THE DAYS OF HIS VAIN LIFE WHICH HE SPENDETH AS A SHADOW

The general subject of Ecclesiastes is ‘things under the sun’, with particular attention upon the labour of men. In this book Solo­mon seeks to evaluate, from a human standpoint and independent of any personal relationship with God, the mean­ing and purpose of life upon earth, and concludes that considered thus ‘all is vanity’, empty and without profit, unable to bring satisfaction and contentment to the heart of man, 1. 2, 3.

In chapter six Solomon considers the vanity of wealth. The evil of a man possessing all that the heart could desire yet, not given the power to enjoy it, seeing a stranger partake of it, 6. 2; cf. 5. 19. Next, he considers a man who is blessed with long life and with many descendents to inherit his possessions, yet finds no pleasure in that, dying alone and forgotten, v. 3. In such a case, Solomon says it would be better never to have been born and, if one were to consider a long life to be an advantage over an untimely birth, he questions where the profit is if he finds no pleasure in those years, seeing that he ultimately dies himself, vv. 3-6. Further, Solomon says all man’s labour is with a view to his physical sustenance and no matter what he has he will always need more, in that respect the wise man has no advan­tage over the fool and any poor man, if content with what he has, is better off than all who constantly long for more, vv. 7-9. Why is life like this? It is what God has appointed for mortal man, v. 10, cf. Gen. 3. 17-19. In the light of that, whatever a man has or does cannot profit him but only increases this sense of pointlessness, v. 11. To see purpose to his existence he needs to know what is truly for his good in this life and what will be the outcome of his life after he departs, v. 12. This he cannot know for his days are like ‘a shadow’, dark, unsubstantial, transitory, leaving no evi­dence that they have ever been. What a depressing picture of life under the sun and what importance it gives to the Lord’s teach­ing not to lay up treasures upon earth but treasures in heaven, Matt. 6. 19, 20. Do we value most, things associated with ‘labour under the sun’ or things associated with ‘labour in the Lord’, Eccles. 1. 3; 1 Cor. 15. 58?