The Preterist View of Ecclesiastes Chapter 9

      The Preterist View of Ecclesiastes Chapter 9 

9:1 — “The righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God… but man does not know whether it will be love or hate.”

Solomon sees divine sovereignty but no covenantal assurance. Under the Law, righteousness was fragile, and outcomes uncertain. But Paul declares, “There is now no condemnation for those in Christ” (Rom 8:1). The Preterist sees the ambiguity of this verse resolved in the New Covenant—God’s eternal love is now fully revealed in the body of Christ.

9:2–3 — “The same event happens to all… the righteous and the wicked… this is an evil.”

Solomon’s despair boils over. Death—undiscerning and universal—was the great equalizer under the Old Covenant. But Paul says, “Christ has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light” (2 Tim 1:10). The old Sheol-bound fate was replaced by full access to God's presence.

9:4–6 — “He who is joined with the living has hope… the dead know nothing… never again will they have a share in all that is done under the sun.”

These verses reflect the limited hope available under the Mosaic age. The dead were in Sheol, silent and waiting. But now, “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord” (2 Cor 5:8). Since 70 AD, the gates of Sheol have been shattered—believers enter into life, not limbo.

9:7 — “Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do.”

This is Solomon grasping for joy within a crumbling system. Paul, however, grounds joy in the Spirit, not circumstance: “Rejoice always… for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess 5:16–18). This present joy is not fleeting, but rooted in the fulfilled kingdom.

9:8 — “Let your garments always be white…”

Solomon urges symbolic purity, but with no power to achieve it. In Christ, we are clothed in His righteousness (Gal 3:27). The white garments are not temporary rituals, but eternal identity.

9:9 — “Enjoy life with the wife whom you love…”

A beautiful but temporal exhortation. Yet Paul points us to the greater mystery—marriage as a picture of Christ and the Church (Eph 5:32). The joy Solomon glimpses in relationship is fulfilled in union with the risen Lord, not merely earthly companionship.

9:10 — “Whatever your hand finds to do… do it with your might…”

This is Old Covenant carpe diem—because Sheol looms. But Paul reorients our labor: “Your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Cor 15:58). The final judgment has passed, and now all work done in Christ has eternal value.

9:11 — “The race is not to the swift… but time and chance happen to them all.”

Solomon sees randomness; under the Law, blessings and curses were conditional—but often defied logic. Paul, however, speaks of divine calling and grace. Life is not chance, but covenantal design (Rom 8:29–30). The kingdom is not about chaos, but purpose.

9:12 — “Man does not know his time… like fish taken in an evil net…”

A grim picture of sudden death. But Paul boldly declares, “Whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s” (Rom 14:8). The unpredictability Solomon mourned is now irrelevant—we live in the assurance of resurrection life. The age of fear is over.

9:13–16 — “A poor wise man saved the city… yet no one remembered that poor man.”

This foreshadows Christ—wise, humble, and rejected (Isa 53:3). The world forgets Him, but the Father exalted Him. Paul declares that God chooses the lowly to shame the strong (1 Cor 1:27). Christ’s wisdom now governs the kingdom in full.

9:17–18 — “The words of the wise heard in quiet… Wisdom is better than weapons of war…”

True wisdom isn’t loud, political, or violent. It is cruciform. Paul says, “The message of the cross is the power of God” (1 Cor 1:18). Solomon saw a whisper; we now see a kingdom built on that quiet wisdom—eternal, indwelling, and victorious. Ecclesiastes 9 shows Solomon at the bottom of the existential barrel—wrestling with death, chance, and injustice under the sun. But in Christ, through Paul’s gospel and the fulfilled kingdom, we declare: death is dead, Sheol is empty, and the age of despair is gone. Life is no longer a vapor—it is abundant, eternal, and now.