All Was Vanity And Grasping For The Wind

Solomon describes the extent of his wealth. He knew he had wisdom already and with the peace in his kingdom, he searched for things that he could do. So he accumulated wealth and treasures, and also build many things for his palace or kingdom such as vineyards, gardens, orchards and so on. The wisdom, peace and wealth were a blessing God gave to Solomon. But when Solomon looked back, it seemed like he failed to see what he had accomplished through all his works. Instead he called his works vanity and declared there was no profit (or benefit) from them.

So Solomon did some soul searching and compared wisdom with folly and madness. He concluded that although wisdom is better than foolishness, but in the end both the wise and the fool will both die. Solomon felt that he had worked hard in building his kingdom, but feared what might happen to all the good that he had build when his kingdom is passed over to the next king who may be wise or a fool. Perhaps this reveals that Solomon had already envisaged that his son is not that wise - later we know that his son's actions resulted in the splitting of the kingdom of Israel.

So Solomon calls all his hard work vanity in the end, because there was no guarantee whether the next generation would waste it or preserve it. Finally he sees it is good to work and enjoy. He also realises that God would give wisdom, knowledge and joy to those who follow him and make the sinners work hard to supply to those righteous in God's eyes. Perhaps Solomon may be reflecting on his own blessings from God in his early life, as well as his sinful nature in later life which would result God taking away from his future generation.


Ecclesiastes 2
The Vanity of Pleasure

1 I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure”; but surely, this also was vanity. 2 I said of laughter—“Madness!”; and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?” 3 I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.

4 I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards. 5 I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove. 7 I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. 8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments[a] of all kinds.

9 So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.
10 Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them.
I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure,
For my heart rejoiced in all my labor;
And this was my reward from all my labor.
11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done
And on the labor in which I had toiled;
And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind.
There was no profit under the sun.

The End of the Wise and the Fool
12 Then I turned myself to consider wisdom and madness and folly;
For what can the man do who succeeds the king?—
Only what he has already done.
13 Then I saw that wisdom excels folly
As light excels darkness.
14 The wise man’s eyes are in his head,
But the fool walks in darkness.
Yet I myself perceived
That the same event happens to them all.
15 So I said in my heart,
“As it happens to the fool,
It also happens to me,
And why was I then more wise?”
Then I said in my heart,
“This also is vanity.”
16 For there is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever,
Since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come.
And how does a wise man die?
As the fool!

17 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.

18 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. 19 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. 20 Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun. 21 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. 22 For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun? 23 For all his days are sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.

24 Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God. 25 For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I?[b] 26 For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.

Who Dwells in the LORD; Trust in the LORD

In the first Psalm, David sings about who would be acceptable to the LORD. He gives the answer as: those who are upright and truthful, those who control their tongues and do not plot against their friends, those who fear the LORD, among other things will not be moved.

In the second Psalm, David expresses his knowledge of who he is, in the LORD. He knows that his "goodness is nothing apart from" the LORD. David understands the seriousness of idolatry and would not have it in his kingdom. David knows and is secure of his inheritance from God. David is confident of his position in God and would not be moved by others. These are the sources of David's gladness, joy, hope and pleasure.

Psalm 16

A Michtam of David.

 1 Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust.
       
 2 O my soul, you have said to the LORD,
         “You are my Lord,
         My goodness is nothing apart from You.”
 3 As for the saints who are on the earth,
         “They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.”
       
 4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god;
         Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer,
         Nor take up their names on my lips.
       
 5 O LORD, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
         You maintain my lot.
 6 The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
         Yes, I have a good inheritance.
       
 7 I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel;
         My heart also instructs me in the night seasons.
 8 I have set the LORD always before me;
         Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.
       
 9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;
         My flesh also will rest in hope.
 10 For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,
         Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
 11 You will show me the path of life;
         In Your presence is fullness of joy;
         At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.



Psalm 15

A Psalm of David.

 1 LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle?
         Who may dwell in Your holy hill?
       
 2 He who walks uprightly,
         And works righteousness,
         And speaks the truth in his heart;
 3 He who does not backbite with his tongue,
         Nor does evil to his neighbor,
         Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend;
 4 In whose eyes a vile person is despised,
         But he honors those who fear the LORD;
         He who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
 5 He who does not put out his money at usury,
         Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.
       
         He who does these things shall never be moved.

Job's counter examples against wickedness as cause of sufferings

Here is Job's response to his friend's suggestions that the wicked will be punished in this life and implying that Job was wicked as shown by the evidence of his punishment. Job starts of by warning his friends, saying Prepare to be Astonished - v3 "Put your hand over your mouth".

So Job begins to explain:

v7 - wicked people live to old age and become powerful.

v8 - they see their grandchildren mature, or even great grandchildren.

v9 - their homes are safe and secure

v10 - their lifestock or business prosper

v11-13 - the wicked enjoy wealth and pleasure

v14 - 15 - the wicked reject God

v19-21 So some believe that the wicked, although are not punished immediately, they will see the punishment on their children.
v25-26 - both the wicked who enjoyed pleasures and perhaps the non-wicked who did not enjoy pleasures, they will come to the same end in their lives.


So Job is saying that there are many examples in life that the wicked appear to enjoy a pleasurable life. Some even die happy. And if their punishment is reserved for their children, then the wicked ones escapes the punishment - clearly there is no justice and truth in that. The last verses, Job emphasize further that even when they die, sometimes the wicked are being honored, they have big funeral processions, they are buried in expensive grounds. These are clear evidence of Job's friends incorrect theories about wickedness as the cause of Job's or anyone else's sufferings.

Job 21

Job’s Discourse on the Wicked

 ¹ Then Job answered and said: ² “Listen carefully to my speech,
      And let this be your consolation.
 ³ Bear with me that I may speak,
      And after I have spoken, keep mocking.
 ⁴ “As for me, is my complaint against man?
      And if it were, why should I not be impatient?
 ⁵ Look at me and be astonished;
      Put your hand over your mouth.
 ⁶ Even when I remember I am terrified,
      And trembling takes hold of my flesh.
 ⁷ Why do the wicked live and become old,
      Yes, become mighty in power?
 ⁸ Their descendants are established with them in their sight,
      And their offspring before their eyes.
 ⁹ Their houses are safe from fear,
      Neither is the rod of God upon them.
 ¹⁰ Their bull breeds without failure;
      Their cow calves without miscarriage.
 ¹¹ They send forth their little ones like a flock,
      And their children dance.
 ¹² They sing to the tambourine and harp,
      And rejoice to the sound of the flute.
 ¹³ They spend their days in wealth,
      And in a moment go down to the grave.^[a]
 14 Yet they say to God, ‘Depart from us,
      For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.
 ¹⁵ Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?
      And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?’
 ¹⁶ Indeed their prosperity is not in their hand;
      The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
 ¹⁷ “How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?
      How often does their destruction come upon them,
      The sorrows God distributes in His anger?
 ¹⁸ They are like straw before the wind,
      And like chaff that a storm carries away.
 ¹⁹ They say, ‘God lays up one’s^[b] iniquity for his children’;
      Let Him recompense him, that he may know it.
 ²⁰ Let his eyes see his destruction,
      And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
 ²¹ For what does he care about his household after him,
      When the number of his months is cut in half?
 ²² “Can anyone teach God knowledge,
      Since He judges those on high?
 ²³ One dies in his full strength,
      Being wholly at ease and secure;
 ²⁴ His pails^[c] are full of milk,
      And the marrow of his bones is moist.
 ²⁵ Another man dies in the bitterness of his soul,
      Never having eaten with pleasure.
 ²⁶ They lie down alike in the dust,
      And worms cover them.
 ²⁷ “Look, I know your thoughts,
      And the schemes with which you would wrong me.
 ²⁸ For you say,
‘ Where is the house of the prince?
      And where is the tent,^[d]
      The dwelling place of the wicked?’
 ²⁹ Have you not asked those who travel the road?
      And do you not know their signs?
 ³⁰ For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom;
      They shall be brought out on the day of wrath.
 ³¹ Who condemns his way to his face?
      And who repays him for what he has done?
 ³² Yet he shall be brought to the grave,
      And a vigil kept over the tomb.
 ³³ The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him;
      Everyone shall follow him,
      As countless have gone before him.
 ³⁴ How then can you comfort me with empty words,
      Since falsehood remains in your answers?”