Better is the seeing by the eyes than the walking about of the soul (Ecclesiastes 6:9)

4 min readJul 16, 2024

Ecclesiastes chapter 6: This is the theme of enjoying and not enjoying of the good result of a work. Sometimes, a man may not see the good result of his work, due to God action, or due to man putting himself in this situation. Anyway, in both cases, it is an expression of vanity or what is absurd:

There exists a calamity that I have seen under the sun, and it is frequent among mankind: 2a man to whom the [true] God gives riches and material possessions and glory and who, for his soul, is in no need of anything that he shows himself longing for, and yet the [true] God does not enable him to eat from it, although a mere foreigner may eat it. This is vanity and it is a bad sickness. 3If a man should become a father a hundred times, and he should live many years, so that numerous the days of his years should become, yet his own soul is not satisfied with good things and even the grave has not become his, I must say that one prematurely born is better off than he is. 4For in vain has this one come and in darkness he goes away, and with darkness his own name will be covered. 5Even the sun itself he has not seen, neither known. This one has rest rather than the former one. 6Even supposing that he has lived a thousand years twice over and yet he has not seen what is good, is it not to just one place that everyone is going?
7All the hard work of mankind is for their mouth, but even their own soul does not get filled. 8For what advantage does the wise have over the stupid one? What does the afflicted one have in knowing how to walk in front of the living ones? 9Better is the seeing by the eyes than the walking about of the soul. This too is vanity and a striving after the wind.
10Whatever has come to be, its name has already been pronounced, and it has become known what man is; and he is not able to plead his cause with one that is more powerful than he is.
11Because there exist many things that are causing much vanity, what advantage does a man have? 12For who is there knowing what good a man has in life for the number of the days of his vain life, when he spends them like a shadow? For who can tell man what will happen after him under the sun?

“Better is the seeing by the eyes than the walking about of the soul. This too is vanity and a striving after the wind” (Ecclesiastes 6:9). A life that has a purpose or a specific goal, is better experienced than that without any objective, creating a form of an existential wandering, as empty life…

“Because there exist many things that are causing much vanity, what advantage does a man have? 12For who is there knowing what good a man has in life for the number of the days of his vain life, when he spends them like a shadow? For who can tell man what will happen after him under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 6:11,12). It is a form of repetition of the central theme of the Ecclesiastes book, on the vanity of the existence of the condemned and subjected mortal man, in spite of himself, to the deadly law of sin inherited from Adam (Ecclesiastes 1:2; Romans 5:12).

THE SPIRITUAL MAN (Existential meditation on the biblical book of Ecclesiastes):

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The Promise of God. The complete explanation of Genesis 3:15.

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