Ecclesiastes 2

This is the second chapter of Ecclesiastes. In Ecclesiastes 1 the Preacher declared that everything under the sun is vanity and that even the pursuit of wisdom is vexation of spirit. In this chapter he gives a first-person account of testing pleasure, great undertakings, wisdom, and the fruits of labor for himself.

Outline

• Verses 1–3: He seeks to gladden his heart and indulges his flesh with laughter and wine, but declares that this too is vanity.
• Verses 4–11: He builds houses, plants vineyards, gardens, and orchards, and makes pools of water. He acquires many servants and maidens, herds and flocks, silver and gold, men singers and women singers, and wives and concubines, and becomes greater than all who were before him in Jerusalem. Yet he concludes that all this labor brings no profit under the sun.
• Verses 12–17: Wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness. But because the wise man and the fool alike die and are forgotten, he comes to hate life.
• Verses 18–23: He despairs in his heart because he must leave the fruit of his labor to a successor who may prove either wise or foolish. He declares that a lifetime of sorrowful toil is also vanity.
• Verses 24–26: There is nothing better than to eat and drink and to enjoy good in one's labor, and this too, he says, is from the hand of God.

Key Verses

• Ecclesiastes 2:11 "All was vanity and vexation of spirit" — the conclusion to his test of wealth and great works.
• Ecclesiastes 2:13 "Wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness" — the relative value of wisdom is acknowledged, though its limits are stated soon afterward.
• Ecclesiastes 2:24 "It was from the hand of God" — amid the futility that pervades the chapter, this passage speaks of the joy that God gives.

People and Places

• The Preacher: The speaker, introduced in Ecclesiastes 1:1 as "the son of David, king in Jerusalem." He has traditionally been identified with Solomon.
• Jerusalem: The city the Preacher ruled; he compares himself with "all that were before me in Jerusalem."

Points for Reflection

• The descriptions of building, wealth, and wives and concubines in verses 4–8 overlap with the accounts of Solomon in 1 Kings. For this reason the chapter has traditionally been read as Solomon's retrospective. Some scholars, however, regard it as a literary device by a later author who adopts Solomon's persona.
• Interpretations of verse 24 differ. Some see it as resignation in the face of futility; others read it as an affirmation of the everyday gifts God bestows.
• The phrase "under the sun" is often explained as referring to an earthly perspective that leaves heaven out of account.
• Verses 18–21, on leaving the fruit of one's labor to another, are frequently read alongside the New Testament Parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12:16–21). Verse 24 is read together with 1 Timothy 6:17–19, which speaks of God, "who giveth us richly all things to enjoy."