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Kretzmann's Popular Commentary

Ecclesiastes 3:18

I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, fallen mankind in general, that God might manifest them, that is, sift, test, prove them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts, so far as their physical life and its end is concerned, they are on a level with brutes, that being the curse of vanity, the result of sin.

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See also Ecclesiastes 3:18 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse 18. _THAT THEY MIGHT SEE THAT THEY THEMSELVES ARE BEASTS._] The author of _Choheleth_ has given a correct view of this difficult verse, by a proper translation: "I said in my heart, reflecting o...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    That great anomaly in the moral government of this world, the seemingly unequal distribution of rewards and punishments, will be rectified by God, who has future times and events under His control Ecc...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    2. FURTHER RESULTS OF THE SEARCH CHAPTER 3 _ 1. The times of man under the sun (Ecclesiastes 3:1)_ 2. When then is the good? (Ecclesiastes 3:12) 3. Concerning judgment and the future ...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    MAN NO BETTER THAN THE BEASTS. Ecclesiastes 3:16. Both in the administration of the law and the observances of religion, wickedness is prevalent; righteousness is here equivalent to piety. Ecclesiast...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    GOD. Compare Ecclesiastes 3:11, and note on Ecclesiastes 1:11. GOD MIGHT MANIFEST THEM. God hath chosen them to show them that even they are beasts. BEASTS. living creatures. As opposed to man. mamma...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _I said in mine heart_ The word "estate" expresses fairly the meaning of the Hebrew noun, which may be rendered "word," "matter," or "subject." In the next clause for "that God might manifest them," w...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    THAT GOD MIGHT MANIFEST, &C.— _That I should assert God, and see that they themselves are beasts._ Desvoeux....

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    2. Working outside the framework of God's providence results in frustration and defeat. Ecclesiastes 3:9-22 TEXT 3:9-22 9 What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils? 10 I have...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. I SAID IN MINE HEART. The use of the same formula...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    THE PRACTICAL IDEAL. ACCEPTANCE OF THE UNIVERSAL SCHEME 1-15. God is a God of order. The problem which the writer has set himself is not yet solved. He has found that wisdom, culture, pleasure, are al...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    M en wrest judgment; but God shall right all wrongs, though how, is beyond our ken. 16, 17. The judges of his time troubled the writer. Yet in GOD'S purposes, either here or in the future, unrighteou...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    MANIFEST] RV 'prove,' i.e. sift or test whether they will be upright, in spite of the knowledge that death comes to them no less than to the beasts. BEASTS] RV 'but as beasts.'...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    THE TEACHER SEARCHES FOR THE PURPOSE OF OUR LIVES BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES _HILDA BRIGHT AND KITTY PRIDE_ CHAPTER 3 A POEM ABOUT TIME – ECCLESIASTES 3:1-8...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    אָמַ֤רְתִּֽי אֲנִי֙ בְּ לִבִּ֔י עַל ־דִּבְרַת֙...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    SECOND SECTION The Quest Of The Chief Good In Devotion To The Affairs Of Business Ecclesiastes 3:1 - Ecclesiastes 5:20 I. IF the true Good is not to be found in the School where Wisdom utters her vo...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    AND BY HUMAN INJUSTICE AND PERVERSITY. Ecclesiastes 3:16; Ecclesiastes 4:1 But not only are our endeavours to find the "good" of our labours thwarted by the gracious, inflexible laws of the just God;...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    TO PRODUCE A MATERIALISTIC SCEPTICISM; Ecclesiastes 3:18 (c) The "speculation" in the eye of business men is not commonly of a philosophic cast, and therefore we do not look to find them arguing them...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    The vanity of life under the sun is evidenced not merely in the experience of the preacher himself, but in the wider outlook which he has been able to take. He now gives us some of the results of that...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    I said in my heart concerning the state of the sons of men, that God might (h) tempt them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. (h) And made them pure in their first creation....

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    _Beasts. Another doubt; or suggestion of infidels. (St. Gregory, Dial. iv. 4.)_...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there. (17) I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY COVERS CHAPTER S 1 THROUGH 12. The Book of Ecclesiastes is, up to a certain point, the converse of the Book of Proverbs. (see NOTE TO PROVERBS below) It is the experience of a...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    I SAID IN MINE HEART CONCERNING THE ESTATE OF THE SONS OF MEN,.... He thought of the condition of the children of men, their sinful and polluted state; he weighed and considered in his mind their acti...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    _I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts._ Ver. 18. _That they might see that they themsel...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _I said in my heart_, &c. And I further considered concerning their condition in this present world. _That God might manifest them_ God suffers these disorders among men, that he might discover men to...

  • Marginal Notes in the King James Version (1611)

    THAT GOD MIGHT MANIFEST THEM: Or, that they might clear God, and see, etc....

  • Mark Dunagan Commentaries

    "I SAID TO MYSELF CONCERNING THE SONS OF MEN, 'GOD HAS SURELY TESTED THEM IN ORDER FOR THEM TO SEE THAT THEY ARE BUT BEASTS.'"TESTED THEM" -or bring to light, expose. "Time" gives people the chance to...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    16-22 Without the fear of the Lord, man is but vanity; set that aside, and judges will not use their power well. And there is another Judge that stands before the door. With God there is a time for t...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    I SAID IN MY HEART; and further I considered with myself. CONCERNING THE ESTATE OF THE SONS OF MEN; concerning their condition and deportment in this present world. THAT GOD MIGHT MANIFEST THEM; God s...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Ecclesiastes 3:18 said H559 (H8804) heart H3820 condition H1700 sons H1121 men H120 God H430 tests H1305 ...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    DEATH IS THE GREAT LEVELLER (ECCLESIASTES 3:18). Now we discover the conflict taking place within him. He has had a concept of everlastingness and of the necessity for future judgement. How then does...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Ecclesiastes 1:12-3 Koheleth now mentions the unusual advantages which he had possessed for enjoying life and making the best of it. His opportunities could not have been greater, he considers, had h...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: The mutability of all human affairs and the unchangeableness and unsearchableness of the divine counsels. CHARACTERS: God, Solomon. CONCLUSION: We live in a world of changes. The events of...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Ecclesiastes 3:1. _To every thing there is a season._ The seasons of the year are four. But the Zodiac, Job 9., divides the times into twelve signs. In a similar manner are the labours of the husbandm...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    ECCLESIASTES—NOTE ON ECCLESIASTES 3:18 THE CHILDREN OF MAN... ARE BUT BEASTS in the sense that both human beings and animals die. ⇐

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    CRITICAL NOTES.— ECCLESIASTES 3:18. THAT GOD MIGHT MANIFEST THEM.] The disorders of the present are permitted to the end that God might test, or prove, men. _That they themselves are beasts_. Not in r...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION ECCLESIASTES 3:1 Section 4. In confirmation of the truth that man's happiness depends upon the will of God, Koheleth proceeds to show how _Providence arranges even the minutest concerns;...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Now we get into the weary, monotony of life. This has been used poetically as something that is very beautiful. "A time to love," and it's been made very beautiful, but in the Hebrew idea, it was mono...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    1 Peter 1:24; 2 Peter 2:12; Genesis 3:17; Hebrews 9:27; Job 14:1;...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    I said — And further I considered concerning their condition in this present world. That God — God suffers these disorders among men, that he might discover men to themselves, and shew what strange cr...

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