APR 8

Ecclesiastes 1:3
Memorise Mark 8:36
“Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth…”

Another key statement that is repeated many times is the phrase ‘under the sun’. This phrase is repeated a total of 29 times in this book. Again it is a phrase unique to the book of Ecclesiastes, and was probably a term coined by Solomon himself. Based on the context of the whole book and the way that Solomon uses this phrase here, it is understood to refer to life here on Earth, as opposed to eternal life. These are things done under the sun, here on Earth, and not what is done beyond the sun, in heaven. It therefore refers to activities that men do apart from God, temporal works that exist only in the present, and have no eternal value. This phrase is synonymous to another similar phrase he uses less often ‘under the heaven’ (Ecclesiastes 1:13) or ‘under heaven’ (Ecclesiastes 2:3, 3:1), all of which refers to activities in this physical world, as contrasted against the spiritual, heavenly realm.

Therefore in the 3rd verse of the first chapter, he asks very directly, ‘what profit hath a man of all his labour which he had done under the sun?’ He thus sets down this statement and exclaims that all the works which man endeavours to do here on earth apart from God has no lasting value, no profit, and no eternal gain. This is because these things are all done on earth, are for temporal gain, and is apart from heaven.

Such is the teaching of Christ as well, as he taught his disciples in Mark 8:36 ‘For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?’ In Solomon’s vocabulary, Christ would say what shall it profit a man, if he gains all things under the sun, and lose his own soul? This is the central thought of the book of Ecclesiastes – that all of man’s work is but vanity and vexation of spirit, if they are pursuits made under the sun, apart from God.

Thought: Am I living a life ‘under the sun’ and apart from God?
Prayer: Lord, help me set my affections on things above, and not on things of the earth.