THE QUESTION `WHAT IS THAT GOOD?'
9
To think of any other king as author necessitates two men each wiser than the other, which is absurd. Those who
tell us that the book must have been written much later than Solomon's day adopt numbers (2) and (3). There is no
alternative for the believer in inspired Scripture with regard to number (1) which he accepts as truth.
CHAPTER 3
The Theme
What is the theme of the book of Ecclesiastes? Is it the quest for the summum bonum. `that good' (2:3)? Is it an
endeavour to solve the problem of the origin and purpose of evil? We feel it best to defer any answer until we have
set before the reader one or two of the most prominent features of the book. Then possibly the Scriptures will have
provided their own explanation. We know what Koheleth's summary is, for it is written both in the preface and the
conclusion:
`Vanity of vanities, all is vanity' (1:2; 12:8).
The Structure given on page 80 xxxx should be consulted from time to time.
The word `all' must be limited to its context as in other places, for of all the words that have made havoc of
theology this seems one of the chief. `All means all' may be a most untruthful conclusion. All means as many as
the context intends and no more. Whatever the writer has in view, his conclusion concerning it is, `All is vanity'.
Before reading on in Ecclesiastes, let us see what has been written elsewhere concerning vanity.
Psalm 39:4-6. - This Psalm of David, we trust, is clear from any of the insults heaped upon the book of
Ecclesiastes, this is not `under the sun' in the sense often intended:
`LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail (short
lived) I am. Behold, Thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily
every man at his best estate is altogether (or, only all) vanity. Selah. Surely every man walketh in a vain shew:
surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them'.
Here, it will be observed, the vanity of man is seen in the one great fact that stands at the end of his career -
DEATH. Death writes vanity over the whole creation of man. His labours are spent in accumulating that which some
unknown person shall use.
Psalm 49:6-14 :
`They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; none of them can by any
means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him ... that he should still live for ever, and not see
corruption. For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth
to others ... Like sheep they are laid in the grave'.
The Psalmist gives as a parenthesis the inward thought of these people. `Their inward thought is, that their
houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations'. To effect this they:
`call their lands after their names. Nevertheless, man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that
perish ... For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him ... they shall never
see light'. (parts of verses 11,12,17,19)
Here again the dread of death and of being forgotten urges men to do all kinds of things to perpetuate their
memory. All the riches a man may accumulate, however, avail but for this transient life, `for when he dieth he shall
carry nothing away'. Surely this also is vanity?
Romans 8:20,21 says: