Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Ecclesiastes 2:1-11
Chapter 2 The Search for Pleasure.
Experimenting With Good Things (Ecclesiastes 2:1).
‘I said in my heart, “Go at it now, I will test out merriment. Therefore enjoy pleasure (or ‘good things'). “ And behold this also was vanity.'
The writer summarises his findings from his next venture, the search for pleasure, for good things. Perhaps meaning could be found in that. But it failed. That also was empty and meaningless. That also did not finally satisfy the heart and the mind.
‘I said of laughter, “This is madness,” and of merriment, “What does it do?”
Thus his conclusion was that laughter which resulted from ‘having a good time' was folly, it was empty, and that seeking merriment accomplished nothing. After all, what did it do, what did it accomplish, what did it leave you with when it was all over? The answer is, absolutely nothing.
‘I searched in my heart how to sustain myself (my flesh) with wine, my heart yet guiding me with wisdom, and how to lay hold on frivolity, that I might see what it was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their life.'
And this was the way he went about it. He experimented with enjoying good wine, without letting it take possession of him or hinder his thought processes. He experimented with ‘having a good time'. He wanted to find out what would satisfy the hearts of men all the days of their lives. He threw himself into it. But all clearly failed. That was no way to live a life.
‘I made myself great works, I built myself houses, I planted vineyards for myself. I made myself gardens, and parks, and I planted trees in them producing all kinds of fruit. I made myself pools of water, to water from them the woodlands where trees were nurtured.'
Being the king, and wealthy, he was able to indulge his interests. He built houses, planted vineyards, planned and brought into being gardens and parks of outstanding beauty. He filled them with fruit trees, full of tasty things and delightful to the eye.
He built artificial pools, always full of water, in a land where water was often a luxury, and surrounded them with trees of every kind, an oasis in an often dry land. This was no short term experiment. These things would take many years. Surely this was accomplishing something? But he concluded that it was not. Others had done the same, and where were those things now?
‘I bought menservants, and maidens, and had servants born in my house.'
He had menservants to do his bidding, so that he could have anything done for him that he wanted. He had maidens for his pleasure. He indulged in sex whenever he wanted, with the women of his choice, and produced many children who became servants in his house. (As the children of low born concubines they would become high level servants, but not princes. Their service would include high office). But still his heart hungered. He was not satisfied. It all had no final meaning.
‘I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. I also gathered for myself silver and gold, and the most sought after treasure of kings and provinces.'
He indulged himself to the full with valuable possessions, with herds and flocks, the thing most valued by many of that day, for they reproduced and grew rapidly and enhanced wealth; and with silver and gold, and with every desirable object that could be found in the courts of kings and throughout many provinces. There was no desirable thing that he did not have.
‘I obtained for myself men-singers and women-singers, and the delights of the sons of men, all kinds of musical instruments.'
He experimented with music of every kind. He listened to every type of singer. He experimented with every musical instrument. The word translated musical instruments is of unknown meaning. Some translate as concubines. But their equivalent have been mentioned in Ecclesiastes 2:7, and we would expect in a list of pleasures of those times the mention of musical instruments, especially in a verse where music is in mind. Whichever it was it was something that delighted the hearts of men.
‘So I was great, and increased (in possessions and good things) more than all who were before me in Jerusalem, also my wisdom remained with me.'
Whatever he wanted he obtained, and to excess. And yet in it all he was not foolishly indulgent, he was sensible in his indulgence. He did not let himself go or become a wastrel or a drunkard.
‘And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold from my heart any joy. For my heart rejoiced because of all my efforts, and this was my reward from all my efforts. ‘
Nothing that he desired was not tried out by him. He indulged in everything that was available. And he enjoyed participating in them and doing them. He was not a killjoy. And he found great delight in them. But that was all he found. It was transient. It was not lasting.
‘Then I looked on all the activities that my hand had wrought, and on the efforts that I had exerted myself to accomplish. All was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.'
But when he considered all that he had done and experienced and accomplished, he recognised within himself that it was all useless and empty, unsatisfying and meaningless. It was searching for the undiscoverable, and had no lasting value. It still left his heart empty and deeply dissatisfied.
Note the constantly repeated ideas, ‘vanity (useless, transient, empty, without lasting significance)', ‘striving after wind', (seeking what cannot be seen or grasped hold of), ‘no profit under the sun' (of no lasting value). This summed up his experience of all his efforts. He had achieved nothing. He had gained nothing.