Shabbat Shalom everyone. I think we are so blessed to be able to be consistently at the meetings, coming to be under the sound of the Word of God. And I think it is a real blessing for believers to be able to do so on a regular basis. As the King of Israel, David, said many years ago, "Lord, how do I love thy law, thy word? It is my meditation." The days long, David, Melech Yisrael, have said, and also the apostle Shaul Paul said to Timothy, the younger brother, he says, "Study to show yourself a proof unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." "Cutting in a straight line, the word of truth." And for this, we need, of course, to take the time and to study, to learn from the Word of God.

Well, we are opening our Bible to the book of Kohelet, Ecclesiastes in English, Kohelet in Hebrew. And we are going today to read the second chapter. And if the Lord will help me, I'll finalize this chapter as well in this ministry meeting today. So follow me. We have quite a long chapter here. There are actually 26 verses. So let me begin with reading. Kohelet, Ecclesiastes, chapter 2. And so we read, Shlomo, Solomon, the king of Israel, continuing to minister to the nation of Israel whom he gathered to hear what he has to say about his experiences from life and the mistakes that he has gone through and the need for the younger generation to remember their Creator, the God of Israel in the day of their youth.

You and I as well have to listen to these words that will help us to appreciate Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah, who loved us and gave himself for us. So Shlomo continues now in chapter 2, verse 1. And he said, "I said in my heart, go to now. I will test thee with mirth. Therefore, enjoy pleasure. And behold, this also is vanity. I said of Lefter, it is mad. And of mirth, what doth it do? I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom, and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their lives.

I made me great works, I builded me houses, I planted me vineyards, I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of roots. I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees. I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house. Also I had great possession of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me. I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got me men singers and women singers, and the delight of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts.

So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me, and whatsoever mine eyes desire, I kept not from them. I withheld not my heart from any joy, and my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this was my portion of all my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do, and behold, all was vanity and vaxation of spirit, and there was no prophet under the sun. And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly. For what can the man do that cometh after the king, even that which has been already done?

Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness. The wise man's eyes are in his head, but the fool walketh in darkness. And I myself perceived also that one event happened to them all. Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me. And why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart that this is also vanity. For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool forever. Seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man as the fool?

Therefore I hated my life, because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me, for all is vanity and vaxation of spirit. Yea, I hated all my labor which I had taken under the sun, because I should live it unto the man that shall be after me. And who knoweth whether he shall be wise man or a fool? Yet shall he have rule over all my labor, wherein I have labored and wherein I have showed myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity in Hebrew hevel. Therefore went I about to cause my heart to despair of all the labor which I took under the sun.

For there is a man whose labor is in wisdom and in knowledge and in equity. Yet to a man that hath not labored therein shall he leave it for his portion. This is vanity and a great evil. For what hath a man of all his labor and of the vaxation of his heart wherein he has labored under the sun? For all his days are sorrow and his travail grief. Yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity. There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor.

This also I saw that it was from the hand of God. For who can eat? Or who else can hasten here unto more than I? For God giveth 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 before God. This also is vanity and vaxation of spirit. Well, thank the Lord I was able to read the 26 verses for this second chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes in the message that I would like to share with you today. We have talked about Kohelet.

We realize that the name of the book Ecclesiastes is the Greek for the assembly of people. In Hebrew we call it Kahal, a congregation, an assembly. And here we see that this is really the book that was written by divine design, divine inspiration that King Shlomo, the king of Israel, have written in order to help the younger people among the nation of Israel to realize that life without God is vanity. Life setting God aside out of the life of God's people is in vain. It's not profitable because everything here under the sun is really end up to be without any profit when we set God outside of our life.

In the first chapter, if you remember, beloved brothers and sisters, we have learned already from verses 1, 2, and 3 that the preacher that is Shlomo, Solomon, Kohelet, he was the son of David, and he was the king in the city of Jerusalem. And as we have mentioned before, King Shlomo wrote three books, the one of them in his youth, Song of Songs, the one of them in the middle of his life, the book of Proverbs, and this third book you might say, or third instruction for Israel, is the book of Kohelet, Ecclesiastes. He had experienced many things in his life. He was a wealthy man. He had everything he wanted here under the sun.

But apparently, because he neglected to have God in a certain part of his life, he failed. And he ended up, as we find it, marrying many women that are outside from among the nation of Israel. They led him to worship other gods. He built for them all sorts of altars. He began to worship other gods. And it led him away from submission to the living God of Israel. Then he repented. And this is, in a sense, his confession to his failure to live for the God of Israel. And therefore, in this chapter, he began to tell us, Israel, young people, men and women in the whole world, you need God in your life in order to be fulfilled and satisfied here in this world.

And so in chapter 1, if you remember, we talked about the fact that in verses 4 to 11, vanity is seen in the cycle of life. And then in verses 12 to 18, we saw that vanity is seen in human wisdom. One can be so bright and so smart and so wise, but saying to God, no, in my life, all that human wisdom proved to be vanity when that person eventually have to leave this world and to eventually meet the living God one day. And now in chapter 2, this man by the name of Shlomo pointed Israel into three important things. You see, brothers and sisters, you and I constantly try to find purposes in our life.

What is the meaning of life? Why are we living? Why am I here? Why are we here? What is the purpose that we have to accomplish here in this world? So Shlomo in this second chapter, Kohelet, Ecclesiastes, the king of Israel, he presents before Israel his personal search for meaning in his life. You know, we all grow up in our life and we're trying to find some purposes in our life. What I'm going to be? What school I'm going to go to? What job am I going to take? Who I'm going to marry? How many children I'm going to have? How I'm going to raise my family?

What I'm going to accomplish in my business, in my education, in my works here in this world? What is the meaning in life? What is the reason that I'm here in this world? So he presents, this is Solomon, he presents before Israel the search that he had made in his own life to find meaning in his life. Like you and I do every day. You know, we get up in the morning and we begin to do what we have to do. Those of us who have family, we take care of our family. Our wives, you know, raise up the children and prepare them for school.

We as husbands get up in the morning, take the lunchbox and going to work. And we work there and we come home. We're trying to establish certain things in this world. And we want to have a purpose and a meaning in life. And if we forget God and don't have him in our life and think that we can set him aside and not read a word, not pray, not communicate with others about Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah, we find out immediately that there is no meaning here in this world without God. So Solomon being honest at his later part of his life, he is now saying to Israel how he searched for meaning in his very own life.

The king of Israel is not different than you and I. He is a man that was born to his parents just like you and I were born to our own parents. He received the kingdom from David, his father. We received responsibility and inheritance from our own family. So it's not different except that he was in a higher position. He was greater in privileges that maybe you and I have today. But all of us have the desire to find out what is the meaning in my own personal life. So notice what he does here in the first 10 verses. He presents before Israel the search that he had for the meaning of his own life.

He began in verses 1 and 2 by giving us a summary. Look at the summary in verses 1 and 2. I said in my heart. And I would like you to notice that in chapter 2 many times he used the word I, me, mine. I, me, mine. Again and again he repeats this in this second chapter. So he gave us a summary of his search. It's as I said in my heart. Go to now. I will test or prove thee with mirth, with enjoying pleasure. And behold, this also is vanity. Verse 2. I said of laughter, it is mad. And of mirth, what doth it do? He gives us a summary here in verses 1 and 2.

And he says really, you know, Israel is speaking to the nation. He said about himself, he said, I came to myself. Come now. He said, let's enjoy life. Let's have good time. You know, let's enjoy yourself and have good time in your life. So he tried mirth, in Hebrew the word is simcha. He tried pleasure, some good stuff to enjoy in life. Then verses 2, laughter, to have a good time, you know, to enjoy laughter and mirth. Then he kind of summarized and he said, well, what does it do? What does it at the end provide for me? I try mirth and pleasure and all this.

He said at the end, when we finish the laughter and the good time and so on. Then he's coming back and he says, really, at the end, things stay, as it were, in vain. It seems to be, it's empty at the end. I finished this experience. I experienced a good time, but it ended. And everything come back to routine. And here again, I'm continuing to search again for the next thing. You know how it is, brothers and sisters, like us, you know. It's very natural for us because everybody is trying to find out how we're going to accomplish and enjoy and have good time here in this world.

We try it through pleasure. We try it through vacations. We're trying it through accomplishing certain things and so on. And at the end, when we ended up, when we end this time that we seemingly enjoyed ourselves, we are back to routine. And everything is the same. You look back and it's okay. I had a good time. But everything seems to come back down to, he called it here, vain or vanity. At the end, even though I did enjoy my time with laughter and pleasure and mirth and so on. But at the end, I'm back to step number one. I'm looking for it again. I'm trying to repeat this again.

And it's like a search in life. You know, we just came back from one thing and we are finished. We had a good time. We come back and we sit down and say, boy, we need to do it again. And we go back and we have another experience. And then you say, oh, wait a minute. I need to repeat it once again. He's being honest, King Solomon. He doesn't say it's wrong to seek for good and to enjoy a good time. But what he's saying, beloved brothers and sisters, that this cycle of repetition, it's at the end empty if God and our relationship with God is not brought into the picture, brought into the experience.

One of the things that I love to do by taking groups to see the land of Israel is when we have, you might say, good time in Israel. But at the same time, we read the Bible. We teach the word. We pray together. We learn about Yeshua, the Messiah, the reason he came to this world, the price that he paid for the sin of this world. We don't neglect to bring God into this experience because eventually when we come back and we look at this experience, we say, oh, I really had a good time visiting the land of Israel, but I enjoyed to learn about my Messiah, my Savior, my Redeemer who loved me and gave himself for me.

So after he has this summary in verses 1 and 2 of the search for the purpose of life, verses 3 to verse 10, he began to give us some details. And again, beloved brothers and sisters, notice how many times Shlomo, that is Solomon, that is Kohelet, that is Ecclesiastes, mentioned the word I, me and my in these verses. Notice that. Let's just look at them. First of all, in verse 3, 4, 5, 6, all the way to verse 10, he gives us four things. He gives us details. The first thing is showing to us the experience that he had by trying wine, alcohol, and he tried to find, you might say, experimenting with wine, with alcohol.

You know, so he began by saying in verse 3, notice, I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine. Yet, he says, acquainting mine heart with wisdom and to lay hold on folly till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the day of their life. So you know what he said? I'll try to be drinking wine, but I'll do it wisely. You see, I'm not going to do like the foolish guy that is drinking and drinking without maintaining himself in the right way. No, no, no. I will try wine, but I will do it wisely.

I'll drink wine, and I will kind of be more careful. I'll be more sober. I will do it more responsibly, he's saying here in verse 3. He is experimenting with wine, yet he sought to do it wisely in contrast to the one who do it foolishly. You don't start a party unless you have an alcohol there. You cannot go to any certain party, whether it is holidays and things like that. One thing is coming into this picture is let's have some alcoholic beverages. Everywhere. It always has to do with alcohol. Wine. Here is used the word wine instead of using all the other words. But you know what the Bible tells us in the book of Proverbs.

Wine is a mocker. Strong drink is raging. And whosoever is enticed by it is a fool. A glass of wine to drink with your meal is one thing. But here you see that he contrasts himself between the one who drinks without any control and himself. He says listen, I thought in my heart, you know, I will give myself unto wine, but I will do it, you know, I will do it with wisdom, not like the one who is fool. And then he said, until I might see what was that good for the children of men, for the sons of men, which they should do under heaven all the days of their life.

So he began by saying, I've tried alcohol. I've tried to see if that will satisfy me. Well, eventually, you know very well, those that are getting drunk out of alcohol, getting up in the morning with a headache, and they are not controlling their life. You remember what Paul said in Ephesians chapter 5, be not drunk with wine, wherein there is access, but be controlled by Ruach HaKodesh, by the Holy Spirit of God. And so here, he said, I tried wine, but really, it didn't quite satisfy me eventually. Even though I was sober, I was wise in my handling wine, he says, I was wise controlling my drinking of wine, yet, eventually, it didn't satisfy me.

Then in verses 4, 5, and 6, Kohelet, Solomon, experimented with other things. Notice he's reminding us, and this is verse 4, 5, and 6, by making for himself all things here to build and to accomplish here in this world. So verse 4 says, I made me great works. I built me houses. I planted me vineyards. I made me gardens and orchards. And I planted trees. And I planted trees in them of all kinds of roots. I made me pools of water to water there with the wood that bring forth trees. So verses 4, 5, and 6, Shlomo says, look, I had myself houses and vineyards and gardens and orchards and pools of water and so on.

I have accumulated so much. And if you read, beloved brothers and sisters, in 1st King chapter 7, he built a house for himself. And then he built another house outside on the field. And then the wife that he married, the Egyptian wife that the first one that he married, he built for her house. And then he had to build all sort of palaces and houses for all the wives that he had and so on. He accumulated and accumulated. As we read here, houses and vineyards. Read Song of Solomon in chapter 8. Solomon had many vineyards. He was walking through the vineyards. Then he continued with gardens and orchards and pools and so on.

By the way, if you're going to go to Israel today, there are still today marks of the pools of Solomon right there in the city of Jerusalem. 3,000 years ago, you still have today some of the pools that remain from the time that Shlomo built those pools. So he tried. You see, he gives us information here how it is natural for the human race to seek to accumulate things and treasures here in this world. And he finds out that eventually even this didn't satisfy him. Notice in verse 1, he said, this also is vanity. What will men do under the heaven? I've tried this and I've tried that.

And notice again the word I, I made, I builded me, I planted me, I made me, I planted. I, I, I, I, and my is consistently sought to please himself, to try as he searched for the purpose of life, to try to satisfy. But at the end, he declared, it led me astray from the Lord. If I was not content with the living God of Israel, it became vain in my life. In verses 7 and 8, in additional to the details that he had already gave, he experimented with other things. Notice, he began to accumulate himself servants and maidens. Notice verse 7, I got me servants and maidens and I had servants born in my house.

I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were before me in Jerusalem. In verse 8, he continued and he said, I gathered me silver and gold and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces. He said, I got me men singers and women singers and the delights of the sons of men as musical instrument and that of all sorts. So, I didn't only have vineyards and houses and gardens and orchards and pools. He said, in additional to that, he was saying to the people of Israel, I had even servants, people to serve me. Male servants, female servants. I got myself possessions and even cattle above all that were in the city of Jerusalem.

And I gathered me silver and gold and all the peculiar treasures of kings and provinces and I made myself men singers and women singers. Can you imagine? I mean, what more can a man need, right? What more do you need? Plenty of silver, plenty of gold, plenty of treasures. You would think, now I will be satisfied, right? But Solomon teaching us because this is exactly our hearts. Our hearts are no different than King Shlomo. And he just shows us that even all what I have accumulated, women singers, men singers, musical instruments. Even that did not eventually satisfy me. Because really, the only one that can satisfy the soul of a man or woman in a full sense of the word is God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

And we know him, he became a man in the person of the son, Yeshua HaMashiach. He is the one that ultimately can be satisfied. Brothers and sisters, that's why we are struggling ourselves. In our own personal life, we are struggling ourselves. Every day we are struggling. What am I content with? What will satisfy my heart? Am I satisfied with what the Lord has provided for me? Am I content with what the Lord provided for me and then continue on to follow the Lord? And all these things Solomon had and it still didn't satisfy him. Amazing as he described this before us. There is a verse in 1st King chapter 4, if you don't mind to turn there with me for a moment.

We find out the amount of food because he had cattle. He had so many servants, so many maidens, so many wives and so much that he needed to take care of all these people. Well, how he's going to take care of those people that he had. Servants and wives and all the possessions to take care of. People who will take care of everything. Notice what it says in 1st Kings 4 and verse 22 and verse 23 about Solomon's provision. Look at this. In Solomon's provision for one day, only one day, 24 hours. It was 30 measures of fine flour. One measure is 10 bushels. So 300 bushels of fine flour. And 60 measures of meal.

Again, 60 times 10. 600 bushels of meal. Verse 23. 10 fat oxen and 20 oxen out of the pasture and 100 sheep beside. And then he gave you herds and ribucks and fallow deer and fatted fowls. And he had dominion over all the region on this side of the river from and he gave you there. Notice for one day, he needed so many flowers and meal and oxen and the sheep and so on and fowl of the air and so on in order to feed the multitude that he had. And so Solomon was saying to the people of Israel and he says, listen, I was inquiring of all this. I was accumulating all this.

But notice he continued and he's telling Israel and he's telling you and I in verses 9 and 10 that he became so great King Shlomo. He had all that his eye desired. Verses 9 and 10. So I was great and I increased more than all that were before me in Yerushalayim. Also my wisdom remained with me and whatsoever mine eyes desire I kept not from them. I withheld not my heart from any joy for my heart rejoice in all my labor and this was my portion in all my labor. In other words, whatever he wanted, he got it. Imagine just yesterday people were running from store to store to try to find 30-50% sale.

And maybe they have the same thing at home, but no, we need the next one up, right? The next level. If you have a nice phone, no, next year we got to get the next one up. If we had a good radio or television, no, no, no. That's not enough. I got to get the next cut the following year and so on. You know, what he's really showing to us that this is so much the heart, the natural heart of all of us. And yet we find at the end that it still doesn't satisfy us fully. Something is missing. Something is not quite where we want to be.

And you know, brothers and sisters, the Hebrew word, Gan Eden, from Genesis chapter 2 and chapter 3 where God made a garden of delight. The word there is delight. The Hebrew word Eden is delight. And God had placed Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, the garden of delight, where they had anything and everything they ever could wish for. Only enjoy God and what he had given to you. But it didn't take too long. And even they were not satisfied with this. And they violated the word of the Lord by disobeying him by eating from one single tree that God told them not to eat of its fruit, the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

And by doing so, it shows us that they were not satisfied with all what they had. So what happened? Sin came in. God chased them out of the garden. And from that time, beloved brothers and sisters, up till today, we are all chasing after trying to be satisfied in a sense to go back to the garden of delight. And we try to find it anywhere and everything that can be found here upon the face of this earth. And we don't find it. Unless we find it in the person of our Lord, Yeshua, the Messiah. He is the one that can fill our hearts and give us joy and satisfaction, not only for here and now.

Yes, we are failing creatures. We are sinners. We are sinners. But He satisfied our hearts and gives us hope beyond this time and this world under the sun. To continue on as He is speaking everything here under heaven. It really shows us that man who is a fallen creature trying to find satisfaction and he cannot find it unless he turn his heart to the Lord and receive forgiveness of sins, repent and turn to Him. And then, even though he is still failing life, he has hope that is beyond this world, above the sun, in the presence of the Lord, Yeshua, the Messiah. So, beloved, verses 1 to 10, Kohelet, that is Shlomo, he presents before us the search for meaning in his own life.

And he shows us that even though I was owning and I was possessing and accumulating so much here in this world, yet at the end, it didn't help me when I set God outside of my life. I found myself playing the fool and I end up losing all that which God had intended to give unto me. So, now that he presented this, the search for meaning in his own life, in verses 11 to 23, he is now reflecting upon that. And he is looking back. He analyzed that. You know, like we make decisions in our life and then later on we analyze it. Should I have done it or shouldn't I?

Was it wise for me to do it or it wasn't? Did I benefit from that or I didn't? Did my family were blessed by that or not? Did it help my fellow friend or not? You begin to analyze. You know, I tried that, I've done this, I've done that and so on. And then you really look back and you begin to analyze it. Was it wise or foolish? Was it smart? Was it beneficial? Was it honoring to the Lord? Did it get me a little bit ahead spiritually in my life and so on? So, Shlomo is now analyzing everything from verse 11 to verse 23 before he gives us the conclusion in this second chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes.

So, let me run this by you, please, beloved brothers and sisters. He began, first of all, in verse 11 and Solomon reflect upon all the works of his hands and he concluded that all is vanity. Notice that? He says, first of all, and I'm reading verse 11. Then, notice the word then. After I've experienced everything, after I've, you might say, accumulated and tried wine, tried all these other things, you know, build myself everything and so on, and accumulated everything. And he's looking back and he says, listen, then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought. I look back and he's looking at everything that he had accomplished, he had tried and he had done.

And then he says, you know what he said? And on the labor that I had labored to do, and behold, all is vanity and vaxation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun. I've accumulated a lot, I've accomplished a lot, I've tried a lot, but really he showed this to us that eventually I've done all this, but really he didn't profit eventually. Eventually it became empty for me, he says. Because, of course, specifically there was a time in his life when he turned away from the Lord, and he was no longer serving the Lord in a way that the Lord wanted him to be, to be the king of Israel, to be led to follow the God of our fathers and so on.

And then when Solomon turned and worshipped other gods, how he could help the nation of Israel. And even though he accumulated so much and he was such a wise man, saying to God, no, in his life, he ended up not to benefit anybody. And he said it was vanity in Hebrew, futility, hevel in Hebrew, and vaxation of spirit, evil spirit. And there was no prophet under the sun. Now you might think. You say, wait a minute, King Shlomo. What do you mean? All what you builded and you accumulated for yourself, there is no prophet in this under the sun? I mean, look what you have.

You have everything. Vineyard and houses and gardens and orchards and pools and servants and possessions and cattle and everything. Silver and gold and peculiar treasures. Men singers, women singers, musical instruments. King Shlomo, don't you think that that is a great prophet here? Now the Bible says, I didn't say it. The Bible says, and Solomon says, all was vanity and vaxation of spirit. And there was no prophet under the sun. But eventually, all these did not benefit under the sun. Because, for example, did he lead someone to Yeshua, to God, to the God of Israel? Did he present the necessity of dealing with one's sins now and making sure that one is right with the Lord for eternity?

That's a question. You and I have to ask ourselves also the same question. Do your life and my life benefit others spiritually? Do others eventually benefit from the way we communicate with them? Do we lead someone to Yeshua, the Messiah? Does a person eventually growing in his or her spiritual walk with the Lord? A time we failed the Lord. I know I was not benefiting anyone. Here Solomon said, everything that I have accumulated and I have in the end, it is vanity and vaxation of spirit. There was no prophet under the sun. And again, notice the expression, under the sun. It has to do with here and now.

And most of the time people neglect to deal with the eternity. They only deal with here and now under the sun. And they forget that one day they will have to stand before the living God and the Lord will ask them, what have you done here? Have you accepted my word? Have you accepted my son, the Messiah Yeshua in our days? In Solomon's day, God will ask Israel, have you accepted my word and what I taught you concerning the coming Messiah? We can say, have you accepted God's word and already invited the one who has already come to give his life a ransom for you?

Have you benefited from all that you had under the sun? Is there any profit from all that we accumulated if we set God aside? Solomon said there was no profit. There's no value in that. Now you and I might say, Solomon, your accomplishment is tremendous. Kings came from the east, from the south, from the west, from the north to hear the wisdom of Solomon. The Queen of Sheba came and she was amazed at the wisdom of Solomon. But all his wisdom later on when he turned away from the Lord was not beneficial for those when he was away from the Lord. And so he continued in verses 12 all the way to verse 17, Solomon reflect upon wisdom and madness and folly.

He reflecting upon what he had already experienced. And notice what he says in verses 12 to 17. Notice what he's reflecting. So I turned myself to behold wisdom and madness and folly for what can a man do that cometh after the king even that which hath been already done. In other words, he said, I had so much wisdom and I've experienced so much madness and folly that not one that come after me, nor others that were before me have reached the degree of wisdom, madness and folly that I have experienced. Then I saw that wisdom excels folly. That's for sure. As far as the light is excelling darkness.

In other words, it's better to be wise than fool. There is no doubt about it. Because it's like light and darkness. It's superior to be wise than to be foolish. But notice what he says in verse 14 and 15, 16 and 17. The wise man's eyes are in his head, but eventually both are experienced the same end. Look, he says in verse 14, the wise man's eyes are in his head, but the fool walk in darkness. And I myself perceive also that one even happiness to them all. Now imagine, here's two people. One is very bright and wise. The other one is foolish. Of course, the wise man, his eyes on his head.

He thinks right. And he's making better decisions. The fool, not as much. But the end is just the same. Notice the next verses. He says in verses 15 and 16. You see, wise men and fool men die alike. They're all going to end their life here in this world. I'm reading verse 15. Then said I in my heart, as it happened to the fool, so it happened even to me, the wise, King Shlomo. And why was I then more wise then? I said in my heart that this is vanity. In other words, you see, God gave him wisdom. And it's good to have wisdom here in this world.

Others did not have the wisdom of Solomon. But at the end, King Solomon died, who was wise. And the fool men, the foolish men died. So the point is what he's saying. At the end, this life come to its end. And I have to make sure that I realize that I need to be right with God. Because even if I am very smart and bright and wise in this world, what's going to happen after this? Am I right with God? Are my sins forgiven? Is God going to take me to usher me to eternity with him? Even if I'm wise here on earth, if I don't have God in my life, I'm eventually going to die just like the fool.

Verse 16, he says: For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool. Forever, seeing that which now is in the days to come, shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man even as the fool. You know, there are many wise people who have accomplished a lot in this world. But at the end, when they are gone, they are not remembered anymore. The fools who have been foolish here in this world, when they die, just like the wise men, we forget about them all. When you and I are going to pass out of this scene, what will one say about you?

Did we leave an impact upon the others in this world? Because we are going to be forgotten just the same. The wise, the fool, is forgotten here in this world. But did we realize, and that's what he's really leading us to, and he's leading Israel to, eventually we need to present the Lord, present God in our lives, so there will be an eternal benefit, rather than only here and now, that he vanishes away, vanity of vanity. In fact, you know what the Apostle Paul said? Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 1. Paul really spoke about that as well, when he wrote to the Corinthians. And he said to them, in 1 Corinthians 1, I'll read verse 18.

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. And I will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Verse 20. Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom, human wisdom, knew not God. It pleased God that by the foolishness of preaching. This is the preaching of the gospel message. To save them that believe.

For the Jews require a sign. But the Greeks, the Gentiles, seek wisdom. But we preach the Messiah crucified. Unto the Jews, he is a stumbling block. But unto the Greeks, he is foolishness. But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, the Messiah is the power of God and the wisdom of God. You see, where is the foolishness and the wisdom of this world when they don't recognize that they need the Mashiach, the Messiah. They need God in their lives. And God said, by the foolishness of preaching. The preaching of the message of the gospel. God really, in that he has actually destroyed the human wisdom of men here in this world.

This is exactly, beloved brothers and sisters, what Shlomo is speaking here in Kohelet, in Ecclesiastes. He says, really, at the end, even though I was the wisest man on earth. It didn't help me when I used the wisdom that God had given me only for here and now and not for the glory of God. And in comparison to a fool, to a foolish man who was not wise as me, we both end up at the end. The wise and the fool are both of them dying. Same thing. And the remembrance of them both is forgotten. You know, how much do we remember of many people that have accomplished much here in this world?

They are gone. If they were saved, they have entered into the presence of God. If they were wise, they didn't take all their wisdom with them to the grave or to hell. They would suffer eternal separation from God. So what Shlomo and Paul is saying, God want men to realize that even reflecting, Solomon reflected on all the wisdom that he had. He found out that it really didn't benefit him when he didn't do so and use the wisdom for the benefit of mankind. Notice what he says in verse 17. Notice what he says in verse 17. Solomon concluded in all these that he hated his life. Now, I don't know about you.

If I would have all what Solomon had, you would say, Solomon, you love your life, right? Look what you have gardens and servants and pools and riches and wealth and homes and this. Solomon, Shlomo, aren't you happy in your life? And Shlomo says, notice what he says in verse 17. Therefore, I hated life, because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me, for all is vanity and vaxation of spirit. You know, I would, if I would be Solomon, you would think, I would love my life, you know, wow, you know, amazing what I have here in this world. I'm the king of Israel.

I'm the wisest man on earth. All come to me to hear the wisdom that I have, King Solomon can say. I've accumulated all the lists that I presented. I've entangled myself with everything. I've tried everything. I tried wine. I tried pleasure. I accumulated homes and vineyards and gardens and orchards and pools and servants and all gold and silver and treasures. And yet, verse 17, I hated life. You know why? Because, beloved brothers and sisters, man is not an animal. Men and women, we are not trees, plants. We have been created in the image and likeness of God. And we are created as people that will lift up their hearts and their eyes to worship the true and the living God and to thank him for all the benefits and the blessing that he had given us.

You know, Shlomo's father said in Psalm 139, at the end of the Psalm, he said in prayer to the God of Israel, he says, "Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting." God, search me. God, search me. You know how I am by nature, David said, the king of Israel, Shlomo's father. He says, "Search me. You know my failure. You know my sins. You know my weaknesses. You know my old nature. Search me. Know my heart. Try me. Know my thoughts. See if there is any evil way in me and lead me a way back.

Restore me to a way everlasting." That's beautiful to see. And Shlomo here, he's really presenting before the younger generation that later on at the end of the book of Ecclesiastes, he will tell them, "Remember now thy Creator in the day of thy youth." You remember the chapter 12 and verse 1. And in conclusion, he says, "Fear God. Keep his commandment. This is the whole duty of man," he's saying to the people of Israel. "I've tried that. And I've tried that. And therefore, it didn't please me. At the end, I hated life." Isn't it strange, beloved brothers and sisters? We might say, "I love life. Look at all what I possess and I enjoy.

I love it. I'm in love with it because it's so much. I'm the richest and the wealthiest and the wisest man in this world." How can you hate life? Well, he says. Why? Because the work that is wrought under the sun, all what is done here under the sun on earth, is grievous unto me. The Hebrew word for grievous, it's ra. Ra'li. It's bad. In a sense, it become bad for me. And then he says, "For all is vanity and vaxation of spirit." He used this expression in chapter 1, verse 14. And now in chapter 2, verse 11. And again, he used this expression in chapter 2, verse 17. "All is vanity and vaxation of spirit." I want to read one more verse in 1 Peter, chapter 3.

Solomon said, Shlomo said, "I hated life." And yet, Shimon Petros said the opposite in 1 Peter, chapter 3, in verse 10. Shimon Petros said, "He that will love life." Shlomo said, "I hate life." Shimon Petros speak to believers. He said, "If you really love life, and want to see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile, let him eschew or hate evil and do good. Let him seek shalom, peace, and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open upon their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil." Shlomo said, "I hate life." Shimon Petros said, "If you love life, here is the condition." Seek the Lord in your life.

Live for the Lord. Seek to be a blessing to God's people, and to mankind at large, if you are going to really enjoy the life that he's given you, even if you don't have the wealth and the power and the position of a king such as Shlomo. Solomon, the king of Israel. So now finally, beloved brothers and sisters, in the next verses, verses 18 to verse 23, Shlomo reflect upon all the wealth that he had accumulated. And you notice, and I'm just going to read that, notice that in verses 18 and 19, Kohelet came to the point in which he hated even the fact that he was so wealthy.

Notice he continues in verse 18 and 19, "Yet I hated all my labor, which I had taken under the sun, because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me." Then verse 19, "And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? Yet shall he have rule over all my labor wherein I have labored, and wherein I have showed myself wise under the sun." This is also vanity. See what he's saying? I really hated all what I possessed, because you know what happened? When I'm going to leave this world, who's going to get it? Another person. And I do not know whether this person is going to be wise or foolish, how he's going to handle all the work that I've built here for myself here.

Houses and castles and all the way, vineyards and so on. Eventually, Shlomo is saying, "I'm going to have to hand it over to another man, and I don't know what kind of a man he's going to be." In verse 20 to 23, Kohelet really, his heart was despaired. He really, in Hebrew we call, he was meyuash. He was despaired. And he says, notice I'm reading those last verses. He was despaired of all his labor. In verse 20 he said, "Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labor which I took under the sun. For there is a man whose labor is in wisdom and in knowledge and in equity, yet to a man that has not labored, therein shall he leave it for his portion.

This is also vanity and a great evil." So he says really at the end, he's saying, you know, I worked and I labored so hard to accomplish and to build all these things, but eventually I'm going to have to leave it to a man, and I do not know how. He never worked, he never labored at this, he never put, you might say, his effort to build, I'm going to end up to leave everything behind. And you notice, brothers and sisters, that in life, in real life today, how many people, how many families have been broken because of inheritance? my father and my mother left a certain possession, my father and my mother left a certain possession, some say, and the children end up to destroy it.

And they fight over this, and at the end the families are all scattered, they are not even enjoying a relationship with each other, because of the grasping and fighting over possession, that one has labored and accumulated and lived for an inheritance. How many families today have destroyed relationship between children of parents who foolishly and greedily not trusting the Lord and not working together and not appreciating what their parents have accumulated for them. Solomon says, I do not know what's going to happen. I'm leaving everything eventually anyway to someone. I don't know how this man is going to behave. So notice what it says in verse 22 and 23.

He says, For what hath a man of all his labor, and of the vaxation of his heart wherein he has labor under the sun? For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief, yea his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity. He concluded here in the reflecting and analyzing the search for how life has been, how he lived life, and the purpose of life. And he concluded, and he says, Really, everything here under the sun is sorrow, travail, and grief, and yet the heart is not even having rest by night. He couldn't sleep at night. He couldn't sleep even at night.

He said, also hevel. This is vanity. And so brothers and sisters, Kohelet, that is Solomon's search for meaning in life. Then he tried everything, beginning with wine, all the way to what we read here in the first 10 verses he had. He built himself homes, and vineyards, and gardens, and orchards, and all that which he had accumulated in this world. And he found no satisfaction. He hated life. Then he reflect over that, and he find himself, and he says, Really, after reflecting over all what I had, everything is really folly and vain here. I'm working hard, and I'm going to die like the fool, even though I wisely build for myself, and eventually another man will take, and I don't even know how this man is going to be after my passing away.

All he said at the end is vanity, and a great evil here at the end. And again, to remind you, this is without God in one life. You know, God might give us possession in this world, and there are many believers in Yeshua, the Messiah, who are well-to-do. And they use their wealth for the things of the Lord, and they are blessing to the ministry of the Gospel. I remember a man that had inherited so much possession, and he still used all his life, the wealth that he was inherited, he used it for the sharing of the Gospel, for the serving of the Lord, printing books and material to reach the world with the person of Yeshua, the Messiah.

And that was the purpose in his life, and he used wisely whatever the Lord had given unto him. Now, let's conclude with verses 24, 25, and 26. So finally, a Kohelet give us a final conclusion, and the results from all that his search brought about in his life. And he gives us, and I'm going to give it just quickly, five results of all the search, and the reflection upon the searching for meaning in life. Beginning from verse 24. The first one, he encourages Israel, and you and I, to develop an attitude of contentment in our lives. He says in verse 24a, There is nothing better for a man that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor.

Be content. God gave us. God provided for us. As Paul said elsewhere, and even the writer to the Hebrew, be content with such things as ye have. For he said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you. Secondly, in verse 24b, contentment is a blessing which comes from God. To be content, we have to realize that it is all we have came to us from God. Notice verse 24b, This also I saw that it was from the hand of God. It is God who assists us to be content with what he provided for us. Paul said in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 11, I've learned to be content with what I have, whatever the Lord had provided for me.

Thirdly, in verse 25, Solomon is saying that without God, who can do anything? God must be the one that is the center of our life. And I'm reading verse 25. And who can eat? And who else can hasten? Here unto more than I. He says, I know it very well. Nobody can do more than I have accomplished myself. And I realize that without God, we cannot continue in our life. Fourthly, verse 26, the first part, God is the one who gives to his people wisdom, knowledge, and joy. And to the unregenerated ones, he gives them travail, and sorrow, and trial. Notice what it says in verse 26. For God giveth to a man that is good, meaning to a believer, the man that is good, meaning saved, forgiven, righteous, because of who the Lord is.

He says, God giving to this person, his wisdom, and knowledge, and joy. Everything that we have, even as believers, have been given to us by the Lord. Wisdom, and knowledge, and even joy. The joy of the Lord is our strength. But notice what he gives to the sinner, to the unbeliever. But to the sinner, he gives travail, to gather and to heap up. Notice that? He giving to the sinner travail, sorrows, and problems, and challenges in their life. in their life. But actually, notice that, and I'm going to conclude with this. Verse 26b, at the end, God eventually used, even the unsaved world, to benefit his very own people.

So we read in verse 26b, but he giveth him to gather, and to heap. This is the sinner. Why? That he may give to him that is good. That is good. That he will give to him that is redeemed, that is saved, that is forgiven. That word for good, it's not in ourself. It is good because one, have accepted the Savior, and the Redeemer. So, to him that is good before God, this is also vanity, and vaxation of spirit. Boy, there is so much here, in this second chapter, of the book of Kohelet. And it sums up, let me just sum it up, with this one single verse, that we have in chapter 12, of Ecclesiastes.

Remember now, thy Creator, in the day, of thy youth. Don't delay, don't wait, till you get older, and you're not going to be anymore, able to be used by the Lord. Remember now, your Creator, in the day, of thy youth. That was King Solomon, he's saying to us all, and in this life, we cannot set God, outside of our life. We need him, day by day, in our own life. Can we say amen to that? God, we need him, to be saved. We need him, to be saved. We need him, to be saved. We need him, to be saved. We need him, to be saved.

We need him, to be saved. We need him, to be saved. We need him, to be saved. We need him, to be saved. We need him, to be saved. We need him, to be saved. We need him, to be saved. We need him, to be saved. We need him, to be saved. We need him, to be saved.