_I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also [is] vanity._ Ver. 1. _Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth._] The merry Greeks of the world think that they have the only life of it; that there is no such happiness as to ‘laugh and... [ Continue Reading ]
I said of laughter, [It is] mad: and of mirth, What doeth it? Ver. 2. _I said of mirth, It is mad,_] _q.d., _ Thou mad fool, what dost thou? Yet is not mirth amiss, so it be moderate; nor laughter unlawful - as some Anabaptists in Calvin's time held - so that it be well limited. Carnal mirth, and a... [ Continue Reading ]
I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what [was] that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life. Ver. 3. _Yet acquainting my heart with wisdom,_] _i.e., _ R... [ Continue Reading ]
I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards: Ver. 4. _I made me great works._] I took not pleasure in trifles, as Domitian did, in catching and killing flies with his penknife; or as Artaxerxes did, in making hafts for knives; or as Solyman the great Turk did, in making notch... [ Continue Reading ]
_I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all [kind of] fruits:_ Ver. 5. _I made me gardens._] So called, because guarded and enclosed with a wall, Son 4:12 like as we call garments _quasi_ _guardments,_ in an active acception of the word, because they guard our bodies from th... [ Continue Reading ]
I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees: Ver. 6. _To water therewith the wood,_] _i.e., _ The gardens or hort yards, that were as large as little woods. Christ's garden in the Canticles, as it hath a wall, Son 4:15 so a well to water it, and make it fruitful.... [ Continue Reading ]
I got [me] servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me: Ver. 7. _I got me servants, &c._] Too many by one, viz., Jeroboam, who rent ten tribes from his son. It is well observed by an inter... [ Continue Reading ]
_I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, [as] musical instruments, and that of all sorts._ Ver. 8. _I gathered me also silver and gold._] Gold of Ophir, now called Peru,... [ Continue Reading ]
So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me. Ver. 9. _Also my wisdom remained with me._] Outward things are dead things, and cannot touch the soul, a lively spirit, unless by way of taint. Solomon, if not at first, yet at length, was... [ Continue Reading ]
_And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour._ Ver. 10. _And whatsoever mine eyes desired, &c._] I fed them with pleasant pictures, shows, sights, and other objects of d... [ Continue Reading ]
Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all [was] vanity and vexation of spirit, and [there was] no profit under the sun. Ver. 11. _Then I looked on all the works._] A necessary and profitable practice, well worthy our imit... [ Continue Reading ]
_And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what [can] the man [do] that cometh after the king? [even] that which hath been already done._ Ver. 12. _For what can the man do that cometh after the king?_] - _q.d., _ Who is it that can outdo me in this review and discovery? Neit... [ Continue Reading ]
Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness. Ver. 13. _Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly,_] _i.e., _ Philosophy and human wisdom, though it cannot perfect the mind, nor make a man happy, yet it is as far beyond sensuality and brutishness as light is beyond darkne... [ Continue Reading ]
The wise man's eyes [are] in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all. Ver. 14. The wise man's eyes are in his head.] He judiciously pondereth things past, and prudently ordereth things present, and providently foreseeth to prevent... [ Continue Reading ]
Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also [is] vanity. _Ver 15. As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth._] It is with men as with counters, though in the account one stand for a penny,... [ Continue Reading ]
For [there is] no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now [is] in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise [man]? as the fool. Ver. 16. _For there is no remembrance of the wise._] viz., Unless he be also wise to salvation, for then he sha... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun [is] grievous unto me: for all [is] vanity and vexation of spirit. Ver. 17. _Therefore I hated life,_] _i.e., _ I less loved it than I had done; I saw mortality to be a mercy, with Cato; I was neither fond of life, nor afraid of... [ Continue Reading ]
Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me. Ver. 18. _Yea, I hated all my labour,_] _i.e., _ I was sorry to think that I had been so eager and earnest in getting a great estate, which now I must leave, and to whom I know... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Ver. 19. _And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man._] A friend or an enemy, an acquaintanc... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun. Ver. 20. _Therefore I went about to cause my heart, &c., _] _i.e., _ I set myself to take off the edge of my affections from these outward comforts that are so uncertain, and so unsatisfactory, and to... [ Continue Reading ]
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 leave it [for] his portion. This also [is] vanity and a great evil. Ver. 21. _For there is a man whose labour is in wisdom._] This seemed to Solomon - whose own case... [ Continue Reading ]
For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun? Ver. 22. _For what hath a man of all his labour._] What makes he of it, everything reckoned? See Ecclesiastes 1:3. What takes he with him when he dies, more than a poor winding sheet? As t... [ Continue Reading ]
_For all his days [are] sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity._ Ver. 23. _For all his days are sorrows, &c._] All the days of the afflicted are evil, Pro 15:15 and every day hath a sufficient evil laid upon it by God. Mat 6:34 "Few and evil... [ Continue Reading ]
Ecclesiastes 2:24 [There is] nothing better for a man, [than] that he should eat and drink, and [that] he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it [was] from the hand of God. Ver. 24. _There is nothing better for a man, &c._] This may seem to savour of epicurism, as m... [ Continue Reading ]
For who can eat, or who else can hasten [hereunto], more than I? Ver. 25. _For who can eat, or who can hasten? &c._] And yet I have found - and so shall you - that tranquillity and true happiness, the kingdom of God, doth not consist in meats and drinks. A Turk may believe sensualities in his fool'... [ Continue Reading ]
For [God] giveth to a man that [is] good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to [him that is] good before God. This also [is] vanity and vexation of spirit. Ver. 26. _Wisdom and knowledge._] To get these things... [ Continue Reading ]