Ecc 2:18-19 | KingComments | STEP | Hating life ( ) is followed by hating work. Working is as pointless as life, because you have to leave all your work behind, so what are you working for ( ; cf. )? Solomon has created great buildings, such as houses, gardens, orchards. He can enjoy it for some time, but with his death it is over. There comes a moment when man loses control of his work and has to leave everything he has done to others. Letting go is no fun indeed, but even worse is the tormenting question of who will continue with his legacy and especially how that person will deal with it ( ). One would wish to know for sure that he is leaving everything to someone who deals as wisely with it as he has done. Then that knowledge can at least give some satisfaction to his work. But there is no such knowledge. What the wise man has acquired with his wise labor under the sun, can simply end up in the hands of a fool. Then the latter will have access to it. This thought shows that everything he has done to be “vanity”, which means that there is no guarantee of a good continuation. The Preacher’s fear has become reality. His son Rehoboam was a fool ( ). The thought of the possible uselessness of his work caused despair in his heart ( ). You cannot protect the results of your work from the abuse that others make of it. That is to become desperate of when you think of everything you have accomplished with hard work. This (understandable) despair is quite different from the joy of the satisfaction he has sought in it. It is also quite different from the certainty that we may have that our work is not in vain if it is done for the Lord ( ). Our work for the Lord is safe in His hands ( ). The same applies to those who will die in the great tribulation for the Lord’s sake. It is written of them: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, from now on. “Yes”, says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors; for their deeds follow with them”” ( ). In , his heart regains some rest, that is to say, to resign to the inevitable. He becomes aware of the fact that it is the ordinary course of the life of a wise man under the sun. A wise man, as he is himself, works hard. He does not run like a madman through life, but works with wisdom. He considers every choice he has to make and makes the right choice. And then it turns out that he has expertise. He knows what his choice means. And that is not all. He also has the ability to put his wise choice and his knowledge into practice. All in all, it has become clear that when you die you have to let go of everything and that someone else will take the advantages of the results of your work. This is a fact that you have to accept, but it is impossible for you to accept it as a righteous case. It makes your own work to be “vanity”, it has been for nothing. There is no lasting result for yourself, and the certainty that someone else will make wise use of it, is not granted to you. You can only call it “a great evil”. So, “what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun?” ( ). The answer is: nothing, nothing at all. The Preacher can only repeat the conclusion he started with in Ecclesiastes 1 ( ). In follows the reason for his conclusion. We see this in the word “because” with which the verse begins. All the days of his efforts, however successful they may have been, he has felt suffering and sorrow. The uneasy feeling of a ‘mission impossible’ is always present underneath the skin in a hardworking person. And, says the Preacher, when a man goes to bed tired after a hard day’s work, he cannot sleep well. His activities keep haunting his mind. The uncertainty of whether he will reach the goal he has set, gnaws at him. That is why his heart does not come to rest. The restlessness of life under the sun teases him even at night. For those who are busy with the things of the Lord and go the way He shows, it is different. First of all, we see it in the Lord Jesus Himself. He has always done the Father’s will and has always gone the way that the Father has shown Him. That is why He was able to sleep, even in the midst of the storm ( ). We also see this total rest with Peter when he is in prison, facing death ( ).

‏ Ecclesiastes 2:18-19

Labor Too Does Not Give Lasting Happiness

Hating life (Ecc 2:17) is followed by hating work. Working is as pointless as life, because you have to leave all your work behind, so what are you working for (Ecc 2:18; cf. Lk 12:13-21)? Solomon has created great buildings, such as houses, gardens, orchards. He can enjoy it for some time, but with his death it is over. There comes a moment when man loses control of his work and has to leave everything he has done to others.

Letting go is no fun indeed, but even worse is the tormenting question of who will continue with his legacy and especially how that person will deal with it (Ecc 2:19). One would wish to know for sure that he is leaving everything to someone who deals as wisely with it as he has done. Then that knowledge can at least give some satisfaction to his work. But there is no such knowledge.

What the wise man has acquired with his wise labor under the sun, can simply end up in the hands of a fool. Then the latter will have access to it. This thought shows that everything he has done to be “vanity”, which means that there is no guarantee of a good continuation. The Preacher’s fear has become reality. His son Rehoboam was a fool (1Kgs 11:41-43 ; 1Kgs 12:1-24).

The thought of the possible uselessness of his work caused despair in his heart (Ecc 2:20). You cannot protect the results of your work from the abuse that others make of it. That is to become desperate of when you think of everything you have accomplished with hard work.

This (understandable) despair is quite different from the joy of the satisfaction he has sought in it. It is also quite different from the certainty that we may have that our work is not in vain if it is done for the Lord (1Cor 15:58). Our work for the Lord is safe in His hands (2Tim 1:12). The same applies to those who will die in the great tribulation for the Lord’s sake. It is written of them: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, from now on. “Yes”, says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors; for their deeds follow with them”” (Rev 14:13).

In Ecc 2:21, his heart regains some rest, that is to say, to resign to the inevitable. He becomes aware of the fact that it is the ordinary course of the life of a wise man under the sun. A wise man, as he is himself, works hard. He does not run like a madman through life, but works with wisdom. He considers every choice he has to make and makes the right choice. And then it turns out that he has expertise. He knows what his choice means. And that is not all. He also has the ability to put his wise choice and his knowledge into practice.

All in all, it has become clear that when you die you have to let go of everything and that someone else will take the advantages of the results of your work. This is a fact that you have to accept, but it is impossible for you to accept it as a righteous case. It makes your own work to be “vanity”, it has been for nothing. There is no lasting result for yourself, and the certainty that someone else will make wise use of it, is not granted to you. You can only call it “a great evil”.

So, “what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun?” (Ecc 2:22). The answer is: nothing, nothing at all. The Preacher can only repeat the conclusion he started with in Ecclesiastes 1 (Ecc 1:3).

In Ecc 2:23 follows the reason for his conclusion. We see this in the word “because” with which the verse begins. All the days of his efforts, however successful they may have been, he has felt suffering and sorrow. The uneasy feeling of a ‘mission impossible’ is always present underneath the skin in a hardworking person.

And, says the Preacher, when a man goes to bed tired after a hard day’s work, he cannot sleep well. His activities keep haunting his mind. The uncertainty of whether he will reach the goal he has set, gnaws at him. That is why his heart does not come to rest. The restlessness of life under the sun teases him even at night.

For those who are busy with the things of the Lord and go the way He shows, it is different. First of all, we see it in the Lord Jesus Himself. He has always done the Father’s will and has always gone the way that the Father has shown Him. That is why He was able to sleep, even in the midst of the storm (Mk 4:38). We also see this total rest with Peter when he is in prison, facing death (Acts 12:6).