George Haydock's Catholic Commentary
Ecclesiastes 2:2
Why. Hebrew, "What doth that?" Septuagint, "Why dost thou so?" Immoderate laughter is a sign of folly, Ecclesiasticus xxi. 23. (Calmet) --- "Even spiritual joy is a temptation." (St. Jerome)
Why. Hebrew, "What doth that?" Septuagint, "Why dost thou so?" Immoderate laughter is a sign of folly, Ecclesiasticus xxi. 23. (Calmet) --- "Even spiritual joy is a temptation." (St. Jerome)
Verse Ecclesiastes 2:2. _I SAID OF LAUGHTER_, IT IS _MAD_] Literally "To laughter I said, O mad one! and to mirth, What is this one doing?" Solomon does not speak here of a sober enjoyment of the th...
CHAPTER 2THE RESULTS OF THE SEARCH AND DIFFERENT VANITIES _ 1. His personal experience (Ecclesiastes 2:1)_ 2. Various vanities and a conclusion (Ecclesiastes 2:12) Ecclesiastes 2:1
ECCLESIASTES 1:12 TO ECCLESIASTES 2:26. QOHELETH'S INVESTIGATIONS. Assuming the character of Solomon the writer tells of his search for happiness under many forms. The pursuit of wisdom (Ecclesiastes...
ECCLESIASTES 1:12 TO ECCLESIASTES 2:26. QOHELETH'S INVESTIGATIONS. Assuming the character of Solomon the writer tells of his search for happiness under many forms. The pursuit of wisdom (Ecclesiastes...
OF LAUGHTER. to laughter. IT IS MAD. See note on "madness", Ecclesiastes 1:17. OF MIRTH. to mirth. WHAT DOETH IT?. What doth she do?...
_I said of laughter, It is mad_ The choice of a word cognate with the madness of chap. Ecclesiastes 1:17, gives a special emphasis to the judgment which the man thus passes on himself. There was as mu...
_THE VANITY OF SELF-INDULGENCE -- ECCLESIASTES 2:1-11:_ All through the book of Ecclesiastes we observe Solomon as he thought and reasoned within himself. He had looked upon and tried all the good, pl...
DISCOURSE: 829 THE EMPTINESS OF WORLDLY MIRTH Ecclesiastes 2:2. _I said of laughter, It is mad; and of mirth, What doeth it?_ WHO is it that has ventured to speak thus respecting that which constitut...
I SAID OF LAUGHTER, IT IS MAD— _I said to laughter, how dost thou shine? and to pleasure, what does that avail?_ See the note on the 17th verse of the foregoing chapter. The sum of these verses is, se...
c. Wisdom is used in the exploration of sensuous pleasure. Ecclesiastes 2:1-11 TEXT 2:1-11 1 I said to myself, Come now, I will test you with pleasure. So enjoy yourself. And behold, it too was fut...
I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it? LAUGHTER - flowing from sensual gratifications. (IT IS) (rather, Thou art). Hengstenberg translates (limshok besari), 'to cherish.' M...
IT _is_ MAD] He knows all the time that no solid comfort will be the issue. Mirth is a brief madness: cp. Ecclesiastes 7:6....
EPICUREANISM AND WISDOM ALIKE PROFITLESS 1-3. The writer makes enjoyment his quest, while aware that it is folly, and avoiding excess in a philosophic spirit....
THE TEACHER SEARCHES FOR THE PURPOSE OF OUR LIVES BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES _HILDA BRIGHT AND KITTY PRIDE_ CHAPTER 2 THE TEST TO DISCOVER WHAT MAKES A PERSON HAPPY – ECCLESIASTES 2:1-11...
Proverbs 14:13. MAD. — Psalms 102:9....
לִ שְׂחֹ֖וק אָמַ֣רְתִּי מְהֹולָ֑ל וּ לְ שִׂמְ
FIRST SECTION The Quest Of The Chief Good In Wisdom And In Pleasure Ecclesiastes 1:12; Ecclesiastes 2:1 OPPRESSED by his profound sense of the vanity of the life which man lives amid the play of pe...
24-26, VAIN UNDERTAKINGS Ecclesiastes 2:1-17 At the beginning of his search for happiness Solomon erected a splendid home and planned all kinds of delights of an artistic and sensuous nature. There w...
Turning from the pursuit of knowledge to the pathway of pleasure, the king had given himself up to mirth, seeking the false stimulus of wine. In this also he had been disappointed, finding that mirth...
I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity. (2) I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it? (3) I sought...
_‘THE LOUD LAUGH THAT SHOWS THE VACANT MIND’_ ‘I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?’ Ecclesiastes 2:2 Solomon says of the mirthful man, of the man who makes others laugh, tha...
THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY COVERS CHAPTER S 1 THROUGH 12. The Book of Ecclesiastes is, up to a certain point, the converse of the Book of Proverbs. (see NOTE TO PROVERBS below) It is the experience of a...
I SAID OF LAUGHTER, [IT IS] MAD,.... The risible faculty in man is given him for some usefulness; and when used in a moderate way, and kept within due bounds, is of service to him, and conduces to the...
I said of laughter, [It is] mad: and of mirth, What doeth it? Ver. 2. _I said of mirth, It is mad,_] _q.d., _ Thou mad fool, what dost thou? Yet is not mirth amiss, so it be moderate; nor laughter un...
_I said in my heart_ Being disappointed of my hopes from knowledge, I resolved to try another course. _Go to now_ O my soul! I will try whether I cannot make thee happy by the enjoyment of sensual del...
I said of laughter, of the joy and cheerfulness which he madly attempted to reach, IT IS MAD, foolish, it affords no real satisfaction; AND OF MIRTH, WHAT DOETH IT? It accomplishes nothing of value, i...
Solomon's own Example...
"I SAID OF LAUGHTER, 'IT IS MADNESS', AND OF PLEASURE, 'WHAT DOES IT ACCOMPLISH?'"IT IS MADNESS" -Solomon had realized that behind laughter can be. tremendous amount of pain, "Even in laughter the hea...
1-11 Solomon soon found mirth and pleasure to be vanity. What does noisy, flashy mirth towards making a man happy? The manifold devices of men's hearts, to get satisfaction from the world, and their...
I SAID OF LAUGHTER; of excessive mirth, which discovers itself by immoderate laughter, and other outward gestures. IT IS MAD; this is an act and sign of madness, more fit for fools, who know nothing,...
Ecclesiastes 2:2 said H559 (H8804) Madness H1984 (H8781) mirth H8057 What H2090 does H6213 (H8802)...
CHAPTER 2 THE SEARCH FOR PLEASURE. Experimenting With Good Things (Ecclesiastes 2:1). Ecclesiastes 2:1 ‘I said in my heart, “Go at it now, I will test out merriment. Therefore enjoy pleasure (or ‘g...
Ecclesiastes 2:2 Solomon says of the mirthful man, of the man who makes others laugh, that he is a madman. We need not suppose that all laughter is indiscriminately condemned, as though gloom marks a...
Ecclesiastes 1:12-2 I. As was natural in so wise a man, the Preacher turns first to wisdom. It is the wisdom that is born of wide and varied experience, not of abstract study. He acquaints himself wit...
CONTENTS: Solomon shows that there is no true happiness and satisfaction to be had in mirth, pleasure and the delights of sense. CHARACTERS: God, Solomon. CONCLUSION: True and lasting happiness and...
Ecclesiastes 2:1. _Enjoy pleasure._ The first doctrine of Epicurus, whose system is here rebutted. Acts 17:18. Ecclesiastes 2:2. _I said of laughter,_ of all forced and frantic joy, _it is mad._ Chald...
_I said of laughter, It is mad._ THE WIT AND THE MADMAN If you were asked who had sat for the portrait of a madman, you would be disposed to look out for some monster, some scourge of our race, in wh...
_Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth._ THE THREEFOLD VIEW OF HUMAN LIFE Three views of human life are given in this remarkable chapter. I. The theatrical view of life (Ecclesiastes 2:1). The wri...
ECCLESIASTES—NOTE ON ECCLESIASTES 2:1 PLEASURE here apparently refers to activities that can cause LAUGHTER....
CRITICAL NOTES.— ECCLESIASTES 2:1. I SAID IN MINE HEART.] The pronoun is emphatic and denotes the importance of the person who is speaking. There are instances of such addresses to the soul in the Psa...
EXPOSITION ECCLESIASTES 2:1 Section 2. _Vanity of striving after pleasure and wealth._ ECCLESIASTES 2:1 Dissatisfied with the result of the pursuit of wisdom, Koheleth embarks on a course of sensua...
So I said in my heart, Go to now, I'm going to prove thee with [pleasure,] with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: but, behold, this was vanity (Ecclesiastes 2:1). So we read in the New Testament the ep...
1 Peter 4:2; Amos 6:3; Ecclesiastes 7:2; Isaiah 22:12; Isaiah 22:13;
It is mad — This is an act of madness, more fit for fools who know nothing, than for wise men in this sinful, and dangerous, and deplorable state of mankind. What doth it — What good doth it? Or how c...
Is laughter good or bad? PROBLEM: Sometimes the Bible speaks as though laughter is good and other times as though it is bad. Solomon concluded, “I said of laughter, `It is madness’; and of mirth, `Wha...