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Ecclesiastes 12 Commentary
by Brad Boyles
The final chapter of Ecclesiastes calls for people to remember God. The tone is depressing, however, Solomon is commended at the end as the narrator breaks into the scene. We first heard from this frame narrator in chapter 1. He writes that Solomon was a professional and diligent man who took care of his business. He sought truth and focused on making it applicable and relevant.
The conclusion is that “everything is futile.” Outside of the simple pleasures of life (which are explored in this chapter) and God Himself, there is nothing else there. You can’t make meaning of this life without God.
“The book of Ecclesiastes must, in the final analysis, be understood by the modern reader in the light of the full context of the canon. For the Christian that context includes the NT. For this reason, now that we have looked through the book as a whole, I commend the rereading of the introduction, particularly the sections that concern the theological message of the book. The idea is presented there that Jesus Christ is the ultimate answer to Qohelet’s (Solomon’s) conclusion of meaninglessness under the sun. Jesus emptied himself of his divine prerogatives to subject himself to the world “under the sun” in order to free us of the chaos to which God subjected the world after the fall into sin (see Gal 3:3 and Rom 8:18-27).”
New International Commentary – Old Testament