Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 CAN LIFE BE PROFITABLE? Solomon introduces himself as the Preacher first, then the son of David, and last as the king. These three positions are in declining order of importance. As the Preacher, he knows he is teaching things that are of greater and longer lasting importance than the other two descriptions. A preacher speaks for God and the things he has to say have an effect of eternal consequence on those who listen to him. As a son, that is a very personal position and is emotionally important to the individual who should conduct life in a way that will honor parents and the family heritage from generations past. The king is basically one’s occupation that affects a lot of people for a short time.
As the Preacher-Teacher, he sees the accomplishment of human life lived apart from God, as no more than a puff of air, a “hebel.” This word has the idea of that which has no real meaning. It is real but useless and valueless. The writing of this book seems to have, at first reading, the point of view of a skeptic or a serious pessimist. But by reading through it again, as the reading progresses through all of the aspects of “hebel,” we see that he is eliminating all that humans look for by nature, and strive for in life. People hope against hope that in some way satisfaction in life can be found. The aim the preacher had as one who has “been there, done that,” was to bring people to God.
Solomon had led God’s earthly people Israel, through their most prosperous years. Yet his conclusion of that golden age was that everything that happened was utterly meaningless. Pride and self-sufficiency are only temporary at the best. There is no lasting substance to anything, let alone life without God. The lesson for us is plain. We need to begin with God by coming to Him by faith. When repentance toward Him is real, and faith in Christ alone for salvation is personal, then we can start living a meaningful life. The earlier in life a person comes to the Lord Jesus Christ, the better we will understand and practice through our lives what He meant when He said, “I am the Light of the world; he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”
What is the point of endless labor if there is no lasting objective to our labor? Nothing “under the sun” is lasting. That which is left over after all the expenses are paid is what we call profit, or as in verse three, “gain.” To labor endlessly for those things that do not last is a waste of labor. There is no “gain” to it. Believers in Christ in their labor, do what they do “for the Lord’s sake,” and “as unto the Lord and not unto men.” That is when the saying, “In all labor there is profit,” takes on real meaning.
In poetic forms that relate to the different cycles in life and nature, the next eight verses make examples of things we all can observe that do not last but go endlessly round and round. These things are always in motion but there is nothing in them that lasts. So, in the long scheme of things, they are meaningless in themselves. Generations of people follow each other in endless succession. Few people remember anything about their family back beyond the great grandparents, and even that is quite obscure and only a few things about them is even known by the new generation. If there were a few things that were notable as far as the public is concerned, they might know about them. Even national leaders are forgotten after two or three elections, and hardly anything is known about what they did that was of significance. So human life that comes and goes seems less purposeful and certainly less permanent than the earth.
The sun rises and sets, and does the same thing every twenty-four hours over and over, day after day and year after year. The Preacher used the same terminology as astronomers do today following the same principles of relative motion. That indicates the understanding of the Preacher in ancient times relating to motion, was as scientifically pragmatic as it is today. The great wind circuits in the atmosphere were known to Solomon long before modern scientists “discovered” the principle of global circulation of air, and announced it as if it were something previously unknown. “Scientists” in the recent past believed that rain water had to come from fresh water lakes and streams because there is no taste of salt in rain water. Now meteorologists who have done upper-air research know that rain water comes from the oceans and seas of the world, just as the Preacher wrote when describing the endless cycles of nature that illustrated the futility of life to him.
After looking at all that follows this tedious cycle that human investigation brought, there was still no lasting meaning that made life valuable. It simply makes a person feel unfulfilled because there is no purpose to that knowledge apart from temporary curiosity, and it ultimately makes a person intellectually tired of the search for meaning to these endless cycles. Nothing of value comes from all the effort. What do I really have to show for all the labor expended? What has been done already is just going to be done again. Nothing has changed. Everything that seemed to be new after investigation is just the “same old, same old,” with a new cover on it.
Even the people who were so famous when they were alive, are quickly forgotten. Names of great world leaders, famous artists, scientists who made great discoveries are forgotten. Students have to memorize names of great people in order to pass exams, but the things that were so important to those forgotten people of the past and those who so honored them – nobody even thinks about now.
So, we need to look at ourselves and figure out why we are here and what we should be doing with our lives – and why. Life in itself is only a vapor, a dream, a tale that is told, an ancient story that is soon forgotten. It is like grass that springs up and looks so good, and in two or three months has dried up and died. If that is what we have normally lived for, or what we are living for now, we will have wasted our lives. On the other hand, when we “seek first the kingdom of God,” those things we do will have a purpose because the kingdom of God lasts forever. When we look into eternity ahead of us, and live eternal life now, then we will find the satisfaction and meaning in life the apostle Paul had. “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”