Ecclesiastes 2:17 - Meaning and Application

Business is something wise people usually enjoy. They are in their element when they are working, and they feel uneasy when they have nothing to do. They may grow tired from work, but they do not lose their love for it, nor do they want to stop. So one might expect Solomon to find real good here. But he tried this as well. After trying a life of thought and a life of pleasure, he turned to an active life and found no more satisfaction in it than in the others. It was still vanity, empty and frustrating, and he explains why in these verses.

First, notice what kind of work he tested. It was business “under the sun,” that is, work tied to this world, to money, honor, and pleasure in this present life (Ecclesiastes 2:17-20). It was the work of a king, not the harsh labor of the lowest workers. There is also work above the sun, ongoing work that leads to lasting blessedness. Whatever we do in line with God’s will, as heaven does it, and in pursuit of that blessedness, will have lasting value. We will have no reason to hate that labor or lose hope in it. But Solomon is speaking here about labor under the sun, labor for “food that perishes” (John 6:27; Isaiah 55:2), and he found little joy in it.

This was the better sort of worldly business, too. It was not just physical labor, like cutting wood or carrying water. It was work done with wisdom, knowledge, and justice (Ecclesiastes 2:21). It was thoughtful work connected with ruling his kingdom and advancing its good. It was work guided by natural understanding, learned skill, and fairness. It included the work of the royal council and the courts. This was labor in which he showed himself wise (Ecclesiastes 2:19), and that kind of labor is higher than the work that only shows a man’s strength. The mind lifts us above the beasts, just as the body links us with them. Many people, when they pursue worldly business, want above all else to seem wise, capable, and well-informed.

Second, Solomon soon became unhappy with this work. He grew tired of it. He hated all his labor because it did not give him the satisfaction he had expected. After he had enjoyed his fine houses, gardens, and waterworks for a while, he began to dislike them and look down on them. He became like children who beg for a toy, play with it eagerly for a time, then get bored and throw it aside, wanting something else.

This does not mean a holy hatred of earthly things, which we should love less than God and religion (Luke 14:26). It also does not mean a sinful hatred, as if a person were wrong to do the work God has given him. Rather, it was a natural weariness, caused by too much of it and by disappointment in it. He made his heart despair of all his labor (Ecclesiastes 2:20). He worked hard to settle deep in his heart the truth that worldly business is empty, and that it would not give him the gain or satisfaction he had once hoped for. Our hearts are slow to give up their hopes for great things from created things. We often have to argue with ourselves at length before we admit that this world cannot give us what we keep expecting from it. If we have searched again and again in this earth for some rich mine of satisfaction and found nothing, should we not finally rest and give up hoping to find it there?

At last he came to hate life itself (Ecclesiastes 2:17). Life brings so many troubles, so much weariness, and so many letdowns. God had given Solomon a very large heart and a mind with great capacity, so he felt more deeply than other men how unsatisfying earthly things are and how unable they are to make a person happy. Life itself, which is such a precious gift and such a blessing to a good man, can become a burden to a man wrapped up in business.

Third, there were two reasons why he grew so weary of his life and work. One reason was that his business was such a toil to himself. The work he had done under the sun was painful to him (Ecclesiastes 2:17). His thoughts and cares, and the close attention his work demanded, became a heavy burden, especially as he grew older. This is one effect of the curse on the ground we work. Our business is called the work and toil of our hands because the ground was cursed by the Lord (Genesis 5:29), because our powers grow weak, and because we were told that by the sweat of our face we must eat bread. Our labor is also called the vexation of our heart (Ecclesiastes 2:22), because for most people it feels like pressure they must bear, since we naturally love ease.

A man of business is pictured as uneasy both when he goes out and when he comes in (Ecclesiastes 2:23). By day he is robbed of peace, because all his days are sorrow, not just unhappy days, but sorrow itself, and many different sorrows. His labor all day brings grief. People in business often run into things that trouble them, and they are stirred up to anger or sadness. Those who are quick to fret find that the more dealings they have with the world, the more often they are provoked. Even for those who have much of the world, this life is still a valley of tears. Those who labor are heavy-laden, and Christ calls them to come to him for rest (Matthew 11:28).

He is also disturbed at night. When the rush of the day is over and he hopes to rest his head on his pillow, he finds no relief. His worries keep his eyes open, or, if he sleeps, his heart still wakes and will not rest through the night. See how foolish it is to make yourself a slave to the world and not make God your rest. Day and night, such a person cannot truly be at peace. So, in the end, it is all vanity (Ecclesiastes 2:17). In some ways it is a particular kind of vanity (Ecclesiastes 2:19, Ecclesiastes 2:23), and in another sense it is vanity and a great evil (Ecclesiastes 2:21). It is a serious wrong against God and a harm to ourselves. It is a vain thing to rise early and stay up late just to chase the goods of this world, since they were never meant to be our highest good.

The second reason was that the profits of his work would all have to be left to others. The hope of gain is what starts people working and keeps them going. People labor because they expect to benefit from it. If that hope fades, their effort weakens. So Solomon objected to all the great works he had done, because they could not bring lasting benefit to himself. He had to leave them.

At death, a man cannot take his wealth with him, or any part of it, nor can he return to enjoy it again (Job 7:10). The memory of it will not help him then either (Luke 16:25). He must leave everything to the one who comes after him, to the next generation that takes his place. As people before us built the houses we live in and spent their labor and money on them, so people after us will live in the houses we build and enjoy the fruit of our work.

For a godly person, this should not be troubling at all. Why should we resent it when others enjoy the world after we are gone? Why should we not rather be glad that, when we leave, those who come after us may benefit from our wisdom and effort? But for a worldly person, who looks for happiness in earthly things, it is a great burden to think of leaving behind the treasures he loves. He cannot bear the thought of parting with them, especially when he knows he will not keep them long.

He must also leave them to people who did not work as hard for them, and who may therefore feel no duty to work at all. The one who built the estate did it through wisdom, knowledge, and justice. But the one who enjoys and spends it may not have labored for it at all (Ecclesiastes 2:21), and may never do so. The bee works to feed the drone, the idle bee that does no work. Wealth can even become a trap, because it is handed to a person as his portion, and he settles down in it as if it were enough. How miserable it is to be given such a narrow portion and stop there.

If that wealth had not come so easily, who knows whether he might have been both hardworking and godly? Still, we should not trouble ourselves too much with this, because it may turn out differently. What has been honestly gained may come to someone who uses it well and does good with it.

He does not know to whom he will leave it, for God is the one who gives heirs, or even what kind of person that heir will be, whether wise or foolish. A wise heir may increase it, but a fool may waste it all. Yet that person will have control over all my labor and may foolishly destroy what his father wisely built. Solomon likely wrote this with deep feeling, because he may have been worried about what Rehoboam, his son and successor, would become.

Jerome, in his commentary on this passage, applies it to the good books Solomon wrote. Solomon had shown wisdom in them, but he did not know whose hands they would fall into. They might even fall into the hands of a fool, who would use them badly because of the wrong bent of his heart. So, taken as a whole, the question is this: What does a man gain from all his labor? What does he keep for his own use? What will go with him into the next world? (Ecclesiastes 2:22)

The best use of the wealth of this world is to use it cheerfully, enjoy it in a right way, and do good with it. That is how the chapter ends (Ecclesiastes 2:24-26). There is no true happiness in these things. They are empty, and if we expect happiness from them, we will only find disappointment and grief. But God shows us how to make the best use of them and avoid the troubles Solomon noticed. We must not wear ourselves out trying to get more, so that we lose the comfort of what we already have. We must not hoard everything for the future, or give away all our present enjoyment just to save for those who come after us. We should use what we have first, and use it well.

The good here is plain. We must do our duty with what God has given us, and care more about using an estate well than about increasing it. That is the point in Ecclesiastes 2:26, where only those who are good in God’s sight are said to have the comfort of this life, that is, those who are truly good before God, like Noah, whom God saw as righteous. We must keep God before us at all times and work hard to please him in everything we do. The Chaldee paraphrase says that a person should let his soul enjoy good by keeping God’s commandments, walking in the right paths before him, studying the words of the law, and being mindful of the great judgment to come.

We must also take the comfort of these things. They cannot make the soul happy. The good we get from them is for the body. If we use them to support the body in a sober and helpful way, so it can serve the soul and stay fit for God’s service, then they are being used well. So there is nothing better, in regard to these things, than to allow ourselves a modest and cheerful use of them, according to our place and condition, having food and drink for ourselves, our families, and our friends, and so enjoying life’s ordinary comforts. Do not lose that comfort while chasing after a greater good that these things cannot give.

But he does not mean that we should stop working and simply eat and drink for pleasure. No, we should enjoy good in our labor. We should use these things not to excuse us from our work, but to help us be diligent and cheerful in it.

We must also acknowledge God in all this. We should see that these good things come from the hand of God. First, the things themselves are from him, not only because he made them, but because his providence gives them to us. They are truly pleasant only when we receive them from the hand of God as a Father, seeing his wisdom in giving us what suits us best, resting in his choice, and tasting his love and goodness with thankfulness. Second, the heart to enjoy them is also his gift. Unless he gives us wisdom to use what he has given in providence, along with peace of conscience so we can see God’s favor in the world’s blessings, we cannot make our souls enjoy any good in them.

We should keep this in mind as we handle the things of this world and look up to God for help. Solomon himself, with all his wealth, could wish for no more and aim at no better than this (Ecclesiastes 2:25). “Who can get this better than I can?” In other words, this was the highest goal he had reached. He wanted nothing more. Those who have far less than he did may still reach this same point, learning to be content and to enjoy the good of what they have. Yet Solomon could not gain this by his own wisdom alone, without the special grace of God. That is why he points us to God’s hand and teaches us to pray for it.

Riches become a blessing or a curse depending on whether a person has a heart to use them well.

God can make wealth and possessions a blessing for a good person if he gives that person wisdom, knowledge, and joy. Then the person can enjoy what he has with a thankful heart and share it generously with others. For those who are good in God’s sight, sincere and upright, who honor God and care for other people, God gives wisdom and knowledge in this life, and joy with the righteous in the life to come, as the Chaldee says. He may also give them wisdom and understanding in natural things, moral matters, political affairs, and divine truth, and this becomes a steady source of joy.

God can also make wealth a punishment for a bad person if he does not give that person the heart to enjoy it. Then riches only mock him and rule over him. God lets the sinner, by his own labor and foolish choices, gather and store up what will become a burden to himself, like thick clay (Habakkuk 2:6). It will also stand as a witness against him and, as James says, eat his flesh like fire (James 5:3). Yet God, in his wise rule over all things, plans to give that wealth to the one who is good before him, because the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous, for the one who will show pity to the poor. This teaches, first, that godliness with contentment is great gain, and that only those who are good in God’s sight, and who receive all from him, have true joy. Second, ungodliness is often punished by discontent and greedy craving, which are sins that punish themselves. Third, when God gives abundance to wicked people, he may be preparing it to pass to his own children when they are ready for it, just as the Canaanites kept the good land until the time set for Israel to enter it.

So the same lesson remains: this too is vanity and a chasing after the wind. Even for a good person, wealth is empty at best, because having all that the sinner has gathered will not make him happy without something more. For the sinner, it is even more painful, because he sees what he stored up enjoyed by someone good in God’s sight, and therefore someone he regards as bad. Whatever way you look at it, the conclusion stands firm: all is vanity and vexation of spirit.