Ecclesiastes 2:26
For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.
Ecclesiastes 2:26 belongs to Solomon's thorough testing of the pleasures of this world, a test no one ever made more fully because no one was better situated for trying what the heart desires. Having wealth and honor and power and wisdom, with everything the heart could wish at his command, he set himself to enjoy carnal pleasure. He sought it in mirth and folly and wine, in great works and houses and vineyards, in gardens and orchards and pools of water, in servants and maidens and great possessions, in silver and gold and peculiar treasure, in men and women singers and all kinds of instrumental music, keeping back nothing his eyes desired. It belongs to the book's teaching that human life and pursuits are vain apart from God, appearing in the account of Solomon's unsatisfying experience of wealth, luxury, and idolatry. It is associated with Solomon giving himself to pleasure and to the aggrandizement of Jerusalem, actions that contributed to Israel's spiritual decline.
The chapter shows that greatness and happiness do not always go together, and reflecting on its account of worldly pursuits and their outcome can humble pride. The verse declares worldly pleasure and gain to be vanity and vexation of spirit. God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to the person who is good in His sight. God shared dominion with humanity to contribute to human joy and pleasure, so that people made in His image could enjoy ruling over a good creation suited to their nature and needs and share in the Creator's pleasure. This gift of wisdom and knowledge belongs to all who hear the Saviour's voice and accept Him as Counselor and Friend, making them truly wise as members of God's family and richer through God's bounty and love than earthly kings, from a treasure-house that remains full.
Wisdom and knowledge come from God and belong among the treasures found in Scripture. To the sinner God gives travail to gather and heap up wealth so that it may be given to him who is good before God, as was fulfilled when one thousand dollars of a gambler's hoarded wealth, the unsatisfying wages of long years of sin, came to help and bless a servant of God in his self-denying work. This transfer shows how safe it is to follow divine direction and to consecrate all to God, who makes people only stewards of His bounty. Human abilities are gifts from God intended for His glory, so admiration for human skill should lead to praise of the Creator rather than stop with the human creature.