Ecclesiastes 2:1-3--The Emptiness of Pleasure

Ecclesiastes 2:1-3
​Christian Standard Bible

The Emptiness of Pleasure
2 I said to myself, “Go ahead, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy what is good.” But it turned out to be futile. 2 I said about laughter, “It is madness,” and about pleasure, “What does this accomplish?” 3 I explored with my mind the pull of wine on my body—my mind still guiding me with wisdom—and how to grasp folly, until I could see what is good for people to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.

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Solomon was very much a pleasure-seeker (a Hedonist).  We'll learn many of the things that he sought after that did not give fulfillment as we continue to study Ecclesiastes, but for right now he lumps them all together as seeking pleasure and the result of all these pursuits is that they too came back vain and empty.  He sought joy from laughter (comedy) and he came to the conclusion that it was madness to try to make oneself happy in this way.  What does it accomplish to force that feeling for a moment only to return to the truth that life is neither a joke nor funny--it is deadly serious.

He put much time into studying things with his mind to see if there was happiness that would come with great knowledge, but we know he said earlier that the more he knew, the more he knew about the world, the more unhappy he was because he knew how broken the world was.  He tried to make himself happy by drinking, but not enough to get drunk.  Though he thought he would be studying wisdom, he ended up studying folly because his senses were dulled.  He gained nothing from either this pursuit of education or his pursuit of having a good time.  He came to the conclusion that there were good ways for him to spend his time and bad ways for him to spend his time, for he only had a limited amount of time (even he doesn't know exactly how much time he has, for only God determines that).  He will talk more of his journey and exploration to find happiness and the discoveries he made along the way as we continue through the book.  In short though, there is no true joy or meaning or purpose apart from God and His commandments--we should know Him and His commandments and obey them while we are young.