“Ecclesiastes or, the Preacher,” Old Testament Seminary Student Study Guide (2002), 135–37
“Ecclesiastes or, the Preacher,” Old Testament Seminary Student Study Guide, 135–37
Ecclesiastes or, the Preacher
Life without Knowledge of the Plan
How would your opinions and attitudes about life be different if you believed that this life was our only existence—that there is no accountability to our life after death?
The writer of Ecclesiastes wrote most of his book as if he believed that this life is all there is. By writing from that point of view, he showed how frustrating life can be without the gospel. In the last chapter the writer admitted that he really did believe that life continues after death and that because life goes on forever, life has no lasting meaning or happiness unless we serve God and prepare for the Judgment—where all that seemed like “vanity” (temporary and not satisfying) will be seen for what it really is.
For more information on Ecclesiastes, see the Bible Dictionary, “Ecclesiastes” (p. 659).