Why does the Preacher find weariness even in the search for wisdom?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Generations pass while the sun, wind, and rivers follow their recurring paths. The Preacher searches for wisdom and finds that knowledge does not free him from toil or grief. He calls life under the sun vanity and a vexation of spirit.

Chapter breakdown

The Preacher introduces himself as David’s son and king in Jerusalem. He asks what lasting gain comes from work under the sun. Generations come and go, but the earth remains. The sun returns to its rising place, the wind circles, and rivers continue to run into the sea without filling it. These cycles frame his claim that nothing under the sun is new. People forget what came before them, and later generations will forget what happens now.

Seeing and hearing do not satisfy the eye and ear. The Preacher has tried to investigate all that happens under the sun. He describes this task as painful work given by God. He has gained more wisdom than those before him in Jerusalem and has studied learning, error, and folly. Yet he finds vexation in this search too. In this edition, verse 15 speaks of the difficulty of correcting the perverse and the countless fools. The closing verse says that greater wisdom brings greater indignation, and more knowledge adds more labor.

The story inside

The chapter moves from the repeating world to the mind that tries to understand it. The sun, wind, and rivers keep moving while generations disappear from memory. The king then looks at his own search for wisdom. Even his great learning leaves him with the same question about lasting gain.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The cycles of sun, wind, and rivers set human work beside a world that keeps repeating its motions (1:3–7).
2
The eye and ear are not satisfied by seeing and hearing more (1:8).
3
The Preacher’s learning is real, but he says that it also increases his burden (1:16–18).

Test your recall

Which natural cycles does the Preacher describe, and what does he say greater knowledge brings?

Show answer

He describes the sun’s return, the wind’s circuits, and the rivers flowing into the sea. He says that adding knowledge also adds labor (1:5–7, 18).

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 70101–70102
1:2. Vanity of vanities, said Ecclesiastes: vanity of vanities, and all is vanity.
Lines 70130–70132
1:11. There is no remembrance of former things: nor indeed of those things which hereafter are to come, shall there be any remembrance with them that shall be in the latter end.