Solomon opens the chapter admiring the beauty of his new bride and anxiously anticipating their wedding night. He compared her virginity to a locked garden, one that was now ripe, untouched, and ready to be enjoyed.

Song of Solomon 3 begins with the young woman recounting a daydream of searching out her lover in the streets of the city during the night and bringing him back to her mother’s house. The second half of the chapter describes Solomon’s grand royal entourage bringing the bride and groom into Jerusalem for their wedding day.

The young woman is the primary speaking in Song of Solomon 2. She tells the reader how her heart is sick with love and overwhelmed by affection for her young man. He provides for her, pursues her, complements her, and gives himself entirely to her, leaving her with no doubt that his love is as ardent as hers.

The short introduction tells us Solomon was the author of this book. In chapter 1, we are introduced to the 2 lovers of the Song of Songs as they express their attraction to one another and their desire to spend time together.

The Preacher encourages young people to remember their Creator while they’re young, before the hard days of old age take their toll. He concludes Ecclesiastes stating that the whole of man is the “fear God and keep His commandments.”

Solomon continues his proverbs discussing the principles of generosity and trusting God through the unknown. At the end of the chapter, he encourages young men to enjoy their youth but ultimately declares youth to be just another vanity.

Solomon continues his discussion on the value of wisdom, contrasting it with the destructive power of folly. He councils his readers to avoid the lifestyle of a fool and to embrace the benefits that wisdom can bring to their lives.

Solomon was frustrated by the seeming randomness of life’s events. It wasn’t clear to him why God allowed similar events to befall the righteous and the wicked. At the end of the chapter, he described the value of wisdom using a story about a poor wise man who saved a small city.

Ecclesiastes 8 begins by describing a man of wisdom. A wise man obeys his king and knows the inevitability of death. Solomon lamented injustice on the earth, how some men who deserve punishment are blessed and visa-versa. He declared God’s ways to mysterious to find out.

Solomon concludes that wisdom is a benefit to men living “under the sun.” It can give a man advantages on earth, but that man will also have to come to grips with the reality that all of life is meaningless. Wisdom can be pursued, but it will never be fully grasped.

Solomon contemplates the vanity of a life of riches, wealth, and honor when the possessor never gets to enjoy them. Solomon warns men that their life’s work could all be meaningless, because nobody knows what will happen to their work after they die.

Solomon continues his discussion on vanity, bringing up at least 3 areas of life where vanity is observable. Solomon saw vanity in the way some people worshipped, when they offered empty words and promises to God. He goes on to describe the vanity of greed and the vanity of wealth.

In Ecclesiastes 4, Solomon expands on his reasons for calling all of life “vanity.” Life is oppressive, and the weak are victims of the powerful. There is vanity in hard work and in laziness. Companionship is preferable to solitude, even high-achieving solitude. Fame and power are fleeting.

The cycle of the earth repeats continually, and everything happens at its appointed time according to God’s design. God created mankind with knowledge of eternity, although much of His work is still hidden from them. Injustice is prevalent on the earth, but a time for judgment is approaching.

In Ecclesiastes 2, Solomon tested the offerings of the world and found them empty. Physical pleasure, wine, laughter, entertainment, accomplishing things, riches, making a name for himself, they were all vanity. Solomon discussed the fate of the wicked vs. the foolish, and lamented the short value of hard work.

Welcome to our Bible study of Ecclesiastes. In Ecclesiastes 1, Solomon declares that life on earth is vanity. Earthly pursuits are largely meaningless. Men are born and men die in the endless cycle of the earth’s spinning. History is forgotten and repeated generation after generation.