Ecclesiastes 2:1–3

The word "vanity" means that which soon vanishes, nothingness. It is often joined to "vexation of spirit" — literally, pursuit of the wind. Ecclesiastes is occupied with earthly things, with what man does apart from God — that is, the natural man. The book describes the things under the sun. It shows that everything man does, his pursuits, his labours, whatever he undertakes and all that goes with it, is nothing but vanity and a chasing after wind. It is always unsatisfying and full of sorrow and perplexity. The writer makes it clear that in all his searching he does not depend on divine revelation, on what is above the sun. He reaches his results by the light nature gives. His resources are within himself. The phrase "I communed with my own heart" occurs seven times in the book and confirms this.

The whole passage is what Solomon tells us he "said in his heart" at a certain time. It is not divine revelation, but human doubt: the questioning of man's mind while speculating about the mystery of existence.

He said in his heart, "Come now, I will test you" — that is, I will try now to satisfy you, that is, myself, my heart. He said to himself, "enjoy yourself." He laughed and had mirth; he tried wine, laid hold on folly. Then he made great works. He built houses, planted vineyards, and laid out beautiful gardens with fruit trees and all kinds of shrubbery. They had pools of water, springs and waterfalls — all so pleasing to the eye. To all this he added servants and maidens, with great possessions.

Thank God, before Solomon ended his career his eyes were opened. He was led to write this striking book, and in it he records the results of the experiment. He was not inspired in doing what he did, but he was certainly inspired to put on record the result of the experiment. Listen to what he says: I have investigated on a grand scale, on a scale others can never touch. Others might have one per cent of it. I have had the whole hundred per cent. The verdict is, there is not a bit of profit in it.

In Ecclesiastes Solomon tells us he went in for mirth and pleasure. People are pleasure-mad nowadays, but they do not look happy. Solomon says of such laughter, "It is mad" — so it is. "For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fools." The crackling of thorns does not last long, and the pleasures of sin last only a season. How foolish to forget God, the soul, eternity.

But then he said, I am going "to know madness and folly." If there is any pleasure in a thing, I am in for it. He turned to wine — a dangerous thing. He married wives. He carried out great works. He gathered riches. He not only sipped but drank deeply of every sparkling cup. He tried every imaginable pleasure. He not only ruined his testimony, but very largely wrecked his kingdom. In all this self-gratification he heaped up every delightful thing and made everything serve himself. His aim was to be able to say that he had become great.

Solomon says that all the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full. The sea is the human heart. Send every river of earthly pleasure into those discontented hearts. They would still stay unfilled and unsatisfied. Men hunt for satisfaction where it never can be found. An iceberg yields no heat, salt no sweetness, and wine cannot be pressed from turnips. Man's heart was made for God, and only God, in Christ, can fill and satisfy it.

This is the experience of a man who keeps his wisdom, so that he can judge everything. He tries everything under the sun that might be thought able to make men happy. He enjoys everything the human mind can imagine as a means of joy. The result of this trial was the discovery that all is vanity and frustration of spirit. Every effort to be happy by owning the earth, whatever the way, ends in nothing. There is a worm eating at the root. The greater the capacity for enjoyment, the deeper and wider the disappointment and frustration of spirit.

He experimented, so to speak, with what belongs to the natural man, a fallen nature. That nature holds three things: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. We can trace these three things in the opening verses. The lust of the flesh in verses 1-3; the lust of the eyes in verses 4-6, and the pride of life in verses 7-8. He said in his heart, "Come now, I will test you": that is, I will try now to satisfy you, that is myself, my heart. He said to himself, "enjoy pleasure." He laughed and had mirth; he tried wine, laid hold on folly.

In Ecclesiastes Solomon tells us he went in for mirth and pleasure. People are pleasure mad nowadays, but they do not look happy. Solomon says of such laughter, "It is MAD," so it is. "As the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fools." Thorns do not crackle for long, and the pleasures of sin last only for a season. How foolish to forget God, the soul, eternity.

The heart of man is too large for this world to fill. Its capacities are too vast for everything under the heavens to satisfy… But suppose a man reached every object he desired and had everything — what would he gain? Only a deeper sense that all is vanity, that earthly good has no power to fill the aching emptiness within. All worldly pleasures, amusements, indulgences and gratifications leave the soul more thirsty than ever: they cannot satisfy. Excitement is the right name for worldly pleasures — take that away, and they would prove a most burdensome task.

Such was the wide range of pleasures, intellectual and sensual, that he explored. He held back no joy. Yet while he entered so keenly into all that he describes, he tells us his wisdom remained with him. So he was well able to judge what all this was worth, from his own experience and from the wisdom that never left him. Would not such a man be satisfied with what this life offered? If others less favoured were disappointed, he at least had his fill of everything he desired.

It is truly a dreary world of grief, where man seeks pleasure and mirth in place of happiness. That happiness cannot exist where the conscience is not purged in a divine way, and where the heart does not have Christ before it — God's object, and ours too.

The first two or three verses give the subject of this book. "Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?" This expression "under the sun" occurs no less than twenty-eight times in the twelve chapters, and gives the character of the book. It describes life "in Adam," and seeks an answer to the questions, What is best for man? how should he spend his life to be happy on earth? The writer speaks as a human philosopher in his wanderings. Sometimes he gets near the truth, at other times he is far from it. So some passages state man's false conclusions. The last two verses answer the searchings of Ecclesiastes 1:13 and 2:3.

This is the experience of a man who keeps his wisdom, so that he can judge everything. He tries out everything under the sun that people might think could make them happy… The effect of this trial was the discovery that all is vanity and vexation of spirit; that every effort to be happy in possessing the earth, in whatever way it may be, ends in nothing. There is a worm eating at the root. The greater a man's capacity to enjoy, the deeper and wider his disappointment and grief of spirit.

Did Solomon not know this without having to learn it by experience? Yet here again he ignored his mother's advice, as Ecclesiastes 2:3 tells us, and learned by painful experience that she was right… Wine stands for anything that only excites or stimulates for a time. Pleasure can intoxicate a man, as it did Solomon for a while. So can personal pride, money-making, and the many other things that stir the desires of the flesh. They can affect his thoughts so much that sound, sober judgment fails for a time.

We have known young Christians to go secretly to dances, theatres and worse places, to gain experience. How terrible! To eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and EVIL only brought evil results, and it will ever do so. Whoever goes in for sin (for just this once, not much harm in it, don't mean to practise it) does so at his or her peril. On these very lines Solomon in his happier days asks, "Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned?"

But then he said, I am going "to know madness and folly." If there is any pleasure in a thing, I am in for it. He turned to wine — a dangerous thing. He married wives. He built great works. He gathered riches. He did not just sip; he drank deeply from every sparkling cup. He tried every imaginable pleasure. He ruined his testimony, and wrecked much of his kingdom too. All this self-pleasing, all this piling up of every delightful thing, all this making everything serve himself — his aim was to be able to say, "So I was great."

Thank God! there is One who can still the hunger and thirst of the soul, who graciously invites, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink."