It follows from Ecclesiastes 2:26 that the works of people are subject in their results to another will (God’s) besides that of the doer. Here is the germ of the great question of later times - how to reconcile man’s free will with God’s decrees. Solomon’s way of stating it is that to every separate... [ Continue Reading ]
EVERYTHING - More particularly, the actions of people (e. g. his own, Ecclesiastes 2:1) and events which happen to people, the world of Providence rather than the world of creation. It would seem that most of his own works described in Ecclesiastes 2:1 were present to his mind. The rare word transla... [ Continue Reading ]
Stones may be regarded either as materials for building, or as impediments to the fertility of land (see 2 Kings 3:19, 2 Kings 3:25; Isaiah 5:2).... [ Continue Reading ]
GET ... LOSE - Rather, seek, and a time to give up for lost.... [ Continue Reading ]
REND - i. e., Tear garments in sign of mourning or anger. See 2 Samuel 1:2, 2 Samuel 1:11 ff.... [ Continue Reading ]
Rather, He hath made all (the travail, Ecclesiastes 3:10) beautiful (fit, in harmony with the whole work of God) in its time; also He hath set eternity in their heart (i. e., the heart of the sons of men, Ecclesiastes 3:10). The word, translated “world” in the text, and “eternity” in this note, is... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THEM - i. e., in the sons of men. TO DO GOOD - In a moral sense. Physical enjoyment is referred to in Ecclesiastes 3:13.... [ Continue Reading ]
The last clause of this verse goes beyond a declaration of the fact of God’s government of the world Ecclesiastes 2:26 by adding the moral effect which that fact is calculated to produce on those who see it. It is the first indication of the practical conclusion Ecclesiastes 12:13 of the book.... [ Continue Reading ]
Rather, What has been - what was before, and what shall be has been before. The word “is” in our the King James Version is erroneously printed in Roman letters: it does not exist in the Hebrew (it should have been italicized); and the word there translated “now” is the same which is translated as “a... [ Continue Reading ]
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 Ecclesiastes 3:16. As for people, they are placed by God, who is their teacher, in a humble condition,... [ Continue Reading ]