Questions about Ecclesiastes
38 honest questions people ask about Ecclesiastes, each answered from the verses. In Favor, they come up right where they arise as you read.
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Ecclesiastes 1Bible study →
Ecclesiastes 2Bible study →
- "So I hated life" (2:17). Is the Preacher saying he wants to die?
- The Preacher calls pleasure vanity (2:1), then says there is nothing better than to eat and drink (2:24). Which does he mean?
- "that he may give to him who pleases God" (2:26). Is it a promise that what the sinner gathers will go to those who please God?
Ecclesiastes 3Bible study →
Ecclesiastes 4Bible study →
- "Therefore I praised the dead who have been long dead more than the living who are yet alive" (4:2). Is the Preacher saying it is better to be dead?
- 4:5 calls the man who folds his hands a fool, and 4:6 says one handful is better than two. So which is it: work more, or work less?
- Who were the poor wise youth and the old foolish king?
Ecclesiastes 5Bible study →
- "It is better that you should not vow, than that you should vow and not pay" (5:5). Is the Preacher saying not to make vows?
- "If you see the oppression of the poor … don’t marvel at the matter" (5:8). Is the Preacher saying that injustice doesn't matter?
- "Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth … this is the gift of God" (5:19). Is this a promise that God will make people rich?
- "Don’t protest before the messenger that this was a mistake" (5:6). Who is the messenger?
Ecclesiastes 6Bible study →
Ecclesiastes 7Bible study →
Ecclesiastes 8Bible study →
- "Keep the king’s command!" (8:2). Is the Preacher saying to obey a ruler in everything?
- "surely I know that it will be better with those who fear God" (8:12), yet "there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked" (8:14). How do the two stand together?
- 8:5 says a wise heart "will know the time and procedure" (8:5), but 8:17 says even a wise man "won’t be able to find it" (8:17). Which is it?
Ecclesiastes 9Bible study →
- "the dead don’t know anything" (9:5), and "there is no work, nor plan, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol" (9:10). What is the Preacher saying about the dead?
- "for God has already accepted your works" (9:7). Is that a promise that God accepts whatever anyone does?
- "but time and chance happen to them all" (9:11). Is the Preacher saying that life is just chance?
- Who was the poor wise man who delivered the city?
Ecclesiastes 10Bible study →
- "money is the answer for all things" (10:19). Is the Preacher saying money solves everything?
- "He who digs a pit may fall into it" (10:8). Is this about people who plot harm being paid back?
- "I have seen servants on horses, and princes walking like servants on the earth" (10:7). Is the Preacher saying people should keep to their rank?
Ecclesiastes 11Bible study →
- "Cast your bread on the waters" (11:1). What does it mean?
- "He who observes the wind won’t sow" (11:4). Is the Preacher saying it's wrong to plan or to be careful?
- "Rejoice, young man, in your youth … but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment" (11:9). How do the two halves of the verse go together?
Ecclesiastes 12Bible study →
- After all the Preacher's words, the book ends, "Fear God and keep his commandments" (12:13). How do these closing words stand to what the Preacher said?
- "the keepers of the house shall tremble … and the grinders cease because they are few" (12:3). What are the keepers, the grinders and the silver cord?
- "which are given from one shepherd" (12:11). Who is the one shepherd?
- "of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh" (12:12). Is the book saying not to study?
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