The book of Ecclesiastes sometimes strikes people as a strange book. Even where people have a few favorite verses from this book, it can remain puzzling as a whole. Part of that is intentional. The book is meant to make us think, so it doesn’t spell everything out in order to draw us to deeper consideration.
There are a couple of ideas that can help us in reading the book all the way through with profit, however. We should notice the importance of the phrase under the sun, which occurs 29 times in 27 verses (Ecc. 1:3, 9, 14; 2:11, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22; 3:16; 4:1, 3, 7, 15; 5:13, 18; 6:1, 12; 8:9, 15 {2x}, 17; 9:3, 6, 9 {2x}, 11, 13; 10:5).
That helps us to understand that we are faced with a perspective that temporarily lays aside transcendent perspectives. It considers what can be seen or experienced apart from revelation. In that way, Ecclesiastes exposes the absolute hollowness of life without God.
Another idea that helps to understand Ecclesiastes is the challenge that more than one thing is true at a time. That seems simple, but it is surprisingly tricky for us to hold in mind. As Christians, of course, we are compelled to believe more than one thing at a time. For instance, we believe that God is one-in-three: one being, in three persons. We confess that “Christ is true man and true God” (HC Q.47). Denying either one is disastrous.
In the case of Ecclesiastes, we need to remember that it insists on two truths. First, it says that everything under the sun is vanity. Second, it says that some things are better than others.
The first truth is how the book opens: Vanity of vanities, all is vanity (Ecc. 1:2). And that idea will be repeated again and again throughout the book (the word vanity appears 38 times in Ecclesiastes). Even the most successful of human efforts are ultimately vanity. Nothing is solid in this world, every achievement can be undone. The longest and most distinguished life doesn’t ultimately amount to a hill of beans (Ecc. 6:6).
All the same, under that general umbrella of vanity, some things are still better than others (the word “better” appears 21 times in the KJV translation of Ecclesiastes). That truth is also emphasized repeatedly, as seven select examples will demonstrate:
•There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God. (2:24)
•Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him? (3:22)
•Better is an handful with quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit. (4:6)
•Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king, who will no more be admonished. (4:13)
•A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth. (7:1)
•Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. (7:8)
•Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun. (8:15)
Those two truths compel us to ask a question and make an application.
The question is straightforward: how can everything be vanity and yet some things be better than others? Before trying to answer that, it is important to point out that both things are true, whether we understand how to fit them together or not. Our minds are not the measure of truth, and our difficulty understanding doesn’t give us the right to deny any part of what God has revealed to us. We should stick with what Scripture says whether we can put it all together or not.
The short version of the answer is that there are degrees of unpleasantness. It is not possible to find ultimate meaning in this life without reference to God and eternity. But some lives are still harder than others. Illness, poverty, oppression, and crime all make life worse. It is pleasant to be healthy, to be free, to have enough, to live in safety. There are things we can enjoy, and missing out on that is a real loss.
There is no degree or amount of temporary blessing that will overcome the emptiness of life without God. You can’t locate your significance in the things that make life go by a little more smoothly or a little less painfully. But in their limited way, they make a small and temporary difference. Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s short book, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, makes a powerful point as it describes one day in the life of a man in a Siberian gulag. That was not a pleasant life, and Solzhenitsyn sets out that truth very well by telling us about what was, comparatively speaking, one of Ivan’s better days. He was still a prisoner, still mistreated, still suffering; but he had a little bit of extra food.
It is important for us to be able to see some distinctions in the waste that is life merely under the sun. From a theological perspective, we can condemn it all as radically insufficient. From inside, in terms of daily experience, we can recognize that there are reasons why some days are better than others.
There are many ways that these two truths help us encounter life in this world wisely. Perhaps the realm of politics will serve as an illustration.
Because of the vanity of life in this world, we cannot expect great things from politics. We cannot expect salvation from sin or deliverance from death. We cannot expect that everything will go well, politically. That part of life is also subject to frustration and futility (9:11). It is no surprise that there is wickedness in high places (5:8).
Even when politicians mean well, things don’t always go their way. And politicians don’t always mean well. There is a time wherein one man ruleth over another man to his own hurt (8:9b). Rulers sometimes set bad examples and make foolish decisions (10:5-7). With reference to the judicial system, Ecclesiastes notices an all-too-obvious fact: And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there (3:16).
In other words, we have limited hopes and expectations of the good to be gotten from better candidates, triumphant elections, improved laws, or other political changes. There is a very hard limit to the improvement that can be made by constitutional amendments or governmental reforms. There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it (8:8).
That is not the same thing as saying that politics does not matter. Remember the second truth, that some things are better than others, even in life under the sun. It is better for the importance of the family to be recognized and acknowledged than not. It is better for the sanctity of human life to be protected by law than not. It is better for violence to be restrained by the sword than encouraged by fake mercy (8:11).
And so Reformed Christians can engage in politics with a balanced perspective. We don’t believe they are of ultimate importance or will alter
the character of life under the sun. But out of compassion for our neighbor, we can still advocate and vote in the way that seems like it will plausibly tend to things being less awful, rather than more awful. Such is the realistic wisdom of Ecclesiastes.
Rev. Ruben Zartman
Editor, Reformed Herald