Solomon seems to wrestle with four primary observations about the world. He seems to repeat these in various ways over and over building up to a resolution of them all.
1. Life is monotonous! The world goes around. The waters flow! The sun rises and sets. Everthing, Solomon concludes, is just weariness!
2. Death is inevitable and thus it makes life a burdon because it’s meaningless. It’s something everyone simply has to endure, day in and day out! It’s a burden too heavy to carry.
3. Life is hopeless. We will never understand the workings of the universe. It’s too much for us! No matter how hard we try there’s nothing we can do to grasp the meaning of the universe or even the ways and means by which it operates.
4. Nothing will fill man’s void. You can have all the money, pleasure, possessions, power in the world and never find fulfillment in life. This is Solomon’s personal testimony. Nothing really makes a dent in the emptiness inside of a man.
Not suprising, he finds the resolution in man’s relationship with His God! The same problems exist today. The same resolution is available to all.