When did people first start thinking that all is vanity? The answer is after the Fall, when Adam and Eve began to realize that a life apart from God is really a very difficult life. They express this when their second son is born. They give him the name Abel. The meaning of this name is vanity, breath and emptiness, a vapour. Life in this world is only temporary. Because of the fall man has become weak and mortal. People who come to understand this will then necessarily ask the question: why exactly am I on earth? What is the point of life and work? Why do we do it? It then seems that life has no value. Isn’t everything in vain? You may be a hard-working person, put in a lot of effort and get tired. But what purpose does it serve? Why put in so much effort when all the results thereof will eventually disappear anyway?
3 What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?