©John Yerkes
Chapter 2:18-26 (ESV) - I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.
There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
Question to consider: When you think about the phrase “toil under the sun”, what comes to mind?
I’m not someone who likes yard work so I think of toil as labor in the heat of the sun which causes tremendous discomfort and requires a period of recovery. I have also never been particularly successful at this activity as despite all my labor in this area, the only things that seem to thrive are weeds.
The toil that Solomon expressed here was not necessarily working the ground in the heat of the day, but it encompassed all forms of work in this life. His hatred was not in the labor it took to bring about its fruits but that what he had created would inevitably be given as an inheritance to a potential fool.
His despair was in knowing that nothing we create in this life is lasting. Even if it survives beyond our lifetime, it will eventually be controlled by someone who will destroy its legacy. One of the more stark examples of this is the Disney corporation. Walt Disney’s vision was always to provide a product that was safe for children and promoted valuable life lessons in an imaginary way. Within a couple of generations it has become a money machine that has destroyed traditional family values and milked its early creative efforts until they have become shallow and dry. I would guess that Walt Disney would be horrified by what his toil under the sun has now become.
If someone were to take this passage out of the context of the rest of the book, they may see labor in itself as a meaningless and vexing endeavor. They may be tempted to participate in the popular notion of “quiet quitting” where people have chosen to do the bare minimum at their job and consider it only as a means to an end. However, Solomon actually breaks his foray into the vantage point of life under the sun by recognizing that God allows our toil to produce something that we can eat, drink or enjoy. Those who think they do so without God’s hand in their success are also acting in vain, and Solomon points out that the fruits of their labor will most likely end up in the hands of someone who pleases God anyway so God can use the futile efforts of the godless to bless His own.
In the new heavens and the new earth where neither moth nor rust destroy, we will still be given a vocation. We were created to carry out the labor in which God will produce His good gifts. I think the communion meal is a wonderful illustration of this. Man labors to till the soil and plant the grains and vines that produce the bread and wine, and through them Christ gives Himself to us as a physical means of grace.
Dear heavenly Father, thank You for giving us vocations with which to serve You and bless one another in Your name. May we seek to use the abilities You have given us to administer Your grace to a world that is in dire need of it. We look forward to the day in which we can use them to properly bring You glory. Amen.