THE QUESTION `WHAT IS THAT GOOD?'
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`The creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him Who hath subjected the same, in
hope that the creature itself also shall be set free from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of
the children of God' (Author's translation).
Yet again we find vanity linked with the bondage of corruption with no release apart from resurrection. Let us
now turn to Ecclesiastes. What makes the writer there emphasize the vanity of all things? Precisely the same reason
is found that we have read in Psalm and Epistle. Death writes Ichabod across the labours of man. The very first
observation of the book is this. `One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh', and the section ends
with the thought `There is no remembrance'.
In chapter 2:14-17 this observation is developed. He perfectly realized that wisdom excelled folly as light does
darkness, yet he is faced with this chilling fact. Death comes to the wise as well as the fool:
`One event happeneth to them all ... As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then
more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity. For there is no remembrance (same word as
`memorial', 1:11) of the wise more than of the fool for the age (olam); seeing that in the days to come all will
have been already forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? As THE FOOL! Therefore I hated life' (Author's
translation)..
The writer not only hated life, but he hated all his labour by reason of the fact that death would nullify it.
`Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: seeing that I must leave it to the man that shall be
after me. And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour
wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have shewed wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity' (Ecc. 2:18,19
Author's translation).
The theme is not dropped, for within a few verses we read, `For there is a man whose labour is with wisdom, and
with knowledge and with skilfulness'. Yet he must leave it, perhaps to a fool! Surely life and its labours are vanity!
Chapter 3 develops a new phase of teaching. It is concerned with the set times and seasons for all the purposes
under heaven. Although a new phase is commenced, the vanity of the creature by reason of mortality is not
forgotten. What is the first couplet of the twenty-eight statements?
`There is ... a time to be born, and a time to die'!
After pursuing the question of time, the writer comes back to the subject of death:
`I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might
see that they themselves are beasts. For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even ONE THING
befalleth them: as one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all ONE BREATH; so that a man hath no
preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. All go unto ONE PLACE; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again
...' (3:18-20).
In 4:8 there is still a reference to the same sad theme. He looks at one `alone' having neither child nor brother.
Yet he does not say, `For whom do I labour'? The suggestion is, of course, that death will prevent him from
enjoying the result of his labour himself. So whether a man has an heir (2:18), or whether he has not - `all is vanity,
yea, a sore travail'. Speaking further of the accumulation of riches Koheleth observes:
`As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his
labour, which he may carry away in his hand. And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall
he go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind?' (5:15,16).
`Do not all go to one place'? he asked (6:6), and speaks of this life as:
`Vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?' (6:12).
`It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and
the living will lay it to his heart' (7:2).
`The laughter of a fool is like the crackling of thorns under a pot' (7:6 Author's translation).