Commentary - Ecclesiastes 5:18-20

Bird's-eye view

In this brief but potent section, the Preacher, Solomon, pivots from the miseries of chasing wealth and the vanity of a life lived apart from God to the simple, profound, and God-given joys available to man. This is not a descent into hedonism, but an ascent into a theology of creaturely enjoyment. Having surveyed the endless cycles and the vexing injustices "under the sun," Solomon does not conclude that we should therefore despair. Rather, he concludes that God has embedded gifts of simple pleasure in the very fabric of our fleeting existence: food, drink, and satisfaction in our work. The key, however, is that these are not things we can seize for ourselves. They are a "portion" and a "gift" from God. The ability to enjoy life, and not just to possess its raw materials, is a direct grant from heaven. This passage is a central refrain in Ecclesiastes, reminding us that the answer to the smoke-like quality of life is not to find something more solid in ourselves, but to receive the gift of joy from the one solid and sovereign God who stands above it all.

The conclusion is a radical one. A man who receives this gift of gladness from God is so occupied with it that he doesn't dwell on the brevity and toil of his life. God gives him joy as a holy distraction, a foretaste of a feast that swallows up morbid introspection. This is not escapism, but rather a God-centered realism. The world is full of vanity, yes, but for the man to whom God gives grace, it is also full of good gifts. The difference between a life of quiet desperation and one of robust joy is not a change in circumstances, but the presence of this divine gift.

Outline

Context In Ecclesiastes

This passage serves as a bright counterpoint to the surrounding verses. Just before this, in Ecclesiastes 5:10-17, Solomon details the miseries of the man who loves money. He cannot get enough, he has anxiety, and when he dies, he takes nothing with him. He comes naked from his mother's womb and returns the same way. It is a "sore evil." Then, immediately following our text, chapter 6 opens with another "evil under the sun": the man to whom God gives riches, wealth, and honor, but to whom He does not give the power to enjoy them (Eccl 6:1-2). Our passage, 5:18-20, is therefore set between two portraits of miserable wealth. It is the positive thesis statement, showing the only way that earthly labor and its fruits can be anything other than a vexation of spirit. It is part of a recurring theme in the book (cf. 2:24; 3:12-13, 22; 8:15; 9:7-9) that the only way to navigate the vanity of this life is to fear God and joyfully receive His simple gifts by faith.

Key Issues

The Can and the Can Opener

One of the central truths of this book, and a truth that our materialistic age desperately needs to learn, is that there is a vast difference between possessing a thing and enjoying it. God frequently gives men many external blessings without giving them the spiritual taste buds to enjoy them. This is what Solomon calls a sore affliction from the Lord.

We see it all around us: the man who can afford to eat at the finest restaurants but has no appetite, the man who has a library of a thousand books but no desire to read, the man who has immense wealth but is consumed with anxiety. The blessings of this life are like cans of peaches. To the man He does not favor, God gives a thousand cans of peaches and no can opener. The man starves to death in his own pantry. But to His beloved, God gives both the can and the can opener. The ability to enjoy is a separate gift from the thing to be enjoyed. And as Solomon makes clear here, that can opener is a gift of pure grace. You cannot earn it, you cannot buy it, and you cannot pry the can open with your own teeth. It must be given.

Verse by Verse Commentary

18 Here is what I have seen to be good, which is beautiful: to eat, to drink, and to see good in all one’s labor in which he labors under the sun during the few days of his life which God has given him; for this is his portion.

Solomon begins with a formal declaration based on his inspired observation. What he has seen is not just "good," but also "beautiful" or "fitting." There is a divine propriety, a rightness, to this. And what is this profound discovery? It is the simple, earthy business of eating and drinking and finding satisfaction in your work. This is not a call to a wild party. This is a call to receive the ordinary means of sustenance and the ordinary course of your vocation with gratitude and joy. Notice the context is always under the sun, within the framework of this fallen, fleeting world. And it is for the few days of his life. This is not a promise of heaven on earth, but a prescription for how to live faithfully on earth. And the final clause is crucial: for this is his portion. The word "portion" means an allotted share. This is what God has measured out for man in this life. You can either receive your portion with thanksgiving, or you can spend your life railing against the fact that it is not some other portion.

19 Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to take up his portion and be glad in his labor; this is the gift of God.

Here Solomon makes the previous point even more explicit. He moves from the general principle to the specific case of the man with riches. It is one thing for God to give a man riches and wealth. It is another, entirely separate thing, for God to empower him to eat from them. The power to enjoy is a second gift, layered on top of the first. Without the second gift, the first gift becomes a curse, a heavy stone around the man's neck. But when God gives both, the man is enabled to "take up his portion", to accept his lot in life, and to be glad in his labor. Work itself, which because of the fall is characterized by sweat and thistles, can become a source of gladness. And lest we miss the point, Solomon concludes, this is the gift of God. Not just the wealth, but the gladness. Not just the labor, but the joy in it. It is all of grace. This is salvation applied to the mundane. To be able to enjoy a sandwich and a cold drink after a hard day's work is a whisper of the gospel.

20 For he will not remember much the days of his life because God allows him to occupy himself with the gladness of his heart.

This is the beautiful result of receiving God's gift. The man who is truly joyful does not obsess over the brevity of his life. He doesn't spend his days in a morbid countdown. Why? Because God has given him something better to think about. God allows him to occupy himself, or, as some translations have it, God "answers him", with gladness. His heart is full. A full heart has no room for the kind of anxious fretting that characterizes the man trying to find meaning in the smoke. This gladness is not a shallow distraction from the harsh realities of life, but a deep and substantive joy that transfigures those realities. God does not remove the vanity of life under the sun, but for His children, He gives them the gift of being able to enjoy the futility. The unbeliever sees the repetition and despairs. The believer sees the same repetition, but because he knows the God who stands behind it, he receives it as a wild and glorious ride. The gladness of heart is God's answer to the riddle of life.

Application

The application of this passage is profoundly counter-cultural. We live in an age that is frantic in its pursuit of happiness, and yet is awash in anxiety and discontent. We think that if we can just get the right "portion", a better job, a bigger house, a different spouse, then we will be happy. Ecclesiastes tells us we are chasing the wind. The problem is not with our portion, but with our hearts. We lack the divine can opener.

The first step, then, is not to change our circumstances, but to confess our sin of ungratefulness and our idolatry of self. We must recognize that we are the man with a thousand cans of peaches and no way to open them. We must come to God through Christ and ask for the gift. The gift of forgiveness, first, and then the gift of a new heart, a heart that is capable of true gladness. This is what it means to be born again.

For the believer, this passage is a call to cultivate contentment by recognizing every good thing as a direct gift. Your lunch today is a gift. The strength to do your work is a gift. The satisfaction of a completed task is a gift. The ability to laugh with your family is a gift. We are to stop evaluating our lives based on what we lack, and start receiving what we have with open-handed joy. This is not a call to be lazy or to stop striving for excellence. It is a call to do all our work and all our eating and all our drinking with a glad heart, knowing that God has already accepted our works in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Because Christ has secured our ultimate portion in the new heavens and the new earth, we are now free to joyfully receive our earthly portion, for the few days God has given us under the sun.