Ancient Poem

Ecclesiastes 2:1-11

Pleasures Are Meaningless

 ¹ I thought in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good." But that also proved to be meaningless. ² "Laughter," I said, "is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?" ³ I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.

 ⁴ I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. ⁵ I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. ⁶ I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. ⁷ I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. ⁸ I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harem as well—the delights of the heart of man. ⁹ I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.

 ¹⁰ I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
       I refused my heart no pleasure.
       My heart took delight in all my work,
       and this was the reward for all my labor.

 ¹¹ Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
       and what I had toiled to achieve,
       everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
       nothing was gained under the sun. 



Speech

Ecclesiastes is best known as being a philosophical look at life. Most people believe this book of the bible was written by King Solomon around 940 to 930 BC. You can tell this book is from sometime during Solomon’s reign because of the many references to the prosperity and riches of the kingdom.  Ecclesiastes 2 talks of pleasure being meaningless, how it is chasing after the wind to find pleasure. By this he means that with all of our accomplishments the pleasure of them is only temporary and they will only give us temporary security and self-worth. Most of the information about King Solomon comes from other books of the bible like 1^st Kings. In 1 Kings it tells that Solomon could not say no to pleasures or things that he wanted. Doing this, he defied God by thinking himself to be above the rules God placed upon his people.  As the luxury in Solomon’s palace grew so did the taxes, which made conditions fit for a rebellion. Which did indeed happen, the prophet Ahijah told a rebel leader that God would give him ten tribes of Israel but leave two tribes for Solomon for the sake of David a man after God’s own heart. Towards the end of his life Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes no doubt looking back on his life and realizing all he did was worthless because it brought him no lasting pleasure. Also he saw that only God could have given any meaning or pleasure to his life. Solomon also states that he does not know who will come after him and if this person, who will gain control of all he has poured his effort into, will be a fool or wise man. This shows that hard work bears no lasting benefit if it is done only for money and possessions. Not only does this poetic work relate to the time period when it was written it also relates to today. It shows how relevant the bible is to life now, there are many examples of people who have made a lot of money and haven’t found happiness. A few who come to mind is Lindsay Lohan, and Britney Spears.