"I, Ecclesiastes," the text now says [1.12]. We now learn the identity of Ecclesiastes who gathers into one what is scattered and dispersed. He makes one flock and church in order that everyone may hear the Shepherd's lovely voice who bestows life to all. "The words that I speak are spirit and life" [Jn 6.63]. [Christ] calls himself Ecclesiastes that he might be doctor, life, resurrection, light, way, gate, truth and any other benevolent name for humankind. Just as a sick person welcomes the doctor's voice, so does the Word of life bring life to the dead when they hear the voice of the Son of Man which frees them from death's ancient dominion. Those in the grave seek [J.299] the voice of the resurrection; light is agreeable to persons in darkness, and a road is helpful for those who have strayed while a gate forms an entrance. And so Ecclesiastes speaks to those of us who belong in the Church. Let us who compose this Church now listen to his words. As a chorus looks to its leader, sailors to their pilot and soldiers to their general, so do those in the assembly of the church look to Ecclesiastes. What does he say? "I have been king over Israel in Jerusalem" [1.12]. At what time? Was it not when God set up a king in holy Mount Zion to proclaim his precepts? Of him the Lord says "You are my son; today I have begotten you" [Ps 2.6-7]. The Maker of all things, the eternal Father, said that he begot him today. Thus this temporal name does not refer to [Christ's] eternal essence but to a birth through the flesh in time for man's salvation.
[M.637] I think that the true Ecclesiastes next teaches about the great mystery of salvation when God manifested himself in the flesh. "I applied my heart to seek out and examine by wisdom all things done under heaven" [1.13]. The reason for our Lord's [J.300] dwelling with men is to give his heart over in wisdom to consider his actions done under the sun. For man is not allowed to consider what lies above heaven just as healthy persons do not require doctors. Evil belongs to the earth. A snake is a reptile which crawls on its belly [Gen 3.14], eats earth instead of food from heaven, crawls on anything trampled down and is always on the prowl. It watches for man's heel and injects poison in those who have lost the power to tread on serpents [Lk 10.19]. For this reason Ecclesiastes gives his heart over to careful consideration of every activity done under heaven. As for what lies above the heavens, the prophet gazes at the divine magnificence and says "His magnificence is exalted above the heavens" [Ps 8.2]. Since evil oppresses the realm lying under heaven, the psalm says that sin has brought men low [Ps 106.17]. Ecclesiastes considers how things made under heaven which had no prior existence became subject to vanity and how that which lacked existence took over and became dominant. Evil cannot exist because it is non-existent, and non-existence [J.301] has no nature belonging to itself; nevertheless, vanity dominates those things which resemble it.
Ecclesiastes has come to search through his own wisdom those actions done under the sun, their confusion, why things are subject to non-existence and how that which is insubstantial prevails against being. He knew that "God has given to the sons of men an evil trouble to be vexed with" [1.13]. This is not a pious deed we can readily understand because God has given an evil to the sons of men in order to trouble them; and so one may attribute the cause of evil to God. He who is good by nature indeed bestows goodness because every good tree bears good fruit; a grape cluster does not spring up from thorns nor do thorns come from a vine. [Mt 7.17] Therefore he who is good by nature does not offer evil from his own storehouse; a good man does not speak evil from the abundance of his heart but utters words in accord with his nature. How, then, is the fountain of grace not a source of evil? A more pious understanding suggests that God bestows upon man the gift [M.640] of free will which he abused and then became an instrument for sin. This free will is good and subject to no one, while anything subject to necessity should not [J.302] be counted as good. But any impulse coming from the mind is free; it distracts the soul to choose evil and pulls it down to passion from the lofty honors it had received. Such is the meaning of "he has given" [1.13]; not that God has given evil to men, but that men have used God's benefits to commit thoughtless evil. Holy scripture expresses this by proclaiming "God has handed them over to the disgrace of passion" [Rom 1.28], "The Lord has hardened Pharaoh's heart" [Ex 9.12], "Why, Lord, have you caused us to err from your way and have hardened our hearts not to fear you" [Is 63.17], "He caused them to wander in a desert and not in the way" [Ps 106.40], "You have deceived me, and I was deceived" [Jer 20.7] and other such remarks. An accurate understanding of these verses does not mean that human nature lacks anything unbecoming from God; rather, they censure our power of free choice which in itself is good [J.303] and a gift bestowed by God to human nature. But as a result of indiscretion, free will inclines towards the opposite way. Ecclesiastes thus sees all things done under the sun and calls them vanity. "There is not one who understands or seeks after God" [Ps 13.2] since all have turned aside and have become worthless: "Behold, all is vanity." He does not attribute this cause to God but to human free choice which he calls the wind. He condemns this wind although it was good at the beginning; there would be no need for such condemnation, but it turned aside by conforming to the world.
"That which is crooked cannot be made straight" [1.15], that is, anything perverted does not befit a creature adorned by God. Similarly, the Maker who fashioned everything for himself set aright with a ruler and measuring line the parts which contribute towards the whole by having each part carefully related to the others. If any part is not set aright [J.304] by a measuring line, the harmony is certainly not distorted; rather, if each part is to be set aright, all should conform to the measuring line. And so, Ecclesiastes claims that nature perverted by evil cannot be disposed to right reason: "Deficiency cannot be numbered" [1.15]. A multitude [M.641] of examples used by scripture teaches that deficiency means shortage of something. One such example is the famous Paul who knows the meaning of deficiency and abundance [Phil 4.12]; he exhausted his father's substance and experienced want when famine laid hold of him [Lk 15.14]. When speaking of the saints, Paul includes along with their bodily affliction that "they were destitute and afflicted" [Heb 11.37]. Therefore, when scripture speaks of deficiency, it means want, although want is not mentioned with regard to the disciples who numbered twelve when they were one group. Once the son of perdition [Judas] died [Jn 17.12], their number was incomplete for [Judas] was not counted among the rest. A twelfth disciple was named to take Judas' place. Thus Ecclesiastes says, "deficiency cannot be numbered." What does this mean? That we were once [J.305] numbered with the full group, that is, the sacred number of one hundred rational sheep [Mt 18.12]. When one sheep strayed from the heavenly way of life, evil drew our nature to an arid, uncultivated place; no longer does this number [one] pertain to the sheep which have not strayed but to the ninety-nine sheep. Vanity does not belong to the number of those who are included which is why "deficiency cannot be numbered." Therefore Christ comes to seek and save the last sheep. He places it upon his shoulders, thereby restoring [ apokatastesai ] [the sheep] lost in the vanity of insubstantial things in order to make whole the number of God's creation by saving the lost along with those who have not been destroyed.
We next learn about the return of a person who has erred and the change from evil to enjoyment of the good. He [Christ] who has been tempted in all things and is without sin [Heb 4.15] holds converse with us in our human nature. He who assumed our weakness showed us a way out of evil through the infirmities of his human nature. "Instruct me in the Wisdom [Christ] according to the Solomon who was in the flesh which held converse with us." Once familiar with it, we are able to pass judgment on what men pursue. Ecclesiastes' words do not resemble those of many which cause [J.306] an abundance of grief and condemns untested persons as untrustworthy. We obtain knowledge not from personal experience but only through those ideas which the deprivation of pleasures hinders from enjoying. When consulting other persons, we should disregard what men esteem because of our exception which is always at hand; we disregard them because we do not know pleasure in them by experience. All such altercation ceases when he [Solomon] converses with us. Solomon is the one speaking here, the third king of [M.644] Israel whom the Lord had chosen after Saul and David. He received the kingship from his father and extended his rule which brought him renown among the Israelites. Solomon no longer subjected peoples through battle; by conducting himself peacefully and with full authority, he did not devote his energy towards anything not belonging to him. In this way nothing hindered his pleasure. Prosperity springs up with cupidity and leisure degenerates into pleasure. Nothing involuntary hinders the course of our life with regard to pleasure because Ecclesiastes was wise in other matters as well as being acquainted with pleasure. He claimed [J.307] to know the efforts needed to attain pleasure and accomplished everything which he had enumerated [cf. Eccl.2], an experience which taught him that vanity is the common end of mens' pursuits. Ecclesiastes sets forth the order in his narrative when during his youth he first had leisure for personal training, for attention to such labors does not indicate laxity. But the Spirit uses free will, a movement proper to our nature, to increase knowledge if a person is to succeed in his endeavors. Thus wisdom grows not by considering reason which closely regards passion and unreason when it comes to that deception arising from corporeal enjoyment; rather it is knowledge about vanity through experience of these endeavors.
Such is the aim of our inquiry up to this point. It is time now to now examine Ecclesiastes' words in their context: "I spoke in my heart saying, 'behold, I am increased'" [1.16]. "Since I have seen," Ecclesiastes says, "my great power and have also understood the splendor of my reign all at once, I realized that the fleeting things which I had laboriously attained do not constitute a happy life; they can be obtained only [J.308] by pain and sweat." Therefore Ecclesiastes says "I spoke in my heart saying, 'behold, I am increased,'" and "I have acquired wisdom." "By amassing power I have grown by the addition of wisdom and said to myself that I must be greater than kings before me and must excel them in wisdom." "I have acquired wisdom beyond all who were before me in Jerusalem, so that I have understood how these things are" [1.16]. Who does not know that wisdom comes from the knowledge of other persons who had applied themselves to it? Ecclesiastes says, "My heart knew much wisdom and knowledge" [1.17]; "I have not acquired these by my own efforts." Rather, "I have applied my heart to know wisdom and knowledge" to learn these things only through effort and meditation. But "I knew parables and understanding" [M.645], that is, comparisons made through analogy enables one to comprehend transcendent reality.
Ecclesiastes claims [J.309] that his knowledge is self-taught: "I have known parables and knowledge as the Lord teaches in the Gospel where he brings to light the reality of the kingdom [of heaven] whether through a pearl [Mt. 13.45], treasure, [vs.44], marriage [22.2], grain [vs.31], leaven [vs.33]" or any other matter he wishes to bring to our attention. [Christ] says that these objects do not constitute the kingdom but through analogy he speaks of things transcending our comprehension because these analogies, like sparks or symbols, are parables to his listeners. Ecclesiastes says "This also is waywardness [ proairesis , literally, "choice"] of spirit, for the abundance of knowledge is abundance of wisdom for me" [1.17-18] so that if I were wise, I would be neither ignorant nor be far from finding what is profitable. Knowledge consists in wisdom and allows us to pass better judgment, a fact which certainly requires exertion for those persons who are zealous in their pursuit. "He who increases knowledge will increase sorrow" [1.8]. When a person has attained this knowledge, he condemns pleasure as vanity.
Ecclesiastes next states "I said in my heart, 'Come now, I will prove you with mirth, and behold, you have good things, and behold, this also is vanity'" [2.1]. He does not immediately submit himself to such an experience nor has he tasted a more severe, solemn life to obliterate pleasure; rather, Ecclesiastes experienced [J.310] such things and pursued a sober, constant course of action which yields wisdom for those who pursue it. Ecclesiastes shrinks away from sense delights because passion does not attract him to these vanities; he believes that knowledge of the true good confers perception to anyone faithful to it. From the beginning the enemy indulges in laughter and mirth and calls passion anything mad or deranged. Anything else is rightly called laughter for it is irrational and has no purpose such as merriment which is unbecoming to the body such as agitated breathing, commotion of one's entire body, facial contortions, bearing of teeth, gums and palate, twisting of neck and the uncontrollable breaking of a strained voice accompanied by short breaths of air. What can this be except madness? For this reason Ecclesiastes says, "I said to laughter, 'It is mad'" [2.1] as if he were to say to laughter, "You are insane, irrational and spontaneously impart [J.311] through passion an ugly, distorted form on the soul." "I said to mirth, 'Why do you do this'" [2.2]? That is to say, I am at enmity with pleasure. I am suspicious [M.648] of its approach as though it were a thief who secretly entered my soul's inner chamber even though I have not allowed it to grasp my mind. If I had known that pleasure were a beast coming to snatch away my senses, I would immediately resist and say to this servile, irrational pleasure, "Why are you weakening the virility of my nature? Why are you debilitating my soul's strength? Why are you corrupting my thoughts? Why cast a gloom over the clarity of my reason?"
Having uttered these words, Ecclesiastes continues, "I examined whether my heart would excite my flesh as with wine" [2.3]. That is to say, our attention to thoughts becomes stronger than impulses of the flesh. Nature is not at war with itself, but our mind chooses things other than the flesh's attractions to make our flesh subject and obedient to our rational soul [J.312] because we have been drawn and consumed by [pleasure] which has the same intensity as thirst. Wine does not remain in a cup after a thirsty person has drunk it but is consumed quickly and with vigor. For me this action is certain and is an unimpeded way to knowledge of created things. "My heart guided me in wisdom" [2.3], enabling me both to prevail against the rebellion of pleasures and to attain gladness. And so continues the rest of the text. Therefore the person who earnestly applies himself to knowledge and does not occupy himself with vanity searches out the good and does not fail in his judgment of the good upon finding it. He is self-sufficient and does not allow temporal matters to affect his life; he pursues the good proper to every age in life, its beginning, middle and end. "Until I should see of what kind is the good to the sons of men which they do under the sun all the days of their lives" [2.3]. The pursuits of the flesh contain brief moments of happiness even though they entice our senses with present enjoyments. Nothing pertaining to the body should be viewed as a hinderance; nevertheless, the pleasure obtained from drinking ends with satiety, and [J.313] the fullness which results from eating quenches our appetite. In similar fashion, if any other desire fade away, it returns and is satisfied. Anything related to our senses does not last forever nor maintains the same condition. One benefit belongs to an infant while another to a youth. The same is valid with respect to a person in the prime of his life as well as for an older person and one near death. "I," however, said Ecclesiastes, "have sought the good proper to youth and every other stage of life. We are never satiated; rather, appetite [M.649] is common to us all while passion flowers with enjoyment and is not circumscribed by the attainment of its desire." But inasmuch as we perceive the good in pleasure, any delight sets desire aflame, for pleasure is united to desire and is always attractive to each stage of our growth. Neither is the good associated with instability; it provides instruction and is a model in both prosperous and calamitous situations whether they occur at night or day, travelling, on the sea, at work or rest, ruling or serving or in any of life's circumstances. Neither does the good suffer diminution or grown in anything which may befall us [J.314] whether it happens to be harmful or beneficial. In my opinion this is the true good which Solomon seeks and which men do under the sun while they are alive. For me it is nothing more than the work of faith common to all men who wish to have it abide throughout their entire lives. This is the good work done in us in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever. Amen.