“MEANINGLESS!” SAYS THE TEACHER

Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 / Keywords 1:2

"Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless."

 

Everything Is Meaningless

1:1 The words of the Teacher,[a] son of David, king in Jerusalem:

2 “Meaningless! Meaningless!”

    says the Teacher.

“Utterly meaningless!

    Everything is meaningless.”

3 What do people gain from all their labors

    at which they toil under the sun?

4 Generations come and generations go,

    but the earth remains forever.

5 The sun rises and the sun sets,

    and hurries back to where it rises.

6 The wind blows to the south

    and turns to the north;

round and round it goes,

    ever returning on its course.

7 All streams flow into the sea,

    yet the sea is never full.

To the place the streams come from,

    there they return again.

8 All things are wearisome,

    more than one can say.

The eye never has enough of seeing,

    nor the ear its fill of hearing.

9 What has been will be again,

    what has been done will be done again;

    there is nothing new under the sun.

10 Is there anything of which one can say,

    “Look! This is something new”?

It was here already, long ago;

    it was here before our time.

11 No one remembers the former generations,

    and even those yet to come

will not be remembered

    by those who follow them.

Footnotes

a. Ecclesiastes 1:1 Or the leader of the assembly; also in verses 2 and 12

1. The Teacher begins with, “Meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” For a king, who has power, honor, and wealth, to say that everything is meaningless is very surprising. Meaningless carries the meaning of vanity, absurd, futile, and temporary.

 

2. Next, an example of labor is given. Though generation after generation labors, that labor seems to be for nothing. The earth continues as it always has irrespective of our labor. The sun rises and sets, the winds blow, and the streams continue to flow into the sea though the sea never fills up. We search for novelty but there is nothing new under the sun.

 

3. While this all sounds depressing, there is genuine wisdom in what the Teacher says about life in this world. We are often preoccupied with finding meaning and fulfillment in our work, accomplishments, and pursuing new experiences. We may look for meaning in our children, in other people, building a legacy or something else in the world. But we must know and accept that these are all temporary and inadequate. Will you let your sense of meaninglessness drive you to seek God who can give true meaning to life?

 

Prayer Father, please forgive me for looking at the world as if it can give us meaning. Help me to be wise about life and to find true meaning in you.

One Word Accept the Teacher’s wisdom