"A GOOD NAME IS BETTER THAN. GOOD OINTMENT, AND THE DAY OF ONE'S DEATH IS BETTER THAN THE DAY OF ONE'S BIRTH." "better than. good ointment" -a good name is. good reputation (Prov. Ecclesiastes 22:1).. good ointment, scented oil or perfume could be very costly (John 12:2, and such was viewed as one... [ Continue Reading ]
"IT IS BETTER TO GO TO. HOUSE OF MOURNING THAN TO GO TO. HOUSE OF FEASTING, BECAUSE THAT IS THE END OF EVERY MAN, AND THE LIVING TAKES IT TO HEART." Points To Note: 1 "there is much to be gained by sober reflection on death. Those who do so realize that the same end awaits them, and their hearts ar... [ Continue Reading ]
"SORROW IS BETTER THAN LAUGHTER, FOR WHEN. FACE IS SAD. HEART MAY BE HAPPY". Note the expression "may be", we have the choice and power to let sadness and tragedy transform our character (Romans 5:3-5; James 1:2). The sorrow under consideration might be in reference to the death of. friend or relati... [ Continue Reading ]
"THE MIND OF THE WISE IS IN THE HOUSE OF MOURNING, WHILE THE MIND OF FOOLS IS IN THE HOUSE OF PLEASURE"."THE MIND" -Long after the funeral is over, the wise man is still thinking about life and death. The sermon wasn't wasted on such. person. But we are behaving like fools, if we can't allow ourselv... [ Continue Reading ]
"IT IS BETTER TO LISTEN TO THE REBUKE OF. WISE MAN THAN FOR ONE TO LISTEN TO THE SONG OF FOOLS." Please note that the statement infers that we can recognize wisdom when we hear it---only if we are really wanting to face reality and improve ourselves (Prov. Ecclesiastes 9:8-9; Ecclesiastes 27:5; Eccl... [ Continue Reading ]
"FOR AS THE CRACKLING OF THORN BUSHES UNDER. POT, SO IS THE LAUGHTER OF. FOOL, AND THIS TOO IS FUTILITY." In the Hebrew, there is. pun or play on words here. "For as the crackling of thorns (nesseln) under the pot (kessel). In the East, and where wood is scarce, thorns, hay and stubble are used for... [ Continue Reading ]
"FOR OPPRESSION MAKES. WISE MAN MAD, AND. BRIBE CORRUPTS THE HEART."MAKES. WISE MAN MAD" -"extortion maddens the wise man" (Ber); "oppression bewilders even. wise man's wits" (Knox). The word oppression means, "violence, injury, esp. oppression demonstrated by defrauding, extortion, fraud and unjust... [ Continue Reading ]
"THE END OF. MATTER IS BETTER THAN ITS BEGINNING; PATIENCE OF SPIRIT IS BETTER THAN HAUGHTINESS OF SPIRIT."END OF. MATTER" -a specific example of this is found in Ecclesiastes 7:1. "The end is better because we can form. right judgment about. matter; we see what was its purpose; we know whether it h... [ Continue Reading ]
"DO NOT BE EAGER IN YOUR HEART TO BE ANGRY, FOR ANGER RESIDES IN THE BOSOM OF FOOLS."EAGER IN YOUR HEART" -quick to be angry. The idea is that of hastening, in. hurry to be angry. When our attitude isn't right many of us are simply looking for an excuse to get angry, like someone who is just itching... [ Continue Reading ]
"DO NOT SAY, 'WHY IS IT THAT THE FORMER DAYS WERE BETTER THAN THESE?' FOR IT IS NOT FROM WISDOM THAT YOU ASK ABOUT THIS."DO NOT SAY" -Solomon is relentless! "verse 10 is even more crushing, as befits an answer to nostalgia, which is an enervating and self-indulgent mood. To sigh for 'the good old da... [ Continue Reading ]
"WISDOM ALONG WITH AN INHERITANCE IS GOOD AND AN ADVANTAGE TO THOSE WHO SEE THE SUN." The wisdom praised in this section might be good practical common sense, for such wisdom does have. limit (Ecclesiastes 7:13-14). Like money, this wisdom does have some limited and earthly advantages. Without prud... [ Continue Reading ]
"FOR WISDOM IS PROTECTION JUST AS MONEY IS PROTECTION. BUT THE ADVANTAGE OF KNOWLEDGE IS THAT WISDOM PRESERVES THE LIVES OF ITS POSSESSORS." Note that Solomon isn't against money or making money. Rather, he has pointed out the short-comings of wealth. Wealth can offer us some limited and temporary p... [ Continue Reading ]
"CONSIDER THE WORK OF GOD, FOR WHO IS ABLE TO STRAIGHTEN WHAT HE HAS BENT?" Here we see that true wisdom won't try to change or deny what God has done. Rather, the truly wise man will submit to and accept how God governs this universe. Since God is holy (1 John 1:5), this verse isn't speaking about... [ Continue Reading ]
"IN THE DAY OF PROSPERITY BE HAPPY, BUT IN THE DAY OF ADVERSITY CONSIDER----GOD HAS MADE THE ONE AS WELL AS THE OTHER SO THAT MAN MAY NOT DISCOVER ANYTHING THAT WILL BE AFTER HIM."BE HAPPY….CONSIDER" -"God brings both prosperity and recession. When times are good, one should enjoy the prosperity; wh... [ Continue Reading ]
"I HAVE SEEN EVERYTHING DURING MY LIFETIME OF FUTILITY; THERE IS. RIGHTEOUS MAN WHO PERISHES IN HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND THERE IS. WICKED MAN WHO PROLONGS HIS LIFE IN HIS WICKEDNESS."WHO PERISHES" -that is,. very godly man who dies prematurely, or whose faithfulness to God is the reason why he is pers... [ Continue Reading ]
"DO NOT BE EXCESSIVELY RIGHTEOUS, AND DO NOT BE OVERLY WISE. WHY SHOULD YOU RUIN YOURSELF?" Solomon isn't advocating. half-hearted devotion to God (Revelation 3:16; Luke 13:24; Matthew 6:33). In the context, the word "excessively" describes the attitude of the person who thinks that serving God will... [ Continue Reading ]
"DO NOT BE EXCESSIVELY WICKED, AND DO NOT BE. FOOL. WHY SHOULD YOU DIE BEFORE YOUR TIME?" Of course, Solomon isn't saying that. little sin is OK or that sin is find as long as one sins in moderation. Or that you can be wicked just as long as you aren't really wicked. Rather, Solomon is quickly corre... [ Continue Reading ]
"IT IS GOOD THAT YOU GRASP ONE THING, AND ALSO NOT LET GO OF THE OTHER; FOR THE ONE WHO FEARS GOD COMES FORTH WITH BOTH OF THEM."GRASP" -i.e. lay to heart. The one thing to grasp in this section appears to be the truths that have just been taught. The man or woman who fears God will avoid all the ex... [ Continue Reading ]
"WISDOM STRENGTHENS. WISE MAN MORE THAN TEN RULERS WHO ARE IN. CITY." Which should remind us that character does matter! And that wisdom is often more beneficial and effective than brute force. Wisdom, especially wisdom from God can give you better counsel than 10 kings or 10 prudent statesmen. Wis... [ Continue Reading ]
"INDEED, THERE IS NOT. RIGHTEOUS MAN ON EARTH WHO CONTINUALLY DOES GOOD AND WHO NEVER SINS." Points To Note: 1 This is the O.T. equivalent of Romans 3:23. Carefully note that the verse isn't teaching that all men are born sinners. Rather, once one reaches an age of accountability (Romans 7:9), all... [ Continue Reading ]
"ALSO, DO NOT TAKE SERIOUSLY ALL WORDS WHICH ARE SPOKEN, LEST YOU HEAR YOUR SERVANT CURSING YOU." While there are many things that we need to hear and take seriously (Mark 2:24), the wise man will learn to separate the truth from gossip and idle talk. In fact, Paul instructed Timothy to reject. numb... [ Continue Reading ]
"FOR YOU ALSO HAVE REALIZED THAT YOU LIKEWISE HAVE MANY TIMES CURSED OTHERS." A good dose of humility will enable us to deal with the unkind things that people say from time to time. This doesn't mean that every sin should be ignored (Matthew 18:15). But it reminds us that concerning people in the... [ Continue Reading ]
"I TESTED ALL THIS WITH WISDOM, AND. SAID, 'I WILL BE WISE', BUT IT WAS FAR FROM ME." The word "tested" implies careful investigation. Solomon had. strong desire and resolve to truly be. wise man. And yet, apart from divine revelation, Solomon found that human wisdom fails to find the ultimate answe... [ Continue Reading ]
"WHAT HAS BEEN IS REMOTE AND EXCEEDINGLY MYSTERIOUS. WHO CAN DISCOVER IT?" Not only is man incapable of penetrating many of the secrets of the distant past (look how far off track some scientists are in reference to how the universe really began!), but man, even with the best human wisdom available... [ Continue Reading ]
"I DIRECTED MY MIND TO KNOW, TO INVESTIGATE, AND TO SEEK WISDOM AND AN EXPLANATION, AND TO KNOW THE EVIL OF FOLLY AND THE FOOLISHNESS OF MADNESS." This verse reveals the earnestness and eagerness at which Solomon approached this quest. He didn't merely dabble or speculate, he wasn't. weekend philos... [ Continue Reading ]
"AND. DISCOVERED MORE BITTER THAN DEATH THE WOMAN WHOSE HEART IS SNARES AND NETS, WHOSE HANDS ARE CHAINS. ONE WHO IS PLEASING TO GOD WILL ESCAPE FROM HER, BUT THE SINNER WILL BE CAPTURED BY HER." Solomon isn't anti-woman, and neither did he find every woman to be like this, lest we forget what was... [ Continue Reading ]
"BEHOLD,. HAVE DISCOVERED THIS," SAYS THE PREACHER, "ADDING ONE THING TO ANOTHER TO FIND AN EXPLANATION," Solomon was. very detailed and logical thinker. He weighed one point against another point, and gradually built one fact or observation upon another. "To find the net result, find out the accou... [ Continue Reading ]
"WHICH. AM STILL SEEKING BUT HAVE NOT FOUND.. HAVE FOUND ONE MAN AMONG. THOUSAND, BUT. HAVE NOT FOUND. WOMAN AMONG ALL THESE." Points To Note: 1 Since Solomon only found one righteous or wise man among. 1000 that he could trust, and found one less woman. his conclusion isn't that women are inferio... [ Continue Reading ]
"BEHOLD,. HAVE FOUND ONLY THIS, THAT GOD MADE MEN UPRIGHT, BUT THEY HAVE SOUGHT OUT MANY DEVICES."GOD MADE MEN UPRIGHT" -i.e. morally good, God created men and women in His own image (Genesis 1:26-27). God has given to every one the ability to recognize divine law as truth. This explains why Solomon... [ Continue Reading ]