by Leroy on February 28th, 2026.
This article is also on my substack.
The Preacher in Ecclesiastes is considered to be King Solomon himself, wisest king of the Jerusalem, wisest of all the Jews. He is considered wise but many think this wisdom is missed in Ecclesiastes.
Studies of Ecclesiastes call it absurdist, contradicting, pessimistic, incoherent, and confused. I don't think it's any of these. In fact, I think it's painfully clear, but it took me decades of reflection to finally see it this way. I see it as clear but it's a hard thing to truly grasp. The Preacher even admits it's difficult for man to put it into words:
Man cannot express it.
The eye is not satisfied with seeing,
Nor the ear filled with hearing.
[1:8]
What I see now when I read Ecclesiastes is prose that twists and contorts itself to restate as many times as possible, and in as many ways as possible, the singular idea it has for you to grasp: all is vanity.
Let's consider the word vanity because it is so important for an understanding of Ecclesiastes. The word vanity comes from the Hebrew word "hebel" or "hevel". Here is what Jacob Allee says about it:
The Hebrew term הֶבֶל (which transliterates to “hebel”) is what lies behind the typical English translation of “vanity” and it may also be rendered as “mist,” “vapor,” or “mere breath.”
- Ecclesiastes
But we've found more translations of it. The Christian Standard Bible translates "hebel" as "futile". The New International Version translates it as "meaningless". The New Life Version translates it as "nothing."
All is futile, all is meaningless, all is nothing -- no wonder so many people get lost reading Ecclesiastes and come away thinking it is nihilistic or pessimistic. This isn't the Preacher's meaning at all and I consider it a literal miracle from the Lord that the King James Version was translated as "all is vanity."
For similar reasons, I also prefer "vexation of spirit" over "grasping for wind" too. "Grasping for wind" describes a useless action that also leads people to believe that Ecclesiastes is absurd. These two phrases are linked but have two completely different meanings. If my spirit is vexed then my spirit is troubled with difficulties. If I'm grasping for wind then I'm doing something useless. Vanity is useless so I understand the translation. But I prefer "vexation of spirit" because vanity, while useless, weighs people down. Vanity truly vexes people.
Having said this, we are nearly 500 years removed from the English in the King James Version so I am using the New King James Version for this article.
The main reason I prefer "all is vanity" as the translation is because vanity is seen. It stands a physical representation to further our understanding of the sermon whereas "futile" and "meaningless" are hard to grasp. I've taught a lot of people and if there's one thing I've learned it's that people need to see examples. We can see vanity.
We can see someone who is vain, who wears gaudy clothes to stand out from the crowd, who gets plastic surgery because they can't accept that their body ages, who conspicuously wears certain brands of watches, who loves to tell you they live in expensive neighborhoods.
All is vanity, the Preacher says. The Preacher uses the word vanity so we imagine it in our minds before asking the very first question in the sermon: "What profit has a man from all his labor?" [1:3]
All is vanity, but what is the profit of our labor? It's easy to answer, money, but that's the very symbol of vanity. It's easy to answer, shelter and safety, but we know the Lord provides even the animals on the ground and the birds in the air. We also know in our hearts that we labor for more than shelter, otherwise why do we care about our big houses?
We labor tirelessly to obtain vanities for ourselves: new clothes, better food, lots of drinks, cool friends, incredible things. We decorate ourselves, our apartments, our houses with things to be seen. No one labors for vanities that they think others will not see. Vanities are to be seen and we are never satisfied by seeing them.
The Preacher is asking, what is the profit of our vanity that we labor to obtain? What do we gain from it? The Preacher tells us straight away after asking this question. He says all of our vanities go away. All of our vanities die with us.
One generation passes away, and another generation comes;
But the earth abides forever.
[1:4]
This is usually the main takeaway from Ecclesiastes -- don't put too much stock into things because they decay or can be stolen. But this isn't quite the Preacher's meaning. All is vanity and there's other kinds of vanities that are not as easy to see.
And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind.
There was no profit under the sun.
[2:11]
The Preacher speaks about another kind of vanity and not just the ones we can see with our eyes. The Preacher tries to put the concept into words and says, "Man cannot express it." [1:8] All is vanity, and "all" means what you think.
Let's step back and consider vanity in another way. What's vanity if not just mere decoration? Isn't that another way of putting it? We decorate our bodies, our homes, and our very selves.
We may understand that our vanities are mere decoration, but the decoration I'm meaning is greater than the vanities we can see. This decoration often informs our entire life. Ontologically, this decoration leads us from being toward becoming. Our vanities compel us to become something.
The Preacher spends most of Ecclesiastes telling us about how we are swept up into vanities that we didn't even realize were vanities, the deep-seated ones that underlie how people become Laborers, Idlers, Warriors, Killers, Merchants, Robber Barrons, Priests, Zealots, Kings, Tyrants, and much else.
All vanity is decoration of the self. People become what they decorate their selves in.
We can see people who have become their vanities. We can see people who became drunk because they love pleasure [2:1], who became skillful to be the envy of their neighbors [4:4], who became selfish because they saw themselves as self-sufficient [4:8], who became powerful people to avoid their retribution [5:8], who became business owners because they love increase [5:10], who became wise to see themselves differently than fools [7:6], who became righteous to punish the wicked [8:14].
These are vanities, the Preacher reminds us.
We toil under the Sun for vanities, we labor to decorate ourselves in becoming, but it all goes away. It doesn't matter if one becomes king or queen, if one becomes world champion, if one becomes great -- this greatness is impermanent. All of our dearly held vanities are impermanent.
Wyatt Graham puts this concept beautifully into words:
The earth remains forever, and our efforts are “vanity of vanities!” Note the contrast between life under the sun (vanity) and the implied permanence of the earth. Here, we begin to see [the Preacher's] theological argument in practice. The world of impermanence cannot satisfy.
- The Futility of Impermanent Things
The concept of impermanence is very deep. Our very selves are impermanent. I’m not meaning your body which will die, but all the things that your self becomes in its pursuit of vanity. Think back to all that you once were that you now aren’t. At one time you may been strong, weak, charismatic, or lonely but now you could be weak, strong, repulsive, or popular. All these are impermanent.
This concept of impermanence is very important to the Preacher. It's so important that the Preacher repeats himself seven different times, using seven different images [1:4-11], to say the same thing: all is vanity, everything passes away and comes again, and it's never enough for us.
Illustrating this concept using birth and death, growth and decay, leads people to associate the concept only with negative things like death and decay. This concept of impermanence isn't negative. On the contrary, it leads to contentment and merriment if you apply it in your own life. Its application delivers you from being trapped in desire and suffering.
But understanding the application is difficult. And it's difficult to put into words: Everything on Earth is impermanent including your self and it's this self that you decorate in vanity.
What else would become if not the self?
To live without decoration is to just be. It is just living, taking every impermanent moment as Grace, and this is difficult to achieve let alone see. It requires that you give up the vanities you've donned, it requires that you give up new vanities as they appear, and it requires that you give up the vanities we've constructed which seem to be life itself.
We love our vanities and we consider our vanities as life itself. Very few are willing to give up life itself. Very few are willing to give up everything to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
This is a hard concept to understand until we see how our vanities vex us.
And how does a wise man die? As the fool!
Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me,
for all is vanity and [vexation of the spirit].
[2:16-17]
Our vanities weigh us down. If all we care about is the increase of money, we are vexed when it decreases. If all we care about is our clothes, we are vexed when they are worn out. If all we care about is pleasure, we are vexed when the bottle of wine is empty.
If all we care about is being smart, we are vexed when someone sees us as dumb. If all we care about is being wise, we are vexed when fools don’t understand. If all we care about is bringing righteousness to the wicked, we are vexed because the world itself is wickedness decorated in vanity.
Our dreams to become something weigh us down. We see people who aren't us and we want to become them, and this weighs us down. We see people who are funny, connected, righteous, and smart, and we want to become those things. When we see ourselves act humorless, lonely, wicked, and stupid, we are vexed.
Our spirits can of course become vexed by others, such as when we are oppressed, but most suffering occurs from our very selves, from the vanities we want but which never satisfy.
Don't consider this negatively! These are the vexations of the spirit but there's no need to be vexed. This is the entire point of the Preacher's sermon: you are laboring in vain, you are toiling for no profit, but enjoyment is there for you.
So I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.
[8:15]
If we don’t care the increase of money, we are free to spend it as a tool. If we don't care about our clothes, we are free to meet those who don't judge us for our clothes. If we care about more than pleasure, we are free to keep wine to share with friends.
If we don't care about being smart, we aren't weighed down with the right choice of the words. If we don't care about being wise, we can live in wisdom rather than through the judgment of the unwise. If we don't care about bringing righteousness to the wicked, we see that we've brought righteousness to ourselves.
Thinking of the incredible things you will do tomorrow is just as vexing as thinking of the horrible labors you will do tomorrow. Both stop you from enjoying today.
It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him.
[5:18]
What should you do today? Enjoy the good of your labor, but do not labor for vanity. Eat what you want, but do not become someone who feasts. Drink what you want, but do not become a drunkard. And be merry because joy with friends is the only profit on Earth that can remain with you for all the days you live.
Give up what seems to be life and you will have life itself. Doesn't that sound nihilistic, contradictory, and incoherent? Unfortunately, it isn't any of these things, it's just hard to put into clear English words. The Preacher himself struggled to put it into words but he tried anyway.
The Preacher tried to put into words what took him so long to find. How did he find it? He tested his happiness, his pleasure, and his body "... while guiding [his] heart with wisdom ... to lay hold on folly, till [he] might see what was good ..." [2:1-3] He built great works, had many friends, obtained all the gold and silver he could amass. [2:4-8] He became great and became known as wise. [2:9] What did he find?
Truly, this only I have found:
That God made man upright,
But they have sought out many schemes.
[7:29]