Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary
Ecclesiastes 9:14
It matters not whether this was a real history, or only a parable to represent the common practices of men in such cases.
It matters not whether this was a real history, or only a parable to represent the common practices of men in such cases.
Verse 14. THERE WAS _A LITTLE CITY, AND FEW MEN WITHIN IT_] Here is another proof of the vanity of sublunary things; the _ingratitude of men_, and the _little compensation_ that _genuine_ _merit_ rec...
A parable probably without foundation in fact. Critics who ascribe this book to a late age offer no better suggestion than that the “little city” may be Athens delivered 480 b.c. from the host of Xerx...
2. PRAISE OF WISDOM AND PHILOSOPHY, THEFINAL WORD AND THE GREAT CONCLUSION CHAPTER 9:13-18 Before he had declared that wisdom is strength. He comes back to this statement and gives an illustration o...
ECCLESIASTES 8:16 TO ECCLESIASTES 9:16. LIFE'S RIDDLE BAFFLES THE WISEST QUEST. The parenthesis in Ecclesiastes 8:16_ b_ describes the ceaseless effort of the keen student of life, or perhaps the fate
A LITTLE CITY. For the application of verses: Ecclesiastes 9:14, note the following illustrations: poor (2 Corinthians 8:9; Philippians 1:2;...
_there was a little city_ The city has been identified by one commentator (Hitzig) with Dora, which was besieged unsuccessfully by Antiochus the Great in b.c. 218 (Polyb. 9:66). Josephus describes it,...
DISCOURSE: 842 WISDOM NOTIONALLY APPROVED, BUT PRACTICALLY DISREGARDED Ecclesiastes 9:14. There was a little city, and few men within it: and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and b...
6. Wisdom is declared to be the greatest guide in our work. Ecclesiastes 9:13-18 TEXT 9:13-18 13 Also this I came to see as wisdom under the sun, and it impressed me. 14 There was a small city wi...
There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it: A LITTLE CITY ... So Abel, which the wisdom of one wom...
LIVE WORTHILY WHILE YOU MAY 1-3. The future is in God's hands. Good and bad alike must die....
THE TEACHER SEARCHES FOR THE PURPOSE OF OUR LIVES BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES _HILDA BRIGHT AND KITTY PRIDE_ CHAPTER 9 EVERYONE MUST DIE AT SOME TIME – ECCLESIASTES 9:1-10...
Idle attempts have been made to find a historic reference in this passage. What is here told is so like the story (2 Samuel 20) of the deliverance of Abel-beth-Maachah by a wise woman, whose name, nev...
עִ֣יר קְטַנָּ֔ה וַ אֲנָשִׁ֥ים בָּ֖הּ מְעָ֑ט ו
NOR IN DEVOTION TO AFFAIRS AND ITS REWARDS. Ecclesiastes 9:13; Ecclesiastes 10:1 So far, then, Coheleth has been occupied in retracing the argument of the first Section of the Book. Now he returns up...
THE CHIEF GOOD NOT TO BE FOUND IN WISDOM: Ecclesiastes 8:16; Ecclesiastes 9:1 1. The Preacher commences this section by carefully defining his position and equipment as he starts on his final course...
In view of the evidences of the truth of the affirmation, "vanity... all is vanity," the preacher now turns to its effect on the mind of the man living "under the sun." He extols this worldly wisdom,...
_And the siege, &c. Hebrew has only "great bulwarks over or against it." (Haydock)_...
There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it: (15) Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by...
_THE SAVIOUR OF THE CITY_ ‘There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it,’ etc. Ecclesiastes 9:14 I. T...
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...
[THERE WAS] A LITTLE CITY, AND FEW MEN WITHIN IT,.... Which some take to be a piece of history, a real matter of fact; that as the city of Abel, when besieged by Joab, was delivered by the counsel of...
__ Ecclesiastes 9:14 _[There was] a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it:_ Ver. 14. _There was a little ci...
_This wisdom have I seen_ I have observed this among many other instances and effects of wisdom. Which he adds for the commendation of wisdom, notwithstanding its insufficiency for man's safety and ha...
There was a little city, and few men within it, to serve as its defenders against an enemy; AND THERE CAME A GREAT KING AGAINST IT, quite naturally in command of a large force, AND BESIEGED IT, AND BU...
WISDOM STILL TO BE SOUGHT...
"THERE WAS. SMALL CITY WITH FEW MEN IN IT AND. GREAT KING CAME TO IT, SURROUNDED IT, AND CONSTRUCTED LARGE SIEGE-WORKS AGAINST IT....
13-18 A man may, by his wisdom, bring to pass that which he could never do by his strength. If God be for us, who can be against us, or stand before us? Solomon observes the power of wisdom, though i...
Ecclesiastes 9:14 little H6996 city H5892 few H4592 men H582 great H1419 king H4428 came H935 (H8804) besieg
A PARABLE OF WISDOM AND INGRATITUDE (ECCLESIASTES 9:13). Ecclesiastes 9:13 ‘I have seen also wisdom under the sun like this. There was a small city and few men in it. And there came a great king agai...
CHAPTER 9 THE SAME THINGS HAPPEN TO ALL WHETHER THEY BE RIGHTEOUS, WISE OR SONS OF MEN. AND IN THE END ALL DIE IN THE SAME WAY. SO LET THE RIGHTEOUS LIVE LIFE AS THEY MAY AND ENJOY IT FOR GOD HAS ACCE...
Ecclesiastes 9:14 I. The little city. At first sight it may seem rather paradoxical to compare this great world of ours, with its almost innumerable inhabitants, its vast area, its enormous resources,...
Ecclesiastes 8:16-10 I. At the end of chap. viii. and the beginning of chap. ix., Koheleth points out that it is impossible for us to construct a satisfactory policy of life. "The work of God," or, as...
CONTENTS: The universality of death and the need of minding the business of life and using wisdom. CHARACTERS: God, Solomon. CONCLUSION: While there is life there is opportunity of preparing for dea...
Ecclesiastes 9:5. _The dead know not any thing._ This is explained by the next phrase, _the memory of them is forgotten._ Elijah went up to heaven, or paradise, as the Jews will have it. John 3:13. Si...
_There was a little city, and few men within it._ THE LITTLE CITY AND THE POOR WISE MAN The little city, as first introduced to our notice, is in sore straits. The legion of the foe seem innumerable,...
ECCLESIASTES—NOTE ON ECCLESIASTES 9:13 Wisdom can achieve much good and is worth pursuing. Yet its benefits can be undone by evil. ⇐...
CRITICAL NOTES.— ECCLESIASTES 9:13. THIS WISDOM.] The special instance of the power of wisdom related in the next verse. ECCLESIASTES 9:14. FEW MEN WITHIN IT.] Not a city with a scanty population, b...
EXPOSITION ECCLESIASTES 9:1 One fate happens to all, and the dead are cut off from all the feelings and interests of life in the upper world. ECCLESIASTES 9:1 This continues the subject treated abo...
For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knows either love or hatred by all that is before them...
2 Kings 6:24; 2 Kings 7:1; 2 Samuel 20:15...