Ecclesiastes Chapter Six, Uncertainty

Ecclesiastes 6:12 For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he passes like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will happen after him under the sun?

The final verse of chapter six levels two questions, posed by the preacher as he continues to delve down a truly dark path. Let us recall that Ecclesiastes, among other things, is a thorough study of purpose and relevance of life under the sun, or life without God’s presence providing purpose and meaning both individually, and to the entire race of man. Here we have an encapsulated byproduct of Atheism in all of its lurid glory. 

Nothing flattering can be said of human life and existence when man comes from nothing and returns to nothing. Or, when we are taught that we are merely animals that have accidentally begun to think. We are cursed with awareness, but this awareness doesn’t bring enlightenment; it brings only the dread and loathing of knowing death awaits us, and then oblivion.

The first question posed is: who knows what is good for man in life? Of course, divorced from God and objective truth, this is a highly subjective and inflammatory question. The honest answer is no one. Good becomes individually defined. Cultural or societal norms may tame or temper it, and what the majority finds “good” may flavor what the common person agrees with, but in the end, it is not objectively good, it is consensus or opinion that, to the best of the culture’s decision-making processes, this is what good for man should look like.

What does good for man look like in a world without God? In the United States we are awash in crime and violence, pornography and chemical abuse. People treat biological gender as though it's something transient that will change as mood or health determines, and abortion mills murder children daily. In 2021, there were on average of more than 1,700 abortions daily, totaling nearly 626,000 for the year. Abortion represents the erasure of consequence from human choice, or our diligent efforts to make it so. We want pleasure without moral involvement. Good, at best, is what benefits the norm most. But benefit doesn’t translate into moral right or wrong. We consider murder wrong, but certain types of euthanasia and abortion are not wrong. The logical inconsistencies abound, and man must attempt to operate within the perplexing confines of a life and culture that have forfeit good in favor of gratification. We want chemical imbalance without addiction. We want sex without baggage. We want the right to blur the lines of empirical science and biology and be applauded for it.

Isaiah chapter 5 delivers numerous woes to the nation of Israel that modern America would do well to heed. The prophet writes, “Woe to those who join house to house; they add field to field, till there is no place where they may dwell alone in the midst of the land,” Isaiah 5:8. Greed and excess are the focus here, as the rich accumulate houses, filling the land with their vanity. Later, he adds, “Woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may follow intoxicating drink; who continue until the night, till wine inflames them,” Isaiah 5:11. Then there are those whose god is pleasure in chemical imbalance, and hearken to the throne every day to worship. They celebrate and feast, in other words making their life a party, and making life’s purpose moments of guilty pleasure as they can manage to seize them. Still later, he writes, “Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as if with a cartrope,” Isaiah 5:18. Bolder still are those so laden with iniquity that they need to bind it and drag it along like Jacob Marley drags his ethereal chains in A Christmas Carol. Further, such people appear to be openly mocking at God, daring Him to act with wrath so they may see it, and know that he exists. He adds, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil,” Isaiah 5:20. By this point the culture has turned the norm upside down. Like a ship with no rudder to guide them, they are morally adrift in a sea of grey, rather than seeing good and evil as clashing black and white, clearly defined and easily chosen. At last we read, “Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight,” Isaiah 5:21. The moral insanity of the previous verses is explained here, with a collection of men whose wisdom extends from themselves, distorting what is true with their own opinion.

It’s like looking at a book through calm water. You can clearly read the contents until someone disturbs the surface with a stone. Then others cast in stones until the water ripples like mad, making the letters appear in a chaotic organization that says nothing, imparting nothing of value save for what the individual wants to derive from it.

The preacher sinks further, calling this life, “the days of his vain life which he passes like a shadow.” One’s life is pointless or futile. Furthermore, his life passes quickly and lacks substance. Man’s existence has no relevance or gravity, because all is vanity, including the very idea of existing at all. One’s life is pointless, and filling it with anything humanly contrived results in utter futility. Like the Slough of Despond in The Pilgrim’s Progress, no amount of earth can fill the mire; it just consumes it and waits for more. The preacher then asks who can tell a man what will happen after his demise. The short answer is no one. There is no God, and no purpose. What happens to the generation that follows is the same as what becomes of the questioner, Ecclesiastes 1:4. Moreover, there is no reason to ask. Under the sun all is vanity and chasing after the wind.