Ecclesiastes 7 - Introduction
_REMEDIES AGAINST VANITY ARE, MORTIFICATION, PATIENCE, WISDOM. THE DIFFICULTY OF GETTING WISDOM._... [ Continue Reading ]
_REMEDIES AGAINST VANITY ARE, MORTIFICATION, PATIENCE, WISDOM. THE DIFFICULTY OF GETTING WISDOM._... [ Continue Reading ]
SORROW IS BETTER THAN LAUGHTER— _A sorrowful appearance is often better than laughter; for, notwithstanding the sadness of the countenance, the heart may be happy:_ Desvoeux: who thinks, that not real sorrow, but the appearance of it only, is meant; such a serious countenance as is compatible with i... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SONG OF FOOLS— Mr. Desvoeux, in a long and learned note, has shewn, that this _song of fools_ refers to the encomiastic songs of strolling bards, who were a kind of extempore singers of stories at banquets, going from place to place, and suiting their performances to the taste of those who paid... [ Continue Reading ]
SURELY OPPRESSION MAKETH A WISE MAN MAD— _Surely oppression shall give lustre to a wise man; and a gift corrupteth the heart._ Every sentence contained in the first eight verses of this chapter offers an instance of the wrong judgment of the ignorant; and this is carried on so as to mention the judg... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE PATIENT IN SPIRIT IS BETTER THAN THE PROUD IN SPIRIT— _Better is he who considereth long, than he whose spirit is high._ We have, in this and the preceding verses, the first proof of the third general proposition. Most men, unmindful of futurity, prefer a delicate life to that course whereby... [ Continue Reading ]
TO BE ANGRY;—FOR ANGER— _To grieve; for grief,_ &c.] So our translators have rendered the original word, chap. Ecclesiastes 2:23. See also chap. Ecclesiastes 5:17 and Ecclesiastes 11:10; and, thus rendered, it answers Solomon's purpose much better than _anger._... [ Continue Reading ]
WISDOM IS GOOD WITH AN INHERITANCE— _Wisdom is as good as an inheritance; nay, more profitable to them who see the sun; because both wisdom and money are a shelter_ to their possessors; _but the advantage of the knowledge of wisdom is, that it preserveth the life of them who seek it._ The preference... [ Continue Reading ]
CONSIDER THE WORK OF GOD— _Second advice._ We should content ourselves with contemplating the works of God, without presuming to judge of them, or to set right that which is not so in our apprehension: because it is in no man's power to alter the appointment of God.... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE DAY OF PROSPERITY BE JOYFUL— _In the day of prosperity enjoy it; but in the day of adversity, consider also that God hath made it in opposition to the other, to the end that man should not find out any thing of His ways._ The common interpretations of this text are not easily to be reconciled... [ Continue Reading ]
IN HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS—IN HIS WICKEDNESS— _Notwithstanding his righteousness—Notwithstanding his wickedness._ This and the preceding verse contain the third advice. We should receive both prosperity and adversity as coming from the hand of God, without either immoderate joy or unbecoming despondency.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHY SHOULDST THOU DESTROY THYSELF?— _Why shouldest thou be left alone?_ There is a very remarkable opposition in this and the following verse between the several excesses there mentioned, and a very proper distinction between the consequences which are to be apprehended from them. I cannot say that... [ Continue Reading ]
IT IS GOOD THAT THOU SHOULDEST TAKE HOLD OF THIS— _The good which thou shouldest take hold of consisteth in this_ (_nay, thou shouldest never withdraw thine hand from it_), _that he who feareth God shall avoid all these inconveniences._ See Desvoeux, p. 314.... [ Continue Reading ]
WISDOM STRENGTHENETH THE WISE— _That wisdom_ (see Ecclesiastes 7:18.) _will strengthen the wise, more than ten princes which are in a city._ From the 16th to the 20th verse we have the _fourth advice._ All affectation must be avoided. An over-affectation to be better or wiser than the rest of mankin... [ Continue Reading ]
CURSE THEE—CURSED OTHERS— _Speaking evil of thee—hast spoken evil of others._ Symmachus in both these places renders the word by λοιδορειν. Many good men's consciences will never accuse them of having _cursed others;_ but where is he who never spoke an evil word of his neighbour? These two verses co... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THIS HAVE I PROVED BY WISDOM— _All this have I knowingly examined: I said, I will be wise; but wisdom went far from me:_ Ecclesiastes 7:24. _Whatever is so far off, nay, removed to the greatest depth, who shall find it?_ Desvoeux.... [ Continue Reading ]
TO SEEK OUT WISDOM, AND THE REASON OF THINGS— _To seek out wisdom and reason, and that I might know the wickedness of ignorance, and the foolishness of that which is in the greatest esteem,_ See chap. Ecclesiastes 2:2. That the _advices_ above given might be the better received, our author declares... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSE HEART IS SNARES AND NETS— _Who herself is a company of hunters; nay, her heart is nets; her hands are bands. He who is good in the presence of God shall escape from her,_ &c. The simile is here taken from hunting; and there is a distinction plainly marked in the original, and well observed by... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, THIS HAVE I FOUND, &C.— _Behold, this have I found_ (_saith the orator_), _examining them one by one, to find out the reason of it:_ Ecclesiastes 7:28. _Which my soul seeketh still, without being able to find it; one man, I say, among a thousand have I found, but a woman among them all I did... [ Continue Reading ]