Commentaries:
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Ecclesiastes 2:1-26
In chapter 2, Solomon launches into what he had learned about his works of building material things like houses and gardens and seeking even greater wealth. His conclusion? All of these material achievements were nothing but vanity, a grasping after wind.
He finds no real, sustained profit in them, nothing that truly added to his quality of life, no lasting fulfillment. He does not mean they resulted in no sense of achievement or passing pleasure, but that their fruit never truly fulfilled God's purpose for man. Therefore, those things are poor substitutes for a sustained sense of well-being. He then proceeds into an exploration of wine and entertainment. These are simply another form of materialism, ways of pleasing the flesh. He concludes that they, too, are folly, a mad pursuit.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Ecclesiastes and Christian Living (Part Seven): ContentmentRelated Topics: Coveting Material Things | Ecclesiastes and Christian Living | Ecclesiastes and Christian Living Contentment | Exploration of Wine and Entertainment | Grasping after Wind | Material Achievement | Materialism | No Profit "Under the Sun" | No Sustained Profit from Materialism | Pleasing the Flesh | Quality of Life | Sustained Profit | Sustained Sense of Well-being
Ecclesiastes 2:1-11
Solomon admits that his quest rewarded him with a certain amount of joy, but he still found it unsatisfactory. We might think that with all his wealth, good health, and a discerning mind, he would have had joy in abundance. What he accomplished, however, did not leave him with an enduring sense of well-being because his search continued after this experiment ended. He seems so frustrated that he says we should seize the joy as it comes along and be content with it (verse 24). His ultimate conclusion, found in verse 26, is that God determines whether we experience joy.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Fruit of the Spirit: JoyRelated Topics: Abundance | Abundance, Joy in | Accomplishment, Sense of | Contentment | Fruits of God's Holy Spirit | Fruits of God's Holy Spirit: Joy | Fruits of the Spirit | Frustration, Sense of | Joy | Joy, Carnal | Joy, God gives | Pleasure | Pleasure, Carnal | Pleasure, Sensual | Pleasure, Worldly | Solomon | Solomon's Discontent and Frustration | Well-being , Sense of | Worldly Pleasure
Ecclesiastes 2:3-11
Solomon kept his wits about him through all of this, but verse 11 concedes that the morning after the night before finally arrived—the time he had to give sober thought to what he had accomplished in his life. "I looked on all the works that my hands had done" coincides with the English expression, "The time came to face the facts."
He finds that, though there had been pleasure in accomplishing, he concludes there had been no real gain in terms of meaning of life. By calling his accomplishments "vanity," he does not mean that nothing was gained from them. Certainly a measure of good came from them, but they were disillusioning. They did not give him lasting satisfaction.
Money and the pleasures it can buy do not lift us out of our earthbound frustration. What is going on under the sun has to be connected to something that is happening somewhere else—in the purpose of God.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Ecclesiastes and the Feast of Tabernacles (Part 2)Related Topics: "Life is Meaningless" | Disillusionment | Earthbound Frustration | Frustration | Frustration, Sense of | God's Purpose | God's Purpose for Us | Meaning of Life | Pleasure in Accomplishing | Pleasure in Accomplishment | Purpose of God | Satisfaction | Solomon's Discontent and Frustration | Under the Sun
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