At a time of much change, I decided to re-read the Book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon’s words of wisdom as he reviews his own life amidst great change. He remembers always to “fear God and keep his commandments” as he looks forward to God’s judgment in the future, to reward good and punish evil (Eccl 12:13-14). But, if this is his goal, what is the significance of the introduction?
How does Ecclesiastes begin? Is it “’Meaningless, Meaningless!’ says the Teacher. ‘Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless’” (Eccl 1:1). That is the rendering of the NIV 2006. “Meaningless” is an interpretation of a literal term: “The words of Qoheleth, son of David, king in Jerusalem. ‘Breath/breeze of breezes (hebel hebelim), [1]’ says Qoheleth. ‘Breath of breezes, all [is] breath’” (Eccl 1:1-2). Qoheleth comes from the verb qehel “to be assembled or congregated,” signifying “Preaching Wisdom or the Assembler.”[2] Qoheleth assembles his listeners so he can explain the meaning of this phrase “breath of breezes” throughout his book.
He begins: “What does anyone gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever” (1:3-4 NIV). I write these reflections as my familial home finally leaves possession by our family and friends to a bank who will sell it to total strangers.
When my mother was young, she found a destroyed house, only a foundation remaining, in the countryside of the capital of the Dominican Republic. Now it is an urban residential part of the city. The history of that former house is lost in time, but its walls were an impressive 16 inches wide, wide enough to ward off enemy attacks. She designed our house (together with an architect) and supervised every phase of its building on that foundation during the era of dictator Rafael Trujillo, who had renamed “Santo Domingo” to honor himself “Ciudad Trujillo” or Trujillo City. Our family moved into the rebuilt house when I was only one year old. But then my mother contracted tuberculosis. In her day no vaccine or antibiotic for treatment existed. And she had to go to a health sanitarium in the United States for a year. We moved to Cranford, New Jersey and lived there for a few years while she recovered. Meanwhile, my parents rented the house in the Dominican Republic. I have a few memories from that time in New Jersey, but one that repeats is me standing with my brother and father out in a garden while we looked up toward a balcony far away where my mother stood. We waved. What happened then was a prolepsis of what is happening now. As a very young child, I lost connections with my mother and my home and lost control of my life and my belongings. These are the difficulties we endured while the house remained.
In what does Solomon find comfort? “People can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God” (Eccl 2:23-24 NIV). These conclusions end: “Also this is breath.” While we lived in this house, we ate and drank and enjoyed our work. These daily activities are all from God. God provides the food and the labor to the person who pleases God. These activities have not been “meaningless,” but rather they bring a pattern or routine to one’s life amidst change. Change, like a breeze, comes constantly, but it also brings changes to the environment.
We have “eternity in our hearts” (Eccl 3:11) and thus we feel lost in the midst of change. We were meant to live forever, and our labors to last forever. But we all will die (Heb 9:27), even though we look forward to the resurrection. In the meantime, Solomon cautions, enjoy God’s gifts, to eat and drink daily and be satisfied with our work (Eccl 3:13). He repeats this important refrain many times (Eccl 5:18; 8:15; 9:7).[3] God’s work endures forever, but ours endures only as it is tied to God’s (Eccl 3:14).
All is fleeting, but not “meaningless” for us humans (Eccl 3:19). In the meantime, God wants us to enjoy our work (Eccl 3:27) because we cannot control what will happen with our work and our property, after we pass on (Eccl 3:22).
Solomon also reminds us that “Two are better than one, …if they fall down, they can help each other up” (Eccl 4:9-10 NIV). My parental house is passing on to banks who may have little regard for the past, but my companion and husband Bill continues on as we help each other, keeping each other warm in cold Massachusetts and defending each other. We enjoy life together (Eccl 4:9-12).
Having money in itself never brings satisfaction (Eccl 5:10). Rather, “the sleep of laborers is sweet” (Eccl 5:12). Solomon also cautions us not to bother muttering the fruitless refrain: “Why were the old days better than these?” (Eccl 7:10). That’s not a wise question. The old days will never return.
What did my mother gain from her labors? Our family returned to Ciudad Trujillo, our house, our home, when she was well, before I was ready for kindergarten, which they called, “Fun-to-Learn.” We enjoyed that house for almost sixty years. As a youth, I climbed the low trees, creating elvish homes in the sky. I tried to play tennis on a crooked, earthquake-cracked cement court. I climbed its balconies and imagined I could fly through the Flamboyan trees. I watched the chickens flutter up a tree next to my bedroom balcony every night. I learned to roller skate by careening around the cement path that surrounded the house. I realize now it was not just a house. It had become a citadel of memories.
My parents retired there. As they aged, my father’s coworker, his son, his wife and her sister, then their sons and daughter took care of them (and, eventually, us). The doctors among them even slept over, when necessary, for caretaking my parents’ health. After my parents died, we then sold the house to the family, especially to my mother’s friend and dentist. That was in 2006. But now she too must sell the house after twenty years. Her children were young when she purchased the house, but now they are grown, married and single, but all adults. Her children and grandchildren enjoyed the ample yard, as we had. But now their mother and grandmother remains alone, taking care of an aging house, too expensive for her to pay her bills. The house and the property have now been bought by the bank.
The land remains, while the wind blows over it creating the breeze: “The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course” (Eccl 1:6 NIV). Who else but Solomon was king in Jerusalem and experienced in wisdom and knowledge? (Eccl 1:16). Solomon is Qoheleth. He is exasperated when he wonders what will become of all his property. We too wonder if our house, although considered by the government a national heritage for its Spanish architecture and age, will be knocked down for a set of high-rise condominiums.
The property had already been subdivided many times. When my mother was hospitalized, some of her family claimed half of it for themselves. My mother herself sold a small part. My brother and I subdivided the property into three parts. The property may again be subdivided. Possibly the house will be revitalized. Will these new owners be wise or foolish? (Eccl 2:11).
Is Solomon’s refrain really appropriate for us who fear God? Yes, Solomon repeats: “It is appropriate for people to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toils…labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot” (Eccl 5:15 NIV).
Solomon’s words are relevant to New Testament Christians as well. Jesus adds some cautionary boundaries, not to worry about what one eats or drinks or wears. While we enjoy our daily work, our focus is on each day. In the same way, Jesus does not want us to worry about tomorrow, “for Tomorrow will worry about itself” (Matt 6:34). Jesus’s brother James also warns us not to plan for the future without qualifying our plans by “If the Lord might will…” (James 4:15). Our very lives are a breath: “You are a mist, the one for a little appearing, then also disappearing” (James 4:14).[4] James applies to his day what has been repeated frequently in the Old Testament: “My life is but a breath” (Job 7:7);
“Everyone is but a breath” (Psalm 39:5);
“My days vanish like smoke” (Psalm 102:3);
“Lord, what are human beings that you care for them, mere mortals that you think of them? They are like a breath; their days are like a fleeting shadow” (Psalm 144:3-4 NIV). Instead, God is our “Rock,” firm and secure, a stronghold or fortress (Ps 144:1-2),
So, what have I learned from Ecclesiastes as I prepare to lose all connection to my familial home in Santo Domingo?
1.One’s life and one’s belonging within life are all transitory, like the Caribbean Tradewinds, that blow, especially in the winter.
2.The land itself stays on, despite its many uses by humans.
3.We enjoyed use of our property for many generations. Now it is time for others to take its ownership. As owners, we will be forgotten in time, as even we ourselves never knew the previous owners.
4.The property itself went through many changes and subdivisions. This latest change is nothing new. We cannot control its use once it is sold. And, sadly, we may not retain all our connections.
5. Our own satisfaction should come from our own labors and daily enjoyment of God’s gifts to us of meaningful work and healthy nutrition[5]: the daily routine of eating and drinking; the daily production of labor. We can find meaning in the fleeting nature of life.
6. I am thankful for having a spouse like Bill who can accompany me in times of change.
7. We cling, as breaths ourselves, living within the changing winds of life, on the Rock of our lives, the living God who never dies.
Aída
[1] Karl Feyerabend, Langenscheidt Pocket Hebrew Dictionary to the Old Testament Hebrew-English (Berlin: McGraw-Hill Book, 1969), 74. Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs define hebel as “vapour,” figuratively, “vanity.” A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Oxford: Clarendon, 1968), 210. What is transitory may be evil, as the idols in Isa 57:13, but it may simply be mortal.
[2] Feyerabend, Langenscheidt, 296.
[3] The theme is the circulatory nature of life. Thus, Solomon structures the book in a circulatory manner, repeating its main theme. It is not a book by a person without faith as some consider. Rather, it is Solomon considering what matters over time.
[4] See further on James in my commentary: Aida Besancon Spencer, A Commentary on James, Kregel Exegetical Library (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2020), 237.
[5] Paul reiterates that all foods that God created are to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving (1 Tim 4:3-4). See also Aída Besançon Spencer, 1 Timothy, NCCS (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2013), 104-107.
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