Ecclesiastes: Vanity of Vanities
“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utter meaninglessness! Everything is meaningless.”
Ecclesiastes 1:2
Sooner or later every person comes to the message of Ecclesiastes. This short biblical book is the skeptic’s view of life and faith. The author was Solomon, I believe, and he would most likely have written this near the end of his life, though he still had some years left in him. But it is the divinely inspired book that questions everything in life that conventional wisdom says should be rewarding and meaningful.
The typical advice given to young people is to study hard, work hard, make good connections with trustworthy people, prove yourself to be reliable and dependable, and life will pay off for you. You will have everything you need, most of what you have dreamed of, and will look back upon your life in gratitude and look forward to eternity with hopeful anticipation. Ecclesiastes questions this basic assumption. It questions whether it is even true, that the race always goes to the swiftest, and second, it questions the value of such a life anyway. A big “So what?” hangs over our seemingly successful lives in this book.
In the opening of the first chapter he laments the brevity of human life, compared to the universe. In our youth we feel omnipotent, believing that we will really and truly change things. But later on in life we realize how brief our time here on earth is, how little impact we have made, how quickly we will be forgotten, and how average and mundane we really are. One day we will be dead, and another will take up the causes we have given our lives to, another will live in the houses we lived in, another will take up the space we claimed on earth, and he too will soon be forgotten. Etc, etc, etc.
All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun… (Ecclesiastes 1:8–9)
Human life given to human fulfillment, attainment, accomplishments, or advance will end, if that is all that we have thought of and given ourselves for, in great disappointment. The gift of life that God has bestowed on us is not fulfilled in selfishness either. Both of these pursuits — self-obsession and humanitarian attainments — are not sufficient for our true soulful satisfaction. It is better to be a gracious, thoughtful humanitarian than a self-centered, self-obsessed hoarder, but only slightly. Because whatever we do for humanity’s advancement is left in the hands of others, and who can tell whether they will be wise or foolish, gracious or self-centered?
The book ends with the admonition to “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (12:13). It is the knowledge of the Almighty that adds depth to our understanding of everything else in life. Both the selfish heart, because lust can never have enough, and the responsible heart, for life is brief and fleeting and the problems of our race run deep in human souls, are not enough to bring true meaning and satisfaction to our lives. Knowing God, trusting God, following in the footsteps of Christ, being obedient to His commands — this is the more profound life. This is the beginning of wisdom.
