Ecclesiastes 2B

• Let's start again with a review of Ecclesiastes:

  • This book is Wisdom literature. The author is Solomon: a man who was given, by God, wisdom and discernment greater than any man.

  • The book of Ecclesiastes establishes 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 and seek it there.

  • Solomon begins by calling attention to how the repeating cycles in nature display a meaninglessness in understanding an advantage in life.

  • Solomon continued to establish this by his personal experiences concluding that wisdom and wealth are also meaningless in understanding an advantage in life.

Eccl. 2:12 So I turned to consider wisdom, madness and folly; for what will the man do who will come after the king except what has already been done?
Eccl. 2:13 And I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness.
Eccl. 2:14 The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I know that one fate befalls them both.
Eccl. 2:15 Then I said to myself, “As is the fate of the fool, it will also befall me. Why then have I been extremely wise?” So I said to myself, “This too is vanity.”
Eccl. 2:16 For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man as with the fool, inasmuch as in the coming days all will be forgotten. And how the wise man and the fool alike die!
Eccl. 2:17 So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.

• v.12 Solomon returns to an idea he mentions earlier, how? (So I turned to consider wisdom, madness and folly;)

  • What question does Solomon pose? (for what will the man do who will come after the king except what has already been done?)

    • Who is the man who will come after the king? (An heir to the throne, the next king.)

  • What question does Solomon ponder about this next king? (What will he do except what has already been done?)

    • He can only follow in the footsteps of Solomon. What had Solomon accomplished? (An amazing list of building projects beyond imagination, reigned over a kingdom in Israel, accumulated wealth beyond any need, was a righteous judge of the people, enjoyed exceedingly the pleasures of life.)

    • As a king of Israel, there is nothing new to do that Solomon as king had not accomplished.

• v.13 What observation does Solomon share? (And I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness.)

  • What does “excels” mean? (advantage, profit)

  • This is the same word translated "advantage" in 1:3 and "profit" in 2:11.

  • So wisdom does have an advantage or profit over folly, like light has an advantage over darkness.

• v.14 How does Solomon describe the advantage? (The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness.)

  • The wise man’s eyes can see things the fool will not be able to see, like one who walks in light can see, and one who walks in darkness and can’t see.

  • Solomon enjoyed the pleasures or fruits of his labors, but in a more restrained way than the all-out over-indulgence of the fool. There was some advantage in wisdom.

• v.14 What is also true? (And yet I know that one fate befalls them both.)

• v.15 What reasoning does Solomon apply now? (Then I said to myself, “As is the fate of the fool, it will also befall me.)

  • Since both will have the same fate what does he ponder? (Why then have I been extremely wise?” )

  • If both have the same fate and Solomon’s wisdom did not give him a different fate what does he conclude? (So I said to myself, “This too is vanity.”)

    • Solomon sees that having wisdom, in itself, is vanity, or meaningless.

• v.16 Solomon explains this how? (For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man as with the fool, inasmuch as in the coming days all will be forgotten. And how the wise man and the fool alike die!)

  • The focus is on the "lasting remembrance" of each.

    • "Lasting remembrance" is defined how? (in the coming days)

    • We might say in the future days.

  • What is true in the future days of both? (all will be forgotten)

  • Using Solomon as an example we know he had more wisdom than any man before him or since he was on earth. Where is that wisdom now? (Lost to us)

  • There was no record made of all the wisdom to pass on to future generations that has survived. Why was the wisdom achieved not kept and not added to by those who came after so that mankind would have the benefit now?

    • What the wise man knew and did is lost in the same way as what the foolish man knew and did.

• v.16 What else is true for each man? (And how the wise man and the fool alike die!)

• v.17 What did this realization cause Solomon to say? (So I hated life)

  • What specifically did he hate? (for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me)

    • The work Solomon accomplished on earth, in his temporal life, were grievous to him now.

  • Why did he consider the work "grievous"? (Because everything is futility and striving after wind.)

• All Solomon had accomplished was only done here on earth, or ‘under the sun’. All those things were considered futility. Nothing with lasting value outside of the earth, or to those in the future in a lasting valuable way.

  • Solomon found he actually had done what? (striving after wind)

  • He had been chasing after something his whole life to only now realize he could not achieve it by his wisdom.

Eccl. 2:18 Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me.
Eccl. 2:19 And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity.
Eccl. 2:20 Therefore I completely despaired of all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun.
Eccl. 2:21 When there is a man who has labored with wisdom, knowledge and skill, then he gives his legacy to one who has not labored with them. This too is vanity and a great evil.
Eccl. 2:22 For what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun?
Eccl. 2:23 Because all his days his task is painful and grievous; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is vanity.

• v.18 Not only did Solomon realize the wisdom he had was grievous but what else does he say he hated? (Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun.)

  • Why did he hate his labor? (for I must leave it to the man who will come after me.)

• v.19 Why does leaving all the fruit of his labor to someone concern Solomon? (And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool?)

  • With all Solomon’s wisdom he does not have the ability to control the category his heir will be in, being wise or a fool.

  • What does Solomon conclude? (Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity.)

  • How had Solomon gained the fruit of his labor? (by acting wisely under the sun)

    • The fact that someone can receive all the benefits earned by someone else Solomon declares is what? (This too is vanity.)

    • This is another reason the way the world works in determining where an advantage can be is meaningless. It makes no sense.

• v.20 Because this is a reality what does Solomon say? (Therefore I completely despaired of all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun.)

  • It had lost meaning to Solomon.

• v.21 Solomon explains exactly what this means, how? (When there is a man who has labored with wisdom, knowledge and skill, then he gives his legacy to one who has not labored with them. This too is vanity and a great evil.)

  • Solomon broadens his explanation to anyone who finds themselves in this position not just himself, how? (When there is a man)

  • This is not just something Solomon has experienced.

• A man who has done what? (who has labored with wisdom, knowledge and skill, then he gives his legacy to one who has not labored with them)

  • What is his focus? (he gives his legacy to one who has not labored with them)

  • What is a legacy? (anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor)

  • How is the one receiving the legacy described? (one who has not labored with them)

    • This is describing a person that inherits something they had nothing at all to do with the acquiring or the building of the legacy with the one leaving it all.

    • When this happens what does Solomon have to say about it? (This too is vanity and a great evil.)

• A legacy can change in one generation or maybe more but eventually this will be the truth for all men who establish their legacy based on what they do here on earth or as described as "under the sun".

  • Solomon says this is not just meaningless it actually moves to being a great evil. Solomon expresses a stronger impact to this declaration.

  • Remember this is exactly what happens to Solomon.

1Kings 11:1 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,
1Kings 11:2 from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the sons of Israel, “You shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods.” Solomon held fast to these in love.
1Kings 11:3 He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away.
1Kings 11:4 For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
1Kings 11:5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after Milcom the detestable idol of the Ammonites.
1Kings 11:6 Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not follow the LORD fully, as David his father had done.
1Kings 11:7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon.
1Kings 11:8 Thus also he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
1Kings 11:9 Now the LORD was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice,
1Kings 11:10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not observe what the LORD had commanded.
1Kings 11:11 So the LORD said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant.
1Kings 11:12 “Nevertheless I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.
1Kings 11:13 “However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”

• v.11 God said, “I will tear the kingdom from you” (Solomon)

  • The kingdom will be given to a servant of Solomon. (“I will not do it in your days.”)

  • This event will happen to the legacy of Solomon. (“One tribe will be left to your son.”)

• Eccl. 2:22 What question does Solomon ask? (For what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun?)

  • What does a man actually have to show for all his work on earth?

• v.23 What did this man who passes on his legacy do? (Because all his days his task is painful and grievous; even at night his mind does not rest.)

  • This was not just the activity of labor but even the constant thinking about this activity that consumes a man’s thoughts at night.

  • All the doing and thinking about this labor is what? (This too is vanity.)

Eccl. 2:24 There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God.
Eccl. 2:25 For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him?
Eccl. 2:26 For to a person who is good in His sight He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, while to the sinner He has given the task of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who is good in God’s sight. This too is vanity and striving after wind.

• v.24 In contrast to laboring, a mans tasks being painful and grievous, what does Solomon describe? (There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good.)

  • At this time in Solomon’s life he says there is nothing better than this endeavors.

• v.24 Who can grant this? (This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God.)

  • Solomon say he has seen this for himself.

• v.25 What rhetorical question does Solomon ask? (For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him?)

• v.26 What does Solomon describe as coming from the hand of God? (For to a person who is good in His sight He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, while to the sinner He has given the task of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who is good in God’s sight. This too is vanity and striving after wind.)

  • The last use of the word "he" used here should also be capitalized since the pronoun used prior was referring to God and there is not a shift in subject.

  • Let’s reread with the pronouns replaced.

For to a person who is good in God’s sight God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, while to the sinner God has given the task of gathering and collecting so that God may give to one who is good in God’s sight.

• A contrast is given here. How is the first person described? (For to a person who is good in His sight)

  • Who’s sight? (God’s sight)

  • What did God give that person who is good in His sight? (He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy)

• Who do we know were given the these exact gifts by God? (Solomon)

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.
1Kings 3:13 “I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you all your days.

• Solomon was given wisdom and knowledge and riches and honor. Solomon in Ecclesiastes adds the word “joy.”

• Eccl. 2:26 How is the second state of a person described? (to the sinner)

  • What did God give this sinner? (He has given the task of gathering and collecting)

  • Why does God have the sinner gather and collect? (so that he may give to one who is good in God’s sight.)

    • God is always the one giving to the one who is good in His sight.

    • This is true even when we can’t see this at work. There are plenty of ‘sinners’ and evil people who have inherited loads of wealth and other benefits in worldly measures.

    • There are also many testimonies throughout history of evil men who end of benefiting godly men in the end. Is this the point Solomon is making?

    • Solomon has been sharing his observations lived out in his life: how wisdom and great wealth was meaningless. He has just established that thinking he could decide how to leave a legacy was also meaningless.

• The two ways God can seem to respond to men are on display in Solomon’s life.

  • We saw the first one in 1 Kings 3:12-13 but that was not the end of the story for Solomon. We see a brief highlight first in 1 Kings 3:3.

1Kings 3:3 Now Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David, except he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

• Refer back to the verses we just read in 1 Kings 11:4-8

1Kings 11:4 For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
1Kings 11:5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after Milcom the detestable idol of the Ammonites.
1Kings 11:6 Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not follow the LORD fully, as David his father had done.
1Kings 11:7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon.
1Kings 11:8 Thus also he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

• What did God do?

1Kings 11:11 So the LORD said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant.

• This was the worst punishment Solomon could endure for his sin.

  • Solomon acknowledges God is just in Ecclesiastes 2:25 (For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him?)

• Eccl. 2:26 After revealing how God deals with man what does Solomon say? (This too is vanity and striving after wind.)

  • God will ultimately do as He determines and it is meaningless to resist Him.

  • God told Solomon what the consequence of his sin was going to be.

  • Solomon lived out the remainder of his life knowing this truth.

  • This may be one of the reasons he writes Ecclesiastes.

• This was a grievance sin Solomon committed against God.

  • Let’s look at exactly what this sin was.

  • Solomon went after Ashtoreth and Milcom. He built high places for Chemosh and Molech. There are plenty of horrible things involved in the worship of these gods but there is one gruesome practice that stood out in its grievousness – child sacrifice.

  • God warns His people before they enter the promised land to avoid this.

Lev. 18:21 ‘You shall not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God; I am the LORD.

Lev. 20:1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
Lev. 20:2 “You shall also say to the sons of Israel: ‘Any man from the sons of Israel or from the aliens sojourning in Israel who gives any of his offspring to Molech, shall surely be put to death; the people of the land shall stone him with stones.
Lev. 20:3 ‘I will also set My face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given some of his offspring to Molech, so as to defile My sanctuary and to profane My holy name.
Lev. 20:4 ‘If the people of the land, however, should ever disregard that man when he gives any of his offspring to Molech, so as not to put him to death,
Lev. 20:5 then I Myself will set My face against that man and against his family, and I will cut off from among their people both him and all those who play the harlot after him, by playing the harlot after Molech.

• “Those who give their offspring to Molech," is talking about child sacrifice. God will not accept this.

2Kings 16:2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of the LORD his God, as his father David had done.
2Kings 16:3 But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and even made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had driven out from before the sons of Israel.

• King Ahaz participated in this abomination of child sacrifice.

2Chr. 33:1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.
2Chr. 33:2 He did evil in the sight of the LORD according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD dispossessed before the sons of Israel.
2Chr. 33:3 For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; he also erected altars for the Baals and made Asherim, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.
2Chr. 33:4 He built altars in the house of the LORD of which the LORD had said, “My name shall be in Jerusalem forever.”
2Chr. 33:5 For he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.
2Chr. 33:6 He made his sons pass through the fire in the valley of Ben-hinnom; and he practiced witchcraft, used divination, practiced sorcery and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.
2Chr. 33:7 Then he put the carved image of the idol which he had made in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever;
2Chr. 33:8 and I will not again remove the foot of Israel from the land which I have appointed for your fathers, if only they will observe to do all that I have commanded them according to all the law, the statutes and the ordinances given through Moses.”
2Chr. 33:9 Thus Manasseh misled Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the sons of Israel.

• Manassah participated in child sacrifice with his own son in the valley of Ben-hinnom. He led Judah to do more evil than the nations in the land before the Israelites.

2Kings 23:10 He also defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire for Molech.

2Kings 23:13 The high places which were before Jerusalem, which were on the right of the mount of destruction which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the sons of Ammon, the king defiled.
2Kings 23:14 He broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherim and filled their places with human bones.

• Joshiah, grandson of Manassah, defiled these places, meaning he removed them. Notice Topheth is in the valley of the son of Hinnom

Jer. 19:4 “Because they have forsaken Me and have made this an alien place and have burned sacrifices in it to other gods, that neither they nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah had ever known, and because they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent
Jer. 19:5 and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I never commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter My mind;
Jer. 19:6 therefore, behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of Ben-hinnom, but rather the valley of Slaughter.

Jer. 19:10 “Then you are to break the jar in the sight of the men who accompany you
Jer. 19:11 and say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Just so will I break this people and this city, even as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot again be repaired; and they will bury in Topheth because there is no other place for burial.
Jer. 19:12 “This is how I will treat this place and its inhabitants,” declares the LORD, “so as to make this city like Topheth.
Jer. 19:13 “The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled like the place Topheth, because of all the houses on whose rooftops they burned sacrifices to all the heavenly host and poured out drink offerings to other gods.”’”

Jer. 7:30 “For the sons of Judah have done that which is evil in My sight,” declares the LORD, “they have set their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it.
Jer. 7:31 “They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, and it did not come into My mind.
Jer. 7:32 “Therefore, behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when it will no longer be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of the Slaughter; for they will bury in Topheth because there is no other place.
Jer. 7:33 “The dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth; and no one will frighten them away.
Jer. 7:34 “Then I will make to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land will become a ruin.
Jer. 8:1 “At that time,” declares the LORD, “they will bring out the bones of the kings of Judah and the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their graves.
Jer. 8:2 “They will spread them out to the sun, the moon and to all the host of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served, and which they have gone after and which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered or buried; they will be as dung on the face of the ground.

Jer. 32:31 “Indeed this city has been to Me a provocation of My anger and My wrath from the day that they built it, even to this day, so that it should be removed from before My face,
Jer. 32:32 because of all the evil of the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah which they have done to provoke Me to anger — they, their kings, their leaders, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Jer. 32:33 “They have turned their back to Me and not their face; though I taught them, teaching again and again, they would not listen and receive instruction.
Jer. 32:34 “But they put their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it.
Jer. 32:35 “They built the high places of Baal that are in the valley of Ben-hinnom to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I had not commanded them nor had it entered My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

Mic. 6:6  With what shall I come to the LORD
And bow myself before the God on high?
Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings,
With yearling calves?
Mic. 6:7  Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams,
In ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts,
The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
Mic. 6:8  He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?

• God never asks for the sacrifice of the life of a child to be given to Him, like the worship of other God’s demanded.

  • Child sacrifice took place in worship of Molech. It is emphasized that death took place in the valley of Ben-hinnom when it says it filled this place with the blood of the innocent.

  • Many other corrupt practices in worship to many other false gods filled Israel.

• Solomon is recognized as the king that built the places for these events that took place.

  • This is the legacy of Solomon!

 

Citation:

• For outside sources concerning child sacrifices in ancient cultures: https://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/01/science/relics-of-carthage-show-brutality-amid-the-good-life.html?pagewanted=all