Even if one has amassed wealth there is the bitterness of not knowing who will inherit it or how the heir will use it. Everything has to be left behind to an uncertain fate, for there is no guarantee of character as there is of property. The latter can be entailed, not so the former. Well may a man begin to despair as he sees that for which he has toiled with sagacity and shrewd insight passing into the hands of one who has not laboured and so does not properly appreciate. The thought of Ecclesiastes 2:21 is different from that of Ecclesiastes 2:19. For another discussion of the vanity of riches see Ecclesiastes 6:10-12.
Ecclesiastes 2:18-23
18 Yea, I hated all my labour which I had takend under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.
19 And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have shewed myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity.
20 Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun.
21 For there is a man whose labour is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leavee it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.
22 For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun?
23 For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.