Happy New Year?

Ecclesiastes 1

1. The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem: 2 “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” 3 What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun? 4 Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. 5 The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. 6 The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. 7 All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. 8 All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. 9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. 11 No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them. 

12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind! 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 15 What is crooked cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted. 16 I said to myself, “Look, I have increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind. 18 For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief. 

Reading Ecclesiastes chapter 1 on the last day of the year, I could not avoid thinking that since this chapter is part of God’s word, still the unchanging message of God has something to say to the changing times of men. But the problem is the message of the preacher is too negative and too realistic and therefore seems to be unacceptable in an age where productivity and human accomplishments are celebrated. What kind of message then can you derive from this passage?

Reading the first chapter, you will be introduced that the main theme of the preacher is about the vanity of all things under the sun. Such message is not a result of the contemplation of a mad man or any common man. The preacher claimed to be a king in Jerusalem and someone who acquired wisdom greater than his predecessors. Combine that with power and wealth, we have someone here who had everything and yet still came to the conclusion that everything is vanity. Where did he base such conclusion? Is he correct? In what sense his perspective is true? What can modern man learn from such perspective? If his message is mistaken, what will be the corrective?

The preacher’s observation is based on human toil; human generation; his observation of the character of nature such as sun, wind, and streams; the weariness of things; the non-satisfaction of human eye and human ears; the fact that nothing is new under the sun; human remembrance, observation of crooked things and lack; wisdom; madness, and; folly. If the preacher’s message is correct, it tells us that a man who is really wise will come to the conclusion that all things under the sun are vanity.  

The author of the book is described as the preacher. What is the meaning of that title? If by the term preacher, meaning someone who proclaims the word of God, this means that the man must be heard as a spokesman from God. And you cannot arrive to this conclusion by just limiting your reading with the first chapter. You must read the entire book. The first chapter must be interpreted in the light of the message of the whole book. Whatever interpretation you come up with the first chapter must be tentative and must be evaluated in the light of the content of the 12 chapters.

I think despite the difficulty of the book, modern man can learn something from the preacher. His message is most appropriate in a humanist age, which is exactly the dominant character of our time. Googling the message of the book, one source identifies the goal of the preacher is to demonstrate the meaninglessness of life apart from the fear of God. Why did the preacher intend to communicate such a message to his generation? I think it is because his generation like our generation is trying its best to find happiness apart from God. And that is the essence of humanism. The preacher’s message remains relevant for it highlights the emptiness of trying to be happy without God.

Greeting each other with “Happy New Year!” is empty and superficial without recognizing the source, meaning and end of happiness (Romans 11:36) who is the Creator and Redeemer of mankind. Facing 2021, it is best to remind ourselves what happened in 2020. Both COVID-19 and the lockdown accomplished something but not in the way that most people will recognize. For me, they accelerated and exposed the inner problems in the philosophy of the modern man, which Ecclesiastes has dealt with. In the approaching year, we want to remain positive and jubilant. But how can we maintain such attitude when our age is taking both the existence of God and the reality of His revelation for granted? In this New Year, we will continue to witness all the signs indicating that something is seriously wrong in our time. The religious, economic, monetary, political, educational and psychological crises in our generation show a symptom of an approaching death. This is just the logical outcome of humanism as the religion of both the preacher’s generation and the modern man.

The generation of the author of Ecclesiastes could not find the meaning of life in politics, riches, labor, accomplishments, nature, innovation, and even education. Likewise, modern man cannot be saved by any humanistic efforts such as education or legislation. Schools and the lawmakers can never reform the hearts of men. The social decay that we have been witnessing all around us is a call from God for our generation to return to Him, our Creator and Redeemer. Only by returning to Him, we will find the source, meaning and end of a truly happy New Year!