Ecclesiastes chapter 1

vs 10

Especially if you measure things eternally, you realise that even if something looks new, it points to the same meaningless end - for nothing saves us from death.

vs 11

Now, obviously there are some people who are remembered - Solomon has been remembered, for example, because the writer knows who he is, and we still do too. And of course Moses and Abraham are remembered. So what does he mean? I think he means something akin to the saying, "History repeats itself" - that although we know David was a mighty king who got caught in adultery, we don't learn from it and stop adulterising, for example. We might remember it happened, but we don't learn.

vs 12

Now, either the author really was a king (like Solomon, or even Solomon himself), which is fairly believeable, but dates the letter pre-exile obviously - or he wasn't, and is placing himself into the position for the purpose of the thought experiment.

vs 13

What wonderful first principle of wisdom - that by studying all that is done, the very first thing that Qoleheth sees is the heavy burden of work that humanity has before it. The curse of the fall is in full swing.

vs 14

Well, depressing. Nothing done by humanity is stacking up to look all that impressive.

vs 15

The world is broken, if you like, and we can't fix it. If we could make our lives easier, we would. Instead, I suppose we try to make them easier and instead just make them different. You might solve your food worries by getting rich, but then you just have the worries of wealth.

vs 16

Part of the "wisdom and knowledge" that is being talked about here is a classificationary wisdom (like recognising all different things), part of it is scientific (like realising causal links) part of it is philosophical wisdom (seeing logical premise, like this book) and there's probably other kinds of wisdom and knowledge too.

Surely, somewhere in the scope of human intellectual endeavour there is some redeeming feature!

vs 17

Apparently not. When measured against eternity, death comes as swiftly to the wise as it does the fool. A few years might separate them, but in the end the same fate awaits both.

vs 18

Not only that, but the increase of wisdom and knowledge only seem to increase grief. From at least one viewpoint, ignorance is bliss. Of course, there is another viewpoint which is expressed later about wisdom, but we'll get to that.