death. His verdict? “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity” (1:2b). If life ends at the grave, then we have no ultimate purpose for living. But more than that: even if life did not end in death, without God life would still be without purpose. For man and the universe would then be simply accidents of chance, thrust into existence for no reason. Without God the universe is the result of a cosmic accident, a chance explosion. There is no reason for which it exists. As for man, he’s a freak of nature—a blind