What is the good of all mankind? This is an inquiry that has been contemplated throughout time. Does anybody really have a valid and authoritative response? We are completely dominated by various issues day-to-day.
Who should I love? How am I to manage my life? When will I be done, or when will these troubling issues be finished? Where am I to go? For what reason should my life be this way, or how am I to continue with my life?
What Is the Chief Good?
We, as a whole, live as though there is no tomorrow, or a great many people attempt to live for a tomorrow. We hope that we will have enough of whatever it is we are attempting to accumulate to improve our lives for later.
However, would we say we are certain that tomorrow will come? So, what can we say is the chief good? What is going on with life? I do not have the response, yet I will endeavor to find out what Scripture says.
In their book titled Encountering the Old Testament 2nd Edition, Bill Arnold and Bryan Beyer express that the Book of Ecclesiastes focuses on a period of misery during Israelite history and that the principal topic of Ecclesiastes is that everything in life is trivial and existence without God is aimless.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee wrote in his Thru The Bible series, Volume 3, that man has attempted to be content without God; it is being attempted consistently by a great many individuals. Solomon was the most astute of men, and he had an insight that was undeniable.
He attempted each sort of venture and joy that was known to man, and his decision was that everything is vanity. The word vanity signifies purposelessness and emptiness. Satisfaction in life can never be achieved in this way.
As an individual reads the Book of Ecclesiastes, he ought to see that the author, whom some allude to as Solomon, expresses that wisdom is trivial, joy is insignificant, work is negligible, and life is low and uncalled for.
Maybe a man is simply “wasting his time” and genuinely not acquiring anything and living without reason. In any case, everything has a period and a reason in this life. King Solomon wrote, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8).
The world makes vows that draw our consideration. They get us zeroed in on everything, which in reality, is aimless. The world makes guarantees it cannot keep (Ecclesiastes 5:5). Yet, what is a promise?
A promise is an oath to do, an announcement that one will follow through with something, which gives the individual who is expecting a particular act, is made right. A solemn promise is a vow.
One might think about what guarantees and commitments have to do with the chief good of the Book of Ecclesiastes. Solomon says it is to fear God and His decrees.
It might be said that Solomon was saying that we can place our trust and faith in God and believe in the promises that He makes. We cannot trust the promises that the world gives.
Individuals make vows every day to follow through. Years ago, we could believe that, yet not in the present time and society. Broken promises are equivalent to broken trust.
Where Does Our Duty Lie?
Presently today, we should be cautious and wary of who makes vows to us. Who might we, at any point, put our hope, trust, and faith in? Do we trust the general public of the world or God? If we look at our country's financial framework, we see “In God We Trust.”
Does America truly have trust in God? It seems that it does not and that America only has confidence in the mighty dollar (1 Timothy 6:10).
When we have put our hope in the world, and things turn sour, we become extremely angry at God. It was not His shortcoming. We put ourselves there, and He did not.
For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope — the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, (Titus 2:11-13).
What a promise, which we can believe.
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).
“and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
I had a conversation with a church pastor about his thoughts on the chief good of Ecclesiastes. He responded that “Solomon went through his whole time on earth attempting to fill his existence with all that he could acquire.
He learned late in life that everything was an exercise in futility and that everything occupies an individual from knowing God. In the end, we are accountable to and for giving God glory, which is the chief good and end in our life.”
I heard someone say that “the chief good is God, and everything else is in vain.” And another person said that “the chief good in our lives is having and living with the Kingdom mentality. That means looking at the world from God’s perspective instead of through our existence.”
What Does This Mean?
Solomon presents his antitoxins for the two principal afflictions introduced in this book. Individuals who need a reason and heading in life ought to regard God and follow His standards for living.
The Book of Ecclesiastes cannot be deciphered accurately without perusing these last two verses. Regardless of what the secrets and the obvious inconsistencies of life are, we should pursue the single reason for knowing God.
In Ecclesiastes, Solomon shows us that we ought to appreciate life; however, this does not exclude us from submitting to God's orders. We should look for reason and significance throughout everyday life, except they cannot be found in human undertakings.
Everyone across the ages will stand under the steady gaze of God. We cannot blame everyday life’s irregularities for neglecting to live as God directs.
To live to glorify God, we need to perceive that human exertion separated from God is purposeless; put God first, accept that everything good is a gift from God; understand that God will pass judgment on both abhorrent and good, and will pass judgment on the nature of each and every individual's life.
How odd that individuals spend their lives making progress toward the very pleasure that God gives uninhibitedly as a gift.
For further reading:
Is There Such a Thing as Christian Duty?
What Is the Significance of ‘For Such a Time as This’ in Esther?
What Does it Mean That There Is Nothing New Under the Sun?
Why Does Ecclesiastes Say 'All Is Vanity'? - Bible Meaning
How Did the Phrase, ‘Eat, Drink, and Be Merry’ Become a Positive Thing?
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