The Futility of Pleasure, Wisdom, and Work
Ecclesiastes 2:1-26

  1. The Futility of Pleasure (Ecclesiastes 2:1-11)
    1. The Experiment Summed up (2:1-3)
      1. This is a summary of The Preacher's third exploration, the first two being work and wisdom.
      2. As such, we should have covered it last week.
      3. 1:12-2:3 seem to form a single unit, introducing the triple question of Ecclesiastes, what benefit is there in work, wisdom, and pleasure?
        1. 1:12-15 - The Futility of Work
        2. 1:16-18 - The Futility of Wisdom
        3. 2:1-3 - The Futility of Pleasure.
      4. Having presented his conclusions first, The Preacher shares his experiments and musing.
      5. Typically, he does this in chiastic manner, mentioning the last thought (pleasure) first and backing his way out from there.
        1. 2:4-11 - The Experiment with Pleasure
        2. 2:12-17 - The Consideration of Wisdom
        3. 2:18-26 - Hatefulness of Work (Labor)
      6. The Preacher finds that wisdom increases sorrow (1:18)
        1. And what is the profit in sorrow?
        2. (Later, in 7:1-6, he will suggest there is some. For now, it doesn't seem likely, so he turns his attention to other remedies.)
        3. Thus, if sorrow is undesirable, why not try for sorrow's opposite, pleasure, and see what comes of that?
      7. So The Preacher tests his heart with laughter and pleasure (2:1-3)
      8. His immediate conclusion: It is all futility
        1. Laughter is madness
        2. And mirth accomplishes nothing
          1. I.e. there is no "profit" in it (cf. 1:3)
          2. And he desperately wants "profit." He wants to accomplish something, to make his mark, to see the works of his hands established.
        3. He insists that this is so even though the wine did not drive his wisdom from him (2:3)
        4. Yet he may as well engage in these things while he waits to discover what is truly good for the sons of men (Adam) to do "all the days of their lives."
    2. The Pleasures of the Riches King (2:4-11)
      1. The Preacher speaks again in the character of Solomon
      2. Remember the Solomonic indicators discussed in the 2nd week
        1. 1 Kings 7:1-8
        2. 1 Kings 10:7-23 (cf. Ecclesiastes 2:7)
        3. 2 Samuel 19:35
      3. Just as the wisest king that ever lived finds no lasting profit in wisdom (1:16ff.), so the richest king that ever lived finds no profit it all the things money can buy.
      4. Everything he had provided for himself was "vanity and grasping for the wind" because "there was no profit under the sun" (2:11). I.e. no lasting profit.
    3. The Second Eden of the Second Adam? (2:4-11)
      1. The Preacher as well identifies himself with an even greater King, The Lord God.
      2. But this time he makes the identification to accentuate the contrast.
      3. Consider the similarities of vocabulary between 2:4-6 and Genesis 1 and 2:
        1. to plant - Genesis 2:8
        2. garden - Genesis 2:8,9,10,15,16
        3. tree/all/fruit - Genesis 1:11,12,29,29; 2:9,16,17
        4. to drench - Genesis 2:5,9
        5. to sprout - Genesis 1:7,16,25,26
        6. to work, make - Genesis 1:7,16,25,26,31; 2:2,2,3,4,18
      4. In fact, the "gardens" of Ecclesiastes 2:5 are translated into the Greek as "paradises," the same (unusual) word used for the Garden of Eden and the place where the thief on the cross will be with Jesus.
      5. With that in mind, consider what The Preacher claimed to do
        1. I planted myself vineyards (2:4) - just as God had planted a garden and put Adam in it to tend and keep it (Genesis 2:8,15)
        2. I made myself gardens and parks and planted all (species) of fruit trees therein - just as God did on Day 3 of creation
        3. I made myself water pools to drench the wood from them, sprouting with the trees - just as God watered the garden of Eden with the rain and four rivers.
      6. The Preacher is mimicking the activity of God. He is creating a second paradise.
      7. That is to say, he is trying to carry out the work that Adam should have carried out
        1. Doing God's works after him
        2. Putting the creation in order for his own benefit and the glory of the Creator.
      8. And he almost succeeds:
        1. His heart rejoiced in all his labor and this was his reward (2:10)
        2. That is, he had the same pleasure as God looking at His creation and pronouncing it all "very good."
      9. But then The Preacher looked again (2:11)
        1. He blinked and it was all gone and he saw his work for what it truly was, vanity and grasping for wind.
        2. There was no profit in it because it would not remain.
      10. This experiment begins to show forth the real need:
        1. For God to make a new creation and pronounce it good
        2. For a real second Adam, no tainted seed of the first, to bring order to that creation and take delight in it.
        3. Thus, the book becomes a cry for the work of Christ.
  2. The Futility of Wisdom (Ecclesiastes 2:12-17)
    1. The Preacher Turns to Madness and Folly
      1. An almost despairing response to the failure of his experiment with pleasure
      2. He doesn't turn back to wisdom, but to folly
        1. If there isn't any profit in wisdom, maybe folly has something to offer.
        2. He isn't really thinking this, this is the crazy talk of a desperate man.
      3. But what can the man do who succeeds King Solomon?
        1. Only (at most) what has already been done. If Solomon couldn't do it, who can?
        2. And that isn't good enough.
        3. The people need more than another Solomon, another weak and mortal son of David.
        4. They need David's greater Son.
    2. Wisdom is Better than Folly... but So What?
      1. In studying folly, he discovers that wisdom outranks it.
      2. Wisdom is as much better than folly as light than darkness (2:13)
        1. Thus, The Preacher is not anti-wisdom, even though he is skeptical of the extent of its benefits.
        2. The wise man's eyes are in his head but the fool walks in darkness
          1. That is, the wise man can see and avoid certain pitfalls (to the extent, The Preacher would be quick to remind us, that he has power over events at all.)
          2. The fool walks around in the dark, bumping into things, falling into pits.
          3. So, yes, on the whole I'd rather be a wise man than a fool
      3. But ultimately, what difference does it make?
        1. The same fate awaits them both (2:14). They both die.
        2. You can't tell the difference between a fool and a wise man by looking at who dies and who doesn't.
        3. Therefore, this is futility as well (2:15). Wisdom provides only a temporary advantage and does not speak of the favor of God toward a man.
      4. There is no remembrance for either one
        1. Consider the following verses:
          1. Deuteronomy 25:5-6 - When brothers reside together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go in to her, taking her in marriage, and performing the duty of a husband's brother to her, 6 and the firstborn whom she bears shall succeed to the name of the deceased brother, so that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.
          2. Deuteronomy 9:14 - [God says to Moses] "Let me alone that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and more numerous than they."
          3. Deuteronomy 29:20 - All the curses written in this book will descend on them, and the LORD will blot out their names from under heaven.
          4. Psalm 9:5 - You have rebuked the nations, you have destroyed the wicked; you have blotted out their name forever and ever.
          5. Psalm 109:13 - May his posterity be cut off; may his name be blotted out in the second generation.
        2. "Remembrance" is a blessing. Having one's name blotted out is a curse.
        3. But, The Preacher laments, everyone has his name blotted out.
        4. We need a more permanent remembrance than the kind that can be handed down through a few generations.
        5. (Think about this, by the way, in the light of New Testament proscriptions against getting caught up in genealogies.)
  3. The Futility of Work (Ecclesiastes 2:18-26)
    1. No Profit for the Laborer whose End Is Death
      1. The thought that there is no remembrance turns The Preacher's thought to what will happen after his death.
      2. So The Preacher hated all his toil because he must leave it to one who comes later. (2:18)
        1. He is not necessarily being selfish, here.
        2. He's merely saying that you work hard to achieve certain things, and who knows whether those who come after you will be able to perpetuate those achievements.
        3. Who knows whether the one who comes later will be a wise man or a fool (2:19).
      3. This also is futility (2:19)
        1. What good is labor if you cannot enjoy its results?
        2. What good is labor if you cannot establish those results forever?
        3. Having it for a time isn't good enough. We were created to be everlasting.
      4. Thus he despairs of all his labor. (2:20)
        1. Who is he working for anyway?
        2. He may have wisdom, knowledge, and skill himself
        3. But he must leave it all to someone who hasn't labored for it.
        4. This he repeats is futility, and, he adds, a great evil
          1. Again, not necessarily selfish.
          2. It's just, we were created to work and to enjoy the fruit of our work.
          3. If one man works and doesn't enjoy so that another man doesn't work and does enjoy - that's two futilities in one stinking situation.
      5. What is the benefit of work anyway?
        1. It is all "toil" and "striving of heart" i.e. a lot of trouble (2:22)
        2. And this makes his life painful and grievous (2:23)
        3. And he gets no rest, the other thing that is necessary in order to enjoy the fruit of one's work.
    2. So Pleasure Is the Best There Is after All (2:24)
      1. That doesn't mean it's great, but it's the best we've got.
      2. He is, in effect, saying, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."
        1. Elsewhere, Scripture frowns on this attitude (Isaiah 22:13)
        2. Yet in the context of this experiment (what is the profit of life under the sun) what else is there?
      3. Pleasure and enjoyment in one's work are good when they come
        1. They are from the hand of God.
        2. And if anyone can speak with authority on this subject, Solomon can (2:25).
        3. But clearly in the context of this book, they do not last, and therefore they are vanity.
      4. The Preacher then seems to make a distinction between the righteous and the wicked and their lot in this life (2:26)
        1. This would be odd in light of his insistence elsewhere that there is no distinction (4:1-3; 7:15; 8:10-15; and especially 9:1-3)
        2. This verse should be interpreted in the light of this.
        3. Try this translation: "For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is fortunate, but to the unfortunate he gives the task of gathering and collecting, that he may give it to him who is fortunate."
          1. In other words, The Preacher is not speaking of the man who is morally good before God, but rather the one who is favored in this life with temporally good things.
          2. And The Preacher is not speaking of the sinner morally speaking at this point, but of the man who does not find such temporal favor with God.
          3. The word translated "sinner" is used just this way in Proverbs 19:2 "Desire without knowledge is not good, and one who moves too hurriedly misses the way."
      5. We will discover later that the distinction between the fortunate and unfortunate has nothing to do with moral uprightness and depravity.
      6. So this is futility and chasing after the wind
        1. We cannot control whether we are fortunate or unfortunate. That's like controlling luck.
        2. If we are fortunate, we amass wisdom and knowledge, but those things are ultimately futile.
        3. If we are unfortunate, we gather things for others.
        4. And the punchline, already stated, is that death makes everyone unfortunate.

Go on to Week 5 (3:1-22)

Go back to Week 3b (1:12-18)

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