👐 Ecclesiastes 12:13 | "..all has been heard.."

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📧 In today’s email…

• 🤔 The purpose behind Ecclesiastes

• 😩 Passage context: When everything is meaningless

• ❤️ A short prayer to prepare your heart for the week

Let’s dig in…

 🧠 Memorize

The end of the matter; all has been heard.

Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

Ecclesiastes 12:13

Author & Audience Context: Ecclesiastes✍️ 

• Author: Unknown, but Solomon is traditionally attributed as the author

  • The book only identifies the author as the Preacher or Teacher and is said to be a “Son of David,” which could mean the author is simply a descendent of David

• Audience: Unfortunately, we don’t know a lot about the background to Ecclesiastes. 

  • But based on the text, we can assume it is written for Judahites who think they have life figured out, who are comfortable with their financial and political situation, leading them to not rely on God.

Book Background: 

• Title

  • The name Ecclesiastes is taken from the Greek translation, which means “a person who assembles” and is related to the New Testament word we translate “church” (ekklesia).

  • The Hebrew name is Qoheleth, which also seems to mean “to assembly,” referring to assembling a group of people.

• Time Period: A few Persian words found in Ecclesiastes suggest it comes from the Second Temple period during Persia’s rule of Judah, sometime between 539 B.C. and 333 B.C.

• Purpose: Ecclesiastes attempts to “unsettle” its readers, shaking them out of complacency and giving them a reality check.

  • If we start with the conclusion and work backward, we learn that being realistic while leaning on God is the only suitable path for living.

Passage context: It’s the end

The verse we’re memorizing this week is the second to last verse in Ecclesiastes—it’s pretty close to the summary of the whole book!

After spending time exploring whether work, or pleasure, or wisdom can bring true satisfaction, Ecclesiastes wraps up with the one thing that DOES have meaning:

Following God.

The Teacher has tried everything but still finds something missing.

Sure, he admits it’s fine to enjoy good food and drink!

But that’s only because, in the end, we all face the same fate.

Rather than diving headfirst into indulgence, the Teacher advises that while we live our lives with a sense of realism, we should also remember to cherish and follow the ways of God.

Ecclesiastes ends with a warning:

In other words, Ecclesiastes shows that the meaninglessness of some things in life doesn’t excuse us from our primary directive: to follow God.

Let’s prepare our hearts for memorizing this verse this week.

Pray 🙏

Lord, as I memorize Ecclesiastes 12:13 this week, help me understand that your way is the best way. Nothing else in this world can fill our souls except you.

Deliver me from the temptations to seek the meaningless things of the world, strengthening me to follow you, and make the most of my life here on earth.

Amen 🙏

Read 📖

Read all of Ecclesiastes 12 slowly today to get a feel for the passage. Maybe read chapter 1 of Ecclesiastes too if you need a refresher for the tone of the book!

Bonus: Read it out loud while going for a walk outside.

Listen 🎵 

Occasionally, there are songs we find that can help us meditate on and memorize our verse for the week.

Here is a song that talks about surrendering to God, trusting Him and walking in obedience.

Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music

LAUGH 😂