Ecclesiastes 2:2 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Ecclesiastes 2:2

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Solomon looked critically at every experience he tried, subjecting it to the scrutiny of wisdom and probing it in a way that most would never dream of. For the vast majority of men and women, when they are given to laughter and mirth, all their attention is absorbed and there is no room for anything other than the enjoyment of the experience itself – the faculty of discernment is switched off. But Solomon would never abandon his search for meaning and purpose and, beyond the sensation of the present moment, he had a much more serious goal. Consider laughter, he says, and what must you conclude? ‘It is madness.’ This does not mean he entirely rejected the gift of humour. What he is speaking of is an attempt to make laughter a source of the meaning of life, the one ingredient that can provide purpose to life. But what happens if we meet every experience in life with humour and mirth? What are we left with if we respond to every situation with laughter, no matter how inappropriate? Can we laugh at tragedy, at bereavement, at cruelty, and at injustice? Can we treat lightly dishonesty and betrayal, selfishness and malice? Do we understand anything about them when we respond in this way? No, to so respond is equivalent to madness because it detaches us from reality. Like the madman, we lose touch with the real significance of these serious events in life. If we respond with mirth to everything in an attempt to protect ourselves from the harshness of life, it leaves us as only half the people we should be. Who would try to find any real comfort from someone who can only respond to our trials with humour? At times we want others to weep with us and not just to laugh with us.

Application

Of mirth, asks the Preacher, ‘What does it accomplish?’ When it claims to be the secret of a happy life, it is like an anaesthetic which dulls the pain of life leaving us numb? In that state of numbness, we lose all sensitivity to the real needs of others and falsely reduce everything to the frivolous. Mirth does not penetrate any of the deep mysteries of life or help us to develop kindness or gentleness. It certainly does not face up to our alienation from God, or tell us about our need of forgiveness, how sin can be removed, or how we may prepare for the world to come. To meet death with humour is indeed madness, but we hear of some who try to make a joke out of their own end – self-destructively seeking human praise to the last moment whatever the cost. It is like a man in an orchestra who can only play one note.

Solomon’s lesson however is not: everything should have its place, don’t take anything to extremes, all things in moderation. A little bit of idolatry is not acceptable. The Christian seeks his all in Christ. Humour is a gift of God and part of our nature, but it is acceptable only in a life that has first been devoted to God.

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Ecclesiastes 2:2 Commentary and Bible Study