Work is Pointless
Ecclesiastes 2: 18-23
Work is pointless DIG: Why do you work? When do you feel like not working? What is meaningful work for you? Are you working under the sun or above the sun?
REFLECT: What is the solution for not wasting your work under the sun? What kind of difference will I make with my life? Will I have anything to show for my hard work?
If you make work your life, it will leave you empty.
Remember Solomon’s quest. In headlong pursuit of the meaning of life, the Teacher indulged in all the pleasures of the flesh. Afterwards he reconsidered the advantages of wisdom as compared to folly. But no matter how hard he tried, his quest failed. Eventually, he ended up hating everything under the sun, cutting God out of the picture, and one of those things that he hated most of all was work. I hated all the things for which I had worked under the sun, because I saw that I would have to leave them to the man who will come after me (2:18). He works hard, then he dies. What happens to his wealth after his death? He couldn’t take it with him!260 On his own principles, the man who worked under the sun should hardly object to this, provided his money lasted his lifetime; yet he does mind, for he shares our inbuilt longing for what is permanent. The more he has toiled at his life’s work, the more galling will be the thought of its fruits falling into the hands of others – and as likely as not, into the wrong hands. This is another blow to the hope of finding fulfillment in hard work. His very success will accentuate the pointlessness of it all.261
This verse continues and completes the thought of the previous verse. Expressing utter skepticism, the Teacher exclaimed: Who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? I may work diligently and wisely through my whole life, but, when I die, a fool may take over the benefit of my labor. Yet this fool will have control over all the things I worked for and which demonstrated how wise I am under the sun. Solomon felt this loss deeply. The king used this rhetorical device to reveal that no one, especially himself, knows the answer to the question, and that frustrated him greatly. Contemplating that possibility led Solomon to once again conclude that life is pointless (2:19).262
Solomon was the world’s most successful businessman. But when the king died, he left all of his earnings to his oldest son, Rehoboam. The Teacher may not have known whether his successor would be wise, but we certainly do. Rehoboam was such a fool that he lost more than eighty percent of his father’s kingdom and divided the monarchy (to see the link click Dc – A House Divided). Thus, I came to despair over all the things I had worked for under the sun. Here is a man whose work is done with wisdom, knowledge and skill; yet he has to leave it to someone who has put no work into it. Solomon concludes with a punch by calling the situation described here as being evil. Showing his moral outrage over the unfairness of life, the king said: This is not only pointless, but a great evil (2:20-21). An abyss of despair results.
Leaving it all behind is bad enough, but there is another serious problem with work, and that is the work itself! The first problem is that our work will be someone else’s reward. The second problem is that our work itself is toil and trouble. For what does a person get in this life from all the work he does under the sun? When the Teacher talks about toiling under the sun, we imagine someone working long, hot hours out in the fields, sweating under the high humidity and burning heat. But no matter what kind of work we do it always takes its toll on us. His whole life is one of pain, and his work is full of stress; even at night his mind gets no rest. This too is pointless (2:22-23). The compulsive worker, overloading his days with toil and his nights with worry, has missed the simple joys that ADONAI is holding out to him. The real issue for him was not between work and rest, but, had he only known, between pointless work and meaningful work.263
For believers, meaningful work is work above the sun, looking to Messiah the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2a). For, whatever we do, we should do it from the heart, as for the Lord and not for others (Colossians 3:23 NAB). Joseph is a good example of this. He probably had more hardships than most of us. He was sold into slavery by his brothers, wrongfully put in prison and had to stay there much longer than he should have. But because he was faithful to work above the sun, he was able to save his family from starvation, save all of Egypt and most of the world also. Our successes may not be as dramatic, but they will be just as pleasing to ADONAI when we keep our eyes on Him.
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