Summary of Ecclesiastes 1

Ecclesiastes opens with a prologue in which the author identifies himself, declares his theme, and introduces the question addressed in this book. He describes himself as "the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem" (1:12). He begins his "sermon" in a way that certainly grabs your attention: declaring all to be vanity (meaningless). Having our attention, he asks the question that will be answered in the course of his sermon: what profit does a man have from all his labour in which he toils under the sun (1-3)? It is a question that is prompted by what he sees in the cycles of life. Generations of people come and go. The sun rises and sets, only to do the same day after day. Wind currents and water cycles are constantly repeated, and man is never satisfied with what he sees or hears. While we think new things are being done, it is only because we don't remember the past. In reality there is nothing new under the sun (4-11). With the question introduced, the Preacher describes his own search. As king over Israel in Jerusalem, he wanted to know what everyone one wants to know - what profit is there for all the labour done under the sun? Right up front he tells us what he found: all is vanity and grasping for the wind. Having been blessed with greatness and wisdom (from God, cf. 1 Ki 3:12-13), he began his search exploring wisdom, madness and folly. He found that much wisdom and knowledge (i.e., human wisdom) was only the source of much grief and sorrow (12-18).²