Ecclesiastes 2:4

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 2:4. _I BUILDED ME HOUSES_] Palace after palace; the house of the forest of Lebanon, 1 Kings 7:1, c. a house for the queen; the temple, c., 2 Chronicles 8:1, c. 1 Kings 9:10, c., besides many other buildings of various kinds....

Compare 1 Kings 7:1; 1 Kings 9:15; 1 Kings 10:14; and 2 Chronicles 8:4....

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 MADE ME GREAT WORKS,.... He did not spend his time in trifling things, as Domitian a, in catching and killing flies; but in devising, designing, directing, and superintending great works of art and skill, becoming the grandeur of his state, and the greatness of his mind: the Midrash restrains it to his great throne of ivory, overlaid with gold, 1 Kings 10:18, but it is a general expression, including all the great things he did, of which the following is a particular enumeration; I BUILDED ME HOUSES; among which must not be reckoned the house of God, though that was built by him, and in the first place; yet this was built, not for his own pleasure and grandeur, but for the worship and glory of God: but his own house and palace is chiefly meant, which was thirteen years in building; and the house of the forest in Lebanon, which perhaps was his country seat; with all ot

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

MADE ME GREAT WORKS. increased or multiplied my possessions. WORKS. Put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Cause), App-6, for the results and effects gained by work. Compare Exodus 23:12; 1 Samuel 25:2.Isaiah 26:12....

_I made me great works_ The verse may be either a retrospect of the details of the life of the pleasure-seeker as sketched in the previous verse, or, as seems more probable, the account of a new experiment in which the man passed from purely sensual pleasures to the life of what we know as -culture," the pursuit of beauty and magnificence in Art. Here the writer throws himself into the surroundings of the historical Solomon. We may venture to refer to Tennyson's _Palace of Art_as tracing the working out of a like experiment to its inevitable issue. See Appendix II. _I builded me houses_ We think of David's house of cedar (2 Chronicles 2:3) and the storehouses, oliveyards and vineyards (1 Chronicles 27:25-31) which Solomon had inherited, of his own palace, and the hou