Ecclesiastes 01

A detailed Summary of Ecclesiastes 01

Vs 01: "The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem." Verse 01 tells us the writer of the book of Ecclesiastes, "The Preacher" or "Qoheleth" in Hebrew means "One who assembles", The writer is Solomon, we know this for in chpt 12:9-10 we learn that the Preacher "was wise and taught the people, he studied, sought out and wrote many proverbs" these words have been gathered together and form the what is known as "the wisdom books of the Bible" Proverbs, Ecclesiastes & The Song of Solomon.

Solomon also mentions that he is in fact a King, showing us that he has all the qualifications necessary to analyse the lives of men, for he had power, authority & more wisdom than any other man, vs16 reads "I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all them that have come before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom & knowledge."

Vs 02: "Vanity of vanities saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity." This verse sets the theme, all is vanity. All mans wisdom, pleasure, hopes, aspirations, pride and achievements, the whole of mans existence is nothing more than vanity.

Vs 07: "All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence they came, thither they return again." Here Solomon makes reference to another of life's endless cycles, The rivers & streams flow continually into the sea, the sea water is evaporated & forms clouds which rain down onto the earth again to form the rivers & streams from where they first came, this is an endless cycle yet it accomplishes nothing! For the sea is never full. Such as man is never satisfied.

Vs 18: "For in much wisdom is much grief: & he that increaseth in knowledge, increaseth sorrow." As Solomon discovered the pointlessness of man's existence, the daily struggle, the constant pain & sorrow, the never ending desire for satisfaction, the fact that mans life begins & ends in vanity, so he discovered that with a increase in knowledge, man soon discovers this fact for himself, & the corresponding sorrows increase! Sadness is upon all those who are wise & understand the futility of life. But with God in our lives we do have a goal, to work hard & follow his word, & God willing enter his glorious kingdom where all sorrow & hardship shall end.

Vs 17: "And I gave my heart to know wisdom, & to know madness & folly: I perceived that this also was vexation of spirit." In Solomon's analysis he searched out every angle of mans life, he studied not only the wise but also the foolish, so his conclusion of human existence would be just, unbiased & reliable.

Some common words found in the essay are:
God Vs, Solomon Solomon, Jerusalem Vs, God Matt, Qoheleth Hebrew, Ecclesiastes Chapter, Jerusalem Verse, wisdom knowledge, mans life, life god, mans existence, vexation spirit, yea heart experience, jerusalem yea heart, heart saying, wisdom jerusalem yea, mine own, communed mine, own heart, saying lo, estate gotten wisdom, gotten wisdom jerusalem,

Approximate Word count = 1505
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Religion