Ecclesiastes 2:24-25: Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God. For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I?
Vapor of vapors, Solomon writes. All is vapor. Wise man and fool both die; nothing lasts forever, no matter how carefully and skillfully built. Trying to control reality is like trying to sculpt mist, like trying to herd the wind into a pen for the night. Everything that’s solid melts air, into thin air. Vapor of vapors, all is vapor.
That is the apparently depressing message of Ecclesiastes, and it hits home with us. We know what he means. We all know that nothing is permanent. Friends and members of our family die. We start a project, but circumstances make it impossible to finish. Rewards are not distributed equitably: Talented artists live in obscurity, while mediocrity gains public attention. Nearly everyone has felt the sense of vertigo that comes from feeling that our whole life has been wasted.
But Solomon’s is not ultimately a depressing or tragic vision of life.
It’s a message of joy. That is so because Solomon lives with the confident belief that there is a Good Shepherd who can train the wind. There is a God who is not mist and vapor. Yahweh the God of Israel, inhabits the cloud. He’s veiled, but He is there and He is not silent.
That’s why Solomon can return again and again to his exhortation to eat, drink and be merry. There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink, and tell himself his labor is good. Vapor would be horrifying if there were no God beyond the vapor. But there is, and so we can relax and rejoice. God rules, and so we don’t have to carry the burden of the world on our own shoulders. The world is outside our control: Ain’t that a kick?
Here in the middle of the vapor, we have a fixed point. Here is a place of rejoicing in a world of death and impermanence. This is our table in the midst (Jeff Meyers). And there is nothing better than for you to eat and drink and receive these good things from the hand of God.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
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