Smoodock's Blog

The Teacher describes himself as the “King over Israel (reigning) in Jerusalem” (Ecclesiastes 1:12; parenthesis mine). There were only three kings who reigned over the whole of Israel: Saul, David, and his son Solomon, but only David and Solomon reigned in Jerusalem. According to the text, Solomon is the only king who could possibly be the Teacher; so, unless one refuses the testimony of the text, itself, there can be no question about the Teacher’s identity.

Notice what Solomon says he decided to do. He made it his goal in life (his heart’s desire) to seek out the meaning of life, i.e., the purpose of all things that are done under heaven. In other words, why did God provide all the things he does in this world to occupy our time and interests, because these same are grievous and burdensome (Ecclesiastes 1:13). On the face, it seems all Solomon wanted was find out what God had intended men to do with the things he created/. After all, he did set men in authority over everything, including all life-forms (Genesis 1:26). However it may seem, is this actually what occupied Solomon’s interest? I don’t think so. Rather, I believe Solomon set his mind to understand the task the Lord had given man once man rebelled:

The ground is cursed for your sake. In pain shall you eat of it all the days of your life. It shall also bring forth thorns and thistles to you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return. (Genesis 3:17-19)

In other words, what the Lord did was simply make man’s task harder than what it was in the beginning (cp. Genesis 1:26). There, he had set men in authority over all creation. There would have been absolutely nothing beyond his ability, once he set his mind to undertake the task. Man was given authority, and with authority comes ability. In other words, and according to Genesis 1:26, God had originally intended for man to operate like God operated, to image him. When the Lord had created the thing, the thing did what the Lord commanded it to do, or one might say the Lord created a thing to function according to the will of the Lord (cp. Genesis 1:11). All man needed to do was understand what the Lord’s will was for that part of his creation, and men would labor in accordance with the thing operating that way. The Lord brought order (Genesis 1:3-10) out of chaos (Genesis 1:2). He created man to do the same thing—create order out of a wilderness, and harness the power that the Lord had invested in the universe. This, or something similar to it, was what God had given mankind to do in the beginning. However, after his rebellion, man brought chaos back into the Lord’s creation. Instead of improvement and life, he brought in entropy and death (Romans 5:12).

Therefore, the Lord changed man’s occupation. The earth was cursed and would no longer yield according to the Lord’s original intentions. Rather, it would behave according to man’s own rebellion. It would image man and his destructive will (cp. Genesis 3:17-18), rather than according to God and his glorious will (cp. 2Corinthians 3:18). All of creation would begin to retreat toward chaos (Genesis 1:2), because, when he rebelled from God, whom he was created to image, man brought chaos back into creation. This wasn’t a game, in which God occupied himself, and man wasn’t God’s pawn. Rather, man was created to be the Lord’s partner. He was, indeed, in authority over everything God created. Therefore, when man rebelled, he initiated his own destruction, and the Lord’s creation, which was intended for life, now moved slowly toward entropy and chaos. Behavior has its consequences, and man needs to understand this, but he has yet to come to grips with this truism (Ecclesiastes 1:4, 9-11). The lie is not the truth, war will never bring peace, nor rebellion freedom, and neither will theft increase one’s wealth. For the lie that man puts forth for truth, and the peace that results from war, and the freedom that arises out of rebellion and the wealth that is increased by theft are but illusions, a vapor of man’s own creation. They are vanity! Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.