Ecclesiastes 2:7–8

Solomon was lifted high, so that from his position and resources he could inspect and test the vanity of all human conditions. Everything that business or pleasure could provide for him was within his reach. So was everything that wealth, position, or learning commanded. And he challenged it all to say what it was worth.

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 comes in verses 1-3. The lust of the eyes in verses 4-6. The pride of life in verses 7-8… To all this he added servants and maidens, with great possessions.

Solomon pressed the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, and others left in the land into service (1 Kings 9:20). He built new cities and rebuilt others (1 Kings 9:17-19). But all this meant heavy taxation. In time the people groaned under the burden, while Solomon groaned with heart disappointment. The load of taxation probably made the people ask Rehoboam to make their service less harsh and their yoke lighter (1 Kings 12:4). Men will not complain like that when the Lord reigns in Zion.

He turned to wine — a dangerous thing. He married wives. He carried out great works. He gathered riches. He did not only sip; he drank deeply from every sparkling cup. He tried every pleasure he could imagine. He not only ruined his testimony; he wrecked much of his kingdom too. He heaped up every delightful thing for himself and made everything serve himself. His aim in all this self-gratification was to be able to say, "So I was great."

He multiplied horses and wives and riches. He did the three things the king was told not to do, and did them openly and without shame. All this building up of self rests on one idea: that the way to live is to get everything possible for your own pleasure. The consequence is solemn. It traps you in disobedience, and you forfeit the support of God. Solomon did not act in ignorance of God's Word. It was simply staring him in the face, which made what he did all the more shocking.

Might activity in great works do better? Solomon attempted this and carried it out with extraordinary diligence and splendour. But then he reviewed all the work he had done and all the toil it had cost him. He could rest in none of it. The whole thing was vanity, a chasing after the wind, with nothing to be gained under the sun (verses 4-11).

To him, self was seeking its own satisfaction. So here was no rest, no peace; it could not be otherwise. No human object could satisfy an immortal soul, and a dying man could get no rest in something he was going to die out of. When he thought of himself, it was all I, I, I — I did it, and I found it vanity. But in the Song of Songs we see all his blessedness, because there he speaks of Christ being everything to him. As someone has said: in Ecclesiastes the heart was too great for the object; in the Song the object is too great for the heart.

Ecclesiastes 2:8 is the one exception, where Solomon gathers "the peculiar treasure of kings." Everywhere else, in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, these expressions refer to what God's people are to Him: Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 14:2; Psalm 135:4; Titus 2:14. The terms describe a possession of specially choice value.

In that fallen nature there are three things: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. We can trace all three in the opening verses. The lust of the flesh comes in verses 1-3, the lust of the eyes in verses 4-6, and the pride of life in verses 7-8… He gathered silver and gold and treasures that only kings could get. These were gifts, probably from other rulers, perhaps the ones the Queen of Sheba brought. He also paid attention to music, had men singers, women singers, and an orchestra. Then, self-satisfied, he leans back and says, "So I was great."

…the delights of the sons of men, that is, musical instruments of all sorts [or, as it may also be translated, and perhaps more correctly, "a wife and wives," that is, many wives].

He multiplied horses and wives and riches. He openly did the three things the king was told not to do. All this self-glorifying rests on the idea that the way to live is to get everything you can for your own pleasure. The result is solemn. You are trapped into disobedience and you lose the support of God. Solomon did not act in ignorance of God's Word. It was staring him in the face, so what he did was outrageous.

The result was that Solomon became very selfish. This too comes out clearly in Ecclesiastes 2. Read the passage again, and note how he puts it: "I made me… I built me… I planted me… I got me… I gathered me… So I was great." His life became one of self-gratification. He might almost have said, "For me to live is — SELF." And the Apostle Paul? In Philippians we have his word, "For to me to live is — CHRIST" (Philippians 1:21). Nothing contrasts more sharply than a life lived for self and a life lived for Christ.

Thank God, before Solomon ended his career his eyes were opened. He was led to write this striking book, which records the results of the experiment. God did not inspire him in doing what he did, but He did inspire him to record the result. Listen to what he says: I have investigated on a grand scale, a scale that others can never touch. Others might have one per cent of it; I have had the whole hundred per cent. The verdict is that there is not a bit of profit in it. There is "no profit under the sun."

You could pour every river of earthly pleasure into discontented human hearts, and they would still be empty 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. Riches, fame, pleasure, all fail to bring contentment to the heart.