First let's get something clear about erroneous notions of Paul and his founding a new religion, which he didn't. True, the halakhah of his Judaism switched from the Pharisaic oral law to the Ruach Hakodesh, but his religion was still one of the Judaisms of the time, not a new non-Judaism Gentile religion.

Shakespeare said, "We owe G-d a death...but death is a fearful

thing."

There is an unconscious terror of death in Man, who knows that

the significance of his life shrivels at the words "unto dust

shalt thou return." In the gruesome shadow of death, the whole

life of Man is made to seem as so much empty and lonely loitering

at the gates of an infinite abyss. There is a word for this

emptiness in Hebrew, the word havel which means empty,

unsubstantial, a passing elusive vapor. This is what life is

without a personal knowledge of G-d.

The author, who calls himself Kohelet "leader of the Assembly,"

Ben Dovid Melech Byrooshalam "son of Dovid, king in Jerusalem,"

finds that death has thrown a shroud of gloom and meaninglessness

over every kind of work that man does "under the sun." G-d's

work endures (3:14; 7:13), but man's does not. Death sees to

that. And therein is the riddle of life. What can dying, man

gain from all his work (1:3)? What can mortal man achieve from

all his labor, in view of his rapidly approaching demise (2:22)?

There is a time to die (3:2), but death is life's biggest riddle.

What possible gain can workers have from all their life-long toil

(3:9) since death causes them in the end to toil "for the wind

(5:16)?" A generation comes and goes to death and is forgotten

(1:4; 2:16). Death makes all toil "wearisome" and predictably

futile and, since everything dies, everything is deja vu

(disagreeably the same). People of long ago and people yet to

come will both alike be forgotten and all their labors will be

forgotten because of that great leveller called Death. Death is

what makes life at heart such an unhappy business, and there is

nothing man can do about this crooked state of dying affairs

(1:15). So this life in itself is found wanting, and death is

the reason. Many who claim to be Jewish claim that life is

wonderful as it is, but these people are not Biblical Jews, any

more than that Jewish man Karl Marx was a Biblical Jew with all

his philosophizing about the worker's existence "under the sun.

The French philosopher Pascal noticed how we habitually block out

the thought of our own coming demise. We do this in order to

maintain a fragile sense of mental happiness. Death is an end

too incomprehensibly ominous to contemplate. Yet our thoughts

keep returning to glower at its reality. And though we try to

divert ourselves with continuous activity and company and

"unhappy business," we know that each of us must ultimately die

and see everything we have done unravelled into nothingness.

Where can we then find pleasure in anything we do? What in the

world, what under the sun, are dying men to do with their

meaningless lives?

The author makes a test of various activities and pursuits:

wisdom, madness, folly, pleasure, laughter, wine, women, song,

great building projects, great "life works," great acquisitions,

possessions, treasure-collecting, and he finds only emptiness and

meaninglessness in all these. Whatever pleasures these things

brought him were fleeting indeed. The more wisdom he acquired,

the more sorrow he became aware of. The more money he acquired,

the more vexation came with it. Death robs all men, because

everyone goes to the grave naked and penniless. So what use is

money, in the face of death? And since the sage and the fool

must both go to the same all-consuming grave, what use is wisdom,

in the face of death?

The author acquired much wisdom and his wisdom remained with him

(2:9), although wisdom can be ephemeral even in this life, in

view of senility and the effects of aging, so grimly portrayed in

ch. 12. But since man cannot extend his life or control what

happens after his death, all that his wisdom attains for him may

fall into the hands of some foolish oblivion as soon as he dies,

so what good is wisdom, anyway, in the final analysis? The same

fate (death) befalls everyone. No man has an heir he can really

trust, since even one's posterity is also subject to death and

chance, which can, and eventually will, given sufficient time,

play havoc with anyone's legacy. So death destroys life's

meaning. Death makes one hate life (2:17). Death makes one hate

one's work (2:18). Wise men, for all the work of their minds,

are no better than mad men or fools because all alike die.

Indeed, man is no better than the beasts who are also subject to

the same fate. And man is ignorant! Man doesn't know what G-d

has done or will do (3:11). Man doesn't know what will take

place after his death. Men doesn't know if his human spirit

awaits a fate different than animal extinction (3:20-22). Man

needs G-d to give him some answers, because if death completely

swallows and obliterates man, then Mankind that G-d created to

work and till the ground and have dominion over the animals is

himself no better than an animal.

This is the problem. Death. What is the answer? Is there

anything that death cannot obliterate? Yes, the author of

Ecclesiastes says. The work of G-d. It endures and death has no

dominion over it (3:14). But what is the work of G-d? What does

G-d do, in the final analysis? G-d judges everyone, and he has

appointed a time to judge the world (3:17). G-d judges the sinner

by bringing all things he does into judgment (11:9). The sinner's

life is dispensed with not as the sinner pleases but as G-d

pleases, and the wages of sin that G-d pleases to dispense is a

meaningless death (2:26). But death cannot obliterate this

judgment that G-d metes out. Therein is where lies the hope of

the resurrection from the death, which this book questions but

does not negate. The author does not merely say, "Eat, drink and

be merry, for tomorrow we die." In fact he says just the

opposite. He says, "I've tried that, and I don't recommend it."

G-d will bring everything into judgment (11:9); therefore, fear

G-d (5:7). Do not live for this world because this world in

itself is meaningless and empty and fallen and dying. Live for

G-d and enjoy everything that he gives you as a gift from him.

Otherwise, there is no pleasure in this life. Death is man's

lot. To be able to accept this as a fact of life is itself a

gift from G-d. G-d is a mystery and creation was created good

but it is now fallen (7:29). Man has limits to his wisdom. There

is no power in man that will save him from the day of death.

All he can say is that death cannot take away the good that the

G-d-fearer has. "It will be well with those who fear G-d,

because they stand in fear before him." The author seems to be

questioning and looking for something new under the sun (1:9-10),

which was what the Moshiach is when he comes walking out of the

tomb in his glorious resurrection body. Otherwise, "there is no

work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol (the abode of the

dead), to which you are going" (9:10). The righteous and the

wise and their deeds are "in the hand of G-d" who endures and

whose judgment not even death can thwart. This is the assurance

of wisdom that makes the resurrection of the dead the vibrant

hope and the only answer to the riddle that death poses to the

author of this book.

Philosphers like David Hume may say that they are not afraid to

die, but put a pistol to their breasts, then threaten to kill

them, and see (with Boswell and Yochananson) how the wisest

philosopher will behave. The illusions of genteel philosophy

will not help us face the rude indignities of death when they

brutally rap at the door.

The problem of evil as it churns bitterly around in our minds

often tempts us to doubt the existence of G-d, especially a G-d

who is safely removed from both suffering and death and waits

austerely in heaven to judge us. If we think of death's

inescapableness and even of Moshiach Yehoshua as "a nice, dead

prophet," where do we have to go with the guilt of our moral

failures as our years quickly arraign us into the courts of the

inevitable graveyard?

Facing the evil of the human condition and the absurd,

meaningless, sniper fire of death picking off everyone around us,

we begin to feel a deep inner unhappiness and anxiety. We ask

ourselves, what is lurking at the bottom of all our fears--is it

not the fear of death? Many psychological researchers are now

saying that the fear of death has a central place in human life,

so much so that some believe a culture's very concept of reality,

its model for "the good life," and its moral codes are all

intended to protect people psychologically from the ubiquitous

terror of death. Of course, Freud disagreed that every fear is

ultimately the fear of death. Yet he dais admit that "the dread

of death, which dominates us oftener than we know, is...usually

the outcome of the sense of guilt."

We suspect that a certain amount of our present sufferings come

from our own faithless treacheries haunting us from the past. And

the dread of something worse possibly coming back to torment us

after death prevents us from ever being fully at ease with our

dwindling and frail mortality. In light of death's unknown

hellish judgments, as Hamlet says, "the conscience does make

cowards of us all." Death is truly an awesome "undiscovered

country" from whose dreadful domain no traveller can return.

Yet the English philosopher Hobbes once wrote, "G-d, that could

give life to a piece of clay, hath the same power to give life

again to a dead man, and renew his inanimate and rotten carcass

into a glorious, spiritual and immortal body." This very point

is what separates the religion of the Bible from that of Homer,

for the Greek g-ds could not revive the dead. They were not truly

omnipotent. But omnipotence is precisely the claim of the G-d of

the Bible whose Hebrew prophets even predicted the coming of the

Moshiach. Their promise was that through this coming King and

Redeemer, G-d would personally destroy death and bring

immortality and bodily resurrection to light at last.

However, the Torah teaches that the penalty of unintentional evil

that must be paid to redeem G-d's people from ultimate divine

judgment is the death of a sacrificial victim called an Asham,

"ah-sham" guilt offering, which had to be brought to the kohen

for slaughter (Leviticus 5:14-19). The prophets said that the

coming Moshiach would be an eternal kohen and his death would be

a momentous "ah-sham" guilt offering for sin (see Psalm 110:4;

Isaiah 53:10). The merciful purpose of such a blood sacrifice is

to purify humanity from its unpunished sin so that all who turn

from evil and have faith can be justly forgiven. How significant

it is, then, that hundreds of years before their words were

fulfilled, the prophets of the Hebrew Bible predicted that "My

Servant" the Moshiach would be named Yehoshua (or Moshiach

Yehoshua--see Jeremiah 23:5-6; Zechariah 3:8; 6:11-12; Ezra 3:8).

Further, these Hebrew prophets predicted that the Moshiach would

offer himself as a blood sacrifice and then afterwards see the

light of resurrection life (see Isaiah 52:13-53:12 in the Dead

Sea Scrolls). As it says in Hebrews 2:14-15, this was to release

those who throughout their life have been subject to servitude

and bondage through their fear of death (thanatophobia).

Would you like to be freed from that great fear behind all your

other fears? Would you like to be delivered from the fear of

death and the dread of punishment? Would you like to have true

peace with G-d? Isaiah 53:5 says of the Moshiach, "the

punishment that brought us peace was upon him." His blood and

"his wounds can heal you" from the fear of death and the dread

of punishment (Isaiah 53:5). But faith comes from exposure to

the Word of G-d as it is obediently taught and studied and

faithfully proclaimed. Why rely only on your own thoughts when

you can seek to know G-d's? Reach out to Moshiach Yehoshua by

faith. Trust him to forgive your sins and receive Him and obey

Him as L-rd as you worship among a body of believers where the

Bible is believed and faithfully taught.

People don't get saved unless they feel lost. Ecclesiastes

(Hebrew, Qohelet) depicts the utter emptiness and futility of

life that only the resurrection of the Moshiach can alter. Do

you remember those instant writing pads you played with as a

child? You raise the sheet and all your work vanishes...That's

what life is like. The only thing that gets preserved is what

G-d calls to judgment (12:14). All else in this life is chasing

after wind.

"There is nothing new under the sun," (1:9) yet what is old will

also be lost, and memory will not give it permanence, for it too

will be forgotten. Only the Word of the L-rd will stand forever

(I Shliach Kefa 1:25) and our labors for the L-rd (I Cor. 15:58).

All empty hedonism, worldly amusements, materialism, secular

education, secular art, workaholic personal kingdom-building

(with or without nepotism) will pass away. The world with all it

craves for is coming to an end (I Yochanan 2:17). G-d rewards

sage and fool alike--with death! (2:16). Therefore, worldly

wisdom is an empty mirage. G-d is the only one capable of

escaping or breaking the empty cycle of vanity described in

2:24-26. This G-d did in the new creation age that is already

dawning in the resurrection of His filial Word, our Savior and

L-rd, Moshiach Yehoshua the Moshiach.

Eccles. 3:21-22 shows that had the Moshiach not brought in the

dawn of the resurrection age, there would be nothing for us to do

but to be happy in the ministry of our vocational calling.

However, since the resurrection has occurred, we can be happy in

our "tent-making" means to effect the Great Commission ends of

the work the Moshiach has assigned us (II Thes. 3:7-12; I Thess.

4:11-12; Eph. 4:23). This means denuding ourselves of our own

cultural and "class consciousness" regarding educational and

vocational status, and to take the Bible and Shliach Sha'ul as

our model in using the gifts of vocation (and even possibly

celibacy) to the Lord's advantage in doing cross-cultural

outreach at home and abroad.

Society is wicked, oppressive, and evil and the life of this

world--in itself--is not worth living, arising as it does from

the futile envy and mutual jealousy and ambition of dying men

(4:4). A philosophical skepticism about yourself will also keep

you from bringing worldly ambition into the L-rd's work, and will

keep you from vain, restless, striving in the ministry. Cure:

take a walk in the out-of-doors and meditate on Ecclesiastes.

Dream dreams for G-d (without a vision you die), but strip off

the vainglory and pompous arrogance (5:6).

Ask G-d to give you the ability to enjoy life and to keep your

heart "occupied with joy" (5:19). If you are a congregational

leader you will have to marry and bury people. Use the Word! Use

Song of Songs to marry and Ecclesiastes 5:1a etc., to bury.

Worldly humor is as empty and sinister as the jestors in Nero's

Circus or at Hugh Heffner's Playboy Club (7:5), and every

philanderer knows that a woman's worldly laughter is a prelude to

the bedroom (Eph. 5:4-5). This kind of affair is far worse than

the deprivations of celibacy (Eccles. 7:26-27). 8:15 shows that

radical abstinence (health-breaking fasts, etc.) is unbiblical

because it impunes the goodness of G-d's creation. The preamble

to all kiruv outreach for Moshiach is 8:5-6: the hope of the

worldly dead is extinquished.

Learn to live in humble and careful fear of the L-rd, asking him

daily for a wise heart (10:1-2), since you can ruin your whole

life's good works and good name with a little folly.

"Slaves I see on horsebeck" (10:7) means that the celebrities and

stars and princes of this world are in reality mere garbege

supervisors since their world is actually a junk heap at the

mouth of hell and not Moshiach's Kingdom.

A warning for flakey students: "Fools find hard work irksome; he

who does not know the way cannot go to town" (10:15). Our school

is to show you the way to do cross-cultural ministry at home or

abroad--a task more complex than pursuing a diploma at a diploma

mill. You must do the ministry, plant a cross-cultural fellowship

among Jews or Muslims, etc., write and perform a performing arts

ministry vehicle before an audience. If you cannot do anything

for G-d here as an outgrowth of our school, how can you hope to

succeed overseas or anywhere else?

Be careful what you say: it will fly away and be heard afar

(10:20).

Become a good steward of your time (11:6). Also the time is now

to get your time-management act together.

Notice the Faulknerian As I Lay Dying poetic "death tableaux" in

the picture of old age in 12:3-5.

Eccles. 12:12 warns about too many books wearing you out. But

don't throw out books related to Hebrew, Tanakh (Old Testament),

Greek, Brit Chadasha Scriptures Survey, Messianic Yeshiva

studies, Messianic Prophecies and Rabbinic Literature,

Judaeo-Christian History and Philosophy, Historical Theology and

Doctrine, Cross-cultural communication and the Arts and ministry

formation. This is our curriculum at Artists For Israel Institute

and books related to these subjects you never have too many of in

the teaching and preaching minstry of the body of Moshiach.

ECCLESIASTES 7:29

G-d made Man upright, but they have devised many schemes.