The Preacher poses this question to drive home the impossibility of true satisfaction apart from God’s sovereign gift. By asking rather than stating, he engages the reader’s own experience and invites them to recognize their dependence on divine provision. The rhetorical form makes the answer inescapable: no one can truly enjoy life’s gifts without God’s enabling.

The Preacher answers his own rhetorical question in verse 26, stating that God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to the person who pleases Him, while the sinner receives the task of gathering wealth only to give it to the one who pleases God.

The Preacher’s question confronts the reader with humanity’s fundamental dependence on God for even the simplest pleasures. The Hebrew verb translated ‘eat’ (akal) represents basic sustenance, while ‘enjoyment’ (hush in some manuscripts, related to experiencing sensation) encompasses all forms of pleasure. By framing this as a question, the Preacher makes the reader actively consider their own experience rather than passively receiving instruction. The implied answer, ‘no one’, establishes that God’s sovereign provision underlies every moment of satisfaction. This isn’t merely about God creating food or pleasure; it’s about God granting the capacity to enjoy them. The theological weight here is profound: human autonomy is an illusion, and every good thing we experience testifies to our absolute dependence on divine grace.