A Study of the Book of Ecclesiastes:
Finding Satisfaction In Life
Sermon # 4
“I Hate Life!”
Ecclesiastes 2:12-26
The man who wrote Ecclesiastes called himself Koheleth because he saw his calling life to gather God’s people for instruction. Today we would call him “the Preacher” or since he identifies himself as the king of Jerusalem – the Preacher-King. Although he never succinctly identifies himself by giving his name he hid wealth and wisdom seems to identify him as King Solomon At first the Preacher thought that the pursuit of wisdom would give him the answers he sought (1:12-15). Failing in that he pursued pleasure (2:1-11). But after finding that sensual pleasures would not produce lasting happiness, maybe a change in direction would. So it says in verse twelve “then I turned” in other words “I decided to turn in another direction.” He now turns in search of happiness in a new direction. But still he searches to answer the old, old, question, “Is life worth living?”
Even great men of God have found themselves frustrated by life, even to the point of wanting to die, Job did (Job 3:21-7:15), Elijah did (1 Kings 19:4), Moses (Num. 11:15) and Jonah (Jonah 4:3) but each of them later changed their minds. Charles Swindoll says, “How many there are who appear to be suave, stable, and successful but who, down inside, are dreadfully frus-trated! The term ‘Frustrated’ comes from the Latin frusta, which mean ‘in vain.’ In other words, one who is ‘frustrated’ feels that all he does is void of purpose.” [Charles Swindoll. “Living On The Ragged Edge: Coming To Terms With Reality.” (Waco, TX: Word Pub., 1985) p. 54]
Solomon now tries wisdom and work, or in modern parlance – getting an education and getting things done – our equivalent would be getting a degree and getting a job.
First, Wisdom and Death. (2:12-17) No Protection against Death.
• Death is a Certainty.
I did one of those online things that is supposed to tell us how long we are going to live. Mine came back that I would live to be sixty-eight. Given that I am sixty-three now that was not heartwarming news. But whether we like it or not death is a certainty for everyone; some sooner and some later.
• Biblical view of death:
“Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.”- Hebrews 9:27
Life is a mist that “appears for a little while and then vanishes.” – James 4:13-15
"Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned" - Romans 5:12
The work of Christ has completely altered the meaning of death for the Christian, so much so that we cannot consider it as the same experience as that of the unbeliever. Of course, the physiological aspect may be the same, and the souls of both groups continue to exist after the bodies have expired. But from the point of conversion, death has been robbed of its sting and
power in the mind of the believer (1 Cor. 15:54-55), so that his entire perspective and purpose for the rest of his life is no longer subject to or governed by the fear of death, as is the case with unbelievers. His life takes on real and lasting value, and his priorities and expect-ations have been altered. All this can only occur if death is no longer perceived as final or damning; otherwise,
everything that we do remains meaningless and futile.
Since both the wise man and the fool die, what is the value of wisdom? (contrast with what he said earlier when he wrote Proverbs, “The LORD will not allow the righteous soul to famish, But He casts away the desire of the wicked…. (7) The memory of the righteous is blessed, But the name of the wicked will rot… (27) The fear of the LORD prolongs days, But the years of the wicked will be shortened… (30) The righteous will never be removed, But the wicked will not inhabit the earth.” (Proverbs 10:3, 7, 27, 30)
Yet how many times do we as believers fail to heed our own advice, given to others. Solomon now seems to have taken his eyes off of God and sees no difference in the death of a wise man and a fool, both die.
In verse twelve he says, “Then I turned myself to consider wisdom and madness and folly;”
“Madness and folly go together. The Preacher is not describing three different categories but only two. On the one hand there is ‘wisdom,’ which is used here in its most general sense to refer to human thinking at its very best…simply good moral, practice advice for daily life that comes from people like Benjamin Franklin, Emily Post, Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Phil.
On the other hand, there is ‘madness and folly’ … or better said ‘mad folly’ because the two terms go together…What the preacher is telling us…is that after pursuing pleasure, he reconsidered the claims of wisdom and mad folly. He wanted to compare the two, studying the difference between the right way and the wrong way to live and then see if that would help him to understand the purpose of life.” [Philip Graham Ryken. “Ecclesiastes: Why Everything Matters.” (Wheaton: ILL, Crossway, 2010) p. 59]
In the second part of verse twelve he continues by saying, “…For what can the man do who succeeds the king?— Only what he has already done.” By this Solo-mon means that no one can challenge or contest his judgment because no one has the resources that he does. As the wisest and wealthiest king, he is in a unique position and he wants to write a definitive statement about wisdom and mad folly. If Solomon can’t not find the ultimate meaning of life, who can.
• Wisdom is Better than Folly. (vv.13-14)
“Then I saw that wisdom excels folly As light excels darkness. (14) The wise man’s eyes are in his head, But the fool walks in darkness.” But at least, Solomon says the wise man can foresee some of the shortfalls in life and avoid them so that his quest for pleasure he is not as quickly or as completely devastated as the fool.
The second part of verse fourteen recognizes that death is the great equalizer, “Yet I myself perceived That the same event (death) happens to them all.” This verse may mean simply that that the wise and foolish experience the same ups and down in life. Whether one lives by wisdom or folly one is inevitably caught up in some of the same events in life, experience calamities and difficulties. It does not matter how smart we are, many thing are beyond our control. But probably Solomon had something more specific in mind. He is talking about the one thing that happens to everyone – death. It is even clearer when he says in verse sixteen, “how does the wise man die – just like the fool.”
Dr. Haddon Robinson preaching from Eccles-iastes, “recounted what it was like… to stand at the graveside of a man who had a working knowledge of thirty-four languages. Most people know only one or two languages, at the most, but here was a man who understood nearly three dozen. Yet in the end it didn’t matter how smart he ways- he was still dead as could be.” [Ryken. p.62]
Verse fifteen reads, “So I said in my heart, “As it happens to the fool, It also happens to me, And why was I then more wise?” Then I said in my heart, “This also is vanity.”
Solomon’s conclusion is wisdom is better than folly – but what difference does it make if both the end up with the same fate – death.
Charles Swindoll gives a modern application, “This is the kind of thought that dawns on a person who has recently graduated with high honors from a great university and cannot find a job. He’s highly qualified, yet fells completely useless, It’s a terrible feeling. He has a degree, or maybe multiple degrees, and he cannot find work. He looks out on the world… and sees most of them employed, and he says, “What is the use of all this education (wisdom)?”What use are all these degrees? What is the meaning of it all?... It’s all an empty dream, this expensive, exhaustive pursuit of knowledge (wisdom).” [Swindoll p. 56]
Verse sixteen continues the thought, “For there is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever, Since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come. And how does a wise man die? As the fool!”
No wants to be forgotten that is why tombstones are made of marble. But time passes and everyone who knew that person also dies, and over time even the engraving on the tombstone grows faint. For example consider the great pyramids of Egypt which were built in the memory of the Pharaohs, the pyramids are still there but there are few who know the names of who they were built for.
Second, Work and Death. (2:17-23) No Protection Against Unworthy Heirs.
One thing we have to acknowledge is the fact that many people expect work to give them a sense of purpose in life. That is why that often the first question that we ask someone new is, “What kind of work do you do?” or “What do you for a living?” Our lives are defined by our jobs. Men especially find there worth in their work. But according to Ecclesiastes, work is the wrong place to look the meaning of life.
“We work our entire lives at jobs we don’t like, to buy things we don’t need, to impress people we don’t like, only to figure out too late that our death robes don’t have pockets to take this stuff with us and so it goes to someone else to enjoy the fruit of our labor. We end up giving our “stuff” to someone that didn’t have to work for it.” [David Fairfield. “I Hated Life.” Message on Eccles. 2:12-16]
• Solomon Hated Life. (v.17)
“Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.”
When it says he “hated life” it does not mean he was contemplating suicide; in fact death was the one thing he wanted to avoid. The atheist Voltaire put this way, “I hate life and yet I am afraid to die.” We would probably phrase differently today, “I am dis-gusted with life!” Many people in our day share that feeling! Apart from a relationship with the living God live holds no real purpose.
Francis Mauriac, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1952, “You can imagine the torment of having nothing out of life, and having to look forward to nothing but death, of feeling tht there is no other world beyond this one, that the puzzle will neve3r be explained.” [Ryken p. 64]
Solomon hated life because he saw that it would bring to an end all his accumulated knowledge (wisdom). But that is because he was only considering it from an earthly perspective. The answer is not to hate life but to develop a biblical perspective. The Apostle Paul tells us how that biblical perspective is gained in his letter to the church at Colossae, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. (2) Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. (3) For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (4)
When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1-4)
Those who follow Paul’s advice find there is life and wisdom beyond the grave. That means that “who we are will not be forgotten but will be remembered for all eternity. …The Bible assures us further that our lives are “hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). This verse implies not so much that our lives are concealed but that they are protected…The word the Apostle uses for “hidden” comes from the root (krupto) that forms the basis for the English words like encryption…our lives are encrypted with Christ….God so preserves us in his son that nothing essential to who we are will be lost forever.” [Ryken p. 65]
• Wealth You Can’t Keep It. (v. 18)
“ Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me.”
One of the main problems of the accumulation of worldly wealth is that in the end someone else will profit from all your hard work.
• Wealth You Can’t Protect It. (vv. 19-20)
“And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity. 20 Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun.”
One has no control over what is does with his legacy one has to leave one’s labor to the person who comes after and one has no control over weather that person is wise or foolish. It troubled Solomon that he might leave all his work and material wealth to a fool troubled him. This concern was well founded, because after Solomon’s death his son, Rehoboam turned out to be a fool in many ways (1 Kings 11:41-12:24). Rehoboam was so foolish that he led the nation into war after decades of peace under his father and he lost ten-twelfths of his father’s kingdom (1 Kings 12).
Adam Clarke says, “Alas, Solomon the wisest of all men, made the worst use of his wisdom, had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, and yet left but one son behind him, to possess his estates and his throne and that one was the silliest of fools!” [Adam Clarke. Clarke Commentary. Vol 3 “Job to Song of Solomon.” www.studylight.org/commentaries/acc/view.cgi?bk=ec&ch=2#1]
In verse twenty-one Solomon says, “For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; yet he must leave his heritage to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22 For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun? 23 For all his days are sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.”
The implication is that since this person has not worked for what he receives and thus does not value it as he should, he may be thoroughly foolish in how he handles it!
Third, Joy and Life With God. (2:24-26) Enjoyment is from God.
“This is the First of six conclusions in Ecclesiastes, each of which emphasizes the importance of accepting life as God’s gift and enjoying it in God’s will (3:12-15, 22; 5:18-20; 8:15; 9:7-10, 11:9-10)….not only were the blessings from God, but even the enjoyment of the blessings was God’s gift to us (v. 24)” [Warren Wiersbe. “Be Satisified; Looking For the Answer to the Meaning of Life.” (Wheaton, ILL: Victor Books, 1990) p. 40]
Charles Swindoll says, “We have the idea that the world is the one that gives us enjoyment and God’s the one who clubs us when we have fun. But the fact is, it’s the other way around.” [Swindoll. p. 63]
Without warning, the Preacher says the first truly positive thing in the entire book: “Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God. (25) For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I?” (vv. 24-25) As Philip Ryken says in his commentary, “these verses are an oasis of optimism in a wilderness of despair.” [Ryken p. 71]
• Enjoyment is the gift of God. (v. 26)
It is possible to have joy in life if you take it from the hand of God. “For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.”
Paul said to his son in the faith, Timothy, God “gives us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17). Everything is made for our enjoyment – to enjoy in a relationship with God. Solomon is trying to convey the truth that we are built to worship the Creator and not Creation (the stuff that God give to us). All the things that God has made are blessings to be enjoyed – that show His love. But they are not the end all.
Ray Stedman says, “Isn’t it strange that the more you run after life, panting after every pleasure, the less you find, but the more you take life as a gift from God’s hand, responding in thankful gratitude for the delight of the moment, the more life seems to come to you?” [Ray Stedman. “Is This All There Is: Answers From Ecclesiastes.” (Grand Rapids: Discovery House Publishers, 1999) p. 39]
Instead of spending all our time trying to figure
out life, we should stick close to God and enjoy it.
“I Hate Life!”
Ecclesiastes 2:12-26
First, Wisdom and Death. (2:12-17) No Protection against Death.
• Death is a Certainty.
Biblical view of death: (Heb. 9:27, Jam. 4:13-15, Rom. 6:23, 5:12)
Since both the wise man and the fool die, what is the value of wisdom? (Proverbs 10:3, 7, 27, 30)
• Wisdom is Better than Folly. (vv.13-14)
Second, Work and Death. (2:17-23) No Protection Against Unworthy Heirs.
• Solomon hated life. (v. 17)
Solomon hated life because he saw that it would bring to an end all his accumulated knowledge (wisdom). The answer is not to hate life but to develop a biblical perspective. (Colossians 3:1-4)
• Wealth You Can’t Keep It. (v.18)
• Wealth You Can’t Protect It. (vv. 19-20) (1 Kings 11:41-12:24).
Third, Joy and Life With God. (2:24-26) Enjoyment is from God.
1st of six conclusions in Ecclesiastes, each of which emphasizes the importance of accepting life as God’s gift and enjoying it in God’s will (3:12-15, 22; 5:18-20; 8:15; 9:7-10, 11:9-10)….
• Enjoyment is the gift of God. (v. 26) (1 Timothy 6:17).
Instead of spending all our time trying to figure out life, we should stick close to God and enjoy it.
“I Hate Life!”
Ecclesiastes 2:12-26
First, ________________ and Death. (2:12-17) No ___________________ against Death.
• Death is a _____________________.
Biblical view of death: (Heb. 9:27, Jam. 4:13-15, Rom. 6:23, 5:12)
Since both the wise man and the fool die, what is the value of wisdom? (Proverbs 10:3, 7, 27, 30)
• Wisdom is Better than _____________. (vv.13-14)
Second, _____________ and Death. (2:17-23) No Protection Against ________________________ Heirs.
•Solomon hated life. (v. 17)
Solomon hated life because he saw that it would bring to an end all his accumulated knowledge (wisdom). The answer is not to hate life but to develop a biblical perspective. (Colossians 3:1-4)
• Wealth You Can’t Keep It. (v.18)
• Wealth You Can’t Protect It. (vv. 19-20) (1 Ki. 11:41-12:24).
Third, ___________ and Life With God. (2:24-26) ___________________ is from God.
1st of six conclusions in Ecclesiastes, each of which emphasizes the importance of accepting life as God’s gift and enjoying it in God’s will (3:12-15, 22; 5:18-20; 8:15; 9:7-10, 11:9-10)….
• Enjoyment is the _________ of God. (v. 26) (1 Timothy 6:17).
Instead of spending all our time trying to figure out life, we should stick close to God and enjoy it.
