Ecclesiastes 1 - Everything is Meaningless

The book of Ecclesiastes (Kohelet in Hebrew) is generally regarded to have been written by Solomon, King David's son, who himself became king after his father. This book contain ramblings about the meaning to life.

Today we will start with the first chapter. Here's the verse by verse.


Ecclesiastes 1

1 The words of the Teacher (Preacher/Leader), son of David, king in Jerusalem:

[This is the reason this book is attributed to Solomon.]


2 "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless."

3 What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?

4 Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.

5 The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.

6 The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course.

7 All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again.

[In these first verses, the writer is lamenting the utter meaningless of life. As everything happens and everything passes, so too is man and his life here on earth.]


8 All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.

[Here Solomon seems to be lamenting that in this life, there will always be something to complain about. And that man can never get enough of anything, never will be content of anything.]


9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

10 Is there anything of which one can say, "Look! This is something new"? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.

11 There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow.

[As this was written way back thousands of years ago, during that period of time when everything is the same and hardly anything new was invented. This really is a full blown legitimate complaint. What is interesting is that even in this day, when most of the developments in every aspect of life happened in the last 100-120 years, especially in the last 20-30 years when everyone can hardly keep up with every new innovation and new technology; most people still seem to be bored and still cannot get enough of anything, even every new thing.]


12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

13 I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men!

14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

[Here the writer stated he was King of Israel and as such, he can say that he has everything in his disposal, even resources to gain knowledge and wisdom. But still even with everything he has, he still finds all these as meaningless or an exercise in futility.]


15 What is twisted cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.

16 I thought to myself, "Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge."

17 Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.

18 For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.

[Wow, all these may seem dark and hopeless, but the writer is giving insight to something not very many would be aware of. And he is merely saying that with all his riches, all his learning, all his quest for more riches and more knowledge and wisdom and even the pursuit of craziness and foolishness, all these have done nothing to convince him that any of these has sense.]

Psalm 1 - Blessed is the Man

The book of Psalms was originally titled Tehillim, which means “praise songs” in Hebrew. These chapters contain poems or lyrics to a song, meant to give praise to the One True God.

Today we will start with the first chapter. Here's the verse by verse.

Psalm 1

1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.

[A takeaway from this initial verse is that, whether you walk, or you stand or you merely sit down, you are either blessed or known to be doing something good. There is a saying which goes like, 'tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you who you are.' Of course, this saying is a generalization so it is not true all the time. But generally when you run with bad people, you are one of them.]


2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

[So instead of keeping company with people you shouldn't be, your love for God should show in you having a hunger and thirst for getting to know who God is and a need to read Scriptures (yes preferably verse by verse).]


3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

[When you do this (reading and meditating on God's Word) you get planted on good soil, with endless nutrients, so you look and feel healthy and you bear much fruit.]


4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.

[In contrast, those who are against God and His Word are like things that aren't deeply rooted, hence can be blown away and be lost.]


5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

[Those who do not love God and His Word has no place in His heaven (in the afterlife).]

6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.


[ God looks after His children not those who aren't His. This psalm like most psalms is like a poem meant to be sang as unto to the Lord to offer up praises to Him and declare His goodness and mercy.]

Jude 1 - False Teachers

Today's verse by verse study is in book of Jude. Those epistle is generally regarded as being written by Jude who is the younger brother of James, who is the younger brother of Jesus.

Yet, like James and depending on the interpretation of the old word for brother, both the brothers James and Jude could be cousins of Jesus. Anyway, like James, Jude is a close relative of Jesus and possibly grew up with Jesus.

This letter, Jude wanted to warn those who follow of Jesus. Here's the verse by verse.

Jude 1

1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ:

2 Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.

[Like most epistles, this first part, introduces who is writing and to whom it is being written. And it includes greetings and blessings.]


4 For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

[Now very early on this letter, Jude goes to its heart and his purpose in writing it. It is a warning that certain people have slippes into their group and they were teaching a wrong teaching among them.]


5 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe.

[Continuing with his warning, Jude reminded his audience of what happened to Moses and his group when they left Egypt.]


6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home--these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.

[Jude added that even certain angels lost their position in heaven when they rebelled against God. Here he is referring to the fallen angel, we know as Satan and the other angels who followed him.]


7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

[Scriptures record the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah during the time of Abraham.]


8 In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings.

[Jude likens these with the people who got into their group but were there only to teach wrong teachings and mislead unsuspecting people.]


9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"

[This is probably among the most hard to explain verses in the New Testament, mainly because there was no prior Scriptural reference to Michael and the devil fighting over the body of Moses. And many students of the Word have explained that this verse does not really refer to the literal body of Moses. For me, I would not even dare to say that this verse refers to the actual body of Moses or it was just a metaphor for something else. You know why? Because I do not know.]

10 Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals--these are the very things that destroy them.


11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion.

[Jude continues with his analogies, this time comparing these people with Cain and Balaam and Korah.]


12 These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm--shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted--twice dead.

13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

[With these two verses Jude continued to compare them with these things that anyone reading could understand or relate with if not mentally see in their minds.]

14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones

15 to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him."

[Here Jude adds a prophecy by Enoch.]

16 These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.

17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.

18 They said to you, "In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires."

19 These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

[Jude continues to define who these people are like.]


20 But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.

21 Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

22 Be merciful to those who doubt;

23 snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear--hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

[So after explaining who these people are, Jude turns to his readers and encourages them to instead do these things, aside from the obvious of not being like the people he was warning them against.]

24 To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy--

25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

[In closing his letter, Jude acknowledges God and gives Him praise.]

James 1 - Testing of Your Faith

Today's verse by verse study is in James Chapter 1. Written by James who is the younger brother of Jesus, or depending on the interpretation of the old word for brother, which could be a cousin. Any which way, he is a close relative of Jesus and one who possibly grew up with Jesus.

This letter, James wrote to encourage the many followers of Jesus scattered in many places as they encounter trials of all kinds. Here's the verse by verse.

James 1

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.

2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,

3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

[There are still many who are unaware that Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world today. In fact many ignore or worse, do not want to believe this even when data and research have proven this to be true for several years now. Of course depending on which part of the world you live in, there will be various degrees of persecution, from ridicule, intimidation, segregation, discrimination, censorship, curtailment of religious freedom, bullying, harassment, assault, imprisonment, torture, shootings, bombings and executions. Yes this is 2019 but for 100 years it sure looks and feel like it is back in First Century AD again.]


5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.


[Wisdom here is not stock knowledge or being booksmart or university educated or even having a high IQ. And this is not to say that millions upon millions of Christians aren't educated and smart. Countless are. But like in any religious group, and we can include those who believe or not believe in a god, each includes a mix bag of people of different backgrounds and levels of intelligence. Regardless, wisdom as Scriptures refer to is that kind of knowledge that comes from God, meaning the Creator of all things, which one would not be able to comprehend nor grasp unless God is in the equation or they factor Him in it.]


6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord;

8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.


[Just like in anything that you believe in, you trust in, and that you trust in you do so 100%. This does not look crazy when it comes to a belief in say when you work your hours, ou get paid for those on payday. Or that the moon and stars come out at night, while the sun in the daytime. Because you believe those. Faith in God, works the same way. Although, non believers will not get it.]


9 The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position.

10 But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower.

11 For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.

[God's economy is not the same as the world's. The poor in terms of financial riches would be humble in the world's eyes but not necessarily in God's. In fact, it is the opposite as the poor has more time to focus on God, or has no choice actually so in essence has a higher standing than a rich person who will of course be burdened of many of the concerns of money, and its variants and its acquisition and maintenance. In the end, when both the poor and the rich die, they both will leave behind whatever riches they have accumulated in this world.]


12 Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

[Here both the poor and the rich have their own unique types of trials. And these trials include religious persecution. But regardless, both will go through their own individual trials.]


13 When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;

14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.

15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

[Most unbelievers think Christians blame all their troubles to an unknown if not imaginary person, known as Satan. No, most of the trials of believers stem from themselves, their own wicked selves, yes much like unbelievers.]


16 Don't be deceived, my dear brothers.

17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

[This is where believers and unbelievers differ. Believers acknowledge and give thanks to God for the good things they receive. Unbelievers thank themselves, their charm, their looks, their hardwork, their intelligence, their skill, lady luck, karma, good fortune, their lucky stars, lucky numbers, feng shui, rabbit's foot, the universe, good old 'being at the right place at the right time' and just about everything else.]


19 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,

[This one everyone should he wise enough to believe in.]


20 for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.

21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror

24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does.

26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.

[This passage explains to the believer why anger should not rule his life. A wisdom only someone who walks with God can appreciate if not understand.]

27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

[True Christians do not follow a religion, much like other religions. But like everyone else they do have preconceived notions of right and wrong, and helping others in need is one of those "good" things to do. To believers this world is not their world as they merely live here at the moment. Their citizenship is in heaven and thus they are heaven bound. This world offers nothing but worldly things, perishable, material things. True believers store up treasures in heaven, guided by God's Word and God's Spirit, again all nonsense to an unbeliever, but will totally make sense to one who believes.]