No matter what else we think about Qoheleth, we have no doubt he was very diligent in his pursuit of finding what the purpose of life was and how he could find deep satisfaction in all that is done under the heavens. And he was a researcher (‘Quester’) with, what he considered were the resources he needed to undertake such a huge project. Maybe here was his first mistake. As C Wright suggests: “If his whole project is based on purely empirical observation and deduction, this will be a bumpy ride… at this stage his wisdom is totally self-referential—I saw, I thought, etc. It is not until the very end of the book… that we find the essential affirmation of Proverbs, that the very beginning and first principle of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, so that we submit all our thinking and acting to him, as the essence of wisdom (12:13, cf. Prov 1:7).” (# 60)
So, to begin with in this life-changing venture he seeks to gain wisdom, discernment and knowledge. He seeks to discern the differences between wisdom and folly. Seems like a sensible place to start. Nothing wrong with getting ourselves educated about the important things in life. So, we read:
12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens.
Well, sounds good, but have you ever done some really serious study of a very complicated subject and been totally frustrated by your lack of progress in understanding the subject and being able to move on to other things. At times it can feel like a heavy burden, and these are the exact words of Qoheleth as well after all his delving into the mysteries of life. He says:
What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind! 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
15 What is crooked cannot be straightened;
what is lacking cannot be counted.
16 I said to myself, “Look, I have increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.
18 For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;
the more knowledge, the more grief.
As C. Wright says:
“… his great learning didn’t satisfy or answer the deepest questions of life. It was a fruitless search. And a painful one in the end. He discovered the ironic truth of the common saying that “ignorance is bliss.” He would have been happier if he hadn’t learned so much, for it seems that “the more you know, the more it hurts” (v. 18; GNT).” (# 60)
One senses the deep frustration in the words and phrases he uses. The first is that his research seems to be like a chasing after the wind. This phrase is used 9 times in the first 6 chapters. Pawson says: “Have you ever tried doing that? It is the most useless, pointless, senseless, purposeless occupation you could ever think of.” (# 61) Try it sometime and see if you agree! The Message translates verse 14 as it’s nothing but smoke—smoke, and spitting into the wind. I don’t suggest you try this one.
It’s now interesting to see the first mention of God in this book. And in fact, Qoheleth is not exactly happy with Him. He says: What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind! What exactly is his problem? Let me quote a few more thoughts from C Wright:
“What a heavy burden” (NIV), in Hebrew, is: “It is an evil (ra‘) business or task.” This is an astonishingly bleak assessment … After all, we know (as the author did) that God created the world “good” and that work itself is a good thing—which Qoheleth will praise repeatedly later on, as we shall see. Yet here he pronounces the whole human enterprise “bad”—and he blames God! It is God who has “given” this heavy, evil, “unhappy business” (ESV) to humanity. It is God who lays this burden of frustrating, meaningless work on our shoulders. Immediately then, we can see that he is not excluding God from his research or equations. God is very much involved in all the processes, events, situations, and outcomes that he will explore. But far from that conviction solving anything, he can only conclude that God is somehow implicated in the way human life is such a heavy burden and all human accomplishments seem to be ultimately as frustrating as chasing the wind (v. 14). It’s all God’s fault! Now if the apostle Paul were able to chip in at this point, I think he would agree! But he would do so with a wink and a smile. For Paul would say that although evil and frustration were not God’s original intention for creation and humanity, it was indeed God himself who “subjected” the creation to futility and frustration in response to our wicked rebellion against God. But, Paul would continue with a smile (knowing more than Qoheleth), because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, creation and humanity together have hope (Rom 8:18–25). So, as we shall see at several points on the way through this book, Qoheleth insists that God is somehow involved in all the baffling and frustrating aspects of life on earth (e.g., 3:9–11,18; 6:1–2; 7:13–14; 9:1). And while this sounds so negative, it does conceal a positive truth. Life in all its absurdity and unfairness is still under the sovereign control of God. And that gives us the quiet reassurance that, if hebel was not God’s first word about creation, it need not be his last. But Qoheleth is in no mood to take all that on board right now. For him, an old-fashioned proverb seems undeniable. Verse 15 makes the flat assertion that there is something radically bent about the world and there’s nothing we can do to fix it. Hard to disagree.” (# 60)
If you feel like you are chasing after the wind today,remember to put God back in the picture, even if that leaves you with more questions. At least you now have Him on your side to find the answers!
Worship and Wisdom - Psalms, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. 