Learning from the Preacher Taupo Vanity and Vexation of Spirit To Everything there is a Season

‘kō·heh'·leth’ - Preacher 1:1, King in Jerusalem 1:12, King over ALL Israel 7:27-29, Associated with 1,000 women 1 Kings 11:3 12:9-10, Sets in order many Proverbs 1 Kings 4:32, Proverbs 1:1, 10:1, 25:1 Solomon is the inspired Preacher

‘kō·heh'·leth’ Ecclesiastes – the Greek form of Preacher/Kohohleth The stem of the word ‘kō·heh'·leth’ is ‘kahal’ Used regarding assembling people E.g. 1 Kings 8:1-2 The Ecclesia assembles together to learn from the word

Solomon’s Prayer 1 Kings 8:38-43 All men will turn to God and fear Him Men will keep God’s commandments Ecclesiastes 12:13

Deuteronomy 17 The king shall not… Multiply horses, from Egypt, to himself Solomon did (1 Kings 4:26), (1 Kings 20:28) Multiply wives to himself Solomon did (1 Kings 11:3) Greatly multiply to himself silver and gold Solomon did (1 Kings 10:14-21)

Key words in Ecclesiastes Preacher Vanity Profit Labour Travail Find Time Good Evil Wisdom Heart Thy, thou Phrases Under the sun Vexation of spirit Sons of men Fear God Work of God All the days of thy life hebel

Reacting to life’s challenges The uncertainty, the ambiguity, the struggle, the awkwardness, the injustice, “the crookedness” of life… I’ll be the one to work it all out, use my human wisdom to explain it all I’ll make my own way and live for my own short term pleasure

Connections to Eden Ecclesiastes 2:10, “whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them” “when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat” (Genesis 3:6) … “I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception” (Genesis 3:16) Ecclesiastes 2:23, “For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night.”

Things we learnt… Solomon is the koheleth/the preacher He tried pursuing worldy wisdom, he found it to be like striving after wind He tried pursing pleasures to the extreme, he found it to be like striving after wind Conclusion: Fear God and keep His commandments Enjoy the blessings you have in this life, but recognise they are fleeting

God in our lives “All things work together for good to them that love God” (Romans 8:28) “chastening…yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby” (Hebrews 12:11) “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6)

The works of God 3:11 “no man can find out the work of God” 7:13 “consider the work of God: for who can make that straight which he hath made crooked?” 8:17 “I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannon find out the work that is done under the sun” 11:5 “thou knowest not all the works of God who maketh all”

The works God wants from us “labour not for the meat which perisheth…but for the meat that endureth unto eternal life” (John 6:27) “what shall we do that we might work the works of God?” (John 6:28) “This is the work of God, that ye believe [have faith] on him whom he hath sent” (John 6:29)

God is working in us “though our outward man perish, yet our inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:16-17) Weight – the opposite of vanity!

We have hope! “For the creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope” (Romans 8:20 “to him that is joined to [all] the living there is hope” (Ecclesiastes 9:4) Hebrew: chabar

Gifts of God The blessings in our lives are the gifts of God: 3:13, “every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God” 5:19, “every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God”

Abide in the Lord Jesus Christ “in the world ye have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) Our vain, ‘hebel’, existence will become a glorious one! “be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)