Series not labeled: Wiersbe Bible Study Series

Cynthia Tucker said:

In what way are these different from the "Be" series?

These are Bible Studies based on the Be Series, though they quote small portions of the commentary series, the whole book is not included.  The introduction of each book recommends having a copy of the corresponding "BE" commentary as you work through the Bible book being studied.  The questions are divided into sections, for example, the Ecclesiastes Bible Study includes sections entitled:

• Getting Started
• Going Deeper
• Looking Inward
• Going Forward
• Seeking Help

Here is the "Getting Started" from the first chapter of the Ecclesiastes Bible Study book:

Getting Started

From the Commentary

“Vanity of vanities,” lamented Solomon, “all is vanity!” Solomon liked that word vanity; he used it thirty-eight times in Ecclesiastes as he wrote about life “under the sun.” The word means “emptiness, futility, vapor, that which vanishes quickly and leaves nothing behind.”

From the human point of view (“under the sun”), life does appear futile; and it is easy for us to get pessimistic. The Jewish writer Sholom Aleichem once described life as “a blister on top of a tumor, and a boil on top of that.” You can almost feel that definition!

The American poet Carl Sandburg compared life to “an onion—you peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep.” And British playwright George Bernard Shaw said that life was “a series of inspired follies.”

What a relief to turn from these pessimistic views and hear Jesus Christ say, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). Or to read Paul’s majestic declaration, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58 NKJV).

                                                                                                                          —Be Satisfied, pages 15–16

1. Why do you think Solomon used the word vanity (or meaningless NIV) so often? (Underline all the uses as you go through Ecclesiastes.) How did he use repetition to drive home his point? How is this main point applicable to today’s world?

More to Consider: Nowhere in Ecclesiastes did the author give his name, but the descriptions he gave of himself and his experiences indicate that the writer was King Solomon. Read Ecclesiastes 1:1, 12–13; 2:1–11; and 1 Kings 4:20–34; 10:1–20. How do these verses support the idea of Solomon’s authorship? Is his authorship critical to the content? Why or why not? How would the value of Ecclesiastes change (if at all) had another author written it?

2. Choose one verse or phrase from Ecclesiastes 1 that stands out to you. This could be something you’re intrigued by, something that makes you uncomfortable, something that puzzles you, something that resonates with you, or just something you want to examine further. Write that here.

Wiersbe, W. W. (2012). The wiersbe bible study series: ecclesiastes. Colorado Springs, CO: David C Cook.

The VYRSO copy leaves plenty of white space, which I removed to save room, for answers to be inserted if they were to be copied to a Word Processor or text page of some sort.

I have not looked, but I suspect that all of the individual books have the same sections.

The books are really Bible Studies designed for group or individual use, rather than commentaries - though they do rely heavily on the Be series, written earlier.  Both the OT and the NT are covered in this format.