For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, [are] in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred [by] all [that is] before them. Ver. 1. _For all this I considered in mine heart._] He that will rightly consider of anyt... [ Continue Reading ]
All [things come] alike to all: [there is] one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as [is] the good, so [is] the sinner; [and] he that sweareth, as [he] that feareth an oath. Ver. 2. _... [ Continue Reading ]
This [is] an evil among all [things] that are done under the sun, that [there is] one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness [is] in their heart while they live, and after that [they go] to the dead. Ver. 3. _This is an evil._] _Hoc est pessimum_ - so Je... [ Continue Reading ]
For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. Ver. 4. _For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope._] These are the words of those wicked ones, _a_ whose lives and hopes end together, whose song is, _Post mortem nulla voluptas,... [ Continue Reading ]
For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Ver. 5. _For the living know that they shall die._] Hence that proverb among us, As sure as death. Howbeit, that they think little of it to any good pu... [ Continue Reading ]
Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any [thing] that is done under the sun. Ver. 6. _Also their love and their hatred, &c._] Here is lie upon lie. The atheist, as he had denied knowledge to the dead, so here he denies... [ Continue Reading ]
Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works. Ver. 7. _Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy._] _Vade, iuste,_ go thy way, thou righteous man; live in cheerfulness of mind, proceeding from the testimony of a good conscience: so Lyra senseth... [ Continue Reading ]
Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment. Ver. 8. _Let thy garments be always white; _] _i.e., _ Neat, spruce, cleanly, comely. Or by a metaphor it may signify, Be merry in good manner, for they used to wear white clothing on festivals and at weddings, as Philo _a_ witnes... [ Continue Reading ]
Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that [is] thy portion in [this] life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun. Ver. 9. _Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest... [ Continue Reading ]
_Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do [it] with thy might; for [there is] no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest._ Ver. 10. _Whatsoever thy hand finds to do, do it with thy might._] We were made and set here to be doing of something that may do us good a t... [ Continue Reading ]
I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race [is] not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. Ver. 11. _That the race is not to the swift._] Here... [ Continue Reading ]
For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so [are] the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them. Ver. 12. _For man also knoweth not his time._] His end, say the Septuagint and Vulgate;... [ Continue Reading ]
This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it [seemed] great unto me: Ver. 13. _This wisdom also have I seen,_] _i.e., _ This fruit and effect of wisdom have I observed, that through the iniquity of the times, it is slighted and left unrewarded if joined with a mean condition. _ And it seemed... [ Continue Reading ]
__ Ecclesiastes 9:14 _[There was] a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it:_ Ver. 14. _There was a little city._] Such as was Lampsacum, besieged by Alexander, and saved by Anaximenes; Rhodes, besieged by the... [ Continue Reading ]
Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man. Ver. 15. _Now there was found in it a poor wise man._] Such as was Anaximenes at Lampsacum, _a_ and Archimedes at Syracuse, of whose wisdom Plutarch testifieth, that it was... [ Continue Reading ]
Then said I, Wisdom [is] better than strength: nevertheless the poor man's wisdom [is] despised, and his words are not heard. Ver. 16. _Then said I, Wisdom is better, &c._] This he had said before, Ecc 7:19 Pro 21:22 _See Trapp on "_ Ecc 7:19 _"_ _See Trapp on "_ Pro 21:22 _"_ but now upon this new... [ Continue Reading ]
The words of wise [men are] heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools. Ver. 17. _The words of wise men are heard in quiet._] The submissive words of a poor man speaking with good understanding, are rather heard than the big and boisterous words of proud fools. _Fuit Nestorius... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wisdom [is] better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good._ Ver. 18. _Wisdom is better than weapons of war._] As David found it in his encounter with Goliath, Gideon in his stratagem against the Midianites, and our renowned Drake in dissipating that Invincible Armada, which being... [ Continue Reading ]