Ecclesiastes 3 Summary - 5 Minute Bible Study

Ecclesiastes 3 Short Summary:

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.

Ecclesiastes 3 Bible Study

ECCLESIASTES CHAPTER SUMMARIES

• 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.

• 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-term value of hard work.

• Ecclesiastes 3 - 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.

AUTHOR:

• Ecclesiastes was almost certainly written by Solomon (Ecc 1:1), the son of David, the 3rd king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah.

• His palace and the Temple of God were located in Jerusalem.

• Solomon became king in approximately 1015 B.C and reigned for 40 years.

OUTLINE:

• THE REPEATING PATTERNS OF LIFE, A TIME FOR EVERYTHING (3:1-8):

  • Solomon lists the repeating seasons, events, blessings, and difficulties of life.

  • These events touch all human beings, and they are beyond any human’s ability to stop or control.

  • Solomon’s intention in making this list seems to be to reinforce his point about the vanity of life, that a human shouldn’t seek happiness in circumstances because circumstances are always changing.

  • Ecc 3:2-8 – “a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.”

• THAT WHICH IS, ALREADY HAS BEEN; THAT WHICH IS TO BE, ALREADY HAS BEEN (3:9-15):

  • While the cycle of the world may be monotonous in some ways, Solomon saw that God had built beauty into its repeating cycle. God made “everything beautiful in its time” (3:11).

  • God has kept men and women largely in the dark about His intricate way of managing the world, but Solomon found out that God instilled the concept of eternity and a basic concept of the spiritual realm into all human beings.

  • Solomon determined that the best thing a man could do was to work hard, find satisfaction in his labor, receive God’s gifts in their season, and to try to do good with them, good for himself and good to others.

  • Humans are living in God’s world, and we cannot change what He has ordained or change the seasons He has fixed. Living through the repeating cycles of the world is intended to teach us about God and teach us to respect Him.

• GOD WILL JUDGE THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED (3:16-22):

  • In the concluding verses of Ecclesiastes 3, Solomon talks about God’s final judgement and the fate of the souls of mankind. It’s unclear exactly how much God had revealed to Solomon about the eternal destiny of righteous and wicked souls.

  • He knew that the world was full of injustice that went unpunished. He expressed his confidence that God would judge all men fairly in His time. He will express this confidence again at the end of the book (Ecc 12:14).

  • From a purely physical/earthly perspective the eternal destiny of men was indistinguishable from that of animals. Men died and decayed, just like all the animals God created. There was no way to tell what happened to the spirit of a man vs the spirit of an animal after death.

  • From this purely physical/earthly perspective, the best thing a man can do is to find a way to enjoy his journey through life, because the other side of death is a mystery.

  • With that perspective, life is certainly vain! It has no real purpose and no meaningful conclusion.

APPLICATION

• The seasons are a natural clock for us to remember the passing of time.

• Don’t go through the seasons of the year without letting them remind you of the Creator and His purposes.

• The seasons aren’t just about holidays and weather. There are a lot of spiritual applications and spiritual lessons we can learn from their repeating cycle.