God made life for enjoyment and investment (1 Tim. 6:17–19), but Solomon decided to turn it into experiment. He tested his heart with pleasure (vv. 1–3), works (vv. 4–6), and the acquisition of wealth (vv. 7–9), and he discovered that they did not satisfy. These things can bring a certain amount of enjoyment while you are doing them, but when it is all over, you feel empty (vv. 10–11). Enjoyment without God is only entertainment, not enrichment; you cannot live on entertainment.
At that point Solomon became cynical and hated life (vv. 12–23; see also Ps. 34:11–14; 1 Pet. 3:10–12). “Why bother to do all these things,” he asked, “when I am going to die anyway? Who will remember me?” Paul’s answer is found in 1 Corinthians 15:58 and John’s in 1 John 2:17.
Instead of complaining about what you do not have, thank God for what you do have and enjoy it (vv. 24–26).
The Cynic
Henry Ward Beecher described a cynic as a person who “never sees a good quality in a man, and never fails to see a bad one. He is the human owl, vigilant in darkness, and blind to light, mousing for vermin, and never seeing noble game.”
