table,” the observance of the Communion Service to be a reminder to us of the power and blessing of His blood.  Let us be faithful in obeying our Lord in that ordinance.  And let us also obey the Lord’s command involving the baptism of those who desire to follow Christ.  Again, that ordinance clearly portrays the gospel.  Let us not allow holiday celebrations to take the place of the plan set forth by our Head!

Now we return to Ecclesiastes.  Based on our conclusions about the “purpose” of the book, here are three values for anyone, including believers, from Ecclesiastes.

1.    It teaches us to look beyond ourselves in this world for lasting values. 

2.    It sets forth the vanity of a life centered in this world.

3.    It shows us that great wisdom, by itself, does not make one truly wise.  On this we need to be mindful.  There are a lot of truths expressed in the form of proverbs.  Remember that Solomon is writing from a viewpoint of “general revelation.”  This wisdom can be insightful, even to the person who rejects Christ. But in the end, as Solomon will point out, wisdom in and of itself is vanity.  Christians have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16) who has been made to us wisdom (1 Cor. 1:30) and in whom are hidden all the riches of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:3).

Before we give a more detailed outline, consider the following.

·       Vain things in Ecclesiastes.

*1:3-11: Labor.            *1:12-18: Wisdom.     *2:1-11: Pleasure.

*3:1-15: effort.            *4:4-12: Skill.

*5:1-7: Formalistic worship.  It is better to be quiet.  It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not keep the vow.

*5:8-6:12: Wealth.       *10:12-15: Folly.         *11:9-10: Youth.

·       Good things in Ecclesiastes.

o   12:26: Wisdom is better than folly.

o   7:1-10: A good name is better than precious ointment.

o   8:10-13: Piety.

o   9:7-10: Joy.  (Wisdom has good principles of mental health as well as for spiritual and physical health.)

o   11:1-8: Enterprise.

o   12:1-14: Piety in youth.

We are now ready to begin a fairly quick journey through Ecclesiastes, which we will begin in our next post, Lord willing.