For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts - literally, 'For the sons of men' ( 'aadaam (H120)) are haphazard, as also the beast is haphazard. As regards liability to death, excluding the future judgment, as the sceptic oppressors do, man is on a level with the beast. Life is "vanity" if regarded independently of religion. Man is as powerless as the beast to ward off any haphazard casualty. Apart from the bond which unites him to God, who breathed into him His Spirit, raising him infinitely above the beast (Genesis 2:7), godless man is no better than the beast; his lot irresistibly fixed from without, he has no free self-determination. The flood, as a type of all judgments, illustrates this: the mighty men of renown died the same common death as the meanest brute.
They have all one breath - one vitality.
So that a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast - in the point of view in which he is here regarded-namely, as to liability to accident and death. But Ecclesiastes 3:21 points out the vast difference between them in respect to the future destiny; also (Ecclesiastes 3:17), beasts have no "judgment" to come. Compare note, Ecclesiastes 3:11, 'He hath set eternity in their heart.'