Ecclesiastes, All Is Vanity

“All is vanity,” yes, all, even the good.

Solomon, an old king, approaches his death haunted by his past. When first on the throne, he had asked for wisdom. He was granted that and much more. But looking back over his life in an effort to pass on what he has learned to his successor, Solomon finds his journey riddled with contradictions.

Author Jacques B. Doukhan, an Adventist scholar of Jewish heritage, identifies contradiction as a symptom of our human condition. “Ecclesiastes affirms the value of work, wisdom, life, and happiness. But all these good values including religion and even righteousness—contain the potential of corruption and evil.”

Twenty-first-century Christians may recognize in Solomon’s musings that “ ‘all’ times are given by God: not only the good times but also the bad; not only the times of life but also the times of death.”