Introduction to Ecclesiastes: Longing for Eternity
From the first time I read the book of Ecclesiastes, it caught my attention and became one of my favorites. In this series, Longing for Eternity, we will be studying this intriguing book, which I recommend you begin reading if you haven’t done so before or recently.
Having a complete and fresh reading of the book will help you better understand what we will be studying and when we make reference to other sections of the book.
Studying all of God’s Word is important for our spiritual growth. Just as we must eat various foods to stay physically healthy, we must feed on the entire Bible to grow spiritually healthy.
How is the book of Ecclesiastes organized?
We will view the book of Ecclesiastes in 3 sections: the introduction and conclusion, being relatively small compared to the central teaching section.
- Introduction: Ecclesiastes 1:1-2
- Teaching: Ecclesiastes 1:3-12:7 in which we will see the following sections:
- Poem
- Experiment
- God’s Work
- Vanities
- God’s Sovereignty
- Death
- Conclusion: Ecclesiastes 12:9-14
Understanding the Context of Ecclesiastes
Before diving more fully into the teachings of the book, let’s take time to understand more details about the book’s context, which will help us understand the teachings within it.
Who wrote Ecclesiastes?
Although we don’t have a specific name to assign to the book’s author, in reading we identify two voices: the Preacher and the Narrator. The narrator is the one who collects the Preacher’s teachings.
The Preacher, according to verses 1 and 12 of chapter 1, was the son of David and king of Jerusalem. In the rest of the book we read that he was a wise man (2:15), with many concubines (2:8), and in that same chapter he tells us about his many works and rewards. By joining all these details together, we understand that the Preacher was Solomon.
So the teachings in the book of Ecclesiastes were taught by Solomon and narrated by someone anonymous.
When was Ecclesiastes written?
We don’t have an exact date to assign to the writing of the book, since we have no data within it that helps us identify it. Now, if we consider that the teaching was given by Solomon, the time of the teaching should have been given during Solomon’s reign and closer to the end of his life, when he begins to evaluate his life.
For whom was Ecclesiastes written?
When reading Ecclesiastes 11:9-12:1, we see that the preacher is calling the attention directly to young people who are not yet experiencing the consequences of advancing in age.
What is the style of the book of Ecclesiastes?
Ecclesiastes is classified as a wisdom or poetry book, as are also Psalms and Proverbs. Knowing this, we must understand that in the book we will find advice, illustrations, and comparisons that are not literal but symbolic.
Why was Ecclesiastes written?
Although the book contains many themes, we see the general matter of offering a correct perspective of life to young people who can be distracted by multiple things, which the preacher summarizes with the word vanity.
Longing for Eternity
Speaking of having a correct perspective of life, I want to call your attention for a moment to Ecclesiastes 3:11.
“He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also put eternity in their hearts, but no one can discover the work God does from beginning to end.” – Ecclesiastes 3:11 (CSB)
One of the simplest ways I teach to begin studying the Bible is to use two colors to identify what the text tells us about God and what it tells us about ourselves.
In this verse we see that God has put eternity in our hearts from the beginning of creation. In John 17, in Jesus’ prayer, we see that this work of God was determined even before the foundation of the world.
However, man does not discover or does not understand this work. Through our study of Ecclesiastes, we will be discovering that longing for eternity to which we have been destined from the beginning and which the vanities of this world drown out.
Next Steps in our study
It is my prayer that our longing for eternity grows more each day and that as our longing grows, it may help us see our life on this earth in the correct way.
Take time to read the complete book and review the answers to today’s questions. Even though I share the answers with you, I would like you to be able to see them for yourself in the Word.
In the next lesson we will focus on the meaning of the word vanity/futility and the first poem we find in the book. Specifically, we will study Ecclesiastes 1:1-3.
