Summary: How amazing it is that the Book of Ecclesiastes is even in the Bible. It is a dark and skeptical book, known primarily for its despair that anything worthwhile can ever come of our earthly strivings. "Vanity, vanity, all is vanity," it begins, and it does not let up. Everything is futile. There was a time when the Jewish rabbis were against including it in Holy Scripture. Today it is known as one of the "Wisdom" books of the Bible, a category that includes the Book of Psalms, Proverbs, The Song of Solomon, and maybe even Job. The Wisdom books of the Bible don't tell supernatural stories and miracles; they contain natural philosophy and an ordinary, earthly wisdom. If you know the Bible at all, you know that these books are not always cheery and hopeful. Instead, they represent humanity's search for God in a deeply realistic way, a hard, intellectually challenging way. I love the book of Ecclesiastes, maybe ever since Pete Seeger wrote that great song of the sixties, "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)." The lyrics of that song are almost entirely taken from Ecclesiastes: "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, a time to reap that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance."
