Solomon’s Answer to the Ultimate Question

One of my personal favourite books of the Bible is Ecclesiastes. This book was written by king Solomon – the wisest, wealthiest and most successful (in the world’s view) king of Israel. The basic idea behind this book was to answer life’s ultimate question – why are we here? This question can also be phrased as: what is the purpose or meaning to life? Most people would classify this question as a philosophical one, and its consideration belongs only in the realm of philosophy. However, Solomon’s approach to this question is very practical – he was granted wisdom from God, along with enormous wealth and worldwide fame. This combination meant that he could do anything he wanted to do and then test the outcome with a discerning mind. I like to think of the book of Ecclesiastes as the Results and Discussion sections of Solomon’s report on his life-long experiment to discover the meaning of life.  

Before I get in to Solomon’s ‘report’, I will outline the current answer to this question from an evolutionary point of view. As a human being, you are one of several billion specimens of Homo sapiens – modern humans. According to the evolutionary timescale, modern humans have only been around for a moment of time compared to the age of the earth, and no more than a blink of the eye when compared to the age of the universe. The universe itself is the result of a cosmic accident, and life on earth came about due to sheer chance. In terms of duration in time, a single human life is not even worth considering. From this viewpoint, your existence is irrelevant and purposeless. To take it further (as many do these days), your existence is actually a tax on the natural resources available on earth. The food you eat, the clothes you wear and your desire to travel using fossil fuels are all part of the cost of your existence. You are just a small part of a global human overpopulation problem. I sometimes wonder if the people who hold these views ever ask themselves why they bother to exist at all.

We can contrast these ideas with the book of Ecclesiastes. Through much of the book, Solomon examines the secular viewpoint (i.e. this life is all there is), which is similar to the viewpoint I have just described. “Vanity of vanities” Is his cry throughout the book – this life is vain. This aspect of the book can seem very depressing, and indeed it is (although Richard Dawkins, oddly enough, thinks that Ecclesiastes is ‘sublime’). That is the point – Solomon is trying to convince his reader that without God in this world, there is no reason for living and we should all be depressed! Life can be unfair, harsh, and even brutal. To back up his claims, Solomon presents his results of testing several things as potential meanings to life. I will cover some of them here, and provide modern examples of them.

The first thing that Solomon tested was mirth and pleasure (Ecc. 2:1), combined with drinking wine and enjoying music (Ecc. 2:3, 8). Today, we would call this comedy, entertainment, or throwing parties that combine various pleasures. In particular, Solomon considered that laughter and mirth were vain (Ecc. 2:2). A recent, sad example of this point was the suicide of Robin Williams, and he is not unique among the entertainers of this world who have discovered that entertainment cannot provide a meaning for life. Besides entertainers, many people live for parties – they are often planning their next party whilst they are partying. King Solomon was tremendously wealthy, and I am sure that he threw extravagant parties, yet his conclusion was: all was vanity and grasping for the wind (Ecc. 2:11).

The next test was of accomplishing great tasks and becoming famous. Solomon accomplished many great things in his life (Ecc 2:4-11), and seemed to particularly enjoy large building projects (the Temple of God among them). He was famous for his wisdom, and was honoured by royalty from other kingdoms. We all know the feeling of satisfaction after completing a lengthy project or being recognised for our accomplishments. Many athletes live for the feeling of accomplishment and the glory they get from winning competitions. Others wrap themselves up in their professional careers and live to reach the targets they set for themselves. One of the great drivers for these people is to be remembered by others – e.g. ‘she won the Nobel prize for her work’, or ‘he broke the world record in this sport’. Ultimately, they want their names to be up in lights, so that people remember what they did. Yet Solomon points out two important things: a) even people who accomplish great things will die, just like those who accomplish nothing; b) no matter how great you were, you will eventually be forgotten (Ecc. 2:15-16). Solomon himself has been forgotten by most of the world, and some even doubt that he existed. Yet few people in his time could boast similar accomplishments.

Solomon then considered acquiring wealth as a reason for living. He had ample experience in this too, as he became the wealthiest king ever to have ruled Israel. The Bible’s description of his reign records that: the king made silver and gold as common in Jerusalem as stones (2 Chron. 1:15). Today, hardworking businessmen are driven by their profit margins and become absorbed in the task of expanding their businesses and increasing their wealth. Yet Solomon declares that He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity. (Ecc. 5:10). Additionally, wealthy people will die and leave their wealth to their children, who may squander it all (Ecc. 2:18-19). Even if you make it to the cover of Forbes magazine, Solomon will remind you that: As he came from his mother's womb, naked shall he return, to go as he came; and he shall take nothing from his labour which he may carry away in his hand. (Ecc. 5:15).

Moving on from wealth, he contemplates health and long life. Today, some people spend a great deal of time thinking about staying healthy. Producers of the latest health diet or anti-ageing therapy can make enormous amounts of money as people flock to buy their books or products. The root of this interest in health is our effort to find some kind of ‘fountain of youth’ so that we can prolong our lives. Rather shockingly, Solomon says that a stillborn child is better off than a man who lives for two thousand years, yet has not seen goodness or been able to satisfy his soul (Ecc. 6:3-7).

Until this point, Solomon has presented things that are fairly easily identified as vanity. However, now he considers people being righteous and good. Many people live for good causes and to help others who are in need, but this is not the meaning to life. Although Solomon commends good people, he points out that life is not fair: There is a vanity which occurs on earth, that there are just men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity (Ecc. 8:14). Furthermore, even if a person lives a good life – donates to charity, gives to the poor, and even sacrifices themselves for others – they too will die. There must be more to life than people saying nice things about you at your funeral.

Similar to being good, Solomon shows that being wise and knowledgeable (as he was) did not provide the meaning to life either. This man realised the value of wisdom more than anyone else, and he covers this in detail in both this book and the book of Proverbs. These two books contain pearls of wisdom that have been unmatched by any other philosopher since. Solomon loved wisdom and enjoyed learning new things, as do many academics today. I have met people who live to study – they become so engrossed in their field of expertise that they don’t even realise that other people barely understand them! Nonetheless, Solomon notes that wisdom comes with sorrow and grief, as the wise realise how vain life is (Ecc. 1:18). Furthermore, wise people are not always appreciated (Ecc. 9:13-18) and: Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh (Ecc. 12:12). As with all of the other proposed reasons for living, being wise and having great knowledge will still not save anyone from death: And how does a wise man die? As the fool! (Ecc. 2:16).

These are some of the many reasons that people find to give meaning to their lives. All of them add colour to life and we can enjoy them while we are here. Although it may seem a depressing book, Solomon often exhorts his reader to rejoice in these things, as they are gifts from God (Ecc. 3:12-13, 22; 5:19). One of my favourite verses in the book encourages me to work hard and have a passion for my career: Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going (Ecc. 9:10). He is saying that we only have one life on this earth, and we should live it to the full. We only have one opportunity to do any of the things he has mentioned, as they will be unnecessary in eternity. Remember that he is not saying that any of these things are bad, rather that they should not dominate your life. As reasons for living they are vanity and grasping for the wind (Ecc. 1:14).

The question remains then, if “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity” is true for all the supposedly meaningful activities we can think of, then what is the real purpose for living? Solomon gives the final conclusion to his ‘report’ in Chapter 12. He prefaces this conclusion with a plea to young people to think about these things before it is too late (Ecc. 12:1-8). He asks his readers not to leave the serious consideration of life’s purpose to their old age – for all we know, we may not see old age. In the final verses of the book, Solomon gives us the answer to life’s ultimate question:

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:

Fear God and keep His commandments,

For this is man's all.

For God will bring every work into judgment,

Including every secret thing,

Whether good or evil.

(Ecc. 12:13-14).