Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes is the record of a relentless search for meaning by 'the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem' - traditionally understood to be Solomon, writing late in life. It belongs to the Bible's wisdom books, but where Proverbs charts the reliable patterns of a well-ordered life, Ecclesiastes stares hard at life's riddles: injustice, death, and the fleeting vapor - 'vanity' - of everything under the sun.

The Preacher throws himself into every avenue a man could try: wisdom and knowledge, pleasure and wine, great building projects, gardens, wealth, music, and fame - and finds them all vanity and vexation of spirit, since the wise man dies just like the fool. Along the way come some of Scripture's most famous passages: a time for every purpose under heaven, two are better than one, a threefold cord not quickly broken, cast thy bread upon the waters, and the haunting poem of old age in chapter 12, when the silver cord is loosed.

Ecclesiastes matters because it is brutally honest about life in a fallen world, refusing easy answers while pointing past them. Its verdict is that meaning is not found under the sun but above it: eat your bread with joy as God's gift, remember your Creator in youth, and fear God and keep his commandments - the whole duty of man.