A Saint John’s Bible press release about this illumination says:
“As a Wisdom Book, Ecclesiastes focuses attention on life, death and God’s relationship with humanity. A raven, a common symbol of death, serves as a messenger flying up from the center of the illumination appearing to carry the breath of life back to God. It is pierced and surrounded by gold and silver bars, designations of divinity.
“The four elements of creation are all here: the green hues of fertile earth, the mysterious blues reflected in both sky and water, and the fire found in stars and comets. Despite the chaos of circling images spinning off the page, there is a constant communication between the heavens and the earth.”
Remember that the raven appeared as a messenger in the Creation image, and that bird eyes and wings were part of the Ten Commandments illustration. The Ecclesiastes frontispiece represents other messengers: seraph and butterfly wings abound. The rainbow bars, says Susan Sink, “are another sign of God’s presence, God’s ongoing covenant, asserting itself against the otherwise chaotic image of the cosmos.” (The Art of the Saint John’s Bible, vol. 2, p. 29)