Ecclesiastes 7:29

Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions. Summary of his investigations. THEY HAVE SOUGHT OUT MANY INVENTIONS. Theoretical "inventions" [ chishªbonowt (H2810)]. Self-wise reasonings and speculations of the natural intellect, drawing the heart away from the true and heavenly wisdom (1 Timothy 6:20, "profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called"). The 'only' way of accounting for the scarcity of even comparatively upright, and therefore divinely wise men and women, is that, whereas God made man upright, they (men) have, etc. The only account to be 'found' of the origin of evil, the great mystery of theology, is that given in Holy Writ ...

23-29 Solomon, in his search into the nature and reason of things, had been miserably deluded. But he here speaks with godly sorrow. He alone who constantly aims to please God, can expect to escape; the careless sinner probably will fall to rise no more. He now discovered more than ever the evil of the great sin of which he had been guilty, the loving many strange women, 1 Kings 11:1. A woman thoroughly upright and godly, he had not found. How was he likely to find such a one among those he had collected? If any of them had been well disposed, their situation would tend to render them all nearly of the same character. He here warns others against the sins into which he had been betrayed. Many a godly man can with thankfulness acknowledge that he has found a prudent, virtuous woman in the wife of his bosom; but those men who have gone in Solomon's track, cannot expect to find one. He tra...

Verse Ecclesiastes 7:29. _LO, THIS ONLY HAVE I FOUND, THAT GOD HATH MADE MAN_ _UPRIGHT_] Whatever evil may be now found among men and women, it is not of God; for God made them all upright. This is a singular verse, and has been most variously translated: עשה האלהים את האדם ישר והמה בקשו חשבנות רבים _asah haelohim eth_ _haadam yashar vehemhah bikkeshu chishbonoth rabbim_. "Elohim has made mankind upright, and they have sought many computations." "He hath meddled with endless questions." - VULGATE. "Many reasonings." - SEPTUAGINT, SYRIAC, and ARABIC. "They seek dyverse sotylties."COVERDALE. _And he himself mengide with questions without eend._ - Old MS. Bible. The _Targum_ considers the text as speaking of _Adam_ and _Eve_....

GOD HATH MADE - Rather, God made. A definite allusion to the original state of man: in which he was exempt from vanity....

EXPOSITION ECCLESIASTES 7:1 Ecclesiastes 12:8.—Division II. DEDUCTIONS FROM THE ABOVE-MENTIONED EXPERIENCES IN THE WAY OF WARNINGS AND RULES OF LIFE. ECCLESIASTES 7:1 Section 1. Though no man knows for certain what is best, yet there are _some practical rules for the conduct of life which wisdom gives_._ _Some of these Koheleth sets forward in the prov

LO, THIS ONLY HAVE I FOUND, THAT GOD HATH MADE MAN UPRIGHT,.... The first man Adam, as the Targum and Jarchi interpret it; and not Adam only, but Eve also with him; for these were both made by the Lord, and on the same day, and in the same image, and had the same common name of Adam given them, Genesis 1:27; And they were both made "upright"; which is to be understood, not of the erectness of their bodies, but of the disposition of their minds; they were "right and innocent before him,'' or in the sight of God, as the Targum; which is best explained by their being made in the image and likeness of God, Genesis 1:26; and which, according to the apostle, lay in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, Eph

PART II. CHAPTER S 7-12 1. The Good Advice of the Natural Man, Discouragement and Failure CHAPTER 7 _ 1. The better things (Ecclesiastes 7:1)_ 2. The anomalies (Ecclesiastes 7:15) 3. The strength of wisdom, yet none perfect (Ecclesiastes 7:19) 4. The worst thing he found (Ecclesiastes 7:23) Ecclesiastes 7:1. All had been tested by the royal searcher; all was found out to be vanity and vexation of spirit. Darkness, discouragement, uncertainty and despai

PROVERBS AND REFLECTIONS. After asking, What is good for man in life? (Ecclesiastes 6:12), Qoheleth gives us advice as to what a man may do by way of mitigating his worries. First of all it is advisable for him to cultivate seriousness rather than levity (Ecclesiastes 7:1). The curious remark that a (good) name is better than precious ointment (_cf._ Ca. Ecclesiastes 1:3 *) is in the Heb. a play on the words _shem_ and _shemen;_ ointment is highly esteemed in the East. Ecclesiastes 7:1_ b_ reminds us of the Thracian tribe mentioned by Herodotus ...

LO. Figure of speech _Asterismos._ App-6. Same as "Behold" in Ecclesiastes 7:27. THEY. mankind: not merely the above classes. This verse is admittedly the inspired truth of God: so therefore are the other statements in this book. Moreover, "they" is emphatic. INVENTIONS. devices....

_They have sought out many inventions_ The Hebrew word implies an ingenuity exercised mainly for evil but takes within its range, as in 2 Chronicles 26:15, the varied acts of life which are in themselves neither good nor evil. This inventive faculty, non-moral at the best, often absolutely immoral, was what struck the thinker as characterising mankind at large. In this thought again we have an unmistakable echo of the language of Greek thinkers. Of this the most memorable example is, perhaps, the well-known chorus in the _Antigone_332 5 πολλὰ τὰ δεινὰ κοὐδὲν ἀνθρώπου δεινοτέρον πέλει. σοφόν τι τὸ μηχανόεν τέχνας ὑπὲρ ἐλπίδʼ ἔχων, ποτὲ μὲν κακόν, ἀλλοτʼ ἐπʼ ἐσθλὸν ἕρπει. "Many the things that strange and wondrous are, None stranger and more wonderful than man. And lo, with all this skill, Wise and inventive still Beyond