Ecclesiastes 2:21 - Exposition

For there is a man whose labor is in wisdom. "In," בְּ , "with," directed and performed with wisdom. The author speaks of himself objectively, as St. Paul ( 2 Corinthians 12:2 ) says, "I know a man in Christ," etc. His complaint now is, not that his successor may misuse his inheritance ( Ecclesiastes 2:19 ), but that this person shall have that on which he has bestowed no skill or toil, shall enjoy what modern phraseology terms "unearned increment." This, which was set forth as One of the blessings of the promised land ( Deuteronomy 6:10 , Deuteronomy 6:11 ), Koheleth cannot bear to contemplate where it touches himself—not from envy or grudging, but from the feeling of dissatisfaction and want of energy which it generates. In ( with ) knowledge and in ( with ) equity . Kishron , translated "equity" in the Authorized Version; ἀνδρεία "manliness," in the Septuagint: and sollicitudine in the Vulgate, seems rather here to signify "skill" or "success." It occurs also in Ecclesiastes 4:4 and Ecclesiastes 5:10 , and there only in the Old Testament.