I look around. I look at where I've been, where I'm at, and where I'm going. I look at those around me, the smart, the foolish, the good and the bad. I see throughout my life that this has always been, always is, and will always be. People have come, and people have went. I have seen birth and death, salvation and slavery.
These things shall always be present in our lives.
All of our lives are completely different, yet they all have the same pattern. We are born, we live, then we die. It's a straight shot, you can't miss this one. We all hit that bulls-eye which is the grave.
There's this poem like thing that a minister I know always reads at funeral services he does called the Dash. It's about how you have two dates on a tombstone, the birth and the death dates. And in between those dates you have a dash there, and that one, simple little mark is there to tell others that there was a life between those dates. Triumphs and defeats. Gains and losses. Love and hatred. Joy and sorrow. What is your dash going to say to those who knew you?
This is what Solomon here is getting at. We're all going to die, there's no way around it. There's a great scene in Game of Thrones where a girl makes a profound statement.
Nothing isn't better or worse than anything.
Nothing is just...
Nothing.
Solomon here is wresting with the meaning of life. He's to the point where he's thinking he might as well kill himself because of the pointlessness of all he has seen. He blows it out of proportion to get his point across, but this is what he's struggling with. And chapter 9 is in response to that struggle.
Seize life he says. Yes, this life leads to death and is pointless. but instead of just dying, enjoy that life that we have because it is a gift from God that we have it at all.
The dead can't think, can't eat, can't enjoy what we have; but we can. So eat up! Drink away! Enjoy what God has given us!
For he has given it to us for our pleasure.
As stated, Solomon over exaggerates his point, but he has to because of the over exaggerated points he made earlier. Life sucks and is pointless. But we can enjoy it anyway because God has given it to us out of love.
Enjoy his gift.
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