"9 But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him. 2 It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath. 3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.4 But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten.6 Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and for ever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun.
7 Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do.
8 Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head.
9 Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.
11 Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favour to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. 12 For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them.
13 I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. 14 There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siege works against it. 15 But there was found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man. 16 But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words are not heard.
17 The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. 18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good."
Ecclesiastes 9:1-18
An apt title to put at the head of this chapter might be 'Like things happen to all'. Once again it is the inscrutability of life, its essential mystery, that comes home to the Preacher. Life just cannot be neatly 'pigeon-holed'. In 1, the reference is to God's favour or disfavour. A righteous man is not able to tell from his material condition whether he has merited God's approval or not. This is one likely interpretation of the Preacher's words here, although the modern versions incline to the view that it is man's love or hatred that is referred to. One way or the other, however, everything is before us - that is, anything can happen at any time. We do not have control of the events which overtake us, and 'being good' does not guarantee a smiling providence. In 2, it is the apparent lack of discrimination, even arbitrariness, in life that frightens us - one fate comes to all - and we long in vain for a 'simple equation' such as 'If you are good you will prosper, if you are bad you will suffer'. But this is not how it is in life: the hurdles and hazards are the same for good and bad alike. There is an essential element of mystery about life that we cannot understand. The Preacher is not really being pessimistic here, like the Existentialist philosophers who speak of the 'implacable absurdity of the universe', he is merely recognising a fact. He does not deny meaning to life, but simply saying that 'under the sun' man cannot find that meaning. To the man with access to the 'higher dimension' it is not meaningless: he knows there is a reason for things, though he may not see it, and may never see it, in this life. He knows it is there and therefore can live with it, in peace. There is no need therefore to capitulate to despair because there are things we cannot understand in the world. We should compare and contrast the empty and futile 'hope' of life 'under the sun' (4) with Paul's great utterance in 1 Corinthians 15:19ff, 'If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept.'