Therefore he says This also, I saw, is from the hand of God. This is a noteworthy statement and an outstanding doctrine, but he stresses it less than he did the earlier one. This is because an affirmative statement affects us less than a negative one, as, for example, even the affirmative statement “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt” (Ex. 20:2) is quickly said but does not affect us, while there is greater force in the negative statement “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Ex. 20:3). Thus here also he treats the affirmative statement “It is good for a man to eat, etc.” in few words; but he uses many words in the negative statement, to prove and show us our foolishness, namely, that we accomplish nothing by all our counsels and our toil, distracted as we are by anxiety so that we do not use the things that are present. To crude people it is necessary that he speak in crude and lengthy terms and with examples. To wise people he could have said it all in one word: “The Lord Himself is your God.”

Eccl. 2:25.  For who has eaten or enjoyed himself more than I?

He is citing his own experience. “For if I who achieved many things and had an abundance of good things still have not attained what I wanted, how much less will others do so if God does not grant happiness?” (Luther’s Works, v.15 p.47)

Eccl. 2:20. So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun,

21. because sometimes a man who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and industry must leave all to be enjoyed by a man who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.
22. What has a man from all the toil and strain with which he toils beneath the sun?
23. For all his days are full of pain, and his work is a vexation; even in the night his mind does not rest. This also is vanity.

“I called a halt,” he says, “and refrained from all the anxiety about the business that goes on under the sun.” This is the voice of a wise man, who calls his heart back from anxiety to peace. “I shall be content with present things and shall do what lies at hand. I shall bear what God wills and shall not be anxious about tomorrow” (cf. Matt. 6:34)….

Eccl. 2:24. There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God.

This is the principal conclusion, in fact the point, of the whole book, which he will often repeat. This is a remarkable passage, one that explains everything preceding and following it. This is how it agrees with the preceding: Those pleasures are to be condemned which we by our own counsels seek to achieve for the future, and those labors are to be condemned which we strive to carry out by our own counsels. But those pleasures and labors which God gives are good, and they are to be used for the present without anxiety about either future afflictions or future pleasures. But who is capable of such things? It is rightly said, but what is wisely set forth does not happen. Indeed, hearing we do not hear and seeing we do not see, and no one follows it. We are immersed in striving and anxiety about planning and carrying out our affairs. The heart is averse to plans, and every day it becomes more irritated and restless. Those who are pious refrain from anxiety; the rest of the human race have a restless life until they die. (Luther’s Works, v.15 p.45-47)

GOOD Jesus, Word of the Father, Splendor of the Father’s glory, on Whom the angels desire to gaze; Teach me to do Thy will, that led by Thy good Spirit I may reach that blessed City where is eternal day, and One Spirit amongst all, where is certain safety, and safe eternity, and eternal peace and peaceful happiness, and happy sweetness and sweet enjoyment where Thou livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen  (Oremus, 1925, p.41-42).

Eccl. 2:18. I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me;

19. and who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled.

This is exactly the same sentiment as the preceding. For Solomon is abundant in his use of words and treats this subject at great length. “Thus,” he says, “I am tired of life. For even though I have carried on and administered all my affairs very well, I still do not know whether I am going to have a wise heir or a foolish one. If a wise one, he will grow weary and look for something else, since after all I myself grow tired of my own things and wish for something new. If he is a madman, he will destroy things and will have the same labor in wrecking that I had in establishing them.” As the proverb says, “One man builds and the other destroys.” Thus Octavius Caesar decorated the city, and Nero laid it waste. Pompey had collected an enormous amount of money in the public treasury, with the intention of helping the state. Caesar later confiscated it, and that money contributed more to the downfall of the state than to its welfare. “Therefore regardless of whether my heir is wise or foolish, I have labored in vain and have destroyed my life with silly cares by wanting to provide for the future instead of using the present.” Therefore he adds: (Luther’s Works, v.15 p.45)