Ecc 2:18-23 | Clarke | STEP | Verse 18 I hated all my labor - Because, 1. It has not answered the end for which it was instituted. 2. I can enjoy the fruits of it but a short time. 3. I must leave it to others, and know not whether a wise man, a knave, or a fool will possess it.

‏ Ecclesiastes 2:18-23

Verse 18

I hated all my labor - Because,

1. It has not answered the end for which it was instituted.

2. I can enjoy the fruits of it but a short time.

3. I must leave it to others, and know not whether a wise man, a knave, or a fool will possess it. Verse 19

A wise man or a fool? - Alas! Solomon, the wisest of all men, made the worst use of his wisdom, had three hundred wives and seven hundred concubines, and yet left but one son behind him, to possess his estates and his throne, and that one was the silliest of fools! Verse 20

I went about to cause my heart to despair - What makes all worse, there is no remedy. It is impossible in the present state of things to prevent these evils. Verse 21

For there is a man - Does he not allude to himself? As if he had said, "I have labored to cultivate my mind in wisdom and in science, in knowledge of men and things, and have endeavored to establish equity and dispense justice. And now I find I shall leave all the fruits of my labor to a man that hath not labored therein, and consequently cannot prize what I have wrought." Does he not refer to his son Rehoboam? Verse 22

For what hath man of all his laborer - Labour of body, disappointment of hope, and vexation of heart, have been all my portion. Verse 23

His days are sorrows - What a picture of human life where the heart is not filled with the peace and love of God! All his days are sorrows; all his labors griefs; all his nights restless; for he has no portion but merely what earth can give; and that is embittered by the labor of acquisition, and the disappointment in the using.

This is also vanity - Emptiness of good and substantial misery.