Ecclesiastes is an Old Testament book that was written around 250 BC. The writer is anonymous other than referring to himself as a "teacher" and the son of King David. Throughout the book, the teacher explains how everything in life is meaningless. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless" (Eccles. 1:2). He also talks a lot about death, mentioning that those who are dead are living better than those that are alive. "And I declared that the dead, who had already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive" (Eccles. 4:2). However, Ecclesiastes sends a mixed message about the hereafter. The narrator changes his mind and even becomes pessimistic about living.
"Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed--and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors--and they have no comforter. And I declared that the dead, who already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive. But better than both is he who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun" (Eccles. 4:1-3).
The narrator has many views about death. At first he thought that is better to be dead than alive because of the all the bad that the living have to go through or that better yet, is better to not be born at all. He has done it all in life and yet still concludes that life is meaningless. Regardless of all the great things that a person can do and the joys that a person can experience his first judgement is negative. "As he came from his mother's womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand" (Eccles. 5:15). He believes that everything is meaningless because at the end of the day when you die, you take nothing with you. .
Due to all his experiences, he concluded that working hard in life for happiness and accomplishment was not worth it.
