I Hated All My Labor
18 I hated all my labor in which I labored under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me. 19 Who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have rule over all of my labor in which I have labored, and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity. 20 Therefore I began to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor in which I had labored under the sun. 21 For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, with knowledge, and with skillfulness; yet he shall leave it for his portion to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22 For what does a man have of all his labor and of the striving of his heart, in which he labors under the sun? 23 For all his days are sorrows, and his travail is grief; yes, even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.
The complaint is not that the work was wasted but that it will be inherited, and the man who gets it may be a fool.
Verse 18 names a second grievance, distinct from death: I hated all my labor... because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.
The problem is succession. Everything in the inventory will pass intact to someone, and verse 19 asks the question that cannot be answered in advance: who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool?
A king who built parks and pools and treasuries is describing the one variable he cannot control from inside his lifetime. The heir's character is unavailable for inspection.
Verse 20 records the effect — he began to cause my heart to despair — and the causative verb is worth noting. He did it to himself, deliberately, as the next step in the investigation rather than as a collapse.
Verse 21 states the injustice in its purest form: a man labors with wisdom, with knowledge, and with skillfulness, and leaves it to a man who has not labored for it. Three qualifications on one side, none on the other, and the transfer happens anyway. The book calls it a great evil, which is stronger language than it usually allows itself.
And verse 23 closes with the cost accounting on the labor itself: all his days are sorrows, and his travail is grief; yes, even in the night his heart takes no rest.
That last clause is the most human line in the chapter. The one thing wealth was supposed to buy is sleep, and the book will say later that it does not — the rich man's abundance will not allow him to sleep Ecclesiastes 5:12.
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