For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun?
Solomon's question belongs to his deliberate testing of worldly pleasure, in which he pursued every desire and gave himself to enjoyment and to the enlargement of Jerusalem. That pursuit was part of his departure from God and contributed to Israel's spiritual decline. The question asks what lasting gain a man retains from all his labour and from the vexation and striving of his heart expended under the sun. It points to the toil, burden and inward distress bound up with human work.
Looking back on his works he found only regret, for they brought no lasting profit or good but vanity and vexation. Human effort apart from God is futile, and seeking pleasure and luxury without hope in God produces only vanity and vexation. Worldly pleasure and gain pursued through labour amount to vanity and vexation rather than lasting benefit. Even all the kingdoms of the world and their glory are worthless beside the prospect of an everlasting inheritance.
This futility is lived out as sorrow and inward distress in a world subject to the curse, where men endure grief through their days and cannot find rest even at night. Success itself leaves worry, vexation, grief and care rather than lasting good. Reflection on this corrects pride, since greatness and happiness do not necessarily go together.
Solomon's question belongs to his deliberate testing of worldly pleasure, in which he pursued every desire and gave himself to enjoyment and to the enlargement of Jerusalem. That pursuit was part of his departure from God and contributed to Israel's spiritual decline. The question asks what lasting gain a man retains from all his labour and from the vexation and striving of his heart expended under the sun. It points to the toil, burden and inward distress bound up with human work.
Looking back on his works he found only regret, for they brought no lasting profit or good but vanity and vexation. Human effort apart from God is futile, and seeking pleasure and luxury without hope in God produces only vanity and vexation. Worldly pleasure and gain pursued through labour amount to vanity and vexation rather than lasting benefit. Even all the kingdoms of the world and their glory are worthless beside the prospect of an everlasting inheritance.
This futility is lived out as sorrow and inward distress in a world subject to the curse, where men endure grief through their days and cannot find rest even at night. Success itself leaves worry, vexation, grief and care rather than lasting good. Reflection on this corrects pride, since greatness and happiness do not necessarily go together.