Ecclesiastes Chapter Seven "The End of all Men"

Ecclesiastes 7:1 “A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth”.

“A good name is better than precious ointment…” but a good name is not automatic, it belongs to those with good character. Proverbs 22:1 relates to this same subject. What image is conjured up in the minds around us should our names be mentioned in their presence. The association of our name will most certainly be related to our works/behavior. And so, as a good name is greatly to be desired then we must strive to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord because that is the foundation of a good name.

"...the day of death than the day of one's birth". This certainly true if one has walked in the way prescribed by the Lord and they have a good name but it is not true if they, like Solomon, have lived a careless life and have lived recklessly. We will all have that appointed day when we depart this world; the question on our lips should be "Am I ready?" The answer very important question will depend on how one has lived their life. Solomon was a depressed man and this statement comes because he saw death as a way of alleviating the labor, suffering and toil of man, however, since he had not run the race well his death was not better than the day he was born.

2 “It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart”.

"It is better to go to the house of mourning {a funeral} than to go to the house of feasting {a banquet}." This statement is coming from a depressed man and is partially true. In the sense that at a funeral you see "the end of all men"; there the living become sober and circumspect. At a funeral it is hard to be light hearted and carefree when we have a real life example of where everyone, man, woman and child is headed. However, that being said, it is not a statement that will always be true because there is coming a banquet called the marriage supper of the Lamb and those who miss it will mourn and so in that day it will be better to go the house of feasting than the house of mourning.