INTRODUCTION TO ECCLESIASTES 5 This chapter contains some rules and directions concerning the worship of God; how persons should behave when they go into the house of God; concerning hearing the word, to which there should be a readiness, and which should be preferred to the sacrifices of fools, Ec... [ Continue Reading ]
KEEP THY FOOT WHEN THOU GOEST TO THE HOUSE OF GOD,.... The house of the sanctuary of the Lord, the temple built by Solomon; and so any place of divine worship, where the word of God is preached, and his ordinances administered. The wise man, having observed many vanities under the sun, directs men t... [ Continue Reading ]
BE NOT RASH WITH THY MOUTH, AND LET NOT THINE HEART BE HASTY TO UTTER [ANY] THING BEFORE GOD,.... In private conversation care should be taken that no rash and unadvised words be spoken in haste, as were by Moses and David; and that no evil, nor even any idle word he uttered, since from, the abundan... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR A DREAM COMETH THROUGH THE MULTITUDE OF BUSINESS,.... Or, "for as a dream" q, so Aben Ezra; as that comes through a multiplicity of business in the daytime, in which the mind has been busied, and the body employed; and this brings on dreams in the night season, which are confused and incoherent;... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THOU VOWEST A VOW UNTO GOD,.... Or "if thou vowest" r, as the Vulgate Latin version; for vows are free and indifferent things, which persons may make or not; there is no precept for them in the word of God; instances and examples there are, and they may be lawfully made, when they are in the po... [ Continue Reading ]
BETTER [IS IT] THAT THOU SHOULDEST NOT VOW,.... For a vow is an arbitrary thing; a man is not bound to make it, and while he vows not, it is in his own power, and at his option, whether he will do this or that, or not; but when he has once vowed, he is then brought under an obligation, and must perf... [ Continue Reading ]
SUFFER NOT THY MOUTH TO CAUSE THY FLESH TO SIN,.... That is, himself, who is corrupt and depraved; either by making a rash vow, which it is not in his power to keep; or such is the corruption of his nature, and the weakness of the flesh, that he cannot keep it; or by making sinful excuses after he h... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IN THE MULTITUDE OF DREAMS, AND MANY WORDS, [THERE ARE] ALSO [DIVERS] VANITIES,.... Or as, "in a multitude of dreams, [there are] many vanities, [so] also in a multitude of words" s; as dreams are vain things, or there are abundance of vain things that come into the mind in dreams; so vain and i... [ Continue Reading ]
IF THOU SEEST THE OPPRESSION OF THE POOR, AND VIOLENT PERVERTING OF JUSTICE IN A PROVINCE,.... Which is a very disagreeable sight, but often seen; the poor are oppressed, and judgment and justice perverted, and that in a very violent and flagrant manner, in open courts of judicature, in the several... [ Continue Reading ]
MOREOVER, THE PROFIT OF THE EARTH IS FOR ALL,.... Or, "the excellency of the earth in" or "above all things [is] this" y; that God most high rules over all the earth, and is higher than the kings of it, and all oppressors in it; or in all respects there is a preference, a superior excellency in the... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT LOVETH SILVER SHALL NOT BE SATISFIED WITH SILVER,.... The tillage of the earth is necessary, a very laudable and useful employment, and men do well to busy themselves in it; without this, neither the common people nor the greatest personages can be supplied with the necessaries of life; but... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN GOODS INCREASE, THEY ARE INCREASED THAT EAT THEM,.... When a man's substance increases by trade, or otherwise, very often so it is that his family increases, and he has more mouths to feed, and backs to clothe; or his estate growing larger, if he lives suitably to it, he must keep more servants... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SLEEP OF A LABOURING MAN [IS] SWEET, WHETHER HE EAT LITTLE OR MUCH,.... Or "of a servant" i, who enjoys sleep equally as a king; a tiller of the ground, as Jarchi; who also interprets it of one that serves the Lord, as likewise the Targum; a beloved one of his, to whom he gives sleep, Psalms 127... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE IS A SORE EVIL [WHICH] I HAVE SEEN UNDER THE SUN,.... Or "an evil sickness" m. A sinful disease in the person with whom it is found, and very disagreeable to others to behold; it is enough to make one sick to see it; and what he is about to relate he himself was an eyewitness of: [NAMELY], RI... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THOSE RICHES PERISH BY EVIL TRAVAIL,.... Or, "by an evil business or affair" n. That is, such riches as are not well got, or are not used as they should be, these waste away and come to nothing; either by the owner's bad management, and misconduct in trade and business; or by fire, tempest, thie... [ Continue Reading ]
AS HE CAME FORTH OF HIS MOTHER'S WOMB, NAKED SHALL HE RETURN TO GO AS HE CAME,.... This may be understood either of the covetous rich man, or of his son; and that supposing what is before said should not be the case of either of them, but they should possess their substance as long as they live; yet... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THIS ALSO [IS] A SORE EVIL, [THAT] IN ALL POINTS AS HE CAME, SO SHALL HE GO,.... This seems not to be an evil or vanity, distinct from the former; but the same repeated and confirmed, and expressed, if possible, in stronger terms, that a man is in all respects alike, when he goes out of the worl... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL HIS DAYS ALSO HE EATETH IN DARKNESS,.... To all that has been said is added another evil, that attends such whose hearts are inordinately set on riches; that all their days, throughout the whole of their lives, they live a most uncomfortable life; for eating is here put for their whole manner of... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD THAT WHICH I HAVE SEEN,.... Observed, considered and approved of, and which he recommended and excited attention to, and is as follows; [IT IS] GOOD AND COMELY [FOR ONE] TO EAT AND TO DRINK; to make use of the creatures God has given for service in a free and liberal manner, without excess,... [ Continue Reading ]
EVERY MAN ALSO TO WHOM GOD HATH GIVEN RICHES AND WEALTH,.... Which include the whole of a man's substance; all his estate, personal and real; and all his goods and possessions, movable and immovable, as gold, silver, cattle, fields, and farms; which are all the gift of God, by whatsoever means they... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR HE SHALL NOT MUCH REMEMBER THE DAYS OF HIS LIFE,.... Be they more or fewer, as Jarchi: he will not think life long and tedious; nor dwell upon, and distress himself with, the troubles he has met with, or is likely to meet with; but, being content with the good things God has given him, and freel... [ Continue Reading ]