Ecclesiastes 2:1

I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity. I SAID IN MINE HEART. "I" (Heb., ani) is emphatic: I who had such ample opportunities of testing earthly goods, and who am now giving the results of my experience. The address to his own heart is alluded to in Jesus' parable of the rich fool, who addresses his own soul (). So "(It is) mad," or rather, 'Thou art mad,' answers to God's address to him, "Thou fool" (). Compare here with "whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?" and with "be merry." I WILL PROVE THEE WITH MIRTH - j...

1-11 Solomon soon found mirth and pleasure to be vanity. What does noisy, flashy mirth towards making a man happy? The manifold devices of men's hearts, to get satisfaction from the world, and their changing from one thing to another, are like the restlessness of a man in a fever. Perceiving it was folly to give himself to wine, he next tried the costly amusements of princes. The poor, when they read such a description, are ready to feel discontent. But the remedy against all such feelings is in the estimate of it all by the owner himself. All was vanity and vexation of spirit: and the same things would yield the same result to us, as to Solomon. Having food and raiment, let us therewith be content. His wisdom remained with him; a strong understanding, with great human knowledge. But every earthly pleasure, when unconnected with better blessings, leaves the mind as eager and unsatisfied...

CHAPTER II _The vanity of human courses in the works of pleasure,_ _planting, equipage, amassing wealth, c._, 1-11. _Wisdom preferable to folly_, 12-14 _yet little difference between the wise and the foolish in_ _the events of life_, 15-17. _The vanity of amassing wealth for heirs, when whether they_ _will be foolish or wise cannot be ascertained_, 18-21. _There is much sorrow in the labour of man_, 22, 23. _We should enjoy what the providence of God gives_, 25, 26. NOTES ON CHAP. I Verse...

Solomon’s trial of God’s second gift, namely, riches, and the enjoyment which riches supply; this brought him to the sane result (compare Ecclesiastes 1:12). Comparing Solomon’s action with Luke 12:16, it must be remembered that Solomon’s object was the acquisition of wisdom, not self-indulgence, and that he did not fail to look forward to the certainty of death overtaking him....

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 sensual pleasure, if so be this may yield some effect more substantial and permanent. I SAID IN MINE HEART, GO TO NOW, I WILL PROVE THEE WITH MIRTH. The heart is addressed as the seat of the emotions and affections. The Vulgate misses the direct address to the heart, which the words, rightly interpreted, imply, translating, _Vadam et offluam delieiis_._ _The Septuagint correctly gives, Δεῦρο δὴ πειράσω σε ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ._ _It is like the rich fool's language in Christ's parable, "I will sa

I SAID IN MINE HEART,.... He communed with his heart, he thought and reasoned within himself, and came to this resolution in his own mind; that since he could not find happiness in natural wisdom and knowledge, he would seek for it elsewhere, even in pleasure; in which, he observed, some men placed their happiness; or, however, sought for it there: or, "I said to my heart", as the Syriac version; GO TO NOW; or, "go, I pray thee" u listen to what I am about to say, and pursue the track I shall now point out to thee; I WILL PROVE THEE WITH MIRTH; with those things which will cause mirth, joy, and pleasure; and try whether any happiness can be enjoyed this way, since it could not be had in wisdom and knowledge. Jarchi and Aben Ezra render it, "I will mingle", wine with water, or with spices; or, "I will pour out", wine in plenty to drink of, "with joy", and to promote mirth: but the Targu...

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. Here we find first of all the king's personal experience. He experimented, so to speak, with that which is the possession of the natural man, a fallen nature. In that nature are found three things: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. We can trace these three things in the opening verses. The lust of the flesh in verses 1-3; the lust of the eyes in Ecclesiastes 2:4, and

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 2:12), 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

ENJOY. look thou into. BEHOLD. Figure of speech _Asterismos._...

_I will prove thee with mirth_ The self-communing of the man talking to his soul, like the rich man in Luke 12:18-19, in search of happiness, leads him to yet another experiment. He will lay aside philosophy and try what pleasure will do, and live as others live. The choice of Faust in Goethe's great drama, presents a striking parallel in the world of creative Art. The fall of Abelard is hardly a less striking parallel in the history of an actual life. Consciously or unconsciously (probably the former) the DEBATER had passed from the Hebrew and the Stoic ideals of wisdom to that of the school of Epicurus. The choice of the Hebrew word for "pleasure" (literally "good") implies that this now appeared the _summum bonum_of existence. But this experiment also failed. The doom of "vanity" was on this also. The "laughter" was like the crackling of burning thorns (chap....