Ecclesiastes Lesson 2 Study Guide
I. Introduction and Re-cap
II. Read 5:1, 3, 5, and 6.
If all is futile, why is Solomon challenging the reader to act in one way versus another? What is he teaching?
III. Read 5:7; 7:15-16; and 8:5-7,11-13, 14.
Here we see what underlies most of the book. Solomon sees things that are wrong or don’t make sense and is asking how we are to deal with it.
First, he saw the futility in the material world. Here he sees injustice and opines on the reality that many evildoers persist in what they do because they think they can get away with it.
What’s Solomon’s conclusion? What’s ours?
IV. Read 7:1; 11-13, 19.
Solomon has clear ideas here about things that matter. Has he changed his mind? Explain what he has discovered in the course of this journey?
V. A. Solomon repeats the basis for his (and our) concern in 9:3. What does he say?
B. Let’s examine key verses in chapters 9, 10, and 11. Solomon gives advice in the spirit of Proverbs, in effect, teaching us much about how to live in the wake of concerns he’s expressed. Explore and explain.
1. Read 9:7-10.
2. Read 9:13, 16, and 17.
3. Read 10:10, 11, 12-15-18.
4. Read 11:1-3,6.
VI. Conclusion – Solomon offers a profound concluding statement in 12:1 (with an amazing account of aging in the following verses) and 12:11, 13-14.
Let’s wrap up by reflecting on these verses and the journey that Solomon has taken. Where are we? What have we learned? What do we take away from our study?