Ecclesiastes 2:21

21 because sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.

Ecclesiastes 2:21 Meaning and Commentary

Ecclesiastes 2:21

For there is a man whose labour [is] in wisdom, and in
knowledge, and in equity
Who does all he does, in natural, civil, and religious things, in the state, in his family, and the world, and whatsoever business he is engaged, in the wisest and best manner, with the utmost honesty and integrity, according to all the rules of wisdom and knowledge, and of justice and equity; meaning himself; the Midrash interprets this of God; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave it [for]
his portion;
to his son, heir, and successor; who never took any pains, or joined with him, in acquiring the least part of it; and yet all comes into his hands, as his possession and inheritance: the Targum interprets this of a man that dies without children; and so others F26 understand it of his leaving his substance to strangers, and not to his children. This also [is] vanity, and a great evil;
not anything sinful and criminal, but vexatious and distressing.


FOOTNOTES:

F26 R. Joseph Titatzak in loc.

Ecclesiastes 2:21 In-Context

19 —and who knows whether they will be wise or foolish? Yet they will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.
20 So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labors under the sun,
21 because sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.
22 What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun?
23 For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.