“I said in my heart, ‘Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure;’ but surely, this also was vanity.”
Ecclesiastes 2:1
Having studied labor and finding it empty of meaning and intrinsic value, Solomon decides to test pleasure and enjoyment, only to find that this, too, is an empty pursuit. He pursued gardening, design, possessions, music, food, drink… anything he could get his hands on, to see if it would satisfy the desire of his heart.
“Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor; and this was my reward from all my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled; and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.”
Ecclesiastes 2:10-11
Solomon found that he had enjoyment while he indulged himself, but afterward it was all empty and pointless. Have you ever felt that mood swing? So full of happiness in the moment, but empty and depressed the moment after? I have. That moment after enjoyment makes me almost feel sick because my heart detests the very thing it enjoys. Nothing was accomplished and, just like the work, there is no point in the enjoyment alone. Solomon then looks back at all the things he has accomplished so far, his own greatness, and his wisdom. Then he concludes that wisdom is better than folly (v. 13), but even wisdom has no tangible benefit.
So I said in my heart, ‘As it happens to the fool, it also happens to me, and why was I then more wise?’ Then I said in my heart, ‘This also is vanity.’ For there is no more remembrance of the wise man than of the fool forever, since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come. And how does a wise man die? As the fool!”
Ecclesiastes 2:15-16
It is interesting how his study into mirth has circled his thinking back around to death. The Bible shows us that death is our enemy (an enemy vanquished by Jesus), and that every person will die once (Heb. 9:27). Solomon begins to think about his legacy for those who will come after him.
“Then I hated all my labor in which I have toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.”
Ecclesiastes 2:18-19
The irony in Solomon’s fretting is that his son who inherited his labors was, in fact, a fool in many ways. But the point Solomon is making is that the future holds no guarantees except death. He could not control his legacy or the wisdom or foolishness of his son. He could not ensure that he and his works would be remembered forever. We all function under those same limitations. Only God controls the outcomes, but we have a responsibility to God with what He has given us.
In the previous chapter, Solomon decided that labor is from God and without God there is no real substance to the work we do. He comes back to this thought concerning mirth.
“For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun? For all his days are sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity. Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God.”
Ecclesiastes 2:22-24
God gave us good, enjoyable things to give our hearts and minds rest from the labors and sorrows of life. One their own, just like work, the enjoyable things have no value, but God gives them value and purpose and place in each of our lives. Enjoyment is not a sin.
“For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but o the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.”
Ecclesiastes 2:26
I really struggled with the meaning of this one but, viewed in context of the book as a whole, the focus of the passage, and Solomon as the author, I believe that the message is this: to the righteous, God freely gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy. To the unjustified, they have to work for wisdom and the righteous learn from their gathering, like younger siblings watching the elders learn the hard way. For the sinner, their labors for wisdom are empty and pointless, but for the righteous, wisdom brings us closer to God.
Abrigail Julian: 