Ecclesiastes 2A

• We'll begin with a review of Ecclesiastes Chapter 1

• This book is Wisdom literature. The author is Solomon, a man who was given by God wisdom and discernment greater than any man. The theme established is, “all is meaningless” began with nature cycles repeating with no change here on earth (under the sun).

  • The cycles in nature display a meaninglessness in understanding an advantage in life.

  • The book of Ecclesiastes is Solomon’s theory of the meaning of life.

  • The thesis is the meaning of life can’t be found in the creation, therefore it is vanity to try.

• Once a theory is proposed it must be substantiated.

  • What has Solomon used to substantiate his theory so far? (The observable cycles in nature give no meaning to life: ie biorhythm, solar, weather, water and accumulation of knowledge).

    • Everyone can observe these things and they never cease to be true.

    • From a scientific measurement they are ‘reliable, stable, and repeatable’.

    • Solomon continues to substantiate his theory through personal experience.

Eccl. 1:12 I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.
Eccl. 1:13 And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven. It is a grievous task which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.
Eccl. 1:14 I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind.
Eccl. 1:15 What is crooked cannot be straightened and what is lacking cannot be counted.
Eccl. 1:16 I said to myself, “Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.”
Eccl. 1:17 And I set my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly; I realized that this also is striving after wind.
Eccl. 1:18 Because in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.

• v.12 The author continues by restating who he is. How? (I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem)

  • From last week you remember the translation of the word ‘Preacher’ to the one who convenes an assembly. The author also repeats his resume including him being king over Israel in Jerusalem.

  • This does not mean he was once king over Israel and is not now king over Israel, it is given to help the reader know the experience he has to speak from.

• When someone is sharing important information they should always establish with what authority they have to offer that information. This is sadly lacking in our current world.

  • Examples would be those with no understanding of science making declaration about why things occur in our world (ie. climate change, medical reasons for a pandemic, etc…)

  • Those with no knowledge of political science informing us about ???

  • Those with no understanding of economics dictating financial solutions.

  • People lacking any foreign policy training or experience criticizing what is being proposed.

• The point is when someone is going to put forth their position of something they should have the experience to speak from to give weight to what they share.

  • This author wants to establish he has been the king over Israel in Jerusalem. This was shared at the beginning of the chapter in verse 1.

• It is noteworthy that Solomon used this same language in the writings of the Proverbs.

Prov. 1:1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:

• Eccl. v.13 What does Solomon says he did? (And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven.)

  • Solomon establishes his intent to seek and explore was by what faculty? (By wisdom)

    • How does one ‘seek and explore?’ (Experience for themselves)

  • v.13 What did he wish to explore? (concerning all that has been done under heaven.)

    • This is similar to the phrase in verse 3 ‘under the sun’.

    • In verse 3 it was established that the events Solomon would be referring to were on the earth vs. in heaven and added temporal vs. eternal.

  • v.13 How does Solomon describe this project? (It is a grievous task which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.)

    • What is ‘it’ referring to? (seeking and exploring….all that has been done under heaven)

    • This process is described how? (is a grievous task)

      • It is a dark and solemn duty, not filled with joy.

  • Where does this task come from? (which God has given)

    • The word for God used here is Elohim not Yahweh.

    • This name for God is often used when referring to His power and justice or judgment.

    • This would invoke the thought of God universally considered by all men, not God as referred to by His covenant people, the Jews.

    • This task was given by God, not a chance occurrence.

  • Who did God give this task to? (the sons of men)

    • Humankind.

  • How else is this task described? (to be afflicted with)

    • When men try to understand all the things that occur on earth it is not a journey ladened with joyous contemplations, instead it is with affliction and grievous outcomes to ponder.

  • Why do bad things happen? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do bad things happen to innocent people?

  • Why do evil men prevail? Why is evil ever rewarded?

  • Why is life not a sum game of good rewarded and bad punished?

• How many learned men of history testify to this truth? How many men have driven themselves insane in the pursuit of gaining to explain the intricacies of life? Philosophers drive themselves into literal madness. The list of philosophers taking their own lives is significant.

  • There are wise teachings, like the Proverbs, that seem to demonstrate a truth that doing right will equal reward and doing evil will be judged.

  • The book of Job challenged this thought yet in this narrative there was an ultimate turn around for Job in the end. Yet in this world we know that is not always the case. Why is this not always the truth? (We know plenty of people who have done the right and proper things in life, yet they don’t seem to have been rewarded for those things).

• v.14 What does Solomon declare he has done in pursuit of researching this truth? (I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun,)

  • Solomon has observed all the works of man.

  • What would the works of man done under the sun be? (All knowledge accumulated).

    • Solomon said this journey was taken to examine all things through his wisdom. What was known by man?

    • Remember how wise Solomon was according to scripture.

1Kings 3:12 behold, I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you.

• Solomon had superior wisdom and discernment beyond any man before or since him. God given!

• Remember there was not a kingdom that did not recognize the wisdom of Solomon. Each kingdom of this time would have compared their accumulated knowledge with that displayed by Solomon.

1Kings 4:29 Now God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of mind, like the sand that is on the seashore.
1Kings 4:30 Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the sons of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt.
1Kings 4:31 For he was wiser than all men, than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Calcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was known in all the surrounding nations.
1Kings 4:32 He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005.
1Kings 4:33 He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that grows on the wall; he spoke also of animals and birds and creeping things and fish.
1Kings 4:34 Men came from all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.

• Eccl. v.14 With all the wisdom and discernment given by God to Solomon what is his conclusion of this work to be? (and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind.)

  • All man’s wisdom is meaningless in determining the meaning of life and the pursuit to that end is like chasing after the wind.

• v.15 What observation does Solomon make next? (What is crooked cannot be straightened and what is lacking cannot be counted.)

  • The things Solomon saw as crooked could not be made straight.

  • Philosophy and education in the world does not restore the evil nature of man.

  • There was no hope to fix those things which were wrong.

  • What was determined to be lacking in man’s wisdom could not even be calculated. There was so much Solomon determined missing in man’s understanding it was beyond measure.

• v.16 What self-awareness did Solomon admit to? (I said to myself, “Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.”)

  • Solomon had to admit to himself that there was no one who had accumulated as much wisdom as he had to make reference from. There was nowhere else to turn to increase the knowledge he had access to.

• v.17 What comparison to wisdom did Solomon look at? (And I set my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly;)

  • It would appear, that madness and folly were in contrast to wisdom, or that in his search for an answer in wisdom he even tried to learn more of madness and folly.

    • The Septuagint translates this “Parables and science.”

  • It may be Solomon wants to learn of madness and folly to avoid them. Does Solomon turn from seeking wisdom from only wise men but also achieve wisdom by learning what to avoid from the madness of fools?

• The more we strive for an outcome in one direction that does not lead to the answer, to continue in that direction is like insanity.

  • We sometime hear this quoted “The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over again and expect a different result”. Not sure if it was actually Einstein or not.

• v.17 What did this comparison result in? (I realized that this also is striving after wind.)

  • Solomon did not find the answer he was looking for.

• v.18 The comparison of wisdom to extreme folly did not help Solomon find the answer he was seeking. Why? (Because in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.)

  • What did more wisdom for Solomon bring? (much grief)

  • What did increasing knowledge do for Solomon? (results in increasing pain)

• In fact, more wisdom only brought more grief. The more Solomon was aware of the injustices, inequalities, oppression, cruelty and suffering in men’s lives with no clear answers to why they exist, or how to fix them only increased pain for Solomon.

  • Keep in mind the reason for Solomon to seek the wisdom and the knowledge was to understand all that has been done under heaven given in verse 13. This all goes back to verse 3.

Eccl. 1:3 What advantage does man have in all his work
Which he does under the sun?

• The question is ‘What advantage does man have in all his work?’ What is the sum advantage in what man accomplishes here on earth? All man can accomplish in the flesh, in his temporal being gives NO advantage.

  • When things are less than advantage or equal or fair man can’t put right that which is crooked or explain all that is missing in understanding this and therefore wisdom is meaningless in this ultimate pursuit.

Eccl. 2:1 I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure. So enjoy yourself.” And behold, it too was futility.
Eccl. 2:2 I said of laughter, “It is madness,” and of pleasure, “What does it accomplish?”
Eccl. 2:3 I explored with my mind how to stimulate my body with wine while my mind was guiding me wisely, and how to take hold of folly, until I could see what good there is for the sons of men to do under heaven the few years of their lives.
Eccl. 2:4 I enlarged my works: I built houses for myself, I planted vineyards for myself;
Eccl. 2:5 I made gardens and parks for myself and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees;
Eccl. 2:6 I made ponds of water for myself from which to irrigate a forest of growing trees.
Eccl. 2:7 I bought male and female slaves and I had homeborn slaves. Also I possessed flocks and herds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem.
Eccl. 2:8 Also, I collected for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I provided for myself male and female singers and the pleasures of men — many concubines.
Eccl. 2:9 Then I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me.
Eccl. 2:10 All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor.
Eccl. 2:11 Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun.

• v.1 Seeking more wisdom did not bring Solomon the answer to his question, so how does Solomon say he continues his journey to discover what advantage man has in all his work? (I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure. So enjoy yourself.” And behold, it too was futility.)

  • Solomon has a conversation with himself, “I said to myself.”

  • What did Solomon tell himself? (Come now, I will test you with pleasure. So enjoy yourself.”)

    • What answer did this bring for Solomon? (And behold, it too was futility.)

• v.2 What did Solomon try next? (I said of laughter, “It is madness,” and of pleasure, “What does it accomplish?”)

  • From the light-hearted simple joy of laughter, to the more extreme pursuits of pleasure…

  • From one extreme to the other, what is the rhetorical question? (“What does it accomplish?”)

    • The implied answer is that it did not accomplish his goal of finding an answer.

• v.3 Next, what does Solomon try? (I explored with my mind how to stimulate my body with wine while my mind was guiding me wisely, and how to take hold of folly, until I could see what good there is for the sons of men to do under heaven the few years of their lives.)

  • Solomon decided to logically experiment with affecting his body with wine.

    • He clarifies what limitation? (while my mind was guiding me wisely)

  • What is the implication? (drinking for physical effect but stopping before the mind was not in control) Not drunk. To enhance his experiences.

    • What else did Solomon explore? (‘how to take hold of folly’).

      • Participating in joys, but allowing himself to participate without those things taking control of his reason, in moderation he engages.

  • What was the purpose of these experiments? (until I could see what good there is for the sons of men to do under heaven the few years of their lives).

• v.4 What focus of striving to find an answer does Solomon share next? (I enlarged my works: I built houses for myself, I planted vineyards for myself)

  • Solomon does not list all the works he set out to accomplish here but we get a glimpse of these projects in 1 Kings 9:15-19…

1Kings 9:15 Now this is the account of the forced labor which King Solomon levied to build the house of the LORD, his own house, the Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.
1Kings 9:16 For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it with fire, and killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and had given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.
1Kings 9:17 So Solomon rebuilt Gezer and the lower Beth-horon
1Kings 9:18 and Baalath and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land of Judah,
1Kings 9:19 and all the storage cities which Solomon had, even the cities for his chariots and the cities for his horsemen, and all that it pleased Solomon to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land under his rule.

• The details on the project of Solomon building a house for the name of the LORD are given in 1 Kings 5:5 - 6:38, I will not read all here, but you can read for your own study.

1Kings 5:5 “Behold, I intend to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD spoke to David my father, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, he will build the house for My name.’

1Kings 6:38 In the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished throughout all its parts and according to all its plans. So he was seven years in building it.

• This was an amazing accomplishment! The emphasis of the projects Solomon was listing were the things he did just for himself. That may be why there is no reference to the building of the temple here in Ecclesiastes.

• Eccl. 2:4 What else did Solomon do? (I built houses for myself.)

1Kings 7:1 Now Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house.

1Kings 7:8 His house where he was to live, the other court inward from the hall, was of the same workmanship. He also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom Solomon had married.

• Eccl. 2:4 How does this verse finish? (I planted vineyards for myself)

  • What is a great estate without its own vineyard? :)

• v.5-6 What other impressive projects does Solomon recount? (I made gardens and parks for myself and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees; I made ponds of water for myself from which to irrigate a forest of growing trees.)

  • All these things take great planning and time. They take great knowledge in a multitude of areas! Name some – physics, chemistry, geology, biology…

• v.7 What did Solomon own? (I bought male and female slaves and I had home-born slaves. Also, I possessed flocks and herds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem.)

1Kings 9:20 As for all the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, who were not of the sons of Israel,
1Kings 9:21 their descendants who were left after them in the land whom the sons of Israel were unable to destroy utterly, from them Solomon levied forced laborers, even to this day.
1Kings 9:22 But Solomon did not make slaves of the sons of Israel; for they were men of war, his servants, his princes, his captains, his chariot commanders, and his horsemen.
1Kings 9:23  These were the chief officers who were over Solomon’s work, five hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people doing the work.

• Eccl. v.8 How did Solomon pay for all this work to be done and accumulation of things? (Also, I collected for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces.)

1Kings 9:26 King Solomon also built a fleet of ships in Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.
1Kings 9:27 And Hiram sent his servants with the fleet, sailors who knew the sea, along with the servants of Solomon.
1Kings 9:28 They went to Ophir and took four hundred and twenty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.

• v.8 How does this verse end? (I provided for myself male and female singers and the pleasures of men — many concubines.)

  • Every form of entertainment and physical pleasure was obtained by Solomon. We know he had 300 concubines.

1Kings 11:3 He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away.

• What is the difference between a wife and a concubine?

  • Wives would bring a dowry to a relationship, but concubines did not. In cultures that permit ownership of slaves a concubine would be a slave. There was no remarriage permitted for either woman nor a return to their parental home. Both were taken care of for life.

• v.9 How does Solomon sum up all he had achieved? (Then I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me.)  Remember what we read in 1Kings 4:29-34: It was a truth universally acknowledged that his wisdom surpassed that of everyone else who had ever lived.

  • Solomon acknowledges all these vast accomplishments and that his wisdom never left him. It was the gift that kept producing all these outcomes. The gift that keeps on giving!

• v.10 What did Solomon allow to direct his pursuits? (All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them.)

  • What goal directed Solomon’s quests? (I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure.)

  • What was the result of these pursuits? (my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor.)

    • Solomon declares this was his reward. His heart was pleased. That was it. There was nothing that brought the answers he was looking for.

• v.11 What is the summation for Solomon of these achievements? (Thus, I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.)

  • All wealth and activities it afforded were vanity, futile or meaningless.

  • They were like striving after the wind, something one can never catch, there is no end game with any ultimate satisfaction.

    • There is no profit, or advantage or sum gain, ‘under the sun’.

    • These activities were only squandered time in the measurement of a life lived out on earth.