of the good things in life. The author “couches his language in a way that communicates his reluctance and lack of enthusiasm,”8 as if to say, “It isn’t much, but this is what life has to offer.” If that is true, then we had better seize the day—carpe diem! So the Preacher is like the rich fool in the parable that Jesus told, the man who said to his soul, “eat, drink, be merry” (Luke 12:19) or like the victims doomed to be torn apart by wild beasts in the Roman amphitheaters: “Let us eat and drink,