Ecclesiastes 2:18-23

¹⁸ Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me.

¹⁹ And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.

²⁰ Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun.

²¹ For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; yet he must leave his heritage to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.

²² For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun?

²³ For all his days are sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.

The elusive quality of one’s work and possessions caused the Preacher to despair. … To leave the fruit of all one’s labor to one who may indeed be a fool surely constitutes one of life’s most bitter disappointments. The days of a man are therefore filled with travail, and at night upon his bed he can find  no rest for his grief-stricken heart. Labor then cannot provide man with the key to profit in this life. — KJV Commentary, page 738.

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The knowledge that however artistic and beautiful may be the works of a clever man (v.21) … yet must he leave all to his successor who may be a fool, and this saddened him. The wise man’s “portion” or share, is sorrow, grief and vanity, but his foolish successor’s share is the possession, without effort, of all that his father painfully toiled to bring into being. This Solomon found to be vanity and a great calamity (v.21); and accordingly he gave up as desperate all hope of solid satisfaction from his toil (v.20). His son Rehoboam was his success, and he was a fool. — Williams, page 440.

there is a man (v.21) — Solomon was referring to himself. Paul used a similar phrase to refer to himself in 2 Corinthians 12:2.

[Solomon’s] fears turned out to be justified when his unwise son Rehoboam lost the great majority of his kingdom and in a short time undid most of what Solomon had accomplished (1 Kings 12:6-24). — Grace, page 1170.

evil (v.22) — Not sinful, but calamitous, causing distress

in the night his heart takes no rest (v.23) — Paul instructed believers not to worry about anything (Philippians 4:6). He also told believers, “Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men” (Colossians 3:23). So, instead of working to find meaning in life, work to glorify God.

What is the point of working hard and accomplishing anything if it all comes to nothing in the end? Remember … it was sin that has subjected work to frustration and futility (Genesis 3:17-19). What Solomon lamented was not the futility of the work itself, but work done “under the sun.” When viewed without an eternal perspective, the fleeting nature of all that we accomplish is depressing. But praise be to God that this is NOT our perspective! As believers in Christ, we have an eternal perspective! Thus, we know that our “labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58). [We can] do all our work with diligence and cheerfulness because we KNOW that we “shall receive the reward of the inheritance” because we serve the Lord Christ! — Grace, page 1170