Is Everything Meaningless?
Exploring the Wisdom Within the Book of Ecclesiastes.
“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher;
“Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”Ecclesiastes 1:2 (NKJV)
Introduction
When I was a 15-year-old kid sitting in my 7th-period Earth Science class, I remember being mildly disturbed by some of the words that were regularly said by my teacher regarding our planet and the seemingly harmful impact we have on it as a species. As a man who cared greatly about his own environmental impact, he made an effort to ride his bike to work every day, all year round, as much as he could. While I admired his unwavering commitment to the values he held so closely, I couldn’t help but think that his daily sacrifices were all in vain. I struggled to imagine those early mornings chasing the clock to reach work on time, or the bitter icy winds biting at his skin as he pedaled home during the early winter, or the stormy evenings when forgetting his coat, he faced the rain—enduring each trial for a cause he believed to be greater than himself. For someone to willingly endure so much for an impact that seemed so little, I thought surely it all must be vanity. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.
A man who I did not perceive as religious in any way, seemingly regarded the earth and everything in it as sacred and timeless—everything, that is, except for us. I recall him saying various things to the effect that no matter how much we neglect the planet, pollute the oceans, or build great monuments and empires, the earth will always find a way to heal itself—with or without us. The oceans will roar and crash without our ships, the forests will grow and flourish without our cities, and the mountains will reach the skies whether we are here to climb them or not. In other words, all of our technological advances, cultures, histories, and even mistakes as a species will ultimately be forgotten by the indifference of nature and the unrelenting march of time. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. While I (and presumably him) did not know it at the time, my high school geology teacher was echoing the words of a different, more ancient teacher that is found in the Book of Ecclesiastes, saying:
“What profit has a man from all his labor
In which he toils under the sun?
One generation passes away, and another generation comes;
But the earth abides forever.”1
I often avoided this book as a kid, finding it rather depressing and unsettling. When I opened the Bible, I was drawn to the divine poetic wisdom, the historical battles, and the comforting words of Christ that brought me peace and direction. It was easy for me to be captivated by the heroic tales and the poetic literature that spoke of divine beauty and wisdom. Yet, beneath all of that glory, there still lingers the faint, desperate voice of man. If you listen closely at times, you can hear the mortal minds of its authors, grappling with the mysterious will of the divine and the perplexity of existence. You can hear the Psalmist lament the loss of his loved ones while pleading for God to reveal His face, and feel the anguish in Job’s cries for an answer to his suffering. While I believe we can hear God’s voice through the poetic wisdom of all Scripture, I also hear the unmistakable voices of men—voices God must have intentionally allowed to linger, desperately stranded from the paradise they were created for.
Ecclesiastes reads like the musings of an ancient nihilist, grappling with existence long before Nietzsche or Kierkegaard ever did.2 I once found its inclusion in Scripture puzzling, as though it stood at odds with the overarching themes of hope and faith. Yet, books like Ecclesiastes and Job compel the Christian to confront a stark truth—that human suffering and despair are still present beyond the mystical veil of beauty and poetic wisdom woven throughout the Bible. Some passages seem to relay the divine voice of God Himself, while others illustrate the existential riddles of man, as if he were writing of Eden’s splendor from the desolation of a desert.
Ecclesiastes is one of the books within Scripture where the voice of man is evident to me, woven with God's guiding presence to reveal how near He remains to each of us. Just as my teacher’s words once left me feeling insignificant against the vast indifference of the universe, the Teacher in Ecclesiastes reminds us of how fleeting our lives truly are. Time marches on, everything we build will crumble, our achievements will be forgotten, and in the end, we all face death. Now that I have cleared that all up and prepared you for the existential dread that awaits ahead, we are ready to dive into the wisdom of the Book of Ecclesiastes.
Hevel, Hevel, Everything is Hevel
The Book of Ecclesiastes begins with the line, “The words of Qohelet, son of David, king in Jerusalem” which leads many to conclude that they are the words of King Solomon. The name "Qohelet" comes from the Hebrew word meaning "one who gathers," often understood as someone who gathers people to teach. For this reason, Qohelet is commonly translated as "teacher” with some translations referring to him also as the “critic” or “preacher.” It is important to understand that the Teacher himself is not the author of this book, but a character within the story. Though the Teacher's voice dominates most of the book, it is actually the anonymous author's voice that frames the narrative for us. The author introduces us to the Teacher at the beginning and concludes by summarizing and reflecting on the Teacher's challenging words. This guiding voice not only ensures that we absorb the Teacher's insights but also helps us process them, encouraging us to form our own conclusions at the end.
“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher;
“Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”Ecclesiastes 1:2 (NKJV)
At both the beginning and end of Ecclesiastes, the Teacher summarizes his message about life, death, and time with a word commonly translated in English as “vanity” or “meaningless.” However, these translations fail to capture the depth of the original Hebrew word, "hevel." Rather than implying emptiness or vanity, hevel serves as a metaphor for "smoke" or "vapor." Throughout the book, the Teacher uses this metaphor to illustrate the fleeting nature of life, which, like smoke, vanishes into the boundless expanse of time and space. Hevel is also correlated to the sense of unpredictability in life, and the reality that so many things that happen to us are out of our control. The Teacher pushes you to recall the feeling of when you think life is falling into place, but something unexpectedly goes wrong that leaves you disappointed and confused.
Think of those times when you poured your heart into a relationship or project, only to see it slip through your fingers, leaving you nothing in return. All the hours spent saving for a dream vacation, pushing for a promotion at work, or mending a fractured relationship—only to watch it vanish into thin air. The Teacher does not use hevel to merely describe life's misfortunes, but the fleeting nature of our joys as well. Even if you end up going on that dream vacation, Monday still arrives. Even if you secure the promotion, your work and achievements will someday be forgotten and you will be replaced. The Teacher speaks to something we all are well acquainted with, which is the vain repetitiveness of our daily lives and the unpredictability of life. Life is not a steady and burning flame that endures, but rather smoke—hevel—where, no matter how tightly we cling to what we have or what we've achieved, it inevitably will fade away.
Though this may seem harsh and even depressing, the Teacher’s purpose is not to make you dread the march of time or fear the certainty of death—it is to humble you. Ecclesiastes reminds us that wisdom is not born from hopelessness but from humility. Hevel, hevel, everything is hevel. You will soon see that the Teacher's message is not one of despair, but a call to recognize the transient nature of life and to embrace humility. Even if you wish to retain your pride or give in to your fear, fine, but those are hevel too.
The Enigma of Life
In the first few chapters of Ecclesiastes, the teacher explores if there is meaning to be found in knowledge or wisdom. He explains that he has sought knowledge about all there is under the sun, and has spent his life researching and contemplating life’s biggest questions. Though his wisdom surpassed that of all those around him, he came to a sobering realization that the answers he sought were not hidden in the pages of books or the depths of study, but instead, he found only grief. The more knowledge he gained, the more he became aware of the endless questions that remained unanswered.
“I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind. For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.”3
When I read the Teacher's reflection on the grief that knowledge had brought him, my mind turned to the truthfulness of the cliche phrase, "Ignorance is bliss." The more one learns of the world, the more one becomes painfully aware of its suffering and evil until it seems that perhaps it is better not to know at all. Knowledge, instead of illuminating, can cast a shadow over your mind and make you feel even emptier in the face of the cruel unpredictability that life brings. The teacher further points out that even if you do manage to grasp all of life’s secrets and wisdom, you will still share the same fate as the fool who has remained his whole life in ignorance. His reflection brings to mind an old Italian proverb that I’ve heard before, which goes: “At the end of the game, the king and the pawn return to the same box.”
Whether you possess all wisdom or none at all, does it matter in the end?
The Teacher is not claiming that knowledge and wisdom are without value, but rather that no matter how long or how deeply you search, you will never unravel all of life’s mysteries. You could spend every day immersed in philosophy books or reading scientific studies, but you will never grasp everything. In the pursuit of knowing all that is true, it is easy to overlook the truths you already hold close. While reflecting on wisdom, the Teacher draws back to his message of humility. With the wisdom you are given, do not let it inflate your pride. Throughout Ecclesiastes, the Teacher reminds us of the certainty of death, which swallows both the wise and the foolish. Do not believe that your knowledge elevates you above others, for, in the end, all you know is ultimately hevel.
The Teacher shares a realization that true wisdom in life is not necessarily about what you know, but rather how you act. Some virtues of wisdom that the teacher identifies in Ecclesiastes are patience and humility.
“The end of a matter is better than its beginning,
and patience is better than pride.
Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit,
for anger resides in the lap of fools.”
Do not live your life in bitterness or resentment but with gratefulness and patience, especially in the face of suffering. Perhaps the most difficult portion of Ecclesiastes that the teacher touches on is the mystery behind the problem of suffering in the world. He observes how life’s unpredictability spares neither the innocent nor the guilty, and how tragedy strikes both the rich and the poor, the wicked and the good. We witness the wicked prosper while the righteous endure hardship, a reality that is hard for us to accept. People do not always get what they deserve. However, in the face of such suffering, it is better to respond with gratitude for what remains, rather than bitterness over what has been lost. The truth is that we will all face suffering that we will never get answers for, but ultimately, how we respond to suffering is what matters.
Suffering is Inescapable
A similar sentiment towards suffering is demonstrated in the Bible’s oldest wisdom literature, the Book of Job. In the story, Job loses everything that he possessed and loved despite his faithfulness to God. He lost his land, his cattle, his children, and even his health for seemingly no reason at all. Throughout the story, his wife insists that the only thing left for Job to do is to rebuke God and die, but Job refuses to surrender his faith and continues to endure the hardships that come his way. At the climax of the story, Job finally yells out to God, demanding an answer to all of his suffering despite his faithfulness and integrity that he has upheld his entire life. After doing so, a booming voice out of a whirlwind yells out to Job, and God gives an interesting response. Instead of giving Job a direct answer, he essentially takes him on a cosmic journey that demonstrates the complexity of the universe’s design. He shows Job how every element of creation is intricately woven together, how nature’s operations are far beyond human comprehension, and how all things move according to God’s purpose.
The point of this cosmic tour was not to diminish Job, but to put his suffering into perspective within the grand design of creation. The intricate workings of the universe and the complexities of the world reveal how little we truly control, and it is folly to think we can ever grasp all of life’s mysteries—especially the mystery of our own suffering. Though God restored to Job double what he had lost, a promise not extended to all, one crucial detail is often overlooked: God never told Job why he had suffered. Echoing the similar sentiment that the teacher gives in Ecclesiastes, you cannot control every bad thing that happens to you in life, but you can control how you respond. You will never be able to take hold of life and mold it completely to your will, and every attempt to do so will be in vain. In the face of life's unpredictability, it is not understanding but endurance that shapes us. Try to reach into your future and tame its unpredictability, and you will watch it slip through your fingers like smoke. Hevel, Hevel, everything is hevel.
“The race is not to the swift
or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise
or wealth to the brilliant
or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all.”Ecclesiastes 9:11, New International Version.
The Emptiness of Pleasure
Beginning in the second chapter of Ecclesiastes, the Teacher reflects poetically on all the pleasures and pursuits he chased in search of meaning. He speaks of the grand buildings he constructed, the lush vineyards and gardens he planted, the beautiful women who sang and performed for him, the immense wealth and treasures he gathered, and how he even rose to become the greatest man Israel had ever known—yet, despite all of this, he felt nothing.
The Teacher warns that if you try to fill your life with fleeting pleasures or engage in hedonistic desires, you will not find any of it to be meaningful. As the Teacher in Ecclesiastes mentions one of the other ways he tried to fill the void within his life was with food and wine, he knew none of it was of true worth. Some people try to fill the void in their lives today with drugs and alcohol, but the truth is that these vices do not make you find meaning in life, but only numb to it. The Teacher is right— everything that you try to find pleasure in will not save you from the reality that you are going to die someday. Don’t distract yourself with empty desires or shallow vices, for they will slip away just as quickly as they came. This does not mean you cannot enjoy life’s simple joys but do not seek meaning in them, it will elude you. It does not matter if you are a 10th-grade Earth Science student or King of Israel, both will die someday empty-handed.
I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my labor,
and this was the reward for all my toil.
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
nothing was gained under the sun.Ecclesiastes 2:10-11, New International Version.
The Conclusion of the Matter
The Teacher in Ecclesiastes wants us to acknowledge the inevitabilities of life that may make us uncomfortable. Life is indeed unpredictable, time is forever fleeting, and we are all going to die someday. That is all great and dandy, but what is the Teacher’s point? Are we to remain in hopelessness under the weight of existential dread? Is it true that everything we do and love is ultimately meaningless? Maybe life truly is hevel, hevel, everything is hevel.
The Teacher’s point is not that everything is meaningless, but that life’s biggest answers may never be clear to us, and that’s okay. It is not in knowing everything, but in humbly accepting what we cannot know, that we find peace. The Teacher’s intent was not to make you worry about everything but to stop worrying about things you cannot control, because someday God will clear away all of the hevel. Instead of devoting all of your energy and time to trying to unravel all of life’s mysteries and worrying about the unpredictability that the future holds, you should enjoy the simple things in life that really matter during the short time we are here. He implores the reader to enjoy the time they have with their family and friends because even though we do not know when our day will come, any time we do have is a gift from God. You will never be able to control everything in your life, but if you learn to take every fortune and misfortune with gratitude and humility, you will be able to keep your head above the hevel.
The Teacher wants us to realize that there are so many things we do in life that are meaningless, and we waste time seeking answers that only God would know. Life is a gift, and our mortality makes everything we cherish so much more special. The world will forget us, everything we do will wash away, and we will not always get what we deserve, but none of that will matter as long as you respond to life’s mysteries and hardships with gratitude and faithfulness to God. Learn to be at peace with what you don’t understand, and live your life in appreciation of how it is and not how it ought to be. Stop worrying about what you can’t control, because everything is ultimately in God’s hands and quite frankly, you’re going to die either way. Christ reminds us of the same message that He relayed to us many years before through the musings of this ancient Teacher, saying:
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these… But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Matthew 6:25-34, New International Version.
At the end of Ecclesiastes when the Teacher has finished his lesson on life’s meaning, the author jumps in to give his remarks on the Teacher’s words. He concludes that the Teacher’s words are wise and that it was good for him to challenge the reader’s sense of meaning in life, even comparing the Teacher’s words to a shepherd’s staff with a sharp point at the end. It’s a metaphor to say that even though it may bring you pain when the Teacher pricks you with some uncomfortable truths about life, that discomfort may lead you to the greater wisdom that any meaning that you try to construct outside of God will ultimately remain unsatisfactory.
There will always be moments in life when you will have to peddle through the rainy days or icy winds, but all of it is worth it if you make it home. Someday, the hevel will clear up and we will hold onto something of true meaning, so there is no need to worry about tomorrow.
That is the true wisdom of Ecclesiastes.
Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the duty of all mankind.
For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, New International Version.
Ecclesiastes 1:3-4, New King James Version.
Nihilism is the rejection of all religious and moral principles, in the belief that life is meaningless.
Ecclesiastes 1:17-18, New International Version.
Phenomenal piece brother 👏🏻
"It's not understanding but endurance that shapes us"
Very, very well done!