Have you ever had one of those days when you find yourself lost in thought, falling down the rabbit hole of pondering life, purpose, wisdom, your very existence on this earth? It’s a hard moment and that’s what is happening here for the author of Ecclesiastes.

Wisdom literature in the Old Testament refers to and is entirely involved with the notion of ‘skill in living’, which is a combination of the capacities of human intellect, the application of knowledge, and experience of daily life – teaching us moral principles, or prompting us to reflect or investigate problems which are associated with the human existence.

As I read Ecclesiastes, my mind is in a battle. Every word goes against my Pentecostal faith-based, ‘ensure we are super-positive’ nature. How can this be in my Bible? This guy definitely would not be on the preaching team. Yet our Bible clearly and boldly puts this man’s thoughts on display, as a model, an example. It comes in parallel with the question: why is Job in the Bible?

‘Meaningless!  Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless’ (Ecclesiastes 1:2). Work, wisdom, folly, pleasure, belongings, riches, success, greatness, all the delights of mankind, and everything under the sun – meaningless. This is what one might walk away from Ecclesiastes concluding, however there is more to be said of the word ‘meaningless’ and what that would have meant to the teacher.