Faith-Rest Drill: Solomon’s Frantic Search for Happiness in Education, Pleasure, & Heritage, Ecclesiastes 1:2-2:19

	6)	Solomon’s summary of his life in reversionism concluded that a life of carnality, even with a maximum of human wisdom and accomplishments, amounted to emptiness without a relationship with the Lord.
Ecclesiastes 1:3 -	“What happiness does a man have from all the labors that he accomplishes under the sun?”
7)	In verses 4-10, Solomon compares human life without a relationship with the Lord to going around in circles.  Verse 4: generations come and generations go.  Verse 5: the sun rises and sets day after day.  Verse 6: the winds blow to the south and circulate back to the north and then do it all over again.  Verse 7: rivers flow into the sea, their water evaporates and becomes clouds which rain on the land and flows back into the rivers.
8)	Principle:  Those who seek happiness and pleasure out of human life are bound in a cycle that simply repeats itself throughout history and none is remembered:
Ecclesiastes 1:11 -	There is no remembrance of the earlier cycles and also of the later cycles which will occur.  There will be for them no remembrance among those who will come later still.
9)	Solomon has been rightly characterized as a man of great wisdom, an observation confirmed by his writings in Proverbs.  But during his time of reversionism his wisdom was unable to alert him to the emptiness that resulted from his every attempt to create happiness from human resources.
10)	Solomon’s frantic search for happiness thus resulted in abundant efforts to capture happiness from cosmos diabolicus.

11)	And remember, Solomon had the capital to pursue any avenue of success, any source of pleasure, any prospect for gratification, or any accouterment of luxury.
12)	Therefore, don’t ever think that if you just had enough money you could buy happiness.  If Solomon couldn’t, you won’t be able to either.
13)	He lets us in on of few of his futile efforts:
1)	Education. Solomon aggressively pursued human knowledge:
Ecclesiastes 1:13 -	I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven.  It is a grievous task which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.
1.	Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Creator of all things:
Colossians 1:16 -		By means of Christ all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through His agency and for Him.
2.	Since Christ preexisted creation then He is preeminent over all that He has created.
3.	The word for “creation” in verse 16 is the aorist passive indicative of the verb:
kt…zw -	“were created”
4.	The aorist tense is constative which refers to punctiliar action.  It contemplates the action in its entirety and gathers it into a single whole.  The creative act occurred at a point in time and was completed in its entirety.
5.	The constative aorist thus disproves the theology of evolution.  Christ is revealed as the Member of the Trinity Who served as the Agent of creation.

6.	“All things” refer to the energy and matter brought into existence at the moment of the creation.  Energy and matter did not create themselves.  The passive voice says the creation received the action of being created at a moment of time.
7.	Thus the existence of the universe is the effect brought about by original cause, the creative act of Christ.  The indicative mood indicates that this is a statement of biblical, theological, and historical fact.
8.	The next verse has all this information in view when it asserts that the entire creation is dependent upon Jesus Christ for its sustenance and its endurance.
Colossians 1:17 -		Christ is before all things and by means of Him all things are held together.
9.	Matter and energy will continue to maintain its current status quo until Jesus Christ chooses to release them in the ultimate catastrophe described in 2 Peter 3:10,12.
10.	In the meantime, the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ possesses complete knowledge of all that is knowable, a part of which are the laws which hold this universe together.  These divine laws explain all the phenomena that we are presumptuous enough to refer to as “scientific laws.”
11.	Imagine for a moment the task mankind has before him when he endeavors to acquire maximum knowledge of the world and universe around him.  He cannot acquire it all thus the more he learns the more frustrated and discouraged he becomes.
12.	This is the condition in which Solomon found himself when in:
Ecclesiastes 1:13 -	… to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven.  It is a grievous task which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.

13.	Thus Solomon learned from his quest for knowledge that it too led to more emptiness.
Ecclesiastes 1:14 -	I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun and behold, all is emptiness and chasing after the wind.
2)	Pleasure & Possessions.  After advanced education left him still running on empty, Solomon decided to sublimate his frustrations through good times and alcohol.
Ecclesiastes 2:1 -	I said to myself, “Come now, l will test you with pleasure.  So enjoy yourself.”  And behold, it too was emptiness.
1.	After he got out of alcohol rehab he decided to take up some projects to occupy his time.  He was a genius in architecture and engineering so he took up a number of building projects.
2.	In Ecclesiastes 2:4-10 we see a long list of projects that Solomon accomplished.
3.	Some included the construction of houses, vineyards, gardens, parks, orchards, and irrigation systems.
4.	In addition he acquired slaves, flocks and herds.  He acquired money and treasures.
5.	He hired the best singers to come to Jerusalem to entertain him and concubines to service him.
Ecclesiastes 2:10 -	All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them.  I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor.
6.	Solomon’s attitude was, “As long as I’m doing the work of the people it doesn’t matter what I do in my private life.”  Nevertheless, we learn from his comment in verse nine that his “wisdom stood by him.”  His wisdom finally revealed to him the emptiness of his pleasure and possessions:

Ecclesiastes 2:11 -	Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted.  Behold, all was emptiness and chasing after wind and there was no happiness under the sun.
7.	Nevertheless, the energy and effort Solomon had expended toward creating his own happiness led to bitterness which he expresses in:
Ecclesiastes 2:17 -	I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me.  Everything is emptiness and chasing after wind.
3.	Family Heritage.  Next he turned his attention to his children and the prospect of preparing his first-born son for the throne.
1.	This proved even more frustrating.  Few men are qualified to rule justly as kings and the idea that there can be a successive line of good leaders from the same gene pool is ridiculous, especially under a system of primogeniture.
2.	The heir apparent to Solomon’s throne was Rehoboam.  Solomon was not a fool and therefore had the wisdom to discern that his first-born son was.
3.	He hated the fact that all the work he had performed had not brought about happiness.  He then hated the idea that he had to leave all of these things behind when he died.
4.	Worse, he had to leave not only his estate but also his kingdom to Rehoboam whom Solomon considered to be a fool.
Ecclesiastes 2:18 -	I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun for I must leave it to the man who will come after me.
v 19 -		Who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool?  Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun.  This too is emptiness.

5.	Solomon’s suspicions were right.  Rehoboam was such a poor leader that his kingdom suffered a civil war that split the nation in two.
6.	The Southern Kingdom based in Jerusalem was known as Judah and consisted of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin while the Northern Kingdom based its capital in Samaria and called itself Israel.  It was made up of the other ten tribes.
7.	So Rehoboam did not provide Solomon with the happiness he sought through family heritage.