Ecclesiastes 6:6 Commentary and Bible Study

Solomon insists on the truth of his comparison even though someone should propose the hypothetical case of a man who lived a thousand years, longer even than the oldest man ever recorded in Scripture, or even double that age. What is length of life if those added days only bring more false hopes, more empty desires, more disappointment, more vanity? He does not deny that life can be good, but those who do not know God are denied the secret of a happy life. For such, length of life brings no advantage and all end up in a common grave. To outward appearance, which is the perspective from which the Preacher is speaking here, there is no difference between one and the other. Not the heights that a man rises to in his lifetime, but the grave to which he finally descends is the measure of the man. He beats down the optimism of men which he knows ceaselessly tries to rise up again and again.