We enter a new narrative in our Ecclesiastes; after Solomon tries living wisely, Solomon now looks to hard work. This section of scripture is entitled; The Vanity of Toil…just so we’re clear, toil isn’t a common word these days, but it means hard work.
Ecc 2:18 Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me.
Here Solomon is frustrated with having to work hard all of his life, getting all of this wealth and assets, only to have to leave it behind.
We are reminded that all this money we make in this life, we can’t take with us in the next life!
Solomon in the scripture says he hated the fruit of his labor. These materalistic objects like nice cars and big houses, these things that we slave for and go into debt over, are meaningless. They are like dead idols, because they consume so much of us, yet what good are they after we die? We can’t enjoy them when we are 6 feet underground.