#939 Ecclesiastes 2 Circling

I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity. 2 I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” 3 I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. 4 I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. 5 I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. 6 I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. 8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man.

9 So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. 10 And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. 11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

The Vanity of Living Wisely

12 So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done. 13 Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. 14 The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them. 15 Then I said in my heart, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. 16 For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool! 17 So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.

The Vanity of Toil

18 I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, 19 and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. 20 So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, 21 because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22 What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? 23 For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.

24 There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, 25 for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? 26 For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. Ecclesiastes 2 ESV

Ecclesiastes 2

1-8 In the first paragraph alone, he leaves off from the wisdom that comes from above, what God has revealed, what He has decreed. He tests himself with pleasure, but though the rivers are always flowing, the sea is never full. He indulged his every appetite, analyzed his excess, but was still chasing the wind. Other kings had as the symbol of their greatness, a great many slaves and concubines, he did the same, but this still felt lacking, and toilsome. He indulged his every sexual fantasy, but this sacrifices God's original design and intent; it offers no parallel way or way back. Solomon built up the kingdom in economics and infrastructure that dwarfed  past administrations. He was brilliant, but also used his mind outside of God's boundaries. He was a student of the passage below, but when he saw the income potential of going back to Egypt, emulating Egypt, buying horses and chariots from Egypt, he became an arms dealer. Solomon bought in bulk from Egypt and sold these military goods to the kingdoms north, which in future generations would be used against his own people. He sold out the next generation. The care for his many wives and resulting children became a burden on the people, which showed his heart to be lifted up above his brethren. If we are all made in the image of God, then his many projects should not have been on the backs of slaves; this was vain. 

When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me;

15 Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.

16 But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.

17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

18 And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites:

19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them:

20 That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel. Deuteronomy 17: 14-20

9-11 So he became greater than all before him, by the measure that men use. This greatness of kings, tyrants, governors, by measure of wealth and folly, puts others low. "I cannot believe by the authority of God's word that this should be withheld, so I tested everything." 

…18 Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light, because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.… John 3: 18-20

…25 So Jesus declared, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in authority over them call themselves benefactors. 26 But you shall not be like them. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who leads like the one who serves. 27 For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines? But I am among you as one who serves.… Luke 22: 25-27

12-17 He compares the ways of wisdom, madness and folly, and he finds wisdom taking the logical lead. It is more pragmatic, functional, but yet he must admit in the end, that both he and the fool share the same fate of death. It is in Christ only where this becomes only a shadow, in light of eternity men may partake in that which is of lasting value. 

20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have complete boldness, so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. So what shall I choose? I do not know.… Philippians 1: 20-22

18-23 He comes to detest his work, and this is on a grand scale. I have watched family vultures, waiting in dead trees, hoping for the carcass of the parent, the orchard that their father planted. They want but will not do for themselves, or have done much but still feel entitled to more. Love is lost to them, plunder is all they hope for. Solomon must be considering the state of his spoiled sons, and he detests the thought of passing to them what he has worked hard to make. They will not appreciate or rule as wisely, but his excesses will become their mark. He is restless of mind, so much that he cannot turn it off to sleep, wandering the dark halls of madness, trying to see what cannot be seen.

…28 The LORD uprooted them from their land in His anger, rage, and great wrath, and He cast them into another land, where they are today.’ 29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, so that we may follow all the words of this law. Deuteronomy 29: 28-29

24-26 

But we must enjoy good in our labour; we must use those things to make us diligent and cheerful in worldly business. And this is the gift of God. Riches are a blessing or a curse to a man, according as he has, or has not, a heart to make a good use of them. To those that are accepted of the Lord, he gives joy and satisfaction in the knowledge and love of him. But to the sinner he allots labour, sorrow, vanity, and vexation, in seeking a worldly portion, which yet afterwards comes into better hands. Let the sinner seriously consider his latter end. To seek a lasting portion in the love of Christ and the blessings it bestows, is the only way to true and satisfying enjoyment even of this present world. - Matthew Henry