Need help in understanding this passage from the Old Testament....?

Question

This passage from Ecclesiastes comes from the Sunday readings of Aug 5th, 2007:

"Here is one who has labored with wisdom and knowledge and skill, and yet to another who has not labored over it,
he must leave property. This also is vanity and a great misfortune."

I don't really understand the literal meaning of these two sentences. Why does the first person have to leave property to the second? What property? What does it mean by "this ALSO is vanity"?

Thanks so much!

Answer 1

It helps to have verse and chapter.

Answer 2

This comes from the Tanach.
The version you have probably comes from some variation of the Christian Bible, which tends to alter the phrases.

Here's the direct quote from Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) 2:21-23 (see link):

21. For there is a man whose toil is with wisdom and with knowledge and with honesty and to a man who did not toil for it he will give it as his portion; this too is vanity and a great evil.

22. For what has a man out of all his toil and the breaking of his heart that he toils under the sun?

23. For all his days are pains and his occupation is vexation; even at night his heart does not rest; this too is vanity.

Now - what you have done is take the verses out of context.
The last line (see 2:26) sums it all up.
This particular portion means that we can be the best, the brightest, the richest...or we can be poor, ignorant fools.

BUT:
if we please God, we are truly blessed with things far wiser and richer than anything found on Earth.

To not do God's work is as meaningless as chasing the wind.

Answer 3

NLT easier to understand!

17 So now I hate life because everything done here under the sun is so irrational. Everything is meaningless, like chasing the wind. 18 I am disgusted that I must leave the fruits of my hard work to others. 19 And who can tell whether my successors will be wise or foolish? And yet they will control everything I have gained by my skill and hard work. How meaningless!
20 So I turned in despair from hard work. It was not the answer to my search for satisfaction in this life. 21 For though I do my work with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, I must leave everything I gain to people who haven't worked to earn it. This is not only foolish but highly unfair. 22 So what do people get for all their hard work? 23 Their days of labor are filled with pain and grief; even at night they cannot rest. It is all utterly meaningless.
24 So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that this pleasure is from the hand of God. 25 For who can eat or enjoy anything apart from him? 26 God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to those who please him. But if a sinner becomes wealthy, God takes the wealth away and gives it to those who please him. Even this, however, is meaningless, like chasing the wind.

Answer 4

Even though a person works hard all of his or her life to aquire things that person still dies and leave the inheritance to someone else who did not work to aquire such things, so pursuing these things are worthless to someone that has died..... so the thing we should be doing as brought out at the end of Ecclesiastes at 12:13 instead of striving after material things we should fear the true God and keep his commandments for this is the whole obligation of Man.

Answer 5

It means to me that the first accumulated the property by laboring with wisdom, knowledge and skill, but then he dies. The ones who inherit it have used none of these talents yet they have it. It is vanity to just try to accumulate wealth.

Answer 6

If you work all your life and save and use all your knowledge and skill to gain what you have saved, but die before you enjoy the fruits of it, it goes to some one else and your labors was for nothing. A striving in the wind, all blows away, You loose. To look for the real treasure is to search and learn God's word in spirit and in truth.
To see that spiritual things are much more important because a person gains the real life, Everlasting life if he or she test their belief's using God's word. 2 Timothy 3:16
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Answer 7

King Solomon --the wisest of them all-- prefaces it in the first chapter of Ecclesiastes, claiming that "...ALL IS VANITY" under the sun. And he proceeds to explore all of his and the common man's actions and MATERIALISM in this life.

"Leaving property" behind is the "inheritance or legacy" being bestowed to others [heirs, children, successors] once a person dies. All these material things are part and parcel of "VANITY, which is a great evil..."

Peace be with you!

Answer 8

In Ecclesiates, a major theme discussed by King Solomon throughout this book is concerning the ramifications of our lives being cut short by physical death, since this was not our Creator's plan, nor part of the original purpose in being created by Him. Of course, in the garden of Eden, or Paradise, a place without the affects of Sin, we were made to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever in all that we do, and be there to profit from our deeds. In fact, although King Solomon did not live to witness Christ's resurrection and power over physical death (1 Corinthians 15:54-58), he echoes the understanding of the need for mankind to live beyond and above the curse of the grave elsewhere in Ecclesiastes, in chapter 7 in particular. He says that, "...eternity is set in the hearts of all mankind."

So without the fall of mankind into sin, spending eternity with God in Edenic paradise would not have been in vain for the laborer of skill, wisdom, and knowledge, since he would have always been present to enjoy the fruit of his labors, and would have not had to only leave his yield to another due to the laborer's unnatural separation of his soul from the body at physical death on account of Sin. This "another" didn't labor as he did, and certainly not for what he had profited from his death. This "also" that King Solomon mentions here is about just another ramification among so many from the curse of Sin that came upon our ancestors, Adam and Eve, and their posterity, being us: the vanity of hard work without being able to enjoy it forever. Physical death truly becomes like the thief who then gives to another undeserved. The undeserving inheritor of the fruit of his labors that King Solomon speaks of would have most likely been the laborer's first born son, but not necessarily, who would live on in his stead.

This is why the book of Ecclesiastes is so important for us Christians to read, since we get a fresher perspective and sense of gratitude for how much the good news of Christ's victory over death removes its "sting", the lack of purpose and meaning for living, in ours, without Him. This is why the Apostle Paul post-resurrection can write in contrast to what King Solomon wrote, "Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm, and let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know the your labor is not in vain." (1 Corinthians 15:58)

Answer 9

It is like when Donald Trump worked all his life for his earthly things but only to leave this earth with nothing and to leave it to someone whom hasn't work as hard. There is nothing wrong with having things but they should not be over God in your life. Like many have said. Thank you for your question it forced me to dig into what I believe in and remind me. Ecclesiastes is a wonder book in the bible.

Answer 10

I think it means upon the death of the hard working smart first person, maybe in his will he leaves his property to his son,daughter or whoever ends up with it that didn't work or was lazy but got lucky to end up with it. Even though they didn't deserve it. But I could be wrong.

Answer 11

You work hard all your life for you possessions and yet what you have is used to feed and clothe your spouse, children, and in Solomons case, his servants and their family's.
Now he is dead and all he acquired when he was alive did nothing to strengthen his relationship with his God Jehovah.
So it is vanity to put your trust in riches because something will always be present to erode them.
So develop a good relationship with Jehovah and when you die, you will be in God's memory and he will resurrect you in the last day.