III. The thought expressed at the end of the last chapter is developed in this chapter, which treats of the supremacy of God. Man can have no enjoyment except as He is pleased to bestow it. He has pre-ordained the times and seasons of all human events, and success cannot be obtained except in confo... [ Continue Reading ]
A SEASON. — The word is only found in later Hebrew (Nehemiah 2:6; Esther 9:27; Esther 9:31), and in the Chaldee of Daniel and Ezra. PURPOSE. — The use of the word here and in Ecclesiastes 3:17; Ecclesiastes 5:8; Ecclesiastes 8:6, in the general sense of “a matter,” belongs to later Hebrew. The prima... [ Continue Reading ]
The list of times and seasons is ranged in Hebrew MSS. and printed books in two parallel columns. A TIME TO DIE. — Job 14:5.... [ Continue Reading ]
MOURN. — This is the ordinary word used for noisy funeral lamentations (Jeremiah 4:8; 1 Samuel 25:1).... [ Continue Reading ]
GATHER STONES. — As the collecting of stones for building purposes is included in Ecclesiastes 3:4, it is thought that what is here referred to is the clearing or marring of land (Isaiah 5:2; Isaiah 62:10; 2 Kings 3:19; 2 Kings 3:25).... [ Continue Reading ]
TO LOSE. — Elsewhere this word means to destroy, but in the later Hebrew it comes to mean to lose, like the Latin “perdere.”... [ Continue Reading ]
IN HIS TIME. — In modern English, “its.” THE WORLD. — The word here translated “world” has that meaning in post-Biblical Hebrew, but never elsewhere in the Old Testament, where it occurs over 300 times. And if we adopt the rendering “world,” it is difficult to explain the verse so as to connect it w... [ Continue Reading ]
I KNOW. — Literally, _I knew: i.e.,_ I came to know. The writer is relating the conclusions at which he successively arrived. TO DO GOOD. — This phrase is always used elsewhere in a moral sense: “to act rightly.” When enjoyment is meant, the phrase used is, as in the next verse, “to see good;” but... [ Continue Reading ]
Sir. 11:17; Sir. 18:6.... [ Continue Reading ]
IS NOW. — Rather, _was long ago._ REQUIRETH. — _Seeketh again_: _i.e.,_ recalleth the past. The writer has not been speaking of the bringing the past into judgment, but of the immutable order of the universe, which constantly repeats itself. But it would seem that the word suggesting the thought of... [ Continue Reading ]
This verse introduces the consideration of the difficulty arising from the imperfection of moral retribution in this life. Other places where the iniquity of judges is mentioned are Ecclesiastes 4:1; Ecclesiastes 5:8; Ecclesiastes 6:7; Ecclesiastes 8:9.... [ Continue Reading ]
A TIME THERE — viz., with God. In this verse a judgment after this life is clearly spoken of, but not yet asserted as a conclusion definitely adopted, but only as a belief of the writer’s conflicting with the doubts expressed in the following verses. “1 said in mine heart,” with which Ecclesiastes 3... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT WHICH BEFALLETH. — The word translated “event” in Ecclesiastes 2:13 (where see Note). BREATH. — The same word as “spirit” (Ecclesiastes 3:21; Genesis 7:15; Psalms 104:30).... [ Continue Reading ]
The LXX., followed by a great body of interpreters, ancient and modern, translate, “Who knoweth whether the spirit of man goeth upward?” &c, and this agrees better with the context of this paragraph. The sceptical thought is, “We see that death resolves into dust (Genesis 3:19; Ecclesiastes 12:7; se... [ Continue Reading ]