**commentary from the Orthodox Study Bible

Sunday

Ecclesiastes 1:

The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

2 “Vanity[a] of vanities,” says the Preacher;
“Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

3 What profit has a man from all his labor
In which he [b]toils under the sun?
4 One generation passes away, and another generation comes;
But the earth abides forever.
5 The sun also rises, and the sun goes down,
And [c]hastens to the place where it arose.
6 The wind goes toward the south,
And turns around to the north;
The wind whirls about continually,
And comes again on its circuit.
7 All the rivers run into the sea,
Yet the sea is not full;
To the place from which the rivers come,
There they return again.
8 All things are [d]full of labor;
Man cannot express it.
The eye is not satisfied with seeing,
Nor the ear filled with hearing.

9 That which has been is what will be,
That which is done is what will be done,
And there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there anything of which it may be said,
“See, this is new”?
It has already been in ancient times before us.
11 There is no remembrance of former things,
Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come
By those who will come after.

1:1 Words can be best understood as “collected sayings” (see 12:9–11). The word ecclesiastes comes from the Greek root word ecclesia, meaning “assembly,” which is also used to refer to the gathering of Christians in the New Testament. Thus, ecclesia is translated “church” in the English language, and is used to refer to both the gathering and the building where the people gather. 1:2 All, that is, everything in life that is apart from the purpose for which God created us, is vanity (see Rom 8:20). 1:3–7 We labor that we may profit, but labor loses its meaning (see Mt 16:26) when it has no eternal purpose. From generation to generation, we inherit death (Job 14:10). But Christ, the Sun of Righteousness (Mal 4:2), gives meaning to our labor and raises us up from death to life. 1:8–11 Even the human quest for knowledge and wisdom proves fruitless, because man cannot remember what he learned. Nothing new (v. 9)

 

Prayer:
This is the day which the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad therein.

Monday
Ecclesiastes 1:12

 I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be [e]exercised. 14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

15 What is crooked cannot be made straight,
And what is lacking cannot be numbered.

16 I communed with my heart, saying, “Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has [f]understood great wisdom and knowledge.” 17 And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind.

18 For in much wisdom is much grief,
And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

1:14 The choice of one’s spirit means that we freely choose vanity or evil deeds as opposed to doing God’s will. This tells us that man is not sinful by nature, but rather sinful by choice. This same phrase is also used in 2:11, 17, 26; 4:4, 6, 16; 6:9. 1:15 Despite his pessimism, the Preacher knows that God is indeed at work in the world, and only He can make the crooked . . . straight (Is 40:4). 1:17, 18 True wisdom is Christ, whose mysteries are far beyond our understanding.

 

Prayer:
Blessed by the name of the Lord from henceforth and forever more.

 

Tuesday
Ecclesiastes 2:

I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with mirth; [a]therefore enjoy pleasure”; but surely, this also was vanity. 2 I said of laughter—“Madness!”; and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?” 3 I searched in my heart how [b]to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.

4 I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards. 5 I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made myself water pools from which to [c]water the growing trees of the grove. 7 I acquired male and female servants, and had [d]servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. 8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and [e]musical instruments of all kinds.

9 So I became great and [f]excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.

10 Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them.
I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure,
For my heart rejoiced in all my labor;
And this was my [g]reward from all my labor.
11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done
And on the labor in which I had toiled;
And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind.
There was no profit under the sun.

12 Then I turned myself to consider wisdom and madness and folly;
For what can the man do who succeeds the king?—
Only what he has already done.
13 Then I saw that wisdom excels folly
As light excels darkness.

 

2:1–3 The Preacher spoke in his heart because the heart is the center of our true self. It is the center of good or vanity, affection and coldness, mercy and hardness, wisdom and folly, reason and confusion. 2:13 Man can choose wisdom or foolishness, light or darkness, good or evil.

Nelson, Thomas. NKJV, The Orthodox Study Bible, eBook: Ancient Christianity Speaks to Today’s World . Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

Prayer:
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.  As it was in the beginning it is now and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen.

 

Wednesday
Ecclesiastes 2:

The wise man’s eyes are in his head,
But the fool walks in darkness.
Yet I myself perceived
That the same event happens to them all.

15 So I said in my heart,
“As it happens to the fool,
It also happens to me,
And why was I then more wise?”
Then I said in my heart,
“This also is vanity.”
16 For there is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever,
Since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come.
And how does a wise man die?
As the fool!

17 Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

18 Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me. 19 And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity. 20 Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun. 21 For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; yet he must leave his [h]heritage to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22 For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun? 23 For all his days are sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.

24 Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God. 25 For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, [i]more than I? 26 For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.

2:16 No matter whether we walk in the light of wisdom or in the darkness of folly, everyone suffers and dies without remembrance. It is for this reason that Christ has come to trample down death by dying that we might live eternally in Him. Thus, we are bold to sing, “Memory eternal!” 2:24–26 Earthly food and drink still ends in death, but the eternal food of the Eucharist (Jn 6:55) imparts good—that is, wisdom, knowledge, and gladness (v. 26)—to those who labor for God.

Prayer:
Create in me a clean heart of God and renew a right spirit within me.  Cast me not from thy presence nor take thy Holy Spirit from me.    Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and by thy governing spirit establish me.

Thursday
Ecclesiastes

To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:

2 A time [a]to be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;
3 A time to kill,
And a time to heal;
A time to break down,
And a time to build up;
4 A time to weep,
And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
And a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones,
And a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace,
And a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to gain,
And a time to lose;
A time to keep,
And a time to throw away;
7 A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak;
8 A time to love,
And a time to hate;
A time of war,
And a time of peace.

Prayer:   O give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His mercy endures forever.

Friday
Ecclesiastes

9 What profit has the worker from that in which he labors? 10 I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

12 I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, 13 and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.

14 I know that whatever God does,
It shall be forever.
Nothing can be added to it,
And nothing taken from it.
God does it, that men should fear before Him.
15 That which is has already been,
And what is to be has already been;
And God [b]requires an account of [c]what is past.

16 Moreover I saw under the sun:

In the place of [d]judgment,
Wickedness was there;
And in the place of righteousness,
[e]Iniquity was there.

17 I said in my heart,

“God shall judge the righteous and the wicked,
For there is a time there for every [f]purpose and for every work.”

18 I said in my heart, “Concerning the condition of the sons of men, God tests them, that they may see that they themselves are like animals.” 19 For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity. 20 All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust. 21 Who[g] knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, which goes down to the earth? 22 So I perceived that nothing is better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for that is his [h]heritage. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?

3:14–17 That men would fear before Him expresses the Preacher’s understanding of why the world is the way it is. God uses the world to turn us to Himself, for at the end of the age, the time will come for judgment.   3:22 This is a reminder that we are to rejoice in the simple satisfaction of accomplishing the works God has given us to do.

Prayer:
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
of the Creator of creation.
From St. Patrick’s ‘Breastplate’

 

Saturday
Ecclesiastes  4:

Then I returned and considered all the oppression that is done under the sun:

And look! The tears of the oppressed,
But they have no comforter—
[a]On the side of their oppressors there is power,
But they have no comforter.
2 Therefore I praised the dead who were already dead,
More than the living who are still alive.
3 Yet, better than both is he who has never existed,
Who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

4 Again, I saw that for all toil and every skillful work a man is envied by his neighbor. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.

5 The fool folds his hands
And consumes his own flesh.
6 Better a handful with quietness
Than both hands full, together with toil and grasping for the wind.

7 Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun:

8 There is one alone, without [b]companion:
He has neither son nor brother.
Yet there is no end to all his labors,
Nor is his eye satisfied with riches.
But he never asks,
“For whom do I toil and deprive myself of good?”
This also is vanity and a [c]grave misfortune.

The Value of a Friend

9 Two are better than one,
Because they have a good reward for their labor.
10 For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.
But woe to him who is alone when he falls,
For he has no one to help him up.
11 Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm;
But how can one be warm alone?
12 Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him.
And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

13 Better a poor and wise youth
Than an old and foolish king who will be admonished no more.
14 For he comes out of prison to be king,
Although [d]he was born poor in his kingdom.
15 I saw all the living who walk under the sun;
They were with the second youth who stands in his place.
16 There was no end of all the people [e]over whom he was made king;
Yet those who come afterward will not rejoice in him.
Surely this also is vanity and grasping for the wind.

 

4:1–3 Job expressed a similar sentiment of being oppressed when he wished that he had never been born to see such sorrow (Job 3:10–16). But Christ has sent a comforter, the Holy Spirit (Jn 14:16), to wipe away all tears. Verse 2 speaks of the communion of the saints. 4:8 Our Lord spoke of this kind of person in the parable of the rich fool (Lk 12:16–21). 4:10 What a marvelous picture of encouragement in the Church! 4:12 The threefold cord may be linked to the virtues of faith, hope, and love (1Co 13:13). 4:13–17 In a striking reverse parallel, Christ stands in contrast to the old and senseless earthly king while also fulfilling him, for He was born poor and was raised up from the house of prisoners to be made king. Yet those who come afterward do indeed rejoice in him, bringing right sacrifices of praise into His house.

Prayer:
We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we worship Thee, we glorify Thee, we give thanks to Thee for thy great  glory.