Category: Ecclesiastes Commentary List

1:1-4:16 ACCEPT THE LIFE GOD GIVES AND ENJOY IT Is there a purpose to life? (1:1-11) At times life does not appear to have much meaning. People have to work to keep themselves alive, but in the end they lose everything...

11:1-12:14 HAVE A POSITIVE ATTITUDE TO LIFE Boldness in spite of uncertainty (11:1-8) It is typical of the writer that he encourages a positive attitude to life. True, life may be uncertain, but that is no reason to refuse to act...

Final comments (12:9-14) Those whom the writer taught were not only the sons of the rich who attended the wisdom schools, but also ordinary people around the city. His method of study was to consider all the wise teachings relevant to...

Events controlled by God’s fixed order (3:1-15) In 1:1-11 the author considered the ceaseless toil and repetition in the natural world and decided that life was useless. Now (ignoring for the moment the conclusions he has just outlined in 2:24-26) he...

The uselessness of achievement (4:4-16) Several examples illustrate how useless much human activity is. Some people drive themselves in their work but can never relax and enjoy it, because they are always worrying about being ahead of everyone else. Others do...