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Ecclesiastes: The Enigma of Life Under the Sun | The Question of Achievement

February 2, 2025
Ecclesiastes 2:18-26

¹⁸I 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, ¹⁹and 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. ²⁰So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, ²¹because 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. ²²What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? ²³For 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.

²⁴There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, ²⁵for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? ²⁶For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

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Purpose

To discover and experience Jesus Christ in our midst

To cultivate mutually encouraging relationships

To participate in God’s mission to the world 

Opening Prayer

Lord God, you know us to be set in the midst of so many great dangers, that because of our frailness we cannot always stand uprightly: Grant us such health of body and soul, that we may well pass and overcome all those things which we suffer for sin; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Responsive Prayer — Psalm 92

It is good to give thanks to the Lord,

To sing praises to your name, O Most High;

To declare your steadfast love in the morning,

And your faithfulness by night,

For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work;

At the works of your hands I sing for joy.

How great are your works, O Lord!

Your thoughts are very deep!

Summary and Connection

In the book of Ecclesiastes, the author Qoheleth (which is often translated as “Preacher” or “Teacher”) explains how everything under the sun is hevel — “vanity” or “meaningless.” In chapter 2, after seeking pleasure (verses 1-11) and wisdom (verses 12-17), the professor revisits work as a follow-up to his question in 1:3. He reaches the same conclusion as always, saying that work is a vexation and that it, too, is meaningless (verse 23). However, Qoheleth makes an important pivot in today’s passage, and for the first time, he mentions God and his positive influence on life (verses 24-26). Despite the meaninglessness of the world, the teacher agrees that God is good and that we can nevertheless enjoy his gifts. We’re in a sermon series called Ecclesiastes: The Enigma of Life Under the Sun, and today we’ll look at the topic of work.

Discussion Questions

1. Looking at the Bible

Observation: Read the passage privately. What does the text say? What is the theme of this passage? Do you notice any keywords?

• Look at verses 24-26. How is the author’s tone different from his previous writings?
  

2. Looking at Jesus

At Central we believe that all of Scripture points to Jesus. In other words, Jesus is the theological center of the Bible. Every passage not only points to Jesus, but the grand narrative of the Bible also finds its fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus.

• In verse 25, the professor writes that apart from God, we cannot eat or have enjoyment. What are Jesus’ attributes or teachings that remind you of this truth?

3. Looking at Our Hearts

• Notice the tension between the author’s feelings in verses 18-23 and his conclusions in verses 24-26. Have you felt a similar tension or confusion? How do you deal with it? 

4. Looking at Our World

• Look at verse 24. Qoheleth writes that God gives people the enjoyment of life’s activities. What are some blessings that God extends in his grace that the world gets to enjoy, or from which the world benefits?

Sending

• View Study Guide Notes

  Question 1: Verses 24-26 are a stark contrast to the previous verses in the chapter. This is the first time the author mentions God (although biblical professor Robert Alter points out that it’s always the general term ‘elohim and never YHWH) and the first of seven places in the book that contains a positive view on life. Old Testament scholar Christopher Wright calls them the carpe diem texts — seizing the moment and enjoying that life is good.

  In his commentary, Martin Luther writes on verse 24, saying, “this is the principal conclusion, in fact the point, of the whole book.” Luther explains:

  The summary and aim of this book, then, is as follows: Solomon wants to put us at peace and to give us a quiet mind in the everyday affairs and business of this life, so that we live contentedly in the present without care and yearning about the future and are, as Paul says, without care and anxiety (Phil 4:6). It is useless to plague oneself with anxiety about the future.

  The purpose, according to Luther, is to drive away anxiety and worry and to encourage a life of happiness — enjoying the things that are present as God’s gifts, being involved in the activities of public life, and not worrying about what may come in the future (taken from James Limburg’s “Encountering Ecclesiastes”).

  Question 2: Jesus is the Lord of Creation. The Apostle Paul states that all things were created by him, through him, and for him; all things hold together in Jesus (Colossians 1:16-17). The author of Hebrews writes that Jesus “upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3). Jesus is also the source of joy. He said that he came that we may have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10) and that our joy may be full (John 15:11). Verse 25 from today’s passage indirectly reminds us that Jesus holds the whole universe together by his power, and that apart from him, no one can eat or have joy. Like the author of Ecclesiastes, Jesus taught his disciples to stop being anxious about life, saying that God already knows what we need — he knows that we need to eat and have enjoyment. Instead of worrying, Jesus encourages his followers to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

  Question 3: It is helpful to be reminded that the teacher of Ecclesiastes is asking questions about life, and the book needs to be interpreted together with the rest of the Bible. If Ecclesiastes was interpreted by itself, its teachings might be mistaken as pessimistic or even nihilistic. Qoheleth is reminding his students that work, education, and pleasures of this world are all meaningless, as they are temporary and ultimately unfulfilling of the deep yearnings of the heart. However, God is good, and he created a good world, although tainted by sin. Robert Alter comments on verse 24 that, “Though this affirmation may look like a contradiction, it is another expression of Qoheleth’s dialectic thinking.” The author is simultaneously saying that although work feels like a vexation (verse 23), there is also joy in it (verse 24). He is guiding his readers to enjoy God’s good gifts in life and the world, as “everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving” (1 Timothy 4:4).

  Question 4: In Reformed theology, the term “common grace” can be defined in this way:

  Common grace, as an expression of the goodness of God, is every favor, falling short of salvation, which this undeserving and sin-cursed world enjoys at the hand of God; this includes the delay of wrath, the mitigation of our sin-natures, natural events that lead to prosperity, and all gifts that human use and enjoy naturally.” (Sam Storms, TGC)

  The Bible gives numerous examples of God’s universal grace freely given to everyone. “The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made” (Psalm 145:9). “Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness” (Acts 14:17). In his teaching on loving your enemies, Jesus appeals to God’s goodness in sending rain and making the sun shine on both the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:44-45). We are reminded of God’s love and goodness for the world, and that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17).