Ecclesiastes 4 - Introduction
_VANITY IS INCREASED UNTO MEN BY OPPRESSION, BY ENVY, BY IDLENESS, BY COVETOUSNESS, BY SOLITARINESS, BY WILFULNESS._... [ Continue Reading ]
_VANITY IS INCREASED UNTO MEN BY OPPRESSION, BY ENVY, BY IDLENESS, BY COVETOUSNESS, BY SOLITARINESS, BY WILFULNESS._... [ Continue Reading ]
SO I RETURNED, AND CONSIDERED, &C.— _I considered again, and I observed._ See on on chap. Ecclesiastes 2:11.... [ Continue Reading ]
YEA, BETTER IS HE THAN BOTH THEY— _Nay, I say, he is happier than either, who is not yet come to life, who hath not seen the misery that prevaileth under the sun._ Desvoeux. _ECCLESIASTES 4:4. AGAIN, I CONSIDERED ALL TRAVAIL_— _I observed again all the labour, nay, all the most successful work, tha... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FOOL FOLDETH HIS HANDS, &C.— _The fool, folding his hands together, and eating his own flesh, saith, Better is the palm of one hand full of rest, than both the hands full of work, and that which goes with the wind._ Desvoeux; who observes, that metaphors derived from images which are not familia... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE IS ONE ALONE, AND THERE IS NOT A SECOND— _Here is a man who hath no second, neither son nor brother; yet he puts no end to his labour: neither,_ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE THEY HAVE A GOOD REWARD— _Because they have a better reward for their common labour._... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF ONE PREVAIL AGAINST HIM, &C.— _And though one should be strong, the two will make a stand against him; for a three-stringed cord shall not quickly be broken._ Desvoeux. Houbigant renders it, _But if one should be circumvented, and they two be present_ [to assist him] _then the three-fold cord... [ Continue Reading ]
BETTER IS A POOR AND A WISE CHILD, &C.— _Better is the experienced and wise son, than the old,_ &c. Desvoeux; who has shewn, that the word מסכן _misken,_ from the root סכן _saken,_ properly signifies _experienced;_ and by this interpretation the passage appears with new beauties; for what can be mor... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR OUT OF PRISON HE COMETH TO REIGN— Desvoeux connects this with the preceding verse thus; _Because he came from among the slaves to be a king, and because he was born poor in the kingdom which became his._ Bishop Warburton is of opinion, that these verses allude to some fact out of Judea, which is... [ Continue Reading ]
I CONSIDERED ALL THE LIVING— _I saw all the living eager to walk under the sun, with the second son who should succeed him._—Ver. 16. _No end of all the people! of all that resorted to them! Yet they who shall come after will have no reason to be glad of that successor._ I do not find, says Desvoeux... [ Continue Reading ]