A Study of Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon Workbook by Chad Sychtysz

Two books nobody quite knows what to do with. One asks whether any of this matters; the other is a love poem so frank the Jews wouldn't let anyone under thirty read it. This volume takes both of them seriously — and literally.

A Study of Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon is a two-part workbook by Chad Sychtysz covering both of Solomon's most unusual books in a single volume. Ecclesiastes gets twenty-four lessons walking verse by verse from "vanity of vanities" to the conclusion of the whole matter. Song of Solomon gets a full exposition organized the way the book actually reads — six acts, twelve scenes, with the speakers identified so you can finally follow who is saying what to whom.

Ecclesiastes asks the question every honest person eventually asks. What's the point? Solomon had the money, the wisdom, the projects, the pleasure, and the throne, and he tried all of it deliberately, like an experiment. His report came back the same every time: futility. Sychtysz keeps the reader anchored in that phrase "under the sun" — used twenty-nine times in Ecclesiastes and nowhere else in Scripture — because it's the key to the whole argument. Life measured by what happens beneath the sun really is a fog. Life measured by the One who set the sun in motion is something else entirely. That's where the book lands in 12:13–14, and the study builds toward it steadily.

Song of Solomon runs the other direction. It's a celebration of courtship, marriage, and married love, written without embarrassment, and Sychtysz refuses to apologize for it. He walks through the interpretive history — the allegorical readings, the parabolic view, the three-person love triangle theory — and makes the case for the literal two-person reading: Solomon and the Shulammite, a real engagement and a real marriage. Along the way he shows why the Hebrew mind saw no conflict between the physical and the sacred, and why a book like this belongs in Scripture exactly as written. For Christian couples, it's a picture of what God intended marriage to look like when the courtship never stops.

What's Inside

Part One: A Study of Ecclesiastes — 24 lessons in four sections

• Section 1: "All is vanity" (1:1–11) — the meaning of vanity, and the great question
• Section 2: Proof that "all is vanity" (1:12–6:12) — Solomon's great experiment, proof from experience and observation, a time for everything, man's answering to God, oppression, loneliness, vows, riches versus contentment
• Section 3: Counsel for living in a vain world (7:1–12:8) — comparisons and contrasts, dealing with evil, facing death, the limits of wisdom, wise and foolish people, sowing good seed, the transience of youth, and the arrival of old age
• Section 4: Conclusion (12:9–14) — the Preacher's wise words and the conclusion of the matter

Part Two: A Study of Song of Solomon — exposition in six acts

• Act One (1:2–2:7) — first words of love and the beginning of courtship
• Act Two (2:8–3:5) — the beloved arrives; Shulammite's first dream
• Act Three (3:6–5:1) — the wedding procession and the marriage
• Act Four (5:2–6:13) — the second dream and the search
• Act Five (7:1–8:4) — married love and mutual delight
• Act Six (8:5–14) — love as strong as death, and the ongoing romance

Appendix: The three-person view of Song of Solomon, laid out in full — included as a case study in how a text can be bent to fit a predetermined conclusion.

Format & Features

Each lesson works through the passage with running commentary, then closes with discussion questions and open space to write. Twenty-four question sets cover Ecclesiastes, and Song's scenes carry their own. The questions do real work — whether Solomon means life is meaningless or merely futile, what "true love" actually is and how it behaves differently from every other love, how a person can say "I am black but lovely" and whether that's confidence or arrogance.

The introductions to both books are substantial. Sychtysz defends Solomonic authorship against Luther's anachronism objection and its Protestant heirs, explains where Ecclesiastes fits in the wisdom literature alongside Job and Proverbs, and traces the interpretive battles over Song from the Jewish and church allegories through the modern literal readings.

Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible (1995). Endnotes and a complete source bibliography are included, drawing on Coffman, Delitzsch, Fausset, McGee, Petrillo, and others.

Product Details

• Author: Chad Sychtysz
• Publisher: Spiritbuilding Publishers, 2026
• Format: Paperback workbook, 6″ × 9″, 207 pages
• Content: Two complete studies in one volume — 24 lessons on Ecclesiastes and a six-act exposition of Song of Solomon
• Translation: New American Standard Bible (1995)
• ISBN: 978-1-964805-77-1
• Includes: Verse-by-verse commentary, discussion questions with write-in space, an appendix presenting the three-person view of Song, endnotes, and a full source bibliography
• Also available as: eBook (PDF and ePub) for individual use, and PDF class-use license

Who It's For

Adult Bible class teachers who want two quarters of material from one book, preachers building a series on wisdom literature, marriage and young-couples classes looking for something better than the usual, and any Christian who has wondered why Ecclesiastes sounds so bleak or why Song of Solomon is in the Bible at all.

A note for teachers: Song of Solomon is candid about physical love. Sychtysz handles it with care and never crosses into the coarse, but you'll want to think about your class before scheduling it.

About the Author

Chad Sychtysz has been a full-time minister since 1994 and has worked with churches in Alaska and Washington state. He holds a Bachelor of History degree (summa cum laude) from the University of Alaska Anchorage and has written extensively for the Lord's church, including the Quick Study Commentary and Personal Study Series, a full-length Acts commentary, and books on grace, forgiveness, the Holy Spirit, and the kingdom of God. His writing is careful and well-researched without ever getting stiff. He can be reached at chad@booksbychad.com.

Related Studies

Pairs naturally with Sychtysz's other Old Testament workbooks on Psalms, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel.