Ecclesiastes 6:1-12

The Teacher searches for
the purpose of our lives

Book of Ecclesiastes

Hilda Bright and Kitty Pride

Chapter 6

A person’s life that is not satisfactory – Ecclesiastes 6:1-6

v1 There is another terrible thing that I have seen here on the earth. It is not fair. And it is like a heavy load upon people. v2 God may give wealth and possessions to someone, and people respect that person. He has everything that he wants. But perhaps God does not let him enjoy those things. Then a different person enjoys them instead. It is difficult to understand when this kind of thing happens. It is a very sad thing because it is not fair.

v3 A person might have 100 children. He might have many good things and he might live for a long time. But perhaps he does not enjoy the good things that he has. And at the end, nobody buries him. It would have been better if he had been born dead. I would rather not be that person who has many children. v4 When a baby is born dead, that is a mystery. The baby’s death is difficult for us to understand. Death has hidden that child’s character from us. v5 That child never saw the sun. And it never knew anything. But it has more rest than the wealthy man who did not enjoy his life. v6 Even if that wealthy person lives 2000 years, they both end in the same place.

Verses 1-2 A person may be famous and wealthy. But, for some reason, he cannot enjoy his life. He may become tired of his possessions. Or maybe he has to leave them. It is sad if a stranger will enjoy those possessions.

Verses 3-6 People thought that it was good to have many children in a family. They thought that God was *blessing that family especially. (See Psalms 127:3-5.) In this passage, 100 children sounds like too many children for one man. But a man who had many wives could have a great number of children. (Read, for example, about Gideon in Judges 8:30.) And people thought that a long life was good. Old people thought that God was *blessing them especially. But it was very bad to die without a proper grave. This showed that the dead person had no value. Jeremiah spoke about the wicked king who was called Jehoiakim. Nobody will be sad about his death. And his body will have no grave (Jeremiah 22:18-19).

Someone might have many children and he might live for a long time. But if he is not happy, then it is a sad situation. So it would be better for him if he had died before his birth. Sometimes, sadly, a child is born dead. Such a child never knows what happens here on the earth. Our lives are a gift from God. God wants us to think about him while we are alive. And God wants us to think about other people. Nobody knows what a dead baby’s character might have become. But this child does not have to live with difficulties and troubles. So the dead baby’s rest is more peaceful than the rich man’s rest. The rich man might live twice as long as Methuselah. He was the oldest man who ever lived (Genesis 5:27). But everyone dies in the end. Then they are all like the child who died at birth. These verses imagine that no part of us lives after death. Then people may think in the way that the Teacher describes. However, a Christian thinks in a different way.

Reasons why a person’s life does not satisfy him – Ecclesiastes 6:7-12

v7 We work very hard just for something to eat.

But we never get enough.

v8 A wise man has no advantage over a fool.

And a poor man who lives in the right way gains no advantage.

v9 It is better to enjoy what we have.

Then we do not always want something more.

We should not be like someone who is trying to catch the wind.

v10 God decided about everything that exists.

And everyone knows what people are like.

Also we know that a person cannot win an argument

against a more powerful person.

v11 We may talk and we may argue for a long time.

But that is not good, because there is no good result.

v12 We do not know what is best for us during our lives. Our lives are mysteries that pass quickly, like shadows. We do not know what will happen after our death.

Verses 7-9 A person works in order to live. ‘We never get enough’ may mean this: We must always continue to work in order to stay alive. And we always think that we need more things. Instead, people should enjoy the things that they have.

Verses 10-11 A person cannot change the way that things are. He should be humble. The first man’s name was ‘Adam’. And it means that he came from the earth. God created us from dust (Genesis 3:19; Genesis 3:20). Nobody can win an argument with God. But Job tried to demand an answer from God. Job could not understand why he was suffering. But finally he realised that God is greater than any person. It is impossible for a person to understand God’s ways (Job 42:2-3).

Verse 12 The Teacher is thinking about two problems. He will try to answer his own questions in the next Chapter s. It is a mystery why we are alive. He thinks about whether anything can have permanent value. A person’s life ends so soon. It passes as quickly as a shadow. Also, after a person dies he cannot know anything. He does not know his own future. And he cannot know what will happen in the world after his death. So a person who does not believe God has nothing certain in his life. He does not know what to do about his future. He does not expect to live after his body has died.

bless ~ to be especially good and kind to someone.