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
The Preacher's philosophy of practical realism in view of the inscrutable nature of life and its mysteries - take life as it is, riddles and all, and enjoy it as the gift of God - is really very impressive, with its notion of 'relative happinesses'. As has already been noted, there is no thought here of cynical abandonment to pleasure, but rather a conscious acceptance of God's gifts to His creatures. In 10 the emphasis is not so much on thoroughness and diligence in one's tasks as on urgency: 'Do what you can whilst you have the might or power to do it'. It is the note expressed in the old hymn 'Work for the night is coming'. Life is short and fleeting and, as C.S. Lewis says somewhere, it is surprising how quickly a man comes to the point in life where he finds himself saying, 'No time for that now'. We are to be up and doing. The inscrutability of the ways of God is again the theme in 11, 12: in sport, in battle, in business and in social relationships, success does not always come to the deserving, or where one would expect. 'Time and chance' - the element of contingency in all human affairs - are often unrelated to the skill and worth of those involved. As we sometimes say, 'You never can tell'. The final verses of the chapter, 13ff, illustrate the theme of unrewarded and unappreciated wisdom. The point being made is: life is like that, and always will be. We can never absolutely change it, and must therefore be content with very partial achievements and very partial understanding. This is a bitter pill for idealists to swallow, who will never concede that it must always be like that. But the truth is that when the most has been done that can possibly be done to change society, injustices will still remain, and there will still be an irrational surd at the heart of things. Jesus' own words, 'The poor ye have always with you' bears witness to this blunt realism underlined by the Preacher. The best of our efforts will always be very partial in their effect, and we need to accept the inevitable and come to terms with it.