Finding Fulfillment in an Unsatisfying World: Part I

Introduction
Hebrew wisdom literature explores the way the world works in order to instruct readers in how to live. It seeks to “make wise the simple” (Ps. 19:17) and to make our paths straight (Pr. 3:6). Three of these biblical wisdom books are Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes; these three provide a unique and necessary perspective on life. Proverbs presents an idealistic view of life: if you do righteous things, you should live long and receive blessing; but if you do wicked things, you should receive punishment and an untimely death.1 I imagine Proverbs being presented to a group of young men and women who will benefit from instruction on how the world generally works. Job, on the other hand, presents wisdom through narrative in the form of a wise old sage who suffers unimaginable loss, yet still chooses to honor the Lord. Job recognizes God’s sovereignty over all things, even when life doesn’t make sense.  

Then, there’s Ecclesiastes. If Proverbs conjures images of youngsters being instructed in the way of life and Job evokes a sense of sage wisdom offered at the end of life, Ecclesiastes feels like a middle-aged cynic who has experienced the frustrations of life. The speaker has lived long enough to know that life frequently doesn’t pan out the way the Proverbs insinuates it will but hasn’t yet lived long enough to be able to say with Job “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). Though Ecclesiastes may at first glance seem overly pessimistic, it teaches a vital message for Christians in the twenty-first century: it is only once we acknowledge life is like a vapor that we can truly enjoy the life God intends us to enjoy.

The Contextual Framing of Ecclesiastes
Determining the author(s) of Ecclesiastes has been one among many elusive elements of establishing its contextual foundation. It is written by a man identified as Qohelet, Qoheleth, or Kohelet. This name or title means “assembler” and has been interpreted to refer to either a person who presides over an assembly of people (teacher), or as one who assembles wise sayings. It is unnecessary to decide between these two potential uses of the word, as both senses are applicable to the author of Ecclesiastes (hereafter referred to as Qoheleth.)

Qoheleth is introduced in the first verse of the book as “the son of David, king in Jerusalem” which has led many to believe that this book was written by Solomon. Though the life experiences detailed throughout the book match with the experiences of Solomon, the majority of modern scholars agree that this book was not written by Solomon, but by a teacher who was appropriating Solomon’s voice to share observations about life2. Attaching this wisdom to the experience of Solomon served to amplify the theological message of the book, as Solomon was renowned for his wisdom and wealth. If anyone should be able to speak definitively to the value and fulfillment found in the variety of experiences described in Ecclesiastes, it would be Solomon.  

Qoheleth employs the use of repeated words and phrases to communicate his cynical observations of the world. He uses the phrase “under the sun” to describe the entirety of human experience, likely also highlighting the limited perspective with which humans can naturally observe our earthly experiences.6 Seven times he encourages hearers to embrace the temporary pleasures of life (like eating and drinking), advocating a philosophical idea that has since the writings of the Roman poet Horace been known as “Carpe Diem” (Latin: “seize the day”.) Five times he uses the rhetorical question “who knows” to draw attention to the elusive nature of proper interpretation of life circumstances. Of all the repeated words and phrases within Ecclesiastes, however, none is more significant than the Hebrew word hebel (or hevel).7

Hebel Explored The literal meaning of hebel is “mist,” “breath,” or “vapor.” However, the correct understanding of this word in Ecclesiastes has been hotly debated for millennia, and rightly so, since its meaning radically impacts the interpretation of the book. It has such an impact on the meaning of the book because the book’s thesis is summarized by the phrase “everything is hebel.” Not only that, but the word is used a total of thirty-eight times throughout the book. It is fair to say that the theology of Ecclesiastes is a theology of hebel. After experiencing all life has to offer, the best way Qoheleth can think to summarize it all is hebel. Because of the importance of this word, it is fitting that we spend some effort discerning its meaning.8

Possible Reading of Hebel One view on the meaning of hebel is that it is best defined as “absurd.” This view leans into the idea that life is filled with frustrations; what should be able to be expected cannot. It’s irritating that “a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it” (2:21). It goes against the simple cause and effect understanding of Proverbs when “the wise dies just like the fool.” The gap between what should be expected and what happens in reality could rightly be called “absurd.”

An interesting perspective on life as hebel is presented in the idea that the word means “incomprehensible,” “unknowable,” “mystery,” or “enigmatic.” This view sees Qoheleth as primarily pontificating on the ways life keeps you guessing. He would be commenting on the wisdom in recognizing limitations in understanding, acknowledging that understanding life is “above our paygrade.” While this approach is appealing because it seems to be one of the more positive ways to interpret Ecclesiastes, it misses some of the dark, disappointed tone of the book. Another approach is that hebel connotes emptiness and would best be translated as “zero,” “nothing,” “void,” “empty,” or “futile.”9 This understanding focuses on the ultimately unsatisfying nature of life, wealth, pleasure, religion, and even wisdom itself. In this understanding of hebel, Qoheleth is bemoaning how he felt empty after each experience, unable to find something that would leave him feeling fulfilled. This sense of the word does seem to have a good contextual fit for each use of the word in Ecclesiastes, but there is a better choice.

A closely related, but nuanced, reading of hebel is understanding it as “worthless.” This takes the cynicism of a “futile” reading and adds to it a value statement. It would be as if Qoholeth says, “life is not ultimately fulfilling, so it’s not worth living.” This would, however, be quite the cynical statement indeed. This would go beyond a healthy recognition of disappointments in life into excessively negative brooding. It’s hard to imagine God inspiring an author to write that life is, at its core, worthless. The view that I have most commonly encountered is that hebel is best translated as “vanity” or “meaningless.” This interpretation typically processes the message of Qoheleth as “I have found that no experience, wealth, wisdom, or religion can provide the meaning for which I yearn.” Though this attaches a negative value statement in much the same way as “worthless,” it seems a more subjective statement of worth (“I found no meaning”) rather than an objective statement (“life has no value”).

Some scholars would argue that hebel has multiple meanings throughout the book and that each usage must be interpreted independently based on context. This view attempts to hold in tension the fact that the word has widely varied interpretations and limiting it to one meaning throughout the book may limit its intended power. Though I applaud the effort to allow the word to take on more nuance, this interpretation misses the mark by failing to satisfy the framing statements that “all/everything is hebel.” It would much better fit the structure of the book to find a consistent referent for hebel.

Hebel As VaporThe potential readings of hebel explored above attempt to provide a consistent interpretive lens for this enigmatic word. But, what if rather than having a single, one dimensional, definition or even multiple definitions for the word, the ambiguity of the literal sense of the word “vapor” is intentional?10 What if rather than trying to connect hebel to a particular meaning, the reader is expected to encounter the tensions, contradictions, and ambiguity of the word in all its opacity? By attempting to reduce hebel to a single concept, we likely miss the brilliance of Qoheleth’s multifaceted use of the word.12

Understanding hebel as vapor allows us to give the term space to mean everything it could mean, rather than limiting its interpretation.13 Vapor is amorphous and ever-changing. It is impossible to define its shape. Vapor impedes visibility, obscuring items on the other side of it. It is impossible to lay hold of a vapor, as it always slips through your fingers. Vapors are transient, lasting only a short time and then dissipating. Given these characteristics of vapor, it is not hard to understand why Qoheleth would use it as an apt analog for life. Vapor, Vapor; Everything is Vapor.

 Follow along for Part II of this blog post as we continue to explore the fascinating implications for and applications of hebel throughout Ecclesiastes.




1James L. Crenshaw, "Ecclesiastes, Book of," In The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, ed. David Noel Freedman, vol. 2: 275
2John Goldingay. Ecclesiastes. The Bible in God’s World, Old Testament. (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2021), 26. Goldingay provides a convincing linguistic argument for Ecclesiastes being written during the Second Temple period. This accords with the view of most modern scholars
3 Tremper Longman III, “Ecclesiastes 3: History of Interpretation,” In Wisdom, Poetry and Writings. Dictionary of the Old Testament, ed. Tremper Longman III, and Peter Enns. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2008), 143, ProQuest Ebook Central.
4Peter Enns, “Ecclesiastes 1: Book of,” In Wisdom, Poetry and Writings. Dictionary of the Old Testament, ed. Tremper Longman II, and Peter Enns. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2008): 127, ProQuest Ebook Central.
5 Tremper Longman III, The ‘Fear of God’ in the Book of Ecclesiastes,” Bulletin for Biblical Research 25, no. 1 (2015): 17, Atla Religion Database Plus.
6Gilbert N Alaribe, and Lawrence N Okwuosa, “Seeing the World through the Eyes of God: Reading the Book of Qoheleth in the Light of Genesis 1:1-2:4a,” Verbum et Ecclesia 42, no. 1 (2021): 3, doi:10.4102/ve.v42i1.2261.
7 Joel K T. Biwul, “The Use of Hebel in Ecclesiastes: A Political and Economic Reading,” HTS Theological Studies 73, no. 3 (2017): 4, doi:10.4102/hts.v73i3.4571.
8 Russell Meek, “Twentieth- and Twenty-First-Century Readings of Hebel () in Ecclesiastes.” Currents in Biblical Research 14, no. 3 (June 2016): 281,
doi:10.1177/1476993X15586039. In this work Meek provides a thorough discussion of the various readings of the word hebel.
9 Kimmo Huovila, and Dan Lioy, “The Meaning of Hebel in Ecclesiastes,” Conspectus 27, no. 1 (March 2019): 43, Atla Religion Database Plus.
10 Crenshaw, "Ecclesiastes, Book of," 273.
11 Zhongcheng Wu, “The Hebel World, Its Ambiguities and Contradictions,” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 45, no. 2 (December 2020): 200,
doi:10.1177/0309089220903333.
12 Roland E. Murphy, Ecclesiastes, Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 23A (Dallas, TX: Word Books, 1992), lviii-lix.
13 John E. McKenna, “The Concept of Hebel in the Book of Ecclesiastes.” Scottish Journal of Theology 45, no. 1 (1992): 21, Atla Religion Database Plus. McKenna provides an argument for a grasp of hebel as a “category of thought” rather than a simple definition.