THE QUESTION `WHAT IS THAT GOOD?'
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`If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let
us EAT AND DRINK; FOR TOMORROW WE DIE' (1 Cor. 15:32).
Few would be found who would pick out this verse from its context, and then try to show that the apostle was
untrustworthy or that he was a cynic, or a sceptic, or any other of the names heaped upon Koheleth; yet what
Ecclesiastes has spread over a book Paul has condensed into a verse. Koheleth wishes to impress the fact of vanity,
Paul of triumph, yet where they touch upon the same thing they speak with the same words.
All is vanity, even Paul teaches that, apart from the risen Christ. We shall find that Koheleth, too, teaches the
same thing in his own way. Does this resurrection chapter continue the refrain, `What advantageth it me? What
profit is there in labour?' No. Let us hear the last word on the matter:
`O death, where is thy sting? O grave (the sheol of Ecclesiastes), where is thy victory? ... thanks be to God,
Which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast,
unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that YOUR LABOUR IS NOT IN
VAIN in the Lord' (1 Cor. 15:55-58).
Having examined `The Theme' and discovered what it is, as found in Chapters 1 to 6, we now return to give
these chapters an examination. We find that the question `What is that good?' which covers this section, can be
examined and in measure answered, by subdividing the subject matter under the following seven heads.
Ecclesiastes 1 to 6
The Question `What is that good?'
(1)
Is that life worth living, which is without Christ?
(2)
Does your business pay?
(3)
Sore travail and its exercise.
(4)
The search for `that good'.
(5)
Life's true portion.
(6)
A time for every purpose.
(7)
Adam; his relation to the theme.
CHAPTER 4
The Question `What is that good?'
Ecclesiastes 1 to 6
(1) Is that life worth living, which is without Christ?
`Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, Vanity of vanities; all is vanity'.
The Hebrew superlative is expressed in the words `Holy of holies', `Servant of servants', &c., and this opening
statement of the preacher indicates the most utter emptiness and vanity. Vanity is the word that meets us at every
turn throughout this book, and we must at least give the passages a consideration before passing on, otherwise we
shall miss much help in the subsequent interpretation.