Ecclesiastes 1:15

That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. (THAT WHICH IS) CROOKED CANNOT BE MADE STRAIGHT - `be brought into position' (Hengstengberg). The imperfection in the arrangements of the world result from the fall. All attempts to rectify this imperfection without recognition of the fall of man are vain. The dislocated state of all creaturely things, subject as they are to vanity, is designed to bring us, in despair of bettering them, to take refuge in God. AND THAT WHICH IS WANTING ( ) CANNOT BE NUMBERED - so as to take a complete number: so equivalent to cannot be supplied (Maurer). Or rather, man's state is utterly wanting; and that which is wholly defective cannot be numbered or calculated. 'Where nothing is, nothing can be counted; human life consists entirely of...

12-18 Solomon tried all things, and found them vanity. He found his searches after knowledge weariness, not only to the flesh, but to the mind. The more he saw of the works done under the sun, the more he saw their vanity; and the sight often vexed his spirit. He could neither gain that satisfaction to himself, nor do that good to others, which he expected. Even the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom discovered man's wickedness and misery; so that the more he knew, the more he saw cause to lament and mourn. Let us learn to hate and fear sin, the cause of all this vanity and misery; to value Christ; to seek rest in the knowledge, love, and service of the Saviour....

Verse 15. THAT WHICH IS _CROOKED CANNOT BE MADE STRAIGHT_] There are many apparent irregularities and anomalies in nature for which we cannot account; and there are many _defects_ that cannot be _supplied_. This is the impression from a _general view_ of nature; but the more we study and investigate its operations, the more we shall be convinced that all is a _consecutive_ and well-ordered whole; and that in the _chain of nature_ not one _link_ is broken, deficient, or lost....

He saw clearly both the disorder and incompleteness of human actions (compare the marginal reference), and also man’s impotence to rectify them....

EXPOSITION ECCLESIASTES 1:1 THE TITLE. THE WORDS OF THE PREACHER, THE SON OF DAVID, KING IN JERUSALEM; Septuagint, "King of Israel in Jerusalem" (comp.Ecclesiastes 1:12). The word rendered "Preacher" is _Koheleth_,_ _a feminine noun formed from a verb _kalal_,_ _"to call" (see Introduction, § 1), and perhaps better rendered" Convener" or "Debater." It is found nowhere else but in this book, where it occurs three times in this chapter (Ecclesiastes 1:1, Ecclesiastes 1:2,...

[THAT WHICH IS] CROOKED CANNOT BE MADE STRAIGHT,.... By all the art and cunning, wisdom and knowledge of man, that he can attain unto; whatever he, in the vanity of his mind, may find fault with in the works of God, either of nature of providence, and which he may call crooked, it is not in his power to make them straight, or to mend them; see Ecclesiastes 7:13. There is something which, through sin, is crooked, in the hearts, in the nature, in the principles, ways and works, of men; which can never be made straight, corrected or amended, by all the natural wisdom and knowledge of men, which shows the insufficiency of it: the wisest philosophers among men, with all their parade of wit and learning, could never effect anything of this kind; this only is done by the Spirit and grace of God; see Isaiah 42

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS PART I. Chapter S 1-6 1. The Prologue and the Search Begun CHAPTER 1 _ 1. The introduction and prologue (Ecclesiastes 1:1)_ 2. The seeker; his method and the results (Ecclesiastes 1:12) Ecclesiastes 1:1. In the general introduction we have already referred to the opening verses as giving the information who the author is and what is the object of his treatise. So sure is the critical school that Solomon is not the king mentioned that one says “the fact that Solomon is not the author, but is introduced in a literary figure, has become such an axiom of the present day interpretation of the book, that no extended argument to prove

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 1:12), absorption in pleasure (Ecclesiastes 2:1), the study of human nature (Ecclesiastes 2:12), the acquisition of wealth (Ecclesiastes 2:18), alike fail to yield satisfaction. After all his experience the only

_That which is crooked_ The words are apparently a proverbial saying quoted as already current. The complaint is that the search after wisdom brings the seeker face to face with anomalies and defects, which yet he cannot rectify. The Hebrew words are not the same, but we may, perhaps, trace an allusive reference to the promise of Isaiah 40:4 that "the crooked shall be made straight," and the DEBATER in his present mood looks on this also as a delusive dream. There is nothing left but to take things as they are and "accept the inevitable." Comp. chap. Ecclesiastes 7:13, as expressing the same thought. _that which is wanting_ The second clause presents the negative aspect of the world's defects as "crooked" did the positive. Everywhere, if there is nothing absolutely evil, there is an "i

_SOLOMON'S SITUATION AND HIS STUDIES -- ECCLESIASTES 1:12-18:_ Solomon showed that things that would normally be considered as what would make a person happy do not. Surely being king would make a man happy. However, that was not the case. Solomon was "king over Israel in Jerusalem." Yet he described his life as vanity of vanities. He was a wise king over "a wise and understanding nation." (Deuteronomy 4:6) Solomon gave his mind and ability to search out wisdom. Solomon searched for wisdom concerning "all things that are done under heaven." His desire was that he might be able to judge between right and wrong. He realized that men often want to know about things that are none of their business. Solomon said, "I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold,