Hating Life - Ecclesiastes #7

Ecclesiastes 2:17-23

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. 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. 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. Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun. 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. For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun? For all his days are sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.

Solomon said he “hated life” because he knew he would die just like everyone else. It was meaningless, “grasping for the wind.” In all his wisdom, he suffers the same fate as the fool. In all his prosperity, his life ends the same way as the impoverished. He labored much, he gathered much; and it all simply goes to the next generation who didn’t labor, who didn’t gather. He is right to call this a great evil, for the ultimate reason we all die is due to sin. “For the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23a). 

For Solomon, God let him know what was to become of his family and kingdom. Because of his turning from God and worshipping idols, the Lord told him he would divide his kingdom after his death and raise up enemies (see 1 Kings 11). One of them, Jeroboam, would snatch most of the tribes away from his son and the kingdom of Israel would divide. Jeroboam would set up high places of worship away from Jerusalem, and the northern kingdom would walk in idolatry until the Assyrians conquered them. The southern kingdom would continue to have his descendants as kings (and some of them walked with God), but they would eventually be overtaken by the Babylonians. 

We may not know how our lives will affect future generations (if at all), but we know from Scripture that “…it is appointed for men to die once, [and] after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Not only does this apply to us, but also to our children, grandchildren, etc. We need to be urgently instilling the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the lives of all we come across, especially our descendants. “…but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23b).

In Christ Alone,

Dan