Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary
Ecclesiastes 2:15
Why was I then more wise? what benefit have I by my wisdom? or, to what purpose did I desire and take so much pains for wisdom?
Why was I then more wise? what benefit have I by my wisdom? or, to what purpose did I desire and take so much pains for wisdom?
Verse 15. _AS IT HAPPENETH TO THE FOOL_] Literally, "According as the event is to the fool, it happens to me, even me." There is a peculiar beauty and emphasis in the repetition of _me_. Having point...
Solomon having found that wisdom and folly agree in being subject to vanity, now contrasts one with the other Ecclesiastes 2:13. Both are brought under vanity by events Ecclesiastes 2:14 which come on...
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
Qoheleth turns to the study of human nature in its wisdom and its folly. Though all is vanity yet wisdom is better than folly; it is better to face the outlook, dreary though it be, with intelligence,...
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...
SAID. IN MY HEART. spake with myself. TO ME. Hebrew "to me, even to me" (Emphatic)....
_why was I then more wise?_ Better, WHY HAVE I BEEN WISE NOW OVERMUCH? The very wisdom of the seeker might lead him to see that he has not only been wiser than others, but wiser than it was wise to be...
_THE VANITY OF LIVING WISELY -- ECCLESIASTES 2:12-17:_ Solomon reflected on what a common man could do to find true happiness when he, with all his resources, had not been able to do so._ _ He could o...
2. Conclusions Ecclesiastes 2:12-26 a. Value of this wisdom and pleasure stop at the grave. Ecclesiastes 2:12-17 TEXT 2:12-17 12 So I turned to consider wisdom, madness and folly, for what will the...
Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity. WHY WAS I THEN - so anxious to be...
2:15 fool (a-12) _ Kesil_ , and so generally in this Book, in which _ Eveel_ is not used. see Proverbs 1:7 ; Proverbs 18:2 ; Proverbs 26:1 ;...
WHY WAS I THEN MORE WISE?] rather, 'what was the use of troubling myself to surpass others?'...
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...
וְ אָמַ֨רְתִּֽי אֲנִ֜י בְּ לִבִּ֗י כְּ מִקְרֵ
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...
_Vanity. This inference was false, (ver. 16.) or my labouring for wisdom was to no purpose. (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "I then spoke more in my heart, (for the fool speaks out of his abundance) since th...
The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all. (15) Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so i...
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...
THEN SAID I IN MY HEART, AS IT HAPPENETH TO THE FOOL, SO IT HAPPENETH EVEN TO ME,.... The wisest of kings, and the wisest of men; that is, he looked over things in his mind, and considered what had be...
Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also [is] vanity. _Ver 15. As it happeneth to the fo...
_Then I said why was I more wise_ What benefit have I by my wisdom? or, to what purpose did I take so much pains to get wisdom. _For there is no remembrance of the wise_ Their memory, though it may fl...
Then said I in my heart, in considering this apparent puzzle, AS IT HAPPENETH TO THE FOOL, SO IT HAPPENETH EVEN TO ME, literally, "I also, it will happen to me"; AND WHY WAS I THEN MORE WISE? The poss...
Solomon's own Example...
HAPPENETH EVEN TO ME: _ Heb._ happeneth to me, even to me...
"THEN. SAID TO MYSELF, 'AS IS THE FATE OF THE FOOL, IT WILL ALSO BEFALL ME. WHY THEN HAVE. BEEN EXTREMELY WISE?' SO. SAID TO MYSELF, 'THIS TOO IS VANITY'"."IT WILL ALSO BEFALL ME" -I wonder how many s...
12-17 Solomon found that knowledge and prudence were preferable to ignorance and folly, though human wisdom and knowledge will not make a man happy. The most learned of men, who dies a stranger to Ch...
Ecclesiastes 2:15 So H227 said H559 (H8804) heart H3820 happens H4745 fool H3684 happens H7136 (H8799) me...
A RETURN TO PHILOSOPHY AND ITS HOPELESSNESS (ECCLESIASTES 2:12). Ecclesiastes 2:12 ‘And I turned my mind to observing wisdom and madness and folly. For what can a man do who follows what a king has...
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...
_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 2:14 Wisdom is infinitely better than folly, but the wise and the foolish both die. To make matters still worse, even the wise are usually forgotten after their death...
CRITICAL NOTES.— ECCLESIASTES 2:12. WHAT CAN THE MAN DO THAT COMETH AFTER THE KING?] What will my successor do? He will probably, like the rest of the world, follow the well-worn path of sin and foll...
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 Kings 3:12; Ecclesiastes 1:16; Ecclesiastes 1:18; Ecclesiastes 1:14;...
VANITY AND VEXATION UNDER THE SUN Ecclesiastes 2:11 INTRODUCTORY WORDS We shall introduce our study with quotations from our booklet on Ecclesiastes. Solomon had tried everything which his heart co...
Why — What benefit have I by my wisdom?...