Ecclesiastes 9:7

Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy The Debater falls back, as before, on the Epicurean rule of tranquil regulated enjoyment, as in chs. Ecclesiastes 2:24; Ecclesiastes 3:12; Ecclesiastes 3:22; Ecclesiastes 5:18. Life was after all liveable, if a man would but set himself to look at its brighter side. The specific mention of "wine" for the first time in this connexion does not imply anything more than the moderate use of it commended in Proverbs 31:6; Psalms 104:15. What is asserted, is that asceticism is not the right remedy for pessimism. Experience indeed seems to shew that too often it does but intensify it. Whatever else might be doubtful, if such a life were accepted as God's gift (chs. Ecclesiastes 2:24; Ecclesiastes 8:15), He approved of the deeds of the man who so lived. The "other, and more cheerful, voice" utters a protest against the mere gloom of despair. We have oscillations of thought, but not, as some have supposed, the maxims of a sensualist introduced only to be condemned.