Maybe It’s Not So Bad
For the fate of the sons of mankind and the fate of animals [a]is the same. As one dies, so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath, and there is no advantage for mankind over animals, for all is futility. Ecclesiastes 3:19 NASB
Futility – In this commentary on Ecclesiastes, Michael V. Fox writes:
In Birket ha-Shaḥar, the Jewish liturgy before the morning service, part of this verse is combined with reminiscences of other phrases from Ecclesiastes to quite different effect: “For most of [human] deeds are nothingness, and the day of their lives are fleeting (hevel) before You. And the advantage of human over beast is naught, for all is fleeting.” In this prayer, hevel does not mean ‘meaningless,’ nor are all human deeds deemed ‘nothingness’; in the Jewish view, much of what we do, or can do, has deep significance.[1]
The critical term is hevel:
The noun appears seventy-one times in the ot. Thirty-six times it is used in Eccl, where it occurs at least once in each of the twelve chapters except chapter ten.
[Concerning] the cluster of references found in Eccl (thirty-six). These may be grouped into several subdivisions. First are those passages in which the author states his inability to find fulfillment in work, both in his failure to be creative and in his lack of control over the privilege of free disposition of his possessions; this is “vanity”:2:11, 19, 21, 23; 4:4, 8; 6:2. Second are those verses in which the author struggles with the idea that the connection between sin and judgment, righteousness and final deliverance is not always direct or obvious. This is an anomaly about life and it is “vanity”:2:15; 6:7–9; 8:10–14. The meaning of hebel here would be “senseless.” Thirdly are those verses in which the author laments the shortness of life; this is “vanity”:3:19; 6:12; 11:8, 10. Life, in its quality, is “empty” or “vacuous” (and thus unsubstantial), and in its quantity is “transitory.”[2]
Hamilton’s attempts to rescue the existential despair of this term in Ecclesiastes when he continues:
Rather than the above observations being final conclusions about life by the author of Eccl, perhaps they reveal something of his method and his concealed premise. He may be attempting to demonstrate man’s inability to find meaning to life unaided by divine revelation and interruption. This solo quest will always end in futility.[3]
In other words, Qohelet’s analysis is relegated to “man without God.” But the Jewish view is always “man and God.” Therefore, Qohelet’s statement reflects only the conclusion of those apart from YHVH. Problem solved. . . . Well, almost.
Even if Qohelet’s analysis is really limited to the empirical world of human logic, it still resonates. We still feel the desperation of lack of purpose. We still experience the open pit, the sense that death swallows it all, that time erases. What Judaism asks of us is not to deny life’s entropy but rather to trust beyond our sensory experience. To believe that God’s purposes prevail—despite evidence to the contrary. To look straight into the abyss of the cosmos and say, “No, this is not the end.” In the thoughts of Brad Young, faith is ultimately a matter of perseverance. Walk through the valley of the shadow of death. There really isn’t any other alternative.
Topical Index: hevel, futility, vanity, purpose, meaninglessness, Ecclesiastes 3:19
[1] Michael V. Fox, The JPS Bible Commentary: Ecclesiastes (2004), p. 26.
[2] Hamilton, V. P. (1999). 463 הָבַל. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament(electronic ed., p. 204). Moody Press.
[3] Ibid.
