What Is the Purpose of the Book of Ecclesiastes?

Although Ecclesiastes has a unified message, that message is complex because of two features in Qohelet’s approach. First, Qohelet presupposed both that God is the creator and ruler of this world and that it is still fallen. The world’s fallenness explains the frustrations, uncertainties, mysteries, and paradoxes that Qohelet saw in life. He acknowledged that this is still God’s world—a world He created and controls. So God cannot be ignored. If anything, His lordship over the world only compounds its mysteries.

Second, Qohelet approached the world primarily from the perspective of life “under the sun;” his interest is life here on earth. He explains this approach in 1:13: by wisdom he set out to explore what is done “under heaven.” Qohelet raised deeply disturbing questions about this life without quickly reverting to theological truisms. His approach might therefore best be categorized as “essentially empirical” (Michael V. Fox, Qohelet and His Contradictions [Sheffield: Almond, 1989], 85). This does not mean that Qohelet was exclusively empirical; at times he gave a God’s-eye perspective. But he honestly looked at life in this fallen world without flinching, and he wanted his readers to do the same. Only then would they be able to appreciate the relevance and propriety of his advice.

And only then will readers be able to appreciate the concluding message of the book, as summarized by the narrator. In the end Ecclesiastes rests in the knowledge that God will finally set the world aright. In the meantime people face the difficulties of life in this fallen world under the sun, and as they anticipate the final judgment, wisdom calls on everyone to fear God and keep His commandments (12:13-14).

The structure of Ecclesiastes, like so many other matters in this book, is also difficult. Proposed outlines are legion, none gaining widespread consensus. This is partly because the structure of Ecclesiastes is not linear but episodic, repetitive, and developmental. That is, the discussion often moves abruptly from one topic to another, sometimes with little transition or even connection (episodic). In addition, a topic is presented in one section of the book, only to be revisited in later sections of the book (repetitive). Furthermore different occurrences of the same topic are often approached from different perspectives (developmental).