Ecclesiastes 2

General context

The Preacher says he set out to prove himself with mirth and pleasure, and found that this also is vanity; he calls laughter mad and asks what mirth does. He gives himself to wine while keeping his heart acquainted with wisdom, to see what is good for the sons of men. He lists great works: houses, vineyards, gardens and orchards, pools of water, servants and maidens, cattle above all in Jerusalem before him, silver and gold, the treasure of kings, singers and musical instruments. He says he was great, that his wisdom remained with him, and that he withheld nothing his eyes desired, since rejoicing in his labour was his portion. Looking at all he had made, he finds vanity and vexation of spirit and no profit under the sun. He turns to compare wisdom and folly, grants that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness, yet sees that one event happens to both wise and fool, and that neither is remembered. He hates life and his labour because he must leave it to a successor who may be wise or a fool. Days are sorrows and the heart takes no rest at night. He concludes that there is nothing better than to eat, drink and enjoy good in labour, and that this is from the hand of God, who gives wisdom, knowledge and joy to the one who is good in his sight, and gathering to the sinner.

Cited passages: Ecclesiastes 2:1, Ecclesiastes 2:2, Ecclesiastes 2:3, Ecclesiastes 2:4, Ecclesiastes 2:5, Ecclesiastes 2:6, Ecclesiastes 2:7, Ecclesiastes 2:8, Ecclesiastes 2:9, Ecclesiastes 2:10, Ecclesiastes 2:11, Ecclesiastes 2:13, Ecclesiastes 2:14, Ecclesiastes 2:16, Ecclesiastes 2:17, Ecclesiastes 2:18, Ecclesiastes 2:19, Ecclesiastes 2:23, Ecclesiastes 2:24, Ecclesiastes 2:26

Ecclesiastes 2 (KJV)

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Historical context

The whole chapter is first-person report by the speaker introduced in chapter 1 as the Preacher; no name is given here, and the only self-descriptions are comparative, that he increased more than all before him in Jerusalem and had possessions above all who were in Jerusalem before him. The works listed are stated in general terms: houses, vineyards, gardens, orchards, pools, servants, cattle, silver, gold, singers and instruments. No building, garden or treasury is named, and nothing is dated. The phrase the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces is the closest the chapter comes to a political setting, and it is not explained. The Preacher refers to the man that cometh after the king and to leaving his labour to one who shall be after me, but names no heir and does not say whether he knows who it will be. His conclusion attributes eating, drinking and enjoyment of labour to the hand of God, and distinguishes the one good in God's sight from the sinner without naming any person in either group.

Cited passages: Ecclesiastes 2:9, Ecclesiastes 2:7, Ecclesiastes 2:8, Ecclesiastes 2:12, Ecclesiastes 2:18, Ecclesiastes 2:19, Ecclesiastes 2:24, Ecclesiastes 2:26

Literary context

The chapter runs as a series of experiments, each announced and each closed with a verdict. Mirth is tested and dismissed in the first verse; then a long catalogue of acquisitions, built on the repeated I made me and I got me, ends with a single look back and the verdict of vanity and no profit. A second test weighs wisdom against folly and grants a real difference, light against darkness, before undercutting it with the shared event of death and the shared oblivion of forgetting. The repeated refrain this is also vanity marks each turn. The Preacher's tone hardens through hated life and hated all my labour and despair before the chapter turns at verse 24 to its first positive counsel, eating, drinking and enjoying good in labour, framed as a gift from God's hand rather than a profit earned. Even that close is stamped with the refrain, so the chapter ends on the same words that ended chapter 1. The rhetorical question who can eat, or who else can hasten hereunto, more than I keeps the speaker's own experience as the test case throughout.

Cited passages: Ecclesiastes 2:1, Ecclesiastes 2:4, Ecclesiastes 2:7, Ecclesiastes 2:11, Ecclesiastes 2:13, Ecclesiastes 2:15, Ecclesiastes 2:17, Ecclesiastes 2:18, Ecclesiastes 2:20, Ecclesiastes 2:24, Ecclesiastes 2:25, Ecclesiastes 2:26

Key moments

1. Pleasure put to the test (Ecclesiastes 2:1). The Preacher tries mirth and pleasure and calls it vanity.
2. Great works and possessions (Ecclesiastes 2:4). He begins the list of houses, vineyards and gardens he made for himself.
3. Looking back on it all (Ecclesiastes 2:11). He surveys his works and finds vanity and no profit under the sun.
4. Wisdom excels, yet death is shared (Ecclesiastes 2:14). The wise man sees and the fool walks in darkness, but one event happens to both.
5. Hating labour for the heir's sake (Ecclesiastes 2:18). He hates his labour because he must leave it to whoever comes after him.
6. Eat, drink and enjoy (Ecclesiastes 2:24). He says nothing is better than enjoying good in labour, and that this is from God's hand.

For reflection

The Preacher says his heart rejoiced in all his labour and that this was his portion, then calls the same labour vanity because someone else will inherit it. Can the joy of the work and the loss of its outcome both be true at once, as the chapter seems to hold them?