Why Read Ecclesiastes?
A first draft of part of my introduction
Ecclesiastes is the Word of God.
That is a clearly sufficient reason, but I accept not everyone accepts the premise. This section is an effort to persuade the unconvinced.
First, it is a classic. Everyone wants to read the classics (or, as Mark Twain more accurately put it, everyone wants to have read the classics.1) With only twelve chapters, it can be read a lot faster than War and Peace. Classics have withstood the test of time. Reading them allows us to participate in the Great Conservation, and allows us to briefly step out of the current zeitgeist.
Second, it asks the right question. To say it is applicable for today is incomplete. It is applicable for every day. Ecclesiastes asks the question everyone asks at some point: what is the meaning of life? It is a meditation on this question, first by recognizing the problem, then by testing proposed answers. It is a book of philosophy, but it is not out of reach for the layman. Peter Kreeft calls it the greatest book of philosophy because it is “simple, direct, and artless.”2 It does not waste any time, and directly addresses the issue, recognizing the despair in trying to find a clear answer.
Third, because you are about to read this commentary. If you have not read Ecclesiastes before, I highly recommend putting down this book and doing so first. All of Ecclesiastes is contained in this book, but I will, of course, be interrupting it every verse or two. Reading through it at least once before continuing will be very beneficial.
This was only part of the introduction. To be notified of the actual commentary (beginning next), click the button below.
Mark Twain, The Disappearance of Literature (Speech, 1900)
Peter Kreeft, Three Philosophies of Life (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1989)