Ecclesiastes 6 Study Notes: Riches Without Enjoyment
The Teacher laments a man to whom God gives plenty but no power to enjoy it, saying even a child born dead is more at peace than he is. He notes that human appetite is never filled and closes by asking who can know what is truly good in a short life or what will follow it.
General
True or False: In 6:9 the Teacher says it is better to enjoy what is actually in front of you than to let your desires roam after more.
Answer: True
This is true. The Teacher says that all a person’s work goes to feed him, yet his hunger is never filled (6:7). He asks what advantage the wise man has over the fool, or a poor man who has learned to conduct himself well among people (6:8). Then he says it is better to have what one’s eyes can see than to let desire wander, though even this is futile (6:9). In other words, contentment with what God has actually given is better than restless craving. He had already said the eye never has its fill of seeing (1:8), Proverbs says human eyes are never satisfied (Proverbs 27:20), and Paul says he had learned contentment in every circumstance (Philippians 4:11).
- Ecclesiastes 6:7-9 (BSB)“All a man’s labor is for his mouth, yet his appetite is never satisfied. What advantage, then, has the wise man over the fool? What gain comes to the poor man who knows how to conduct himself before others? Better what the eye can see than the wandering of desire. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.”Appetite is never filled, and what the eye sees is better than wandering desire.
- Ecclesiastes 1:8 (BSB)“All things are wearisome, more than one can describe; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear content with hearing.”The Teacher has said the eye is never satisfied with seeing.
- Proverbs 27:20 (BSB)“Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.”Human eyes are said never to be satisfied.
- Philippians 4:11 (BSB)“I am not saying this out of need, for I have learned to be content regardless of my circumstances.”Paul says he learned to be content regardless of his circumstances.
Theological
True or False: In 6:9 the Teacher prefers contentment with what is present to the restless roaming of desire.
Answer: True
This is true. Verses 7-9 diagnose insatiable appetite: all labor serves the mouth, yet the appetite is never filled (6:7), and even wisdom and good conduct confer no final advantage under the sun (6:8). The Teacher’s counsel is that what lies before one’s eyes, present and possessed, is better than the roving of desire (6:9), though even this is futile. The insatiability theme runs from 1:8 through Proverbs 27:20, and its New Testament answer is learned contentment (Philippians 4:11).
- Ecclesiastes 6:7-9 (BSB)“All a man’s labor is for his mouth, yet his appetite is never satisfied. What advantage, then, has the wise man over the fool? What gain comes to the poor man who knows how to conduct himself before others? Better what the eye can see than the wandering of desire. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.”Appetite is never filled, and what the eye sees is better than wandering desire.
- Ecclesiastes 1:8 (BSB)“All things are wearisome, more than one can describe; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear content with hearing.”The Teacher has said the eye is never satisfied with seeing.
- Proverbs 27:20 (BSB)“Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.”Human eyes are said never to be satisfied.
- Philippians 4:11 (BSB)“I am not saying this out of need, for I have learned to be content regardless of my circumstances.”Paul says he learned to be content regardless of his circumstances.
General
In 6:3-6 the Teacher compares a man with many children and long years to a child born dead. Why does he call the child better off?
Answer: The man never found satisfaction in his good things
The Teacher pictures a man with a huge family of children and a very long life who is never satisfied with the good things he has and is not even buried properly (6:3). He says a child born dead is better off, for that child, though it never saw the sun, is more at rest than such a man, even one who lived two thousand years without enjoying good, since everyone ends up in one place (6:3-6). This is the Teacher’s honest lament over what he sees under the sun: a long, full life without enjoyment is empty. It echoes his earlier words about the never-born (4:2-3) and Job’s wish to have been like an infant born dead (Job 3:16), and it sharpens what he said in 5:18, that God’s good gift is to enjoy one’s food and work.
- Ecclesiastes 6:3-6 (BSB)“A man may father a hundred children and live for many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he is unsatisfied with his prosperity and does not even receive a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. For a stillborn child enters in futility and departs in darkness, and his name is shrouded in obscurity. The child, though neither seeing the sun nor knowing anything, has more rest than 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?”The Teacher says a stillborn child has more rest than a long-lived man who never enjoys his good.
- Ecclesiastes 4:2-3 (BSB)“So I admired the dead, who had already died, above the living, who are still alive. But better than both is he who has not yet existed, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun.”The Teacher earlier voiced a similar lament ranking the never-born above the living.
- Job 3:16 (BSB)“Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like an infant who never sees daylight?”Job’s wish to have been like a stillborn child is the same kind of cry.
- Ecclesiastes 5:18 (BSB)“Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of life that God has given him—for this is his lot.”The Teacher calls enjoyment of food and work during life’s few days good and fitting.
Theological
On what ground does the lament of 6:3-6 rank a child born dead above a man with many children and long life?
Answer: The man never found satisfaction in his good things
The lament of 6:3-6 imagines the fullest earthly blessing (a hundred children, long years) emptied by the absence of satisfaction and even of an honorable burial. A child born dead, which never saw the sun, is more at rest than such a man, even were he to live two thousand years without enjoying good, for all go to one place. This is the Teacher’s honest lament over what he sees under the sun, a deliberate overstatement like those of 4:2-3 and Job 3:16. Its point is the converse of 5:18: length of days and abundance are empty unless God grants the capacity to enjoy them.
- Ecclesiastes 6:3-6 (BSB)“A man may father a hundred children and live for many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he is unsatisfied with his prosperity and does not even receive a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. For a stillborn child enters in futility and departs in darkness, and his name is shrouded in obscurity. The child, though neither seeing the sun nor knowing anything, has more rest than 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?”The Teacher says a stillborn child has more rest than a long-lived man who never enjoys his good.
- Ecclesiastes 4:2-3 (BSB)“So I admired the dead, who had already died, above the living, who are still alive. But better than both is he who has not yet existed, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun.”The Teacher earlier voiced a similar lament ranking the never-born above the living.
- Job 3:16 (BSB)“Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like an infant who never sees daylight?”Job’s wish to have been like a stillborn child is the same kind of cry.
- Ecclesiastes 5:18 (BSB)“Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of life that God has given him—for this is his lot.”The Teacher calls enjoyment of food and work during life’s few days good and fitting.
General
What evil does the Teacher describe in 6:1-2?
Answer: A man given every good thing whom God does not let enjoy it
The Teacher describes a heavy evil: God grants someone wealth, possessions and honor, leaving no wish of his unmet, yet God does not let him take pleasure in them, and a stranger enjoys them instead (6:1-2). This is the reverse of 5:19, where the ability to enjoy what God gives is itself a gift. Both having and enjoying are under God’s hand, and the text does not explain why God withholds enjoyment from this man. A psalm describes a man heaping up riches without knowing who will gather them (Psalm 39:6), and Jesus told of a rich fool whose goods would pass to others when God required his life (Luke 12:20).
- Ecclesiastes 6:1-2 (BSB)“There is another evil I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily upon mankind: God gives a man riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires; but God does not allow him to enjoy them. Instead, a stranger will enjoy them. This is futile and a grievous affliction.”God gives a man everything he desires but does not let him enjoy it; a stranger does.
- Ecclesiastes 5:19 (BSB)“Furthermore, God has given riches and wealth to every man, and He has enabled him to enjoy them, to accept his lot, and to rejoice in his labor. This is a gift from God.”The Teacher has just said that the ability to enjoy wealth is itself God’s gift.
- Psalm 39:6 (BSB)“Surely every man goes about like a phantom; surely he bustles in vain; he heaps up riches not knowing who will haul them away.”A man piles up riches not knowing who will carry them away.
- Luke 12:20 (BSB)“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’”God asks the rich fool who will own what he has stored up.
Theological
What grievous affliction does 6:1-2 set before the reader?
Answer: A man given every good thing whom God does not let enjoy it
Chapter 6 opens with the dark counterpart of 5:19. There God gives both wealth and the power to enjoy it; here God grants riches, possessions and honor but withholds the capacity to enjoy them, and a stranger consumes them (6:1-2). God sovereignly governs not only what people possess but whether they can take pleasure in it, though the text does not explain His reasons in this case. Psalm 39:6 and Jesus’ parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:20) describe the same bitter outcome of goods that pass to others.
- Ecclesiastes 6:1-2 (BSB)“There is another evil I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily upon mankind: God gives a man riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires; but God does not allow him to enjoy them. Instead, a stranger will enjoy them. This is futile and a grievous affliction.”God gives a man everything he desires but does not let him enjoy it; a stranger does.
- Ecclesiastes 5:19 (BSB)“Furthermore, God has given riches and wealth to every man, and He has enabled him to enjoy them, to accept his lot, and to rejoice in his labor. This is a gift from God.”The Teacher has just said that the ability to enjoy wealth is itself God’s gift.
- Psalm 39:6 (BSB)“Surely every man goes about like a phantom; surely he bustles in vain; he heaps up riches not knowing who will haul them away.”A man piles up riches not knowing who will carry them away.
- Luke 12:20 (BSB)“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’”God asks the rich fool who will own what he has stored up.
General
What two questions close chapter 6 in 6:12?
Answer: Who knows the best way for man to live, and who can tell what follows?
The Teacher notes that all things received their names long before, and man’s nature is already understood; a person cannot argue with someone mightier than himself (6:10), and many words only add futility (6:11). He ends by asking who can know what truly benefits a person in his short, shadow-like life, and who can show him what will happen once he is gone (6:12). These questions show the limits of human knowledge. A psalm compares man to a breath and his days to a fleeting shadow (Psalm 144:4), James says we cannot know what tomorrow holds (James 4:14), and the Teacher later asks who can tell anyone what the future holds (8:7). The book’s final answer is to revere God and obey His commands (12:13).
- Ecclesiastes 6:10-12 (BSB)“Whatever exists was named long ago, and it is known what man is; but he cannot contend with one stronger than he. For the more words, the more futility—and how does that profit anyone? For who knows what is good for a man during the few days in which he passes through his fleeting life like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will come after him under the sun?”The Teacher ends the chapter asking who knows what is good for man or what will come after him.
- Psalm 144:4 (BSB)“Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.”Man’s days are described as a passing shadow, like the shadow image of 6:12.
- James 4:14 (BSB)“You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”James says we do not know what tomorrow will bring and life is a vanishing mist.
- Ecclesiastes 8:7 (BSB)“Since no one knows what will happen, who can tell him what is to come?”The Teacher returns to the point that no one can tell what is to come.
- Ecclesiastes 12:13 (BSB)“When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: Fear God and keep His commandments, because this is the whole duty of man.”The book’s conclusion calls people to fear God and keep His commandments.
Theological
With what pair of questions does the Teacher end chapter 6 (6:12)?
Answer: Who knows the best way for man to live, and who can tell what follows?
Verses 10-12 close the chapter on human limitation. Everything already has its name and man’s nature is known; he cannot dispute with someone mightier than himself (6:10), and multiplied words only increase futility (6:11). The two questions of 6:12, what benefits man in his shadow-like days and what lies beyond him, expose the boundaries of human wisdom under the sun. Psalm 144:4 and James 4:14 speak of life’s brevity and our ignorance of tomorrow, and the Teacher returns to the question in 8:7. The book’s conclusion answers with the call to revere God and obey His commands (12:13).
- Ecclesiastes 6:10-12 (BSB)“Whatever exists was named long ago, and it is known what man is; but he cannot contend with one stronger than he. For the more words, the more futility—and how does that profit anyone? For who knows what is good for a man during the few days in which he passes through his fleeting life like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will come after him under the sun?”The Teacher ends the chapter asking who knows what is good for man or what will come after him.
- Psalm 144:4 (BSB)“Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.”Man’s days are described as a passing shadow, like the shadow image of 6:12.
- James 4:14 (BSB)“You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”James says we do not know what tomorrow will bring and life is a vanishing mist.
- Ecclesiastes 8:7 (BSB)“Since no one knows what will happen, who can tell him what is to come?”The Teacher returns to the point that no one can tell what is to come.
- Ecclesiastes 12:13 (BSB)“When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: Fear God and keep His commandments, because this is the whole duty of man.”The book’s conclusion calls people to fear God and keep His commandments.