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Vanity

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EKnight:
A few weeks ago I read all of Ecclesiastes and of course "all is vanity" was repeated over and over again.  I have read the word vain/vanity many other times in the bible and I just can't grasp its meaning.  Could someone simplify this for me?

Eileen

Beloved:
love of self

beloved

Kat:

Hi Eileen,

When we put our faith and trust in this anything in this physical world, we will be disappointed.  The physical is only temporary and will not last longer than our lifetime anyway.  Think about the parable of the rich fool.

Luke 12:13  Then one from the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."
v. 14  But He said to him, "Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?"
v. 15  And He said to them, "Take heed and beware of covetousness,[2] for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses."
v. 16  Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.
v. 17  And he thought within himself, saying, "What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?'
v. 18  So he said, "I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.
v. 19  And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry."'
v. 20  But God said to him, "Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?'
v. 21  "So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

We make plans, we seek happiness in wealth and/or power.  This physical life is a learning experience, nothing we obtain in this life physically will remain, only the experience.  It is vain to seek the physical, because only treasures in heaven are of any value.

mercy, peace and love
Kat

Beloved:
That was the simple answer this is a little more detail

Perhaps the intent of the author of the book of Ecclesiastes... not to make everything seem hopeless, but rather to point out that we can choose to chase after the ephemeral ways of this impermanent world, or we can choose to follow the eternal ways of God, living with unbounded love for God and for one-another.

That harvest which is sown is what is reaped

Chasing after the ephemeral and insubstantial ways of this world leads only to vexation, confusion, and disappointment, while realizing the truth of our worldly situation and living a life of joyful loving-kindness brings eternal peace.

Since our lives are described as grass

Isa 40:7  The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass

then fixation on our self interests which is temporay rather than God who is etrnal  is discouraged

beloved.

Dave in Tenn:
This one seems to be the one most used in Ecc.

H1892
הבל    הבל
hebel  hăbêl
heh'-bel, hab-ale'
From H1891; emptiness or vanity; figuratively something transitory and unsatisfactory; often used as an adverb: -  X altogether, vain, vanity.

You've heard the expression 'they died in vain'.  I think that's the thrust of the word in Ecclesiastes.  For nothing, useless, pointless, empty.

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