• Download Video
• Download Audio
• Print
• Email
• Save As PDF

"All his days he also eats in darkness"

Text: Ecclesiastes 5:17

A GLIMPSE OF LIFE

Solomon was astute in his observations of life. He noted how some devoted their entire life to sheer hard work, at the exclusion of everything.

“And this also is a severe evil—
Just exactly as he came, so shall he go.
And what profit has he who has laboured for the wind?
All his days he also eats in darkness,
And he has much sorrow and sickness and anger.”
Ecclesiastes 5:16-17

1. “And this also is a severe evil—

Just exactly as he came, so shall he go”

a) A man will go as he came.

b) He came into the world with nothing.

c) He will also exit the world with nothing.

d) This was “a severe evil”. The word “evil” does not suggest “iniquity” or “sin”.

e) The nuances of this phrase include:

i) Helplessness

ii) Frustration

iii) Despair

2. “And what profit has he who has laboured for the wind?”

a) He could not but ask what “profit” there was to the person who worked so hard.

b) It was as if he was labouring for the wind.

i) But he cannot grasp the wind.

ii) He cannot control the wind.

3. “All his days he also eats in darkness”

a) This man spends all his days working very hard.

b) He works so hard that he is even prepared to eat in darkness.

c) The normal home life:

i) There is light in the home.

ii) The family enjoys some time together in the warmth of light at home.

d) The home that this man has.

i) He eats in darkness.

ii) He eats only to stay alive.

iii) He does not think about anything else but to succeed in his work.

4. “And he has much sorrow and sickness and anger”

a) What does he experience while working so hard?

b) He experienced “much”:

i) Sorrow

ii) Sickness

iii) Anger

c) His success in work did not exclude having to go through all the things that many experience.