In Ecclesiastes 9:1 reasons are adduced for the universal conclusion Ecclesiastes 8:17 that no person can understand the works of God. This does not, however, prevent the assertion of the practical advantage in this life of that wisdom which includes the fear of God (Ecclesiastes 9:13 ff). Compare E... [ Continue Reading ]
A good man’s trust in God is set forth as a counterpoise to our Ignorance of the ways of Providence. IN THE HAND OF GOD - Under His special protection (Deuteronomy 33:3 ff) as righteous, and under His direction Proverbs 21:1 as people. NO MAN ... - literally, both love and also hatred man knoweth... [ Continue Reading ]
EVENT - See Ecclesiastes 2:14 note. SWEARETH - i. e., Swears lightly or profanely.... [ Continue Reading ]
Compare Ecclesiastes 8:11. The seeming indiscriminateness of the course of events tends to encourage evil-disposed men in their folly.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR TO HIM - Rather: “Yet to him.” Notwithstanding evils, life has its advantage, and especially when compared with death. DOG - To the Hebrews a type of all that was contemptible 1 Samuel 17:43.... [ Continue Reading ]
See Ecclesiastes 8:12, note; Ecclesiastes 8:14, note. The living are conscious that there is a future before them: but the dead are unconscious; they earn nothing, receive nothing, even the memory of them soon disappears; they are no longer excited by the passions which belong to people in this life... [ Continue Reading ]
Read these six verses connectedly, in order to arrive at the meaning of the writer; and compare Ecclesiastes 2:1. After the description Ecclesiastes 9:5 of the portionless condition of the dead, the next thought which occurs is that the man who is prosperous and active should simply enjoy his portio... [ Continue Reading ]
Or, Also this have I seen - wisdom under the sun, and great it seemed to me. From this verse to the end of Ecclesiastes 10, the writer inculcates, in a series of proverbs, wisdom in contrast to folly, as the best remedy in the present life to the evil of vanity.... [ Continue Reading ]
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 Xerxes through the wisdom of Themistocles, or Dora besieged 218 b.c. by Antiochus the Great. Ecclesiast... [ Continue Reading ]
SINNER - The word in the original indicates intellectual as well as moral error.... [ Continue Reading ]