To every [thing there is] a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: Ver. 1. _To everything there is a season._] A set time, such as we can neither alter nor order. This is one of those keys that God carries under his own belt. Act 1:7 To seek, to do, or get anything before the time, i... [ Continue Reading ]
_A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up [that which is] planted;_ Ver. 2. _There is a time to be born, and a time to die_]. We do not hear the wise man say, There is a time to live. What is more fleeting than time? yet life is not long enough to be worthy the... [ Continue Reading ]
_A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;_ Ver. 3. _A time to kill,_] viz., To cut off corrupt members by the sword of justice or of war, _ne pars sincera trahatur:_ There is a cruel mercy, saith one; There is a pious cruelty, saith another. "But cursed is h... [ Continue Reading ]
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; Ver. 4. _A time to weep, and a time to laugh._] Only we must not invert the order, but weep with men that we may laugh with angels; lay godly sorrow as a foundation of spiritual joy. Surely out of this eater comes meat; out... [ Continue Reading ]
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; Ver. 5. _A time to cast away stones._] As when King Henry VIII pulled down the abbeys and other religious houses (as they called them), saying, _Corvorum nidos esse penitus dis... [ Continue Reading ]
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; Ver. 6. _A time to get._] Heb., To seek; for men do but seek here, they do not properly get what they cannot long hold. How much better therefore were it to seek God! _Cuius inventio est ipsum semper quaerere_ (as Nyssen ha... [ Continue Reading ]
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; Ver. 7. _A time to rend, and a time to sew._] As in making a new or translating an old garment. Turks wonder at the English for pinking or cutting their clothes, and making holes in whole cloth, which time of itself wou... [ Continue Reading ]
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. Ver. 8. _A time to love, and a time to hate._] Yet I like not his counsel that said, _Ama tanquam osurus, odi tanquam amaturus,_ _a_ Let a man choose whom he may love, and then love whom he hath chosen. "Let love be without dis... [ Continue Reading ]
_What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?_ Ver. 9. _What profit hath he that worketh? &c._] _i.e., _ How can any man, by any means he can use, help or hinder this volubility and vanity that he meets with in every creature? _Cui bono?_ What profit? _See Trapp on "_ Ecc 1:3 _"_... [ Continue Reading ]
I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. Ver. 10. _I have seen the travail that God, &c._] Not fortune, but Providence ordereth all cross occurrences; "a wheel" there is "within a wheel"; Eze 1:1-28 then when men may think things run on wheels, at sixe... [ Continue Reading ]
He hath made every [thing] beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. Ver. 11. He hath made everything beautiful, _a_ &c.] Plato was wont to say that God did always γεωμετρειν - work by geomet... [ Continue Reading ]
I know that [there is] no good in them, but for [a man] to rejoice, and to do good in his life. Ver. 12. _I know that there is no good in them,_] _i.e., _ No other good, but for a man to rejoice and do good in his life - _i.e., _ _Frui praesentibus et facere quod infuturo prosit,_ _a_ to enjoy thin... [ Continue Reading ]
And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it [is] the gift of God. Ver. 13. _And enjoy the good of all his labour._] "They that will not labour must not eat," 2Th 3:10 saith the apostle. As they that do shall enjoy the good of all their labour, eat the labo... [ Continue Reading ]
_I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth [it], that [men] should fear before him._ Ver. 14. _I know that whatsoever God doeth it shall be for ever,_] _i.e., _ That his decree is unchangeable, that his "counsel sha... [ Continue Reading ]
That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past. Ver. 15. _That which hath been is now, &c., _] viz., With God, to whom all things are present. Romans 4:17 2Pe 3:8 Jer 1:5-7 Hence God is said to know future things, Exodus 3:9 Joh 18:4 not... [ Continue Reading ]
And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, [that] wickedness [was] there; and the place of righteousness, [that] iniquity [was] there. Ver. 16. _The place of judgment, that wickedness was there,_] _i.e., _ That wrong reigned in the places of judicature, that justice was shamefully perv... [ Continue Reading ]
I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for [there is] a time there for every purpose and for every work. Ver. 17. _I said in my heart, God shall judge, &c._] He did not deny the Divine providence, as Averroes for this cause did; much less did he turn atheist with Diagor... [ Continue Reading ]
_I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts._ Ver. 18. _That they might see that they themselves are beasts._] It is reckoned a great matter that wicked men are made "to know themselves to be b... [ Continue Reading ]
_For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all [is] vanity._ Ver. 19. _For that which befalleth the sons of men._] As hunger, thi... [ Continue Reading ]
_All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again._ Ver. 20. _All are of the dust._] _See Trapp on "_ Gen 3:19 _"_... [ Continue Reading ]
Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth? Ver. 21. _Who knoweth the Spirit?_] _q.d., _ Who but a man that is spiritually rational, and rationally spiritual? Who but he that hath "the mind of Christ?" 1Co 2:16 that hath seen the in... [ Continue Reading ]
Wherefore I perceive that [there is] nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that [is] his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him? Ver. 22. _Wherefore I perceive._] He resumeth his assertion, Ecc 3:13 and concludeth. See Ecclesiastes 2:24 .... [ Continue Reading ]