Ecclesiastes 1 Study Notes

1:1 The Hebrew word qoheleth, here translated as Teacher, probably means “assembly leader.” It is not the ordinary word for “teacher.” It is a rare Hebrew word (found seven times in Ecclesiastes and nowhere else in the Bible), and it could mean “public speaker.” It is the author’s self-designation throughout the book. For this reason the book of Ecclesiastes is often called “Qoheleth.” The words son of David, king in Jerusalem could refer to any Davidic king of Judah, but only Solomon was king over all Israel from Jerusalem (v. 12).

1:2 Hevel, the Hebrew word for futile, basically means “vapor” or “breath,” but it comes to mean “vain,” “transitory,” or “futile.” It does not necessarily mean that something is altogether worthless, but it implies that something is at best only of fleeting value. In the context of Ecclesiastes, it means that things done “under the sun” are only of temporary significance and therefore, set against eternity, they have no real value.

1:3-7 The phrase under the sun means here on earth; it speaks of the temporal and temporary nature of humanity. The sun . . . wind, and waters (streams) are in constant motion, but they never accomplish anything. It is simply a constant cycle of coming and going. In the same way, each generation comes and goes but does not change the world in any fundamental way. Worse yet, each generation of people (unlike the sun, wind, and waters) passes away.

1:3 The net gain for a lifetime of hard labor on earth is zero.

1:4-7 There is an apparent monotony and purposelessness to nature. The rivers continually flow into the sea with no evident effect. See Rm 8:19-21.

1:8 The phrase all things are wearisome could be translated “all words are weary.” It refers to our inability to find either meaning or satisfaction in creation. No one can speak in the face of all the ceaseless motion of the sun, wind, and waters. That is, the world cannot be adequately explained or in any way affected by the human word. We stand dumb before it. Similarly, we neither see nor hear anything that fully satisfies.

1:9-10 When Ecclesiastes says that there is nothing new under the sun, it means that there is nothing that changes the fundamental facts of the human condition. This does not deny that there are technological innovations or new works of art, literature, and architecture, but these things are all variations on what had already existed; they do not deliver humanity from its bondage to death. The “new thing” that really changes life can only come from God (Jr 31:31-34; Lk 22:20; Heb 9:15).

1:11 This verse does not claim that no human is ever remembered in history. The point is that people move on and that fame and glory have no lasting significance.

1:12-18 These verses describe the futility of the quest for knowledge. The claim is not that intellectual pursuits are evil; they are vain and frustrating because no person finds the answers to his fundamental questions by learning.

1:12 A king does not stop serving as king until he dies. The phrase have been king does not mean that the Teacher had stopped being king. Rather, the point is that he had, in his lifetime, been in a position to have the wealth and freedom to carry out the investigations described in this book.

1:13 The quest for wisdom is usually thought of as noble and fulfilling, but it is here called this miserable task, meaning that it is just a hard job.

1:15 This verse is a proverb. What is crooked cannot be straightened refers to a problem that cannot be solved. What is lacking cannot be counted refers to working with insufficient information. The problem of understanding life is beyond mere humans.

1:18 Instead of answering all our questions and bringing happiness, great learning or wisdom only leads to less certainty and more pain.