The Book of Ecclesiastes 2:1–26

 ¹I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure”; but surely, this also was vanity. ²I said of laughter—“Madness!”; and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?” ³I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives. ⁴I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards. ⁵I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. ⁶I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove. ⁷I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. ⁸I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all kinds. ⁹So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.

¹⁰Whatever 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.

¹¹Then 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.

¹²Then I turned myself to consider wisdom and madness and folly; For what can the man do who succeeds the king?— Only what he has already done. 

¹³Then I saw that wisdom excels folly As light excels darkness. 

¹⁴The wise man’s eyes are in his head, But the fool walks in darkness. Yet I myself perceived That the same event happens to them all. ¹⁵So 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.”

¹⁶For there is no more remembrance of the wise 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! ¹⁷Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind. ¹⁸Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me. ¹⁹And 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.

²⁰Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun. ²¹For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; yet he must leave his heritage to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. ²²For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun? ²³For all his days are sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity. ²⁴Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God. ²⁵For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I? ²⁶For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but to 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.

Commentary

Vs. 1 “I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure”; but surely, this also was vanity.”

 

King Solomon having failed to find satisfaction in all his intellectual pursuits (BBC), now turns his heart to pleasure. Lavish parties and grand gatherings, and all kinds of celebratory feasts and festivals with grand music, he held them all to the full in his royal court. Now of course these served up an abundance of the most delectable kinds of food and drink that could be found. King Solomon then experienced “mirth” like no other. But in the end he found it all was also just vanity. For his heart still longed for something more to satisfy it.

Vs. 2 I said of laughter—“Madness!”; and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?”

In recalling all of the laughter he experienced through such a lifestyle; for there is always much laughter and carefree folly during a kings party; and yet King Solomon upon reflection of it all only sees it all as utter madness, of accomplishing nothing satisfying, significant, or lasting. Therefore he asks himself, what does mirth accomplish? For after the party ends, the emptiness always returns.

Vs. 3 I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.

King Solomon thus sought out how to gratify his flesh with wine; he became a connoisseur of the choicest vintages, while still guiding his heart with wisdom; thus he was not a self indulgent drunkard who throws up all over himself; but a sophisticated and tactful connoisseur of the finest of wines. Even so King Solomon also sought how to lay hold of folly, that is all of the playful and mostly harmless nonsense that the rich and super rich very often do and pursue at their grand parties and gatherings and such. All of this, and so much more, King Solomon embraced and pursued in his search to find out what is good for the sons of men to do while living down here under heaven all the days of their lives.

 Vs. 4-9 ⁴I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards. ⁵I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. ⁶I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove. ⁷I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. ⁸I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all kinds. ⁹So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.

Beyond the extravagant partying King Solomon's life was not just about “mirth”. No King Solomon was an industrious man with grand ambitions and very lofty goals. And so he made his works great, for he built houses for himself, (i.e. grand mansions), he also planted vineyards, gardens, and orchards with all kinds of fruit trees in them so that grounds of them were majestic to behold. Indeed he even made water pools by which to keep trees of the grove watered like the Garden of Eden. He then went on to acquire male and female servants for himself; the most skilled people in their various fields of expertise to keep and maintain all of his properties and such. Indeed Solomon says that he even had servants born in his house; these people then were like family to him. Yes says Solomon, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me (vs. 7). King Solomon then went onto gather silver and gold and all the special treasures of kings and of provinces. (See 1 Kings 9:26-28; 10:14-29 etc.). nd of for his own entertainment and the entertainment of his guests King Solomon also acquired male and female singers, (those blessed with angelic voices) who are the delights of the sons of men, as well as musical instruments of all kinds (vs. 8). For Solomon learned from his father King David how to love and appreciate excellent music. And so it was King Solomon excelled all of the kings around him, even all of the kings who came before him in Jerusalem, and in all of this King Solomon retained his wisdom (vs. 9). 

Vs. 10-11 ¹⁰Whatever 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.

¹¹Then 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.

King Solomon then kept his eyes back from nothing he desired, for he allowed his heart to experience every pleasure, and he pursued and built his every desire, and so his heart rejoiced in all of his labor, for he saw that this was his reward for all of his labor (vs. 10). King Solomon then did not squander his wealth, prestige, and grand standing before all given him by God, rather he by wisdom increased it all. And yet it was when he sat back and reflected upon all the works that his hands had done, and all the labor in which he toiled so skillfully in; of all that he had acquired and achieved; it was all just vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun in doing and pursuing all that he had pursued and done. For a life lived in the service of one’s own desires and pleasures only ends in one’s own disappointment and disillusionment. This what King Solomon found. 

Vs. 12 ¹²Then I turned myself to consider wisdom and madness and folly;

For what can the man do who succeeds the king?—

Only what he has already done.

King Solomon having then discovered the great disillusionment that comes with all self centered pursuits, now decides to search the depth s of wisdom and madness and folly; so he might see what would be best for a man to do and live out, whether a life lived in the pursuit of wisdom, or a life lived full of  folly and reckless abandon. For as King Solomon reasoned, what can the man do that will succeed him, only what he himself has already done and discovered.

Vs. 13-16 ¹³Then I saw that wisdom excels folly

As light excels darkness.

¹⁴The wise man’s eyes are in his head,

But the fool walks in darkness.

Yet I myself perceived

That the same event happens to them all.

¹⁵So 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.”

¹⁶For there is no more remembrance of the wise 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!

Having then explored the depths of both lifestyles, he found that wisdom excels folly, as light excels darkness. There is then no debate about this, to live wise and prudently far and away exceeds and excels living recklessly and foolishly. For the wise man eyes are in his head; that is he can see where he is and where he is going and avoid the many pitfalls and dangers that are in this life, while the fool only walks in darkness completely blind to all the perils and dangers and miseries that are on the road that he is taking. And yet in pursuing these things King Solomon also found another unsettling truth, that is, that the same event happens to both the wise and the fool, for death comes to us all. For sooner or later we all die, and why then is the wise man any “wiser” than the fool? If we all go to the same place. In considering his words here we must remember that King Solomon is referring to lives lived under the sun, not under the Son of God. Thus if a person’s life is only lived in the pursuit of wisdom, i.e. such as the ancient Greeks placed such importance on their pursuits of, what advantage did they, or anyone else have in taking that road, for both the fool and wise man if they die without faith in the one true God will go to the same place. Thus pursuing wisdom in of itself is just vanity. For as Solomon noted there is no more remembrance of the wise man and fool forever, for once their generation passes away, all that now is that they have learned and acquired will be forgotten in the days to come, and so how does the wise man die? As the fool! Neither fame nor fortune then lasts. For you cannot take it with you to the grave

Vs. 17-23 ¹⁷Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind. ¹⁸Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me. ¹⁹And 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. ²⁰Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun. ²¹For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; yet he must leave his heritage to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. ²²For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun? ²³For all his days are sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.

And with that discovery, King Solomon now says he hated life, for all the work that once so pleased him in doing and pursuing, now only became distressing to him. For he saw that it was all just vanity and  grasping for the wind (vs. 17). Therefore he hated all the labor in which he so skillfully labored, for he now realized that he was going to have to leave it all to a man who would come after him, and who knows whether this person would be wise or a fool? Yet they would rule over all that he had done and accomplished, all that he had shown himself so wise under the sun in accomplishing. Therefore he despaired of all that he had done and accomplished, for it all must go into the hands of another, and who knows what kind of person they will be, and what they will do with it all, with his entire legacy. This King Solomon found to be vanity and a great evil, to give one’s life to building that which does last nor remain with you, only to turn it over to the hands of someone who has not labored for it (vs. 18-21). Indeed King Solomon the goes on and looks at the individual who spends their life trying to attain to greatness, who strives and toils under the sun, who maybe then attains to it, but in seeking to attain to it all their life was just one only filled with sorrow and burdens, and even in the night they found no rest as they were constantly worrying about this or that. Of trying to solve or resolve this problem or that (vs. 22-23). 

Vs. 24-26 ²⁴Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God. ²⁵For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I? ²⁶For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but to 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.

Thus living your life for only trying to build a legacy for yourself is vanity; for all the achievements, accolades, and awards that one may acquire in this life will not remain with them; nor will people remember them when you are gone. Thus all that striving and lost relationships through it all only attain you nothing in the end. Therefore King Solomon found that it is much better to live and enjoy one’s life, (and ones friends and family), that ones soul should enjoy good in their labor, rather than only pursing vanity. For you can be a “corporate giant”, or you can spend your weekends and evenings playing with your kids, laughing with them and openly loving them, and thus helping them grow up into well adjusted and well settled adults. Or you can pursue your own legacy. But which “legacy” do you want to be remembered for? Again you can seek after the noble prize or the academy award, or even the sports title, at the expense of your own life and relationships, but in the end you will find it all to be vanity, grasping for the wind, for it will not satisfy your soul. And so it was King Solomon found that it is God who gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to the person who is good in His sight, (thus living right before Him is always right!), but to 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. For the sinner may acquire this or that but it does not remain with them, for God redistributes their wealth to those who please Him. The sinful life then is always vanity and grasping for the wind. Don't then idolize those celebrities who live for it here and now, for their sorrows and judgment to come you do not want. 

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.