Ecclesiastes 6:1-12--The Realities of Wealth

Ecclesiastes 6
Christian Standard Bible

6 Here is a tragedy I have observed under the sun, and it weighs heavily on humanity: 2 God gives a person riches, wealth, and honor so that he lacks nothing of all he desires for himself, but God does not allow him to enjoy them. Instead, a stranger will enjoy them. This is futile and a sickening tragedy. 3 A man may father a hundred children and live many years. No matter how long he lives, if he is not satisfied by good things and does not even have a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. 4 For he comes in futility and he goes in darkness, and his name is shrouded in darkness. 5 Though a stillborn child does not see the sun and is not conscious, it has more rest than he. 6 And if a person lives a thousand years twice, but does not experience happiness, do not both go to the same place?

7 All of a person’s labor is for his stomach,
yet the appetite is never satisfied.

8 What advantage then does the wise person have over the fool? What advantage is there for the poor person who knows how to conduct himself before others? 9 Better what the eyes see than wandering desire. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

​10 Whatever exists was given its name long ago, and it is known what mankind is. But he is not able to contend with the one stronger than he. 11 For when there are many words, they increase futility. What is the advantage for mankind? 12 For who knows what is good for anyone in life, in the few days of his futile life that he spends like a shadow? Who can tell anyone what will happen after him under the sun?

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We're continuing Solomon's teachings from the last chapter.  Solomon says that he has seen (and probably personally experienced) how man desires to gain riches, wealth, and honor, and, even if the LORD chooses to give these to the man, he does not enjoy them.  By the time the man has acquired these things, he soon after dies and it is another man--a man who did not work to earn this wealth--will inherit it.  Solomon not only calls this futile, but "a sickening tragedy."  I assume Solomon is looking at all of his heirs that will inherit his great wealth and realizing that all of them will use it for selfish purposes and Solomon can do nothing about that once he's dead.

Solomon then also says there is the heart of discontent within the man who is blessed.  The blessed man may be blessed with descendants and riches that are beyond imagination, but he can still be discontent because he was not happy with the good things that God had given to him.

Solomon thinks it would be better in such a case for that man to have died during childbirth and never to have known wealth than to be ensnared by it and miserable all the days of his life.  Solomon asks the question if life is worth living if it is completely devoid of happiness (he is not making a quality-of-life issue for suicide--he's just pointing out the futility of such an "under the sun" worldview that gives the person who holds it no hope for life after death).  If there is nothing other than what is "under the sun," the rich man and poor man both have the same end--to live, die, and be buried.  In that case, the poor man who was content and happy seems better off than the rich man who was discontent and miserable.  The one who doesn't have to worry about what happens to his wealth after he dies seems better off than the one who has heirs that will squander his hard-earned savings.

A man works to appease his appetites, but those appetites are never truly satisfied.  If you feed them even a little, they desire more in quantity and quality.

Not only is there no advantage to being rich in this worldview, but there is also no advantage to being wise.  So what if you understand all the mysteries of this world and you die and cannot pass the wisdom onto another?  It is better for a man to be content in what the LORD has given to him than to be miserable wishing for something else.  We can live with a "The grass is greener on the other side of the fence" mentality, but we find out that being on the other side of the fence does not make us any happier--the issue with our hearts and the covetousness therein.

Solomon then starts to ponder the idea of there being nothing truly new under the sun--just rehashed ideas that are given new names.  But why give new names to old things that have existed for a long time?  It is usually to deceive people who believe new things are better than old things, yet there is nothing new about these ideas and philosophies other than the new name.  With so many worldviews out there, it can be confusing what is right, but Solomon will figure that out shortly and tell us that we should fear the LORD and obey Him.  That is the only worldview we need.  Everything else is a cheap imitation that is rubbish.  The questions that Solomon asks at the end of the chapters about who knows what can make a man happy and satisfied, and who knows what will happen to a man after he dies can only be answered by God.  Solomon wants men to realize that God has answers that they can never have.  We should find our contentment, satisfaction, hope, and happiness in Him alone.