Short But Meaningful

INTRO

Reading single passages out of Ecclesiastes can be dangerous. Much of the tone of the book is negative. One of the most common words used in Ecclesiastes is “meaningless.” This one word provides meaning to the entire book of Ecclesiastes.

In Hebrew, the word is pronounced, “Ha-vel.”¹ “Meaningless” is first used in Genesis 4:2 as the name for Abel, one of Adam and Eve’s children. In Hebrew, Abel’s name literally meant “short,” and gave the picture of a breath. Isaiah 57:13 uses the same Hebrew word translated as “breath”: “When you cry out, let your collection of idols rescue you! The wind will carry all of them off, a breath will take them away. But whoever takes refuge in Me will inherit the land and possess My holy mountain.” Proverb 31:30 uses the same word translated as “fleeting”: “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord will be praised.”²

With all of its uses, the common picture portrayed by the word “meaningless” is that of shortness. As shared in yesterday’s teaching, the true word for Ecclesiastes is Eternal. Ecclesiastes is meant to point us to Jesus by encouraging us to live for that which is eternal and not for that which is temporal. Job taught us that a person could lose everything and still have satisfaction in God alone. Ecclesiastes tells us the opposite. Solomon showed us that if someone had everything—wealth, treasure, wisdom, power—but were missing God, they would lose satisfaction. When we understand that a better translation than “meaningless” or “vanity” is probably “short,” our understanding of Ecclesiastes changes. Psalm 90:12 says, “Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts.”

TEACHING

Ecclesiastes 3:1: Time is measured in different ways. Chronological time is told by our watches and various activities are governed by seasons.

Ecclesiastes 3:2–8: These verses contain couplets that make the same point in different ways by expressing opposites. Each verse points out that different circumstances can call for different responses.

Ecclesiastes 3:9–15: Things are made beautiful when they are used at the appropriate time. God has given us opportunities in this season of life, whatever season of life that may be, that we will not have in future seasons. Time must be measured in light of eternity, or we will live foolish lives. We have opportunities each day to choose things that will fade away or things that will last for eternity. Wisdom encourages us to choose the things that will last for eternity.

CLOSING

Ecclesiastes encourages us to not neglect eternity for today. We only have a short time in this life and in whatever season we are in currently. These are gifts from God. We choose how we receive these gifts and how we live in them.