Chapter Two

1–11. The vanity of worldly merriment. 12–17. The same fate of wise and foolish. 18–23. The vanity of labor. 24–26. Food as a gift of God.

Ecclesiastes 2:1. I said to myself, “Come now, let me test you with pleasure, and enjoy what is good”; but this too is vanity! Convinced that the pursuit of truth increases inner dissatisfaction, deprives man of peace and everyday joys, the Ecclesiastes decides to look at life with careless eyes, with complete thoughtlessness to give himself over to merriment, to seek happiness not in spiritual but in sensual pleasures. The Slavic “behold in delight” means: experience pleasure by trial.

Ecclesiastes 2:2. About laughter I said, “It is madness!”, and about pleasure: “What does it accomplish? But this attempt too ended in failure. Careless gaiety, which amuses itself with essentially trivial and vulgar things, is nothing more than madness and cannot give anything positive for human happiness. Laughter and merriment appear here in the form of persons to whom the Ecclesiastes addresses speech. One should translate: “to laughter I said: madness! and to merriment: what does it do.” Slavic – “To laughter I said: transgression, and to merriment: what are you doing?”

Ecclesiastes 2:3. I undertook great works: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards for myself; and while my heart was guided by wisdom, I thought to try folly, to see what was good for the sons of men, what they should do under heaven in the few days of their life. The Ecclesiastes gave himself to sensual pleasures (in particular – wine-drinking) not by natural inclination of the heart but with a critical goal, as a researcher, as a philosopher; deciding to maintain folly, that is, carefree and lighthearted merriment, he did not cease to be guided by wisdom, philosophically weighing how truly the happiness he was experiencing could be.

Ecclesiastes 2:4. I undertook great works: I built myself houses and planted vineyards; “Houses,” that is, Solomon’s own dwellings, but not the temple built by him. Vineyards of Solomon are mentioned only in the Song of Songs (Eccl 8:11).

Ecclesiastes 2:5. I made myself gardens and parks, and planted every kind of fruit tree in them; The existence of royal gardens in Jerusalem is mentioned in 2 Sam 21:18; Jer 39:4; Nehem 3:15.

Ecclesiastes 2:6. I made myself pools from which to water the grove of growing trees; The royal pool is mentioned in Nehem 2:14 (cf. Isa 22:11). That this pool was built by Solomon is mentioned only in the Book of Ecclesiastes. Jewish tradition also attributes it to Solomon. At present, on the road from Jerusalem to Hebron, at a distance of 2½ hours’ journey, there are the so-called pools of Solomon. According to the testimony of Josephus Flavius, water from Solomon’s pools was brought into Jerusalem for the needs of the temple and the whole city. This testimony deserves full confidence, since these pools stand above the Haram plaza, on which Solomon’s temple stood, approximately 130 feet, and since there now remain fragments of aqueducts connecting Solomon’s pools with Jerusalem.

Ecclesiastes 2:7. I acquired servants and maidservants, and had slaves born in my house; I also had great herds and flocks, more than all who were before me in Jerusalem; “Slaves born in my house,” that is, those born from slaves in the master’s house.

Ecclesiastes 2:8. I gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasures of kings and provinces; I appointed for myself male and female singers, and the pleasures of the sons of men – various musical instruments. The receipt of gifts from kings is mentioned in 1 Sam 4:21. By provinces are meant the 12 districts into which Solomon divided all his land (1 Sam 4:7 and following). “The pleasures of the sons of men – various musical instruments.” The Hebrew word shiddah and plural shiddoth is translated variously. The LXX, Vulgate, Jerome (in his commentary) and the Slavic translation, deriving from Aramaic sheda, translate: “cupbearers and cupbearers.” Others, like the Russian translation, deriving the word from an Arabic root, translate: “various musical instruments.” Still others, deriving from shadad – to rule, translate: “lady and ladies.” Some, finally, deriving from Arabic shadid (fullness) or Hebrew shadah (to flow), translate: “fullness and abundance of pleasures of the sons of men,” that is, a multitude of women and concubines. The word shiddah occurs only in Ecclesiastes. Therefore, one cannot determine its meaning with confidence. However, apparently, one should give preference to the last two understandings, since, in the words of Michaelis, “it is almost incredible that Solomon in a narrative about his sensual pleasures could forget about women.” As is evident from 1 Sam 11:3 Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines.

Ecclesiastes 2:9. So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; and my wisdom remained with me. “And my wisdom remained with me.” The Ecclesiastes did not forget about the ultimate goal of his experiments – to investigate the essence of true happiness and, at the same time, the meaning of human life (verse 3).

Ecclesiastes 2:10. 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 for all my labor. The pleasures and delights of the Ecclesiastes were not diversions of an idle and inactive man. They were rest and reward for hard labor, and apparently should have given him complete moral satisfaction.

Ecclesiastes 2:11. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor by which I had toiled; and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was no gain under the sun! The hope of the Ecclesiastes was not fulfilled. The joys of labor did not satisfy his striving for happiness. He saw that there is no complete happiness (Ithron) on earth.

Ecclesiastes 2:12. So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what can the man do who comes after the king? What has already been done! The experience of the Ecclesiastes gave him a full opportunity to make a comparative evaluation of wisdom and folly from the point of view of happiness. More gifted with wisdom than others, and having experienced all that folly enjoys, he could better than others know the difference between wisdom and folly. After him no one could add anything to his conclusions. This is how one should understand the second half of verse 12. The words: “for what man is there that comes after the king” (exact translation), many exegetes understand in connection with Eccl 2:18-19, where the Ecclesiastes expresses doubt about what his successor will be, wise or foolish, and translate thus: “for what man is it that comes after the king, in comparison with one long made king.” But in that case the second half of the verse would in no way explain the first; that is, it would be unclear why exactly the Ecclesiastes considered himself an authority on the question of wisdom and folly. Although the Russian translation of verse 12 is not literal, it correctly conveys the thought of the original. The Slavic translation: “for who is the man who will go in the footstep of counsel, as much as he has done in him,” as in the LXX, makes no sense because of text corruption. Instead of the counsel should be read the king, instead of “counsel” – “king.”

Ecclesiastes 2:13. and I saw that the advantage of wisdom over folly is the same as the advantage of light over darkness: The Ecclesiastes does not deny the enormous superiority of wisdom over folly, as of light over darkness.

Ecclesiastes 2:14. the wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness; yet I realized that the same fate overtakes them all. But illuminating all that remains dark to the fool, wisdom is powerless to change the natural order of things. Before him it is as powerless as folly. The irremovable power of the natural order of things over wisdom is particularly revealed in the fact that both the wise and the foolish are equally subject to death.

Ecclesiastes 2:15. Then I said to myself, “The fate of the fool will also befall me; why then have I been so very wise?” And I said to myself that this too is vanity; If death equally rules over the wise and the foolish, leaving to both of them as their portion life in Sheol, devoid of reflection, knowledge and wisdom (Eccl 9:10), then the value of wisdom is insignificant. It cannot give man happiness.

Ecclesiastes 2:16. for the wise man will not be remembered any more than the fool; in the days that come, both will be forgotten. And how the wise man dies – just like the fool! The wise man can find no comfort even in what is called historical immortality. With the passage of time, he, like the fool, will be forgotten. Death is equally heavy for both the wise and the foolish.

Ecclesiastes 2:17. So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a striving after wind! The fact of death, which rules equally over the wise and the foolish, so struck the consciousness and moral sense of the Ecclesiastes that life lost its value, its meaning in his eyes, became for him an object of hatred and aversion. Whether the Ecclesiastes actually experienced such a state or came to this conclusion theoretically, through observation and reflection, is not important; it is certain that a man seeking complete happiness within the bounds of earthly existence, setting himself ideals within empirical facts, inevitably comes to complete disillusionment and, in the end, to extreme pessimism. Empirical, sensual worldview is not able to contain the eternal ideals of mankind and therefore generates in it a sense of insignificance, the purposelessness of existence. All these ideals are ruthlessly destroyed by the simple fact of death.

Ecclesiastes 2:18. So I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to someone who will come after me. Ecclesiastes 2:19. and who knows whether he will be wise or foolish? Yet he will be master of all my labor with which I have labored and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity! Together with the thought of death, man could to some extent be reconciled by the assurance that what he has created will not die, but will serve as the foundation on which subsequent generations will build a lasting edifice of human happiness. But man has no such assurance, for he does not know what his heir and successor will be like, whether he will continue or destroy his work.

Ecclesiastes 2:20. So I turned myself to despair over all the labor which I had toiled under the sun. This circumstance deprives labor of all value, all meaning. The Ecclesiastes renounces labor, renounces all hope of finding satisfaction in it.

Ecclesiastes 2:21. For there is a man who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill, and yet he must leave his portion to a man who has not toiled for it. This also is vanity and a great evil! The mere fact that the fruit of the labors of one man benefits another who took no part in them is a crying injustice, a great evil.

Ecclesiastes 2:22. For what does a man gain from all the toil and the striving of his heart with which he toils under the sun? Ecclesiastes 2:23. For all his days his work is grievous, and his occupation is troubled; even at night his heart has no rest. This also is vanity! For the laborer himself labor gives nothing truly valuable. His constant companions are sorrows and anxieties.

Ecclesiastes 2:24. There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God; Ecclesiastes 2:25. for apart from Him, who can eat or find enjoyment? Ecclesiastes 2:26. To the man who pleases Him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and joy; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and heaping, only to give to the one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind! The result of labor is so insignificant that it cannot fully ensure for man even the most elementary goods. The Ecclesiastes from his life experience became convinced that even such goods as eating food and drinking depend on Divine providence, which takes them from the foolish and gives them to the wise. This order of things, which between human activity and its result introduces a new principle, makes human happiness on earth even more unstable, more precarious, increasing the vanity of earthly good. “There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink.” The Russian translation of this place is not precise. The literal translation of the Hebrew text should be: “there is no happiness (tob) for man to eat and drink.” The LXX gave this place such a meaning: “there is no happiness for a man who eats and drinks.” However, such a meaning would be in contradiction with many passages of the Book of Ecclesiastes, especially with Eccl 3:1, where directly expressed is the thought that there is nothing better (tob) than to eat and drink. The Vulgate translates in the form of a question: “is it not better for a man to eat and drink?” But in such a connection the word tob does not occur in the book. Most likely, this place by analogy with parallel passages (Eccl 3:1) should be understood as: “there is nothing better (or happiness) than to eat and drink” (that is, adding the particle mem). Some Greek codices, the Syriac translation, the Targum, Jerome in his commentary (nisi) read thus. “Apart from Him, who can eat or find enjoyment?” According to the present Hebrew text instead of “apart from Him” one should translate: “without me” (mimeni), that is, as I. So translate the Vulgate, Luther and some exegetes. But, first, the expression “without me” still cannot be understood in the sense of: “as I,” second, the thought expressed this way would stand outside any connection with the preceding and following verses, where the dependence of material goods on God is discussed. Instead of the present mimeni one should read mimenu, as the LXX, Syriac translation and others read.