Ecclesiastes 9:4

"For whoever is joined with the living, there is hope; surely. live dog is better than. dead lion."whoever is joined with the living" -i.e. anyone still alive

"there is hope" -If there is no God, then the living doesn't have any hope! The word hope here infers an afterlife that is determined by the type of life that one lives in this life (2 Corinthians 5:10; Ecc. Ecclesiastes 12:14). As long as there is life, man can change his eternal destiny, but once death happens his or her fate is fixed forever (Luke 16:19-31; Hebrews 9:28).

"a live dog is better than. dead lion" -The dogs in Palestine weren't pets, rather they were wild, roamed in packs, lived off the garbage and the bodies of dead animals and humans, and were viewed as miserable creatures. On the other hand, the lion is. symbol of majestic power and royalty. In the animal kingdom, the contrast here is between the king of beasts and the bottom of the barrel. The meaning is, the most lowly person who still possess life is better off than the most exalted man who had already gone to the grave (and wasn't prepared to meet God). Better poor, alive and with time to change than rich, dead and lost.