Ecclesiastes 7:1 says, A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.  I believe Solomon is saying that we should value our good name above the riches of the world.  He also says that leaving this world should be a more joyous occasion for a person than being born into it.  We gather around to celebrate a birth, but then gather to mourn a death.  If the person who died has a right relationship with God through Christ, we should rejoice that they are going home, because as a Christian, this world will never really be our home.  Verse two says, It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.  We don't often think of a house of mourning as better than a house of feasting.  We look for pleasure in life when we look at the world from a materialistic view, but from a spiritual view, death releases us as followers of Christ to real happiness.  Those who are left behind at the day of mourning realize that this is their ultimate fate.  As followers of Christ, this shouldn't bring us sorrow, but for the lost it should and that should cause them to consider what life really is.  Verse three says, Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.  This does not support what many want us to believe today.  We hear that God wants us to be happy, so He should gives us more of the things of this world.  Solomon said through sadness that our hearts are made better.  We should have a great sadness for the lost of the world and allow our hearts to go out to them.   Verse four says, The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.  I believe Solomon is saying that we learn more by having compassion and mourning with those in sorrow than we ever will by just living for the joys of this world.  In mourning, we realize that this life is but temporary and that God is eternal.  What we do for Him is all that really lasts.

Ecclesiastes 6:8 says, For what hath the wise more than the fool? what hath the poor, that knoweth to walk before the living?  I believe what Solomon is saying to us is that no matter how wise or foolish the world may view someone as being, life really comes down to meeting the basic needs of life, food, clothing, and a place to stay.  The world may place more value on clothes that have a certain name on them, but they still simply cover the body.  Some with a big name and price don't do that very well, but for some reason we, who consider ourselves to be wise, chase after them.  Then, Solomon continues by asking what do the poor that know to walk honorably among men have.  Even though they may have little in the eyes of the world, they do not deal with their neighbors in a way to simply gain more for themselves.  Verse nine says, Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this is also vanity and vexation of spirit.  Solomon is again speaking of being satisfied.  We should learn to live in satisfaction with the things that God has entrusted us with instead of having a wandering eye desiring more.  This is not just a warning to those we consider rich, but to everyone.  As long as we continue to live wanting more and more, we will never be satisfied.  Verse ten says, That which hath been is named already, and it is known that it is man: neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he.  A person may be the most powerful person in the world, but that person is still but a human being.  We are all created in the image of God, to follow His leadership.  We tend to look around at those who are different than us and feel that they are of less value to God than we are, but all are created in His image.  Verse eleven says, Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what is man the better?  There is so much in the world today for people to desire, whether it be a bigger house, a better car, or just to make oneself look better, but what does it all amount to?  In the end, we leave the world as we came into it, with nothing to carry with us, except the things done for God.  Verse twelve concludes the thought saying,  For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?  There may be those today who would tell us how to make life meaningful, based on materialism, but we as followers of Christ have to understand that the only true meaning and happiness comes from following the will of God.  Everything else amounts to nothing.

Ecclesiastes 6:4 says, For he cometh in with vanity, and departeth in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness.  Solomon continues to speak about the vanity of wealth.  We may come into the world feeling from the time that we are old enough to understand anything that somehow we deserve to have more materially than anyone else, but this amounts to nothing in God's eyes.  When we die, our names will be covered with darkness.  Even if we are one of the few who are remembered by most people, we still go away into death, or darkness in this world.  Verse five says, Moreover he hath not seen the sun, nor known any thing: this hath more rest than the other.  Matthew Henry says this applies to one who dies at birth.  They never see the sun, but they go to eternal rest without having to endure the pains of this world. Still, even with all the problems in life, we should thank God just for our life here on earth, and do our best to live for Him daily.   Verse six says, Yea, though he live a thousand years twice told, yet hath he seen no good: do not all go to one place?  I have known a few people who lived to be over a hundred, but Solomon said even if a person lived two thousand years, they go to the same place as one who died at birth.  They go to the grave and then stand before God.  I cannot imagine living two thousand years and seeing nothing good, but if we remember that Solomon was talking about those who look to material things for purpose instead of looking to God, then no matter the number of years lived, they never see anything as good.  We will never find everlasting hope outside of the will of God.  Verse seven says, All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.  I believe Solomon is saying that if everything a person works for in this world is for material things, then that person is never going to be satisfied.  If we do nothing to feed the soul, then nothing in life is ever going to satisfy us.  As followers of Christ, we need to seek to feed the soul, the spiritual relationship with God, instead of concentrating on the physical.  Our ambition should be to live under the leadership of God.

Ecclesiastes 6:1 says, There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men:  Solomon had just concluded that rich or poor, we are called on to put our faith in God to find happiness.  He was now again warning against seeing the blessings of God simply as being for our own satisfaction.  I personally believe we can apply this to people and to nations.  We must never assume that God wants us to grow fat and be wasteful while others starve.  Verse two says, A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this is vanity, and it is an evil disease.  I don't believe Solomon was saying that we should not share our blessings when he said a stranger shall eat thereof.  I believe he was saying that when we live only for riches and not for God's glory, that one day this life will be over and someone else will enjoy those riches, and the person themself will have nothing to show for this life.  Again, only those things done for God will last.  We tend to almost worship the rich, as though the are somehow more important than the poor. Now, the warning is not exclusively to those who are rich in our eyes, but to everyone.  It is an evil under the sun that we forgot to put God first, no matter our status in the eyes of the world.  Verse three says, If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.  I believe Solomon was again saying that a person with great material blessings, even children, who  doesn't have good, which is the will of God, as a guiding force, would have been better off to never have been born.  If we gain the whole world, we will one day leave it all behind.  If we spend our lives seeking and following God's will, then we never lose anything.

Ecclesiastes 5:17 says,  All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness. I believe that Solomon was saying that those who are living only for the things of this world would rather eat in darkness than to spend money to provide light to eat by.  Now we may see the very rich today spending a lot of money on themselves, but they still more often than not want to continue to accumulate more and more.  We can also interpret this as eating in spiritual darkness, because if the things of this world are all that matter, and a person has no time for God and His will, they truly are eating in spiritual darkness.  If a person like this becomes sick, that person becomes angry because they cannot gain more riches while sick.  They may also be angry because they realize that their life might soon be over and they will lose control of all they have worked for.  Verse eighteen says, Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion.  I believe Solomon was saying that we are to enjoy the things God blesses us with.  We are not to starve ourselves or hoard what God blesses us with, but to use it under His guidance.  Too often we want our portion to be more than what God entrusts us with.  Verse nineteen says, Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God.  If God does grant us riches, we are to eat, take our portion, and rejoice in our labor.  This does not say that our portion is increased and that we are to rejoice in our riches.  God does not bless us with riches to flaunt them, but to help others.  Verse twenty concludes the chapter with, For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth him in the joy of his heart.  If we are living for God, we will live with joy in our heart.  We will not much remember the work or the rewards, but our joy will be from serving God.

Ecclesiastes 5:14 says, But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand.  Fortunes are never enough, and often people chasing them lose everything in the chase.  We read often of those who have made a fortune losing everything by attempting to find a way to have even more, sometimes even by illegal means.  They would have left their children a fortune, but instead have nothing to leave them.  We can never find security in the riches of this world, but we can find security in God.  When we acknowledge that everything is under God's control, from our lives to our material possessions, then we can life a purposeful and peaceful life.  When we teach our children about God we can leave them something more important than riches if they will listen.  That is all that we can leave that has any lasting value.  Verse fifteen says, As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.  We come into this world with nothing, and we leave the same way. There is the old question of what does a person leave when he dies, and the answer is everything.  We can take nothing with us, but often cling tightly to everything, even as the end nears.  Whether it is a state funeral viewed by millions, or a poor man's funeral viewed by none, both take the same thing with them.  Whether adored or ignored by most of the world, both face God the same way.  Verse sixteen says, And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind?  In all points, as we came we shall go.  When it comes to the time of leaving this world, we will find that all our works for material things will be like the wind, blowing away to nothing.  I believe Solomon made this point over and over because people too often fail to understand it.  We will never find everlasting happiness in the things of this world, so we should never count them as too important.

Ecclesiastes 5:11 says, When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eye.  I believe Solomon was again saying that the benefit of increased goods was not to hoard them but to share them.  We as followers of Christ should be looking for ways to help others and not ways to hoard for ourselves.  Jesus said that it is more blessed to give than to receive, but we often prefer receiving.  When God's people become more materialistic than spirit led, the world is indeed in a sad state.  We tend to moan the lack instead of celebrating the things we do have.  Verse twelve says, The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.  When a people work and do their best, they sleep at night.  Those who live for riches worry about how to keep what they have and how to gain more.  They tend to think it is all their doing without thanking God and sharing with others.  We can become like the rich man Jesus referred to who wondered how he would keep the increased harvest, thinking only of himself.  This is not some worldly economic plan, but what God's word teaches.  We are not to envy the rich and despise the poor, but we are to do all that we can to help those less fortunate.  We seem to think the answer is to give more to the rich so they might decide to help the poor, but they seldom do.  God does not value one person more than another because of their wealth, or their lack of it.  It all belongs to God anyway.  The only thing of lasting value that we can do is to follow His will.  Verse thirteen continues with, There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.  Solomon said hoarding riches was a sore evil that led the owners to hurt.  It first hurts them in the eyes of God, because they live selfish lives, using most of their wealth on themselves instead of helping others.  They hurt themselves by being consumed by their wealth.  Wealth becomes first in their lives instead of God and helping those less fortunate.  We, as followers of Christ, must guard against this attitude, and never let material things come first in our lives, always remembering that it all belongs to God.