Sunday Sermons
The Search
The Search
Let the reader be impressed that Solomon, with unlimited resources at his disposal attempted to find what the world says can be found in this life, that is meaning and purpose, satisfaction and fulfillment. Every aspect of this world, from the media, to the business world, to the government, and so on, is telling us, “You can find the good life here and now! You don’t need God, you don’t need spiritual realities, you can be happy with material things and goals.” Yet Solomon, a man better qualified and equipped than any modern billionaire came back empty-handed (2:11), and lest someone complain, “Well, then he did not do it in the right way”, we need to remember that this man was universally known for his wisdom (1 Kings 4:30-31).
Ecclesiastes 2:1 “I said to myself, ‘Come now, I will test you with pleasure. So enjoy yourself.’ And behold, it too was futility.” “I said to myself”, like the rich man in Luke 12:19. This type of statement reveals something very important about human beings. We can talk to ourselves, we are very aware of the choices we are making, and we often are also just as aware of the motivation behind those choices. Solomon knew exactly what he was looking for, he knew exactly what this search was all about.
“Come now”: Indicating a new direction. In this section note the repetition of “I”, and “myself”. If there is any lasting meaning to be found in pleasure, then Solomon is determined to find it for himself. This is a dedicated man! “So enjoy yourself”: “Have a good time” (Ber), this is exactly what the world tells us to do, “You deserve a break today, you only go around once, live it up, don’t worry, be happy”. Solomon is leaving no stone unturned, maybe the meaning of life can be found in having fun, and living it up. How many people “just want to have fun” or think that “having fun all the time” will bring happiness? “And behold, it too was futility”: Catching the attention of the reader, Solomon says, “pay attention here---a life devoted to pleasure is a hollow life”. I found no lasting happiness, values, or meaning in such a pursuit. “And there it was: vanity again!” (Jerus). “But you can almost hear him saying, ‘Are we having fun yet?’” (Ecclesiastes, David Posey p. 15).
2:2 “I said of laughter, ‘It is madness’, and of pleasure, ‘What does it accomplish?’” “It is madness”: Solomon had realized that behind laughter can be a tremendous amount of pain, “Even in laughter the heart may be in pain” (Proverbs 14:13). Most of us have run into people who try to laugh everything away.
“What does it accomplish?”: If more people in life would ask this question concerning what they are presently pursuing, they would find the gospel message extremely attractive. Pleasure does not fill the void.
2:3 “I explored with my mind how to stimulate my body with wine while my mind was guiding me wisely, and how to take hold of folly, until I could see what good there is for the sons of men to do under heaven the few years of their lives.”
“I explored with my mind”: Indicating shrewd and prudent human wisdom, a very careful examination. Solomon did not become a drunk, rather he shrewdly and cleverly attempted to find the ultimate balance, that fine line between what the world calls excess and having a good time. “A consumption of wine which enables a man to get the highest possible enjoyment by a careful use of it, so that appetite is sharpened, enjoyment enhanced, and the finest bouquets sampled and enjoyed” (Leupold p. 60). “Though deliberately and with restraint, not blindly or in uncontrolled excess… He wanted to test the effects of pleasure-seeking and frivolity to see if they were really worthwhile” (Bible Knowledge Comm. p. 981). “While my mind was guiding me wisely”: The wisdom being used was not Divine wisdom, but rather, the best wisdom available “under the sun”, human wisdom at its best. Solomon knew that his fine wines could prove deadly to him (Proverbs 23:29-35), he knew that he was playing with fire. Even though Solomon never became an alcoholic, for a while he was addicted to such things. It’s just that, like many worldly and successful people, Solomon simply moved from one addiction to another. He was addicted to the quest of finding happiness in physical things—a greater addiction than being addicted to any one single thing. Solomon’s use of wine no more justifies social drinking among Christians then his harem justifies polygamy among Christians. “How to take hold of folly”:Which could be “harmless nonsense”. This could include being the class clown, cutting up, being a prankster, and playing practical jokes on others. The type of person who is joking all the time. “Until I could see what good there is”: Any “new” thing seems to offer the promise of genuine happiness. It takes awhile to “see” this new thing (to us) is just like all the old things. Like everything else under the sun, it can only offer happiness for the moment. Solomon tired all the latest fads of his time and found them all the same---unable to deliver lasting happiness.
2:4 “I enlarged my works; I built houses for myself, I planted vineyards for myself;” 2:5 “I made gardens and parks for myself, and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees;” 2:6 “I made ponds of water for myself from which to irrigate a forest of growing trees.”
Next, Solomon threw himself into the joys of creativity. Solomon is like many people, who in their teens or early twenties pursued pleasure and having a good time, in their later twenties and thirties try to find fulfillment in building a house, remodeling, landscaping, building a fish pond in the backyard, or whatever the latest home improvement idea might be. In this section no mention is made of the Temple, because Solomon is discussing those things he planned and designed for his own personal use. Solomon’s house is described in 1 Kings 7:1-12 and 9:19. He built many public works, including an armory, a citadel which protected the Temple (1 Kings 9:24; 11:27), store-cities, and chariot cities (9:18-19). Solomon inherited the vineyards of his father David and also had his own (1 Chronicles 27:27-28; Song of Solomon 8:10-11). The “parks” of this section were large and enclosed parks for private use, which included all kinds of trees and even animals for hunting. Solomon, like the Persian kings, had his own private reserve. Various “pools” which Solomon built have been found. Not far from Bethlehem three such pools, located on separate levels still exist to this day. All are roughly rectangular, the largest measures 200 ft. wide, 600 ft. long and 50 ft. deep. Basically, Solomon built whatever he wanted to build. Someone has noted that the ancient talent of gold was thought to be worth $30,000 dollars (in 1962 dollars). Hence, if Solomon had been alive in 1962, his annual income would have been 20 million (1 Kings 10:14).
2:7 “I bought male and female slaves, and I had home born slaves. Also I possessed flocks and herds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem.”
Any big establishment requires “staff”, gardeners, cooks, butlers, hired hands and so on. So many people on a lesser scale have followed down the same track. Be impressed that Solomon, unlike many people, knew what to do with all this stuff. Solomon had what people today call “class” and “taste”. There was etiquette in his household. Martha Stewart would have been humbled in his presence (1 Kings 10:5-8). Many people who have wealth also face the frustration of not knowing what to do with what they do have. Solomon knew how to decorate! According to 1 Kings 4:22, 60 measures of meal or 28,000 pounds of bread were baked for the household of Solomon each and every day! From these figures it appears that the household of Solomon (his wives, their children, their servants and all his servants) included at least 14,000 people.
2:8 “Also, I collected for myself silver and gold, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I provided for myself male and female singers and the pleasures of men—many concubines.”
Solomon possessed wealth which only kings are enabled to acquire (see 2 Chronicles 1:15; 9:20 “silver was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon”; 1 Kings 9:28; 10:14-27). Solomon was also a man of the arts and culture. He was that type of person that people simply envy. He seemed to be perfect, the ultimate man, well balanced and knowledgeable. An expert in virtually every field. A man who could hunt and yet at the same time write poetry. And the women loved him! He had a large harem (1 Kings 11:1-3).
2:9 “Then I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me.”
“My wisdom also stood by me”: That earthly common sense, self-restraint and prudence. The best human wisdom that man can have. Kidner notes, “He has had the sense, for all this, to avoid the rich man’s boredom by strenuous activity, enjoyed and valued for its own sake…and he has kept an appraising eye on his projects, even while in full pursuit of them…He has not lost sight of the quest, the search for meaning” (p. 32). From a human standpoint he appeared to be completely together, always one step ahead of everyone else, on the cutting edge, always leading the trend and never following.
2:10 “And all that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor.”
“All that my eyes desired”: Lest anyone try to argue that his search was not thorough or extensive enough, this verse reveals that his search was only limited by what he could not see and being the king of a nation—he saw plenty! “For my heart was pleased”: Solomon was not a killjoy or a person who could never have fun. Lest anyone say, “Well, nothing could make this man happy, he was of the wrong temperament, he was too moody”. Solomon says, “I had a wonderful time!” “Yes, such pleasures and projects were extremely entertaining at the time, but….”
Kidner notes, “He creates a little world within a world: multiform, harmonious, exquisite: a secular Garden of Eden, full of civilized and agreeably uncivilized delights, with no forbidden fruits---or none that he regards as such” (p. 32).
2:11 “Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun.”
“All my activities…all was vanity”: A lesser man would have argued otherwise. “A less exacting mind than Solomon would have found a great deal to report with satisfaction. The achievements had been brilliant. On the material level, the farmer’s perennial ambition to make (in our phrase) ‘two blades of grass grow where one had grown before’ had been overwhelming fulfilled; while aesthetically he had produced a connoisseur’s paradise. If ‘a thing of beauty is a joy forever’, he had not searched in vain for what is timeless and absolute. So we tend to think. Solomon will have none of it. To call such things eternal is no more than rhetoric. In the brutal colloquial terms of Today’s English Version, his report is, ‘I realized that it didn’t mean a thing’” (Kidner p. 32). Solomon really looked at what he had accomplished and honestly realized that none of this had given him what he was really looking for---lasting happiness, real satisfaction, true meaning and purpose for his existence. The answer was clear, there is no real and enduring happiness to be found in things “under the sun”. Nothing here in this life can satisfy the needs of our soul, our true selves. But how many people ignore what Solomon said? Ignore the plain and clear sign that is positioned on the roads that Solomon traveled? The sign that reads “dead end”.
Kidner is right, lesser men try to bluff and pretend that they are really happy and that they really have accomplished something that will last forever. But Solomon won’t allow us to pretend and “play” at being alive.
Solomon was honest! Solomon is giving us insight into the world of the rich and famous. He is saying, “Those people may look happy, but many of them are empty, miserable and depressed. The person who lives in that mansion, or just passed you in that fancy car might be less fulfilled then you are!” “People put up a good front, but here is a picture of what is really going on inside!”
Mark Dunagan/Beaverton Church of Christ/503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net/mdunagan@easystreet.com
