Under The Sun

Life under the sun.

Ecclesiastes
1:1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
1:2 Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all [is] vanity.
1:3 What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
1:4 [One] generation passeth away, and [another] generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.
1:5 The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.
1:6 The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.
1:7 All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea [is] not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.
1:8 All things [are] full of labour; man cannot utter [it]: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
1:9 The thing that hath been, it [is that] which shall be; and that which is done [is] that which shall be done: and [there is] no new [thing] under the sun.
1:10 Is there [any] thing whereof it may be said, See, this [is] new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.
1:11 [There is] no remembrance of former [things]; neither shall there be [any] remembrance of [things] that are to come with [those] that shall come after.
1:12 I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
1:13 And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all [things] that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.
1:14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.
1:15 [That which is] crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.
1:16 I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all [they] that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.
1:17 And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.
1:18 For in much wisdom [is] much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

Aren't you glad that we can graduate upward from life under the sun to Life under the SON!

Lamentations
3:22 [It is of] the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
3:23 [They are] new every morning: great [is] thy faithfulness.
3:24 The LORD [is] my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
3:25 The LORD [is] good unto them that wait for him, to the soul [that] seeketh him.

How can we reconcile this negative view of God with the rest of Scripture?

I don't think any of that is a negative view of God, but a realistic view of this life. Futility.
The whole thing including our old selves is destined for death. We are no different than the ungodly in that respect.
We still live with aging bodies in a dying world. The difference is that we have the hope of resurrection to a new life.

13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
15 The life of mortals is like grass,
they flourish like a flower of the field;
16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.
17 But from everlasting to everlasting
the Lord’s love is with those who fear him,
~ Psalm 103

And all this praise from Solomon's very own father. I just can't help but think that the apples (children of David) fell far from the tree.

Live under 2 at the same time.

Born under the Sun.

Born Again under the Son.

Look forward to His Return, to our Transformation into His Likess and to the New Creation.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying:
“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man,
and He will dwell with them.
They will be His people,
and God Himself will be with them as their God.
4‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,’
and there will be no more death
or mourning or crying or pain,
for the former things have passed away.”
5And the One seated on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Then He said, “Write this down, for these words are faithful and true.” 6And He told me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give freely from the spring of the water of life.
7The one who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son.

Take note of verse 7 as 7 is Rest.

Solomon wraps it all up at the end of his book. Essentially he is saying obey God, follow His commands, and seek not the desire of the human heart. Ecclesiastes is one of my favorite books of the Bible.

Thank you so much for this!

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

https://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/12-13.htm

I remember a conversation at work awhile back, where a colleague said, we don't know the meaning of life. Than I told him about Ecclesiastes 12:13. I probably could of got in trouble, if he was offended, but it would of been worth it.

Prophecy that witnesses the end of the old and promise of the new

“Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it? I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them. They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them. ….Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last. Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭48:6-7, 12-13‬ ‭KJV‬‬

“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭65:17-18‬ ‭KJV‬‬

“But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. …But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

….Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”
‭‭2 Peter‬ ‭3:7, 10, 13‬ ‭KJV‬‬

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.

And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭21:1-8‬ ‭KJV‬‬

there are two creations in scripture one that is from the beginning and one that is created in Christ that is coming the old things are on course to be left behind even the people are made new I. Christ Old Testament v New Testament

remember the Old Testament wasn’t about the resurrection or the world to come the New Testament is

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Ecclesiastes is a difficult book to classify because although it's in the Bible,
it's not really theological. It's mostly a collection of Solomon's world views
rather than his spiritual knowledge.

It's the Bible's fun book because it's chock full of normal thinking instead of
religious dogma. Ecclesiastes requires very little interpretation as anybody
who's been around the block a time or two can easily relate to its thoughts.

Solomon composed his comments from the perspective of a philosophical
man who's understanding of life and the hereafter is moderated by empirical
evidence and the normal round of human experience. It's a handy book of
the Bible for showing that not all religious people are kooks with their heads
in the clouds and unable to see things as they are through the eyes of
normal people.

* CAUTION *

According to Matt 12:42, Luke 11:31, John 1:1-14, and Col 2:3; Christ
trumps Solomon, so beware of using proof texts from Ecclesiastes to impair,
moderate, and/or water down Christ's teachings related to the afterlife.

In addition: Christ is the voice of God (John 3:34, John 8:26, John 8:28,
John 12:49, John 14:24) whereas there is not the slightest textual evidence
in the book of Ecclesiastes that Solomon was anybody's voice but his own
when he wrote it.

To my knowledge, Solomon had never seen the afterlife for himself, viz: he
wasn't an expert witness; whereas Christ had seen the afterlife for himself
and knew what he was talking about.

• John 3:31-32 . . He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the
earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven
is above all. What He has seen and heard, of that he bears witness.

Christ is also highly recommended, whereas to my knowledge, Solomon
isn't.

• Matt 17:5 . . This is my Son, the beloved, whom I have approved; listen to
him.

So then, when encountering remarks in the book of Ecclesiastes that are out
of step with Christ's teachings in the New Testament; my unsolicited
spiritual counseling is to ignore Solomon and go with the wisdom of "my
Son".

• John 8:12 . . I am the light of the world. He that follows me will by no
means walk in darkness, but will possess the light of life.

FAQ: Doesn't the apostle Paul say that all Scripture is God breathed?

A: There is a difference between inspiration and dictation.

Solomon was no doubt inspired to record his personal world view, but we
shouldn't assume his world view speaks for God verbatim the way Christ
does.

• John 8:26 . .He that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things
which I have heard of Him.

• John 12:49 . . I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me,
He gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.

• John 14:24 . .The word which you hear is not mine, but the Father's who
sent me.
_

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• Ecc 1:1 . .The words of Koheleth son of David, king in Jerusalem.

Koheleth is apparently a transliteration rather than a translation. The
Hebrew word is qoheleth (ko-heh'-leth) which means: an assembly gatherer
(i.e. a lecturer). A qoheleth isn't a mechanic on a factory assembly line, but
rather, someone who assembles a group together for a speech, a seminar, a
sermon, or classroom lecture.

Christ was a koheleth. Just about everywhere he went, Jesus set up a soap
box and drew crowds.

The lecturer obviously isn't female because Koheleth was a son of David and
a king in Jerusalem. Sons and kings are eo ipso male.

Tradition accredits Ecclesiastes to David's son Solomon, the brightest
intellectual of his day because of the abundance of his God-given wisdom.
None of the other descendants of David ever matched Solomon's intellect.
He may not have been much of a soldier, but Solomon had no equals in
matters of scholarship.

• 1Kgs 5:9-14 . .The Lord endowed Solomon with wisdom and discernment
in great measure, with understanding as vast as the sands on the seashore.
Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the Kedemites and
than all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was the wisest of all men: [wiser]
than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Chalkol, and Darda the sons of Mahol.
His fame spread among all the surrounding nations.

. . . He composed three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered one
thousand and five. He discoursed about trees, from the cedar in Lebanon to
the hyssop that grows out of the wall; and he discoursed about beasts,
birds, creeping things, and fishes. Men of all peoples came to hear
Solomon's wisdom, [sent] by all the kings of the earth who had heard of his
wisdom."

Solomon's education would most likely be categorized as Liberal Arts in our
day; which is a pretty broad field of study consisting of a variety of subjects.

• Ecc 1:2-3 . . Utter futility!-- said Koheleth --Utter futility! All is futile! What
real value is there for a man in all the gains he makes beneath the sun?

He has a point. What does it benefit people "beneath the sun" (viz: in this
world of ours) to amass a fortune, build an empire, accumulate knowledge,
possessions, education, accolades, achievements, and experience when
they're only going to die and lose every last bit of it?

Approaching the end of his life; actor Burt Reynolds once remarked that the
only thing he regretted was not spending more of his money.

Here's a humorous epitaph that quite says it all:

Here lies John Racket,
In his wooden jacket.
He kept neither horses
Nor mules.
He lived like a hog,
And died like a dog;
And left his money to fools.
_

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• Ecc 1:4 . . One generation goes, another comes, but the Earth remains the same
forever.

It's quite humiliating to realize that a mindless lump of granite with an IQ of zero, and
whose personal accomplishments amount to absolutely nothing, will easily outlive the
finest minds and the most energetic movers and shakers who ever existed.

The rock of Gibraltar, for example, was here before Plato, Alexander the Great, Darwin,
Beethoven, Einstein, Eli Whitney, Edwin Hubble, Jonas Salk, and Steve Jobs; and the
rock of Gibraltar was still be here after they've all died. It will still be here after you and
I are dead too. Shakespeare once said all the world's a stage. He was so right. Actors
come and go, but the stage is always there; ready for a new cast.

It's just not fair. People are much smarter, more sophisticated, and far more valuable
than anything on the planet. But the planet itself-- mute, ignorant, and impersonal
endures forever; while its superiors die and drop off all the time.

In the grand scheme of things, Man's tenure on the planet is but for a fleeting moment;
then he's gone and forgotten; washed away. For the vast majority of people, it will be as
though they were never here at all. The planet was doing just fine before they got here,
and it will go on doing just fine after they're gone. In point of fact the Earth would do
better if everyone were gone so that nature could be given time to rectify all the
damages that humans have inflicted upon it.
_

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• Ecc 1:5 . .The sun rises, and the sun sets-- and glides back to where it rises.

Sounds like Orphan Annie-- "The Sun-ull come owwwwt too-maw-row. Betcher bottum
doll-ler that too-maw-rohhhhh, thair-ull be Sun." (chuckle) Annie has it pegged. Maybe
clouds block the Sun from view now and then, but the clouds can never stop the Sun
from coming up; nor stop it from going down either. The Sun always comes up, and it
always goes down-- there's always day, and there's always night

• Ecc 1:6 . . Southward blowing, turning northward, ever turning blows the wind; on its
rounds the wind returns.

Solomon perceived that winds are cyclonic; and he's right. The Earth's air currents don't
move straight ahead like waves roaring in on the beach. No, they circulate. High
pressure areas move air into low pressure areas. And the winds never blow just once.
They keep coming back to blow all over again.

• Ecc 1:7 . . All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full; to the place [from]
which they flow the streams flow back again.

Solomon was pretty doggone savvy about hydrology. It's true. All streams flow towards
the sea (duh! gravity makes water flow downhill, and most landmasses are above the
level of the sea), but the water doesn't stay there. It returns to the land masses again via
evaporation and snow, and rain, and hail, in a perpetual cycle.

• Ecc 1:8 . . All such things are wearisome: no man can ever state them; the eye never
has enough of seeing, nor the ear enough of hearing.

Science is fun. But there is just too much for one man to learn in his lifetime. Even those
who specialize in only one branch, like astronomy, or biology, or chemistry, never really
get it all. They are ever grasping for more knowledge, but it eludes them. Then they die
and someone else comes along to pick up where they left off and continue the search.

A new 8.7 billion-dollar space telescope, said to be many times more powerful than the
Hubble, dubbed the James Webb Space Telescope (a.k.a. JWSP) is/was on track for
launch in 2021. What for? Only because Man's eyes never have enough seeing, and his
ears never have enough hearing. He presses on for more and more knowledge
because he just has to know. The quest for knowledge becomes the entire reason and
motivation for missions like the JWSP. It's being built and launched simply for the
purpose of discovery.

Nobel Prize winner, author of several best-selling books, and recipient of at least a
dozen honorary degrees, physicist Steven Weinberg (who views religion as an enemy
of science), in his book, The First Three Minutes wrote: "The more the universe seems
comprehensible, the more it seems pointless. But if there is no solace in the fruits of our
research, there is at least some consolation in the research itself . . The effort to
understand the universe is one of the very few things that lifts human life a little above
the level of a farce and gives it some of the grace of tragedy."
_

The good, the bad, the ugly of this life is meaningless, futile apart from the awe of God to work all things for the good of them who love Him.

Yep. That’s pretty much it.

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• Ecc 1:9 . . Only that shall happen which has happened, only that occur
which has occurred; there is nothing new beneath the Sun!

Solomon noticed that nature has yet to reinvent itself; and yet to break it's
own habits. The tide always comes in, and it always goes out. The Sun
always rises and it always sets-- there's always a day followed by a night.
The wind blows past us, and eventually returns to do it again. In the Spring,
leaves appear on trees, and in Autumn, they die and drop off-- every year.
In the Winter it's cold, in the Summer it's warm-- always.

It rains one day, it clears; and another day the rains return to do it all over
again. Every year in the woods, little frogs lay eggs in vernal pools. Their
pollywogs grow into more frogs who in turn will lay their own eggs in the
very same vernal pools the following year. Birds fly south for the Winter, and
birds fly north for the Summer

Every 27.3217 Earth days the moon completes one of its own sidereal days,
and every 29.5307 Earth days it completes one of its own lunar months; the
meanwhile always showing us pretty much the very same face; very little of
the other side. For twelve months, the Sun appears to travel along the
ecliptic through each of the constellations of the Zodiac. When it gets back
to the Vernal Equinox, does it then change course and take a new path? No.
It will go right back through every one of those very same twelve signs all
over again; the meanwhile tracing the very same analemma every time.

While my wife and I were gazing at a planetary alignment of Jupiter, Saturn,
Venus, Mars, and Mercury some time ago, it occurred to me that I was
looking up at a universe virtually the same as the one that the Egyptians
looked up at during construction of the Pyramids. They saw the very same
stars, and the very same five naked-eye planets more than 4,000 years ago.

Political climates, wars, disease, economic ups and downs, death and life--
none of that has influenced the circuits of those five planets. They
methodically, silently, and religiously go about their business indifferent to
Man's problems; constantly circling the Sun and haven't changed their
behavior one single bit since the day God told Abraham to try counting the
stars. He saw the same Pleiades that we see today; and the very same
constellation of Orion.

Through our Nikon FieldScope, we saw four of Jupiter's largest moons: Io,
Callisto, Europa, and Ganymede. Those very same four moons were circling
Jupiter on the night that Galileo discovered them with his crude 20x
telescope in 1609 AD. Can you guess what those moons were doing 400
years ago back in Galileo's day? The very same thing they are doing now:
orbiting Jupiter. And can you guess what Jupiter was doing in Galileo's day?
That’s right; the very same thing it does now: orbiting the Sun. Nature is
truly in a rut.
_

Yup. He was too old to know about the big flood and to young to know about Jesus and the yet future Rapture.

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• Ecc 3:1 . . A season is set for everything, a time for every experience
under heaven.

This next section smacks of fatalism and predestination, but actually it only
speaks of events that are quite normal and commonplace under the sun.

• Ecc 3:2a . . A time for being born and a time for dying,

Those two events are open ended and their precise moments aren't chipped
in stone. Every person experiences a birth, and each will experience a death
too. Birth and death are like appointments. As soon as a women senses that
she has conceived, she knows it's only a matter of time before she gives
birth to a child so she has to begin planning for its arrival. Same with death.
We all know we're going to die some day; it's just a matter of time.

But the problem with death is its stealth. We're young only till somewhere in
our mid thirties and then to our horror begin to gradually wither. One of the
biggest surprises of life is age. Most of us readily accept that we will die
some day, but usually aren't prepared to get old first, viz: we expect death;
but seldom anticipate losing form and function.

• Ecc 3:2b . . a time for planting and a time for uprooting the planted;

Farmers are constantly cultivating, planting, harvesting-- and then tilling
what's left after the harvest to prepare for the next crop.

• Ecc 3:3a . . a time for slaying and a time for healing,

A rabid dog has to be put down. But when your pet is hit by a car, you take
it to the vet.

• Ecc 3:3b . . a time for tearing down and a time for building up;

My dad worked many hours with his bare hands building us a home when I
was a kid. He sold it when I was 11 years old. Twenty-three years later, all
of dad's hard work was torn down and hauled off to make way for an RV
storage lot; and the property denuded of trees and scraped bare by
bulldozers. It's like we were never even there.

• Ecc 3:4a . . a time for weeping and a time for laughing,

Sometimes people laugh and weep all at the same time; like at a wedding.

• Ecc 3:4b . . a time for wailing and a time for dancing;

In a war, the victors celebrate and the vanquished mourn-- like in
professional sports. The cameras always show the winners elated, jumping
up and down, clapping themselves on the back, emoting for the press, and
pouring ice water on the coach; but over on the other side, the losers are all
glum and silent and dragging themselves back to the locker room.

• Ecc 3:5a . . a time for throwing stones and a time for gathering stones,

It would be nice if the Palestinians would follow that and pick up after
themselves when they're done pelting Israeli soldiers.

• Ecc 3:5b . . a time for embracing and a time for shunning embraces;

Sometimes lovers and friends need to make up and settle their differences
before they hug.

• Ecc 3:6a . . a time for seeking and a time for losing,

In other words: A time to search and a time to give it up for lost.

• Ecc 3:6b . . a time for keeping and a time for discarding;

Today's in-vogue couture is tomorrow's Good Will donation.

• Ecc 3:7a . . a time for ripping and a time for sewing,

When doctors need access to an injured patient's body, they often cut
clothing off with scissors rather than fussing with buttons and zippers. The
very same clothing can be repaired later by needle and thread.

• Ecc 3:7b . . a time for silence and a time for speaking;

They say silence in golden, but sometimes it's yellow; know what I mean?

• Ecc 3:8a . . a time for loving and a time for hating;

A time for love might be when your friends come over for dinner-- through
the front door. However, if they sneak in the back way while you're out, and
steal your 50" plasma TV so they can sell it for meth; that might be reason
enough to dump your friends for new ones.

• Ecc 3:8b . . a time for war and a time for peace.

Peace is much to be preferred to war. But sometimes war is necessary to
procure and to preserve peace. We live in a big bad world where there are
people more than happy to oppress you, abuse your human rights, control
your movements, restrict your speech, clamp down on dissent, take away
your wealth and possessions, destroy your home, separate you from your
family, and put you to work in a gulag where you'll be underpaid,
malnourished, constantly hungry, politically indoctrinated, and poorly clothed
for the rest of your life.
_

Similar to the bad advice from Job's 3 friends, Solomon expressed the exploration of life without regard for God. His wisdom (from God) guided him while he explored what there was to do down here according to the natural perspective. The paradigm of Ecclesiastes demonstrates that "under the sun" demonstrates the logical outworking of life without an afterlife.

This is why he says things like:

-let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die
-money is the answer to everything
-there is no activity in Sheol
-animals and humans all go to the same place (in death)
-everything is meaningless
-the earth remains forever
-there is nothing new

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• Ecc 5:18 . . Only this, I have found, is a real good: that one should eat
and drink and get pleasure with all the gains he makes under the sun,
during the numbered days of life that God has given him; for that is his
portion.

Solomon mentions death so often that you might think he was obsessed with
it. But really, he wasn't. His philosophy of life was such that he took death
into consideration so that his days weren't spent as if they were infinite and
he expected to live forever. A balanced philosophy of life has to include the
very real possibility of imminent death to keep things in proper perspective.

Man is but perishable fruit like peaches, pears, strawberries, cantaloupe,
avocado, and oranges; no amount of refrigeration will keep him fresh.
Regardless of the amount of rest, fresh air, good diet, and exercise; man
begins to wither right around the age of 32 or 34.

Youngster's can't really appreciate their expiration date as three brief
decades: to them, 32 or 34 years seems long and way out in the distance.
As a result, the withering process often sneaks up and takes them by
surprise like starting a frog off in cool water and slowly bringing it up to a
boil. Of a sudden, one day it swats them in the face like a rolled up
newspaper that they're "old school" and replaced by a young, hip generation
wherein they've been accustomed to thinking all along was themselves.

The aging process, once it starts, is relentless. Its personality is sort of like
that of the robot in Arnold Schwarzenegger's movie "The Terminator" which
is a machine that can't be bargained with, it can't be reasoned with, it
doesn't feel pity or remorse or fear, and it absolutely will not stop-- ever! --
until you are dead.

The aging process is a cold as steel wake-up call that your tenure on this
planet is rapidly winding down to a close; and one day, it will be like you
were never here.
_