Verse 1 The Title and Writer
These are the words of the man who was called the Teacher. He was the son of King David. And he was king in the city called Jerusalem.
Commentary
This translation here uses the word ‘Teacher.’ The word means someone who gathered people together to speak to them. Some translations use the word ‘Speaker’ or ‘Preacher.’ King David’s son might mean Solomon. Or it might mean another king who was from David’s family. Solomon was famous because he was wise (1 Kings 10:24). The writer or editor was someone who was like Solomon. He wanted to understand why we are alive.
Verses 2-3 The Problem
v2 ‘What a mystery!’ says the Teacher.
‘What a big mystery!
There seems to be no purpose in anything.’
v3 You work hard for the whole of your life in this world.
But you gain no benefit that lasts.
Commentary
The words ‘in this world’ show what the Teacher is thinking. (The Hebrew words say ‘under the sun.’) The Teacher speaks about people who think only about their life in this world. He shows what their life is like for them here. They have left God out of their lives. People cannot trust that anyone or anything in this world will make them completely happy. They cannot achieve anything that will last. And soon, their life ends. Work is hard. And although you work during your whole life this seems to have no real reward. The Teacher thinks in the end that this is a puzzle. We cannot understand it.
Verses 4-11
Nothing changes in the world. Neither nature nor people change. – Ecclesiastes 1:4-11
v4 People are born and people die.
But the earth always stays the same.
v5 The sun rises and the sunsets.
Then it hurries back again to the place where it rises.
v6 The wind blows to the south,
and the wind blows to the north.
The wind continues to return as it moves round and round.
v7 All streams flow to the sea,
but the sea is never full.
The water returns to the place from where the streams came.
Then the streams flow again.
v8 Everything in his life tires a person.
Things make people more tired than they can explain.
Our eyes can never see enough,
and our ears can never hear enough.
v9 Whatever things existed in the past will continue to exist.
Whatever has happened before will happen again.
There is nothing new in this world.
v10 Nothing can make someone say,
‘Look at this! It is new!’
It was already here a long time before we were born.
v11 Nobody remembers people who lived before us.
And nobody will remember people who will be born in the future.
Commentary
Verses 4-11 are a poem that describes history. Nothing in human history and nothing in nature moves forward. Things always seem to change. But they remain as they were. People are born and people die. But the earth, that they come from, never changes. The sun, the wind, and the streams return again and again to where they begin. There is nothing new in people’s experiences. Nobody in the future will remember people and events from the past.
Verse 5
In Psalm 19:4-5, the writer describes the sun, ‘like a bridegroom in his splendid clothes.’ And here the writer describes that sun as he would describe a person. The sun ‘hurries’ back to where it started. The Hebrew word ‘hurry’ refers to someone who is running. So the sun is like someone who is running. And he is struggling to breathe. The sun is eager to return to where it started. Or perhaps the writer thinks that the sun is tired. It must rise and it must go down again daily.
Verse 6
The wind seems to be free. It may blow where it chooses to blow (John 3:8). The Teacher thinks about the wind’s constant movement. It is always changing the place from where it blows. But it always comes back to its first direction.
Verse 7
Streams flow into the sea but they never manage to fill the sea. The streams continue to flow. Job spoke about water that comes from streams. Water comes from the clouds and it comes from the rain. Then it returns to the streams (Job 36:27). Water goes up from the sea as mist and it returns as rain.
Verse 8
Our senses are like the sea, which is never full. There is no end to what we can see. And there is no end to what we can hear. It is impossible to describe this tired person. He looks at the world that God created. After God had made Adam and Eve they did not obey him (Genesis 3:17-19). Then God said that they will have troubles because of their wicked deeds.
Verses 9-11
Everything that existed in the past will continue to exist. People will continue to do everything that they have done before. The Teacher is describing events to us. They will happen in this way if we think about the world without God. Then nothing can change. This is different from what the *Israelites believed. They believed that God controls human history. God can change people and events. One example is Joseph. His brothers had intended to hurt him. But Joseph believed that God had a purpose for him. God intended him to save lives in Egypt (Genesis 50:20).
People often think that they have found new things. People may invent something that is new. But they use what God has created. And people soon forget what happened in the past. They do not remember people who lived before them. The word ‘people’ can also mean ‘things’. So people also forget things. And they forget events that were in the past. People always want something ‘new.’
Verses 12-18
A wise man cannot discover the purpose of his life if he just thinks about it.
v12 I am the Teacher. I have been king in the city called Jerusalem. And I ruled over the country called Israel.
v13 I decided to study everything that happens in the world. I tried to understand it. I searched as carefully as wise men search. God has made it very difficult for people. Nobody can search easily in this way.
v14 But I have seen everything that people do in the world. And all of it has no value. It is impossible to discover what it means. It is like someone who tries to catch the wind.
v15 You cannot make something straight if it has a curve in it.
You cannot count something that is not there.
v16 I spoke to myself. ‘I have become wiser than anyone who has ruled in Jerusalem before me’, I thought. ‘I have learned how to behave with wisdom. And I have learned a lot of facts about the world.’
v17 Then I tried hard to understand what wisdom really is. And I wanted to know more about stupid people and their foolish behavior. So I tried to understand these things. But that was like somebody who was trying to catch the wind.
v18 You worry more when you become wiser.
You will suffer more when you understand more.
Commentary
Verses 12-13
Here it seems that the Teacher was King Solomon. He decided that he would try to discover the purpose of our lives. He would think very carefully about people’s experiences. He wanted to search for purpose, but it was very difficult. God has given a strong desire to everyone. They all want to discover the truth about why we live in this world. And God wants people to discover the truth. He is the only answer to the purpose of our lives. So people are not peaceful without God.
Verse 14
People cannot expect to control the wind. In the same way, they cannot expect to understand all that happens in the world.
Verse 15
The words say that people cannot do everything. Sometimes they cannot change their circumstances. People must realize that they cannot know everything.
Verse 16
The Teacher said that he had become very wise. He was wiser than the kings who had ruled before him. He knew a lot about wise behavior. He knew a lot of facts about the world. But he wanted to understand more. He wanted to be really wise all the time. And he wanted to understand what stupid behavior and foolish behavior meant. Although he searched carefully he was not successful. He felt like somebody who was trying to catch the wind. It was an impossible task.
Verse 17
The teacher said he tried hard to understand what wisdom really is. He also wanted to know more about stupid people and their foolish behavior. So, he tried to understand these things, that was like somebody who was trying to catch the wind. And we all know wind cannot be caught.
Verse 18
When you know more about people and about situations, you will worry more. You will think about whether you should help to discover a solution to the problems. You will be sad because people suffer. And you will not always understand why some things go wrong.
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