Solomon aims to in all that life has to offer Eccl 2:1 – I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity. Eccl 2:10 – 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. Eccl 2:2 – I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” Eccl 2:3 – I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. 1 Kings 11:1-3 – Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, 2 from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. 3 He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. Eccl 2:4-7 – I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. 5 I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. 6 I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. 7 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. Eccl 2:8 – I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. Solomon recognized that didn’t work Eccl 2:15-17 – Then I said in my heart, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. 16 For of the wise 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 dies just like the fool! 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. An perspective changes our current reality Eccl 2:24-26 – There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment [a] in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, 25 for apart from him [b] who can eat or who can have enjoyment? 26 For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.