Eccleiastes 2:17-26 So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind. 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, 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. So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, 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. What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? 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. 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, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? 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.
When we face the fact that there is nothing in this world – no person, place or thing – that can meet the deepest ache in our soul is probably one of the most solemn moments of our existence. Many can’t face that kind of reality so they escape into such things as fantasies, endless rounds of activity, drink, sensual pleasures. It is this quality – the ability to face reality – that endears Solomon to us. We don’t have to guess what is going on inside him. He tells us – and in no uncertain terms. What is the next thing Solomon turned to in his frustration with life? Work; and work, especially creative work, can be very satisfying. Solomon is not knocking work, but he is saying that this is not where life is to be found. Clearly, Solomon had considered throwing himself into activity partly to establish something that could be left to his children. But as he contemplates the idea, he concludes: When you die, you have to leave it all to someone else; you cannot be sure if he or she will look after it or ruin it; you have no choice but to give it away as a gift to someone who has not worked for it ; and finally, what benefit does the one who has worked derive from it? . Don’t dismiss this as just despairing pessimism. Remember the purpose of Ecclesiastes – to show that true meaning is not found in the temporal but in the eternal. Here is a real person coming to some real conclusions about life in a real world. (Hughes)
