1:2 Vanity. The words “vanity,” “vanities,” and “vain” (all the same Hebrew word) occur no less than thirty-eight times in Ecclesiastes, almost as much as in all the rest of the Bible put together.

1:3 under the sun. This phrase, “under the sun” occurs twenty-nine times in Ecclesiastes. If one’s thoughts and motives are all “under the sun,” then indeed everything is vanity. Each believer is exhorted to “set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3:2).