Laughter called madness

LAUGHTER CALLED MADNESS
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Ecclesiastes 2:2 2"Laughter," I said, "is madness.
And what does pleasure accomplish?"
BIBLEHUB RESOURCE
Biblical Illustrator
I said of laughter, It is mad.
Ecclesiastes 2:2
The wit and the madman
H. Melvill, B. D.
If you were asked who had sat for the portrait of a madman, you would
be disposed to look out for some monster, some scourge of our race, in
whom vast powers had been at the disposal of ungoverned passions, and
who had covered a country with weeping and with desolate families;
and at first we might be readily tempted to conclude that Solomon
employed somewhat exaggerated terms when he identified laughter with
madness. Neither need we suppose that all laughter is indiscriminately
condemned; as though gloom marked a sane person, and cheerfulness
an insane. "Rejoice evermore" is a scriptural direction, and blithe-
heartedness ought to be both felt and displayed by those who know that
they have God for their Guardian, and Christ for their Surety. But it is
the laughter of the world which the wise man calls madness; and there
will be no difficulty in showing you, in two or three instances, how close

is the parallel between the maniac and the man by whom this laughter is
excited. We would first point out to you how that conflict, of which this
creation is the scene, and the leading antagonists in which are Satan and
God, is a conflict between falsehood and truth. The entrance of evil was
effected through a lie; and when Christ promised the descent of the
Holy Ghost, whose special office it was to be to regenerate human kind,
to restore their lost purity, and therewith their lost happiness, He
promised it under the character of the Spirit of truth; as though truth
were all that was needed to the making of this earth once more a
paradise. And it is in accordance with this representation of that great
struggle, which fixes the regards of higher orders of intelligence, as
being a struggle between falsehood and truth, that so much criminality
is everywhere in Scripture attached to a lie, and that those on whom a
lie may be charged, are represented as thereby more especially
obnoxious to the anger of God. "A lying tongue," says the wise man, "is
but for a moment": as though sudden vengeance might be expected to
descend upon the liar, and sweep him away ere he could reiterate the
falsehood. And if there be thus, as it were, a kind of awful majesty in
truth, so that the swerving from it is emphatically treason against God
and the soul, it follows that whatever is calculated to diminish reverence
for truth, or to palliate falsehood, is likely to work as wide mischief as
may well be imagined. You are all ready without hesitation to admit that
nothing would go further towards loosening the bonds of society than
the destroying the shame which now attaches to a lie; and accordingly
you would rise up as by one common impulse to withstand any man or
any authority which should propose to shield the liar, or to make his
offence comparatively unimportant. But whilst the bold and direct
falsehood thus gains for itself the general execration, mainly perhaps
because felt to militate against the general interest, there is a ready
indulgence in the more sportive falsehood, which is rather the playing
with truth than the making a lie. Here it is that we shall find laughter
which is madness, and identify with a madman him by whom the
laughter is raised. There is very frequently a departure from truth in
that mirthful discourse to which Solomon refers. In amusing a table,
and causing light-heartedness and gaiety to go round the company, men

may be teaching others to view with less abhorrence a lie, or
diminishing in them that sanctity of truth which is at once an admirable
virtue and essential to the existence of any other. I do not fear the
influence of one whom the world denounces as a liar; but I do of one
whom it applauds as a wit. I fear it in regard of reverence for truth — a
reverence which, if it do not of itself make a great character, must be
strong wheresoever the character is great. The man who passes off a
clever fiction, or amusingly distorts an occurrence, or dextrously
misrepresents a fact, may say that he only means to be amusing, and
that nothing is further from his thoughts than the doing an injury; but
nevertheless, forasmuch as it can hardly fail but that he will lower the
majesty of truth in the eyes of his neighbour, there may be equally
ample reason for assenting to the wise man's decision — "I said of
laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?" But we have not yet
given the worst case of that laughter which may be identified with
madness. It is very true, that whatever tends to diminish men's
abhorrence of a lie, tends equally to the spreading confusion and
wretchedness, and may therefore be justly classed amongst things which
resemble the actings of a maniac. It is also true that this tendency exists
in much of that admired conversation whose excellence virtually lies in
its falseness; so that the correspondence is clear between the wit and the
madman. But it is not perhaps till the laughter is turned upon sacred
things that we have before us the madness in all its wildness and in all
its injuriousness. The man who in any way exercises his wit upon the
Bible conveys undoubtedly an impression, whether he intend it or not,
that he is not a believer in the inspiration of the Bible; for it is altogether
insupposable that a man who really recognized in the Bible the Word of
the living God, who felt that its pages had been traced by the very hand
which spread out the firmament, should select from it passages to
parody, or expressions which might be thrown into a ludicrous form. It
may be true that he does this only in joke, and with no evil design; he
never meant, he may tell you, when he introduced Scripture
ridiculously, or amused his companions by sarcastic allusions to the
peculiarities of the pious — he never meant to recommend a contempt
for religion, or to insinuate a disbelief in the Bible, and perhaps he never

did; but nevertheless, even if you acquit him of harmful intention, and
suppose him utterly unconscious that he is working a moral injury, he
who frames jokes on sacred things, or points his wit with scriptural
allusions, may do far more mischief to the souls of his fellow-men than if
he engaged openly in assaulting the great truths of Christianity. If you
have heard a text quoted in a ridiculous sense, or applied to some
laughable occurrence, you will hardly be able to separate the text from
that occurrence; the association will be permanent; and when you hear
the text again, though it may be in the house of God, or under
circumstances which make you wish for the most thorough
concentration of thought on the most awful things, yet will there come
back upon you- all the joke and all the parody, so that the mind will be
dissipated and the very sanctuary profaned. And hence the justice of
identifying with madness the laughter excited by reference to sacred
things. Now, the upshot of the whole matter is, that we ought to set a
watch upon our tongues, to pray God to keep the door of our lips.
"Death and life are in the power of the tongue." Of all the gifts with
which we have been entrusted, the gift of speech is perhaps that through
which we may work most of evil or of good, and nevertheless it is that of
whose right exercise we seem to make least account. It appears to us a
hard saying, that for every idle word which they speak men shall give an
account at the last, and we scarcely discern any proportion between a
few syllables uttered without thought and those retributive judgments
which must be looked for hereafter; but if you observe how we have
been able to vindicate the correctness of the assertion of our text, though
it be only the idle talker whose laughter is declared to be madness,
effecting the same results, and producing the same evils as the fury of
the uncontrolled maniac, you will see that a word may be no
insignificant thing — that its consequences may be widely disastrous,
and certainly the speaker is answerable for the consequences which may
possibly ensue, however God may prevent their actual occurrence. The
fiction may not make a liar, and the jest may not make an infidel, but
since it is the tendency of the fiction to make liars, and the tendency of
the jest to make infidels, he who invents the one, or utters the other, is as
criminal as though the result had been the same as the tendency.

(H. Melvill, B. D.)
STUDYLIGHT RESOURCES
Adam Clarke Commentary
I said of laughter, It is mad - Literally "To laughter I said, O mad one!
and to mirth, What is this one doing?"
Solomon does not speak here of a sober enjoyment of the things of this
world, but of intemperate pleasure, whose two attendants, laughter and
mirth are introduced by a beautiful prosopopoeia as two persons; and
the contemptuous manner wherewith he treats them has something
remarkably striking. He tells the former to her face that she is mad; but
as to the latter, he thinks her so much beneath his notice, that he only
points at her, and instantly turns his back.
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain.
Bibliography
Clarke, Adam. "Commentary on Ecclesiastes 2:2". "The Adam Clarke
Commentary".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/acc/ecclesiastes-2.html.
1832.
return to 'Jump List'
The Biblical Illustrator
Ecclesiastes 2:2
I said of laughter, It is mad.

The wit and the madman
If you were asked who had sat for the portrait of a madman, you would
be disposed to look out for some monster, some scourge of our race, in
whom vast powers had been at the disposal of ungoverned passions, and
who had covered a country with weeping and with desolate families;
and at first we might be readily tempted to conclude that Solomon
employed somewhat exaggerated terms when he identified laughter with
madness. Neither need we suppose that all laughter is indiscriminately
condemned; as though gloom marked a sane person, and cheerfulness
an insane. “Rejoice evermore” is a scriptural direction, and blithe-
heartedness ought to be both felt and displayed by those who know that
they have God for their Guardian, and Christ for their Surety. But it is
the laughter of the world which the wise man calls madness; and there
will be no difficulty in showing you, in two or three instances, how close
is the parallel between the maniac and the man by whom this laughter is
excited. We would first point out to you how that conflict, of which this
creation is the scene, and the leading antagonists in which are Satan and
God, is a conflict between falsehood and truth. The entrance of evil was
effected through a lie; and when Christ promised the descent of the
Holy Ghost, whose special office it was to be to regenerate human kind,
to restore their lost purity, and therewith their lost happiness, He
promised it under the character of the Spirit of truth; as though truth
were all that was needed to the making of this earth once more a
paradise. And it is in accordance with this representation of that great
struggle, which fixes the regards of higher orders of intelligence, as
being a struggle between falsehood and truth, that so much criminality
is everywhere in Scripture attached to a lie, and that those on whom a
lie may be charged, are represented as thereby more especially
obnoxious to the anger of God. “A lying tongue,” says the wise man, “is
but for a moment”: as though sudden vengeance might be expected to
descend upon the liar, and sweep him away ere he could reiterate the
falsehood. And if there be thus, as it were, a kind of awful majesty in
truth, so that the swerving from it is emphatically treason against God
and the soul, it follows that whatever is calculated to diminish reverence

for truth, or to palliate falsehood, is likely to work as wide mischief as
may well be imagined. You are all ready without hesitation to admit that
nothing would go further towards loosening the bonds of society than
the destroying the shame which now attaches to a lie; and accordingly
you would rise up as by one common impulse to withstand any man or
any authority which should propose to shield the liar, or to make his
offence comparatively unimportant. But whilst the bold and direct
falsehood thus gains for itself the general execration, mainly perhaps
because felt to militate against the general interest, there is a ready
indulgence in the more sportive falsehood, which is rather the playing
with truth than the making a lie. Here it is that we shall find laughter
which is madness, and identify with a madman him by whom the
laughter is raised. There is very frequently a departure from truth in
that mirthful discourse to which Solomon refers. In amusing a table,
and causing light-heartedness and gaiety to go round the company, men
may be teaching others to view with less abhorrence a lie, or
diminishing in them that sanctity of truth which is at once an admirable
virtue and essential to the existence of any other. I do not fear the
influence of one whom the world denounces as a liar; but I do of one
whom it applauds as a wit. I fear it in regard of reverence for truth--a
reverence which, if it do not of itself make a great character, must be
strong wheresoever the character is great. The man who passes off a
clever fiction, or amusingly distorts an occurrence, or dextrously
misrepresents a fact, may say that he only means to be amusing, and
that nothing is further from his thoughts than the doing an injury; but
nevertheless, forasmuch as it can hardly fail but that he will lower the
majesty of truth in the eyes of his neighbour, there may be equally
ample reason for assenting to the wise man’s decision--“I said of
laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?” But we have not yet
given the worst case of that laughter which may be identified with
madness. It is very true, that whatever tends to diminish men’s
abhorrence of a lie, tends equally to the spreading confusion and
wretchedness, and may therefore be justly classed amongst things which
resemble the actings of a maniac. It is also true that this tendency exists
in much of that admired conversation whose excellence virtually lies in

its falseness; so that the correspondence is clear between the wit and the
madman. But it is not perhaps till the laughter is turned upon sacred
things that we have before us the madness in all its wildness and in all
its injuriousness. The man who in any way exercises his wit upon the
Bible conveys undoubtedly an impression, whether he intend it or not,
that he is not a believer in the inspiration of the Bible; for it is altogether
insupposable that a man who really recognized in the Bible the Word of
the living God, who felt that its pages had been traced by the very hand
which spread out the firmament, should select from it passages to
parody, or expressions which might be thrown into a ludicrous form. It
may be true that he does this only in joke, and with no evil design; he
never meant, he may tell you, when he introduced Scripture
ridiculously, or amused his companions by sarcastic allusions to the
peculiarities of the pious--he never meant to recommend a contempt for
religion, or to insinuate a disbelief in the Bible, and perhaps he never
did; but nevertheless, even if you acquit him of harmful intention, and
suppose him utterly unconscious that he is working a moral injury, he
who frames jokes on sacred things, or points his wit with scriptural
allusions, may do far more mischief to the souls of his fellow-men than if
he engaged openly in assaulting the great truths of Christianity. If you
have heard a text quoted in a ridiculous sense, or applied to some
laughable occurrence, you will hardly be able to separate the text from
that occurrence; the association will be permanent; and when you hear
the text again, though it may be in the house of God, or under
circumstances which make you wish for the most thorough
concentration of thought on the most awful things, yet will there come
back upon you- all the joke and all the parody, so that the mind will be
dissipated and the very sanctuary profaned. And hence the justice of
identifying with madness the laughter excited by reference to sacred
things. Now, the upshot of the whole matter is, that we ought to set a
watch upon our tongues, to pray God to keep the door of our lips.
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” Of all the gifts with
which we have been entrusted, the gift of speech is perhaps that through
which we may work most of evil or of good, and nevertheless it is that of
whose right exercise we seem to make least account. It appears to us a

hard saying, that for every idle word which they speak men shall give an
account at the last, and we scarcely discern any proportion between a
few syllables uttered without thought and those retributive judgments
which must be looked for hereafter; but if you observe how we have
been able to vindicate the correctness of the assertion of our text, though
it be only the idle talker whose laughter is declared to be madness,
effecting the same results, and producing the same evils as the fury of
the uncontrolled maniac, you will see that a word may be no
insignificant thing--that its consequences may be widely disastrous, and
certainly the speaker is answerable for the consequences which may
possibly ensue, however God may prevent their actual occurrence. The
fiction may not make a liar, and the jest may not make an infidel, but
since it is the tendency of the fiction to make liars, and the tendency of
the jest to make infidels, he who invents the one, or utters the other, is as
criminal as though the result had been the same as the tendency. (H.
Melvill, B. D.)
Copyright Statement
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Bibliography
Exell, Joseph S. "Commentary on "Ecclesiastes 2:2". The Biblical
Illustrator.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tbi/ecclesiastes-2.html.
1905-1909. New York.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

I said of laughter, it is mad,.... The risible faculty in man is given him for
some usefulness; and when used in a moderate way, and kept within due
bounds, is of service to him, and conduces to the health of his body, and
the pleasure of his mind; but when used on every trivial occasion, and at
every foolish thing that is said or done, and indulged to excess, it is mere
madness, and makes a man look more like a madman and a fool than a
wise man; it lasts but for a while, and the end of it is heaviness,
Ecclesiastes 7:6. Or, "I said to laughter, thou art mad"F24; and
therefore will have nothing to do with thee in the excessive and criminal
way, but shun thee, as one would do a mad man: this therefore is not to
be reckoned into the pleasure he bid his soul go to and enjoy;
and of mirth, what doth it? what good does do? of what profit and
advantage is it to man? If the question is concerning innocent mirth, the
answer may be given out of Proverbs 15:13; but if of carnal sinful mirth,
there is no good arises from that to the body or mind; or any kind of
happiness to be enjoyed that way, and therefore no trial is to be made of
it. What the wise man proposed to make trial of, and did, follows in the
next verses.
Copyright Statement
The New John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible Modernised and
adapted for the computer by Larry Pierce of Online Bible. All Rightes
Reserved, Larry Pierce, Winterbourne, Ontario.
A printed copy of this work can be ordered from: The Baptist Standard
Bearer, 1 Iron Oaks Dr, Paris, AR, 72855
Bibliography
Gill, John. "Commentary on Ecclesiastes 2:2". "The New John Gill
Exposition of the Entire Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/geb/ecclesiastes-2.html.
1999.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
laughter — including prosperity, and joy in general (Job 8:21).
mad — that is, when made the chief good; it is harmless in its proper
place.
What doeth it? — Of what avail is it in giving solid good? (Ecclesiastes
7:6; Proverbs 14:13).
Copyright Statement
These files are a derivative of an electronic edition prepared from text
scanned by Woodside Bible Fellowship.
This expanded edition of the Jameison-Faussett-Brown Commentary is
in the public domain and may be freely used and distributed.
Bibliography
Jamieson, Robert, D.D.; Fausset, A. R.; Brown, David. "Commentary
on Ecclesiastes 2:2". "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the
Whole Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jfb/ecclesiastes-2.html.
1871-8.
Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
ply and , it is objectively like an oratio obliqua: that it is mad; cf.
Psalms 49:12. In the midst of the laughter and revelling in sensual
delight, the feeling came over him that this was not the way to true
happiness, and he was compelled to say to laughter, It has become mad (
part. Poal , as at Psalms 102:9), it is like one who is raving mad, who

finds his pleasure in self-destruction; and to joy (mirth), which
disregards the earnestness of life and all due bounds, he is constrained
to say, What does it result in? = that it produces nothing, i.e. , that it
brings forth no real fruit; that it produces only the opposite of true
satisfaction; that instead of filling, it only enlarges the inner void.
Others, e.g. , Luther, “What doest thou?” i.e. , How foolish is thy
undertaking! Even if we thus explain, the point in any case lies in the
inability of mirth to make man truly and lastingly happy, - in the
inappropriateness of the means for the end aimed at. Therefore is thus
meant just as in (Hitz.), and , effect, Isaiah 32:17. Thus Mendelssohn:
What profit does thou bring to me? Regarding = mah - zoth , Genesis
3:13, where it is shown that the demonstrative pronoun serves here to
sharpen the interrogative: What then, what in all the world!
After this revelling in sensual enjoyment has been proved to be a
fruitless experiment, he searches whether wisdom and folly cannot be
bound together in a way leading to the object aimed at.
Copyright Statement
The Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament is a derivative
of a public domain electronic edition.
Bibliography
Keil, Carl Friedrich & Delitzsch, Franz. "Commentary on Ecclesiastes
2:2". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/kdo/ecclesiastes-
2.html. 1854-1889.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes
I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?
It is mad — This is an act of madness, more fit for fools who know
nothing, than for wise men in this sinful, and dangerous, and deplorable

state of mankind.
What doth it — What good doth it? Or how can it make men happy? I
challenge all the Epicures in the world to give me a solid answer.
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain and are a derivative of an electronic
edition that is available on the Christian Classics Ethereal Library
Website.
Bibliography
Wesley, John. "Commentary on Ecclesiastes 2:2". "John Wesley's
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/wen/ecclesiastes-2.html.
1765.
James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary
‘THE LOUD LAUGH THAT SHOWS THE VACANT MIND’
‘I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?’
Ecclesiastes 2:2
Solomon says of the mirthful man, of the man who makes others laugh,
that he is a madman. We need not suppose that all laughter is
indiscriminately condemned, as though gloom marks a sane person and
cheerfulness an insane. ‘Rejoice evermore’ is a Scriptural direction, and
blithe-heartedness ought to be both felt and displayed by those who
know that they have God for their Guardian and Christ for their Surety.
It is the laughter of the world which the wise man calls madness.
I. That conflict of which this creation is the scene, and the leading
antagonists in which are Satan and God, is a conflict between falsehood
and truth.—And it is in consequence of this that so much criminality is

everywhere in Scripture attached to a lie, and that those on whom a lie
may be charged are represented as more especially obnoxious to the
anger of God. Now, whilst the bold and direct falsehood gains for itself
general execration, mainly perhaps because felt to militate against the
general interest, there is a ready indulgence for the more sportive
falsehood which is rather the playing with truth than the making a lie.
Here it is that we shall find laughter which is madness, and identify with
a madman him by whom the laughter is raised. The man who passes off
a clever fiction, or amusingly distorts an occurrence, or dexterously
misrepresents a fact, may say that he only means to be amusing; but as
he can hardly fail to lower the majesty of truth in the eyes of his
neighbour, there may be ample reason for assenting to the wise man’s
decision,’ I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?’
II. But it is not perhaps till laughter is turned upon sacred things that
we have before us the madness in all its wildness and injuriousness.—
The man who in any way exercises his wit upon the Bible conveys
undoubtedly an impression, whether he intend it or not, that he is not a
believer in the inspiration of the Bible; and he may do far more mischief
to the souls of his fellow-men than if he engaged openly in assaulting the
great truths of Christianity.
III. The great general inference from this subject is that we ought to set
a watch upon our tongues, to pray God to keep the door of our lips. ‘Let
your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt.’
—Canon Melvill.
Illustration
‘Luther says, “Many a one arranges all his matters with much toil and
trouble, that he may have repose and peace in his old age, but God
disposes otherwise, so that he comes into affairs that cause his unrest
then to commence. Many a one seeks his joy in lust and licentiousness,
and his life is embittered ever after. Therefore, if God does not give joy
and pleasure, but we strive after it, and endeavour to create it of
ourselves, no good will come of it, but it is, as Solomon says, all vanity.

The best gladness and delight are those which one does not seek (for a
fly may easily fall into our broth), but that which God gives to our
hand.”’
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Nisbet, James. "Commentary on Ecclesiastes 2:2". Church Pulpit
Commentary.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cpc/ecclesiastes-2.html.
1876.
John Trapp Complete Commentary
Ecclesiastes 2:2 I said of laughter, [It is] mad: and of mirth, What doeth
it?
Ver. 2. I said of mirth, It is mad,] q.d., Thou mad fool, what dost thou?
Yet is not mirth amiss, so it be moderate; nor laughter unlawful - as
some Anabaptists in Calvin’s time held - so that it be well limited.
Carnal mirth, and abuse of lawful things, doth mightily weaken,
intenerate, and emasculate the spirit; yea, it draws out the very vigour
and vivacity of it, and is therefore to be avoided. Some are so afraid of
sadness that they banish all seriousness; they affect mirth as the eel doth
mud, or the toad ditches. These are those that dance to the timbrel and
harp, but suddenly turn into hell. [Job 21:12-13]

Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Trapp, John. "Commentary on Ecclesiastes 2:2". John Trapp Complete
Commentary.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jtc/ecclesiastes-2.html.
1865-1868.
Sermon Bible Commentary
Ecclesiastes 2:2
Solomon says of the mirthful man, of the man who makes others laugh,
that he is a madman. We need not suppose that all laughter is
indiscriminately condemned, as though gloom marks a sane person and
cheerfulness an insane. "Rejoice evermore" is a Scriptural direction,
and blithe-heartedness ought to be both felt and displayed by those who
know that they have God for their Guardian and Christ for their Surety.
It is the laughter of the world which the wise man calls madness.
I. That conflict of which this creation is the scene, and the leading
antagonists in which are Satan and God, is a conflict between falsehood
and truth. And it is in consequence of this that so much criminality is
everywhere in Scripture attached to a lie, and that those on whom a lie
may be charged are represented as more especially obnoxious to the
anger of God. Now, whilst the bold and direct falsehood gains for itself
general execration, mainly perhaps because felt to militate against the
general interest, there is a ready indulgence for the more sportive
falsehood which is rather the playing with truth than the making a lie.
Here it is that we shall find laughter which is madness, and identify with
a madman him by whom the laughter is raised. The man who passes off
a clever fiction, or amusingly distorts an occurrence, or dexterously

misrepresents a fact, may say that he only means to be amusing; but as
he can hardly fail to lower the majesty of truth in the eyes of his
neighbour, there may be ample reason for assenting to the wise man's
decision, "I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?"
II. But it is not perhaps till laughter is turned upon sacred things that
we have before us the madness in all its wildness and injuriousness. The
man who in any way exercises his wit upon the Bible conveys
undoubtedly an impression, whether he intend it or not, that he is not a
believer in the inspiration of the Bible; and he may do far more mischief
to the souls of his fellow-men than if he engaged openly in assaulting the
great truths of Christianity.
III. The great general inference from this subject is that we ought to set
a watch upon our tongues, to pray God to keep the door of our lips.
"Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt."
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2532.
References: Ecclesiastes 2:4.—J. Bennet, The Wisdom of the King, p. 14.
Ecclesiastes 2:4-11.—J. J. S. Perowne, Expositor, 1st series, vol. x., p.
313.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Nicoll, William R. "Commentary on Ecclesiastes 2:2". "Sermon Bible
Commentary".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/sbc/ecclesiastes-2.html.
Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible

Ecclesiastes 2:2. I said of laughter, it is mad— I said to laughter, how
dost thou shine? and to pleasure, what does that avail? See the note on
the 17th verse of the foregoing chapter. The sum of these verses is,
secondly; neither does the enjoyment of pleasure yield a solid happiness;
for he who enjoys it must be soon convinced that it leaves no solid
satisfaction behind it; which our author proves by his own experience,
having found but a vain eclat in mirth and pleasure.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Coke, Thomas. "Commentary on Ecclesiastes 2:2". Thomas Coke
Commentary on the Holy Bible.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tcc/ecclesiastes-2.html.
1801-1803.
Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae
DISCOURSE: 829
THE EMPTINESS OF WORLDLY MIRTH
Ecclesiastes 2:2. I said of laughter, It is mad; and of mirth, What doeth
it?
WHO is it that has ventured to speak thus respecting that which
constitutes, in the world’s estimation, the great happiness of life? Was he
an ignorant man? or one who from envy decried a thing which he was
not able to attain? or an inexperienced man, who had no just means of
forming a judgment? or an irritated man, who vented thus his spleen
against an object that had disappointed him? Or was he one whose

authority in this matter we are at liberty to question! No: it was the
wisest of the human race, who had more ample means of judging than
any other of the children of men, and had tried the matter to the
uttermost: it was Solomon himself, under the influence of the Spirit of
God, recording this, not only as the result of his own experience, but as
the declaration of Jehovah, by him, for the instruction of the world in all
future ages. He had been left by God to try the vain experiment,
whether happiness was to be found in any thing but God. He tried it,
first, in the pursuit of knowledge; which, to a person of his enlarged
mind, certainly promised most fair to yield him the satisfaction which he
sought. But partly from the labour requisite for the attainment of
knowledge; partly from discovering how little could be known by
persons of our finite capacity; partly also from the insufficiency of
knowledge to satisfy the innumerable wants of man; and partly from the
disgust which had been created in his mind by the insight which his
wisdom gave him into the ignorance and folly of the rest of mankind; he
left it upon record, as his deliberate judgment, that “in much wisdom is
much grief; and that he who increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow
[Note: Ecclesiastes 1:18.].” He then turned to pleasure, as the most
probable source of happiness: “I said in my heart, Go to now, I will
prove thee with mirth: therefore enjoy pleasure.” But being equally
disappointed in that, he adds, “Behold, this also is vanity [Note: ver.
1.].” Then, in the words of my text, he further adds, “I said of laughter,
It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?”
In discoursing on this subject, I shall,
1. Shew what that is which he here pronounces to be “vanity”—
It becomes us, in considering such weighty declarations us that before
us, to attain the most precise and accurate views of the terms employed;
neither attenuating the import of them on the one hand, nor
exaggerating it on the other.
We are not, then, to understand the text as decrying all cheerfulness—
[The Christian, above all people upon earth, has reason to be cheerful.

And religion in no way tends to destroy the gaiety of the human mind,
but only to direct it towards proper objects, and to restrain it within
proper bounds. The ways of religion are represented as “ways of
pleasantness and peace.” And “the fruits of the Spirit are, love, joy,
peace:” all of which suppose a measure of hilarity, and the innocence of
that hilarity, when arising from a becoming source, and kept within the
limits of sobriety and sound wisdom. Doubtless that tumultuous kind of
joy which is generally denominated mirth, and which vents itself in
immoderate laughter, is altogether vain and bad: but a placidity of
mind, exercising itself in a way of brotherly love and of cheerful
benevolence, can never be censured as unprofitable, much less can it be
condemned as verging towards insanity.]
Neither, on the other hand, are we to restrict the text to licentious and
profane mirth—
[That needed not to be stigmatized in so peculiar a manner: because the
fully of such mirth carries its own evidence along with it. We need only
to see it in others: and if we ourselves are not partakers of it, we shall
not hesitate to characterize it by some opprobrious or contemptuous
name. We need neither the wisdom of Solomon, nor his experience, to
pass upon it the judgment it deserves.]
The conduct reprobated in our text is, the seeking of our happiness in
carnal mirth—
[Solomon particularly specifies this: “I said in my heart. Go to now, I
will prove thee with mirth.” I will see whether that will afford me the
happiness which I am in pursuit of. And we may suppose, that, in the
prosecution of this object. he summoned around him all that was gay
and lively in his court, and all that could contribute towards the
attainment of it. We may take a survey of the state of society in what
may be called the fashionable world, and see how the votaries of
pleasure spend their time. They go from one vanity to another, hoping
that in a succession of amusements they shall find a satisfaction which
nothing else can impart. Plays, balls, concerts, routs, the pleasures of the

field, of the race-course, of the card-table, form a certain round of
employment, which those who travel in it expect to find productive of
happiness, of such happiness at least as they affect. And this. I conceive,
is what Solomon intended particularly to reprobate as fully and
madness. Of course, we must include also in the same description the
more vulgar amusements to which the lower classes resort. All,
according to their taste, or the means afforded them for enjoyment,
whilst they pursue the same object, are obnoxious to the same censure.
The degree of refinement which may be in their pursuits makes no
difference in this matter. Whatever it be which calls forth their mirth
and laughter, it is equally unprofitable and equally insane. So Solomon
judged; and]
We now proceed—
II. To confirm his testimony—
Let us take a candid view of this matter: let us consider pleasure in its
true light: let us consider its aspect on us,
1. As men—
[As men, we possess faculties of a very high order, which we ought to
cultivate, and which, when duly improved, exalt and dignify our nature.
But behold the votaries of pleasure; how low do they sink themselves by
the depravity of their taste, and the emptiness of their occupations! A
man devoid of wisdom may abound in mirth and laughter as well as he:
and there will be found very little difference in their feelings; except, as
the more enlarged men’s capacities are for higher objects, the keener
sense will they have of the emptiness of their vain pursuits. In truth, we
may appeal even to themselves in confirmation of what Solomon has
said: for there are no persons more convinced of the unsatisfying nature
of such pursuits, than those who follow them with the greatest avidity.
But let Scripture speak: “She that liveth in pleasure is dead whilst she
liveth [Note: 1 Timothy 5:6.].” It is the fool alone that can say, “Let us
eat, drink, and be merry [Note: Luke 12:19.].”]

2. As sinners—
[As sinners we have a great work to do; even to call to mind, and to
mourn over, the sins of our whole lives, and to seek reconciliation with
our offended God — — — The time, too, which is afforded us for this is
very short and very uncertain — — — And, oh! what an issue awaits
our present exertions; even heaven with all its glory, or hell with all its
inconceivable and everlasting terrors! Have persons so circumstanced
any time for mirth, or any disposition to waste their precious hours in
laughter? Is it not much more suitable to them to be engaged according
to the direction of St. James, “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep; let
your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness;
humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up
[Note: James 4:9-10.]?” — — —]
3. As the redeemed of the Lord—
[What redeemed soul can contemplate the price paid for his
redemption, and laugh? Go, my Brother, to Gethsemane, and see thy
Saviour bathed in a bloody sweat. Go to Calvary, and behold him
stretched upon the cross. Hear his heart-rending cry, “My God! my
God! why hast thou forsaken me?” See the sun himself veiling his face
in darkness, and the Lord of glory bowing his head in death: and then
tell me, whether you feel much disposition for mirth and laughter? or
whether such a state of mind would become you? Methinks, I need add
no more. Your own consciences will attest the justice of Solomon’s
remarks. But if there be an advocate for mirth yet unconvinced, then I
put it to him to answer that significant question in my text, “What doeth
it?”]
Application—
1. Are any disposed to complain that I make religion gloomy?
[Remember, it is of carnal mirth that I have spoken: and of that, not in
its occasional sallies, from a buoyancy of spirit, and in combination with
love, but of its being regarded as a source of happiness, and of its

constituting, as it were, a portion of our daily employment. And if I
wrest this from you, do I leave you a prey to melancholy? Go to religion;
and see whether that do not furnish you with mirth and laughter of a
purer kind: with mirth that is not unprofitable, with laughter that is not
mad? The very end of the Gospel is, to “give you beauty for ashes, the
oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of
heariness:” and if you believe in Christ, it is not merely your privilege,
but your duty to rejoice in him, yea, to “rejoice in him with joy
unspeakable and glorified.” If the Church, on account of temporal
deliverances, could say, “Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and
our tongue with singing [Note: Psalms 126:1-2.]:” much more may you,
on account of the salvation which has been vouchsafed to you. Only,
therefore, let the grounds of your joy be right, and we consent that
“your mourning be turned into dancing, and that to the latest hour of
your lives you put off your sackcloth and gird you with gladness [Note:
Psalms 30:11.].” Instead of pronouncing such mirth madness, we will
declare it to be your truest wisdom.]
2. Are there those amongst you who accord with Solomon?
[Remember, then, to seek those as your associates who are like-minded
with you in this respect. Affect not the company of those who delight in
laughter, and in carnal mirth; for they will only draw you from God,
and rob you of the happiness which you might otherwise enjoy. If they
appear happy, remember that “their mirth is like the crackling of
thorns under a pot [Note: Ecclesiastes 7:6.]:” it may make a blaze for a
moment; but it soon expires in spleen and melancholy. Be careful, too, to
live nigh to God, and in sweet communion with your Lord and Saviour:
for if you draw back from God in secret, you will, in respect of
happiness, be in a worse condition than the world themselves: for whilst
you deny yourselves the pleasure which you might have in carnal things,
you will have no real pleasure in spiritual exercises. But be true to your
principles, and you never need envy the poor worldlings their vain
enjoyments. They drink of a polluted cistern, that contains nothing but
what is insipid and injurious, and will prove fatal to their souls; but you
draw from the fountain of living waters, which whosoever drinks of,

shall live for ever.]
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Simeon, Charles. "Commentary on Ecclesiastes 2:2". Charles Simeon's
Horae Homileticae.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/shh/ecclesiastes-2.html.
1832.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible
I said of laughter; of excessive mirth, which discovers itself by
immoderate laughter, and other outward gestures.
It is mad; this is an act and sign of madness, more fit for fools, who
know nothing, than for wise men, at least in this sin fill, and dangerous,
and deplorable state of mankind, which calls for seriousness and sorrow
from all considerate persons, in which case it is like the laughter of one
in a frenzy; and none but a fool or madman can take satisfaction in such
light and frothy pleasures, or expect happiness from them.
What doeth it? What good doeth it? or how can it make men happy? I
challenge all the epicures in the world to give me a solid and satisfactory
answer.
Copyright Statement

Bibliography
Poole, Matthew, "Commentary on Ecclesiastes 2:2". Matthew Poole's
English Annotations on the Holy Bible.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/mpc/ecclesiastes-2.html.
1685.
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
2. I said of laughter — More literally, To mirth I said, Thou art mad,
(foolish,) and to pleasure, what doth she accomplish, or amount to?
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Whedon, Daniel. "Commentary on Ecclesiastes 2:2". "Whedon's
Commentary on the Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/whe/ecclesiastes-2.html.
1874-1909.
George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary
Why. Hebrew, "What doth that?" Septuagint, "Why dost thou so?"
Immoderate laughter is a sign of folly, Ecclesiasticus xxi. 23. (Calmet) ---
"Even spiritual joy is a temptation." (St. Jerome)

Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Haydock, George Leo. "Commentary on Ecclesiastes 2:2". "George
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/hcc/ecclesiastes-2.html.
1859.
Mark Dunagan Commentary on the Bible
"I said of laughter, "It is madness", and of pleasure, "What does it
accomplish?""
"It is madness"-Solomon had realized that behind laughter can be a
tremendous amount of pain, "Even in laughter the heart may be in
pain" (Prov. ). Most of us have ran into people who try to laugh
everything away. Everything is a joke, the response to even the most
serious questions of life is some silly or frivolous answer.
"What does it accomplish?"-If more people in life would ask this
question concerning what they are presenting pursuing, they would find
the gospel message extremely attractive. Pleasure doesn"t fill the void.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Dunagan, Mark. "Commentary on Ecclesiastes 2:2". "Mark Dunagan
Commentaries on the Bible".

https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/dun/ecclesiastes-2.html.
1999-2014.
E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes
of laughter = to laughter.
It is mad. See note on "madness", Ecclesiastes 1:17.
of mirth = to mirth.
What doeth it? = What doth she do?
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Bullinger, Ethelbert William. "Commentary on Ecclesiastes 2:2". "E.W.
Bullinger's Companion bible Notes".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bul/ecclesiastes-2.html.
1909-1922.
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -
Unabridged
I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?
Laughter - flowing from sensual gratifications.
(It is) (rather, Thou art). Hengstenberg translates (limshok besari), 'to
cherish.'
Mad - i:e., when made the chief good. It is harmless in its proper place;

yea, the Preacher urges us to enjoy thankfully present goods
(Ecclesiastes 2:24).
What doeth it? - of what avail is it in giving solid good? (Ecclesiastes
2:11.)
END OF STUDYLIGHT RESOURCES
Ecclesiastes 2:2 "I said of laughter, `It is mad:' and of mirth, `What
doeth it?' "
In other words, if you lose your self control, and just laugh, it is mad.
Why? Man in the flesh finds very little satisfaction in just having a good
time. There is no fulfillment in just playing all the time.
J. Willcock
Ecclesiastes 2:1-3
I said in my heart, Go to now, I will prove you with mirth, therefore
enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity.…
Solomon had found that wisdom and knowledge are not the means by
which the search after happiness is brought to a successful issue. He
then resolved to try if indulgence in sensual delights would yield any
lasting satisfaction. This, as he saw, was a course on which many
entered, who like him desired happiness, and he would discover for
himself whether or not they were any nearer the goal than he was. And
so he resolved to enjoy pleasure - "to give his heart to wine," and "to lay

hold of folly." Like the rich man in the parable, who said to his soul,
"Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease,
eat, drink and be merry," so did he address his heart, "Come, I will
prove thee with mirth." He had tried wisdom, and found it fruitless for
his purpose, and now would try folly. He lays aside the character and
pursuits of a student, and enters the company of fools, to join in their
revelry and mirth. The conviction that his learning was useless, either to
satisfy his own cravings or to remedy the evils that exist in the world,
made it easy for him to cast away, for a time at any rate, the intellectual
employments in which he had engaged, and to live as others do who give
themselves up to sensual pleasures. Wearied of the toil of thought,
sickened of its illusions and of its fruitlessness, he would find tranquility
and health of mind in frivolous gaiety and mirth. This was not an
attempt to stifle his cravings after the highest good, for he deliberately
determined to analyze his experience at every point, in order to discover
whether any permanent gain resulted from his search in this new
quarter. "I sought," he says, "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 life." For the sake of others as well
as for himself, he would try this pathway and see whither it would lead.
But the experiment failed. In a very short time he discovered that vanity
was here too. The laughter of fools was, as he says elsewhere
(Ecclesiastes 7:6), like the crackling of burning thorns; the blaze lasted
but for a moment, and the gloom that followed was but the deeper and
more enduring. Where the fire of jovial revelry and boisterous mirth
had been, there remained but cold, gray ashes. The mood of reckless
enjoyment was followed by that of cynical satiety and bitter
disappointment. He said of laughter, "It is mad," and of mirth, "What
doeth it?" In his moments of calm reflection, when he communed with
his own heart, he recognized the utter folly of his experiment, and felt
that from his own dear-bought experience he could emphatically warn
all in time to come against seeking satisfaction for the soul in sensual
pleasures. Not in this way can the hunger and thirst with which the
spirit of man is consumed be allayed. At most, a short period of oblivion

can be secured, from which the awakening is all the more terrible. The
sense of personal responsibility, the feeling that we are called to seek the
highest good and are doomed to unrest and misery until we find it, the
conviction that our failures only make ultimate success the more
doubtful, is not to be quenched by any such coarse anodyne. Various
reasons may be found to explain why this kind of experiment failed and
must fail.
I. In the first place, it consisted in AN ABUSE OF NATURAL
FACULTIES AND APPETITES. Some measure of joy and pleasure is
needed for health of mind and body. Innocent gaiety, enjoyment of the
gifts God has bestowed upon us, reasonable satisfaction of the appetites
implanted in us, have all a rightful place in our life. But over-indulgence
in any one of them violates the harmony of our nature. They were never
intended to rule us, but to be under our control and to minister to our
happiness, and we cannot allow them to govern us without throwing our
whole life into disorder.
II. In the second place, THE PLEASURE EXCITED IS ONLY
TRANSITORY. From the very nature of things it cannot be kept up for
any long time by mere effort of will; the brain grows weary and the
bodily powers become exhausted. A jest-book is proverbially very
tiresome reading. At first it may amuse, but the attention soon begins to
flag, and after a little the most brilliant specimen of wit can scarcely
evoke a smile. The drunkard and the glutton find that they can only
carry the pleasures of the table up to a certain point; after that has been
reached the bodily organism refuses to be still further stimulated.
III. In the third place, SUCH PLEASURE CAN ONLY BE GRATIFIED
BY SELF-DEGRADATION. It is inconsistent with the full exercise of
the intellectual faculties which distinguish man from the brute, and
destructive of those higher and more spiritual faculties by which God is

apprehended, served, and enjoyed. Self-indulgence in the gross
pleasures of which we are speaking actually reduces man below the level
of the beasts that perish, for they are preserved from such folly by the
natural instincts with which they are endowed.
IV. In the fourth place, THE INEVITABLE RESULT OF SUCH AN
EXPERIMENT IS A DEEPER AND MORE ENDURING GLOOM.
Self-reproach, enfeeblement of mind and body, satiety and disgust, come
on when the mad fit is past, and, what is still worse, the apprehension of
evils yet to come - the knowledge that the passions excited and indulged
will refuse to die down; that they have a life and power of their own, and
will stimulate and almost compel their slave to enter again on the evil
courses which he first tried of his own free will and with a light heart.
The prospect before him is that of bondage to habits which he knows
will yield him no lasting pleasure, and very little of the fleeting kind, and
must involve the enfeeblement and destruction of all his powers. Mirth
and laughter and wine did not banish Solomon's melancholy; but after
the feverish excitement they produced had passed away, they left him in
a deeper gloom than ever. "Like phosphorus on a dead man's lace, he
felt that it was all a trick, a lie; and like the laugh of a hyena among the
tombs, he found that the worldling's frolic can never reanimate the joys
which guilt has slain and buried." "I said of laughter, It is mad: and of
mirth, What doeth it?' The well-known story of the melancholy patient
being advised by a doctor to go and see Grimaldi, and answering, "I am
Grimaldi," and that of George Fox being recommended by a minister
whom he consulted to dispel the anxieties which his spiritual fears and
doubts and aspirations had excited within him, by "drinking beer and
dancing with the girls" (Carlyle, 'Sartor Resartus,' 3:1), may be used to
illustrate the teaching of our text. Some stanzas, too, of Byron's last
poem give a pathetic expression to the feelings of satiety and
disappointment which are the retribution of sensuality ?
"My days are in the yellow leaf;

The flowers and fruits of love are gone;
The worm, the canker, and the grief
Are mine alone!
"The fire that on my bosom preys
Is lone as some volcanic isle;
No torch is kindled at its blaze -
A funeral pile.
"The hope, the fear, the jealous care,
The exalted portion of the pain
And power of love I cannot share,
But wear the chain." - J.W.
DAILY BREAD
Ecclesiastes 2:1-11 Pleasure's Aftermath
I said of laughter--"Madness!" And of mirth, "What does it
accomplish?. --Ecclesiastes 2:2
There are two words in Ecclesiastes 2:2 that describe living for pleasure
without thought for God. The first word, laughter, means "superficial
gaiety," which is called "madness."
I observed firsthand the truth of those words when I was 16. I worked
in a meat market with some hard-drinking men. They were destroying
their health and enduring needless pain. On Monday they would come

in sick, miserable, and unable to do their job efficiently. But when
Saturday night rolled around, they would repeat the previous week's
insanity.
A few years later I saw illustrated the truth of the second word, mirth. It
means "thoughtful pleasure." An elderly man had carefully built a
successful business and had more money than he could spend. He told
me he was unhappy and felt unloved by his heirs. He dreaded dying. His
life of "thoughtful pleasure" had left him empty, cynical, and closed to
the gospel.
After trying every form of pleasure-seeking, Solomon concluded that it
is "vanity and grasping for the wind" (v.11). It's not sinful to enjoy life,
but the aftermath of living only for pleasure is emptiness.
Have you left God out of your life? Trust Christ as your Savior and
experience life's greatest pleasures. —Herbert Vander Lugt
Earthly pleasures vainly call me,
I would be like Jesus;
Nothing worldly shall enthrall me,
I would be like Jesus. --Rowe
Worldly pleasure is anything that crowds Christ Out of your life.
PETER PETT, "‘I said of laughter, “This is madness,” and of
merriment, “What does it do?”
Thus his conclusion was that laughter which resulted from ‘having a
good time’ was folly, it was empty, and that seeking merriment
accomplished nothing. After all, what did it do, what did it accomplish,

what did it leave you with when it was all over? The answer is,
absolutely nothing."
PULPIT COMMENTARY, "Ecclesiastes 2:2
I said of laughter, It is mad. Laughter and mirth are personified, hence
treated as masculine. He uses the term "mad" in reference to the
statement in Ecclesiastes 1:17, "I gave my heart to know madness and
folly." Septuagint, "I said to laughter, Error ( περιφοραν);" Vulgate,
Risum reputavi errorem. Neither of these is as accurate as the
Authorized Version. Of mirth, What doeth it? What does it effect
towards real happiness and contentment? How does it help to fill the
void, to give lasting satisfaction? So we have in Proverbs 14:13, "Even
in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of mirth is heaviness;"
though the context is different. The Vulgate renders loosely, Quid
frustra deeiperis?
CHARLES SIMEON
THE EMPTINESS OF WORLDLY MIRTH
Ecclesiastes 2:2. I said of laughter, It is mad; and of mirth, What doeth
it?
WHO is it that has ventured to speak thus respecting that which
constitutes, in the world’s estimation, the great happiness of life? Was he
an ignorant man? or one who from envy decried a thing which he was
not able to attain? or an inexperienced man, who had no just means of
forming a judgment? or an irritated man, who vented thus his spleen
against an object that had disappointed him? Or was he one whose
authority in this matter we are at liberty to question! No: it was the
wisest of the human race, who had more ample means of judging than

any other of the children of men, and had tried the matter to the
uttermost: it was Solomon himself, under the influence of the Spirit of
God, recording this, not only as the result of his own experience, but as
the declaration of Jehovah, by him, for the instruction of the world in all
future ages. He had been left by God to try the vain experiment,
whether happiness was to be found in any thing but God. He tried it,
first, in the pursuit of knowledge; which, to a person of his enlarged
mind, certainly promised most fair to yield him the satisfaction which he
sought. But partly from the labour requisite for the attainment of
knowledge; partly from discovering how little could be known by
persons of our finite capacity; partly also from the insufficiency of
knowledge to satisfy the innumerable wants of man; and partly from the
disgust which had been created in his mind by the insight which his
wisdom gave him into the ignorance and folly of the rest of mankind; he
left it upon record, as his deliberate judgment, that “in much wisdom is
much grief; and that he who increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow
[Note: Ecclesiastes 1:18.].” He then turned to pleasure, as the most
probable source of happiness: “I said in my heart, Go to now, I will
prove thee with mirth: therefore enjoy pleasure.” But being equally
disappointed in that, he adds, “Behold, this also is vanity [Note: ver.
1.].” Then, in the words of my text, he further adds, “I said of laughter,
It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?”
In discoursing on this subject, I shall,
1. Shew what that is which he here pronounces to be “vanity”—
It becomes us, in considering such weighty declarations us that before
us, to attain the most precise and accurate views of the terms employed;
neither attenuating the import of them on the one hand, nor
exaggerating it on the other.
We are not, then, to understand the text as decrying all cheerfulness—
[The Christian, above all people upon earth, has reason to be cheerful.
And religion in no way tends to destroy the gaiety of the human mind,
but only to direct it towards proper objects, and to restrain it within

proper bounds. The ways of religion are represented as “ways of
pleasantness and peace.” And “the fruits of the Spirit are, love, joy,
peace:” all of which suppose a measure of hilarity, and the innocence of
that hilarity, when arising from a becoming source, and kept within the
limits of sobriety and sound wisdom. Doubtless that tumultuous kind of
joy which is generally denominated mirth, and which vents itself in
immoderate laughter, is altogether vain and bad: but a placidity of
mind, exercising itself in a way of brotherly love and of cheerful
benevolence, can never be censured as unprofitable, much less can it be
condemned as verging towards insanity.]
Neither, on the other hand, are we to restrict the text to licentious and
profane mirth—
[That needed not to be stigmatized in so peculiar a manner: because the
fully of such mirth carries its own evidence along with it. We need only
to see it in others: and if we ourselves are not partakers of it, we shall
not hesitate to characterize it by some opprobrious or contemptuous
name. We need neither the wisdom of Solomon, nor his experience, to
pass upon it the judgment it deserves.]
The conduct reprobated in our text is, the seeking of our happiness in
carnal mirth—
[Solomon particularly specifies this: “I said in my heart. Go to now, I
will prove thee with mirth.” I will see whether that will afford me the
happiness which I am in pursuit of. And we may suppose, that, in the
prosecution of this object. he summoned around him all that was gay
and lively in his court, and all that could contribute towards the
attainment of it. We may take a survey of the state of society in what
may be called the fashionable world, and see how the votaries of
pleasure spend their time. They go from one vanity to another, hoping
that in a succession of amusements they shall find a satisfaction which
nothing else can impart. Plays, balls, concerts, routs, the pleasures of the
field, of the race-course, of the card-table, form a certain round of
employment, which those who travel in it expect to find productive of

happiness, of such happiness at least as they affect. And this. I conceive,
is what Solomon intended particularly to reprobate as fully and
madness. Of course, we must include also in the same description the
more vulgar amusements to which the lower classes resort. All,
according to their taste, or the means afforded them for enjoyment,
whilst they pursue the same object, are obnoxious to the same censure.
The degree of refinement which may be in their pursuits makes no
difference in this matter. Whatever it be which calls forth their mirth
and laughter, it is equally unprofitable and equally insane. So Solomon
judged; and]
We now proceed—
II. To confirm his testimony—
Let us take a candid view of this matter: let us consider pleasure in its
true light: let us consider its aspect on us,
1. As men—
[As men, we possess faculties of a very high order, which we ought to
cultivate, and which, when duly improved, exalt and dignify our nature.
But behold the votaries of pleasure; how low do they sink themselves by
the depravity of their taste, and the emptiness of their occupations! A
man devoid of wisdom may abound in mirth and laughter as well as he:
and there will be found very little difference in their feelings; except, as
the more enlarged men’s capacities are for higher objects, the keener
sense will they have of the emptiness of their vain pursuits. In truth, we
may appeal even to themselves in confirmation of what Solomon has
said: for there are no persons more convinced of the unsatisfying nature
of such pursuits, than those who follow them with the greatest avidity.
But let Scripture speak: “She that liveth in pleasure is dead whilst she
liveth [Note: 1 Timothy 5:6.].” It is the fool alone that can say, “Let us
eat, drink, and be merry [Note: Luke 12:19.].”]
2. As sinners—
[As sinners we have a great work to do; even to call to mind, and to

mourn over, the sins of our whole lives, and to seek reconciliation with
our offended God — — — The time, too, which is afforded us for this is
very short and very uncertain — — — And, oh! what an issue awaits
our present exertions; even heaven with all its glory, or hell with all its
inconceivable and everlasting terrors! Have persons so circumstanced
any time for mirth, or any disposition to waste their precious hours in
laughter? Is it not much more suitable to them to be engaged according
to the direction of St. James, “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep; let
your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness;
humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up
[Note: James 4:9-10.]?” — — —]
3. As the redeemed of the Lord—
[What redeemed soul can contemplate the price paid for his
redemption, and laugh? Go, my Brother, to Gethsemane, and see thy
Saviour bathed in a bloody sweat. Go to Calvary, and behold him
stretched upon the cross. Hear his heart-rending cry, “My God! my
God! why hast thou forsaken me?” See the sun himself veiling his face
in darkness, and the Lord of glory bowing his head in death: and then
tell me, whether you feel much disposition for mirth and laughter? or
whether such a state of mind would become you? Methinks, I need add
no more. Your own consciences will attest the justice of Solomon’s
remarks. But if there be an advocate for mirth yet unconvinced, then I
put it to him to answer that significant question in my text, “What doeth
it?”]
Application—
1. Are any disposed to complain that I make religion gloomy?
[Remember, it is of carnal mirth that I have spoken: and of that, not in
its occasional sallies, from a buoyancy of spirit, and in combination with
love, but of its being regarded as a source of happiness, and of its
constituting, as it were, a portion of our daily employment. And if I
wrest this from you, do I leave you a prey to melancholy? Go to religion;
and see whether that do not furnish you with mirth and laughter of a

purer kind: with mirth that is not unprofitable, with laughter that is not
mad? The very end of the Gospel is, to “give you beauty for ashes, the
oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of
heariness:” and if you believe in Christ, it is not merely your privilege,
but your duty to rejoice in him, yea, to “rejoice in him with joy
unspeakable and glorified.” If the Church, on account of temporal
deliverances, could say, “Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and
our tongue with singing [Note: Psalms 126:1-2.]:” much more may you,
on account of the salvation which has been vouchsafed to you. Only,
therefore, let the grounds of your joy be right, and we consent that
“your mourning be turned into dancing, and that to the latest hour of
your lives you put off your sackcloth and gird you with gladness [Note:
Psalms 30:11.].” Instead of pronouncing such mirth madness, we will
declare it to be your truest wisdom.]
2. Are there those amongst you who accord with Solomon?
[Remember, then, to seek those as your associates who are like-minded
with you in this respect. Affect not the company of those who delight in
laughter, and in carnal mirth; for they will only draw you from God,
and rob you of the happiness which you might otherwise enjoy. If they
appear happy, remember that “their mirth is like the crackling of
thorns under a pot [Note: Ecclesiastes 7:6.]:” it may make a blaze for a
moment; but it soon expires in spleen and melancholy. Be careful, too, to
live nigh to God, and in sweet communion with your Lord and Saviour:
for if you draw back from God in secret, you will, in respect of
happiness, be in a worse condition than the world themselves: for whilst
you deny yourselves the pleasure which you might have in carnal things,
you will have no real pleasure in spiritual exercises. But be true to your
principles, and you never need envy the poor worldlings their vain
enjoyments. They drink of a polluted cistern, that contains nothing but
what is insipid and injurious, and will prove fatal to their souls; but you
draw from the fountain of living waters, which whosoever drinks of,
shall live for ever.]

Life in the Fast Lane
Author: Ray C. Stedman
Read the Scripture: Ecclesiastes 2:1-26
Whether we know it or not, all of us are engaged in a quest for
something which will meet the needs of our heart. We all are looking for
the secret to finding delight anytime, anywhere, and under any
circumstances. What we are looking for, in other words, is the secret to
contentment. That is the greatest blessing in life.
That too is what King Solomon was looking for, and in the book of
Ecclesiastes he describes his search. In Chapter 1 of the book we were
introduced to Solomon and learned of his qualifications for this search.
He was very rich, he was an astute observer of human life, and he had
plenty of time and money. He also was fully aware of the difficulties
involved, stemming from the fallen nature of man and the intricacies
and complexities of life. We learned from him that there is nothing in
and of itself that can make us content. No thing, no possession, no
relationship will endure to continually yield up to us the fruit of
contentment and delight.
In Chapter 2 we are introduced to the record of what Solomon found in
this search, the proof of that claim that I have just stated. Here we have
an examination of the various ways by which men have sought through
the ages to find contentment, enjoyment and delight in life. The first
way, the one that is most popular today and always has been, is his
examination of what philosophers call hedonism, the pursuit of
pleasure. All of us instinctively feel that if we can just have fun we will
find happiness. That is what the Searcher takes up first to see whether
or not that is true.

He starts with what we can well call the experience of fun and games.
Verses 1-3:
I said to myself, "Come now, I will make a test of pleasure; enjoy
yourself." But behold, this also was vanity. I said of laughter, "It is
mad," and of pleasure, "What use is it?" I searched with my mind how
to cheer my body with wine -- my mind still guiding me with wisdom --
and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons
of men to do under heaven during the few days of their life. (Ecclesiastes
2:1-3 RSV)
-- how best to spend your life. Have you ever asked yourself, What can I
do that will make me happy all of my life? That was Solomon's question.
There is a lot implied in this paragraph. What a blast they must have
had! Solomon, with all his riches, gave himself completely over to the
pursuit of pleasure. He must have spent weeks and months, even years,
in this search.
Here he gives us details of what he experienced. The first thing he says is
that he said to himself, "Enjoy yourself," so he went in for mirth,
laughter and pleasure. You can let your mind fill in the gaps here.
Imagine how the palace must have rocked with laughter. Every night
they had stand-up comics, and lavish feasts, with wine flowing like
water. Harrah's Club was never like this! In fact, you may be interested
to know what just one day's menu consisted of during this time. First
Kings records what King Solomon required for one day to feed his
retinue in the royal palace:
Solomon's provision for one day was thirty cors of fine flour[a cor is
about ten bushels], and sixty cors of meal[grain of various sorts], ten fat
oxen, and twenty pasture-fed cattle[prime Grade A meat], a hundred
sheep, besides harts, gazelles, roebucks, and fatted fowl[chickens, ducks,
and all kinds of birds]. (1 Kings 4:22-23)
That was the menu for just one day. It has been estimated that that
would feed between ten and twenty thousand people, so there were a lot

of others involved in this search for pleasure along with the king.
Solomon gives us the result of the search. Laughter, he said to himself, is
madness. I wonder if each of us has not experienced this to some degree.
Have you ever spent an afternoon with a group of your friends giving
yourself to laughing, having fun, and telling stories about all kinds of
experiences? If you think carefully about it you will find that most of the
stories were based on exaggeration; they were all embellished a little;
they did not have much basis in reality. It is the same with laughter.
Laughter only deals with the peripheries of life. There is no solid
content to it. "The laughter of fools is like the crackling of thorns under
the pot," (Ecclesiastes 7:6). Laughter is only a crackling noise, that is
all. It leaves one with a sense of unfulfillment. I have had afternoons and
evenings like that that were delightful occasions. We laughed all the time
as we rehashed experiences, told jokes, etc., but when all was said and
done we went to bed feeling rather empty and unfulfilled. That was
Solomon's experience. He is not saying that this is wrong. The Bible does
not say that either. It says that laughter is empty; it does not fulfill or
satisfy.
Of pleasure, Solomon's comment is, "What use is it?" What does it
contribute to life? Nothing, is his answer. Pleasure consumes resources,
it does not build them up. Most of us cannot afford a night out more
than once or twice a year because it costs so much. Going out uses up
resources that hard work have put together. Pleasure, Solomon
concludes, adds nothing.
Wine, he says, is of no help either. It appears to be. Every social
gathering today almost invariably includes the dispensing of liquor first.
The first thing the stewardess says after your plane is airborne is,
"Would you like a cocktail?" There is a widespread conviction in the
world that you cannot get strangers to talk to each other until you
loosen them up with liquor. And it seems to work. After wine or
cocktails are served, people soon begin to chat a little bit and the
tenseness and quietness is lessened. But not much of any significance is
ever said, either on planes or in social gatherings. There is little

communication; it is all surface conversation. Wine, Solomon says, does
not really help. "I looked into it," he says, "and I found that it too was
vanity; it left people with a feeling of futility and emptiness."
So he moves to another form of pleasure. Verse 4:
I made great works; I built houses and planted vineyards for myself; I
made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit
trees. I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing
trees. (Ecclesiastes 2:4-6 RSV)
Here is another form of pleasure -- projects, parks, and pools. Many
people today attempt to find satisfaction in this way. There is pleasure in
designing and building a house. Some people give their whole lives to
this. This area is noted for the Winchester Mystery House, built by a
woman who could not stop building. The house is a conglomeration of
rooms, doors that open on to blank walls, staircases that go nowhere,
etc., anything just to keep on building. Some wealthy people gain a
reputation as philanthropists because they endow beautiful public
buildings, but they always manage to get their names engraved on a
brass plaque somewhere in the building. All they are really doing is
indulging an edifice complex! It was said of the emperor Nero that he
found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble. But history tells
us that he did not do that for the beautification of Rome, he did it for his
own gratification and his own fame.
Solomon too gave himself to this. His own house took fourteen years to
build, the temple seven. He built houses for his many wives whom he
brought to Jerusalem, spending time, money and interest doing so.
Southwest of Jerusalem, in a place seldom visited by tourists; there exist
yet today vast depressions in the earth which are still called the Pools of
Solomon, which he used to water the forest of trees which he planted in
an effort to find satisfaction for his own heart.
Solomon next goes on to a summary of things which today we could only
call "the good life." Verses 7-8:

I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my
house; I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any
who had been before me in Jerusalem. I also gathered for myself silver
and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces; I got singers, both
men and women, and many concubines, man's delight. (Ecclesiastes 2:7-
8 RSV)
Does that sound modern? He had servants to wait on his every whim.
The rich always want somebody to do all the hard work for them. In
this case they were slaves who could not even go on strike if they did not
like what was happening. Solomon had ranches to provide diversion and
profit in the raising herds and flocks. Many wealthy people invest their
money in cattle and horse ranches. Bank accounts too give a sense of
security. Solomon says he gathered " silver and gold and the treasure of
kings and provinces," and brought it all to Jerusalem. He had all the
money he needed.
Then he had musicians brought in, men and women singers and bands.
There probably were bands called, "The Wandering Pebbles," and
"The Appreciative Corpses!" Certainly the top band of all, "The
Bedbugs," played in the courts and palaces of the king! He had all kinds
of bands, even the Jerusalem Pop Orchestra played for concerts under
the stars. This is very up-to-date, isn't it? We think we have invented all
of this, but here it is in the ancient book of Solomon.
Finally, they had Playmates, girls with bunny tails running around the
palace. Concubines, Solomon calls them, "man's delight." All the joys of
untrammeled sexuality were available at all times. This certainly shows
how wrong is the idea of some people who say that the Playboy
mentality is peculiar to the twentieth century alone. King Solomon tried
all of this.
What did he find? Here are his honest conclusions, Verses 9-11:
So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem;
also my wisdom remained with me. And whatever my eyes desired I did
not keep from them; I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart

found pleasure In all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil.
Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in
doing it, and behold, all was emptiness and a striving after wind, and
there was nothing to be gained under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 2:9-11 RSV)
That is a very honest reporting. Solomon says there were some positive
things, apparently. First, he gained a degree of notoriety, he says. He
became great, surpassing all who went before him in Jerusalem. Many
people think that fame will satisfy the emptiness of the heart. Solomon
found fame. He adds that he kept his objectivity, though. "My wisdom
remained with me," he says. In other words, "I was able to assess this as
I went along. I did not lose myself in this wild search for pleasure. I was
able to look at myself and evaluate it as I went along. But I tried
everything. I did not miss or set aside anything." He belonged to the jet-
set of that day. "I enjoyed it for a while," he says. "I found pleasure in
all my toil, but that was all the reward I got for my labor -- momentary
enjoyment. Each time I repeated it I got a little less enjoyment out of it."
"My conclusion," Solomon says, "is that it was not worth it. Like a
candle, it all burned away, leaving me jaded and surfeited. Nothing
could excite me after that." He concludes that it was all emptiness, a
striving after wind. He was burned out.
Verses 12-23 form a rather lengthy passage in which the Searcher
compares two possible ways of pursuing pleasure. Somebody might well
come along at this point and say to Solomon, "The reason you ended up
so burned out is that you went at this the wrong way. You planned your
pleasures, you deliberately gave yourself to careful scheduling of what
you wanted to try next. But that is not the way to do this. The way to
enjoy pleasure, to really live it up, is to abandon yourself. Go in for wild,
impulsive, devil-may-care pleasure. Do what you feel like doing." Surely
this was when the modern motto, "If it feels good, do it," was first
advanced.
"All right," Solomon says, "I examined that." Verse 12:
So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what can the

man do who comes after the king? Only what he has already done.
(Ecclesiastes 2:12 RSV)
By that he means that no one can challenge or contest his judgment in
this area because no one could exceed his resources; people who follow
him can only repeat what he himself has done.
But after trying it all, here are his conclusions. Verse 13:
Then I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness.
(Ecclesiastes 2:13 RSV)
It is much better to go at it with your eyes open, he says. If you are going
to pursue pleasure, at least do not throw yourself into it like a wild man.
If you do so you will burn yourself out; you will get involved in things
that you cannot imagine. It is like the difference between light and
darkness. If there is any advantage to walking in light versus stumbling
about in the darkness that is the difference between a wise and careful
planning of pleasure and a foolish abandonment to it.
The reason why it is like that is this, Verse 14:
The wise man has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness;
(Ecclesiastes 2:14a RSV)
In other words, the wise man can foresee some of the results of what he
is doing and perhaps avoid some of them so that the full impact of living
for pleasure does not hit him as fast and as completely as it does the fool.
Many have discovered this to be true. The newspapers every day tell of
young people who gave themselves to the wild pursuit of pleasure who
are now in jail, or burned out with drugs after a relatively short time.
Solomon says it is better to pursue pleasure according to the way of the
wise.
But either way, he says, neither one can avoid death. Here is a very
insightful statement at the close of Verse 14:
...and yet I perceived that one fate comes to all of them. Then I said to
myself, "What befalls the fool will befall me also; why then have I been

so very wise?" And I said to myself that this also is vanity. For the wise
man as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the
days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise man dies
just like the fool! (Ecclesiastes 2:14b-16 RSV)
It does not really make a lot of difference; in the end they both come to
the same fate.
I have often quoted for you the eloquent words of Lord Bertrand
Russell. He was widely regarded as a very wise man, although a
thorough-going atheist and a defender of humanism. This was his view
of life:
One by one as they march, our comrades vanish from our sight seized
by the silent orders of omnipotent death. Brief and powerless is man's
life. On him and all his race the slow, sure doom falls, pitiless and dark.
Blind to good and evil, reckless of destruction, omnipotent matter rolls
on its relentless way. For man, condemned today to lose his dearest,
tomorrow himself to pass through the gate of darkness, it remains only
to cherish, ere yet the blow falls, the lofty thoughts that ennoble his little
days.
Those words express the very truth that the Searcher brings out here.
Finally, Solomon says, no matter how carefully you pursue life and
pleasure it will end in the darkness and dust of death; the fool and the
wise man are both forgotten. How many of you knew wise men and
women in your past whom no one remembers now? These words are
terribly true.
Then he comes to his final, remarkable reaction. Verse 17:
So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me;
for all is vanity and a striving after wind. I hated all my toil in which I
had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will
come after me; and who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool?
Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under
the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned about and gave my heart up to

despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes a
man who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all
to be enjoyed by a man who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a
great evil. (Ecclesiastes 2:17-21 RSV)
Notice the increasing depression there. First, there is a sense of being
grieved, of being hurt by life. "I hated life, because what is done under
the sun was grievous to me," the Searcher says. His experience is one of
increasing dislike because there is a diminishing return of pleasure for
all the effort he makes to enjoy life. Have you ever seen people
determined to have fun even if it kills them? They try their best to
extract from the moment all the joy they can, but they get very little for
their efforts. This, Solomon says, was a grief to him.
Then, second, he was frustrated. "Why do I have to work to put all this
together, using all my wisdom and efforts, and eventually have to leave
it to some fool coming behind me who will waste it in a few months?" he
asks. He feels frustrated by the unfairness of this.
Finally, he sinks into despair. "I turned about and gave my heart up to
despair," he says, because he is helpless to change this law of
diminishing returns. I think this is the explanation for the phenomenon
of the sudden, unexpected suicides of popular idols, of men and women
who apparently had seized the keys to life, who had riches and fame,
and whom the media constantly held up as objects worthy of imitation.
Every now and then, however, finding nothing but frustration and
despair as he has used up life too quickly and there is no joy left in it,
one of these beautiful people takes a gun and blows his brains out.
Think of people like Jack London, and Ernest Hemingway. Just last
week Hemingway's brother committed suicide, as their father had done
some years earlier. We think of Freddy Prinz; of Elvis Presley, who
virtually killed himself with drugs. Yes, these words which Solomon has
faithfully recorded for us are true; they correspond to life. Emptiness
and vexation were Solomon's own experience when he tried to live it up
without the missing element that it took to meet the hunger of his heart.

So he concludes with this eternal question, Verse 22:
What has a man from all the toll and strain with which he toils beneath
the sun?[Notice, "beneath the sun," in the visible world.] For all his
days are full of pain, and his work is a vexation; even in the night his
mind does not rest.[Insomnia at night, restlessness in his heart, is what
he got under the sun.] This also is emptiness. (Ecclesiastes 2:22-23 RSV)
Is there no answer? Is it all hopeless?
In the three verses which follow we have the first statement of the true
message of this book. Is it just a matter of time before we too are all
jaded, burned out and surfeited, life having lost all value, meaning and
color for us? No, says the Searcher. Put a relationship with God into
that picture and everything changes. The text says (Verse 24):
There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink and
find enjoyment in his toil. (Ecclesiastes 2:24a RSV)
Unfortunately here is another instance where we have lost the true
meaning of the verse by a bad translation. In the next chapter there is a
similar passage that properly includes the words, "there is nothing
better than," but that is not what it says here. Delete from the text the
words, "better than," because they are not in the Hebrew and they do
not belong here. What this text actually says is,
There is nothing in man that he should eat and drink and find
enjoyment in his toil.
There is nothing in man, there is no inherent value in him that makes it
possible for him to extract true enjoyment from the things he does. That
is the first thing Solomon says.
What does, then? He tells us:
This also, I saw, is from the hand of God; for apart from him who can
eat or who can have enjoyment? (Ecclesiastes 2:24b-25 RSV)
That is his second declaration, and that is the true message of this book.

Enjoyment is a gift of God. There is nothing in possessions, in material
goods, in money, there is nothing in man himself that can enable him to
keep enjoying the things he does. But it is possible to have enjoyment all
your life if you take it from the hand of God. It is given to those who
please God. Verse 26:
For to the man who pleases him God gives wisdom and knowledge and
joy; (Ecclesiastes 2:26a RSV)
Wisdom and knowledge have been mentioned before as things you can
get from "under the sun," but they will not continue. To have added to it
the ingredient of pleasure, of continual delight going on and on,
unceasing throughout the whole of life, you must take it from the hand
of God. The man who pleases God is given the gift of joy.
It is wonderful to realize that this book -- and the whole Bible -- teaches
us that God wants us to have joy. He gave us life that we might have joy.
In his letter to Timothy, Paul said, "He gives us richly all things to
enjoy." It is God's desire and intent that all the good things of life that
are mentioned here should contribute to the enjoyment of man; but
only, says this Searcher, if you understand that that enjoyment does not
come from things or from people. It is an added gift of God, and only
those who please God can find it.
How do you please God? In many places in Scripture we are told,
"Without faith it is impossible to please God." It is faith that pleases
him, belief that he is there and that everything in life comes from his
hand. Underscore in your minds the word all. Pain, sorrow,
bereavement, disappointment, as well as gladness, happiness and joy, all
these things are a gift of God. When we see life in those terms then any
and every element of life can have its measure of joy -- even sorrow,
pain, and grief. These things were given to us to enjoy. That is the
message of this book. The writer will develop this further in the
passages that follow.
This is also the message of Romans 8:28: "All things work together for
good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his

purpose." It is also the message of Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in the Lord
with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. In all your
ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths."
The fourth thing which Solomon says here is that all others labor for the
benefit of those who please God. Verse 26b:
...but to the sinner he gives the work of gathering and heaping, only to
give to one who pleases God. (Ecclesiastes 2:26b RSV)
That explains a remarkable thing that I have observed many times.
Privileged as I often am to speak in various conference centers around
the country, I have often noted the fact that many of these Christian
gatherings are held in the expensive homes of millionaires who were not
Christians:
I am thinking, for instance, of Glen Eyrie, the headquarters of the
Navigators, outside Colorado Springs. There in a beautiful natural
glade, General William Palmer, founder of Colorado Springs and
founder of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, built an
English-style stone castle for his British bride. She never lived in it more
than a few weeks, and he himself never enjoyed that property at all. It
sat empty for years. Finally it was sold several times and ended up in the
hands of the Navigators, who are using it as a Christian conference
ground and world headquarters for their training movement.
Twice I have been invited to be conference speaker at a beautiful site on
a bluff overlooking the Columbia River in Oregon, an estate called
Menucha. This wonderful home, covering almost an acre of ground, was
built by a wealthy Jewish businessman who had little interest in
spiritual things. He entertained Presidents at that home, but now it is in
the hands of the Alliance Churches of Oregon.
You can duplicate this kind of story many, many times. Isn't it
remarkable that God so planned life that these multimillionaires in their
pursuit of pleasure spent lavishly on their homes in order that their
estates might at last be given into the hands of those who please God?

These lavish spenders will not get anything for all their efforts. There is
a deep irony about this.
This also is vanity and a striving after wind. (Ecclesiastes 2:26c RSV)
Isn't it strange that the more you run after life, panting after every
pleasure, the less you find, but the more you take life as a gift from
God's hand, responding in thankful gratitude for the delight of the
moment, the more that seems to come to you? Even the trials, the
heartaches and handicaps that others seek to avoid are touched with the
blessing of heaven and seem to minister to the heart of the one who has
learned to take them from the hand of God.
Fanny Crosby is one of the favorite hymn writers of all time. Blind
almost from birth, she lived to be 95 years old. When she was only eight
years old she wrote this couplet:
Oh, what a happy child I am
Although I cannot see.
I am resolved that in this world
Contented I will be.
How many blessings I enjoy
That other people don't.
To weep and sigh
Because I'm blind,
I cannot and I won't.
That is the philosophy that pleases God, and that is what the Searcher is
talking about here.
All the objections that can be raised against this are going to be
examined and tested in the pages that follow. When we finish the book
we will find that the Searcher has established without a doubt that joy is

a gift of God, and it comes to those who take life daily, whatever it may
bring, from the hand of a loving Father.
By Al Perrotta Published on May 1, 2018 • 1 Comment
Al Perrotta
Writes Solomon, “I said of laughter, ‘It is madness.'” (Ecclesiastes 2:2)
Who am I to argue with Solomon? For one thing, having the “wisdom of
Solomon” is the epitome of wisdom-having. Like having the “singing
skills of Carrie Underwood.”
Second, he seems to be right. In an evil world filled with disease,
destruction and deceit, you’d have to be mentally off to find anything
funny.
“How can you laugh when there are people starving?”
“Uh, I’m not laughing at the people starving. I’m laughing because this
bald kid rolling around on the floor with a beagle is hysterical.
How can you be so happy? Splashing in a puddle in the middle of a hard
rain. Celebrating even when soaked. Having a joyful heart in a junked-
up world. Madness.
Third, laughter puts us at risk. That’s madness. Even Chuck Norris
would get his fanny whipped if he was busy laughing when the bad guys
barged through the door. Laughter leaves us wide open physically or
emotionally. It leaves us exposed.
Finding joy in a fallen world? Deliberately opening up our body and
soul, risking hurt? You must be out of your mind!
Sound familiar? Where have we heard that before? When challenged
for our faith, for our joy, for giving our lives over to Christ, people say,

“Dude’s crazy.” Paul says, “If we are ‘out of our mind,” as some say, it
is for God.” (2 Corinthians 5:13)
“There you go again,” those same people may say, “tying laughter to
God.”
Yes, I am. And here’s the punchline: So did Solomon.
Laughter is Praise
“Laughter is madness,” Solomon said. Funny thing is, Ecclesiastes is
about the only time the word is translated “madness.” The Hebrew
word “halal” appears 165 times in the Old Testament. Nearly every
other time it is translated as “praise.”
Laughter is praise! Hallelujah!
We talk about crying out to the Lord. We’re good at that. But when we
laugh in joy and thanksgiving, we laugh out to the Lord. Hearty, healthy
laughter is a joyful noise. Don’t you tend to look up when laughing? No
one hangs their head in mirth.
What a great word, mirth. It’s defined as “glee, merriment, jollity,
joviality.” And “the gaiety characterizing people who are enjoying the
companionship of others.”
Jesus calls believers “friend.” (John 15:15) Oh, the gaiety of His
companionship. It can’t help but give us a merry heart. And as Proverbs
tells us, “a merry heart does good, like medicine.” Thanks to Reader’s
Digest, we say it as “Laughter is the best medicine.”
Find a Time to Praise, Find a Time to Laugh
Let’s pray: Lord, help us take our “medicine.” Hang out with us. Be the
companion who brings gaiety, who fills us with laughter and cheer as we
go about the day. Let our laughter shoot upward as praise and rain
down onto others.
Let them say we are out of our minds for you.

Laughter called madness

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