The Wisdom Of Ecclesiastes: Vapor
The next devotionals will be a walk through the confusing, exciting, beautiful book of Wisdom, Ecclesiastes. It is a book often loved or hated. I love it, and hope to share with you why.
The words of the Teacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
What do people gain from all the toil
at which they toil under the sun?
A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
The sun rises and the sun goes down,
and hurries to the place where it rises.
The wind blows to the south,
and goes around to the north;
round and round goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.
All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they continue to flow.
All things are wearisome;
more than one can express;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
or the ear filled with hearing.
What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done;
there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has already been,
in the ages before us.
The people of long ago are not remembered,
nor will there be any remembrance
of people yet to come
by those who come after them. ~ Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
What do people gain from all the toil
at which they toil under the sun?
A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
The sun rises and the sun goes down,
and hurries to the place where it rises.
The wind blows to the south,
and goes around to the north;
round and round goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.
All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they continue to flow.
All things are wearisome;
more than one can express;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
or the ear filled with hearing.
What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done;
there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has already been,
in the ages before us.
The people of long ago are not remembered,
nor will there be any remembrance
of people yet to come
by those who come after them. ~ Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
Oh the vapor of it all, it's a chasing of the wind. The substance of the form, so pale and thin. Let the veil of earth be stretched again. Holy. All behold the holy ~ Michael & Lisa Gungor
The wisdom literature takes up a good part of the Hebrew scripture. Most often we think of it in terms of Psalms or Proverbs, or maybe Job. But Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs (or Song of Solomon) are the other two wisdom books, and each are unique to scripture.
Ecclesiastes holds a special place in my heart. A book about the meaning of life! And on the surface, a challenging one to think of being in the Bible. It seems so fatalistic and even cynical in parts.
And yet it somehow paints life in a way that we can often relate to and in the end, isn't as despairing as it initially seems.
Part of the perceived fatalism comes right at the beginning: "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity!
Other ways this has been translated is: "everything is meaningless!" and "everything is useless."
I tend to prefer how the Message Bible phrases it: "There's nothing to anything. It's all smoke!"
Maybe I like it because it is so visual. And also it comes closest to the word most closely similar to the Hebrew word for vanity. All is vapor.
Ecclesiastes holds a special place in my heart. A book about the meaning of life! And on the surface, a challenging one to think of being in the Bible. It seems so fatalistic and even cynical in parts.
And yet it somehow paints life in a way that we can often relate to and in the end, isn't as despairing as it initially seems.
Part of the perceived fatalism comes right at the beginning: "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity!
Other ways this has been translated is: "everything is meaningless!" and "everything is useless."
I tend to prefer how the Message Bible phrases it: "There's nothing to anything. It's all smoke!"
Maybe I like it because it is so visual. And also it comes closest to the word most closely similar to the Hebrew word for vanity. All is vapor.
I think you can imagine what vapor is. It's fleeting-ness. You can imagine the impossibility of capturing it in your grasp.
Are there times when vapor seems to be a good word for what happens in life?
When things just don't seem to be able to be held on to? Grasped a hold of? Kept?
Are there times when vapor seems to be a good word for what happens in life?
When things just don't seem to be able to be held on to? Grasped a hold of? Kept?
Smoke, vapor...those are things you can see. Those are things that were here, and then slowly fade away.
Those are things I think that are not meaningless OR useless.
Or vanity!
As you read the rest of these verses, does it paint a life of meaninglessness to you?
Or something else. Something that lasts and then disappears.
Can you think of something that was that kind of vapor in your life? Beautiful and then gone?
I'll bet you were happy for the beauty while it lasted!
Those are things I think that are not meaningless OR useless.
Or vanity!
As you read the rest of these verses, does it paint a life of meaninglessness to you?
Or something else. Something that lasts and then disappears.
Can you think of something that was that kind of vapor in your life? Beautiful and then gone?
I'll bet you were happy for the beauty while it lasted!
Prayer: For further reflection and prayer, I offer the video to the song, Vapor, by the artists Michael and Lisa Gungor. The link (and URL) is here: