Solomon's searches "under the sun" tell but
one story: There is nought in all the world that can satisfy the heart
of man. The next verse furnishes another striking illustration of
this. He sees a solitary one, absolutely alone, without kith or kin
dependent on him, and yet he toils on, "bereaving his soul of good" as
unceasingly as when he first started in life. Every energy is still
strained in the race for those riches that satisfy not at all.
"Vanity" is the Preacher's commentary on the scene. This naturally
leads to the conclusion that solitude, at least, is no blessing; for
man was made for companionship and mutual dependence, and in this is
safety. (Verses 9 to 12.)

Verses 13 to the end are difficult, as they stand in our authorized
version; but they speak, I think, of the striking and extraordinary
vicissitudes that are so constant "under the sun." There is no lot
abiding. The king on his throne, "old and foolish," changes places
with the youth who may even step from the humiliation of prison and
chains to the highest dignity: then "better is the poor and wise youth
than the old and foolish king." But wider still the Preacher looks,
and marks the stately march of the present generation with the next
that shall follow it; yea, there is no end of the succession of surging
generations, each boastful of itself, and taking no joy in--that is,
making little account of--that which has gone before. Each, in its
turn, like a broken wave, making way for its successor. Boastful
pride, broken in death, but still followed by another equally boastful,
or more so, which, in its turn, is humbled also in the silence of the
grave. It is the same story of human changes as "the youth" and "the
king," only a wider range is taken; but "vanity" is the appropriate
groan that accompanies the whole meditation. In this I follow Dr.
Lewis's version:--

Better the child, though he be poor, if wise,
Than an old and foolish king, who heeds no longer warning;
For out of bondage came the one to reign--
The other, in a kingdom born, yet suffers poverty.
I saw the living all, that walked in pride beneath the sun,
I saw the second birth that in their place shall stand.
No end to all the people that have gone before;
And they who still succeed, in them shall find no joy.
This, too, is vanity,--a chasing of the wind.

CHAPTER V.

With the opening of this chapter we come to quite a different theme.
Lik