What the Bible says about Solomon's Appraisal of 'Life as Meaningless'
(From Forerunner Commentary)
Solomon says, "Hey, I have done all these things, and after I am dead, nobody will even remember who did them." Some call the Bible—Adam and Eve, the Flood, the Exodus, and so forth—mythical, legendary, allegorical, and contrived. In fact, it has been just within the last few years that archaeologists have—for the first time ever—unearthed secular evidence for the existence for the great David!
What usually happens is that a biblical personage remains a shadowy figure until something apart from the Bible "proves" that he existed. He may be one of the greatest men who ever lived, yet the world wonders. "Did he really live, or was he just a composite figure made up by Hebrew writers trying to beef up their past?"
Solomon cries foul when he realizes that this will happen to him. He concludes, "Life is meaningless."
John W. Ritenbaugh
Ecclesiastes and the Feast of Tabernacles (Part 2)