Wesley's Explanatory Notes
Ecclesiastes 2:11
Vexation — I found myself wholly dissatisfied. No profit — The pleasure was past, and I was never the better for it, but as empty as before.
Vexation — I found myself wholly dissatisfied. No profit — The pleasure was past, and I was never the better for it, but as empty as before.
Verse Ecclesiastes 2:11. _AND, BEHOLD, ALL_ WAS _VANITY_] Emptiness and insufficiency in itself. _AND VEXATION OF SPIRIT_] Because it promised the good I wished for, but did not, could not, perform t...
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...
THEN. But when. LOOKED. turned in order to look, as in Ecclesiastes 2:12. VANITY. See note on Ecclesiastes 1:2. VEXATION OF SPIRIT. feeding on wind. Compare Ecclesiastes 1:1
_Then I looked_ Here also, however, the result was as before. There came the afterthought which scrutinised the enjoyments and found them wanting. The pursuit of pleasure was as unsatisfying as the pu...
_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...
THEN I LOOKED ON ALL, &C.— _Then I turned myself on all,_ &c. See the next verse, where the same verb פנה _panah,_ in the original is so rendered. The author represents himself as a man who, being une...
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 sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under...
2:11 me (g-21) Lit 'that I had laboured,' as vers. 19,20....
VEXATION OF SPIRIT] cp. Ecclesiastes 1:14. None of these could satisfy the cravings of his spirit. 12-17. Wisdom is to folly as light to darkness; yet the same end awaits both. Life, therefore, is no...
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...
(9-11) Kohéleth carried out his plan of tempering his enjoyment with discretion, but while he took his fill of the pleasure that fell to his lot, he found in it no abiding profit. He goes on in the fo...
וּ פָנִ֣יתִֽי אֲנִ֗י בְּ כָל ־מַעֲשַׂי֙ שֶֽׁ
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 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 I LOOKED ON ALL THE WORKS THAT MY HANDS HAD WROUGHT, AND ON THE LABOUR THAT I HAD LABOURED TO DO,.... He had looked at them, and on them, over and over again, and had taken pleasure therein; but...
Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all [was] vanity and vexation of spirit, and [there was] no profit under the sun. V...
_I looked on all the works_, &c. I made a serious review of my former works and labours, and considered whether I had obtained that satisfaction in them which I had expected to find; _and behold, all...
Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, he carefully surveyed the results of his experiment, AND ON THE LABOR THAT I HAD LABORED TO DO, which he had planned and carried out with so m...
Solomon's own Example...
"THUS. CONSIDERED ALL MY ACTIVITIES WHICH MY HANDS HAD DONE AND THE LABOR WHICH. HAD EXERTED, AND BEHOLD ALL WAS VANITY AND STRIVING AFTER WIND AND THERE WAS NO PROFIT UNDER THE SUN."ALL MY ACTIVITIES...
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 made a serious review of my former works and labours, and considered whether I had obtained that satisfaction in them which I designed and expected; AND, BEHOLD, ALL WAS VANITY AND VEXATION OF SPIRI...
Ecclesiastes 2:11 looked H6437 (H8804) works H4639 hands H3027 done H6213 (H8804) labor H5999 toiled H5998
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 2:11 The general practice of men of business, their custom of year by year taking stock, examining their books, and striking a balance to know how they stand, is a lesson of the highest v...
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 looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do._ THE REVIEW Our Lord pronounced the children of this world “wise in their generation”: and who can d...
_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 2:10 The Preacher finally realizes that his work resulted in no permanent gain UNDER THE SUN. Nevertheless, he did receive a REWARD in return for his work: the...
CRITICAL NOTES.— ECCLESIASTES 2:3. I SOUGHT IN MINE HEART.] The word has the meaning not of thinking or reflecting, but to prove or assay—to make a moral experiment. ECCLESIASTES 2:8. THE PECULIAR TR...
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 John 2:16; 1 John 2:17; 1 Timothy 6:6; 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...