Uhh, Ecclesiastes repeatedly says we are to fear God while we eat, drink and be joyful in the labor God has given us. The point is there is no way to find ultimate meaning or purpose in the material world alone. ("Under the Sun") Solomon tries this every way he can imagine and fails miserably every time. Every attempt is but vanity - a vapor. He makes the point over and over that we should fear God, trust that he is in control and has a plan and take joy in whatever life he has given us. Ecclesiastes makes it clear that the inescapable consequence of atheism is nihilism. The two cannot be separated.
Exactly. We are in complete agreement on that front.
And the whole thing is brought together starting in Chapter 12, verse 9.
The thing is, life and everything good in it is a gift from God whether you accept Him or not.
FWIW, Ecclesiastes is my current favorite OT book. Whenever I read it, it is always cover to cover. It’s not that long. And from a Christian perspective it is a very pleasing read for me. I say this because even before I became a Christian in 1981 I had this niggling feeling of “is this all there is”? And Ecclesiastes answers that to a great degree, regarding the life of my “earthly tent”.
And for those that don’t accept The blood of Christ, that is all they get.