Ecclesiastes 2:25 Commentary and Bible Study

This verse provides the reason why it can only be by the gift of God that any find contentment in this life. The unstated assumption behind it is that Solomon with all his searching had failed to find satisfaction, for, as he has already told us, his conclusion in all his search for pleasure was that all is vanity. If it had been possible for a man to find happiness in life from sensual pleasure alone without the hand of God being involved, then Solomon would surely have been that man, for who could put in more effort and who could go about this search more vigorously than he did? Yet he found only frustration and emptiness. He is not boasting when he says this, but speaking realistically. ‘Who can experiment more than I?’ No man who does not receive the help of God is going to succeed where he has failed. He does not teach that the quest for happiness is entirely impossible, but he admits that it was beyond his natural powers to secure it. Since even the unparalleled effort he put into this search resulted in nothing, then success must come from the hand of God alone.