He has given us his considered judgment even in this chapter, that the day of death is

better than the day of birth, and approaches the depths of Job's sounding when he cursed

the day when he was born! How comes it then that life being so, he finds the good that

he is reaching for to be wisdom, and the reason, that wisdom gives LIFE! Common

sense, apart from inspiration, demands that the writer must mean something different

from the life he has considered so vain, otherwise the book may as well be closed for it is

impossible to follow its arguments.

We saw in our previous article that the fact that death was at the end of man's career

rendered all his labour profitless, and summed up all in vanity. Resurrection life is the

only thing that can make the crooked straight. That is the life intended here. The

Companion Bible in its note on Lev. 18: 5 draws attention to the Chaldee paraphrase

which reads, "shall live by them to life eternal" (Sol. Jarchi, "live in the world to come").

This being so, the problem of 2: 13-16 is solved. While he may still hate this life,

Koheleth can now see that wisdom is not only excellent in itself, but excellent in its

results--it leads to LIFE that is life indeed.

Here light breaks.  Granted that there is a life beyond the grave, then though

wickedness may sit in the place of judgment (3: 16), and though many inequalities and

perplexing mysteries of providence may still baffle us (7: 15; 8: 14, 17), though the

race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but all have to reckon with time and

chance, yet the conclusion of the matter sets all right. It will be our wisdom to fear God

and keep His commandments, for a day of judgment is coming, and if a day of judgment,

then a day when the crooked shall be made straight, the inequalities made equal, a day of

LIFE from the dead, where vanity and vexation of spirit shall never more intrude, for

death and hades shall be destroyed in the second death, and God shall solve all life's

mysteries in the LIFE TO COME.

The Hebrew superlative is expressed in the words "Holy of holies", "Servant of

servants", etc., and this opening statement of the preacher indicates the most utter

emptiness and vanity. Vanity is the word that meets us at every turn throughout this

book, and we must at least give the passages a consideration before passing on, otherwise

we shall miss much help in the subsequent interpretation.

First of all let us notice the repeated detailed confirmation of the opening utterance by

observing in what connections the preacher remarks, "this also is vanity"; for these mark

progressive examinations with their conclusions.