June 22

Today's Reading: Ecclesiastes 1:1-18

From the Faithlife Study Bible:
"Ecclesiastes addresses the times when life doesn’t make sense—when it seems that wisdom cannot offer any satisfactory answers. The author takes an honest, unflinching look at wealth and labor, pleasure and wisdom. The speaker finally decides that they are ultimately meaningless in themselves. But the book also concludes that realizing such limitations should encourage us to approach God with awe (Eccl 12:9–14)."

They key word in Ecclesiastes is translated "vanity" in the ESV. The underlying Hebrew word can mean "mist", "vapor" or "mere breath". It is used metaphorically to describe anything that is fleeting or elusive. It appears five times in verse 2 and 29 other times in the book.

We need to keep in mind the overall theme of the book or we will draw some wrong conclusions about what the author is teaching. For instance, here in chapter 1, we could conclude that wisdom is not to be valued. But the author is pointing out that wisdom alone, especially human wisdom, that is lived out apart from a relationship with God is "vanity".