ECCLESIASTES OR, THE PREACHER -Year from the Creation, according to Archbishop Usher, 3027. -Year from the Flood of Noah, according to the common Hebrew text, 1371. -Year before the birth of Christ, 973. -Year before the vulgar era of Christ's nativity, 977. -N. B. The time when this book was w... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ecclesiastes 1:2. _VANITY OF VANITIES_] As the words are an exclamation, it would be better to translate, _O vanity of vanities_! Emptiness of emptinesses. True, substantial good is not to be found in any thing liable to _change_ and _corruption_. The author referred to in the introduction be... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ecclesiastes 1:3. _WHAT PROFIT HATH A MAN_] What is the sum of the real good he has gained by all his toils in life? They, in themselves, have neither made him _contented_ nor _happy_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ecclesiastes 1:4. ONE _GENERATION PASSETH AWAY_] Men succeed each other in unceasing generations: but the earth is still the same; it undergoes no change that leads to melioration, or greater perfection. And it will continue the same לעולם _leolam_, during the whole course of time; till the en... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ecclesiastes 1:5. and Ecclesiastes 1:6. These verses are confused by being falsely divided. The first clause of the _sixth_ should be joined to the _fifth_ verse. "The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he ariseth; going to the south, and circulating to t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ecclesiastes 1:6. "The wind is continually whirling about, and the wind returneth upon its whirlings." It is plain, from the clause which I have restored to the _fifth_ verse, that the author refers to the approximations of the sun to the _northern_ and _southern tropics_, viz., of _Cancer_ a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ecclesiastes 1:7. _ALL THE RIVERS RUN INTO THE SEA; YET THE SEA IS NOT_ _FULL_] The reason is, nothing goes into it either by the; _rivers_ or by _rain_, that does not come from it: and _to the place whence the_ _rivers come_, whether from the _sea_ originally by evaporation, or immediately by... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ecclesiastes 1:8. _ALL THINGS_ ARE _FULL OF LABOUR_] It is; impossible to calculate how much anxiety, pain, labour, and fatigue are necessary in order to carry on the _common operations of life_. But an _endless desire of gain_, and an _endless curiosity_ to _witness_ a variety of results, cau... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ecclesiastes 1:9. _THE THING THAT HATH BEEN_] Every thing in the whole economy of nature has its _revolutions_; summer and winter, heat and cold, rain and drought, seedtime and autumn, with the whole system of _corruption_ and _generation_, alternately succeed each other, so that _whatever has... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ecclesiastes 1:10. _IS THERE ANY THING, C._] The original is beautiful. "Is there any thing which will say, See this! it is new?" Men may say this of their discoveries, c. but universal nature says, It is not new. _It has been_, and it _will be_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ecclesiastes 1:11. THERE IS _NO REMEMBRANCE_] I believe the general meaning to be this: Multitudes of _ancient transactions_ have been lost, because they were not _recorded_; and of many that have been recorded, the _records_ are _lost_. And this will be the case with many others which are yet... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ecclesiastes 1:12. _I THE PREACHER WAS KING_] This is a strange verse, and does not admit of an easy solution. It is literally, "I, Choheleth, have been king over Israel, in Jerusalem." This book, as we have already seen, has been conjectured by some to have been written about the time that _P... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 13. _AND I GAVE MY HEART TO SEEK AND SEARCH_] While Solomon was faithful to his God, he diligently cultivated his mind. His giving himself to the study of natural history, philosophy, poetry, c., are sufficient proofs of it. He had not intuitive knowledge from God but he had a _capacity_ to ob... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 14. _BEHOLD, ALL_ IS _VANITY_] After all these discussions and experiments, when even the results have been the most successful, I have found only _rational satisfaction_; but not that _supreme good_ by which alone the soul can be made happy. O curas hominum! O quantum est in rebus inane! "H... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 15. THAT WHICH IS _CROOKED CANNOT BE MADE STRAIGHT_] There are many apparent irregularities and anomalies in nature for which we cannot account; and there are many _defects_ that cannot be _supplied_. This is the impression from a _general view_ of nature; but the more we study and investigate... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 16. _I COMMUNED WITH MINE OWN HEART_] Literally, "I spoke, I, with my heart, saying." When successful in my researches, but not happy in my soul, though easy in my circumstances, I entered into my own heart, and there inquired the _cause_ of my discontent. He found that, though - 1. He had go... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 17. _TO KNOW MADNESS AND FOLLY_] הוללות ושכלות _holloth_ _vesichluth_. Παραβολας και επιστημην, "Parables and science." - _Septuagint_. So the _Syriac_; nearly so the _Arabic_. "What were error and foolishness." - _Coverdale_. Perhaps _gayety_ and _sobriety_ may be the better meaning for thes... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ecclesiastes 1:18. _FOR IN MUCH WISDOM_ IS _MUCH GRIEF_] The more we know of _ourselves_ the less satisfied shall we be with our own hearts; and the more we know of _mankind_ the less willing shall we be to trust them, and the less shall we admire them. _HE THAT INCREASETH KNOWLEDGE INCREASET... [ Continue Reading ]