ECCLESIASTES 2 .21-26

21. For there is a man whose labour has been with wisdom, and with knowledge, and with skill, and who leaves it to a man that has not laboured therein, to be his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.

22. For what will man have of all his labour and of the striving of his heart, wherewith he has wearied himself under the sun?

23. For all his days are sorrows, and his travail vexation: even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.

24. There is nothing better for man, than that he should eat and drink, and find enjoyment in his labour. This I also saw is from the hand of God.

25. For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him?

26. For he gives to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he giveth travail to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good in God's sight. This also is vanity and pursuit of the wind.

As the Koheleth again bemoans what he sees as a great evil -- the fact that the vast estate he had toiled and worried and spent sleepless nights to create will one day be given to someone who had not earned it – and although, despite his great wisdom and intelligence he cannot fathom the purpose of God, he does finally begin to draw some important conclusions from his experiment in living

Firstly, he sees that his selfish and obsessive striving for high achievement and riches for their own sake is a futile vanity, a waste of time and energy, and ending in misery. That was certainly not the way life should be lived.

Secondly, he sees that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy the simple pleasures of life – and, as one version puts it, to make himself find pleasure in his work. Notice that despite his selfish motives, the Koheleth did find pleasure in his work, notably because it was creative and constructive. The implication seems to be that, whatever our occupation, we should try to find ways to make our work and that of other people around us not only more productive and valuable, but enjoyable.

Thirdly, Solomon sees that instead of obsessively and selfishly striving to provide for our needs, we should look to the hand of God to provide (verse 24), as do the birds in the fields and hedgerows, as Jesus later pointed out – because God actually gives to a man that is good (verse 26).

In fact, God will even take some of the wealth Accumulated and Amassed by the Koheleths of the world to do just that – as Solomon explains when he says: but to the sinner he giveth travail to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good in God's sight.

All these inspired lessons were later drawn out and taught by Jesus -- the Anti-Koheleth, the one who came to live the perfect life and who went about doing good (Acts 10:38).

When his as-yet-unconverted disciples argued about who would be the greatest in the Kingdom of God, Jesus said, Quote: Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first, must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve (Matthew 20:26-27).

As king of Israel and able to tax the nations around him, Solomon’s possessed the physical resources, the massive intellect, the God-given wisdom and the creative genius to be able to serve his people mightily -- to educate them, unlock their human potential, and make Israel the greatest and most righteous nation on the face of the Earth, as God intended, in order to serve as a model for all other nations to aspire to (Deuteronomy 28:1-14). Instead, sadly, he chose to become a Koheleth, working to aggrandize himself.