Ecclesiastes 2 (1)

Pray Psalm 38.15, 22.
For in You, O LORD, I hope;
You will hear, O Lord my God.

Make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation!

Read Ecclesiastes 2.1-3.

Reflect.
1. How would you summarize what Solomon began to undertake here?

2. What was he hoping to learn by doing this?

Meditate.
Solomon gives us a glimpse into his season of crisis. He was continuing to seek the wisdom of God, to know how he ought to live before Him (“under heaven”, v. 3); at the same time, he was beginning to look for answers in the folly and pleasures of life under the sun.

But these are like oil and water. Perhaps because he found the pursuit of wisdom so difficult (1.13) and filled with grief and sorrow (temptation, 1.18), he decided to give in to the pleasures of the flesh – only as a “test”, mind you (v. 1) – in order to see if there might not be some wisdom here.

But the presence of divine wisdom in his soul led him quickly to conclude that laughter, folly, and diversion for their own sakes cannot yield meaning or purpose; instead, they only bring vanity and disappointment. The course Solomon describes in chapter 2 must have begun later in his life, after he had finished most of his great building projects and garnered the esteem and obedience of the surrounding nations (1 Kings 10). As we read in 1 Kings 11.1ff, the influence of pagan women, doubtless wed in the name of political “wisdom”, must have had a role in bringing Solomon to this point of crisis. Solomon seems to have believed that one can only learn the value – or danger – of something by experiencing it; he also clearly rues having taken that approach to pleasure and folly. A “word to the wise” was not sufficient for Solomon; it would not be sufficient for his son, either.

What about us?

Chapter 2 begins the most biographical section of Ecclesiastes. Solomon reflects on his experiences, achievements, and greatness. The things mentioned here would have been familiar to Rehoboam, who would have known his father best in the years after he had begun to attain to greatness. Did Solomon hope to establish a point of contact with his son by beginning his admonition at this place they could both share in common, building out from there to a fuller understanding of life as God intends it? 

The dramatic and rather embarrassing use of the first person pronoun (in various forms) throughout this chapter was perhaps intended to arrest Rehoboam’s own self-serving tendencies, as Solomon may have observed or supposed them to exist. Solomon is allowing all his folly, vanity, and disappointment to show through at the beginning of his book because he wanted to lead Rehoboam to see himself in his father’s folly, so that he might turn away before he was consumed.

Solomon’s advice to his son fell on deaf ears, yet this does not negate either the value of the advice or the approach to communicating it. 

Reflect.
1. Why can’t we have it both ways – a little of God’s wisdom and righteousness and a little fooling around?

2. Solomon indicates he had a divided heart – divided desires. How can we keep our heart – the seat of our affections – pure from fleshly desires? Why must we?

3. Solomon was seeking to know the good life (v. 3) as the Lord intends it (“under heaven”). But he let his own ideas about how to do this take the place of God’s Word (1.16, 17). Where did that leave him? What’s the lesson for us?

In my opinion this is the true good which Solomon seeks and which men do under the sun while they are alive. For me it is nothing more than the work of faith common to all men who wish to have it abide throughout their entire lives. This is the good work done in us in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever. Gregory of Nyssa (335-394), Homilies on Ecclesiastes 2

Today, Lord, I will be tempted to follow my own best ideas and the lusts of the flesh. Help me to resist this temptation by…

Pray Psalm 38.1-4.
Let the Spirit search you as you pray these words. Confess and repent of any sins He brings to mind.

Sing Psalm 38.1-4.
Psalm 38.1-4 (Leoni: The God of Abraham Praise)
O Lord, rebuke me not, nor chasten me in wrath!
Your arrows pierce my sinful heart and fill my path.
Your heavy hand weighs down; my flesh and bones grow weak.
My sins oppress, confuse, confound – I cannot speak!

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006). All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).