Ecc 6.1-12 tells us about how Kohelet talks about the futility of life and riches when a person has everything but can’t enjoy them.
v 1…There is an evil (in the sense of an injustice) which I have seen under the sun (life, the natural man, everywhere) and it is prevalent among men (common, weighs heavy).
v 2…A man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor so that his soul lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God has not empowered him to eat of them (to enjoy them), for a foreigner (Hebrew “ish nakri” one just passing through) enjoys them. This vanity (a waste of time) and a sore affliction (evil disease).
v 3…If a man fathers a hundred children and lived many years (an outward sign of blessing), however many they may be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things, and he does not even have a proper burial (denied this final honor that even the poor get because he was robbed and the body never found, or he was despised), then I say, “Better the miscarriage (never been born) than he.”
v 4…For it (the miscarriage) comes in futility (no purpose) and goes into obscurity (unnoticed, no outward show of grief), and its name is covered in obscurity (never reached the point to be given a name).
v 5…It never sees the sun and it never knows anything (didn’t experience life); it is better off than he (didn’t have vexation over what it never had, unlike the rich man).
v 6…Even if the other man lives a thousand years twice and does not enjoy good things (n life), do not all go to the same place (the miscarriage and the rich man go to the grave just like everyone else).
v 7…All a man’s labor is for his mouth (to satisfy his hunger and enjoy the food) and the appetite is not satisfied (he craves more).
v 8…For what advantage does the wise man have over the fool (the answer is none, both get hungry and must work to provide for themselves. The difference is how the assets gained are used)? What advantage does the poor man have, knowing how to walk before the living (how is the poor man who has intelligence to get along in this world worse off than a wealthy man who is not content)?
v 9…What the eyes see (in life) is better than what the soul desires (what it can’t see, the wealth he can’t have). This too is futility (a waste) and a striving (vexation) after wind (of the spirit).
v 10…Whatever exists has already been named (people have already investigated it), and it is known what man is (all of man’s greatness is a waste of time, vanity and nothing), for he cannot dispute (contend) with him (God) who is stronger than he (man must know his limitations, and those are predetermined by Yehovah).
v 11…For there are many words which increase futility (things that man gets involved with that he thinks is important, but later realizes weren’t). What then is the advantage to a man (what can man gain from life, it is a contest he can never win)?
v 12…For who knows what is good for a man during his lifetime (in the natural, no man can say what is best for him), during the few years of his futile life? He will spend them like a shadow. For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun (except for God who directs his steps).
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