Era 9 · RestorationEcclesiastes
Investigation: The Gift of Enjoyment
Seven calls to eat, drink and rejoice: hedonism, despair, or something else?
"There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God" (2:24).
"Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works" (9:7).
| Passage | Gift | Grounding | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2:24–26 | Eat, drink, enjoy work | From the hand of God | Follows the failed royal experiment |
| 3:12–13 | Rejoice, do good, eat, drink | The gift of God | Follows eternity in the heart |
| 3:22 | Rejoice in one's works | It is his portion; no one sees what comes after | Follows the shared fate of humans and animals |
| 5:18–20 | Eat, drink, enjoy toil; wealth with power to enjoy | His portion, the gift of God; God occupies him with joy | Follows the futility of hoarding |
| 8:15 | I commended mirth | It stays with him in his toil | Follows the reversal of justice |
| 9:7–10 | Bread, wine, white garments, oil, wife, vigorous work | God has already approved your works; no work in Sheol | Imperatives: the strongest call |
| 11:7–10 | Light is sweet; rejoice in youth | Remember darkness and judgment | Joy and accountability together |
Heleq, "portion"
Heleq (8 times: 2:10, 21; 3:22; 5:18, 19; 9:6, 9; 11:2) is the word for a share of land or inheritance (Numbers 18:20, where God is the Levites' portion; Psalm 16:5). In Ecclesiastes it is the share of life a person actually receives: not a profit (yitron) that can be stored up, but a real and good allotment to be received now.
Three readings
(1) Resignation: joy as anaesthetic against despair (some older critics). (2) Editorial correction: pious hands added the joy passages (now a minority view). (3) Integral theme: R. N. Whybray's 1982 article "Qoheleth, Preacher of Joy" argued that the passages, increasing in intensity and placed at structural turning points, are central to the book; most recent commentators agree they are integral, while differing on their tone. The book's own grounding is theological: joy is God's gift (2:24; 3:13; 5:19), and enjoying it is accepting God's work (9:7).
Limits on the reading
Ecclesiastes does not promise wealth (6:2 shows wealth without enjoyment), does not commend drunkenness (10:17, "for strength, and not for drunkenness"), and does not separate enjoyment from accountability (11:9) or from concern for the oppressed (4:1). The household assumptions of 9:9 (addressed to a man, about "the wife whom thou lovest") belong to its ancient setting; the principle is life shared in love.
An answer to misreadings: Wisdom of Solomon 2
The Wisdom of Solomon (1st century BC, Greek) puts in the mouth of "the ungodly" a speech that sounds like a distorted Ecclesiastes: "Our life is short and tedious… our name shall be forgotten in time… Come on therefore, let us enjoy the good things that are present… let us oppress the poor righteous man" (Wisdom 2:1–10). Many scholars think the author was answering an Epicurean-style reading of enjoyment, perhaps one that cited Qoheleth. Ecclesiastes itself joins enjoyment to justice, reverence and judgment, which is exactly what Wisdom's "ungodly" leave out.
What the evidence shows
- Ecclesiastes contains seven passages commending enjoyment as God's gift.
- The enjoyment passages are later additions. Most recent commentators read them as integral.
- Ecclesiastes commends hedonism. Joy is God's gift, joined to work, reverence and judgment.
Continue the journey
Journey of a PassageEcclesiastes 2:24–26: "From the hand of God": and who can eat apart from him?The first call to enjoy food, drink and work as God's gift.More from this lesson
Echoes Across Civilizations
Optional: how other ancient peoples told similar stories. Open one to compare, then come back to the lesson.
Eat, drink and rejoice, for death is certainBabylonian · Egyptian · Greek
Did other ancient peoples answer mortality with advice to enjoy food, clean clothes and family?
- Babylonian: Gilgamesh, Old Babylonian version: Siduri's advice Shared literary world
- Egyptian: The Harper's Songs ("Song from the tomb of King Intef") Resemblance only
- Greek: Drinking songs and Epicurean maxims Resemblance only
Why this matters to the rest of Scripture
- "The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance."
- Deuteronomy 14:26; 16:14–15Feasting and rejoicing before God at the festivals.
- "Eat the fat, and drink the sweet… for the joy of the LORD is your strength."
- God "giveth us richly all things to enjoy."