Jesus in Ecclesiastes

F

frog

Puritan Board Freshman
In Ecclesiastes how do we see Jesus (Luke 24:27)? I want to read it rightly, but I'm not sure how.
 
I'm teaching through Ecclesiastes at the high school I work at, and it has been a challenge! Most of my connections to Christ have been negative, in the sense that Christ is the implicit answer to all of the despair and futility being stirred up throughout the book.
 
Ecclesiastes is not an easy book to interpret, and there is not widespread consensus. But reading a book like this begins (like every other book) by understanding the genre, in this case, wisdom literature. Though all of scripture is (ultimately) about Jesus as cited in Luke 24, he is not to be found in the granular details of an unusual book like Ecclesiastes.

So general reading on wisdom literature is helpful, but in-depth exegetical commentaries may be too detailed at first. For a reasonable Christocentric approach that respects the genre, I like the Reformed Expository Commentary as they are unapologetic in the distinctive and purpose of this set. But for general reading, there are a number of good study bible choices that draw out some of the themes without going too far with typology nor ignoring the grand central redemptive-historical theme of salvation in Jesus Christ.
 
I've just started preaching through Ecclesiastes. You can find the introductory sermon here. I argue that the book is not negative, but realistic. Romans 8:20 is a key verse (the word futility is the same for vanity in the LXX) - and so we should consider the resurrection as central in understanding the book. One other consideration is that the book emphasizes to us the wisdom of Christ, though perhaps not as much His work - but this is no problem because the Law is good.
 
smalltown_puritan said:
I've just started preaching through Ecclesiastes. You can find the introductory sermon here. I argue that the book is not negative, but realistic. Romans 8:20 is a key verse (the word futility is the same for vanity in the LXX) - and so we should consider the resurrection as central in understanding the book. One other consideration is that the book emphasizes to us the wisdom of Christ, though perhaps not as much His work - but this is no problem because the Law is good.
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I tend to agree with both interpretations, that it is a very cautionary (and abysmal) story, tinctured with all kinds of regret, and as you have pointed out and the Apostle declares, our Lord is the very wisdom of God, "And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”" 1 Co 1:30–31.
 
Ecclesiastes cuts down our false saviors and any hope we put in the promises of this world. Jesus is found primarily in how only he is left standing when all else is shown to be vanity. The Peacher who wrote Ecclesiastes skillfully holds back from pointing us to Jesus directly, instead causing us to long for him by pondering the futility of all those false saviors. Still, in the end Jesus is specifically mentioned after the emptiness of other options has set in, in Ecclesiastes 12:1 and Ecclesiastes 12:11, since he is our Creator and our one wise Shepherd.
 
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