Ecclesiastes #019 - Learn the Bible Broadcast - Ecclesiastes 1:13-14
Bro. Jonathan D. Judy

Antioch Baptist Church
5709 N. Broadway St.
Knoxville, TN 37918
http://www.LearntheBible.org

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Concerning All Things Done Under the Sun (Ecclesiastes 1:13)
a. Solomon’s determination to seek out and search all things (Ecclesiastes 1:13; 7:25)
i. He is looking for the height of knowledge
ii. He is seeking the secret that brings sense and meaning to this world.
iii. Solomon’s natural abilities go far beyond that of other men (1 Kings 3:9-12)
b. Solomon’s desire to give his whole heart to the work (Ecclesiastes 1:13)
i. Solomon had decided to give his time, riches and energy to the work of understanding all things.
ii. As king he could spend his time to the work of his choosing.
3. The Sore Travail of the Work (Ecclesiastes 1:13)
a. The word travail generally means to toil or labour, however, it is much stronger than these two words.
b. According to etymology online (www.etymonline.com) the word comes from a name for an instrument of torment having three stakes.
c. Of the 47 times the word (or its forms) occurs, there are 30 references to the labour pains of childbirth. Some are literal births and some are figurative.
d. The closest concept associated with travail in scripture is that of pain.
i. The two concepts are connected in eleven different verses (See Psalm 48:6; Isaiah 21:3; Romans 8:22).
ii. Other words connected with travail:
1. Grief (Ecclesiastes 2:23)
2. Vexation (Ecclesiastes 4:6)
3. Gall (Lamentations 3:5)
4. Sorrow (John 16:21)
5. Groaning (Romans 8:22)
e. So we see that travail is a painful, toilsome labour.
f. It is in the heart of man to know his purpose.
g. Solomon is saying however, that the search for purpose in this world is a toilsome labour.
h. Apart from God man cannot have true purpose
i. Man’s goings are from God (Proverbs 20:24)
ii. Man on his own goes through the motions of trying to push to find purpose
iii. Under the sun he (man) cannot obtain it, he will remain in the dark. (Ecclesiastes 8:17)
i. Yet a man that looks to God will receive light and have purpose (John 1:1-13; 20:31; Colossians 2:6-7)
B. The Failure of Learning (Ecclesiastes 1:14-15)
a. “Under the Sun” Wisdom’s Four Fold Failure (Ecclesiastes 1:14-15)
i. Its failure to give profit – it’s vain (v. 14)
ii. Its failure to give peace – it’s vexation of spirit (v. 14)
iii. Its failure to straighten – that which is crooked (v. 15)
iv. Its failure to replenish – that which is lacking (v. 15)
b. Its Vexation (Ecclesiastes 1:14)
i. The word vexation is used for the first time in Ecclesiastes here.
ii. Of the fourteen times that it is used in scripture it is used ten times in the book of Ecclesiastes.
1. Of the ten times it is used, nine are used with the phrase “vexation of spirit”.
2. One is used with the phrase “the vexation of his heart.” (Ecclesiastes 2:22)
iii. Its root word vex
1. Means to trouble or disturb in a continual, nagging way.
2. From 15th century middle French, to attack, harass, trouble. From (www.etymonline.com)
3. Vexation is a form of torment; not in an act of creating physical pain, but a continual repetition going on and on until a resistance is broken down.
a. By using this word Solomon is teaching that life has a way of continually wearing us down, even to the breaking point. It never lets up. Its problems never go away.
b. It is like the old Chinese water torture. A continual drip going on and on, hour after hour. That is what can break a spirit.
4. The works under the sun are a vexation of spirit.
a. It does not break the body, but rather the inner man. The very spirit of man is vexed by the vanity of all things under the sun.
b. This is pictured well in the life of Lot
i. The worldliness of Sodom worked on Lot
ii. He was “vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:” (2 Peter 2:7-8)
iii. Lot did not lose his testimony in one single exposure to the evil of the world.
iv. Rather it was done over time; years probably.
v. After all those years of seeing and hearing the unrighteous deeds of the wicked, his vexed soul lost its power with God.
vi. The believer today should beware of the things of this world doing the same to them (Hebrews 3:13)