Then I commended mirth, because a man has no better thing under the sun than to eat, to drink, and to be joyful: for that will accompany him in his labor all the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 15. No good for a man, and so forth Some commentators think the wise man here speaks in the person of the libertine, representing the objections of these men against divine Providence, and the inferences they draw from thence, which he takes care afterwards to refute. But it may also be said, that his meaning is to commend the moderate use of the goods of this world, preferably to the cares and solicitudes of worldlings, their attachment to vanity and curiosity, and presumptuously diving into the unsearchable ways of divine providence. Challoner. Calmet. 2:24 and 3:12. Sirach 15. Calmet.—Felicity is not attached to temporal prosperity, nor are the afflicted always miserable. Worthington.