Ecclesiastes 2
Testing Pleasure and Folly 1–3
Testing Achievements and Wealth 4–11
The Futility of Wisdom and Folly 12–17
The Anxiety of Labor and Inheritance 18–23
The Gift of Enjoyment from God 24–26
Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain
Study Notes for Ecclesiastes 2
Verse 1
I will prove thee with mirth — ‘Prove’ is nasah, to test, as one tries a thing to learn what it is. ‘Enjoy pleasure’ is literally ‘see good’ (tov), the phrase behind ‘enjoy good’ in v.24. The result is stated at once: ‘this also is vanity’ (hebel, a breath), the word of 1:2, ‘Vanity of vanities’.
Verse 2
I said of laughter, It is mad — ‘Mad’ is halal, the verb that elsewhere means to praise or boast, here in its sense of raving, as in ‘they that are mad against me’ (Ps 102:8). ‘Laughter’ returns in 7:3–6, ‘the laughter of the fool’ like ‘the crackling of thorns under a pot’, and in Prov 14:13, ‘Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful’.
Verse 3
acquainting mine heart with wisdom — ‘Give myself’ is literally to draw the flesh (basar) with wine, while ‘acquainting’ is nahag, to lead, the verb used of Moses who ‘led the flock’ (Ex 3:1). ‘Folly’ is sikluth, found only in Ecclesiastes (1:17; 2:3, 12, 13; 7:25; 10:1, 13).
Verse 4
I made me great works — ‘Made great’ is gadal, the verb of ‘So I was great’ in v.9. The works are listed through v.6: houses, vineyards, gardens, orchards and pools of water. The Preacher is ‘the son of David, king in Jerusalem’ (1:1), and a king’s house could take years to build (1 Kings 7:1, thirteen years).
Verse 8
the peculiar treasure of kings — Segullah, ‘peculiar treasure’, is the word the LORD uses of Israel, ‘a peculiar treasure unto me above all people’ (Ex 19:5; Mal 3:17). Here it is the wealth kings keep for themselves; 666 talents of gold came to Solomon in one year (1 Kings 10:14). ‘Musical instruments’ is shiddah, a doubled word found only here.
Verse 9
my wisdom remained with me — ‘Great’ is gadal, as in v.4, and ‘remained’ is amad, to stand. The claims match what Scripture says of Solomon: ‘king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom’ (1 Kings 10:23), and ‘the LORD magnified Solomon exceedingly’ (1 Chr 29:25).
Verse 11
no profit under the sun — ‘Profit’ is yitron, a word found only in Ecclesiastes (nine verses), and it answers the question of 1:3, ‘What profit hath a man of all his labour?’ ‘Vexation’ is ra’ut, also found only in this book. John gives the New Testament’s account of such works: ‘the world passeth away, and the lust thereof’ (1 John 2:17).
Verse 12
wisdom, and madness, and folly — The same three objects as in 1:17, ‘to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly’. ‘Madness’ (holelah) occurs only in Ecclesiastes (1:17; 2:12; 7:25; 9:3; 10:13). The man who comes after the king can do only ‘that which hath been already done’, as in 1:9, ‘there is no new thing under the sun’.
Verse 14
one event happeneth to them all — ‘Event’ is miqreh, what befalls a person, found in 2:14–15; 3:19; 9:2–3 and outside this book only in Ruth 2:3 and 1 Sam 6:9; 20:26. The wise man’s eyes ‘in his head’ stand against ‘the eyes of a fool… in the ends of the earth’ (Prov 17:24).
Verse 16
no remembrance of the wise — ‘Remembrance’ is zikaron, the word of 1:11, ‘There is no remembrance of former things’. ‘How dieth the wise man? as the fool’ recalls Ps 49:10, ‘wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish’. 9:5 adds that ‘the memory of them is forgotten’.
Verse 17
Therefore I hated life — ‘Hated’ (sane) returns in v.18, ‘I hated all my labour’. ‘Grievous’ is ra, ‘evil’, the word of ‘a great evil’ in v.21. The Preacher also says in 4:2, ‘I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive’.
Verse 18
I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me — ‘Labour’ is amal, toil, the word of 1:3. ‘Leave’ is nuach, to set down. The psalms describe the same fact: wise men ‘leave their wealth to others’ (Ps 49:10), and a man ‘heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them’ (Ps 39:6).
Verse 19
who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? — ‘Fool’ is sakal, a different word from the kesil of v.14, and ‘rule’ is shalat, to have lordship. The king’s successor was Rehoboam (1 Kings 11:43), who ‘forsook the counsel of the old men’ (1 Kings 12:8).
Verse 21
a man whose labour is in wisdom — ‘Equity’ is kishron, skill or success, found only here, in 4:4 and in 5:11. The skilled worker leaves his work ‘to a man that hath not laboured therein’, and the Preacher gives that two names, ‘vanity’ and ‘a great evil’ (ra, as in v.17).
Verse 23
his heart taketh not rest in the night — ‘Sorrows’ is makob, pains, the word of Isa 53:3, ‘a man of sorrows’. ‘Grief’ is ka’as, vexation, rendered ‘grief’ in Ps 6:7 and ‘wrath’ in Prov 27:3. ‘Taketh not rest’ is literally ‘does not lie down’. Ps 127:2 speaks of ‘the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep’.
Verse 24
make his soul enjoy good in his labour — ‘Enjoy’ is literally ‘see’ (raah) good, as in v.1. This is the first of the verses that name eating and drinking as God’s gift (3:13; 5:18–19; 8:15). Paul says of God that he ‘giveth us richly all things to enjoy’ (1 Tim 6:17).
Verse 26
to the sinner he giveth travail — ‘Sinner’ is chote, one who misses the mark, as in ‘the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just’ (Prov 13:22). ‘Travail’ is inyan, the word of v.23. Job says the same: ‘the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver’ (Job 27:17).