Solomon starts (v1,2) with a postscript to the previous verses with an ‘evil’ to the statement acknowledging that God gives us everything to enjoy. He reminds us of the worthlessness of having riches and the power to gain from it but someone else, a foreigner, consuming it. This also shows the fragility of possessions in that they can be stolen or disappear so easily and someone else gets the benefit. This is what the Lord Jesus said about storing up treasure on earth where thieves take and moth and rust destroy.
When David was planning to build the temple, before Solomon was king, he publicly prayed in thanksgiving to God – recorded for us in 1 Chronicles 29:10-12, “Therefore David blessed the Lord before all the assembly; and David said: “Blessed are You, Lord God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever.Yours, O Lord, is the greatness the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and You are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, and You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; In Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.”
He made it clear that all comes from God.
The whole chapter is really asking the question, ‘Does wealth satisfy?’ We see the weakness of it in that when we are dead it goes to someone else. Even if we have a hundred children and live many years, wealth does not satisfy the soul even if he lives a thousand years twice over. (v3-6) “It would be better if he had never been born.”
Solomon speaks very much like Job (Job 3:3,11), but his circumstances were very different in one way. They were both rich, Job had all his taken away, but he did get back even more at the end, whereas Solomon seemed to keep his. They had very different views.
Warren Wiersbe said, “Enjoyment without God is merely entertainment and it doesn’t satisfy; but enjoyment with God is enrichment and it brings true joy and satisfaction.”
Most of us would like financial security, but what is it for? It might be useful for now but it is useless for eternity. There is nothing wrong with using our wealth now so long as we don’t waste it and make an idol of it. We are to be good stewards of our possessions. He states, “Do not all go to one place?” In one sense it is true in that, unless The Lord comes, we shall all end up in a box in a grave. That is from a worldly stand point, however, if we belong to Christ we do not go to the same place as those who are lost. We might go via a box into a grave but that is not the end. Jesus said about the rich man who built bigger barns for his crops. Up to there, there was nothing wrong, it was good business, where he did go wrong was to say that he had much goods laid up for many years and he could eat, drink and be merry for he had much to last many years. Jesus called him a fool, that very night he would die. Who wants to be a fool?
Man works to satisfy temporal things, food etc but not his soul (v7-9). Whether we are wise or not we can satisfy the body but only through Jesus Christ can our souls be satisfied. Only those who are wise in Him are truly wise. ‘He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.’ (Jim Elliot) ‘Evidently the thought of the preacher is that the more a man possesses under the sun, the more profoundly conscious does he become of the vanity and vexation of it all.’ (G. C. Morgan)
Solomon makes it clear that man cannot successfully contend with God because we are mere humans. None of us know what the future holds. Some even have the temerity to think that they can fight God (v10-12).
He seems to express the meaningless of life because we don’t know when it will end so whatever we do is to no avail. Solomon’s words seem to get increasingly morose as this book goes on.
We have an advantage over those in the Old Testament, although there were instances where they showed amazing insight and expressed supernatural faith in God. Jesus explained about life, death, and eternity, even hell and judgment. The Psalmist referred to an afterlife and many of the prophets foretold an amazing future. We have to remember that Solomon was referring to things ‘under the sun’ a phrase used over and over in this book, from a worldly viewpoint, jut as many do even today. It does not take away from the Bible as a whole. In 2 Timothy 2:10 we read that “Jesus Christ brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”
