Ecclesiastes 1:12 - Meaning and Application

Solomon had already said in general that everything is vanity, and he had given some broad reasons for it. Now he turns to his own experience, which is the strongest proof he can give, and shows that he tested many things and found them empty. He begins with what seems most likely to satisfy a thinking person, knowledge and learning. If even this cannot give lasting satisfaction, then nothing else can.

Solomon first tells us what chances he had to pursue learning. His high position gave him every advantage. He was king over Israel, a people admired for their wisdom and understanding (Deuteronomy 4:6), and he ruled from Jerusalem, a city that was then a great center of life and learning. As king, it was both his honor and his duty to examine matters carefully. His wealth and status also let him make his court a place where learned people could gather, and he could gain knowledge from many sources.

He speaks of his rank in a humble way. He does not say, "I am king," but, "I was king," as if worldly honor were a thing that quickly passes. That fits his point, since earthly greatness does not last. Solomon treats his dignity as something already fading, because power and rank in this world do not stay with us.

He also says that he applied himself fully to learning. Great opportunities do not make a person wise unless he gives his mind to the task. Solomon set his heart to seek out and examine everything that can be known by wisdom (Ecclesiastes 1:13). He studied the things done under the sun, meaning the works of God’s providence and human skill alike. He looked into philosophy, mathematics, farming, trade, history, laws, customs, and the ways people think and act.

He did not just glance at these things. He searched them out closely and worked hard at them. Though he was a prince, he made himself a laborer in learning and did not turn away from difficult questions. He did this not only to satisfy his own mind, but to prepare himself to serve God and his own generation. He also wanted to see whether more knowledge would bring peace to the heart.

Solomon made great progress in these studies. He learned far more than those who came before him, and he did not reject learning just because it was hard. He saw all the works done under the sun, all that exists in the visible world, whether in nature or in human craft and skill (Ecclesiastes 1:14). He took real pleasure in what he discovered and could say that he had increased wisdom greatly. He had not only gained more knowledge for himself, but he had also done more than anyone before him in Jerusalem to spread and honor it.

This shows that rulers should be serious students. When God gives people large opportunities to gain knowledge, he expects them to use those gifts well. It is a blessing when rulers and nobles seek wisdom and useful knowledge as eagerly as they seek honor and wealth. Solomon was a fitting judge of this, because his knowledge was not just full of ideas. He had real experience of wisdom, its worth, and its use. What he learned had gone into his heart and become pleasant to his soul (Proverbs 2:10-11; Proverbs 22:18).

He especially studied the kind of wisdom that helps guide daily life, because that is the most useful kind. He wanted to know the rules of wisdom and how to obtain it, and also to know madness and folly, so he could avoid them, cure them, and detect their tricks (Ecclesiastes 1:17). He learned from wise people and also from foolish people. Even the example of the lazy and the careless taught him something. He gained instruction from all sides.

But the result of all this showed the same truth he had already stated: all is vanity. First, he found that the search for knowledge was very tiring. It was hard work for the body and the mind alike (Ecclesiastes 1:13). This difficult striving after truth is part of the burden God has placed on human beings, as a reminder of the loss that came through sin. Just as bread for the body must be earned by labor, so food for the soul must be won with effort. If Adam had not sinned, both would have come more easily.

He also found that the more he saw of human works, the more vanity he saw in them. In fact, the sight often troubled him deeply (Ecclesiastes 1:14). He had watched all the busy work of people and all their efforts, and he concluded that it was all vanity and a vexation of spirit, something empty and also distressing. It was not only unprofitable, as he had already said (Ecclesiastes 1:2), but also painful and harmful.

Some read it, “feeding on wind” (Hosea 12:1). The point is the same. The things people do in this world are themselves empty and frustrating to those who work at them. There is so much planning, so much labor, and so many disappointments that we may well say it brings “vexation of spirit,” deep inner trouble.

Even watching these things is empty and frustrating to a wise observer. The more we see of the world, the more we see that unsettles us, and it may leave us, like Heraclitus, looking at everything with tears. Solomon, in particular, found that the knowledge of wisdom and folly was vexing (Ecclesiastes 1:17). It troubled him to see many people with wisdom who would not use it, and many with folly who would not fight against it. It also troubled him to know how far wisdom stands from the children of men, and to see how tightly folly is bound in their hearts.

He also found that, once he gained some knowledge, it could not give him the satisfaction he hoped for, nor do the good to others that he expected (Ecclesiastes 1:15). It could not fix the many troubles of human life. “What is crooked cannot be made straight.” Our own understanding is tangled and hard to follow, and we have to go a long way around to reach the truth. Solomon thought he might find a shorter path, but he could not. The road to learning is still like a maze. Human minds and ways are crooked and stubborn.

Solomon also thought that, with wisdom and power together, he could fully reform his kingdom and make straight what he found crooked. He was disappointed. All the philosophy and politics in the world cannot restore fallen human nature to its original rightness. We see this lack in others and in ourselves. Learning will not change a person’s natural temper, or cure sinful habits. It will not change the condition of this world. It is still a valley of tears, and it will remain so.

Knowledge also cannot make up for the many lacks in human life. What is missing cannot be counted out to us from the storehouse of human learning. The missing pieces will still be missing. Even when we have done our best to improve our life’s comforts, they remain incomplete and limited. Our lack of knowledge is so great that it cannot be numbered. The more we know, the more we see how much we do not know. Who can fully understand his own errors and flaws?

So, on the whole, Solomon concluded that great scholars often make themselves great mourners, because “in much wisdom is much grief” (Ecclesiastes 1:18). It takes much effort to gain knowledge, and much care to keep from losing it. The more we know, the more we see there is still to know. That makes our work feel endless, and it also brings back many of our old mistakes and failures, which causes grief.

The more we understand people’s different opinions and judgments, the more uncertain we may feel about what is right. A great deal of learning deals with such matters. Those who increase in knowledge also see the sorrows of this world more sharply. For one pleasant discovery, they may make ten unpleasant ones, and so their sorrow grows.

Still, we should not turn away from useful knowledge. We should be patient enough to press through the sorrow it brings. But we should not expect true happiness from this kind of knowledge. That can be found only in the knowledge of God and in faithfully doing our duty to him. Anyone who grows in heavenly wisdom, and in a real experience of the principles, power, and joys of spiritual life, grows in joy too. That joy will soon be completed in everlasting joy.