For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.
Solomon closes his experiment with a sentence that still stings. The more you understand, the more it hurts. Is learning itself the problem? Is there any knowledge that does not end in sorrow?
The Witness Best Placed to Test It
The weight of the verse comes from who says it, and from how far he pushed the search.
What gives this its special force is the personal position of the Preacher. If anyone could be exempt from the sense of wretchedness in surveying man as he is on the earth, it might have been supposed to be king Solomon. What we have here is his verdict, given in the Spirit, so that faith might profit from all he tells us. He gave his heart to seek and search out by wisdom everything done under the heavens. The sense of its fruitlessness, and the sorrow over its evil, were only deeper in the one who could best appreciate it all.
The Method of the Search
The chapter also tells us how he ran the search, and the method set a ceiling on what he could find.
When he says, "I communed with my own heart," he states the method of his search. He does it by meditation and not through revelation. He does not search in the light that comes from above, but in the light that comes from nature and observation. … And what results does the great and wise king of Jerusalem give? The result is twofold. "I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold all is vanity and vexation of spirit" — the pursuit of the wind, that is, chasing air-bubbles. And another conclusion: "In much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow."
Where older translations say "much grief," the ESV says "much vexation."
Why Knowing More Hurts More
Understanding is a capacity, and capacity cuts both ways. But one writer marks a sharp exception.
There is truth in his words. The thinking man is bound to suffer more than the frivolous crowd. His studies give him an understanding of the evils at work around him that others lack. People sometimes say, "Ignorance is bliss." The man who increases his knowledge increases his capacity for suffering. But is this true where GOD is concerned? A thousand times no. The better we know our God, the more we increase our joy. And the better we understand His purposes for this poor devastated world, the fitter we are to live and testify in it.
The Experience of a Ruin
This grief is not how God made things. It belongs to a race living after the fall, and man's greatness is what makes the wreck visible.
This is human experience. It is not the experience a man had to have. It is the experience of all men who are still suffering under the consequences of the fall. A man may be great on earth. His mind may be powerful and his heart full of longing. Yet as a child of Adam he cannot get beyond what this passage describes. Think of a beautiful ruin. Traces of fine workmanship still remain here and there, and by them we can compare the architect's clear design with the building as it stands now. In the same way, man's feelings and powers show what he was made capable of, while we are forced to admit he is only a wreck.
Knowledge Without Grace
One writer turns the verse on religious knowledge itself.
Knowledge may make you a scholar, but not a saint; orthodox, but not gracious. If a man increases in knowledge and does not get grace along with it, he increases sorrow to himself — yes, eternal sorrow.
Wisdom From Above the Sun
Solomon's search stopped at the horizon. The answer had to come from beyond it, and it came in a Person.
But is there something else that satisfies? Is there a higher wisdom and knowledge? There is, but the book of the natural man does not reveal it. What satisfies, what is not vanity and vexation of spirit, is what is above the sun, not under it. From above the sun He came, who is the wisdom of God, the Son of God. He has come and gone, but He brought to the poor thirsting and hungry heart of man the true knowledge. He died for our sins and is now back above the sun. He is the One "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2). The only thing that can satisfy is Christ.
Summary
- Under the sun. Solomon searched by his own heart — observation, not revelation. His conclusion is true, but limited by the horizon he chose.
- Under the fall. The sorrow is not built into knowing. It is the experience of a ruin — a masterpiece we still recognise by its broken pieces.
- Under the strain. The more you see, the more you feel; a thinking man carries the world's evils that lighter minds never notice.
- Under judgment. Knowledge without grace makes a scholar, not a saint. It increases sorrow that outlasts this life.
- Above the sun. One knowledge adds joy instead of grief — knowing God in Christ. In Him all the treasures of wisdom are hidden.