Without God We Are Like the Beasts of the Field - Ecclesiastes 3-4

Ecclesiastes 3:18-22 (ESV)

I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return. Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth? So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?

In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon is in a philosophical mood and on a quest to define the meaning of life through man’s eyes and on man’s terms.  As always, when reading or commenting on Ecclesiastes, we have to start with the last verses.  This is Solomon’s conclusion to the entire book:

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 (ESV)

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

The need to read the book with the end in mind is never more apparent than what we read in the above lines.   Through man’s lens, Solomon states we nothing more than the beasts of the earth.   Through man’s lens we might as well just rejoice in our work, for that is our lot.   In the above passage we read that Solomon (again, through man’s eyes) is questioning if there is even anything different between man and beasts in our after life.   The implication is that Solomon is not sure if there is an afterlife for man.   if it were not for the fact that in the end, he draws the right conclusions, we might get lost in his thoughts as we read them.   But Solomon gives us the natural man’s mindset.   Most do not believe in the afterlife or, at least through their practice, don’t live like they believe in the afterlife.    Remember, Solomon did state earlier in this chapter:

Ecclesiastes 3:11 (ESV)

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

The point Solomon is making is that, without understanding that the chief end for man is to fear God, they is nothing left to live for.  Without a Fear the Lord-God-centered-world-view, we are dumb beast, destine to live, eat and then die.   The life is futile if we have nothing beyond this life.   God has made man to enjoy this life, true.  But He is ultimately made man for His enjoyment and for man’s enjoyment in God.   Everything else is like the beast of the field.