An Unsatisfying Quest

January 2nd, 2022

An Unsatisfying Quest

ECCLESIASTES 1:12-2:23

12 I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 14 I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. 15 What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted. 16 I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind. 18 For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

1 I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity. 2 I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” 3 I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. 4 I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. 5 I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. 6 I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. 8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man.

9 So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. 10 And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. 11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

12 So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done. 13 Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. 14 The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them. 15 Then I said in my heart, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. 16 For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool! 17 So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.

18 I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, 19 and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. 20 So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, 21 because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22 What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? 23 For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.

The Quest for Wisdom

Solomon went on a quest to find satisfaction, significance, and joy in this vain life “under the sun.” First, he tried gaining wisdom (1:12–18): “I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven” (1:12). If he thinks deeply, studies with brilliant teachers, reads books, finds answers to life’s big questions, maybe he can find some meaning. This is still appealing to us! I can remember watching the transformation of some college classmates after one intro-level philosophy course: they started growing beards, wearing thick glasses and turtlenecks, and carrying around books by Soren Kierkegaard! But Solomon finds the search for wisdom to be unsatisfying. In our world, many questions simply don’t have answers. Some things are just crooked and can’t be “made straight” (1:15). Learning does not make him happy (1:18)! He admits down in 2:12 that wisdom can help you avoid certain pitfalls. But no matter how wise I become, I still end up exactly like the fool: we’re buried side by side in the same graveyard. This thought makes him hate life (2:17). So much for depth!

The Quest for Pleasure

So in 2:1–3 Solomon says, 'the heck with wisdom—let’s party;' “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself” (2:1). He decides to skip the deep questions and just pursue pleasure! Whatever feels good and stimulates his senses, Solomon goes for it. And he had access to it all: the best entertainment for laughs (2:2); an endless supply of good wine (2:3); hundreds of the world’s most beautiful women. If anyone could find satisfaction in pleasure, it was Solomon. Instead he finds, “Behold, this also was vanity” (2:1). Pleasure is great, but you can’t build a life on it. The high wears off. The thrill dies. The exciting becomes boring. Pleasure offers a brief escape from the realities of death and a broken world. But eventually, you wake up. And there it all still is—waiting for you.

The Quest for Achievement

So like all of your old frat brothers, Solomon outgrows the keg party, puts on a tie, and gets a job: he seeks satisfaction through achievement (2:4–11). He throws himself into his work and a career. He builds impressive houses, he designs gardens and pools, he creates all kinds of things that others see and admire. And he also makes a killing doing it! Solomon acquires all the material things that signal his success. He achieves the American dream! But he finds that achievement satisfies only briefly: “Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun” (2:11). In 2:22, he says the more success he had, the more he had to worry about at the end of the day: staying ahead of the competition, insuring his assets, maintaining his stuff. Even worse, he says I realized that no matter how great I build my business and fortune, I’m still going to die! I’ll have to leave every bit of it to someone else, and he may be a fool who ruins it all! Even achievement fails to satisfy. It’s like the famous 60 Minutes interview with Tom Brady, the most accomplished and adored athlete of our time: “God, there’s got to be more than this…this can’t be what it’s all cracked up to be. I’ve done it…what else is there for me?” Brady asked.

The Threshold of True Joy

And so the soundtrack of Ecclesiastes 1–2 is that old Rolling Stones song: “I can’t get no satisfaction, and I’ve tried, and tried, and tried.” I wonder if you have made the same discovery? Maybe you finally got what you always wanted, only to find that it didn’t fix everything like you thought it would?

This disappointment could be the threshold of true joy.

FOR THE NEXT INSTALLMENT, SEE:

An Unexpected Discovery