Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary
Ecclesiastes 1:15
He saw clearly both the disorder and incompleteness of human actions (compare the marginal reference), and also man’s impotence to rectify them.
He saw clearly both the disorder and incompleteness of human actions (compare the marginal reference), and also man’s impotence to rectify them.
Verse 15. THAT WHICH IS _CROOKED CANNOT BE MADE STRAIGHT_] There are many apparent irregularities and anomalies in nature for which we cannot account; and there are many _defects_ that cannot be _sup...
ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS PART I. Chapter S 1-6 1. The Prologue and the Search Begun CHAPTER 1 _ 1. The introduction and prologue (Ecclesiastes 1:1)_ 2. The seeker; his method and the results (Ecc...
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...
_That which is crooked_ The words are apparently a proverbial saying quoted as already current. The complaint is that the search after wisdom brings the seeker face to face with anomalies and defects,...
_SOLOMON'S SITUATION AND HIS STUDIES -- ECCLESIASTES 1:12-18:_ Solomon showed that things that would normally be considered as what would make a person happy do not. Surely being king would make a man...
DISCOURSE: 828 THE CREATURE IS VANITY AND VEXATION Ecclesiastes 1:14. _I have seen all the works which are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. That which is crooked...
AND THAT WHICH IS WANTING CANNOT BE NUMBERED— _Nor can men's wants be numbered._ For the first clause of this verse, see chap. Ecclesiastes 7:13. From the 12th to this verse, we have the second proof...
b. Wisdom is used exploring all that is done under heaven. Ecclesiastes 1:13-18 TEXT 1:13-18 13 And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven. It is...
That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. (THAT WHICH IS) CROOKED CANNOT BE MADE STRAIGHT - `be brought into position' (Hengstengberg). The imperf...
ALL IS VANITY 1-11. The writer describes himself. He declares that all things are transitory and without result, whether they be the works or the life of man, or the natural forces of heat, air, and...
CROOKED] for the phrase here cp. Isaiah 40:4. The world is disordered, and there is no cure discoverable. NUMBERED] The required numbers are lacking, which were needed to make up the sum of human act...
THE TEACHER SEARCHES FOR THE PURPOSE OF OUR LIVES BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES _HILDA BRIGHT AND KITTY PRIDE_ ABOUT THE BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES THE AUTHOR The word ‘Ecclesiastes’ tells us about the author...
MADE STRAIGHT. — The verb occurs only in this book (Ecclesiastes 7:13; Ecclesiastes 12:9, “set in order”) and in Rabbinical Hebrew. So likewise “that which is wanting” is peculiar to this passage, and...
מְעֻוָּ֖ת לֹא ־יוּכַ֣ל לִ תְקֹ֑ן וְ חֶסְרֹ֖ון
FIRST SECTION The Quest Of The Chief Good In Wisdom And In Pleasure Ecclesiastes 1:12; Ecclesiastes 2:1 OPPRESSED by his profound sense of the vanity of the life which man lives amid the play of per...
THE TESTIMONY OF AN UNSATISFIED SOUL Ecclesiastes 1:1-18 _All is vanity_! This cry finds an echo in human hearts of every age and clime. Clod meant man to be happy. “These things,” said our Lord, “I...
The first verse of this chapter introduces us to the author of the Book. Taken in conjunction with verse Ecclesiastes 1:12, it leaves no room for doubt that he is Solomon. In stating his theme he empl...
[That which is] (k) crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is lacking cannot be numbered. (k) Man is not able by all his diligence to cause things to go other than they do: neither can he nu...
_Perverse. Habitual and obstinate sinners. (Calmet) --- Fools, who follow the broad road. (Haydock) --- Hebrew and Septuagint, "the defect cannot be numbered." We know not to what a height the soul of...
I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem. (13) And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the so...
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...
[THAT WHICH IS] CROOKED CANNOT BE MADE STRAIGHT,.... By all the art and cunning, wisdom and knowledge of man, that he can attain unto; whatever he, in the vanity of his mind, may find fault with in th...
Ecclesiastes 1:15 [That which is] crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. Ver. 15. _That which is crooked cannot be made straight._] Most men are so wedded and...
_I have seen all the works_, &c. Diligently observed, and, in a great measure, understood them; _and behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit_ Not only unsatisfying, but also an affliction or brea...
That which is crooked cannot be made straight, human beings cannot alter what has been determined by God, even as they cannot, by their own reason and strength, change their sinful hearts to such as a...
THE UNRELIABILITY OF EARTHLY WISDOM...
THAT WHICH IS WANTING: _ Heb._ defect...
"WHAT IS CROOKED CANNOT BE STRAIGHTENED, AND WHAT IS LACKING CANNOT BE COUNTED."WHAT IS CROOKED CANNOT BE STRAIGHTENED" -(Ecclesiastes 7:13). We already know that man isn't born crooked, so Solomon is...
12-18 Solomon tried all things, and found them vanity. He found his searches after knowledge weariness, not only to the flesh, but to the mind. The more he saw of the works done under the sun, the mo...
THAT WHICH IS CROOKED CANNOT BE MADE STRAIGHT; all our knowledge serves only to discover our diseases and miseries, but is oft itself utterly insufficient to heal or remove them; it cannot rectify tho...
Ecclesiastes 1:15 crooked H5791 (H8794) cannot H3201 (H8799) straight H8626 (H8800) lacking H2642 cannot H3201
THE PREACHER HAS MADE HIS ENQUIRIES AND COMES UP WITH NOTHING (ECCLESIASTES 1:12 - ECCLESIASTES 2:26). The Preacher now brings out that he has made further enquiries and has come up with nothing. He f...
THE INTELLECTUAL SEARCH (ECCLESIASTES 1:12). Ecclesiastes 1:12 ‘I the preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem, and I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom about all that is done und...
Ecclesiastes 1:12 I. Solomon's first resource was philosophy. He studied man's position in this world. His appetite for knowledge was omnivorous; and whilst hungering for the harvest, he was thankful...
CONTENTS: The doctrine of the vanity of the creature, and the impossibility of finding satisfaction without God. CHARACTERS: God, Solomon. CONCLUSION: All things, considered as abstract from God, an...
Ecclesiastes 1:2. _Vanity of vanities._ This is the Hebrew form of the superlative degree of comparison; as, the heaven of heavens, the song of songs, &c. He adds, “vexation of spirit,” because his re...
_That which is crooked cannot be made straight._ MAKING THE CROOKED STRAIGHT (with Isaiah 40:4):--Both these men gaze upon the affairs of human kind, and are afflicted with the sense of crookedness....
STRAIGHTENING IT OUT That which is crooked cannot be made straight. Ecclesiastes 1:15. The crooked shall be made straight. Isaiah 40:4. Those two texts look like a contradiction, don't they? The se...
ECCLESIASTES—NOTE ON ECCLESIASTES 1:4 First Catalog of “Vanities.” The Preacher gives specific examples to prove his belief that all is “vanity.”...
ECCLESIASTES—NOTE ON ECCLESIASTES 1:15 CROOKED here means “unknowable.” There will always be aspects of life in a fallen world that remain mysterious....
EXPOSITION ECCLESIASTES 1:1 THE TITLE. THE WORDS OF THE PREACHER, THE SON OF DAVID, KING IN JERUSALEM; Septuagint, "King of Israel in Jerusalem" (comp.Ecclesiastes 1:12). The word rendered "Preacher...
Book of Ecclesiastes begins, The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem (Ecclesiastes 1:1). So that identifies the author as Solomon. The Hebrew word that is translated preacher i...
Daniel 4:35; Ecclesiastes 3:14; Ecclesiastes 7:12; Ecclesiastes 7:13;...
THE MAN UNDER THE SUN Ecclesiastes 1:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS In order to introduce this study we can think of no better way than to go to our booklet on Ecclesiastes for a quotation. 1. ECCLESIASTES S...
Crooked — All our knowledge serves only to discover our miseries, but is utterly insufficient to remove them; it cannot rectify those disorders which are either in our own hearts and lives, or in the...