Ecclesiastes 1:14 Commentary and Bible Study

He summaries his findings before telling us the details of his enquiry. He had explored, ‘all the works that are done under the sun’, and these words mean that he had not left out any significant area of human gratification, so that no one could say, ‘You have not tried this’. ‘All’, Solomon insists, ‘is vanity and striving after wind’. The word ‘striving after’ means ‘grasping for’ or ‘longing for’. It is a driving desire that gives a man no rest until he has obtained what he wants. It leaves him with a deep sense of longing and dissatisfaction but never closes the door entirely, and seems to promise that if only he can go a little further, around the next corner his soul will be filled and he can then rest. He is continually persuaded that some thing or other, some sensory experience or other, will fill the void in his soul. But all this is like striving after wind. The happiness which it promises is an illusion which makes us restless, but never delivers the promised peace of mind. Man remains discontented and like one who tries to capture the wind in his hands, he is certain to be always frustrated. and never to find the promised gain.