“The book of Ecclesiastes is a difficult book to interpret. It's like Job. Job has 29 chapters of bad theology, inspired by God to be known as bad theology.
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In the last chapter the sum of the matter is this: 'Obey the commandments of God,' because all the efforts that Solomon made had gotten him nowhere. This is bleak theology in Ecclesiastes, not admirable theology.” - John Piper (see article)
While I would place the core of Christian theology and life elsewhere, I don't think there is a book of the Bible that I find as much comfort and solace in as I do in Ecclesiastes. So when I see that John Piper says that the theology in Ecclesiastes is bad theology, I feel like I must reply in defense of the theology of Ecclesiastes. Unfortunately I cannot find anything else Piper has said on the matter to clarify his view and I wont get to the specific passage he was asked about, but given those caveats, I'll start my overview and defense of the theology of Ecclesiastes
What I appreciate most about Ecclesiastes, the thing that brings me so much comfort, is the reminder that all of my efforts are made in vain. But if that's true, you may ask, what am I supposed to do? The Teacher cycles through his arguments several times to answering that question, but I'll just lay out the logical progression.
The most obvious place to start with is “'Meaningless! Meaningless!' says the Teacher. 'Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.'” (1:2)*. He then begins expounding on all that he has wasted his time on and finds meaningless. Some pursuits are clearly futile, a chasing after the wind: the pursuits of wealth, fame and pleasure. Other futile enterprises are more subtle. Let's say I spent all my time seeking wisdom by collecting sayings, pondering questions, trying to figure out what the right course of action is in every situation. When I've come to the end of my life, what have I really accomplished? Will I have arrived at a perfect knowledge? The Teacher says,
When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe man's labor on earth—his eyes not seeing sleep day or night- then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it. (8:16-17)
All I've done is collect some sayings and scraps of wisdom, but it is certain that I have not discovered the full meaning of all that happens under the sun. If that's all I've spent my life on, I'm no better than a clanging cymbal. “Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.”(12:12)
Perhaps instead I've spent my time and effort building an orphanage, bringing orphans in and training people to continue the work when I'm gone. Even so, I have no guarantee that it will continue to prosper after my death. Someone else will take it over when I'm gone. “And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless.” (2:19).
In These Strange Ashes, Elisabeth Elliot tells of the year she spent working with the Colorado Tribe in Ecuador before she married Jim Elliot. Her primary job was to learn the language of the Colorado Indians, making an alphabet and dictionary, as a foundation for Bible translation. At the end of her nine months there, the man who had been teaching her the language got murdered and the suitcase with all her language notes was stolen. While Elisabeth had been working on the language, Jim had spent his time doing construction and repair on five buildings at the mission station of Shandia. As Jim finished his nine months of work, the river suddenly flooded and washed away the entire station. There was nothing left under the sun to show for all their hard work.
God can guarantee that his work will remain, but I have no guarantee that any of my efforts will produce anything lasting under the sun. God is not under the sun; He is not under the rules of death and decay as we are, so “everything God does will endure forever.” (3:14) In fact, God went so far as to become flesh under the sun and overcame the laws of death and decay by rising from the dead. But, while God's work endures, “nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it.” (3:14) I am powerless to either add to God's plan or ruin it. God may choose to make something I've done endure, but that's God's decision and not mine. God has no need of my efforts. Mordecai explains this to Esther in Esther 4:14, “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place.”
God's work endures, but man's efforts fail. Empires rise and fall. Families rise to prominence then diminish into obscurity. Great causes are won and lost again. Churches that once thrived slowly die, or are torn apart from within. Naked we have come into the world and naked we depart again (5:15). There is no justice under the sun.
But if all my efforts are in vain, what is there left for me to do? The author first answers this question at the end of chapter 2 and summarizes the same idea in different ways throughout the rest of the book:
So my doing good, enjoying God's gifts and doing the work God has given me doesn't require that my efforts produce something that lasts under the sun. This is what I find so freeing. If it doesn't depend on me, then I am free to take a Sabbath rest and desire to do so: “Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind”(4:6). In fact, this allows there to be a time for everything: to work, to rest, to dance, to mourn, to search, to give up. I shouldn't stress out about everything, after all, “who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” (Matt. 6:27).
But if it doesn't depend on my efforts, you may ask, why should I work hard and not just lounge around all the time? This comes from a common misconception that working hard means not having fun. The truth is that it is dependence on the success of the work that ruins the enjoyment of it. If you are depending on your work for the wealth you will get, the status you will receive, or the change you will bring about, then you are depending on something that is out of your control and in control of One who does not promise your work will deliver any of those things under the sun. Even the slightest dependance on what your work will accomplish is a chasing after the wind.
My church had an Ash Wednesday service a few weeks ago and I came in full of stress about school, my job and some difficulties in my volunteer work. Towards the end of the service we formed lines to go to the front to have the ashes put on our foreheads. When I arrived at the front, the elder put his thumb on my forehead, drawing a cross of ash, and said to me, “Kyle, my brother, you are ash, and to ash you will return.” I thought to myself, oh yeah, all my stress and worry over these things is really just a chasing after the wind. I shouldn't depend on what my efforts can achieve. I should simply do the work God has given even if it fails to produce visible results.
Perhaps instead I've spent my time and effort building an orphanage, bringing orphans in and training people to continue the work when I'm gone. Even so, I have no guarantee that it will continue to prosper after my death. Someone else will take it over when I'm gone. “And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless.” (2:19).
In These Strange Ashes, Elisabeth Elliot tells of the year she spent working with the Colorado Tribe in Ecuador before she married Jim Elliot. Her primary job was to learn the language of the Colorado Indians, making an alphabet and dictionary, as a foundation for Bible translation. At the end of her nine months there, the man who had been teaching her the language got murdered and the suitcase with all her language notes was stolen. While Elisabeth had been working on the language, Jim had spent his time doing construction and repair on five buildings at the mission station of Shandia. As Jim finished his nine months of work, the river suddenly flooded and washed away the entire station. There was nothing left under the sun to show for all their hard work.
God can guarantee that his work will remain, but I have no guarantee that any of my efforts will produce anything lasting under the sun. God is not under the sun; He is not under the rules of death and decay as we are, so “everything God does will endure forever.” (3:14) In fact, God went so far as to become flesh under the sun and overcame the laws of death and decay by rising from the dead. But, while God's work endures, “nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it.” (3:14) I am powerless to either add to God's plan or ruin it. God may choose to make something I've done endure, but that's God's decision and not mine. God has no need of my efforts. Mordecai explains this to Esther in Esther 4:14, “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place.”
God's work endures, but man's efforts fail. Empires rise and fall. Families rise to prominence then diminish into obscurity. Great causes are won and lost again. Churches that once thrived slowly die, or are torn apart from within. Naked we have come into the world and naked we depart again (5:15). There is no justice under the sun.
But if all my efforts are in vain, what is there left for me to do? The author first answers this question at the end of chapter 2 and summarizes the same idea in different ways throughout the rest of the book:
- 2:22-25 – What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless. A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?
- 3:12-13 – I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God.
So my doing good, enjoying God's gifts and doing the work God has given me doesn't require that my efforts produce something that lasts under the sun. This is what I find so freeing. If it doesn't depend on me, then I am free to take a Sabbath rest and desire to do so: “Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind”(4:6). In fact, this allows there to be a time for everything: to work, to rest, to dance, to mourn, to search, to give up. I shouldn't stress out about everything, after all, “who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” (Matt. 6:27).
But if it doesn't depend on my efforts, you may ask, why should I work hard and not just lounge around all the time? This comes from a common misconception that working hard means not having fun. The truth is that it is dependence on the success of the work that ruins the enjoyment of it. If you are depending on your work for the wealth you will get, the status you will receive, or the change you will bring about, then you are depending on something that is out of your control and in control of One who does not promise your work will deliver any of those things under the sun. Even the slightest dependance on what your work will accomplish is a chasing after the wind.
My church had an Ash Wednesday service a few weeks ago and I came in full of stress about school, my job and some difficulties in my volunteer work. Towards the end of the service we formed lines to go to the front to have the ashes put on our foreheads. When I arrived at the front, the elder put his thumb on my forehead, drawing a cross of ash, and said to me, “Kyle, my brother, you are ash, and to ash you will return.” I thought to myself, oh yeah, all my stress and worry over these things is really just a chasing after the wind. I shouldn't depend on what my efforts can achieve. I should simply do the work God has given even if it fails to produce visible results.
* All Bible quotes are taken from the NIV. I prefer reading Ecclesiastes in the NIV than in other translations (KJV, NASB and ESV) since it uses “meaningless” instead of “vanities.” “Vanities” seems to me to be both too archaic and too tied in meaning to narcissism. back
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