Focus: Vanity Of Vanities (Pt.1)

Text: Eccl.1:2

"Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity."

The writer of Ecclesiastes identifies himself as "the preacher," which in Hebrew is the qôheleth - one who ushers or assembles people into the presence of God. Ecclesiastes deals with the moments of truth, and exposes all of us to the inescapable realities of earthly existence.

From the research he has already conducted, the writer has reached a conclusion that is undoubtably incontrovertible. Concerning life under the sun, he says at the very start of his book, "Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity," and he repeats the same at the end of the book, "Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity" (Eccl.12:8). 

Humanity appears condemned to a life of vanity as a result of the Fall in Gen.3. Paul tells us that "the creature was made subject to vanity…"(Rom.8:20). For man's sake, all of creation has the sentence of vanity written over it. 

Life is fickle, and it fizzles away so fast. All our efforts and feats have the label of vanity to them. Nothing really lasts in this world.

The first sentence of Genesis is: "In the beginning God created the heaven AND the earth." The little word 'and' implies that the heaven and the earth were designed by God to function together as a whole. The earth cannot function independently of heaven. They are created to coexist. Christ Himself tells us to pray, "Thy will be done on earth as it is being done in heaven." Heaven and earth must collaborate to advance the views and values of God here on earth.

Vanity is now the result of a life on earth lived independently away from God. Today, man's belief or value system is warped. We live by twisted and swapped values. Our list of values shows how we esteem and idolize vanity. Someone has said that "by getting and spending we lay waste our powers." Man is ruining himself by his own belief system - humanism, secularism, atheism, syncretism, pluralism, etc.

The Hebrew word for vanity is hăbêl. So "vanity of vanities" is hebel hebelim. It speaks of that which visible, tangible and recognizable, but at the same, it signifies that which is empty and transient, that which vaporizes and vanishes. It connotes appearances devoid of substance. It refers to that which is unsubstantial, momentary, profitless, or pointless. It is fleeting and passing, not lasting. It is time-bound, not eternal. Generally, it means illusion, fraud, futility, empty, spuriousness. It refers to that which is transitory and does not satisfy the true longing of the human heart. It is hebel hebelim - vanity of vanities; all is vanity. 

Vanity is flashy and fascinating, but it has nothing in it that satisfies the hunger and thirst in the human soul.

In the Old Testament, vanity is connected with idolatry. The Scripture says, "And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them" (2Kgs.17:15). From various Scriptures we understand that man loves and speaks vanity. Also, he has lifted his soul to vanity. The psalmist says, "Verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah" He says, "Surely every man is vanity. Selah." 

Man's thoughts are vanity and he constantly beholds vanity. Jeremiah declares, "Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity…" (Jer.18:15). In Habakkuk we read that "the people shall weary themselves for very vanity." In Jeremiah, God says, "Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities?" (Jer.8:19). From the moment when Adam sinned against his God in Gen.3 to this very moment, man has become a slave to vanity. We value vanity, and we seem totally sold out to vanity. Our pursuits have the label of hebel on them.

May God help us view life from the vantage point of heaven, help us reshape our outlook on life, make us focus on things that last forever, and cause us to invest heavily in the future where we are going to permanently spend our whole life. Amen!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter