It’s all hebel. Qoheleth’s world is, indeed, quite bleak. There are some who suffer with no one to comfort them, and also some who toil… Read More »This Too is Hebel: A Protest of Lived Frustration

Are you a dreamer? Well, don’t get your hopes up because I am about to shatter them. When it comes to dreams in Ecclesiastes, it’s… Read More »This Too is Hebel: What Dreams May Come

“Qoheleth expresses this dissent through a fragmented faith that dares to voice the incoherence of suffering without seeking a premature or facile resolution.” Life is… Read More »This Too is Hebel: A Portrait of Divine Hiddenness

Do not be amazed. I’ve used that specific phrase quite a few times throughout this project. Now, it is time to explore Qoheleth’s deployment of… Read More »This Too is Hebel: Systemic Oppression and Earthly Hierarchies

God is in heaven. You are on earth. And what does life on earth look like? Wickedness exists in the places of justice and righteousness;… Read More »This Too is Hebel: Humans in the Hands of a Hidden God

God is omnipresent. God is in heaven, on earth—everywhere. That is a very popular belief, especially in the more evangelical circles I once inhabited. God… Read More »This Too is Hebel: God is in Heaven and You Upon Earth

The solitary toiler in Ecclesiastes 4:7–8, discussed in my previous post, especially stands out to me as an example of theodicy in Ecclesiastes (or, theology… Read More »This Too is Hebel: Isolation, Futility, and Absurdity

You are what you eat. That is a phrase we have all heard. One you might not be familiar with, however, is, “the fool is… Read More »This Too is Hebel: Toil, Envy, Self-Cannibalism, and Companionship

Better off dead. That is the message of Ecclesiastes 4:1–3. Don’t believe me? “And I turned and I saw all the oppressions (העשקים, ha-ashuqim) that… Read More »This Too is Hebel: And There Was Not for Them a Comforter

This too shall pass. This too is hebel. One of the fundamental facts of life itself is that life is unfair. Conventional wisdom posits that… Read More »This Too is Hebel: Wickedness in the Place of Justice