Seek First the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness1
Solomon gives a description of the ways that he searched for the greatest pleasure, but without success. Everything seemed to be in his favor. He had a great mind and almost unlimited resources at his command. If Solomon could not find satisfaction when he had the whole world at his command, how much less can common people hope to find it with far less money and much more limited knowledge? There is no satisfaction apart from God.
Ecclesiastes 1:16-18
16I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” 17And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind. (He did not limit his research to serious subjects, but investigated all he could of the silly and insane things of human nature. Even if we assume that he gorged himself with the lighter as well as the heavier literature of his times, including the humorous side of life, the result was the same. The hunger of the soul was not satisfied with laughter any more than with hard study. It will always be that way. The library is not heaven. Neither are the amusements of the world a paradise.)
18 For in much wisdom is much vexation,
and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
Ecclesiastes 2:1-11
1I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity. 2I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” (In his mental madness, he tried one thing after another, from serious to carefree. From clearheaded thinking to wild excitement. But he did not find rest. How could he? True joy is found only in God.) 3I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. (But in wine there is madness and not happiness. Drunkards prove this.) 4I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. (He became preoccupied with building. But it only amused him until the works were finished. Then he was as dissatisfied as before. If he had built as high as Babel’s tower he would still not have reached heaven.)
5I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. 6I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. (But in all his gardens he could not grow the tree of life or the plant of content, and therefore he failed here also.) 7I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. 8I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man.
But in all his treasure houses and halls of music, he could not possess the pearl of great value2 or hear the song of sweet peace.3 The poorest person of faith in Solomon’s kingdom was far happier than he was. Alas, poor rich Solomon!
9So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. (But it only remained to make him feel more deeply the emptiness of earthly joys. His wisdom only served to make him feel the hollowness in his heart more intensely. The light from his learning only helped him to see more clearly the “darkness visible”4 in which he stumbled around.) 10And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. 11Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun. (The little joy he felt in chasing after any one of his various desires vanished when he finally got hold of it. He became a worn out man; a man tired and bored, but unable to rest after getting what he thought would make him happy. He went round and round like a mill horse, harnessed to his work, but never getting beyond the weary circle of unrest. To know Jesus, to love God, to find satisfaction in heavenly things; this is wisdom. The foolishness of Solomon should force us to seek Jesus. May God allow that to be true about us.)
1 Matthew 6:33
2 Matthew 13:45-46 , “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
3 Perhaps a reference to Luke 2:14, “and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
4 “No light; but rather darkness visible, served only to discover sights of woe.” From John Milton’s Hell in Paradise Lost.
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