Ecclesiastes 2 Study Notes

2:1-2 These verses summarize in advance the whole of vv. 1-11. Solomon looked into finding meaning through riches, and he found it futile.

2:3 The word wine is literal wine, but it also stands for all the pleasure-giving luxuries of life. Folly refers to parties, frivolity, and self-indulgence. When the Teacher said my mind still guiding me with wisdom, he meant that he did not give himself over to total dissipation. Anyone can see that a person who has cast off all self-restraint, such as the alcoholic, will not be happy. Solomon never lost self-control or became an addict. Still, even pleasures pursued in moderation will not bring happiness.

2:4-8 The Teacher was rich in every way, having palatial homes, the natural beauty of vineyards and gardens, abundant and varied food from his herds and estates, riches in the form of livestock and precious metals, and feats of engineering in the form of reservoirs and aqueducts. He was free of hard labor and was served by an army of slaves. He was entertained by singers, and his sexual desires were fulfilled by concubines.

2:9 Solomon’s assertion that my wisdom also remained with me is important. If he had lost all self-control and had become an addict, then the fact that his wealth and luxury had not made him happy would be self-evident. But he did handle the prosperity well and did not fall into debauchery. It is not only excess and dissipation that leads to ruin, but even indulgence with moderation does not satisfy.

2:10 The Teacher’s quest for happiness through wealth failed, but not for lack of trying. He did not deny himself any pleasure.

2:11 Not only did Solomon realize his treasures and accomplishments failed to give him satisfaction, he also understood that none would endure. Consider that virtually nothing remains of all of Solomon’s architectural achievements—they were all doomed to disappear.

2:12-17 The quest for knowledge is a source of frustration and pain because it is futile; no human mind can solve the mysteries of life. Wisdom has some practical value, but it is subject to great limitations. The advantages it offers are temporary.

2:12 Solomon compared wisdom, madness, and folly to see if there was any real value in one way of living over another. The last part of this verse has some extraordinarily difficult Hebrew. Literally it says, “For what is the man who will come after the king whom they already made?” Most interpreters take the king to be Solomon himself and so read the text more or less as the CSB has done. It is possible, however, that “whom they already made” refers to the creation of man in Gn 1:26, where God is referred to in the plural (“Let us make man”). If so, then “the king” is not Solomon but Adam, and the point is that any man (in Hb the word is ’adam) who comes after Adam must learn to make moral choices involving wisdom and folly. Adam started this when he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. How can a man who comes after Adam not wrestle with these things?

2:13-15 The Teacher did not deny that wisdom is a good thing. The fool will fall into all kinds of troubles because of the poor decisions he makes. This refers to the kind of practical wisdom and folly that Proverbs describes. The fool may be lazy, quarrelsome, not handle money well, or fall into promiscuity. All these things bring about ruin. On the other hand, wisdom can do nothing to save a person from death, the greatest calamity of all. One person may be prudent and another foolish, but one fate comes to them both.

2:16 The wise person cannot even count on having a legacy that outlasts that of the fool.

2:18-23 In this section Ecclesiastes returns to the subject of wealth and pleasure. But unlike vv. 1-11, which focus on the impossibility of finding satisfaction in riches, this text focuses on the absurdity of devoting one’s life to acquiring wealth only to leave it all behind to someone else. A person may toil ceaselessly for wealth, so that his days are filled with grief, but he must lose it all to someone who had none of his skill and who did not work for it.

2:24-26 The words there is nothing better for a person than to eat, drink, and enjoy his work must be understood in context. Ecclesiastes is preoccupied with how death nullifies all of man’s accomplishments. It emphasizes that our days under the sun are limited, and thus that it is a tragedy to waste those days with excessive labor and grief. There are obviously many more things to a good life than just eating, drinking, and enjoying one’s work, and Ecclesiastes does not suggest that we abandon ourselves to pleasure-seeking or our careers; but we ought to recognize that life is short and not miss out on its basic pleasures. These, too, are a gift of God.