If I'm being honest, I enjoyed Ecclesiastes.
Was it depressing? Yes. Was it full of wisdom? Yes.
Was it relatable? Yes.
When Solomon was given the choice, he chose wisdom. He could have asked for many other things--riches, long life, fame, teleportation powers (alright, maybe not that last one). But no, he chose wisdom.
(Just to make sure we're on the same page--intelligence and wisdom are different things. Intelligence is knowing; wisdom is doing. A smart person does well in school; a wise person understands and prepares. A smart person could recite the Hippocratic Oath forwards and backwards; a wise person ponders and understands life's meaning.)
Along with wisdom, God gifted Solomon some of the other things he passed up on (except for teleportation powers). You would think that Solomon would be content: He had all the worldly pleasure he could find, along with the fact that he was the wisest man alive.
But, as Solomon admits, even his wisdom failed him.
Ecclesiastes 7:23-4:
ESV: 23All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me. 24That which has been is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out?
NLT: 23I have always tried my best to let wisdom guide my thoughts and actions. I said to myself, “I am determined to be wise.” But it didn’t work. 24Wisdom is always distant and difficult to find.
Multiple times throughout the book, the author uses the phrases "meaningless" (which appears almost forty times), "under the sun" (used about thirty times), and "chasing after the wind" (which appears nine times). When Solomon is going on about how "life is meaningless," he's talking about a major theme in the book--how we, as flawed creations need our Creator. Only then can life have true meaning.
Solomon looked for meaning in anything but God. And despite all that, he still urges the readers to enjoy those things--they are, after all, still a blessing from God.
Ecclesiastes 9:12 (NIV):12Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come:
As fish are caught in a cruel net
or birds are taken in a snare,
so people are trapped by evil times
that fall unexpectedly upon them.
Life is fleeting, or like a paradox, as the Hebrew word hevel means. Hevel, the word that most often is translated at "meaningless," also reflects how life seems solid, but in reality there's nothing to grasp onto. When you're in the thick of the smoke, it's disorienting. Life--without God--is hevel.
Similar to sister book Proverbs, Ecclesiastes still offers wise advice.
He who observes the wind will not sow,
and he who regards the clouds will not reap.Ecclesiastes wasn't all that depressing; rather, Solomon was being realistic. Life isn't all roses and daisies, no matter how wise you are (even the wisest man to exist admitted that). Without God, we're a bunch of molecules drifting through time, repeating history only to be forgotten once more.
But God sees us. And with him, we gain life unto the ages.
Recommended Resource: Bible Project videos on Ecclesiastes: This one is part of the Wisdom Literature series, and this one is part of the Old Testament overview series.