NOTES for Ecc 1:1-18
In many respects, the book of Ecclesiastes is a unique phenomenon within Holy Scripture, differing markedly from all its other books both in content and in the author's way of thinking. Ecclesiastes crowns an important strand in the development of Old Testament religious life, associated with the concept of wisdom (khokhma). To a certain extent it may be regarded as one of the concluding books of the Old Testament, which, alongside the prophetic writings, anticipated the era of the Savior's coming.
In terms of genre, Ecclesiastes may be called a philosophical reflection, and in this it differs radically not only from the historical and prophetic books but also from the teaching books of the Old Testament. The book's authorship and date cannot be established precisely. Its heading reads “The words of Ecclesiastes, the son of David, king in Jerusalem”; this heading plainly refers to King Solomon, renowned for his wisdom. Most scholars agree that the heading of Ecclesiastes is an example of the pseudepigraphic attribution typical of ancient literature. The book's author attributes it to King Solomon as the archetype of all Israel's sages, the wisest of the wise. Most biblical scholars suggest that the book was probably written around the turn of the fourth to the third century BC. The spiritual atmosphere of that era was marked by growing religious indifference; the values of monotheism were gradually being forgotten, and the call to the chosen people to dedicate their whole lives to God was being heard ever more faintly. The prophetic writings, which proclaimed imminent deliverance and the coming of the Messiah, were no longer taken seriously. The prophets' mystical experience was gradually being forgotten, and Israel's faith was perceived chiefly as a law regulating the organization of life in this world. According to the views of the time, people's relationship with God was reduced to the regular offering of sacrifices and extended no further; in the eyes of the Jews, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had come in many ways to resemble the pagan deities of the surrounding peoples. This era saw the emergence of a drive toward formal observance of the law, so characteristic of the Pharisees during the earthly life of the Lord Jesus Christ, and also of Judaism after the New Testament period.
The content of Ecclesiastes amounts to a rational investigation of the meaning and value of everything that makes up human life. With a systematic approach unusual in biblical literature, the author—whom we shall call Ecclesiastes—examines the visible world and human life within it. Ecclesiastes himself formulates his task as follows: “And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven: this hard occupation God has given to the children of men to occupy themselves with.” Ecclesiastes maintains that such a rational investigation is not the whim of an idle mind, but arduous work entrusted to humanity by the Creator Himself. That, at least, is how the meaning of this sentence may be understood in the Russian Synodal translation, which here follows the Septuagint.
Ecclesiastes places the overall result of his investigation at the very beginning of the book, so as to confirm his conclusion afterward by examining specific examples. Everything that meets his gaze he calls vanity: “Vanity of vanities, said Ecclesiastes, vanity of vanities—all is vanity!” The meaning of the word havel, translated in the Septuagint as mataiotes, futility, and in the Slavonic and Russian Bibles as “vanity,” might be better conveyed as “nothing” or “emptiness,” “empty futility.” This word is used in the Bible to mean a breath of wind, “a light vapor dissolving in the air.” It refers to something that vanishes without a trace and has neither meaning nor value. Vanity or futility—movement that serves no purpose, has no aim or stability, and passes without consequence—is how Ecclesiastes judges everything that happens in the visible world. Expanding on this idea in his introduction, he emphasizes that nothing changes in the world: “There is something of which people say, ‘Look, this is new’; but it already existed in the ages before us. There is no remembrance of what came before; nor will there be remembrance of what is to come among those who come afterward.” Every natural phenomenon, as well as every human deed, seems futile to him: “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit!” The last words may also be translated as “chasing after the wind,” the most senseless of all imaginable occupations. Taken as a whole, the characteristic expressions “vanity and chasing after the wind,” repeated many times in his book, correspond in modern language to the word “nonsense” and to still harsher slang expressions.
But Ecclesiastes does not stop there: he judges even his own investigation to be “chasing after the wind.” This conclusion brings sorrow and grief to his heart (1:18). Thus the book of Ecclesiastes itself strikes the reader as a mournful manifesto of ancient skepticism. Here, however, it is important to notice the assumptions behind Ecclesiastes' words: before thinking about what he fails to find, we must understand what he is looking for. Reflecting on his fruitless search for meaning, Ecclesiastes assumes that meaning must exist. That is precisely why the absence of meaning, the futility of everything that exists in the world, plunges him into sorrow and grief. He expects to find at least something of significance, but the visible world offers him nothing of the kind. It is also significant that this assumed and sought-for meaningfulness is intimately connected with the joy and gladness of the human heart, as well as with the experience of solidity in existence.
The anguish that overwhelms both Ecclesiastes and his reader at the sight of the futility of everything in the world signals an infinite emptiness in the human heart; it is spiritual in nature and can be filled only by God. Nothing else can fill it; nothing has meaning or significance. Even religious experience and all the efforts of a devout person change nothing here. Even observance of the law and the path of righteousness, which Ecclesiastes, following the usage of his time and circle, calls wisdom, do not bring the joy and solidity he seeks, for all their fruits are swallowed up by death.
Another characteristic and important assumption underlying the book of Ecclesiastes is its personalism, something uncharacteristic of Old Testament literature as a whole. Only the later teaching books, traditionally called the literature of Israel's sages, consider the world and life from the individual's perspective, at the cost of distancing themselves from the mystical experience of earlier eras.
These positions of Ecclesiastes appear especially vivid and profound against the religious indifference of the age. Ecclesiastes refuses to be content with temporary good (tov); his heart aspires to something greater. He longs to find meaning in eternal happiness that lies beyond human reach (ithron). Nothing in the experience of Old Testament life summed up by his book corresponds to this supreme, ultimate happiness that Ecclesiastes does not find. Only one concept in the Bible can be compared with the highest happiness he seeks, and that is the Gospel's makariotes, blessedness.
Strictly speaking, it is impossible to determine whether Ecclesiastes held these positions from the outset as given premises, or whether they developed as the fruit of his spiritual experience and wisdom. In the latter case, the author's central thought may be summarized as follows: “Human life must have meaning, joy and goodness; human life must have an eternal dimension; without this, it is impossible to live—but nowhere in the world have I found it.” The following chapters of the book are intended to confirm this.