Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes looks hard at work, time and meaning, and finds that there is a season for every thing under heaven.
His Timing, Not Mine · Ecclesiastes 3:1
Crewneck · 7 colors
Price range: $36.95 through $39.95
His Timing, Not Mine · Ecclesiastes 3:1
Hoodie · 7 colors
Price range: $42.95 through $46.95
His Timing, Not Mine · Ecclesiastes 3:1
T-Shirt · 7 colors
Price range: $24.95 through $28.95
About the book of Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes is a wisdom book of the Old Testament written by a man who calls himself the Preacher, the son of David and king in Jerusalem. Tradition identifies him as Solomon looking back on a long life. It sits among Israel’s wisdom writings alongside Proverbs and Job. He wrote for the people of Israel, and for anyone tempted to think that work, wealth or pleasure can fill the heart on their own. The Hebrew title, Qoheleth, names a speaker who gathers an assembly.
Main themes
The Preacher’s word for what he finds is hevel, often translated vanity. It literally means breath or vapor, something you cannot hold. He tests wisdom, pleasure, big projects and riches in the first chapters and reports that none of them lasts under the sun. He also observes that the same end comes to the wise and the foolish. He is not mocking life. He is showing what happens when life is asked to carry more than it can.
Then the book turns. Eating, working and enjoying family are called gifts from God’s hand, to be received with thanks, and the conclusion near the end is to fear God and keep his commandments. Chapter 3 sits in the middle of this and treats time itself as something God governs. We do not set the calendar. We live inside it, and the book asks us to do that with patience and gratitude.
Verses from Ecclesiastes on our apparel
Ecclesiastes 3:1. “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” This opens the famous poem of seasons that runs through verse 8. The Preacher puts hardship and joy on the same calendar, under God’s rule. Psalm 31:15 says that David’s times are in God’s hand, and Ecclesiastes 3:1 says the same thing from a wider angle. Our His Timing, Not Mine design prints the verse on a T-shirt, a hoodie and a crewneck, a quiet reminder for anyone waiting on a door to open.
Other passages, such as Ecclesiastes 4:9 and Ecclesiastes 12:13, are not on our shirts yet, so find them in your own Bible.
Frequently asked
What comes right after Ecclesiastes 3:1? Verses 2 through 8 list fourteen pairs of opposite seasons, such as a time to be born and a time to die.
Is Ecclesiastes pessimistic? It can sound that way at first. The Preacher is honest about frustration, but he ends by pointing to God as the source of meaning, so the book moves from weariness toward trust.