Message Text: Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 - Part 1
Many are preoccupied with the question: Is there life after death? But Solomon who is older now and looking back addresses the all-important question: Is there life before death?
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We come to the end of a day, a year, or a lifetime and we instinctively ask “What have I accomplished?” “Will any of it really last?” Solomon is here to push us toward these questions – to get honest about our lives. What essentially does he say in this book we call Ecclesiastes? “Go ahead and try to live without God. But your outcome will be bleak just like mine was and is.”
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King of the Mountain
King of the mountain is a children’s game. Kids climb a pile of snow or a mound of dirt and try to be the only person standing on top. Kids push each other down the snow or dirt pile and try to get to the top to push the "King" off so they can be the new king until someone pushes them off. You get on top of the hill and you defend it against others who come against you.
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Well, Solomon played king of the mountain in real life. Solomon is essentially the most brilliant man alive in 931 BC. He was king of the mountain. He built stables and fortresses. He married women to form political alliances. You would be much less likely to attack a king who was married to your daughter. He was king of his mountain and with no wars to fight, he had time for a life experiment. Solomon is going to give us the details of his experiments in the chapters that follow Ecclesiastes 1, but for now he gives us a summary of what he spent much of his life doing. He has been a diligent explorer and a dedicated student. He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005. He spoke of trees, from the cedar . . . to the hyssop that grows out of the wall. He spoke also of beasts, and of birds, and of reptiles, and of fish. And people of all nations came to hear . . . Solomon(I Kings 4:29-34).
