Ecclesiastes 2:10

I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life. Illustration more at large of Ecclesiastes 2:1. First, he tries mirth in its coarsest form, intoxication of the senses. Verse 3. SOUGHT - after search into many plans. TO GIVE MYSELF UNTO WINE - literally, to draw my flesh (body) to wine (including all banquetings). Image from a bound captive drawn after a chariot in triumph (Romans 6:16; Romans 6:19;...

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...

Verse Ecclesiastes 2:10. _I WITHHELD NOT MY HEART FROM ANY JOY_] He had every means of gratification; he could desire nothing that was not within his reach; and whatever he wished, he took care to possess....

PORTION - A word of frequent occurrence. By it Solomon describes the pleasure found in the act of working and also perhaps the pleasure felt in the process of acquiring wisdom; this pleasure is admitted to be good, if received from God (Ecclesiastes 2:26; Ecclesiastes 5:18; compare 1 Timothy 4:4); but being transitory it is subject to vanity, and therefore does not afford a sufficient answer to the repeated question, “What profit etc.?” Ecclesiastes 1:3....

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

AND WHATSOEVER MINE EYES DESIRED I KEPT NOT FROM THEM,.... Though this sense is only mentioned, all are designed; he denied himself of nothing that was agreeable to him, that was pleasing to the eye, to the ear, to the taste, or any other sense; he indulged himself in everything, observing a proper decorum, and keeping himself within the due bounds of sobriety and good sense; I WITHHELD NOT MY HEART FROM ANY JOY: the Targum says, "from all joy of the law"; but it is to be understood of natural pleasure, and of the gratifications of the senses in a wise and moderate manner; FOR MY HEART REJOICED IN ALL MY LABOURS; he took all the pleasure that could be taken in the works he wrought for that purpose before enumerated; AND THIS WAS MY PORTION OF ALL MY LABOUR; pleasure was what he aimed at, and that he enjoyed; this was the fruit and issue of all his laborious works; the part allotted hi...

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

LABOUR. toil. WAS. came to be. PORTION. share, as in Ecclesiastes 3:22....

_whatsoever mine eyes desired_ From such a life the idea of self-denial, even of self-control, was absolutely excluded. Money and power were but means to the end, and the end proposed was the gratification of the "desire of the eyes," not identified with the "lust of the flesh," but closely allied to it (1 John 2:16), in all its restless cravings. It was not altogether a fruitless effort. Such joy as these things could bring he had in abundant measure. It was for a time his "portion." Like the rich man in the parable of Luke 16:25 he had his "good things," and could not complain that the experiment failed as through imperfect apparatus. He also was tasting of the "tree of knowledge of good and evil," and found that it was "good for food, and pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise" ...