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Bible Study Ecclesiastes, A Bible Study by Chopper & Reba.

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Chopper

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At the request of Dear Angel, Reba and I would like to present a Bible Study on this wonderful Book of Ecclesiastes with the hope that all our Bible Study family joins in. Folks who have not yet joined one of CF.net's Studies, Reba & I extend a warm welcome to join us with your thoughts and nuggets of Truth.

The writer is none other than Solomon, the King of Jerusalem, and of all Israel since there were no divisions as of yet.

Ecclesiastes 1:1 "The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
1:2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
1:3 What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?
1:4 A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.
1:5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises.
1:6 The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns.
1:7 All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again.
1:8 All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
1:9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.
1:10 Is there a thing of which it is said, "See, this is new"? It has been already in the ages before us.
1:11 There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after.
1:12 I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem."


I see, as the result of Solomon's request in response to God's question of what He could do for King Solomon, great wisdom in dealing with God's people was the result. Unfortunately, Solomon cast wisdom aside to gather to himself many women from foreign lands to satisfy his inner flesh needs which led to idolatry which weakened this great Leader.

Later, Solomon repented of his sins of idolatry before the people and other Leaders and thus comes his sermon, if you will, about the pure vanity of seeking that which is not of, or from, our Holy God.

Lets take off from here on a fun voyage thru the words of this Preacher Solomon, the King of Israel.
 
The words of wisdom are sought after and too often, when found, rejected. Without thinking I have often fibbed and said all that made sense to me before I was saved was the first three chapters of John but the truth is Proverbs and this book of Wisdom was easily read.

This opening passage did not, as a Lost Man, please me but as much as it distressed me it marked the recognition a universal issue with me and the rest oif mankind, vainity!

Like so much of my generation I wanted to be different... special and so it was that I wore pegged Blue Jeans, pegged so tight they needed zippers to get my feet through them.

To be different I grew my DA, flipped the back of my shirt collar up and smoked cigaretts as I strolled along in my Penny Loafers. I was Mister Cool and there were none like me.

Even the Army did not cure my vanity, no, it took my turning and complete submission to the hand of God. Only then did I begin to try ridding myself of this issue through prayer and study.

If the Church coiuld rid itself of this issue, the church, with a small c, I believe nothing would be impossible for us. But the 0problem is why we cannot rid the Church of it, maddening.
 
Theses verses written by a fallen man ... This giant of a man looked up to by the world lost his humbleness drunk with self...
What grace and mercy we see in our God... Solomon who knew his wisdom came for God get the 'big head' Hey th1b.taylor maybe he enjoyed those roadies... Yet forgiveness abounds...
We work, we achieve, we bake a great pie, play a new tune, wow look at me.. We forget 'in everything give thanks'
1Th_5:18 In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
All is vanity At the foot of the Cross we begin to learn this... Some of us are slow learners... Praise be to the Lord our God... 1Ch_16:34 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.
 
Theses verses written by a fallen man ... This giant of a man looked up to by the world lost his humbleness drunk with self...
What grace and mercy we see in our God... Solomon who knew his wisdom came for God get the 'big head' Hey th1b.taylor maybe he enjoyed those roadies... Yet forgiveness abounds...
We work, we achieve, we bake a great pie, play a new tune, wow look at me.. We forget 'in everything give thanks'
1Th_5:18 In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
All is vanity At the foot of the Cross we begin to learn this... Some of us are slow learners... Praise be to the Lord our God... 1Ch_16:34 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.
We could be such great servants if we would not try to grow our vanity when we are young but then, what would the world do for their armed forces... and people look for a path to eternal peace... all the while running from that horrible cross. Vanity!
 
I've never been in one of these Bible studies before.
Just yell at me if I get out of line.
But do we address the verses here or just quote other verses in the Bible?
I don't understand.
Are these verses to be taken literally or is there some reason we should not?
If one knew nothing of Solomon, then reading these first twelve verses, what is he saying?
 
Are these verses to be taken literally or is there some reason we should not?
We know this is not literal 1:5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. but poetic.. to be applied to our hearts . What can we do to change the rising and setting of the sun? nothing it is in His control...
To me this verse is very literal 1:2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

Nice to have ya here Mr Rollo Tamasi welcome :)
th1b.taylor address the passage in a personal way, He saw himself in the Word.. I quoted a different verse how does the passage strike you?
We just kinda watch for 'rabbit trails'
 
We know this is not literal 1:5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. but poetic.. to be applied to our hearts . What can we do to change the rising and setting of the sun? nothing it is in His control...
To me this verse is very literal 1:2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

Nice to have ya here Mr Rollo Tamasi welcome :)
th1b.taylor address the passage in a personal way, He saw himself in the Word.. I quoted a different verse how does the passage strike you?
We just kinda watch for 'rabbit trails'
Sort of like what ever makes you feel good type of thing.
Whatever's good for your soul, do that.
 
I've never been in one of these Bible studies before.
Just yell at me if I get out of line.
But do we address the verses here or just quote other verses in the Bible?
I don't understand.
Are these verses to be taken literally or is there some reason we should not?
If one knew nothing of Solomon, then reading these first twelve verses, what is he saying?
Others might and some will disagree but I am led to feel these verses are to be taken literally. I do not control here or anywhere these days but, mostly from Thompson's Cross References, I know that the Bible is all tied together.

As men we have, vainly, given credit to the scribes God used for the works by attaching their names to the sections God inspired/dictated for them to transcribe that we might learn. Some will benifit from your tying the scriptures in other works together with this book. But perhaps Chopper and reba feel diffently?
 
Life is frustrating and meaningless, but it being that way serves a purpose:

"20For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope21that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. " (Romans 8:20-21)

God wants us to understand thoroughly how frustrating and vain and futile this life is so we won't set our hopes on it and lose out on the life to come. Solomon knows this all too well, and he's sharing what he has learned through experience with his audience.
 
I may cause trouble in other threads but I am not trying to do so here.
It just seems to go with my territory.
But that aside, we need to establish if these verses are literal or not.
Otherwise, we may never get past the first 12 verses.

All verses here seem to be very literal to me.
The problem with verse 5 is that it indicates the sun moving around the earth rather than the earth moving around the sun.
This causes for an investigation of our hearts.
Do we believe the Word of God or do we believe worldly science.
If we choose to believe science, then someone must come up with a legitimate explanation of verse 5, or call God a liar, or say the Bible is not the inspired word of God, or come up with some other worldly explanation as to why we should not take this verse literally.
 
All verses here seem to be very literal to me.
Me too. I mean, in regard to what they describe. Just done in a poetic way, as Reba cites.

The problem with verse 5 is that it indicates the sun moving around the earth rather than the earth moving around the sun.
Though Solomon personally probably did not know the exact nature of the earth revolving around the sun, I still think he is waxing poetic, as Reba says.

I think it is also Solomon, or perhaps David, who likens the sun rising in the east and moving overhead as a groom leaving his chamber. It's poetry.
 
Me too. I mean, in regard to what they describe. Just done in a poetic way, as Reba cites.


Though Solomon personally probably did not know the exact nature of the earth revolving around the sun, I still think he is waxing poetic, as Reba says.

I think it is also Solomon, or perhaps David, who likens the sun rising in the east and moving overhead as a groom leaving his chamber. It's poetry.
So you're saying it's figurative.
Okay, why a figurative verse in the middle of 11 literal verses?
 
It's not a science lesson.
It's a spiritual lesson in the futility of life.

That's not a rationalization. He doesn't need to be scientifically correct to teach his lesson on how life sucks. His personal observation of how the sun moves is being used to teach a spiritual truth. That's the point of the passage. Not that the sun revolves around the earth.
 
Rollo Tamasi what do you understand the word literal to mean?
This book is written in a poetic style Which i understand the words are not always LITERAL but we should grasp the literal meaning.. the words are descriptive
po·et·ic
pōˈedik/
adjective
  1. of, relating to, or used in poetry.
    "the muse is a poetic convention"
    synonyms: poetical, verse, metrical, lyrical, lyric, elegiac
    "poetic compositions"
 
It's not a science lesson.
It's a spiritual lesson in the futility of life.

That's not a rationalization. He doesn't need to be scientifically correct to teach his lesson on how life sucks.
What?
Are you calling him a liar?
I don't think you mean that.
Do you want to rephrase your statement so that it is better understood?
 
Life is frustrating and meaningless, but it being that way serves a purpose:

"20For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope21that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. " (Romans 8:20-21)

God wants us to understand thoroughly how frustrating and vain and futile this life is so we won't set our hopes on it and lose out on the life to come. Solomon knows this all too well, and he's sharing what he has learned through experience with his audience.
Keep teaching like that and my being here will be vanity... or is it already?
 
One of the things you must understand in order to be wise is that this life is futile and empty. Wise people know this and, as a result, don't do foolish things based on elevating this life beyond the reality of it.
 
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