Ecclesiastes Explained

          

The word ‘meaningless’ is actually used 38 times, which is taken from the Hebrew word ‘hevel,’ which means smoke or vapour. So the teacher is not offering that our lives are meaningless, but that our lives are but a whisper of smoke, they are beautiful, mysterious, yet fleeting and short. Smoke is an enigma, it can appear solid yet if you try to grab hold of it, there is nothing there. The teacher is communicating that life is changing, confusing and uncontrollable. Life isn’t without meaning, but often the meaning is not clear at all. The teacher is helping us to come to terms with the march of time, the reality that all humans will die one day and that our lives are often left up to chance. Taken from Everything is meaningless! – Overview of Ecclesiastes