The Teacher here. Son of David, king in Jerusalem. I’ll give you my conclusion first. Futile. Utterly futile. Everything is futile. The word I use means breath. You see it for a second, then it’s gone.
The Teacher
@theteacher · 49 posts
Tried everything. Wrote down what I found.
Son of David, king in Jerusalem. In Hebrew my title is Qoheleth: the one who gathers people and talks to them. Tradition says I’m Solomon, looking back late in life, though the book never gives my name. I set out to understand everything done under the sun. My word for most of it means breath, vapour: here and gone. Futile.
JerusalemFirst seen Ecclesiastes 1:1
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Honest question. You work your whole life under the sun. What do you actually get out of it?
The sun comes up, goes down, and hurries round to come up again. Every river runs into the sea, and the sea’s never full.
There is nothing new under the sun.
Replying to @young.in.jerusalem
It isn’t. It was around long before us. We just don’t remember the people who came before. And the people who come after won’t remember us.
Some background. I was king over Israel, in Jerusalem, and I set out to study everything that’s done under heaven. What a miserable job God has given people to keep them busy.
More wisdom, more grief. The more you know, the more it hurts.
Experiment one: pleasure. Go on, I told myself, enjoy yourself. Futile. Laughter? Stupid. Pleasure? What does it actually achieve?
What I did next, in order: 1. Built houses. 2. Planted vineyards. 3. Gardens and parks, every kind of fruit tree. 4. Reservoirs to water it all. 5. Servants. 6. More herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. 7. Silver, gold, the treasure of kings. 8. Singers. I became greater than anyone who’d lived in Jerusalem before me. And I kept my wisdom the whole time.
Replying to @theteacher
Anything I wanted, I had. I never said no to myself. Then I looked at all of it, everything my hands had made. Futile. Chasing the wind. Nothing gained under the sun.
The wise man has eyes in his head. The fool walks around in the dark. Then it hit me: the same thing happens to both of them. Nobody remembers either of them for long. The wise man dies just like the fool.
I hate everything I’ve worked for, because I’ll have to leave it all to whoever comes after me. And who knows if he’ll be wise or a fool? He gets it either way.
Best thing I’ve found so far: eat, drink, and enjoy your work. And that comes from God’s hand. Without him, who can enjoy anything?
There’s a time for everything. A season for every purpose under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. To plant and to pull up. To kill and to heal. To tear down and to build. To cry and to laugh. To mourn and to dance. To hold someone close, and to hold back. To keep and to throw away. To tear and to mend. To keep quiet and to speak. To love and to hate. For war, and for peace.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has put eternity in our hearts. And we still can’t work out what God is doing from beginning to end.
People and animals end up the same way. Same breath in both. Everyone goes to the same place. All from dust, and all back to dust.
Adam@adamThen the hard words. Thorns and thistles. Sweat for every meal, until I go back to the ground I came from. He said I’m dust, and I’ll go back to dust.Replying to @theteacher
Who knows if a person’s spirit goes up and an animal’s goes down into the ground?
I saw the tears of people being crushed. Nobody to comfort them. All the power on the side of the ones crushing them. And nobody to comfort them.
Better one handful with peace and quiet than two handfuls of hard work and chasing the wind.
Two are better than one. If one falls, the other helps him up. Pity the one who falls with nobody there. Two lying down together keep warm. How do you keep warm on your own? And a cord of three strands isn’t quickly broken.
A man on his own@alone.and.busyNo son, no brother. The work never stops, and it’s never enough. Who am I even doing this for?Going to God’s house? Go to listen. Don’t rush to say something in front of God. God is in heaven and you’re on earth. So keep your words few.
Replying to @theteacher
Made God a promise? Don’t put off keeping it. Better not to promise at all than to promise and not follow through.
If you love money, you’ll never have enough of it.
A worker sleeps well, whether he’s eaten a little or a lot. The rich man has so much he can’t sleep.
We come into the world naked, and we leave the same way. We can’t take a single thing we worked for with us.
Job@jobI tore my robe and shaved my head, and I fell on the ground and worshipped.
I came into the world with nothing, and I’ll leave with nothing. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Praise the name of the LORD.Here’s what I’ve seen that’s good: eat, drink and enjoy your work, in the few days of life God gives you. That’s your share. And being able to enjoy it is a gift from God.
A good name is better than expensive perfume. And the day you die is better than the day you’re born.
Solomon@solomonA good name is worth more than great riches.Replying to @young.in.jerusalem
Better to go to a funeral than a party. Death is where everyone ends up, and the living should take that to heart.
Replying to @old.in.jerusalem
That’s not a wise question.
When times are good, be happy. When times are bad, think about this: God made the one as well as the other.
In my short, futile life I’ve seen both. A good man dying young, for all his goodness. A wicked man living a long time, for all his wickedness.
There isn’t one person on earth so good that they always do right and never sin.
Don’t listen to everything people say. You might hear your own servant cursing you. And you know full well you’ve cursed plenty of people yourself.
Nobody can hold on to the wind. And nobody has any say over the day they die.
Good people getting what the wicked deserve. Wicked people getting what the good deserve. Futile. So I recommend enjoying life. There’s nothing better under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad.
A live dog is better than a dead lion.
Go on. Eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a glad heart. Enjoy life with the wife you love, all the fleeting days God has given you.
Whatever you find to do, do it with all your strength. In the grave, where you’re going, there’s no work and no planning.
The race isn’t won by the fastest, or the battle by the strongest. The wise don’t always get bread, or the clever get rich. Time and chance happen to everyone.
A small city with only a few men in it. A great king surrounds it and builds siege ramps. There was a poor man in the city who was wise, and he saved it. Nobody remembered that poor man.
Dead flies make the perfume stink. A little foolishness outweighs a lot of wisdom.
Don’t curse the king, even in your head. Don’t curse the rich, even in your bedroom. A bird might carry your words.
Send your bread out across the water. After a long time, you’ll find it again.
Keep watching the wind and you’ll never sow. Keep looking at the clouds and you’ll never reap.
Young man, enjoy being young. Be happy while you are. Go wherever your heart and your eyes take you. But know that God will judge you for all of it.
Replying to @theteacher
Remember your Creator while you’re young. Before the hard years come, the ones you’ll say you get no pleasure from.
The hard years: hands that shake, strong men bent over, the few teeth left stop grinding, eyes going dim. You’re up at the first bird, and all the songs grow faint. Scared of heights, scared of the road. Hair white as almond blossom. Then off to your eternal home, and the mourners in the street.
Remember him before the silver cord snaps and the golden bowl breaks. Before the dust goes back to the ground it came from, and the spirit goes back to God who gave it.