“absurdité”—“dans la ligne de certaines philosophies modernes” (1968:55). Barucq says that the Hebrew word “signifie quelque chose d’inconsistant, comme le souffle, le néant”, and further notes that “il est bien entendu que Dieu en dirige le sens mais I’homme ne perce pas le mystère de cette action. C’est la faillite de la sagesse” (pp. 55f.). While Qohelet would agree with this statement, it is not what he means by the word hebel. As I see it, hebel designates not the mysterious but rather (and this is a fundamental