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Mark Dunagan Commentaries

Ecclesiastes 2:25

"For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him?"

I can't truly enjoy the things "under the sun" until my mind is set on things above the sun (Colossians 3:1-2; Philippians 4:11ff). God has enabled me to be freed from my demand that physical things make me happy. No longer do. expect or demand things, events or people to do the impossible (i.e. make me happy). Hence,. can enjoy wonderful things and humble things. Here is. warning to the wealthy or those bent on physical success, without God you will probably end up resenting what you have instead of enjoying it.

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See also Ecclesiastes 2:25 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse 25. _FOR WHO CAN EAT - MORE THAN I?_] But instead of חוץ ממני _chuts mimmenni, more than I_; חוץ ממנו chuts mimmennu, without _HIM_, is the reading of _eight_ of _Kennicott's_ and _De Rossi's_ M...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    Solomon having found that wisdom and folly agree in being subject to vanity, now contrasts one with the other Ecclesiastes 2:13. Both are brought under vanity by events Ecclesiastes 2:14 which come on...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    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

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    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...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    The best thing for a man is to get what pleasure he can out of life. And after all this is the Divine scheme of life, the ordinance of God. No one can eat or be happy apart from Him (see _mg.)._ Eccle...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    WHO ELSE CAN HASTEN HEREUNTO. who can enjoy? MORE THAN I. Some codices, with Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic, read _mimmennu,_ instead of _mimmenni,_ "without Him" (i.e. without His favour)....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _For who can eat_ The sequence of thought is obscure, and many commentators follow the LXX. and the Syriac version, as implying an original text which gives a better meaning, WHO CAN EAT AND WHO CAN H...

  • Charles Box Commentaries

    _THE VANITY OF GATHERING -- ECCLESIASTES 2:24-26:_ Solomon said that the best thing that a man can do is enjoy in a cheerful and comfortable manner the good he has received from the hand of God. He sh...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    FOR WHO CAN EAT, &C.— _For who shall eat, and who shall enjoy without him?_ It might also be rendered, _For who shall eat, and who shall reflect more than I?_ Ecclesiastes 2:26. For he giveth wisdom a...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    c. Labor is good only when it is acknowledged as from the hand of God. Ecclesiastes 2:24-26 TEXT 2:24-26 24 There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor i...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    For who can eat, or who else can hasten hereunto, more than I? WHO CAN EAT, OR WHO ELSE CAN HASTEN (HEREUNTO), MORE THAN I? - Hebrew, yaachuwsh (H2363) chuwts (H2351) mimeniy (H4480): Who can haste...

  • Darby's translation notes (1890)

    2:25 eager, (f-8) Lit. 'hasten.'...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    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....

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    HASTEN] RV 'have enjoyment.' MORE THAN I?] RM 'apart from Him?' i.e. it is only through God's ordinance that simple bodily pleasures can change to joy the sadness which is the natural outcome of the p...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    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...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    HASTEN. — Habakkuk 1:8. MORE THAN I. — There is a various rendering, which has the authority of the LXX., and which has every appearance of being right: “without Him.”...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    כִּ֣י מִ֥י יֹאכַ֛ל וּ מִ֥י יָח֖וּשׁ ח֥וּץ

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    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...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    For who can eat, or who else can hasten (q) [to it], more than I? (q) Meaning, to pleasures....

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool forever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool. (17) Therefore I ha...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    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...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    FOR WHO CAN EAT?.... Who should eat, but such a man that has laboured for it? or, who has a power to eat, that is, cheerfully, comfortably, and freely to enjoy the good things of life he is possessed...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    For who can eat, or who else can hasten [hereunto], more than I? Ver. 25. _For who can eat, or who can hasten? &c._] And yet I have found - and so shall you - that tranquillity and true happiness, th...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _For who can eat_, &c. For the truth of this you may rely upon my experience: for who can more freely and fully enjoy the comforts of this life than I did? _Or who else can hasten hereunto more than I...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    For who can eat, or who else can hasten hereunto, to the enjoyment of God's gifts, MORE THAN I? Christians may profit by the sad experiment which Solomon made without paying the high price which the J...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    THE VANITY OF LABOR IN ITSELF...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    18-26 Our hearts are very loth to quit their expectations of great things from the creature; but Solomon came to this at length. The world is a vale of tears, even to those that have much of it. See...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    Who can more freely and fully enjoy the comforts of this life than I did? This verse is added to confirm what he said in the foregoing verse from his own experience, which was the more considerable, b...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Ecclesiastes 2:25 eat H398 (H8799) enjoyment H2363 (H8799) more H2351 who can - Ecclesiastes 2:1-12;

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    HIS PRELIMINARY CONCLUSION (ECCLESIASTES 2:24). Ecclesiastes 2:24 ‘There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good as a result of (in) his efforts. I...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    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...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    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...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    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...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _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...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour._ THE SIMPLE JOYS OF GODLY INDUSTRY We are not to regard these words a...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    ECCLESIASTES—NOTE ON ECCLESIASTES 2:24 If a person does not believe his work will have a lasting impact on the world, the best he can hope for is to FIND ENJOYMENT in TOIL and in God’s simple gifts of...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    CRITICAL NOTES.— ECCLESIASTES 2:24. THERE IS NOTHING BETTER FOR A MAN THAN THAT HE SHOULD EAT AND DRINK] Not in the Epicurean sense, worshipping the triad of sensual life—eat, drink, and be merry; bu...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    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...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    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...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    1 Kings 4:21; Ecclesiastes 2:1...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    WHAT IS GOOD IN THIS LIFE Ecclesiastes 2:24; Ecclesiastes 3:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS We come now to the second great question in the Book of Ecclesiastes. It is expressed in Chapter s 6 and 12: "Who kno...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    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...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    More than I — Therefore he could best tell whether they were able of themselves, without God's special gift, to yield a man content, in the enjoying of them. Who can pursue them with more diligence, o...

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Old Testament