Solomon also looks at the economic life. He sees people working hard. He sees how people are committed to making themselves fit for their work. They do it to earn more or to move up on the social ladder. The backdrop of this is often envy, jealousy, selfishness and materialism. One seeks to have more than the other. The one wants to have a greater meaning in society than the other. This too is what the Preacher characterizes as ‘a breath’, a vain attempt of chasing after the wind. This is because a person cannot take his money, his influence and status, with him when he dies. The day you die, your skills and your position in this world are unable to save you.
4 Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.