`The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much' (5:12).

A plain and frugal supper satisfies his modest desires, and an extra good meal brings no nightmare to haunt his

slumbers. Again the question is raised in 5:16, and labour for riches proves to be labour for the wind, and where is

the profit? Did not the Lord Jesus Himself take up the teaching of Ecclesiastes when He said:

`For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?' (Matt. 16:26).

Here the truth is enforced by a figure that does not speak merely of accumulating silver or adding field to field, it

contemplates the possession of the whole world - yet even then we ask where is the profit? there is none, for the

reward which the Lord will give when He comes in the glory of his Father is forfeited. Is not the conclusion of

Ecclesiastes' investigation expressed in the words:

`Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth ... but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven'? (Matt. 6:19,20).

The apostle Paul knew full well that the balance-sheet is not to be made up annually - it is an affair of life:

For me to live is Christ, and to die is GAIN' (Phil. 1:21).

`What things were GAIN to me, those I counted loss for Christ ... I count all things but loss ... that I may have

Christ for my GAIN' (Phil. 3:7,8 Author's translation).

`I have learned, in whatsoever state I am ... to be content' (Phil. 4:11).

We return to the opening chapter, and note the observations which follow immediately upon his question. He

instances the generations of mankind, the sun, the wind, the rivers. One thing is common to them, a continuous

never-ending circle. One generation passeth away and another generation cometh. The sun is no sooner risen than

he seems to hasten along his pathway to complete his circuit. The winds whirl about continually, and return

according to their circuit. The rivers run into the sea and return again to their source. `All things are full of

weariness' (see 12:12 for same word). There is no satisfaction to be found in the things of this life of themselves.

What is the eye for but to see? yet `the eye is not satisfied with seeing'! The idea of the endless circle comes out

again in 1:10 :

`Is there anything whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before

The final statement seems to reach the depths of vanity. `No remembrance' (1:11). After all the toil, the heart

ache, the sleepless nights, the weary struggle, the little petty triumph - oblivion, forgotten! Ichabod: where is the

glory? One writer remarked that if he had to use two geometrical figures, the one to represent man and the other

God, he should use a circle for man and a straight horizontal line for God for He alone moves forward, man but

treads a never ending mill.

This book has something much more cheerful to say even about this life, when we are ready for the lesson. Here

we are in a world of strife, struggle, turmoil. Whether we are officially in a state of Peace or War makes very little

difference. Men and women spend their lives in pursuing the unsatisfying round of eating and drinking, buying and

selling, losing and gaining, in short, all the items enumerated in 3:1-8, for what use or purpose? If it ends in the

things of this life, it has been a mere circle. If that circle is so big that it embraces `the whole world', yet the Saviour

says, `What shall it profit a man?'

My reader, ask yourself the question as before the Lord, DOES MY BUSINESS PAY? Do not consult your pass

book, nor speak of your turnover, do not think of your increasing barns or added acres; where is the profit in the

scriptural sense? Does each year find you with an increasing balance stored up `where neither moth nor rust doth

corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal'? When you have computed your yield per acre, have you

thought of that other harvest? `God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap'. Some

commodities are not very saleable. For example how few Buy the truth and sell it not. How many of us are keen to

Redeem the time because the days are evil? And when we labour with our hands do we have the apostle's injunction

in mind, That we may have to give to him that needeth?