I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees:
The verse records one of Solomon's great earthly works, the making of pools of water to water the wood that brings forth trees and the trees in his gardens. This work was part of his search for his highest good and lasting satisfaction in earthly things, in earthly pleasures and achievements, and in what his hands could make. That wider undertaking included houses, vineyards, gardens and orchards, servants and maidens, silver and gold and the special treasure of kings and of the provinces, singers and the delights of men. By these things he became great and increased more than all that were before him in Jerusalem, keeping back nothing his eyes desired and withholding his heart from no joy, because his heart rejoiced in all his labor.
The work and its results gave no lasting satisfaction, and looking on all the works his hands had wrought he judged them vanity and vexation of spirit, with no profit under the sun and empty without God. That empty search led him to hate life and to hate all his labor. His earthly goods were broken cisterns that left him wearied and thirsting, and in his later years he turned from them to drink again at the fountain of life. By inspiration he recorded the history of those wasted years, including this work, as a lesson of warning for later generations, so that through the discipline of suffering his life work was not wholly lost, even though his people reaped harvests of evil from his sowing.
The verse records one of Solomon's great earthly works, the making of pools of water to water the wood that brings forth trees and the trees in his gardens. This work was part of his search for his highest good and lasting satisfaction in earthly things, in earthly pleasures and achievements, and in what his hands could make. That wider undertaking included houses, vineyards, gardens and orchards, servants and maidens, silver and gold and the special treasure of kings and of the provinces, singers and the delights of men. By these things he became great and increased more than all that were before him in Jerusalem, keeping back nothing his eyes desired and withholding his heart from no joy, because his heart rejoiced in all his labor.
The work and its results gave no lasting satisfaction, and looking on all the works his hands had wrought he judged them vanity and vexation of spirit, with no profit under the sun and empty without God. That empty search led him to hate life and to hate all his labor. His earthly goods were broken cisterns that left him wearied and thirsting, and in his later years he turned from them to drink again at the fountain of life. By inspiration he recorded the history of those wasted years, including this work, as a lesson of warning for later generations, so that through the discipline of suffering his life work was not wholly lost, even though his people reaped harvests of evil from his sowing.