Ecclesiastes 2:18-23
18 Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.
19 And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have shewed myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity.
20 Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun.
21 For there is a man whose labour is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.
22 For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun?
23 For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.
This passage presents another aspect of vanity, and to the wise man a great grief. All his great works of wisdom and labour, which had ministered to him a temporary satisfaction, after a while became to him objects of disgust. They must be left, and to whom he could not tell. David had no such anxieties. His heart had not been set upon his treasures, and therefore it was no sacrifice to him to part with them. Besides, he well knew the consecrated use to which his wise son would apply them. (1 Chron. 28:11-21; 29:1-22) But Solomon probably had his forebodings of the man who should come after him. And the history of the son fully justified the anxious question — Who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? (Ps. 49:10 Comp. Ps. 39:6) So deeply did this trial touch the Preacher, that he again adverts to it. Must he — after a life of labour in wisdom, knowledge, and equity — must he after all become a drudge to his successor, of whom he knows nothing with any certainty? What advantage hath he of all his labour? (See Eccl. 1:3; 3:9) He heaps up his words one upon another (labour, sorrow, grief, travail), to describe more emphatically the painfulness of his exercise.
And yet this great evil may have been overruled for Solomon’s good. His heart had clung to the world, and it required sharp discipline to break it away. ‘Often had he bored and sunk into the earth for some rich mine of satisfaction.’ (Henry.) But repeated failures caused his heart to despair. And might not this restlessness of earthly rest have been his Father’s restoring discipline? This is the canker on the supreme pursuit of this world’s portion. We may possess the creature; but never shall we enjoy it, till God is on the throne above it. (Ps. 73:25) There will be no cleaving to God, till the vanity of all, in comparison with him, has been experimentally acknowledged. O my God! may I feel the vanity of everything, that turns away my heart from thee! We must have an holdfast somewhere; and we sought it in the creature, because we knew not where else to look for it. But when we have once gained an everlasting footing on an unchangeable covenant — better promises — higher privileges — richer prospects, fix our hearts, and “give us peace: not as the world giveth.” (John 14:27)
The special trial, however, to which Solomon here alludes, presses heavily upon many a Christian heart. The fruits of our labour — in wisdom and knowledge — or in providential gifts — will they descend from us into worthy or unworthy hands? to a wise man or a fool? will they be devoted to the Church, or be desecrated to the world? Shall we be able to perpetuate a good name in godly, well-doing children, and to commit our trust into their hands with peaceful confidence? How does this anxious exercise urge upon us the obligation of training our children for God! Hence a lively glow to our last act of parental faith. If there be a cloud upon our setting sun, behind that cloud will be “a sun that goeth down no more” — the display of eternal love and faithfulness.
If this be a sore “trial of faith” to the Christian, what is the threatened chastisement to the ungodly! (Eccl. 5:26; Deut. 28:30-33) Without a refuge — without covenant promises — without sustaining support! All his labour barren! All his days — not sorrowful only, but actual sorrow — the very mass of sorrow and grief — a mind racked with care. Even night brings no rest. ‘See what fools they are, that make themselves drudges to the world, and do not make God their rest’ (Henry.) — all is vanity. Who will not listen to the pleading voice of the Saviour — contrasting this field of fruitless disappointment with his own offer of solid peace and satisfaction? “Wherefore spend ye your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.” (Is. 55:2) Welcome every sinner, that feels his need of this precious remedy!
— Charles Bridges (1794-1869)
