The book of Ecclesiastes is focused on a single issue which is stated at the very beginning; “Vanity of vanities … vanity of vanities! All is vanity” (1:2). The focus on this one issue has caused many to struggle with Ecclesiastes and think it is a depressing and difficult book, and many avoid it.
Understanding both the author’s purpose for writing and how he approached the subject will help us unravel many of the otherwise difficult parts of the book. The purpose of Ecclesiastes is to deconstruct a secularist, materialist and epicurean (pleasure-seeking) worldview and to introduce a worldview that begins with the fear of God as Creator.
The author approaches his subject from the very broad perspective of life “under the sun.” This phrase is found almost thirty times, and only in Ecclesiastes. He does not appeal to anything specific to the Israelites, or to Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel. He speaks of Elohim, the Creator God (40 times), and appeals to evidence that is understandable to all humanity. He examines and presses home the reality of life under the sun as God said it would be after the fall (Genesis 3:17-20); the world is crooked (Genesis 3:17; Ecclesiastes 1:15; 7:13; see also Romans 8:20), life is difficult: (the word labour/toil appears over 20 times in the book), and death is inevitable (Genesis 3:20; Ecclesiastes 12:7; 9:4-6; 11:8).
With such an intense examination of this theme, the intention of the author is clearly for the reader to be utterly disillusioned with this world and to seek for meaning, hope and fulfilment only in God.