Ecclesiastes 6:11 - Meaning and Application

Here Solomon states the conclusion he has been proving all along, and the rest of his words confirm it well. There are many things that add to life’s emptiness. Human life is vain, at best, and many troubles pile up to make it feel even more empty and frustrating.

From that, he draws several lessons that make the truth even clearer. A person is no nearer to true happiness because of wealth, pleasure, honor, or promotion. After all is counted, what does a person really have left that can help him or bring lasting gain? Nothing that will truly profit him.

We also do not know what we should want, because the things we expect to make us happiest often end up troubling us. Who knows what is truly good for a person in this life, where everything is vanity and even what we most want may become a burden? Wise people want to do what is best, if only they knew how. But our hearts are often twisted, so we desire what is actually harmful, like children crying for knives that will cut their fingers. In the same way, this world is so uncertain that what seems best by every reasonable guess often turns out badly. We can make no sure plans for ourselves or for others, because what looks like a help may become a trap.

So our life on earth should not be something we cling to with great delight or depend on with confidence. It is counted by days, and it is only a vain life. We spend it like a shadow, so little of it is solid, so quickly it passes, and so little in it can be trusted. If all the comforts of life are vanity, then life itself cannot contain much that is truly substantial or worthy of lasting happiness.

Our hopes for the future are just as uncertain and misleading as our present enjoyments. Since everything is vanity, who can tell a man what will happen after him under the sun? He cannot truly enjoy himself by looking ahead to what will come after he is gone, whether for his children or his family. He cannot see it himself, and no one else can tell him for sure. And when he is gone, he will not even hear the news of it. His sons may rise to honor, and he will know nothing of it. So whichever way we look, the same truth stands: all is vanity.