Eccl 2:1-9 I said in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure"; but surely, this also was vanity. I said of laughter--" Madness!"; and of mirth, "What does it accomplish?" I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives. I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards. I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove. I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all kinds. So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.
“Qoheleth’s actual test is related in this strong autobiographical section that has striking parallels with the Solomonic narrative in 1 Kings.” (Richard Schultz, The Baker Illustrated Bible)
[I said in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure"; but surely, this also was vanity."] Qoheleth first “resolved to try if indulgence in sensual delights would yield any lasting satisfaction. This, as he saw, was a course on which many entered, who like him desired happiness, and he would discover for himself whether or not they were any nearer the goal than he was. And so he resolved to enjoy pleasure – ‘to give his heart to wine,’ and ‘to lay hold of folly.’ Like the rich man in the parable, who said to his soul, ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink and be merry,’ so did he address his heart, ‘Come, I will prove thee with mirth.’ He had tried wisdom, and found it fruitless for his purpose, and now would try folly. He lays aside the character and pursuits of a student, and enters the company of fools, to join in their revelry and mirth… In a very short time he discovered that vanity was here too… Not in this way can the hunger and thirst with which the spirit of man is consumed be allayed.” (J. Willcock)
[I said of laughter--" Madness!"; and of mirth, "What does it accomplish?"] “Billy Graham tells… of the disturbed patient who consulted a psychiatrist for help. He was suffering from deep depression. Nothing he had tried could help. He woke up discouraged and blue, and the condition worsened as the day progressed. Now he was desperate; he couldn't go on this way. Before he left the office, the psychiatrist told him about a show in one of the local theaters. It featured an Italian clown who had the audience convulsed with laughter night after night. The doctor recommended that his patient attend the show, that it would be excellent therapy to laugh for a couple of hours and forget his troubles. Just go and see the Italian clown! With a hangdog expression, the patient muttered, ‘I am that clown.’ He too could say of laughter— ‘Madness!’; and of mirth, ‘What does it accomplish?’” (Believer's Bible Commentary).
Qoheleth “could see no advantage in the pursuit of amusement.” (R. Krygger)
[ I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.] “Next Solomon… turns to wine…. Perhaps if he could experience the most exquisite taste sensations, his whole being would relax satisfied. He was wise enough to place a bound on his Epicureanism. It is expressed in the words ‘while guiding my heart with wisdom.’ In other words, he would not abandon himself to intemperance or drunkenness … Another thing he tried was folly, that is, harmless and enjoyable forms of nonsense. Just in case wisdom didn't hold the answer, he decided to explore its opposite. Sometimes people who are clods seem to be happier than those who are very clever. So he didn't want to leave that stone unturned... But he didn't find the answer there.” (Believer's Bible Commentary)
[I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards. I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove. I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces.] The Preacher “occupied himself with great enterprises, the raising of majestic buildings, the planting of gardens and parks, and the amassing of wealth. He has known the delight of the love of women. He has tasted all that could be regarded as good. He has denied himself nothing. But he has perceived that there is no real gain or permanent value in all of this.” (The Interpreter’s Bible)
[EVEN STILL] “The world still has its share of the deluded millionaires, like the king in Andersen's tale, The Emperor's Clothes. This king went on parade in what he wanted to believe were stunningly beautiful clothes, but a little child could see that he was stark naked…. If the accumulation of possessions could guarantee peace and happiness, then he had arrived. But like the rest of us, he had to learn that true pleasure comes from noble renunciations rather than from frenzied accumulations. He was spending his money for what is not bread and his wages for what does not satisfy (Isa. 55: 2).” (Believer's Bible Commentary)
[I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all kinds. So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem.]
“But of course the king had private performances too— dinner music, chamber ensembles— you name it. Yet I think his disappointment was well expressed by Samuel Johnson in The History of Rasselas, The Prince of Abyssinia: I likewise can call the lutanist and the singer, but the sounds that pleased me yesterday weary me today, and will grow yet more wearisome tomorrow. I can discover within me no power of perception which is not glutted with its proper pleasure, yet I do not feel myself delighted. Man has surely some latent sense for which this place affords no gratification, or he has some desires distinct from sense which must be satisfied before he can be happy.” (Believer's Bible Commentary.)
[Also my wisdom remained with me.] Solomon was much like righteous Lot who was "vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked.” (2 Pet. 2: 7) “The word ‘vexed’… comes from the Greek basanizo, a word often translated ‘torment:’ but which, according to Strong’s Concordance, meant literally ‘a touch stone.’ A touch stone was used in gold mining, to assay the gold content of ore. The ore was rubbed against the stone and, if containing gold, would leave streaks of gold on the touch stone. Idiomatically, it came to signify a ‘putting to the test, an investigation, to assay or assess.’” I believe he was a believer. http://www.heraldmag.org/literature/bio_6.htm
Solomon’s wives distressed him, but he was married to them. So, he entertained them and built them altars to their gods. Yet, the truth remained with him.
Eccl 2:10-11 Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor; and this was my reward from all my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled; and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.
“Verse 10 might give them impression that these verses express his later sober reflections on an earlier period of sensual excesses, but the emphasis is rather on the intentional and restrained nature of his investigation (2:3b ‘my mind still guided me with wisdom’; verse 2:9b) ‘In all this my wisdom stayed with me’).” (Richard Schultz) After going after all of these pleasures, Qoheleth returns to the greatest pleasure- wisdom. Rabbinic commentaries say: he “was self-supporting, according to his account: ‘I devoted my heart to know the wisdom of the Torah and to see the earthly occupation, for even the wise man who desires to occupy himself with the Torah and gain wisdom must also work. Thus he has no rest by day and does not shut his eyes in sleep by night (8:16).’ Further ‘Whenever the rabbis of the Sanhedrin asked me concerning pure and impure, innocent and guilty, I did not withhold from them any explanation. And I did not keep my heart from the joy of the Torah, because I had the inclination to enjoy the wisdom given me by God more than any other man, and I rejoiced in it more than all my other labor (2:10).’”(Etan Levine) " Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." (Neh 8:10b)
Eccl 2:12-17 Then I turned myself to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what can the man do who succeeds the king?-- Only what he has already done. Then I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness. The wise man's eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I myself perceived that the same event happens to them all. So I said in my heart, "As it happens to the fool, it also happens to me, and why was I then more wise?" Then I said in my heart, "This also is vanity." For there is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever, since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come. And how does a wise man die? As the fool! Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.
[Then I turned myself to consider wisdom and madness and folly;] “Next in 2:12-16 Qoheleth investigates wisdom and its converse, madness and folly … [for what can the man do who succeeds the king?-- Only what he has already done’] “…translated literally, asks, ‘For what kind of person is it who will come after the king, in the matter of what has already been done?’ (So Eaton, 68).” (Richard Schultz) “I have examined everything proposed by science, by maddening pleasure, and by more refined and regulated mirth. I seized on the whole, and used them to the uttermost; and so far, that none ever shall be able to exceed me; as none can, in the course of things, ever have such power and means of gratification.” (Adam Clarke)
[Then I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness.] “Though in none of these pursuits I found the supreme good, the happiness my soul longed after; yet I could easily perceive that wisdom excelled the others, as far as light excels darkness.” (Adam Clarke)
[Yet I myself perceived that the same event happens to them all. So I said in my heart, "As it happens to the fool, it also happens to me, and why was I then more wise?"] “The inevitability of death makes Qoheleth question the value of wisdom, for he concludes that, in the end, this too is temporary (2:15). Not only will his wisdom perish with him, but he and his wisdom will be forgotten. (2:16; cf. 1:11).” (R. Schultz) [Then I said in my heart, "This also is vanity."]
[For there is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever, since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come. And how does a wise man die? As the fool!] “Time sweeps away all remembrances, except the very few out of millions which are preserved for a while in the page of history.” (Adam Clarke) But those with different agendas even twist their stories.
[Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.] "Yet Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated."(Mal 1:3; Rom 9:13) D Stuart Briscoe points out: "'hate' as opposed to 'love' is by no means as stark in New Testament (nor Old Testament) usage as may first appear. The remark of the Lord about discipleship recorded in Luke 14:26, 'If any man hate not his father and mother, he cannot be my disciple' bears ample testimony to this fact.'"
It might be more of a matter of preference. This statement by Qoheleth “is ascribed to a slothful pessimist [and even murderous hatred in other cases of it usage]. Examples of ‘decontextualized’ misinterpretations of Qoheleth could be multiplied many times. But these serve to illustrate how his words in various portions have been isolated from one another so that when they are retrieved and placed back together, one is left only with a mutilated Qoheleth. With such a method, no two pieces fit together. Is it any wonder that critics and conservatives alike hear so many strange and contradictory voices in Qoheleth?” (A. B. Caneday) Thus: “There was nothing in it worth pursuing, no period worth re-living, and no hope that if this were possible I could again be more successful.” (Adam Clarke) The contrast is between the things of this world and that which is to come.
Eccl 2:18-23 Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because 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 rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity. Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun. For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; yet he must leave his heritage to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun? For all his days are sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.
[Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because 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 rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity. Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun. For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; yet he must leave his heritage to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.] “Alas! Solomon, the wisest of all men, … had three hundred wives and seven hundred concubines, and yet left but one son—Rehoboam , behind him, to possess his estates and his throne, and that one was the silliest of fools!... What makes all worse, there is no remedy. It is impossible in the present state of things to prevent these evils… Labor of body, disappointment of hope, and vexation of heart, have been all my portion.” (Adam Clarke) [For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun? For all his days are sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.]
Eccl 2:24-26 Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God. For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I? For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.
“‘A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work’ has been segregated from his theme and corrupted to become the slogan of the indulgent Epicurean sensualist, ‘Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die!’" (New Chain-Reference Bible)
“Even though Qoheleth clearly states that there is no advantage for man in all the toil (Eccl 1:3a; 2:11d), he clearly presents as an answer… eating and drinking and rejoicing in the midst of one’s toil [in the LORD] . This is usually judged to be God’s gift (Eccl 2:24; 3:13; 5:17, 18; 8:15; 9:7).” (Bernard Maurer)
[For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that he may give to him who is good before God.] “God grants ‘wisdom,, knowledge and happiness’ to one ‘who please Him’ (NIV; literally ‘good before Him’). In contrast, the ‘sinner’ (Hebrew hote; contra NJPS, ‘him who displeases’) may gather possessions only to pass then on without ever enjoying them, if God withholds that ability. Ecclesiastes 7:26 and 8:12-13 (cf. 9:2, 18) indicate that this benefit has a moral basis rather than resting on God’s ‘unpredictable and totally arbitrary pleasure’ (so Loader, 32).” (Richard Schultz)
“This, whatever appearances may sometimes suggest, is the law of God's giving: that the good shall have abundance, while the bad lack; that more shall be given to him who has wisdom to use what he has a right, while from him who is destitute of this wisdom, even that which he hath shall be taken away.” (Samuel Cox)
Perhaps this truth will be realized in that world which is to come. Eternal Blessings will endure and exist in that new world wherein dwells righteousness (2 Pet 3:13).
“Qoheleth counsels all men as to their labor before their Creator. Therefore the readers are not led into some Epicurean work- ethic or ‘to the desperate attempt… to snatch what they can while there is still time.’ This toil cannot endure for eternity since it takes place ‘under the sun’. Hence, the… reader will see that that which abides is the eternal work of God (3:11, 14, 15) and that all men must place their fear in Him alone (3: 14 ; cf. 2:22-26) and not in their vanishing works done under the sun. In this very practical situation there is truly ‘nothing better’ for a man to do than to rejoice in what God has providentially given him (I Sam. 27:1).” (H. Carl Shank)
"Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him." (John 6:27) Jesus told the woman at the well, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:14) [This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.] Even those who seek Wisdom have no way to influence their efforts. Attempts to do so are folly and grasping for the wind. Your salvation must be by grace through faith in the Kinsman Deliverer. It is not of you; it is a gift from God. (Eph 2:8)