_A.M. 3027. B.C. 977._ Solomon shows that there is no true happiness to be found in mirth and the pleasures of sense, Ecclesiastes 2:1. He considers wisdom again, and owns it to be an excellent thing, and yet insufficient to give happiness, Ecclesiastes 2:12. He shows that business and wealth are o... [ Continue Reading ]
_I said in my heart_ Being disappointed of my hopes from knowledge, I resolved to try another course. _Go to now_ O my soul! I will try whether I cannot make thee happy by the enjoyment of sensual delights. _This also is vanity_ Is vain, and unable to make men happy. _I said of laughter, It is mad_... [ Continue Reading ]
_I sought to give myself unto wine_ To gratify myself with delicious meats and drinks; _yet acquainting_, &c. Yet resolving to use my wisdom, that I might try whether I could not arrive at satisfaction, by mixing wine and wisdom together. _To lay hold on folly_, &c. To pursue sensual pleasure, which... [ Continue Reading ]
_I made me great works_ Magnificent works, for my honour and delight. _I builded me houses_ Of which see 1 Kings 7:1, &c.; 9:15, &c.; Song of Solomon 8:11. _I made me gardens_ Hebrew, _paradises_, or gardens of pleasure; _I planted trees_, &c. Mixing pleasure and profit together. _I made me pools of... [ Continue Reading ]
_I gathered me silver and gold_ Vast riches; _and the peculiar treasure of kings_ Riches, answerable to the state of a king, or, he means, the greatest jewels and rarities of other kings, which they gave to me, either as a tribute, or by way of present; _and of the provinces_ Which were imposed upon... [ Continue Reading ]
_So I was great_ In riches, and power, and glory. _My wisdom remained_ As yet I was not wholly seduced from God. _And whatsoever mine eyes desired_ Whatsoever was grateful to my senses, or my heart desired; _I kept not from them_ I denied myself nothing, at least, of lawful delights, but went to the... [ Continue Reading ]
_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 was vanity_ I found myself disappointed, and wholly dissatisfied in this course. _And there was no p... [ Continue Reading ]
_And I turned myself_, &c. Being frustrated of my hopes in pleasure, I returned to a second consideration of my first choice, to see whether there was not more satisfaction to be gotten from wisdom, than I discovered at my first view. _For what can the man do_ To find out the truth in this matter; t... [ Continue Reading ]
_I saw that wisdom_ I allowed thus much. Although wisdom is not sufficient to make men happy, yet it is of far greater use than vain pleasures, or any other follies. _The wise man's eyes are in his head_ In their proper place. He hath the use of his eyes and reason, and foresees, and so avoids, many... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then I said why was I more wise_ What benefit have I by my wisdom? or, to what purpose did I take so much pains to get wisdom. _For there is no remembrance of the wise_ Their memory, though it may flourish for a season, yet will, in a little time, be worn out; as we see in most of the wise men of f... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore I hated life_ My life, though accompanied with so much honour, and pleasure, and wisdom, was a burden to me, and I was ready to wish, either that I had never been born, or that I might speedily die; _because the work, &c., is grievous_ All human designs and works are so far from yielding... [ Continue Reading ]
_I went to cause my heart to despair_ I gave myself up to despair of ever reaping that satisfaction which I promised to myself. _For there is a man whose labour_, &c. Who uses great industry, and prudence, and justice too, in the management of his affairs; _yet to a man that hath not laboured therei... [ Continue Reading ]
_For what hath man_ “To what purpose,” a man may well say, “is all this toil of my body, and these solicitous thoughts, and this anguish of my mind? For all that a man can enjoy himself of the anxious labours wherein he spends his days, amounts to little or nothing; and what comfort hath he in think... [ Continue Reading ]
_There is nothing better_ Or, _Is there any thing better for a man?_ Which implies that there is nothing better, namely, for man's present comfort and satisfaction; _than that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour_ That, studying first to free his mind from overmuch care and anxiety, he s... [ Continue Reading ]
_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?_ Who can pursue them with more diligence, obtain them with more readiness, or embrace them with mo... [ Continue Reading ]
_For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight_ Who not only seems to men to be good, as many bad men do, but is really and sincerely good; or, _who pleaseth him_, as the same phrase, שׂוב לפניו, is rendered, Ecclesiastes 7:26, and often elsewhere: whereby he seems to intimate the reason why he... [ Continue Reading ]