“For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?”
My Notes
What Does Ecclesiastes 6:12 Mean?
The Preacher asks two questions no one can answer: Who knows what's actually good for a person in this life? And who can tell anyone what comes after them? Both questions end in uncertainty. Both point to the limits of human knowledge.
"All the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow" — life is described as vain (hebel — vapor) and shadow-like. It's brief, insubstantial, and passing. You spend it rather than build it. Like spending money — once it's gone, it's gone.
The double question — what's good for you? what comes after you? — brackets human experience with uncertainty on both sides. You don't fully know what's good for you while you're alive, and you can't know what happens after you're gone. You're living in a narrow band of partial knowledge between two unknowns.
Reflection Questions
- 1.How do you make decisions when you genuinely don't know what's good for you?
- 2.Does the Preacher's uncertainty about life feel depressing or honest to you?
- 3.How do you hold ambition and planning alongside the reality that your life 'passes as a shadow'?
- 4.Where do you need to let go of the need to know what comes after you and simply trust God with the outcome?
Devotional
Who knows what's good for you? And who can tell you what comes next? The Preacher's honest answer to both: nobody.
This is Ecclesiastes at its most existential. Your life is a shadow. You're spending it, not building it. And the two most important questions — what should I do with it, and what happens when it's over — are both unanswered from a purely human perspective.
The Preacher isn't despairing. He's being honest about the limits of human wisdom. Under the sun — from a purely earthly vantage point — you can't figure out what's truly good for you. Your best guesses are shadows. The thing you thought was good turned out to be harmful. The thing you feared turned out to be a gift.
And after you? You can't control your legacy. You can't determine what the next generation does with what you built. You spend your shadow-life and leave the results to someone you'll never meet.
This isn't hopelessness — it's setup. The Preacher's uncertainty drives you toward the only source of certainty: God. If you can't figure out what's good, you need someone who can. If you can't see past your own death, you need someone who sees everything.
The questions the Preacher can't answer are the questions only God can. And that's the point.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
For who knoweth what is good for man in this life?.... To be in a higher or lower station of life, to live in grandeur…
After him - i. e., On earth, in his own present sphere of action, after his departure hence (compare Ecc 2:19; Ecc…
Here, 1. Solomon lays down his conclusion which he had undertaken to prove, as that which was fully confirmed by the…
who knoweth what is good for man We have once more the distinctive formula of Pyrrhonism. "Who knows?" was the sceptic's…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture