Solomon warns others that his position as the wealthiest man in the history of Israel is not enviable. Solomon had surely run across a great many people to whom God had granted great material wealth, but no ability to enjoy it. There are all kinds of reasons why they don’t enjoy it, but all of it hinges on getting too wrapped up in this world. Materialism is a curse.
So maybe the fellow with great wealth and honor in his society dies too young. What a pity, no? Someone else gets it all. Okay, so maybe he has a huge family and lives seemingly forever. Does that make it any better? Not as long as the man is worldly minded. It would be just as well that he died at birth, unknown and never conscious, if the only consciousness he has is what comes from man’s intellect. Stillborns rest peacefully, never knowing human sorrow. If a man lives millennia, so long as his heart remains in this world, he will never have the wisdom to understand what material blessings mean. He’ll never understand what they are for, never understand how God meant them to be used. He eventually dies unhappy.
The basic curse of the Fall is the necessity of work to feed our faces, but the stomach keeps processing the food and gets empty again. So it is with so many souls; get what you strive for and you find yourself feeling unfulfilled. Human wisdom cannot save you from death. A sharp minded pauper will survive, but for what? Stop and consider what you could see if you stop thinking all the time of what your flesh desires. Don’t listen to your human longings; they are false.
Human wisdom will not permit you to understand the few limited things God has put in your hands. Your logic will lead you to question God and fight things He has always reserved as His prerogatives. The more time you spend fighting God’s decrees, the less you gain. You waste what little time you have in this world running past the great opportunities God has place before you. Without revelation, you cannot comprehend the things God has given to mankind to do. People who ignore revelation are blind; they expect to change reality itself. They don’t listen to any warnings about moral inevitabilities.
