Solomon began his quest by trying to find ultimate meaning in material possessions and activities.
Ecclesiastes 2:1 I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with mirth: therefore enjoy pleasure;” and behold, this also was vanity. 2 I said of laughter, “It is foolishness;” and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?”
Just like us, Solomon began by seeking meaning in pleasure. We all love sending clever and hysterical memes to friends. And we enjoy the momentary escape of a good comedy. Many of us get through our workweek by looking forward to the weekend. TGIF is a catch phrase in our culture. Or we daydream about and plan exciting vacations. But as Neil Postman describes in his book, ‘Amusing Ourselves to Death’ although entertainment has become our highest goal it cannot deliver the answers that we seek. Monday always comes, vacations always end, and death devours our plans and dreams. Like Solomon we must ask, What does it accomplish?
Ecclesiastes 2:3 I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine, my heart yet guiding me with wisdom, and how to lay hold of folly, until I might see what it was good for the sons of men that they should do under heaven all the days of their lives.
To enhance pleasure, Solomon added wine. Likewise today, many use both alcohol and drugs in their pursuit of pleasure. In fact, marijuana and other drugs are being legalized across many parts of the world for recreational purposes. Some who follow this path come to realize, often too late, that instead of cheer they have only forged for themselves the chains of addiction. In seeking to grab pleasure they have laid hold of folly.
Ecclesiastes 2:4 I made myself great works. I built myself houses.
Under the illusion that his heart was still guiding him with wisdom, Solomon embarked on vast building projects. How many of us have thought that if we could only build our dream house we would be able to finally grasp happiness? And after the house is complete, we think that a kitchen remodel is necessary. And the basement needs to be finished so that we can have a pool table and, of course, a bar… or maybe a weight room.
Ecclesiastes 2:4b I planted myself vineyards. 5 I made myself gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit. 6 I made myself pools of water, to water the forest where trees were grown.
Solomon also planted vineyards, gardens, and orchards, and designed irrigation systems to nourish all of his vegetation. Of course many of our suburban neighbors build sprinkler systems to water their prized flower gardens and hire TruGreen Lawn Care or other competing companies to insure that their lawns are more beautiful than the neighbors.
Ecclesiastes 2:7 I got male servants and female servants, and had servants born in my house.
And to oversee and take care of all of his houses, and gardens, Solomon had many servants. Maybe you even became the CEO with the command of many employees, but is that the secret of life? After giving the company 40 years, if you are lucky, after sending you off to retirement with a nice party and, perhaps, a consultant position, most are happy to see you go as they jockey for their place on the corporate ladder.
Ecclesiastes 2:7b I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, above all who were before me in Jerusalem.
Like the cattle barron in an old western, Solomon had the largest flocks and herds. But even that did not satisfy.
Ecclesiastes 2:8 I also gathered silver and gold for myself and the treasure of kings and of the provinces.
As we have already seen, to finance his adventures, Solomon had a fleet of ships that circled the globe bringing in, not only exotic goods but also silver and gold… the treasure of kings. Will a thriving 401K bring happiness and stop the inevitable march of time?
Ecclesiastes 2:8b I got myself male and female singers, and the delights of the sons of men: musical instruments, and that of all sorts.
And to help make the whole earthly experience more enjoyable Solomon hired a full orchestra and chorus… delights of the sons of men, far superior to any stereo system we may buy.
Ecclesiastes 2:9 So I was great, and increased more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also remained with me. 10 Whatever my eyes desired, I didn’t keep from them. I didn’t withhold my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced because of all my labor, and this was my portion from all my labor.
In summary, because of his vast wealth and power, Solomon had whatever his heart desired. He spared no expense as he pursued every pleasure. And he hasn’t even mentioned his 700 wives and 300 concubines 1 Kings 11:3 Clearly he denied himself no pleasure.
Ecclesiastes 2:11 Then I looked at all the works that my hands had worked, and at the labor that I had labored to do; and behold, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.
Even with all of his wisdom and careful planning, as Solomon sat back and reviewed all of his pursuits, projects, and relationships he could only conclude that the whole enterprise did not bring lasting peace or satisfaction. It amounted to chasing a dream that could not be grasped, chasing after the wind.
In fact, the mystery of meaning that Solomon was attempting to solve finds its origin back with our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Eden. Though they had everything that they could have wanted, immortality, a personal relationship with their Creator, a beautiful garden sanctuary, a world and cosmos to explore, subdue, rule, and populate, Genesis 1:26-28, they disobeyed their Creator. When tempted, Genesis 3:1, Adam and Eve willingly joined the rebellion against God, sinning against the God who had created them in His image, even though God had warned them that the penalty for disobedience would be death. Genesis 2:17
Genesis 3 details four areas of frustration; imperfection, sin, separation, and alienation that Solomon was trying to decipher. These are the same enigmas that we all wrestle with to this day, all stemming from our first parents’ fateful decision.
1. As a result of their disobedience the first alienation was spiritual. Man, made in God’s image, experienced separation from God.
And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. Genesis 3:8
Instead of delighting in his Creator’s presence and walking with Him in the garden, man’s first response to God after disobeying him was to hide. God called out… “Where are you?” So Adam said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid… and I hid myself.” Adam and Eve had sinned and knowing that they were now under a sentence of death, they were afraid of God so they ran and hid.
You may from time to time hear the argument that religion is a crutch for weak-minded people who cannot face life without it. Actually, from Adam’s response to God, we see that just the opposite is true. All religions, including the atheist’s belief system are a crutch for those who cannot face God. Unable to face the holiness of their Creator in the light of their rebellion, folks both figuratively and literally either run and hide from the true God, fashioning a god more to their liking or, like Nietzsche, they pretend that there is no God.
Whither is God?… We have killed him – you and I. All of us are his murderers… Are we not straying, as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? God is dead. And we have killed him.
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Madman, Fordham University, Modern History Sourcebook
But denying the existence of God will not magically make Him go away. Because we are made in God’s image, no matter how we rebel, we can’t escape the fact that we are religious beings.
We objected to morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom. There was one admirably simple method of justifying ourselves in our erotic revolt: we would deny that the world had any meaning whatever.
Aldous Huxley, Ends and Means, Routledge
Having abandoned the true God, man always elevates other gods in his place: gods of self, gods of science, gods of government, gods of entertainment, and by Huxley’s own admission, gods of sex.
Having joined the rebellion against his Creator man no longer could have the communion with God that he was created to have. Now, alienated from his Creator, man found himself “straying as through an infinite nothing.” And as a result he could no longer be who God had created him to be. He could no longer fulfill the purpose of his immortal existence, to love God with all of his heart, and mind and to oversee the earth in a responsible manner. All joys were fleeting.
Throughout Ecclesiastes Solomon refers to man’s broken relationship with God as living under the sun. Trying to find and hold onto ultimate meaning under the sun, living in the shadow of death, Psalm 23:4, is as futile and wearisome as trying to herd the wind. Ecclesiastes 1:14 Solomon will go onto explain how, in this life, meaning and satisfaction can only be found under heaven, Ecclesiastes 3:1, that is, in reference to and in a relationship with God.
All men have felt the effects of this alienation. It shows in our trying to find meaning in our lives. It shows in our trying to find a purpose to live for. It shows itself in mankind’s striving for something beyond themselves. It shows itself in mankind’s universal striving for spirituality. It shows itself in the myriad of religions that mankind has invented in the attempt to excuse our sinful thoughts and actions.
The feelings of alienation from God are real. Mankind’s feelings of distance from God are valid because, in reality, we have been exiled from the garden. Genesis 3:23 As such, in our universal striving for spirituality we are seeking to fulfill a real need. And though the problems of alienation and ultimately death, have been properly identified, and though mankind has both explored many philosophies and adopted many religions to address the problem of alienation from our Creator, we are addressing the real problem in the wrong way. As Solomon is discovering, these counterfeit gods and hollow pursuits can never provide what he needs most, the forgiveness of the sins we commit against the Holy Creator. It is like chasing the wind.
2. The second alienation that has haunted mankind is psychological. Man was separated from himself.
And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, “Where art thou?” And he said, “I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” Genesis 3:9
Where prior to his rebellion against God it was said, And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed, Adam now says, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked…”
Man now experiences fear, shame, guilt, and anxiety. He lacks honesty, integrity, and courage. We all feel this as we experience psychological problems. We are not the people we imagine ourselves to be. We are not the people we want to be. We are, in many ways, at odds with ourselves.
To some extent we all create safe and unrealistic images of ourselves or tell ourselves convenient lies to try to live more comfortably with ourselves. We practice self-deception, lying to ourselves about things we know to be true about ourselves; things we would rather forget. Or we anesthetize ourselves with all kinds of things: drugs, both legal and illegal, alcohol, accumulating possessions, or seeking new experiences, or, like Solomon, any number of other pursuits, to hold our psychological discomfort at bay.
Some come to believe that if only they could earn enough money, or have the right friends, or enjoy the right experiences, or graduate from the right schools, or attend the right concerts, then they could grasp true meaning. Not understanding the binary nature of God’s creation, many are currently being taught that their angst stems from having been assigned the wrong sex at birth. They mistakenly believe that they are trapped in the wrong body, and, if only they could change their sex with pharmaceuticals and surgery they could find peace. But all of our attempts to bend the fabric of reality will ultimately prove unsatisfactory.
We long to be at peace with ourselves, to be whole. But as Solomon is discovering, our pursuits can never really satisfy. We are addressing a very real problem, but in the wrong way. Many have come to believe that personal happiness can only be achieved by aligning their actions with their inner feelings. However, true peace both here in this world and on into eternity can only be found as we stop making excuses for our sins and repent, turning from our evil ways, aligning ourselves with the ultimate reality of our Creator God.
3. The third alienation was sociological. Man was separated from other men.
And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” Genesis 3:11-13
When God created Eve as a partner for Adam his reaction was one of joy. “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” But after his disobedience, when confronted by God for his rebellion, Adam repudiates his wife and attempts to shift the blame: “The woman whom thou gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” Instead of joyful union, there is suspicion and accusation. And notice that in an all to familiar move, Adam attempts to claim victim status by actually blaming God saying… the woman that you gave me.
But not only were husband and wife at odds with each other but soon, brothers would be separated as Cain was to murder his brother, Abel. Interestingly, in Hebrew, the name Abel is actually Hevel, the same word that Solomon uses for vapor or mist. To those reading the Bible in its original language, it is no surprise to read, Cain rose up against his brother ‘Hevel’ and murdered him. Genesis 4:8 God dramatically and immediately demonstrates the effects of our first parents rebellion against him; hevel. Like a passing mist, Abel is only in the narrative for six verses.
And like Cain we all do the same things thousands of times over. Although we lie, slander, gossip, hate, and ignore, in our twisted minds we fashion ourselves as the victims, blaming others to justify our behavior. Friends become enemies, couples divorce, family members become strangers, associates become loathed competitors, children become rebellious, sadly, even churches split apart. We cannot stand the sinner next to us so we move on to meet our needs elsewhere. We strive to have meaningful relationships and in the attempt we do things that, though they seem to make sense to us at the time, our actions, accusations, and justifications only serve to further alienate us from each other. The history of mankind is a history of broken promises and broken relationships.
For example, we may have sex outside of marriage believing that it will fill the void. And, for a while, it may. But only for a while because that is not how we were engineered to behave. That is not how we are wired. We are alienated from our spouse so we pursue affairs, moving on to meet the need. But adultery, like fornication, cannot satisfy the true longings that exist within us. To borrow a phrase from Karolina Provokatsiya, despite our widespread sexual anarchy, we have “God-shaped holes in [our] hearts that fornication has failed to fill.” amgreatness.com, A Swift Demise, June 19, 2019
We are addressing a very real problem, but in the wrong way, searching for answers under the sun. We were created for relationships but these find their greatest fulfillment under heaven, as we honestly confess our sins and embrace with gratitude the love, forgiveness, and acceptance, of our Creator.
4. Finally, man is alienated from nature.
Man was created to be the immortal caretaker of God’s creation but as a result of our sin work has become toil.
Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken: for dust you are and to dust you will return. Genesis 3:17-19
Just like Solomon, we have felt the futility of our work, the struggle of toil. That is why TGIF has become such a popular meme. We hope that the weekend will offer lasting joy.
We are also at odds with nature. We have seen God use nature as an instrument of His judgment from Noah and down throughout history. On a personal level we have all struggled against heat, cold, storms, disease, parasites, pain, and finally death, as we return to dust. We try to postpone death. We exercise, we eat healthy, we may avoid GMOs, or have cosmetic surgery, all to put off the inevitable – death. But instead of becoming like God, as Satan promised, we will all return to dust. Hevel, hevel, all is hevel.
As Hebrews 2:15 reminds us “Those who fear death are subject to lifelong bondage.” We are trying to free ourselves from the futility of hevel, but we are only chasing after the wind. We are addressing very real problems, but we are addressing these alienations in the wrong way.