Chapter 1 an Introduction to Futility

Vs 1 - It's really interesting that Solomon calls himself "Preacher" here and also through the rest of the book. I looked up what preacher ment in the dictionary and it said that it meant "One who preaches." so then since it was right above it I looked up "preach" and here is what I found:

1. To proclaim or put forth in a sermon: preached the gospel. 2. To advocate, especially to urge acceptance of or compliance with: preached tolerance and peaceful coexistence. 3. To deliver (a sermon). (also had to throw this one in there: 2. To give religious or moral instruction, especially in a tedious manner. And it's in the American Heritage Dictionary)

So perhaps Solomon wanted the readers to know that they didn't have to believe him because he was the king. They had to believe what he was saying because of his wisdom.

Vs 3-4 - This is where it starts getting depressing as Solomon begins analysing life. He basically says how incredibly irrelivant a single life is. So irrelivent that given enough time even the most well known historical figures of today will be forgotten.

Vs 5-11 - I thought these verses were kind of interesting because he basically said life is a re-run. But he mentions that nothing is ever really fulfilled so it's sort of like seeing the same rerun but it always ending with "to be continued"

In the same set of verses he throws out there the idea that nothing is ever new under the sun. It reminds me of a song by The Swift called Under the Sun where they say:

Give me something more that I've never seen before

Cause everything's all been done.

If there's something new, it can only come from You

You're the only thing new under the sun.

Thinking of that song made me realize a new incredible truth about Jesus, he taught new things, he did new things, and he was a new thing. That alone is proof that he was of God.

Vs 14 - I just thought it was interesting that Solomon said that he had "seen all the works which have been done under the sun." I wonder if he's being literal or just reiterating the redundancy and pointlessness of life.

Vs 18 - Here Solomon says "Because in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain." I've felt this way at times where I wish I could just blindly believe something or settle a problem with "Well I guess we'll never know will we?" Sometimes I'm able to hold myself back and accept these things partially just out of pure laziness and the opinion that I had no desire to spend a lot of time reasoning things out. But eventually it always comes back to me.

Even though he lived thousands of years before me my heart really goes out to Solomon. Because he lived before Christ he had the full pressure of sin on him and didn't know about God's promise of eternal life and his Saving Grace.