Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
Ecclesiastes 2:20
Verse 20. I went about to cause my heart to despair] What makes all worse, there is no remedy. It is impossible in the present state of things to prevent these evils.
Verse 20. I went about to cause my heart to despair] What makes all worse, there is no remedy. It is impossible in the present state of things to prevent these evils.
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...
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
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...
Even if one has amassed wealth there is the bitterness of not knowing who will inherit it or how the heir will use it. Everything has to be left behind to an uncertain fate, for there is no guarantee...
TOOK. toiled. Some codices, with two early printed editions, add wherein. had acted wisely...
_I went about to cause my heart to despair_ The verb for despair is not a common one. Another form of it meets us in the emphatic cry, "There is no hope" of Jeremiah 2:25; Jeremiah 18:12. What he had...
_THE VANITY OF TOIL -- ECCLESIASTES 2:18-23:_ When Solomon stopped to consider his life he hated what he had done. He had spent his life collecting stuff to leave to someone else. He realized that the...
THEREFORE I WENT ABOUT TO CAUSE MY HEART TO DESPAIR, &C.— _And I considered every way, so that my heart despaired of ever gaining any sort of advantage from all the trouble that I took under the sun;_...
b. The legacy of one's labor is often lost to fools when one dies. Ecclesiastes 2:18-23 TEXT 2:18-23 18 Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leav...
Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun. I WENT ABOUT (I TURNED MYSELF) TO CAUSE MY HEART TO DESPAIR OF ALL THE LABOUR - I gave up as despe...
WENT ABOUT] RV 'turned about,' i.e. looked back sadly at the absence of the permanent element in the labours of my life past....
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....
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...
WENT ABOUT. — Ecclesiastes 7:25; Ecclesiastes 9:14; Ecclesiastes 12:5....
וְ סַבֹּ֥ותִֽי אֲנִ֖י לְ יַאֵ֣שׁ אֶת ־לִבִּ֑י
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...
Therefore I went about to cause my heart (n) to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun. (n) That I might seek the true happiness which is in God....
_Off, in a sort of despair; suggested by worldly wisdom. Religion alone can impart steady principles. (Calmet) --- Protestants, "I went about, to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I to...
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...
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...
THEREFORE I WENT ABOUT TO CAUSE MY HEART TO DESPAIR,.... Of ever finding happiness in anything here below. He "turned about" y, as the word signifies dropped his severe studies of wisdom, and his eage...
Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun. Ver. 20. _Therefore I went about to cause my heart, &c., _] _i.e., _ I set myself to take off the edg...
_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 prud...
THE VANITY OF LABOR IN ITSELF...
Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labor which I took under the sun, he was inclined to regard his life as a failure, if viewed from this standpoint alone....
"THEREFORE. COMPLETELY DESPAIRED OF ALL THE FRUIT OF MY LABOR FOR WHICH. HAD LABORED UNDER THE SUN."COMPLETELY DESPAIRED" -You can see why people without God commit suicide.. get depressed by just rea...
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...
I gave myself up to despondency, and despair of ever reaping that satisfaction which I promised to myself....
Ecclesiastes 2:20 turned H5437 (H8804) heart H3820 despaired H2976 (H8763) labor H5999 toiled H5998 (H8804
WHAT USE OUR EFFORTS WHEN WE MUST LEAVE ALL BEHIND TO THOSE WHO WILL MISUSE IT? (ECCLESIASTES 2:18). Ecclesiastes 2:18 ‘And I hated all my effort with which I exerted myself under the sun, seeing tha...
Ecclesiastes 2:16 I. The noblest renown is posthumous fame, and the most refined ambition is the desire for such fame. And of this more exalted ambition it would appear that Solomon had felt the stirr...
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...
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...
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...
_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...
ECCLESIASTES—NOTE ON ECCLESIASTES 2:18 I HATED ALL MY TOIL. While at times the Preacher found pleasure in his work, his enjoyment is severely lessened by the knowledge that he must eventually hand ove...
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Ecclesiastes 2:17_ THE CONFESSIONS OF A PLEASURE-SEEKER I. THAT HIS LIFE’S PROMISE HAS FAILED. The pleasure-seeker begins life with high hopes. The intoxication of...
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...
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...
1 Corinthians 15:19; 1 Thessalonians 3:3; 1 Thessalonians 3:4; 2 Corinthians 1:8;...
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...
Despair — I gave myself up to despair of ever reaping that satisfaction which I promised to myself....