Ecclesiastes 9 - Introduction
_LIKE THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD AND BAD. THERE IS A NECESSITY OF DEATH UNTO MEN. COMFORT IS ALL THEIR PORTION IN THIS LIFE. GOD'S PROVIDENCE RULETH OVER ALL. WISDOM IS BETTER THAN STRENGTH._... [ Continue Reading ]
_LIKE THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD AND BAD. THERE IS A NECESSITY OF DEATH UNTO MEN. COMFORT IS ALL THEIR PORTION IN THIS LIFE. GOD'S PROVIDENCE RULETH OVER ALL. WISDOM IS BETTER THAN STRENGTH._... [ Continue Reading ]
NO MAN KNOWETH EITHER LOVE OR HATRED— _Yet no man knoweth what he should either love or hate._ This being mentioned in an inquiry concerning the choice which a man ought to make of a certain course of life preferably to another, the most obvious sense is that whereby love and hatred are supposed to... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS IS AN EVIL AMONG ALL THINGS— _This is an evil in all that happeneth under the sun, that the fate of all is alike; and also that the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil. Nay, they love that while they live which hath nothing but a fair appearance, and after that they go to the dead._ They... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR TO HIM THAT IS JOINED TO ALL THE LIVING, THERE IS HOPE— _And surely, whoever is in society, with all the living, hath hope. For a living dog hath a better chance than a dead lion._ The last sentence may be literally rendered thus: _Good shall rather happen to a living dog than to a dead lion;_ w... [ Continue Reading ]
ALSO THEIR LOVE, &C.— We have from Ecclesiastes 9:4 to the present, the _second_ reason. It is certain, that the dead are excluded from any participation, not only of the pleasure of this world, but likewise of all affairs belonging to it. The most unfortunate in the world may hope to see a happy ch... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THAT IS THY PORTION— _For she is thy portion,_ &c. From the 7th to this verse we have the _first inference._ We must not reject the use of what God has given us for our portion in this world. The usefulness of earthly things would not cease with this short life, if it had not been our bounteous... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE GRAVE WHITHER THOU GOEST— _In the abode of the dead whither thou goest._ See Peters on Job, p. 324. We have here the _second inference._ Whatever may be the use of other faculties to be acquired in another state, since those we now have are talents entrusted with us only for a time, it become... [ Continue Reading ]
I RETURNED, AND SAW UNDER THE SUN— _I considered again, and I observed under the sun._... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN IT FALLETH SUDDENLY UPON THEM— _By sudden accidents._ The _third proof,_ in support of the third proposition, is taken from those wrong judgments which are known to be such only by the event; but which must have appeared very probable before. These are brought under two heads. I. In Ecclesiaste... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE WAS FOUND IN IT A POOR WISE MAN— _An experienced wise man;_ and so at the end of the verse. II. We have the second head in Ecclesiastes 9:13. Our expectations are not less liable to disappointment with respect to those advantages which are considered as infallible consequences of certain actio... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN SAID I, WISDOM IS BETTER, &C.— _Then said I, Wisdom is preferable to power: Yet the wisdom of this experienced man is despised, and his deeds are not mentioned._ We have here the _first instance._ Though wisdom is, in its own nature, much superior to strength and power, (as plainly appears from... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WORDS OF WISE MEN ARE HEARD IN QUIET— _The words of wise men are more minded among people of a sedate disposition, than the cry of war raised by a man in authority among the inconstant multitude._ By this translation, the opposition designed by the author is preserved, as well as the allusion to... [ Continue Reading ]