"1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
3 What does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun?
4 A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains for ever.
5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
and hastens to the place where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south
and goes round to the north;
round and round goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.
7 All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.
8 All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has been already
in the ages before us.
11 There is no remembrance of former things,
nor will there be any remembrance
of later things yet to be
among those who come after.
12 I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 14 I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.
15 What is crooked cannot be made straight,
and what is lacking cannot be counted.
16 I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.
18 For in much wisdom is much vexation,
and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow."
Ecclesiastes 1:1-18
The New Bible Dictionary (IVP) begins its outline of the contents of Ecclesiastes with the following comment: 'The theme of the book is a search for the key to the meaning of life. The Preacher examines life from all angles to see where satisfaction can be found. He finds that God alone holds the key, and He must be trusted. Meanwhile we are to take life day by day from His hand, and glorify Him in the ordinary things.
Within this general framework Ecclesiastes falls into two main divisions of thought, (a) 'the futility of life', and (b) 'the answer of practical faith'. These run concurrently through its chapters. In the outline of the book (given in the next Note) the passages belonging to the first category are printed in Roman type, and those belonging to the second in italics.'
In other words, what the Preacher is doing is to outline and identify the problems and mysteries of life 'under the sun', on ground level, so to speak, and gives answers to them from the higher spiritual point of view. Here, then, is a book which although at first sight is full of futility and pessimism and indeed meaninglessness, has a very pointed message - and one that is very relevant - for our day and generation, confronted as we are with the countless numbers of people today who are unable to make any sense of life and see no meaning in it.