Ecclesiastes 2:7

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 2:7. _SERVANTS AND MAIDENS_] For my works, fields, folds, and various domestic labors. _SERVANTS BORN IN ANY HOUSE_] Besides those hired from without, he had _married couples_ in the precincts of his grounds, palaces, etc., who, when their children grew up, got them employment with themselves. _GREAT AND SMALL CATTLE_] _Oxen, neat, horses, asses, mules, camels_, and such like; with _sheep_ and _goats_. And multitudes of most of these he needed, when we are told that his household consumed daily _ten stall-fed oxen, with twenty from the pasture, with a hundred sheep_; besides _harts, roebucks, fallow deer, fatted fowls_, and other kinds of provision. Probably, such another court for splendor and expense was not in the universe....

I GOT - Rather, I bought, in distinction from those born in the house. The “children of Solomon’s servants” (compare Ezra 2:55, Ezra 2:58) were more probably of Canaanite origin 1 Kings 9:20; 1 Kings 5:15 than Hebrews 1 Kings 9:22. POSSESSIONS OF GREAT AND SMALL CATTLE - Rather, herds of oxen and sheep. ALL ... BEFORE ME - King David’s herds and flocks are mentioned in...

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 GOT [ME] SERVANTS AND MAIDENS,.... Menservants, and maidservants; the Targum adds, "of the children of Ham, and of the rest of the strange people;'' these were such as he hired, or bought with his money; AND HAD SERVANTS BORN IN MY HOUSE; and these were all employed by him; either as his retinue and equipage, his attendants and bodyguards; or to take care of his household, his gardens, and pools; or for his horses and chariots, and for various offices; see 1 Kings 4:26 Ezra 2:58. Villalpandus computes the number of his servants to be forty eight thousand; if there were any pleasure and happiness in such a numerous attendance, Solomon had it; ALSO I HAD GREAT POSSESSIONS OF GREAT AND SMALL CATTLE ABOVE ALL THAT WERE IN JERUSALEM BEFORE ME; oxen, cow

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

GOT ME SERVANTS. bought me servants. Hebrew bondage has nothing in common with Greek, Roman, or African slavery. There is no word for such slavery in Hebrew; _'ebed =_ labourer, is the name of all Jehovah's servants....

_I got me servants and maidens_ Better, I BOUGHT. The picture of Oriental state was incomplete without this element, and the slave trade, of which the Midianites were the chief representatives in the patriarchal history. (Genesis 37:28), had probably been carried on without intermission, and supplied both the household and the harem of Solomon. In the Cushi of 2 Samuel 18:21, in his namesake of Jeremiah 36:14, in Ebedmelech, the Cushite, or Ethiopian, of Jeremiah 38:7, we have instances of the presence of such slaves in the royal households. The history of every ancient nation shews the universality of the traffic. Of these