The Heavy Burdened Life ECCLESIASTES 1:12-18
ECCLESIA ST ES E XPLORING THE M EANING OF L IFE W HEN E VERYTHING IS A V APOR
Reality Bites
“The answer is simple. The answer is…
“The answer is simple. The answer is… The answer is…
“The answer is simple. The answer is… The answer is… I don’t know.”
“The answer is simple. The answer is… The answer is… I don’t know.”
the sun ? What does a man gain by all the toil at which he toils under — ECCLESIASTES 1:3 —
The Heavy Burdened Life ECCLESIASTES 1:12-18
Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 12 I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I applied my heart to search out by wisdom all that is done under the sun.
King Solomon’s Reign 970-931BC
God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” Solomon said, “…give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong.” — 1 Kings 3 —
God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. — 1 Kings 4 —
He was wiser than anyone else… And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. — 1 Kings 4 —
He spoke about plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also spoke about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. From all nations people came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.
King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart. — 1 Kings 10 —
King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women.… He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray.
As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God.…
He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord…
On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites.
He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.
The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice (1 Kings 11).
In Ecclesiastes, we are meant to hear the mature, repentant King Solomon once again teaching God-given wisdom about life under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 12 I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I applied my heart to search out by wisdom all that is done under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 13 It is an unhappy business God has given to the children of man to be busy with.
Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 13 It is an unhappy business God has given to the children of man to be busy with. “the children of Adam”
Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 13 It is an unhappy business God has given to the children of man to be busy with. “the children of Adam” What is this “business”?
We now live in a post-Genesis 3 world east of Eden where everything is not the way it is supposed to be.
God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes. — Ecclesiastes 7:3 —
Adam and Eve fell away from God and happiness because fo their disobedience. However, they never lost their desire to be happy.
Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 13 It is an unhappy business God has given to the children of man to be busy with. • CSB: “a miserable task” • LEX: “a grievous task” • NRSV: “an unhappy task” • NET: “a burdensome task” • GWT: “a terrible burden” • NIV-UK: “a heavy burden”
Verse 3 What does humanity gain by all its toil at which they toil under the sun? Verse 13 It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of Adam to be busy with.
Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 14 I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity, and a striving after the wind.
Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 14 I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity, and a striving after the wind.
“under the sun” 29x “vanity” 38x (mist, vapor, breath: fleeting / enigma) “striving after the wind” 10x
The answer is simple. The answer is… The answer is… blowin’ in the wind.
How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man? Yes, ’n how many seas must a white dove sail before she sleeps in the sand? Yes, ’n how many times must the cannonballs fly before they’re forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind The answer is blowin’ in the wind
How many years can a mountain exist before it’s washed to the sea? Yes, ’n how many years can some people exist before they’re allowed to be free? Yes, ’n how many times can a man turn his head pretending he just don’t see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind The answer is blowin’ in the wind
How many times must a man look up before he can see the sky? Yes, ’n how many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry? Yes, ’n how deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind The answer is blowin’ in the wind
Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 14 I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity, and a striving after the wind.
Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 15 What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted.
Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked? — Ecclesiastes 7:13 —
“ He indicates that the problem with the vanity and meaningless- ness of things is tied up with man’s profoundly disturbed relationship to God.
“ from God…. ” The burden of God is a burden imposed by God for a discernible reason. It is meant to challenge man’s self-proclaimed autonomy Michael Kelly The Burden of God
We’re free to be unhappy. We’re free to search for happiness where it can’t be found. What we’re not free to do is reinvent God, the universe, or ourselves so that what isn’t from God will bring us happiness.
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it… — The Apostle Paul in Romans 8:20 —
Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 16 I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who over Jerusalem before me, and my hear has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know mad- ness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after the wind.
Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 18 For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
Bret Michaels of Poison , “Give Me Something To Believe In”
Sometimes I wish I didn’t know now the things I didn’t know then O give me some- thing to believe in
Give me something to believe in (if there’s a Lord above) Give me something to believe in O Lord arise!
The Good News is that the Lord has determined to arise and to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found.
Come to earth to taste our sadness He whose glories knew no end
By His life He brings us gladness our Redeemer, Shepherd, Friend “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus" by Charles Wesley
The heavy burden of our alienation from God was placed upon Him.
The scandal of the Gospel is that the answer to the vanity of life is simple: Jesus, crucified and risen from the dead.
Know that Ecclesiastes is designed to make you wise for salvation.
When we lost happiness, we did not lose the love of it. — Augustine (354-430) —
While all men seek after happiness, scarcely one in a hundred looks for it from God. — John Calvin, 1509-1564 —
“…you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed…” — The Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 3:15-16 —
Believe that Jesus is greater than Solomon, and we should listen to Him!
The Queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon, and now something greater The Words of Jesus of Nazareth Recored by The Apostle Matthew than Solomon is here. in the Gospel of Matthew 12:42
“ ” Come to me, all you who labor and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest. Jesus of Nazareth The Gospel of Matthew 11:28
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