Ecclesiastes 8:1
WHO _IS,_ etc.] Which of his readers has skill to see the meaning of his language, intentionally left obscure? BOLDNESS] RV 'hardness.' Skill of this kind refines the features.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO _IS,_ etc.] Which of his readers has skill to see the meaning of his language, intentionally left obscure? BOLDNESS] RV 'hardness.' Skill of this kind refines the features.... [ Continue Reading ]
KINGS'COURTS NEED WARY WALKING 1-17. Be discreet in relation with a ruler. God's purpose must be carried out. His rule must be righteous, though this is often not seen in actual life. God's ways are just, and past finding out. The writer now enters on a subject which it would not have been wise to... [ Continue Reading ]
OATH OF GOD] Ptolemy Soter, king of Egypt (305-285 b.c.), having transplanted certain JEWS from Palestine to Alexandria, caused them to swear allegiance to his successors. It is possible that the reference here may be to that event. If so, we have an indication of the place and time of writing.... [ Continue Reading ]
BE NOT HASTY] Do not rashly throw up office. STAND, etc.] RV 'persist.' Do not take sides with the ruler's open or covert enemies. The expression, however, in the Heb. is obscure, probably of set intention.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSE KEEPETH, etc.] Submission is a practical guide in life. TIME AND JUDGMENT] The wise man will bide his time, hoping that justice will be done in the end.... [ Continue Reading ]
TO EVERY PURPOSE] God's purpose must eventually prevail, and retribution, if deserved, come even on the highest. THEREFORE] RV 'because.' MISERY] RM 'evil.' Wickedness, like a lead, bears the bad man down to his doom.... [ Continue Reading ]
SPIRIT] RM 'wind,' which it is God's prerogative to control. NO DISCHARGE] Under the JEWISH LAW exemption from service in war was granted in certain cases (Deuteronomy 20:5). In the battle with death no such release may be had. 9, 10. These vv. are expressed in such guarded language that to us they... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO HAD COME] RV 'and they came' to the grave. AND GONE.. SO DONE] RV 'and they that had done right went away from the holy place, and were forgotten in the city.'... [ Continue Reading ]
I KNOW THAT IT SHALL BE WELL] The writer, after all, is one of those who 'keep' (or at any rate revert) 'to the sunny side of doubt.' The rule of final justice, he says, must hold. 14, 15. But now it is often not so. Therefore temperate enjoyments, joined with labour, are the most abiding possessio... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR ALSO, etc.] RM 'how that neither by day nor by night do men see sleep with their eyes.'... [ Continue Reading ]