Ecclesiastes 6, Despair

The Teacher lists a number of life experiences that are detrimental and unfair.

Ecclesiastes 6:1, Weighs upon mankind

I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on men:

This sentence, or a variation, introduces frustrations of the Teacher, observations of live's pain. The Hebrew word translated "weighs heavily" is a variant of rab, which can mean "many", "common", "great". Alter says "derivatives of that word -- rav, rabbah, rabot, harbeh -- punctuate this entire section."

Ecclesiastes 6:2, A stranger enjoys another's wealth

God gives a man wealth, possessions and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires, but God does not enable him to enjoy them, and a stranger enjoys them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.

The Teacher blames God for preventing a man from enjoying his wealth, saying that this is a "grievous evil."

Ecclesiastes 6:3-6, The same end

A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. It comes without meaning, it departs in darkness, and in darkness its name is shrouded. Though it never saw the sun or knew anything, it has more rest than does that man‑‑even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?

If a man has a hundred children (a sign of great prosperity in the ANE) yet cannot enjoy his wealth, it would have been better for him to have been stillborn, going down into darkness without the toil of life. Whether stillborn or long-lived, the final result is the same: the grave, Sheol. Job, in his pain, echoes this sentiment in Job 3:16-17.

Ecclesiastes 6:7, Treadmill

All man's efforts are for his mouth, 

yet his appetite is never satisfied.

Man lives on a "treadmill" (Davidson), always running, never satisfied.

Ecclesiastes 6:8, Poor is poor

What advantage has a wise man over a fool? 

What does a poor man gain 

by knowing how to conduct himself before others?

The poor stay poor, even if they are wise in their conduct with others. (My father used to say, with a wink, "It is better to be rich and healthy than poor and sick!" The Teacher would agree.)

Ecclesiastes 6:9, Appetite

Better what the eye sees 

than the roving of the appetite. 

This too is meaningless, 

a chasing after the wind.

It is one thing to see something; it is another to obsess over the desire, to covet.

Ecclesiastes 6:10, Determinism

Whatever exists has already been named, 

and what man is has been known; 

no man can contend 

with one who is stronger than he.

Everything is set in stone, nothing changes. Davidson interprets the strongman in the last line as God; both Alter and Davidson interpret this verse as a statement that the universe is deterministic; mankind has little say.

Ecclesiastes 6:11, Words, words, words

The more the words, 

the less the meaning, 

and how does that profit anyone?

The Teacher, even as he writes these words, questions the value of words and wisdom.

Ecclesiastes 6:12, Passing like a shadow

For who knows what is good for a man in life, during the few and meaningless days he passes through like a shadow? Who can tell him what will happen under the sun after he is gone?

The Teacher despairs of being able to change anything. The world is broken, says he. Each of us passes through like a shadow, quickly gone, not leaving even a ripple.

These brief sayings are almost anti-proverbs; they examine classic black-and-white sayings and then throw up their hands and cry out, "But it doesn't work!" There is some raw honesty here that, at the age of 70, I find attractive.

If one despairs of all these negative statements, this "reconstruction" of Jewish proverbs, it is important to recognize that the book of Ecclesiastes was long ago accepted as part of the Old Testament canon, just like the book of Proverbs (and the book of Job.) There is a reason that this book is part of Scripture.