Solomon asks what is the good of all the work men do? God has given men a tiny glimpse of eternity and none of us can wrap our minds around it. Solomon says that he knows that there is nothing better than that men should be happy and do good while they live. Eat, drink and find satisfaction in your work - that is a gift from God. Solomon shows us the futility of life without God; that death is the end for both man and beast alike. If you don't have God, then work is all you have.
Solomon looked at the cost of labor and achievement and the balance of life. He decided that the dead were better off than the living. He looked again and saw a man alone working, wealthy, but miserable; he also found life meaningless. His lonliness was a problem. He wanted someone to share his life with.
Don't make promises lightly. Let your words be few. Don't be a fool with God. Don't promise Him something and not mean it. Whoever loves money never has enough, this too, is meaningless. When we are born we bring nothing with us; when we die we take nothing with us. Solomon realized that anyone who is happy with what they have is blessed by God.
Solomon sees another evil - a man who has been given much but no capacity to enjoy it. It is better to be dead than alive, sorrow is better than laughter and wisdom preserves the life of its possessor. A footnote in my bible says, "...while Solomon is doing his utmost to prove that life is futile and not worth living, the Holy Spirit is using him to show that these conclusions are the tragic effect of living "under the sun" - ignoring the Lord, dwelling away from God the Father, oblivious of the Holy Spirit - and yet face to face with the mysteries of life and nature!" (That may explain the sadness I feel while reading this passage, which gives way to an overwhelming confirmation once again, that without God we're all doomed!) Solomon is looking around and seeing only the ways people are bad to each other. His solution is to eat, drink and be merry since nothing seems to matter.
Tomorrow read Ecclesiastes 9-12; Song of Solomon 1-2
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