by Kent Leslie ✉️
Skipping the introduction, let’s dive into where Qohelet looks for the meaning of life.
12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to humans to be busy with. 14 I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun, and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
15 What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted. 16 I said to myself, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my mind has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 And I applied my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a chasing after wind.
18 For in much wisdom is much vexation, and those who increase knowledge increase sorrow.
Ain’t that the truth. The more you know, the more frustrating it gets when you realize the world is run by fools.
Now after Qoheleth goes to all the trouble of learning wisdom, he proceeds to do something mighty dumb, and chase after wealth:
1 I said to myself, “Come now, I will make a test of pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But again, this also was vanity. 2 I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” 3 I searched with my mind how to cheer my body with wine—my mind still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, until I might see what was good for mortals to do under heaven during the few days of their life. 4 I made great works; I built houses and planted vineyards for myself; 5 I made myself gardens and parks and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. 6 I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves and had slaves who were born in my house; I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. 8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and of the provinces; I got singers, both men and women, and delights of the flesh, many concubines.
This is some of the reason people think Qoheleth is Solomon, ’cause Qoheleth managed to accumulate wealth and concubines—and Solomon was one of the richest guys ever, and had an insane number of concubines. But y’know, the writer of 1 Kings says God gave Solomon all that wealth, and here Qoheleth says he accumulated his wealth himself. So, another point for Qoheleth not being Solomon.
9 So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me. 10 Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure from all my toil, and this was my reward from all my toil. 11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and again, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.
So wisdom means nothing. Wealth means nothing. Hedonism means nothing. Achievement means nothing. And you notice these are all the things people of our day think will give their lives meaning. Wisdom, wealth, hedonism, achievement. We can probably add fame, though Qoheleth would call it vanity too, because it is. It’s all here today, gone tomorrow; it’s all smoke; it’s all gonna burn up when God destroys the world.
What did Qohelet do after trying everything he figured he could try? He actually tried to go back to wisdom. You remember in 1.16, Qohelet began by seeking wisdom, and decided that was vanity; then he tried other stuff and decided that was vanity; now he’s trying wisdom again. Maybe he figured now that he saw some stuff, he’d have greater insights about wisdom. And yeah, he had enough insight to write a whole book about it. But he also realized that wisdom is better—but whether we’re wise, or whether we’re dumb, all our works will pass away, and in the end, so will we. It makes no difference. It means nothing.
12 So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly, for what can the king’s successor do? Only what has already been done. 13 Then I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness.
14 The wise have eyes in their head, but fools walk in darkness. Yet I perceived that the same fate befalls all of them. 15 Then I said to myself, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also; why then have I been so very wise?” And I said to myself that this also is vanity. 16 For there is no enduring remembrance of the wise or of fools, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How can the wise die just like fools? 17 So I hated life because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
18 I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to my successor, 19 and who knows whether he will be wise or foolish? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. 20 So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labors under the sun, 21 because sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22 What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun? 23 For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.
Not for nothing do a lot of people think Ecclesiastes is a very pessimistic book. But I think that’s mainly because they only quote the negative parts. They only quote the “This is vanity, that is vanity, the other thing is vanity” bits. They read the rants about how nothing means anything, and skip the bits where Qohelet actually found something meaningful. And that’s in the very next paragraph:
24 There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink and find enjoyment in their toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, 25 for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? 26 For to the one who pleases him God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he gives the work of gathering and heaping, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.
Finally Qohelet tackles the meaning of life: Nothing better than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in their toil.
The translation I’m using, the
When God kicked Adam and Eve out of the garden, he told Adam he’d have to sweat to get his food from now on; he’d have to work for it. Sometimes really hard, miserable work. Sometimes toil. In middle-class cultures like ours, we get to choose what we wanna do for a living, but in Qohelet’s culture only the rich got to do that. Everybody else either farmed, or did what their family did. If your dad was a shepherd, that’s what you did. If your dad was a carpenter, you’d become a carpenter. Now if you were a girl, you’d marry into someone else’s family and do what they did—you’d actually have a little bit of choice, but not much, because there’s a really good chance everybody you knew did the same thing your family did. (No, ancient Israeli girls didn’t become homemakers. That’s a middle-class thing. They’d go into the family business, same as the boys.)
But what Qohelet is saying in verse 24 is we need to find enjoyment, however and wherever we can, in our toil. There’s gotta be something about it we like. Otherwise we’re just gonna exist in misery.
And Qohelet credits God for this. “For apart from him, who can eat or who can have enjoyment?” Good things come from God. And, verse 26, “to the one who pleases him, God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy.” To the one who doesn’t please him, God takes what they have and gives it to those who do, and turns all their work into vanity.