As I continued in this study of Ecclesiastes, I found that Solomon, in a sense, was made to understand the loss God experienced in man’s rebellion. Not that God is helpless, because God is able to bring good out of it all (cp. Romans 8:28) and to cause light to shine out of darkness (cp. Job 12:22; 2Corinthians 4:6). He is able to do so, because he is not only Almighty, but he is also willing to pay the price to bring something new into the world (cp. 1Peter 1:3; 2:5-9). Knowing good and evil isn’t a static understanding, for with knowledge comes authority, and with authority responsibility; with responsibility comes power and legitimate power involves sacrifice. Nevertheless, man wasn’t created to know good and evil in a context apart from God’s help and guidance. Evil is powerful and tends toward addiction, and an addict, who has indulged himself too much, is powerless to overcome that which has overcome him (2Peter 2:19; cp. Ecclesiastes 1:15, 17).
The very first thing Solomon seems to have decided to do, as that pertains to exercising his wisdom (Ecclesiastes 1:16-17) in an effort to understand the meaning of life (Ecclesiastes 1:3), was to indulge himself in all the pleasures of life. However, he concluded that all of it was meaningless (Ecclesiastes 2:1). Nothing was really profitable (Ecclesiastes 1:3; 2:11), because everything was for but a moment and nothing lasted long enough to make a difference. In other words, because the things of life aren’t eternal, they cannot be profitable, like the proverb: “you can’t take it with you!” None of what we do in this world has any more effect upon things that matter than one’s warm breath on a cold day affects the weather.
Actually, Solomon divided his journey of self-indulgence into three phases (Ecclesiastes 2:2-11). However, each one is connected to the others, especially the first two, the first having to do with foolishness (Ecclesiastes 2:2-3) and the second with wisdom (Ecclesiastes 2:4-6). So, the Teacher indulged himself in the party life in an effort to understand what ultimate value there was in laughter. He sought to understand the value of the gay life through the effects of wine and laughter. In the end, however, the Teacher decided the foolish life, the party life, the kind of life that allowed one to indulge in constant laughter and merriment was meaningless. After all, what does such laughter and merriment accomplish? Where’s the profit? Beyond the moment of joy, what can be found in it that serves the rest of one’s life?
Therefore, Solomon decided to look at the other end of that pendulum, wisdom, the practical life, the life that seems to offer something tangible both to him who lives such a life and to others who benefit from the wise man’s labors (Ecclesiastes 2:4-6). So, the Teacher pursued the sense of accomplishment and beauty (art). He built great edifices with gardens and parks (Ecclesiastes 2:4-5). He created pools of water that would naturally irrigate his vineyard and gardens, which contained fruit trees etc. (Ecclesiastes 2:6). All of it was a great and wonderful spectacle to behold, both for its beauty and for it practical use. Yet, even wise and practical living seems to be nothing more than an exercise in futility, because nothing lasts forever (cp. Ecclesiastes 2:1).
Finally, the Teacher tells us he had amassed great wealth. Besides having great flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, more than anyone before him, he bought many slaves, and they profited him by having children, thus increasing the number of those who served his interests (Ecclesiastes 2:7). Moreover, he was able to employ musicians for his own private entertainment, and even women to satisfy is sexual interests (Ecclesiastes 2:8). In the end, Solomon had become wealthier than either of the kings before him, and he enjoyed all that he had done and accumulated, refusing himself no conceivable joy or pleasure (Ecclesiastes 2:9-10). He took it all in, but in doing so he realized it was meaningless. It was nothing but striving after the wind, because, ultimately, there was no profit in any of it. Nothing could last, because Solomon, himself, would die and be replaced (Ecclesiastes 1:4). Where, then, was the profit in the pleasure he indulged himself in, or the building projects he created and enjoyed, or the vast wealth he accumulated, which made him great? How could pleasure, accomplishment or greatness serve such a man as Solomon in the grave? All of it was meaningless and nothing but a vexation of his spirit (Ecclesiastes 2:11)
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