Here is the MEV summary for Ecclesiastes (also says "or, The Preacher" after the book title):
The book of Ecclesiastes is part of the wisdom literature and consists of hundreds of wise thoughts and sayings. The book was likely written in about 935 BC. Jewish tradition recognizes Solomon as the author. Its theme is main's reasoning concerning one's life on earth, and it represents the worldview of a Judean king who had the advantage of every opportunity and every pleasure. The writings are a series of reflections by the "Teacher" or "Preacher" on his life, which was lived in the ancient kingdom of Israel. Throughout the book the writer presents a multitude of examples showing humanity's fruitless pursuit of contentment. The book concludes with the truth that meaning in life is only found in right relationship with God and in appreciating God's earthly blessings of good food and drink and a wife and children.
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It seems Ecclesiastes is one of those things where I can think of too much to say and yet not how to put it to the printed word.
I'll just try to convey it by listing the passages so far that had particularly stood out to me (copied from CF's online ESV Bible).
In Ecclesiastes 2:
I said in my heart, Come now, I will prove thee with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also was vanity.
2 I said of laughter, It is mad; and of mirth, What doeth it?
3 I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine, my heart yet guiding [me] with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what it was good for the sons of men that they should do under heaven all the days of their life.
The futility of selfish pleasures, indeed. I do know of this, sadly, ever since I came to this city I now live in. But I determined, at least, not to compound the error by blaming or judging someone other than myself. And I think that, if I am understanding Solomon's intent here correctly, I actually laid hold of the selfishness all the while knowing better in my heart - or thinking that I knew better - just to see what was good for me to do or pursue in life and what was not, much like I am assuming Solomon meant to say that he did in wine. If the selfish pleasure was indeed selfish, perhaps, and would only work to my detriment instead of benefit. To prove it to myself and my personal satisfaction that it was folly to spend so much of my time in.
I am probably making little sense to anyone with these words, but, I just want to get them out to someone, if that is okay.
In Ecclesiastes 3:
9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth?
10 I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith.
11 He hath made everything beautiful in its time: also he hath set eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done from the beginning even to the end.
12 I know that there is nothing better for them, than to rejoice, and to do good so long as they live.
13 And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy good in all his labor, is the gift of God.
14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it; and God hath done it, that men should fear before him.
15 That which is hath been long ago; and that which is to be hath long ago been: and God seeketh again that which is passed away.
16 And moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there.
17 I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.
18 I said in my heart, [It is] because of the sons of men, that God may prove them, and that they may see that they themselves are [but as] beasts.
19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; and man hath no preeminence above the beasts: for all is vanity.
20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
21 Who knoweth the spirit of man, whether it goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast, whether it goeth downward to the earth?
22 Wherefore I saw that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him [back] to see what shall be after him?
And of course, everyone knows and can take comfort in Ecclesiastes 4:12, where "a cord of three strands is not easily broken".
I will say that I noticed that the MEV puts a different word in Ecclesiastes 3:11 than eternity. It instead says "He has also put
obscurity in their hearts so that no one comes to know the work that God has done from the beginning to the end."
At first I thought it was one of those perhaps deliberate misleads in translations, but, see the immediately context in just the rest of the verse, and the overall theme of the entire book. .... "Obscurity", vaguely being an antonym of "eternity" actually fits way better here. If we were to have any sense of the eternality of God in our hearts or minds ... wouldn't it then make more sense that we could grasp God's works from beginning to end? Certainly better than we do now as mortals. We can't. That's practically the point in a nutshell that Solomon seems to even be trying to make with this book. We are not anywhere on God's level, and our mortal lives before Him in His immortality and omnipotence and omniscience is like a speck in the span of the entire cosmos ... if that. The word "obscurity" here seems to make much more sense, implying that He Himself has made it in our hearts that we cannot grasp His works. It is all so vague to us, such a mystery. We can ponder on it all we like, but our mortal minds and hearts will not grasp it. God is not subject to death; we are. God is not subject to infirmities; we are. God is not subject to the same weaknesses to evil that we are. God cannot be corrupted and fade away to dust;
we can, and will, just like the beasts of the earth.
.... All the more to thank God for salvation and the promise of eternal life to come afterward. Without Christ having experienced death and suffering only to be raised again from the dead, we would not have hope in either of these things (1 Corinthians 15:14-17). Without a God to care and a God to conquer death by rising again, then Ecclesiastes would have all the more reason to be depressing, Because not only is our life now on Earth futile and vain before a living God anyway, since we will one day die, without a God as I said above - without a Christ to impart forgiveness of sins - this life would truly be all there is, for everyone, both rich and poor, wise and foolish, gentle and violent. But even if we may find futility now in the present, through faith in Jesus Christ, there will be something more to come after death. Whenever that time that we are raised in the same way Christ arose from the grave, comes.
I thought to myself as I wrote all of these thoughts that perhaps part of what I should glean from Ecclesiastes so far is that even the finer, simpler things in life that seem more invaluable than material things - family, friends, charity, love - are ultimately in vain. .... But in a way, no. It
is all about God, but think of the precious treasures I mentioned above. They too are gifts from God. All of us here in this community? Our friendships and abilities to lean upon one another in times of sorrow, struggle, and trouble? Our families and our precious moments with them? All from God. No thing that is good will ultimately come from anyone but the Lord. So, yes, we can count all of these as blessings without putting our hopes into they themselves but the God who made them even in a life of vanity.
Solomon learned all of these things the hard way, I suppose, as did we in our own paths through life.