Ecclesiastes: Solomon’s Testimony Against Free Will, the Immortality of the Soul, and Human Pride

Ecclesiastes is one of the most overlooked books in Scripture. It was written by Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived. God gave him wisdom beyond all others, along with unimaginable wealth, power, pleasure, and opportunity. If anyone could discover lasting meaning in this world, it would have been Solomon.

Yet after experiencing everything the world has to offer, Solomon repeatedly comes to the same conclusion: death.

The righteous die. The wicked die. The rich die. The poor die. The wise die. The foolish die. Everything under the sun is moving toward the same destination.

This is why Ecclesiastes feels so hopeless at times. Solomon is not discussing the victory of Christ over death. He is describing life under the sun apart from that revelation. He is showing us the human condition: everything ends in death.

The book also destroys many popular religious ideas about free will, human control, and the immortality of the soul.

God Gives Humanity an Experience of Evil

Ecclesiastes 1:13 says:

“It is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.”

The trials, frustrations, and burdens of life are not accidents. God has given them. Humanity is being humbled by an experience it did not choose.

Knowledge Increases Sorrow

Ecclesiastes 1:18 says:

“For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who adds knowledge adds pain.”

The more Solomon learned, the more he recognized the tragic reality of life under the reign of death.

Humanity Cannot Understand God’s Work

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says:

“He has put obscurity in their heart so that the man may not find out His work that which the One, Elohim, does from beginning to end.”

Human beings do not possess unlimited understanding. God has intentionally concealed the full picture. We do not know the beginning, and we do not know the end. We are creatures, not the Creator.

All Are Going to Death

Ecclesiastes 3:17-20 declares that God judges all things, yet both man and beast return to the dust.

“All are going to one place. All have come from the soil, and all are returning to the soil.”

This is the great equalizer. Death swallows both the good and the evil.

Your Destiny Was Known Long Ago

Ecclesiastes 6:10 states:

“What has come to be has already been called by its name, and that which man is has been foreknown. No one can adjudicate against Him who is mightier than he.”

The New Living Translation expresses the thought clearly:

“Everything has already been decided. It was known long ago what each person would be. So there’s no use arguing with God about your destiny.”

We think we possess complete autonomous free will. Solomon says otherwise. What we are has been foreknown, and no one can contend successfully with the One who is mightier than all.

God Made the Good Day and the Evil Day

Ecclesiastes 7:14 says:

“In a day of good be resting in the good, and in a day of evil, vigilant; indeed the One, Elohim, has made this one along with that one.”

The New Living Translation reads:

“Enjoy prosperity while you can, but when hard times strike, realize that both come from God.”

The good day and the evil day have the same Source. God is not reacting to events. He is governing them.

No One Can Fully Discover God’s Work

Ecclesiastes 8:17 says:

“Then I saw in all the work of the One, Elohim, that a man is not able to find out the work that is done under the sun.”

Human wisdom reaches its limit. God alone sees the entire plan.

The Dead Know Nothing

One of the clearest verses in all Scripture regarding death is Ecclesiastes 9:5:

“For the living know that they shall die, but the dead know nothing whatsoever.”

Solomon does not describe dead people watching us from heaven, suffering in hell, or floating around as conscious souls. He says the dead know nothing.

Death is death.

The hope of Scripture is not found in an immortal soul. The hope is resurrection.

God Alone Does the Whole

Ecclesiastes 11:5 says:

“Just as you do not know what the way of the wind may be, or how bones are formed in the womb, thus you cannot know the work of the One, Elohim, who does the whole.”

God does the whole. Not part. Not most. The whole.

Humanity sees fragments. God sees and performs the entire work.

The Message of Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes strips away human pride. It crushes the illusion that we are masters of our own destiny. It reminds us that death reigns over all humanity. The wise and foolish alike return to the dust.

That is why the book feels so dark.

But Ecclesiastes is not the end of the story.

Solomon exposes the problem. Christ reveals the solution.

Solomon shows us humanity imprisoned by death. Christ entered death itself, was entombed, and was roused the third day. Through Him comes resurrection, immortality, and the eventual abolition of death itself.

Without Christ, Ecclesiastes is the testimony of a dying race.

With Christ, Ecclesiastes becomes the backdrop that makes the gospel shine all the brighter.

The hopelessness Solomon describes is real. Everything under the sun is moving toward death. Yet because of Christ, death will not have the final word.