Ecclesiastes 6
Enjoy Good Things, Because You’ll be Dead Soon
Here’s something miserable I’ve noticed that affects lots of people beneath the sun: God will give wealth and honor to someone, enabling their soul to have whatever it wants, but then He doesn’t let that person enjoy it because someone else gets it instead. How futile! And what a miserable ailment! A man could have 100 children and live to be very old—but if the longings of his soul aren’t ever satisfied with good things, and he doesn’t even receive a proper burial—then I’d say that a miscarried baby would be better off than him. The miscarried baby enters existence as a vapor and disappears. Its name remains shrouded in obscurity, and it never even gets to see the sun or experience consciousness. I’d say that miscarried soul is better off than the rich man who doesn’t get to enjoy his own wealth. Even if the rich man lived for thousands of years but never saw any goodness, wouldn’t he still end up in the same position as the miscarried baby?
Our Desires are Never Satisfied
All the work people do is for their mouths, yet their appetites are never satisfied. So do the wise have any advantage over the unwise? And do poor people have any advantage in this life? Things always look good to our eyes, but when the souls chases after them, we find that they’re never as good as we thought. Isn’t that pointless, like chasing after the wind?
Man is Just a Blip
Everything that ever happens has already been declared a long time ago, and the mankind’s identity has already been shown: human beings don’t even compare to He who is stronger than they are. More words just result in more breath being used, and more stuff just results in more emptiness. So what’s the advantage of being human? No one even knows the best way for us to spend the numbered years of our lives which pass by like a shadow. Who could ever tell an earthling what will end up taking place after his time beneath the sun?
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