Kohelet (2)
Kohelet (ECCLESIASTES) • Sermon • Submitted
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Intro
Intro
today we will be starting our series on Ecclesiastes or Kohelet as it is called in the Hebrew Bible.
and as many of you are aware I am very exited about this book because of the many lessons about life that it teaches us!
Ecclesiastes gets a bad wrap as being a very depressing book and it earns that title for many reasons, but the main one is best shown by the first verses
2 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher,
“Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.”
this word vanity is used 38 times in this book and 9 times it uses the phrase “Striving after the wind”
that’s 47 times in 12 chapters that we are told that life is meaningless and just chasing after the wind!
so it is pretty easy to see the claim that this is a depressing book, but if you peel back the cover and look a little closer at this book it becomes so much more!!
you may have wondered, like i did, why this book is called Ecclesiastes and what does that mean? well if we look at the Hebrew we will get more of an answer than we were expecting
Kohelet in Hebrew means “one who gathers people” or a teacher and as we read this book we can see two voices
a. the teacher (Kohelet)
b. the author
this is important to remember if we want to understand Ecclesiastes. the teacher is showing us how he has failed in life and has found everything to be vanity and the author takes that and uses it to point us to God! we can see this clearly in
13 The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.
14 For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.
everything in Kohelet builds up to these verses this is the point, the melodic line, the theme of the book!
after every statement in this book you can put these verses!
so if we look at chapter 1
12 I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.
13 And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven. It is a grievous task which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.
14 I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind.
and if we follow this up with Ecclesiastes 12:13
13 The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.
so therefore fear God and keep His commands!
Kohelet tells us that nothing we do on this earth will last except those things that are done according to God’s will!
this follows for every passage in Ecclesiastes!
another thing about Kohelet is who he is. let us look at the text
1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
12 I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.
so who was David’s son and king in Jerusalem? Solomon! the wisest man to live, he also wrote Proverbs and the song of Solomon. we can look at these three books as
one that he wrote in his youth (song of Solomon)
one that he wrote as a man at the height of His wisdom (Proverbs)
and one that he wrote in his old age looking back on His life (Kohelet)
this picture works, but I would like to add to it. some scholars think that at the dedication of the temple, when it was completed, Solomon taught the people and this book may be a picture of that teaching from Solomon.
now I dont know if this is fact because the Bible is silent on the circumstances of this book, but if it were true it would help explain another interesting tidbit about Kohelet.
Sukkot
Sukkot
what is Sukkot?
“Sukkot is one of the most joyful festivals on the Jewish calendar. “Sukkot,” a Hebrew word meaning "booths" or "huts," refers to the Jewish festival of giving thanks for the fall harvest. The holiday has also come to commemorate the 40 years of Jewish wandering in the desert after the giving of the Torah atop Mt. Sinai.
Also called Z’man Simchateinu (Season of Our Rejoicing), Sukkot is the only festival associated with an explicit commandment to rejoice. Sukkot is celebrated five days after Yom Kippur on the 15th of the Hebrew month of Tishrei, and is marked by several distinct traditions. One, which takes the commandment to dwell in booths literally, is to erect a sukkah, a small, temporary booth or hut. Sukkot (in this case, the plural of sukkah) are commonly used during the seven-day festival for eating, entertaining and even for sleeping.
Our sukkot have open walls and open doors, and this encourages us to welcome as many people as we can. We invite family, friends, neighbors, and community to rejoice, eat, and share what we have with each other.
Another name for Sukkot is Chag HaAsif (Festival of the Ingathering), representing the importance in Jewish life of giving thanks for the bounty of the earth.”
-reformjudaism.org
if that sounds familiar its because this is the holiday that the pilgrims based Thanksgiving on!
now one of the biggest questions Jews have surrounding Sukkot is what is a sukkot? and why do they build one?
they are celebrating the end of 40 years in the desert and this holiday is to remember where they came from and what God has done for them. which is good, but why do they spend a week in these booths? is that what the Israelites lived in, in the wilderness? no they lived in tents!
so then why do they remember living in tents by living in booths?
I listened to a great sermon by Rabbi Sacks on this it is an hour long and I would highly recommend anyone to watch it I will show you where it is after the service if you are interested
He makes a great case that the sukkot that they live in is a picture of the tabernacle! God’s mobile dwelling up until the building of the temple!
this is a much better picture than remembering the tents that they lived in
do you remember what God said when David wanted to build a temple for Him?
5 “Go and say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Are you the one who should build Me a house to dwell in?
6 “For I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the sons of Israel from Egypt, even to this day; but I have been moving about in a tent, even in a tabernacle.
7 “Wherever I have gone with all the sons of Israel, did I speak a word with one of the tribes of Israel, which I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?’ ” ’
He was happy with a tent! it set Him apart from every other god that people worshiped! whenever a people get established they build a temple, but God was happy to be in a tent that could move to and with His people!
the Sukkot that the Jews build in their festival is a picture of that tabernacle as a reminder that in the wilderness God was with them guiding them and protecting them it is also a picture of the temple in heaven, but lastly it is a picture of our hearts. the modern tabernacle, he has a dwelling in each of us.
as good as this is what does it have to do with Ecclesiastes?
Kohelet/Ecclesiastes is the book that they read every time they celebrate Sukkot! which may have been preached at the first celebration at the temple! it comes back around full circle!
Ecclesiastes even though it comes off as depressing can also be a reminder to us that all of these things even the temple, Which was destroyed twice, is temporary, but God, He is forever! and His tabernacle in our hearts is a reminder of that!
Havel
Havel
now let us confront another big thing in this book.
Vanity/futility/meaninglessness/pointlessness this word that repeats 38 times in this book what is Ecclesiastes saying with this word?
if we look at the Hebrew word it is
Havel = shallow/fleeting breath, vapor.
e.g. Spirit.
it is also Able's name!
now what is the significance of Able’s name also meaning Vanity/futility/meaningless/pointless? his life was a vapor it was here than it was gone, but his live was also a sacrifice of sorts as a offering to God it was short but profound in the impact that it had! for example we still use Able as an example of how we are to worship today!
in the same way we have Hevel. I think that this word is not translated as well as it should be, but the problem is that we dont have a word that has the same meaning. there are many definitions of Havel in Ecclesiastes!
it can be a vapor
it can be short
it can be a sacrifice/offering to God
it can be a fleeting breath
it can point to our spirit
there are many different ideas here and i think we need to remember them when we read this book in order to understand it! we need to use the proper definition when we read the word vanity, we need to remember all of these aspects of Havel! instead of meaningless this word is meaningful! this word “vanity” can bring new life to Ecclesiastes!!
lets look at verse 2 of chapter one with this new viewpoint.
2 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher,
“Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.”
Vapor, Vapor.....
a breath, a fleeting breath.....
sacrifice, an offering......
it could almost be saying this
“How short everything is, like a vapor, a smoke seemingly solid, but unable to be caught. it is vain unless offered as a sacrifice to our God, said the preacher”
i think that this can explain the depressing nature of the book, now instead of depressing it is full of meaning and purpose. it is now a book that demands action!
Overview of Kohelet
Overview of Kohelet
here is a great handout that I found that can help us see an overview of this book lets go through it
1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
1 There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven—
2 A time to give birth and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
3 A time to kill and a time to heal;
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
4 A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn and a time to dance.
5 A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.
6 A time to search and a time to give up as lost;
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
7 A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent and a time to speak.
8 A time to love and a time to hate;
A time for war and a time for peace.
16 This also is a grievous evil—exactly as a man is born, thus will he die. So what is the advantage to him who toils for the wind?
9 In addition to being a wise man, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge; and he pondered, searched out and arranged many proverbs.
10 The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly.
11 The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd.
12 But beyond this, my son, be warned: the writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body.
13 The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.
14 For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.
commonly quoted verses from Kohelet
commonly quoted verses from Kohelet
1 There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven—
12 And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.
1 Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you will find it after many days.
1 Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no delight in them”;
13 The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.