Comparing The Book Of Ecclesiastes And Proverbs

The book of Ecclesiastes and Proverbs are both biblical Old testaments of wisdom and

guidance. Both are comprised of the same author at least for the book of Proverbs. There has

been a consensus as Solomon writing Ecclesiastes as well. Solomon was the King the Lord gave

a spirit of wisdom to. If we begin in the book of Proverbs, “The soul of a lazy man desires, and

has nothing; But the soul of the diligent shall be made rich. (Proverbs 13:4, KJV). The key word

being “diligent” to be steadfast, and not giving up easily. The lazy person’s desire leads to only

frustration and not getting what he wants in life. Going in circles or cycles of trying to get out of

a rut, apathetic, like the movie Groundhog Day. They watch the diligent grow rich and

successful. This is

It is like contrasting an empowered individual over one caught

in their roadblocks. If we seek further into Ecclesiastes “The book concludes that the only thing

we can know conclusively about God is that God encourages people to eat, drink, love, work,

and enjoy. Ecclesiastes most thesis- like prescriptive statement comes in chapter 9, verses 7– 9

Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; Live joyfully

with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee

under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour

which thou takest under the sun.” (Journal Article, 1) What I find interesting about this verse is

how God truly wants us to be happy. We can take a positive such as marriage, we can have some

wine and use them sort of as a biblical anti-depressant. I say this because the author’s outlook is

gloomy on life in general, that is before Jesus came to save the day. He “addresses different

subjects, such as wisdom or money or work, he hardly seems to have much good to say about

them at all.”(Journal Article