Our Ecclesiastes continues with Solomon prodding onward in trying to find satisfaction, this time Solomon outdoes everyone who came before him.  

Ecc 2:9  So I became greater than all who had lived in Jerusalem before me, and my wisdom never failed me.

HIs wisdom didn’t fail him, means that he didn’t get too big headed in one-up-manship.  While Solomon became the greatest king to ever rule Israel, he stayed humble, but alas even being grounded didn’t bring him the happiness he was searching for.  

Also, while Solomon smashed records and cemented his legacy in history as being the Greatest of All Time or GOAT of Kings, it still was meaningless.  In our competitive nature, we too find ourselves succumbing to this prideful behavior.  Often our need to compete and be better than everyone else at everything we do is what motivates us.  But we should take note that even being the best of the best doesn’t necessarily make one happy.  Many professional athletes are in various hall of fames for breaking records, but that isn’t always going to equate to happiness.  

Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods are both noted for being the best in their respective sports, but one has a gambling problem and another has issues with substance abuse.  Despite all their medals and trophies, they are as fallible as anyone else, and like Solomon being the Greatest of All Time doesn’t mean you are going to be happy, trying to outdo our colleagues is also a dead-end road.