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Joseph Benson’s Bible Commentary

Ecclesiastes 2:1-2

I said in my heart Being disappointed of my hopes from knowledge, I resolved to try another course. Go to now O my soul! I will try whether I cannot make thee happy by the enjoyment of sensual delights. This also is vanity Is vain, and unable to make men happy. I said of laughter, It is mad This is an act of madness, more fit for fools who know nothing, than for wise men in this sinful, and dangerous, and deplorable state of mankind. What doth it What good doth it? Or how can it make men happy? I challenge all the epicures in the world to give me a solid answer.

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See also Ecclesiastes 2:1-2 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    CHAPTER II _The vanity of human courses in the works of pleasure,_ _planting, equipage, amassing wealth, c._, 1-11. _Wisdom preferable to folly_, 12-14 _yet little difference between the wise and...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    Solomon’s trial of God’s second gift, namely, riches, and the enjoyment which riches supply; this brought him to the sane result (compare Ecclesiastes 1:12). Comparing Solomon’s action with Luke 12:16...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    CHAPTER 2THE RESULTS OF THE SEARCH AND DIFFERENT VANITIES _ 1. His personal experience (Ecclesiastes 2:1)_ 2. Various vanities and a conclusion (Ecclesiastes 2:12) Ecclesiastes 2:1

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    ECCLESIASTES 1:12 TO ECCLESIASTES 2:26. QOHELETH'S INVESTIGATIONS. Assuming the character of Solomon the writer tells of his search for happiness under many forms. The pursuit of wisdom (Ecclesiastes...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    ECCLESIASTES 1:12 TO ECCLESIASTES 2:26. QOHELETH'S INVESTIGATIONS. Assuming the character of Solomon the writer tells of his search for happiness under many forms. The pursuit of wisdom (Ecclesiastes...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    ENJOY. look thou into. BEHOLD. Figure of speech _Asterismos._...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _I will prove thee with mirth_ The self-communing of the man talking to his soul, like the rich man in Luke 12:18-19, in search of happiness, leads him to yet another experiment. He will lay aside phi...

  • Charles Box Commentaries

    _THE VANITY OF SELF-INDULGENCE -- ECCLESIASTES 2:1-11:_ All through the book of Ecclesiastes we observe Solomon as he thought and reasoned within himself. He had looked upon and tried all the good, pl...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    c. Wisdom is used in the exploration of sensuous pleasure. Ecclesiastes 2:1-11 TEXT 2:1-11 1 I said to myself, Come now, I will test you with pleasure. So enjoy yourself. And behold, it too was fut...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity. I SAID IN MINE HEART. "I" (Heb., ani) is emphatic: I who had such ample op...

  • Darby's translation notes (1890)

    2:1 enjoy (d-15) Lit. 'see.' so ver. 24; chs. 3.13; 6.6, &c...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    I WILL PROVE THEE WITH MIRTH] Wisdom, whether sought in nature or in human things, having proved unsatisfying, he now makes a cast in another direction. Increase of knowledge is increase of sorrow; bu...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    EPICUREANISM AND WISDOM ALIKE PROFITLESS 1-3. The writer makes enjoyment his quest, while aware that it is folly, and avoiding excess in a philosophic spirit....

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    THE TEACHER SEARCHES FOR THE PURPOSE OF OUR LIVES BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES _HILDA BRIGHT AND KITTY PRIDE_ CHAPTER 2 THE TEST TO DISCOVER WHAT MAKES A PERSON HAPPY – ECCLESIASTES 2:1-11...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    IN MINE HEART. — To mine heart (Luke 12:19; Psalms 42:11). GO TO NOW. — Numbers 22:6; Judges 19:11. ENJOY. — Heb., see....

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    אָמַ֤רְתִּֽי אֲנִי֙ בְּ לִבִּ֔י לְכָה ־נָּ֛א...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    FIRST SECTION The Quest Of The Chief Good In Wisdom And In Pleasure Ecclesiastes 1:12; Ecclesiastes 2:1 OPPRESSED by his profound sense of the vanity of the life which man lives amid the play of pe...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    24-26, VAIN UNDERTAKINGS Ecclesiastes 2:1-17 At the beginning of his search for happiness Solomon erected a splendid home and planned all kinds of delights of an artistic and sensuous nature. There w...

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

    Turning from the pursuit of knowledge to the pathway of pleasure, the king had given himself up to mirth, seeking the false stimulus of wine. In this also he had been disappointed, finding that mirth...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    I said in my heart, Come now, I will tempt (a) thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also [is] vanity. (a) Solomon makes this discourse with himself, as though he would try whe...

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    _Delights. He speaks in the name of libertines, (St. Gregory, Dial. iv. 4.) or after his conversion. (Calmet) --- The worldling might object that since wisdom affords not content, it is best to try pl...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity. (2) I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it? (3) I sought...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    CONTENTS In this Chapter the Preacher prosecutes still further the doctrine of the emptiness of creatures, to give happiness. Having in the former Chapter stated the subject in general, he here enter...

  • 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,.... He communed with his heart, he thought and reasoned within himself, and came to this resolution in his own mind; that since he could not find happiness in natural wisdom and...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    _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...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    Solomon's own Example...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    I said in mine heart, in considering carefully the possibility of enjoyment, GO TO, NOW, I WILL PROVE THEE WITH MIRTH, to find out whether he would feel happy and contented in enjoyment of the senses;...

  • Mark Dunagan Commentaries

    "I SAID TO MYSELF, 'COME NOW,. WILL TEST YOU WITH PLEASURE. SO ENJOY YOURSELF.' AND BEHOLD, IT TOO WAS FUTILITY."I SAID TO MYSELF" -like the rich man in Luke 12:19. This type of statement reveals some...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    1-11 Solomon soon found mirth and pleasure to be vanity. What does noisy, flashy mirth towards making a man happy? The manifold devices of men's hearts, to get satisfaction from the world, and their...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    ECCLESIASTES CHAPTER 2 Pleasure and mirth also vanity, ECCLESIASTES 2:1,2; whether in wine, or buildings and gardens, or servants, or cattle, or silver and gold, or music, ECCLESIASTES 2:3. This the P...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Ecclesiastes 2:1 said H559 (H8804) heart H3820 Come H3212 (H8798) test H5254 (H8762) mirth H8057 enjoy...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    CHAPTER 2 THE SEARCH FOR PLEASURE. Experimenting With Good Things (Ecclesiastes 2:1). Ecclesiastes 2:1 ‘I said in my heart, “Go at it now, I will test out merriment. Therefore enjoy pleasure (or ‘g...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Ecclesiastes 1:12-2 I. As was natural in so wise a man, the Preacher turns first to wisdom. It is the wisdom that is born of wide and varied experience, not of abstract study. He acquaints himself wit...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Solomon shows that there is no true happiness and satisfaction to be had in mirth, pleasure and the delights of sense. CHARACTERS: God, Solomon. CONCLUSION: True and lasting happiness and...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Ecclesiastes 2:1. _Enjoy pleasure._ The first doctrine of Epicurus, whose system is here rebutted. Acts 17:18. Ecclesiastes 2:2. _I said of laughter,_ of all forced and frantic joy, _it is mad._ Chald...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth._ THE THREEFOLD VIEW OF HUMAN LIFE Three views of human life are given in this remarkable chapter. I. The theatrical view of life (Ecclesiastes 2:1). The wri...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    ECCLESIASTES—NOTE ON ECCLESIASTES 2:1 PLEASURE here apparently refers to activities that can cause LAUGHTER....

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    CRITICAL NOTES.— ECCLESIASTES 2:1. I SAID IN MINE HEART.] The pronoun is emphatic and denotes the importance of the person who is speaking. There are instances of such addresses to the soul in the Psa...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION ECCLESIASTES 2:1 Section 2. _Vanity of striving after pleasure and wealth._ ECCLESIASTES 2:1 Dissatisfied with the result of the pursuit of wisdom, Koheleth embarks on a course of sensua...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    So I said in my heart, Go to now, I'm going to prove thee with [pleasure,] with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: but, behold, this was vanity (Ecclesiastes 2:1). So we read in the New Testament the ep...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    2 Kings 5:5; Ecclesiastes 11:9; Ecclesiastes 8:15; Ecclesiastes 1:16;...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    I said — Being disappointed of my hopes from knowledge, I resolved to try another course. Go to — O my soul! I will try whether I cannot make thee happy, by the enjoyment of sensual delights. Vanity —...

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