Ecclesiastes 2:20 Therefore I began to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor in which I had labored under the sun. 21 For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, with knowledge, and with skillfulness; yet he shall leave it for his portion to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22 For what does a man have of all his labor and of the striving of his heart, in which he labors under the sun? 23 For all his days are sorrows, and his travail is grief; yes, even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.
After examining and deconstructing all of the ways that are available to men and women to find lasting meaning in this life, Solomon realized that his quest has failed. The hard-earned wisdom and the unimaginable wealth that his labors had brought him could not fill the emptiness that haunted Solomon. The relentless march of time and the inevitability that death would devour all of Solomon’s wisdom and all of Solomon’s labor only to give them to an heir or victor who had done nothing to deserve them.
Throughout the ages, like Solomon, all honest men and women who contemplate their plight, despair, grieve, and rail over the futility of it all. For example:
For example as Dylan Thomas wrote in Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night… rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Despair is the price one pays for self-awareness. Look deeply into life, and you’ll always find despair. Irvin D. Yalom,When Nietzsche Wept
The earth is headed for ultimate destruction. We must eventually go under. We can only strive to hang on as long as possible, have some fun while we’re at the table… Stephen Jay Gould, Paleontologist, Clifton Fadiman, Living Philosophies, Doubleday,
Opening my senses, I cannot help but marvel. The astonishing intricacy of all the forms of life on earth sometimes literally takes my breath away. But I will die, sooner or later. Death is my truly mortal enemy. John Hershey, Pulitzer Prize Winner, Living Philosophies
Man must realize that he is an emanation of nothingness and nothingness will devour his clever constructs. Czeslaw Milosz, Nobel Prize Winner, Living Philosophies
We are stardust, billion year old carbon. We are golden, caught in the devil’s bargain. And we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden. Joni Mitchell, Singer/Songwriter, Woodstock, Ladies of the Canyon
Solomon has been trying to get back to the garden, back to before our first parents disobeyed their Creator, back before Adam and Eve introduced the futility of hevel into the creation; subjecting it to futility. Romans 8:20
Solomon concludes this section of his book by acknowledging that there is nothing under the sun that can give meaning to life because everything under the sun, all of his dreams, learning, and accomplishments will be swallowed by time and lost in death.
Ecclesiastes 2:24 There is no good in man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God. 25 For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, apart from him? 26 For to the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.
Solomon had believed that his personal happiness was paramount. To reach his goal he had married hundreds of women and even built altars to their false gods. But even that amounted to herding the wind. It got him nothing.
Having explored all of the possibilities under the sun, and finding them wanting, unable to give meaning to life, Solomon turns to consider God, looking at life from another perspective, looking at life under heaven.
He explains to his son that there is no real peace or lasting enjoyment apart from God. Solomon says that God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy. Many years later Christ would say, “I have come that you may have life, and may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10 “I have spoken these things to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full.” John 15:11
Under the sun Solomon had explained that there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, with knowledge, and with skillfulness; yet he shall leave it for his portion to a man who has not labored for it. But here he explains that there is another perspective to be considered: under heaven… For to the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God.
When we try to please ourselves, when we try to be true to ourselves, we often become trapped in our own twisted, misguided thinking. When we strive to build our own kingdoms not only will peace and meaning elude us, but in the end, in death, God will give the fruits of our labor to whomever he pleases.
In contrast, the path to life and fullness of joy is found only in God.
The Law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. Psalm 19:7
You show me the path to life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forever more. Psalm 16:11
In fact, once we have left behind our twisted thinking, we will discover that God is the author of joy!