Ecclesiastes 5:1 I. God, who is present at all times and everywhere, has nevertheless appointed particular seasons and especial places in which He has promised to manifest Himself more clearly, more powerfully, and more graciously to men. The pious heart finds a temple of God everywhere. It is itse... [ Continue Reading ]
Ecclesiastes 4:1 I. In the fourth chapter Koheleth comes to the conclusion that life is essentially and irretrievably wretched wretched not because (as he had formerly thought) it would so soon be over, but wretched because it lasted too long. All that pleasure did for him was thus to increase his g... [ Continue Reading ]
Ecclesiastes 3:1 A profound gloom rests on the second act or section of this drama. It teaches us that we are helpless in the iron grip of laws which we had no voice in making; that we often lie at the mercy of men whose mercy is but a caprice; that in our origin and end, in body and spirit, in fac... [ Continue Reading ]
Ecclesiastes 5:8-7 I. We left Koheleth in the act of exhorting us to fear God. The fear of God, of course, implies a belief in the Divine superintendence of human affairs. This belief Koheleth now proceeds to justify. (1) Do not be alarmed, he says, when you see the injustice of oppressors. There a... [ Continue Reading ]
Ecclesiastes 5:9 ; ECCLESIASTES 6:1 I. In all grades of society human subsistence is very much the same. Even princes are not fed with ambrosia, nor do poets subsist on asphodel. The profit of the earth is for all. II. When a man begins to amass money, he begins to feed an appetite which nothing c... [ Continue Reading ]