Toil is Meaningless: Ecclesiastes 2:17-26
Today’s passage is Ecclesiastes 2:17-26.  Please join us in study.

1. In today’s verses, the Teacher repeats the phrase ‘This too is meaningless…’ five times.  What is it that he is pointing to as being meaningless?  What are the similarities and differences between what he identifies as being meaningless?  Can you see a theme to what the Teacher is saying about what is meaningless?
2. Why does the Teacher hate life?  Why had all the work that he had done become grievous to him?  Why did he begin to despair?
3. Was all of this hatred, grief and despair the original objective for all of the work that he had done?  What had changed?  Did the Teacher have any control over what had made him hate life, grieve over his work and despair for his labor?
4. Verse 24 has a ‘This too…’ that does not fit into the pattern established by the other five ‘This toos’.  What is it that the Teacher sees as from the hand of God?  Would you agree with his conclusion that without God no one can eat and find enjoyment?
5. What does the Teacher’s conclusion about the role that God plays in man’s labor and its’ results say to you?  What does it reveal to you about the Nature of God and what He wants for you in the middle of all of this meaninglessness and chasing after the wind?
6. Have you come to hatred, grief and despair over life, its work and the results?  Does that hatred, grief and despair have anything to do with your expectations of meaning, purpose and satisfaction and the reality of meaninglessness and chasing after the wind?
7. What do you think that God really wants for you in this life?