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Bible Notes - Tabernacle Commentaries
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Ecclesiastes 2:10
Comments
In order to make this experiment a success, Solomon cleared away all hindrances to his self-gratification. He allowed no restraint to stand in his way but gave himself all that his flesh desired, denying himself nothing. It could not be that after his search was complete, he could say to himself, I should have allowed myself to go further and then perhaps I would have had success. He had to explore every corner of possibility to the uttermost in his pursuit of happiness. At the same time, he tells us what motivated his continued search. We completely misunderstand the central lesson of the book if we think that Solomon is saying that all occupations on earth are without any satisfaction or reward and provide no motivation whatsoever for continuing to pursue them. On the contrary, they would not draw us if they did not hold out some promise of success. His heart rejoiced in his labour and that joy was sufficient to make him keep going in his pursuit of happiness, but it never entirely satisfied. What it lacked however, it promised to deliver just a little further on, if only Solomon would not give up but carry on a little longer. ‘Jam tomorrow and jam yesterday, but never jam today’ – Lewis Carroll. If there had not been a promise of future success, he would have given up straight away, but he received sufficient reward not to give up. In this way the world strings us along, promising what it is never able to deliver, but drip feeding its pleasures in sufficient quantity to entice us to labour on to our illusionary goal.
Application
It does not help for Christians to so talk down what the world has to offer that they make out that sin has no pleasure in it at all. The unbeliever only concludes that they have never known properly any of its charms and that they have no real experience and so talk from ignorance. This is not a convincing argument. Solomon found sufficient pleasure in his pursuits to continue to motivate him, and he tells us that his heart rejoiced in his labour and his search found its own reward. Christ too tells us that those who give alms to be seen by men and who receive the praise of men certainly have a reward, but the problem lies in the passing nature of that reward.
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