Day 21 – Friday -- The Book of Ecclesiastes

Day 21 – Friday

The Book of Ecclesiastes

Though credited to King Solomon, this book was written hundreds of years later, probably 300-350 BCE. The word “ecclesiastes” can be translated as Teacher, Preacher, or the Gatherer. I prefer Teacher. As another book that is part of the Wisdom Tradition, Ecclesiastes has been a favorite of skeptics and agnostics. It is the Doubting Thomas of the Hebrew Scriptures. Herman Melville called this Biblical book “the truest of all books.”

The book starts out by saying: Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. The key to the whole book is the word vanity. It is used 38 times in this small book. But what does it mean? The Hebrew for vanity is hevel (can also be written as hebel). Traditionally this term has been rendered into English as “vanity, absurdity, futile, or meaningless.” But as with most words, hevel has shades of meaning. It can also mean “breath, a vapor, a mist, or fleeting; that which is here and gone.”

I am following Rabbi Rami Shapiro’s recommendation to translate hevel along this second line of definition. Some English translations of Ecclesiastes have adopted this way of understanding the word hevel. For example, the translation known as The Voice renders verse two like this:

Life is fleeting, like a passing mist. It is like trying to catch hold of a breath; all vanishes like a vapor; everything is a great vanity.

So, here is my take: The Book of Ecclesiastes is not a pessimistic, skeptical book. Rather, it is part of the Wisdom Literature of the Bible that urges us to take into account the fleeting nature of everything. It counsels wisdom by urging us not to hold onto that which doesn’t last. Any smell of gloom or doom in this book is just the author sniffing out the temporary unsubstantial fragrances of money, pleasure, knowledge, toil, and power.

Not everything is meaningless; but everything is passing away.

The agnostic tone is writ large in Ecclesiastes. The author says: Who knows whether the human spirit goes upward and the spirit of animals goes downward to the earth? (3.21) And: For who knows what is good for mortals while they live the few days of their vain life, which they pass like a shadow? For who can tell them what will be after them under the sun?(6.21) And:  For the fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and humans have no advantage over the animals; for all is vanity. All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again (3.19-20).

The Teacher sounds a great deal like Job as he challenges the traditional theology of reward and punishment:

In my vain life I have seen everything; there are righteous people who perish in their righteousness, and there are wicked people who prolong their life in their evildoing (7.15).
There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people who are treated according to the conduct of the wicked, and there are wicked people who are treated according to the conduct of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity (8.14).

The author says he has tried everything. He has gone down the road of pleasure and riches and religion and fame, and nothing brings meaning to his life.

Yet, there are some affirmations. Friendship is a good thing. It is better to have friend than to be alone…If you fall, your friend can catch you (4.9-10). Wisdom is better than foolishness. I discovered that wisdom is more valuable than idiocy, just as light is better than darkness (2.13). Ordinary life is where meaning is found: The best thing we can do is to enjoy food and drink and work. These are God’s gifts to us (2.24).

The Teacher’s view of God is like that of a Deist. God is distant; he doesn’t get involved in our lives. He is an uncaring Deity. God is in heaven, and you are on earth (5.2).

Probably the best known passage in Ecclesiastes was made famous by the rock group The Byrds with their song, “Turn, Turn, Turn.”

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace. (3.1-8)

Another verse from this book was made famous by Ernest Hemingway. He gave one of his novels the title, The Sun Also Rises, which comes from Eccl. 1.4-5: One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth forever. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose (KJV). The novel is about the “lost generation” after World War I. Hemingway told his editor  Max Perkins that the book was not so much about a generation being lost, but that "the earth abideth forever." He thought the characters in The Sun Also Rises may have been "battered" but were not lost.

A contemporary Jewish teacher, Rabbi Harold Kushner (who wrote that bestselling book When Bad Things Happen to Good People), wrote a book about Ecclesiastes titled, When All You’ve Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough. He notes the skeptical tone of much of the book. But he offers this more optimistic appraisal:

If logic tells us that life is a meaningless accident…don’t give up on life. Give up on logic. Listen to that voice inside you which prompted you to ask the question [about the meaning of life] in the first place…Instead of brooding over the fact that nothing lasts, accept that as one of the truths of life, and learn to find meaning and purpose in the transitory, in the joys that fade. Learn to savor the moment, even if it does not last forever. In fact, learn to savor it because it is only a moment and will not last. Moments of our lives can be eternal without being everlasting.

Steve Jobs gave the commencement address at Stanford University in 2005 in which he said:

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.

The Book of Ecclesiastes may in some passages seem pessimistic or skeptical. But its message, its emphasis on hevel—the vaporess, fleeting nature of life—is God’s wisdom to us. When we follow our heart and listen to the inner voice, that’s the Holy Spirit leading us. When we follow our breath, we discover that inside our breath is the Breath of God.

In John’s Gospel, after the crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus appears to the disciples. The text says that he breathed on them, and said, Receive the Holy Spirit.

Life is fleeting. It is like a breath—here and gone. But in every moment, the Lord God is breathing on us, and through us.


Finish this: I realize that life is fleeting; therefore…..