Ecclesiastes; or, the Preacher
Ecclesiastes 2
Chapter II · Vol. II, pp. 1117–1119
1 The vanity of human courses in the pursuits of pleasure. 12 Though the wise be better than the fool, yet both have one event. 18 The vanity of human labour, in leaving it they know not to whom. 24 Nothing better than joy in our labour; but that is God's gift to the good only.
1 I saida in mine heart, Go to now, bI will prove thee with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity.
a Lu.12.19,20. ch.1.16,17.
3 Id sought in mine heart 1to give myself unto wine,2 (yet eacquainting mine heart with wisdom,) and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their 3life.4
d Pr.20.1. 1 Sa.25.36. ch.1.17.
1 Heb. to draw my flesh with wine.
2 Not to give himself to intemperance, but to the examination of the vaunted enjoyment of wine-bibbers.—C.
e 1 Ki.18.21. Mat.6.24. ver.9.
3 Heb. the number of the days of their life.
4 'The wise Solomon,' says Hengstenberg, 'did not give himself to intoxication of the senses in the way of a mere voluptuary; for the voluptuary cannot help doing what he does—he is the slave of his passions and desires; but in the manner of an inquirer who, standing on an eminence above sensual enjoyments, wishes to know by personal trial what can be obtained from them, so as to be able, in virtue of his own experience, to instruct others how far a true good is or is not to be found therein.'—P.
5 Ij made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits:
j Je.39.4. 1 Ki.4.33. Ca.4.12-16; 5.1; 6.2.
7 Il got me servants and maidens, and had servants5 born in my house; nalso I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me:
8 Io gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: pI gat me men-singers and women-singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments,6 and that of all sorts.
o 1 Ki.9.14,28; 10.10,14,21,22,27.
p 2 Sa.19.35. Ezr.2.65.
6 Heb. musical instrument and instruments, Am.6.5. 2 Ch.9.11.
9 Soq I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.
q ch.1.16. 1 Ki.3.12,13; 4.30; 10.7,23.
10 Andr whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them; I withheld not my heart from any joy: for my heart rejoiced in all my labour; and this was my portion of all my labour.
11 Thens I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do; and, behold, tall was vanity and vexation of spirit, and uthere was no profit under the sun.
12 And vI turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and 7folly:8 for what can the man do that cometh after the king? even that which hath been already done.9
v ch.1.17; 7.25.
7 I turned myself from my profitless and vexatious labours, to record the conclusions of wisdom, and denounce human madness and folly.—C.
8 He turned himself from his career of experimental pleasure, to draw a comparison between those things he had tried. He considered wisdom, madness, and folly in their relations to each other. He estimated their relative worth. He did not discard wisdom. He kept it with him, and used it in all his assays.—P.
9 Or, in those things which have been already done.
14 They wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also zthat one event2 happeneth to them all.
15 Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me;3 and awhy was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity.4
16 Forb there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now is, in the days to come shall all be forgotten: and chow dieth the wise man? as the fool.
17 Therefored I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: efor all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
d Job 7.15,16. 1 Ki.19.4,10,14. Jonah 4.3,8. Phi.1.23. 2 Co.5.2-4.
e See ver.11.
18 Yea, I hated gall my labour which I had taken5 under the sun; because hI should leave it unto the man that shall be after me:
19 And who knoweth iwhether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have showed myself wise under the sun. This is also jvanity.
i 1 Ki.12.8,14. 2 Ch.10.14. ch.3.22.
20 Therefore I went about kto cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun.6
k ch.1.14; 12.1. Ro.6.21.
6 Not to cause his heart to despair of grace or mercy in the future world, or to despair of good in this; but to teach his own heart, and, through his experience, the hearts of others, to despair of any worldly labour and success being able to ward off vanity and vexation.—C.
21 Forl there is a man whose labour is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave7 it for his portion. This also is vanity, and a great evil.
l See ver.18,19.
7 Heb. give.
22 Forn what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun?
n Mat.16.26. ch.1.3; 3.9; 5.10,11,17; 6.8.
23 Foro all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.
24 Therep is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul8 enjoy good in his 9labour. This also I saw, that qit was from the hand of God.
* This is no Epicurean assertion, insinuation, or objection, as some imagine. There is literally nothing better for a man than thus to eat, drink, and enjoy. (1) There is nothing better for his health and strength of body. (2) There is nothing better for his soul; for if he 'enjoy good' in his eating and drinking, both have been 'sanctified by the word and prayer,' 1 Ti. 4. 5; and both he has used to the 'glory of God,' doing 'all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,' 1 Co. 10. 31. But are not immortality and glory better? Ro.2.7. Yes, yes, undoubtedly; but immortality and glory are not 'under the sun,' the limit of this life and world, to which Solomon's inquiry is here confined. See ch.1.3; 2.3,11,18,20,22.—C.
p ch.3.12,13,22; 5.18; 8.15; 9.7; 11.9.
8 Or, delight his senses.
9 See note * in first column.
q Le.26.5. De.8.17,18. Ho.2.8,9. ch.5.18,19.
25 Forr who can eat, or who else can hasten hereunto, more than I?
r 1 Ki.4.21-31. ch.6.1,2; ver.1-12.
26 Fors God giveth to a man that is good in his sight1 wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather, and to heap up, that the may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.
s Le.xxvi. De.xxviii. Is.3.10,11. Ro.2.7-11. Job xviii. xx. xxii.
1 Heb. before him, Ge.7.1. Lu.1.6.
A.M. cir. 3029. B.C. cir. 975.
t Job 27.16,17. Pr.13.22; 28.8.
Notes
Ver. 1. Enjoy pleasure. Not sinful pleasure, for then could not wisdom remain, see ver. 9; but the legitimate pleasures derived from useful labour, permanent improvements, and the social intercourse of well-ordered society. C.
Ver. 3. To lay hold on folly. That childish pursuit of toys and amusements, to the rejection of more important objects and pursuits—and which must be seized and examined 'as it flies,' because ever changing in object and fashion. C.
Ver. 8. The last clause some are disposed to translate 'wives and concubines,' a sense to which the words may be strained; but which the wisdom claimed in this inquiry, ver. 9, could by no means tolerate. C.
Ver. 11. How is the joy of ver. 10 to be reconciled with the vexation of ver. 11? Simply thus: all this joy, so far as derived from all his labour, was, when examined by the light of wisdom, nothing but vanity, because it had no real profit; and nothing but vexation, because inseparably mingled with disappointments. C.
Ver. 17. Therefore I hated life. But not with the hatred of a selfish misanthrope or exhausted sensualist, for where then had been wisdom? ver. 9; but with the hatred of a well-instructed and experienced believer, according to the word of our Lord, Lu. 14. 26; Jn. 12. 25. C.
Ver. 23. And a merciful dispensation it is, though arising out of the curse; for the heart, when it findeth 'no rest in the night,' is thereby instructed to draw near to Jesus, who alone can give it rest, Mat. 11. 28. C.
Ver. 25. The best Hebrew MSS. concur with the evident sense of the passage, in reading for 'more than I'—'without him,' that is, without God's gift. C.
Reflections.—Numerous are the contrivances of men to find that in creatures which they should seek, and can only find, in God himself. But how vain and vexing are their diversified, their unnumbered, their utmost attempts! Till our souls return to God in Christ, as our All and in all, they will be always like birds wandering from their nests. Thrice happy are they to whom God gives grace to take all things from him; to enjoy him in all things, and all things in him; and to use all things for his glory, and as means of attaching their heart to him and his ways.