1I said in my heart, Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore regard pleasure; and this was vanity. 2I said of laughter, It is madness; and of mirth, What does it accomplish? 3I sought in my heart to gratify my flesh with wine, while leading my heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, until I might find out what was good for the sons of men to do under the heavens all the days of their life. 4I made my works great; I built houses for myself; I planted vineyards for myself. 5I made gardens and orchards for myself, and I planted trees in them, of all kinds of fruit. 6I made pools of water for myself, to water the forest springing up with trees. 7I have bought slaves and maids, and had servants born in my house; I also had more livestock, herds and flocks, than all were before me in Jerusalem. 8I also gathered silver and gold to myself, and the treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got men singers and women singers for myself, and the delights of the sons of men, wives and concubines. 9I was great and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me. 10And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I did not withhold my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this was my share from all my labor. 11Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done, and on the labor that I had labored to do; and, behold, all was vanity and striving of spirit; and there was no profit under the sun. 12And I turned myself to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what can the man do who comes after the king, when it has already been done? 13Then I saw that wisdom excels folly, as far as light excels darkness. 14The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walks in darkness; and I also considered that one event happens to them all. 15Then I said in my heart, As it happens to the fool, so it happens even to me; and why was I then more wise? And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. 16For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool forever, since that which is now shall all be forgotten in the days to come. And how does the wise man die? Same as the fool! 17Therefore I hated life; because the work that is done under the sun is evil to me; for all is vanity and striving of spirit. 18Yes, I hated all my labor which I had done under the sun; because I must leave it to the man who shall come after me. 19And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he shall have rule over all my labor in which I have labored, and acted wisely under the sun. This also is vanity. 20Therefore I turned my heart to despair over all the labor in which I had labored under the sun. 21For there is a man whose labor is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and with success; yet he shall leave it as inheritance to a man who has not labored in it. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22For what has man from all his labor, and from the striving of his heart, in which he has labored under the sun? 23For all his days are sorrows, and his task grief; yea, his heart does not take rest in the night. This also is vanity. 24Is it not good for a man to eat and drink and make his soul behold the good in his labor. This also, I saw, that it was from the hand of God. 25For who can eat, or who can enjoy, apart from Me? 26For God gives wisdom, and knowledge, and joy to a man who is good in His sight. But to the sinner He gives labor, to collect and gather, that he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and striving of spirit.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 (Ecc. 2:1-26)
I said . . . heart-- (
Luke 12:19).
thee--my heart, I will test whether thou canst find that solid good in pleasure which was not in "worldly wisdom." But this also proves to be "vanity" (
Isa 50:11).
2 laughter--including prosperity, and joy in general (
Job 8:21).
mad--that is, when made the chief good; it is harmless in its proper place.
What doeth it?--Of what avail is it in giving solid good? (
Eccl 7:6;
Pro 14:13).
3 Illustration more at large of
Eccl 2:1-
Eccl 2:2.
I sought--I resolved, after search into many plans.
give myself unto wine--literally, "to draw my flesh," or "body to wine" (including all banquetings). Image from a captive drawn after a chariot in triumph (
Rom 6:16,
Rom 6:19;
1Cor 12:2); or, one "allured" (
2Pet 2:18-19).
yet acquainting . . . wisdom--literally, "and my heart (still) was behaving, or guiding itself," with wisdom [GESENIUS]. MAURER translates: "was weary of (worldly) wisdom." But the end of
Eccl 2:9 confirms English Version.
folly--namely, pleasures of the flesh, termed "mad,"
Eccl 2:2.
all the days, &c.--(See Margin and
Eccl 6:12;
Job 15:20).
4 (
1Kgs 7:1-8;
1Kgs 9:1,
1Kgs 9:19;
1Kgs 10:18, &c.).
vineyards-- (
Song 8:11).
5 gardens--Hebrew, "paradises," a foreign word; Sanskrit, "a place enclosed with a wall"; Armenian and Arabic, "a pleasure ground with flowers and shrubs near the king's house, or castle." An earthly paradise can never make up for the want of the heavenly (
Rev 2:7).
6 pools--artificial, for irrigating the soil (
Gen 2:10;
Neh 2:14;
Isa 1:30). Three such reservoirs are still found, called Solomon's cisterns, a mile and a half from Jerusalem.
wood that bringeth forth--rather, "the grove that flourisheth with trees" [LOWTH].
7 born in my house--These were esteemed more trustworthy servants than those bought (
Gen 14:14;
Gen 15:2-
Gen 15:3;
Gen 17:12-
Gen 17:13,
Gen 17:27;
Jer 2:14), called "songs of one's handmaid" (
Exod 23:12; compare
Gen 12:16;
Job 1:3).
8 (
1Kgs 10:27;
2Chr 1:15;
2Chr 9:20).
peculiar treasure of kings and . . . provinces--contributed by them, as tributary to him (
1Kgs 4:21,
1Kgs 4:24); a poor substitute for the wisdom whose "gain is better than fine gold" (
Pro 3:14-
Pro 3:15).
singers--so David (
2Sam 19:35).
musical instruments . . . of all sorts--introduced at banquets (
Isa 5:12;
Amos 6:5-
Amos 6:6); rather, "a princess and princesses," from an Arabic root. One regular wife, or queen (
Esth 1:9); Pharaoh's daughter (
1Kgs 3:1); other secondary wives, "princesses," distinct from the "concubines" (
1Kgs 11:3;
Ps 45:10;
Song 6:8) [WEISS, GESENIUS]. Had these been omitted, the enumeration would be incomplete.
9 great--opulent (
Gen 24:35;
Job 1:3; see
1Kgs 10:23).
remained-- (
Eccl 2:3).
10 my labour--in procuring pleasures.
this--evanescent "joy" was my only "portion out of all my labor" (
Eccl 3:22;
Eccl 5:18;
Eccl 9:9;
1Kgs 10:5).
11 But all these I felt were only "vanity," and of "no profit" as to the chief good. "Wisdom" (worldly common sense, sagacity), which still "remained with me" (
Eccl 2:9), showed me that these could not give solid happiness.
12 He had tried (worldly) wisdom (
Eccl 1:12-
Eccl 1:18) and folly (foolish pleasure) (
Eccl 2:1-
Eccl 2:11); he now compares them (
Eccl 2:12) and finds that while (worldly)
wisdom excelleth folly (
Eccl 2:13-
Eccl 2:14), yet the one event, death, befalls both (
Eccl 2:14-
Eccl 2:16), and that thus the wealth acquired by the wise man's "labor" may descend to a "fool" that hath not labored (
Eccl 2:18-
Eccl 2:19,
Eccl 2:21); therefore all his labor is vanity (
Eccl 2:22-
Eccl 2:23).
what can the man do . . . already done-- (
Eccl 1:9). Parenthetical. A future investigator can strike nothing out "new," so as to draw a different conclusion from what I draw by comparing "wisdom and madness." HOLDEN, with less ellipsis, translates, "What, O man, shall come after the king?" &c. Better, GROTIUS, "What man can come after (compete with) the king in the things which are done?" None ever can have the same means of testing what all earthly things can do towards satisfying the soul; namely, worldly wisdom, science, riches, power, longevity, all combined.
13 (
Pro 17:24). The worldly "wise" man has good sense in managing his affairs, skill and taste in building and planting, and keeps within safe and respectable bounds in pleasure, while the "fool" is wanting in these respects ("darkness," equivalent to fatal error, blind infatuation), yet one event, death, happens to both (
Job 21:26).
15 why was I--so anxious to become, &c. (
2Chr 1:10).
Then--Since such is the case.
this--namely, pursuit of (worldly) wisdom; it can never fill the place of the true wisdom (
Job 28:28;
Jer 8:9).
16 remembrance--a great aim of the worldly (
Gen 11:4). The righteous alone attain it (
Ps 112:6;
Pro 10:7).
for ever--no perpetual memorial.
that which now is--MAURER, "In the days to come all things shall be now long ago forgotten."
17 Disappointed in one experiment after another, he is weary of life. The backslider ought to have rather reasoned as the prodigal (
Hos 2:6-
Hos 2:7;
Luke 15:17-
Luke 15:18).
grievous unto me-- (
Job 10:1).
18 One hope alone was left to the disappointed worldling, the perpetuation of his name and riches, laboriously gathered, through his successor. For selfishness is mostly at the root of worldly parents' alleged providence for their children. But now the remembrance of how he himself, the piously reared child of David, had disregarded his father's dying charge (
1Chr 28:9), suggested the sad misgivings as to what Rehoboam, his son by an idolatrous Ammonitess, Naamah, should prove to be; a foreboding too fully realized (1Ki. 12:1-18;
1Kgs 14:21-31).
20 I gave up as desperate all hope of solid fruit from my labor.
21 Suppose "there is a man," &c.
equity--rather "with success," as the Hebrew is rendered (
Eccl 11:6), "prosper," though Margin gives "right" [HOLDEN and MAURER].
evil--not in itself, for this is the ordinary course of things, but "evil," as regards the chief good, that one should have toiled so fruitlessly.
22 Same sentiment as in
Eccl 2:21, interrogatively.
23 The only fruit he has is, not only sorrows in his days, but all his days are sorrows, and his travail (not only has griefs connected with it, but is itself), grief.
24 English Version gives a seemingly Epicurean sense, contrary to the general scope. The Hebrew, literally is, "It is not good for man that he should eat," &c., "and should make his soul see good" (or "show his soul, that is, himself, happy"), &c. [WEISS]. According to HOLDEN and WEISS,
Eccl 3:12,
Eccl 3:22 differ from this verse in the text and meaning; here he means, "It is not good that a man should feast himself, and falsely make as though his soul were happy"; he thus refers to a false pretending of happiness acquired by and for one's self; in
Eccl 3:12,
Eccl 3:22;
Eccl 5:18-
Eccl 5:19, to real seeing, or finding pleasure when God gives it. There it is said to be good for a man to enjoy with satisfaction and thankfulness the blessings which God gives; here it is said not to be good to take an unreal pleasure to one's self by feasting, &c.
This also I saw--I perceived by experience that good (real pleasure) is not to be taken at will, but comes only from the hand of God [WEISS] (
Ps 4:6;
Isa 57:19-
Isa 57:21). Or as HOLDEN, "It is the appointment from the hand of God, that the sensualist has no solid satisfaction" (good).
25 hasten--after indulgences (
Pro 7:23;
Pro 19:2), eagerly pursue such enjoyments. None can compete with me in this. If I, then, with all my opportunities of enjoyment, failed utterly to obtain solid pleasure of my own making, apart from God, who else can? God mercifully spares His children the sad experiment which Solomon made, by denying them the goods which they often desire. He gives them the fruits of Solomon's experience, without their paying the dear price at which Solomon bought it.
26 True, literally, in the Jewish theocracy; and in some measure in all ages (
Job 27:16-
Job 27:17;
Pro 13:22;
Pro 28:8). Though the retribution be not so visible and immediate now as then, it is no less real. Happiness even here is more truly the portion of the godly (
Ps 84:11;
Matt 5:5;
Mark 10:29-
Mark 10:30;
Rom 8:28;
1Tim 4:8).
that he--the sinner
may give--that is, unconsciously and in spite of himself. The godly Solomon had satisfaction in his riches and wisdom, when God gave them (
2Chr 1:11-12). The backsliding Solomon had no happiness when he sought it in them apart from God; and the riches which he heaped up became the prey of Shishak (
2Chr 12:9).
Earthly pursuits are no doubt lawful in their proper time and order (
Eccl 3:1-
Eccl 3:8), but unprofitable when out of time and place; as for instance, when pursued as the solid and chief good (
Eccl 3:9-
Eccl 3:10); whereas God makes everything beautiful in its season, which man obscurely comprehends (
Eccl 3:11). God allows man to enjoy moderately and virtuously His earthly gifts (
Eccl 3:12-
Eccl 3:13). What consoles us amidst the instability of earthly blessings is, God's counsels are immutable (
Eccl 3:14).
