Ecclesiastes 2:18-26--The Emptiness of Work

Ecclesiastes 2:18-26​
Christian Standard Bible

The Emptiness of Work
18 I hated all my work that I labored at under the sun because I must leave it to the one who comes after me. 19 And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will take over all my work that I labored at skillfully under the sun. This too is futile. 20 So I began to give myself over to despair concerning all my work that I had labored at under the sun. 21 When there is a person whose work was done with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and he must give his portion to a person who has not worked for it, this too is futile and a great wrong. 22 For what does a person get with all his work and all his efforts that he labors at under the sun? 23 For all his days are filled with grief, and his occupation is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile.

24 There is nothing better for a person than to eat, drink, and enjoy his work. I have seen that even this is from God’s hand, 25 because who can eat and who can enjoy life apart from him? 26 For to the person who is pleasing in his sight, he gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and accumulating in order to give to the one who is pleasing in God’s sight. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

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You may already be getting the idea of why so many people don't like to read and study Ecclesiastes.  It's hard and challenges us to have rethink what things we call good and why we call them good and what is important and valuable, and why those things have import and value.  This passage today is especially difficult for us as we know Solomon has already said many times in Proverbs that the wise man will be a prudent and hard worker, and the fool will be slothful.  So then, why does Solomon say in this passage that work is vain and empty?  We have to remember the context of Solomon writing this book.  He is asking what value and meaning anything has apart from God whereas in Proverbs, we knew that wisdom came directly from the LORD and because the LORD Himself said that work was good, then we also value the good work that He gives to us.

However, if we're just looking at the cycle of life to grow up and mature learning things so we can put them into practice to have a job and make money so that we can pay our expenses and afford to have children so that they can repeat this cycle and we all eventually end up dead without the ability to take our treasure that we've worked for with us, then what did we really accomplish with all the work that we did?  Few of us will be remembered in history and most of those for not very long (we are not going to have stories like Moses or Jesus that will be told all over the world through all generations).

The wise man and the fool, the diligent worker and the sluggard--they come to the same end.  So what advantage is there to being wise and working hard? Death cannot be cheated because you are wise enough, strong enough or powerful enough.  The more Solomon considered this the more the despaired (probably not for himself as much as for those who had this worldview and had no eternal perspective to give them hope).  This kind of despair and depression is the logical end of Atheism and Nihilism.  It is no wonder that the things that promote these worldviews tend to lead to higher cases of self-harm and suicide with people saying that they felt dead inside and needed to feel pain so that they were sure they could feel something, or they even somehow believed it would be better to be dead than to be alive and experience the pain and suffering of this world (unfortunately they did not know about the eternal pain and suffering that await those that die outside of Christ that makes any pain and suffering this world has to offer pale in comparison).  One of the greatest lies that Satan tells the world is that they will "Rest in Peace" when they die if they die outside of Christ.  There is no eternal peace apart from the Prince of Peace--that is Jesus.

​It was a sad thing to Solomon to see someone that worked hard for his wealth to have to leave it as an inheritance to one who didn't work for it, wouldn't appreciate it and would probably squander it.  He starts to think that hard work is not only futile, but a great wrong when considered only from the "under the sun" perspective (we know we have other passages that tell parents to leave an inheritance to their children and for children to take care of their parents when they reach that age in life).  All of the days of the wise men are spent with much grief and sorrow as there is more to worry about when you have much that you need to protect than when you have nothing to protect.  These troubles may even lead to sleepless nights where he was worried about investments or issues at work, and what does he get for it?  The fruits of his labors go to someone else who didn't' work for them and therefore will not really appreciate them.  Were all those sleepless nights really worth it?  The "Under the sun" perspective says "No."

So, what then would be the conclusion of someone who had this "under the sun" perspective?  We've already talked a bit about Nihilism, but Solomon turns now to Hedonism.  If your perspective is "life's tough, then you die," why wouldn't you also have the perspective of "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die"?  That seems logically consistent.  You wouldn't give much thought to working hard to preserve or extend your life.  You would instead try to maximize personal happiness in the moment with no thought of morality or ethics.  Solomon's not saying that is the right worldview to have but is saying it is the logical end of this worldview.  He wants the reader to come up against the visceral reaction that they have to this conclusion to say, "I know that's not right" and to then question the "under the sun" assumption.  Faulty assumptions will lead to faulty conclusions, even though proper logic and reasoning was used.  If you encounter a person out in the world who doesn't believe in God, the afterlife, or anything supernatural, then it is logical for them to be depressed, without hope, and to live only for themselves and for the happiness they can gain in the moment (even though that happiness is fleeting, and that fact may lead them to even deeper depression).  It should not surprise us that many of these people form addictions to sex, drugs, and alcohol and misuse things and abuse people because they are only thinking of themselves.  

The wise man realizes that every good and perfect gift (including the things that allow him to eat, drink, and be merry) come from God and are a reason to give thanks to Him and worship Him in gladness.  We are in the week of Thanksgiving here in the USA for this year (Thanksgiving Day for us is tomorrow as I am writing this).  Solomon concludes that it is one's relationship with the LORD that determines whether our lives will be blessed or curses by Him and how we will process life and find meaning in it.  The person who loves and fears the LORD will have wisdom, knowledge and joy, but the sinner has nothing to look forward to other than accumulating things and leaving them to someone else--usually someone else who is God-fearing that the LORD wants to transfer the wealth from the wicked to the righteous.  For the sinner this looks to be foolish and like chasing after the wind.  They find this vain and futile.