2:10Ecclesiastes 2:10

Solomon had been favored above others in circumstances and character and life, and had been given wisdom by God, yet the pride of prosperity separated him from God.ED 153.1 Turning from the joy of divine communion, he sought his highest good in earthly things, looking for satisfaction in sensual pleasure and in great works.ED 153.2–4+2 The verse records that turning and that search.ED 153.2–4+2

It means he deliberately kept back nothing his eyes desired and withheld his heart from no joy.ED 153.2–4+3 He rejoiced in all his labor, and this rejoicing was his portion of all his labor.ED 153.2–4+3 He gave himself every pleasure he desired and found joy in his work.PK 76.1+1

That enjoyment gave no lasting satisfaction and no rest for the soul.ED 153.2–4+1 When he considered what he had done, he judged his labor to bring no lasting profit.PK 76.1 His life and the work he had done he found to be empty and vain and vexation of spirit, like one thirsting at broken cisterns in heathen worship and earthly pleasure.ED 153.2–4+2

In his later years, wearied and thirsting, he turned from those broken cisterns to drink at the fountain of life.ED 153.2–4 By inspiration he recorded the history of those wasted years as a warning for after-generations.ED 153.2–4 Although his people reaped the seed of his sowing in harvests of evil, the discipline of suffering accomplished its work in him, and his life-work was not wholly lost.ED 153.2–4