Tag: Solomon

This seems to be one of the more notable and well-known passages of Ecclesiastes. Solomon starts out, “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven…” Verses 2-7 go on to describe how everything in life has it’s appropriate time and place to occur.

It is interesting that the Preacher begins with the reality of life and death in our sin-cursed world: “A time to be born, and a time to die.” Life and death were preeminent in Solomon’s mind at the time. As he neared his death he contemplated his life and all that he had done. Read Full Post

I really like these few verses. Verse 24 says, “Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God.” Sounds good to me! Eat, drink, and enjoy life while profiting from my labor.

“This also, I saw, was from the hand of God.” Is it true that God’s design for man was to enjoy life and find satisfaction in everything he does? Of course! In Genesis 1:26-28 God created man and told him to be fruitful and multiply and exercise dominion over the earth. Genesis 2:4-8 gives a more detailed description of man’s creation and implies that man has a responsibility to work and enjoy the fruit of his labor (literally). Read Full Post

Ecclesiastes 2:18: “Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me.” Wow, it seems like there is both an element of wisdom and and an element of selfishness in that statement. The theme of these next six verses is that of leaving behind your work to someone else. Read Full Post

Somewhat of a confusing passage for me today. Ecclesiastes 2:12-14 says, “Then I turned myself to consider wisdom and madness and folly…Then I saw that wisdom excels folly…The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness.”

That all sounds good and normal (biblically-speaking), but the end of verse fourteen ushers in a change of thought: “Yet I myself perceived that the same event happens to them all.” Read Full Post

Wow…I can really identify with a couple things in today’s passage. Verses 1-2 say, “I said in my heart, ‘Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure’; but surely, this also was vanity. I said of laughter