Ecclesiastes 3:18-22

Rachel Workman: ¹⁸ I also thought about the human condition—how God proves to people that they are like animals. ¹⁹ For people and animals share the same fate—both breathe^[a] and both must die. So people have no real advantage over the animals. How meaningless! ²⁰ Both go to the same place—they came from dust and they return to dust. ²¹ For who can prove that the human spirit goes up and the spirit of animals goes down into the earth? ²² So I saw that there is nothing better for people than to be happy in their work. That is our lot in life. And no one can bring us back to see what happens after we die.
Of course we have a real advantage over animals. Salvation and eternal life is the main one.

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John Burnett:  ¹⁸ I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. ¹⁹ Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath^[a]; humans have no advantage over animals.  Everything is meaningless. ²⁰ All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. ²¹ Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”

²² So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?

Verse 19 is interesting because we know that humans have several advantages over the animals.  Humans are made in God’s Image and are the only beings in His creation that can know God through His Word.  This is a huge advantage as we are the only beings that can have eternal life through the truth of His word.  We know that the human spirit will rise upward when we are born of the Spirit and belong to Jesus Christ.

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Tomorrow’s reading for Ecclesiastes 4:1-6

Again, I observed all the oppression that takes place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, with no one to comfort them. The oppressors have great power, and their victims are helpless. ² So I concluded that the dead are better off than the living. ³ But most fortunate of all are those who are not yet born. For they have not seen all the evil that is done under the sun.

⁴ Then I observed that most people are motivated to success because they envy their neighbors. But this, too, is meaningless—like chasing the wind.

⁵ “Fools fold their idle hands,
    leading them to ruin.”

⁶ And yet,

“Better to have one handful with quietness
    than two handfuls with hard work
    and chasing the wind.”