The Preacher goes on to show that what he writes is not what he heard from others, but it is a great king, possessed of wisdom, riches, and power beyond that of any other man, who had tried for himself what life is under the sun for one of the human race. “I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven:... I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold,” he is forced to conclude, “all is vanity and vexation of spirit.” “That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.” He sees the sad results of man’s turning away from God; on every hand is evidence of the ruin of the fall, yet man cannot put things straight nor supply that which is lacking.
In his search for that which would bring satisfaction to his heart, he says: “I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly,” but he found “that this also is vexation of spirit.” “For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.” Whatever greatness a man might attain to on this earth, no matter how great the powers of his mind, he cannot as a child of Adam get beyond the condition of a fallen creature; he is but a wreck of that noblest of God’s works of creation. (Gen. 1,2.)
“I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth;... and, behold, this also is vanity.” “I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?” Among other things he sought satisfaction in wine. Then he says, “I made me great works” — he built houses, planted vineyards, made gardens and orchards, and pools of water; he amassed great wealth in cattle, in silver and gold, and surrounded him. self with servants, singers and musical instruments, anything that might minister to the natural heart; “whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them. I withheld not my heart from any joy.” Others less favored may have been disappointed in their pursuit of these things, but he had had his fill of everything he desired. When he looked on all the works that he had labored to do, “behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.”
He compares himself to one of low degree and observes that both must leave this scene and be forgotten in the days to come. “As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me.... how dieth the wise man? as the fool.” He sees how a man may labor in wisdom, in knowledge and skill, and yet he leaves the fruit of his toil to one who has no concern as to those things. “Yea,” he says, “I hated all my labor which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me. And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool?” We know this very thing came to pass after Solomon’s death for his son Rehoboam, through his folly lost most of the wealth his father had amassed to Shishak king of Egypt and the greater part of the kingdom to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
However, he does recognize that there is a government of God in this world. “For God giveth to a man that is good in His sight, wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner He giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God.” v. 26.
ML 11/19/1961