Ecclesiastes 9:1

For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them. Ecclesiastes 9:1.-Temptation to unbelief, as the like lot happens to good and bad.-Godly wisdom the main thing. FOR - connecting this chapter with Ecclesiastes 8:14. What follows is mentioned as an instance, to show that 'man cannot find out the work of God.' ALL THIS - following not "for," but "I considered." TO DECLARE ALL THIS - Hebrew [ wªlaabuwr (H952)], 'even to purge all this.' I considered all th...

1-3 We are not to think our searching into the word or works of God useless, because we cannot explain all difficulties. We may learn many things good for ourselves and useful to others. But man cannot always decide who are objects of God's special love, or under his wrath; and God will certainly put a difference between the precious and the vile, in the other world. The difference as to present happiness, arises from the inward supports and consolations the righteous enjoy, and the benefit they derive from varied trials and mercies. As far as the sons of men are left to themselves, their hearts are full of evil; and prosperity in sin, causes them even to set God at defiance by daring wickedness. Though, on this side death, the righteous and the wicked may often seem to fare alike, on the other side there will be a vast difference between them....

CHAPTER IX _No men knows, by any present sign, what is before him_, 1. _All things happen alike to all_, 2, 3. _Comparison of the state of the dead and the living_, 4-6. _Enjoy God's mercies, and live to his glory_, 7-10. _The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong_, 11. _Man is ignorant of futurity_, 12, 13. _The account of the little city, and the poor wise man_, 14-18. NOTES ON CHAP. IX Verse Ecclesiastes 9:1. _THE RIGHTEOUS, AND THE WISE, AND THEIR WORKS_, ARE _IN_...

A good man’s trust in God is set forth as a counterpoise to our Ignorance of the ways of Providence. IN THE HAND OF GOD - Under His special protection (Deuteronomy 33:3 ff) as righteous, and under His direction Proverbs 21:1 as people. NO MAN ... - literally, both love and also hatred man knoweth not: all are before them. Love and hatred here mean the ordinary outward tokens of God’s favor or displeasure, i. e., prosperity and adversity. “Man knoweth not” probably means: “man knows not whether to expect prosperity or adversity from God; all his earthly future is in obscurity.”...

EXPOSITION ECCLESIASTES 9:1 One fate happens to all, and the dead are cut off from all the feelings and interests of life in the upper world. ECCLESIASTES 9:1 This continues the subject treated above, confirming the conclusion arrived at in Ecclesiastes 8:17, viz. that God's government of the world is unfathomable. FOR ALL THIS I CONSIDERED IN MY HEART EVEN TO DECLARE ALL THIS; literally, _for_ _all this laid up in my heart, and all this I have been about _(equivalent to _I sought_)_ to clear up_._ _The reference is both to what has been said and to what is coming. The ki,...

FOR ALL THIS I CONSIDERED IN MINE HEART,.... What goes before, in the latter end of the preceding chapter, concerning the various providences of God, the difficulty of finding out the reasons of them, and the fruitlessness of attempting it; and also what follows, the work of Providence: Solomon gave his mind unto, attended it with great application, and strictly considered and examined it, in order to find it out, but could not; and if he could not, no other man could. And he had a good intention in all; his views were, EVEN TO DECLARE ALL THIS; for the end of search and inquiry should be, to make known what is found for the good of others, Job 5:27; and as the wise man had done before, Ecclesiastes 7:25; or "to purge", or "purify", as the word p signifies; to make dark providences clear

CHAPTER 9 _ 1. The common fate (Ecclesiastes 9:1)_ 2. Make the best of life (Ecclesiastes 9:7) 3. The great uncertainty (Ecclesiastes 9:11) Ecclesiastes 9:1. Here is another conclusion. The righteous and the wise with their works are in the hands of God. One event is in store for all, for the righteous, the wicked, the good, the clean, the unclean, the one who sacrificeth and the one who sacrificeth not--the grave is the one common goal. In that goal there is the end of all human toil and ambition. But even with this knowledge that all go one way, and the certainty of it,

ECCLESIASTES 8:16 TO ECCLESIASTES 9:16. LIFE'S RIDDLE BAFFLES THE WISEST QUEST. The parenthesis in Ecclesiastes 8:16_ b_ describes the ceaseless effort of the keen student of life, or perhaps the fate of the toiler who is too tired to sleep; with Ecclesiastes 8:17; cf. Ecclesiastes 7:24; Job 11:6, and from the Christian standpoint Romans 11:33

I CONSIDERED. I have taken to heart. EVEN TO DECLARE. Septuagint and Syriac read, "and my heart proved". THE RIGHTEOUS =. just ones. God. Hebrew. _Elohim._ (with Art.). the [true] God: the Deity. App-4. HATRED BY ALL THAT IS BEFORE THEM. hatred. All lies before them (i.e. in the future). THEM: i.e. the righteous and the lawless....

_For all this I considered in my heart_ More literally, FOR TO ALL THIS I GAVE MY HEART TO DIG THROUGH, _i.e._to explain and penetrate to the secret of the great enigma of life. _that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God_ The words hover, as it were, between the thought of Destiny and Providence, the latter, perhaps, slightly predominating. The wise and good need not despair, though they remain in ignorance of the working of the Divine Will. It is enough for them to know that they are in Its power, under Its care, and that It is in its essence as righteous as It is almighty. _no man knoweth either love or hatred_ The words have been differently interpreted according as the "love" and "hatred" are referred to God or man. In the former case, the thought would be, that as things are, no man knows by the outward events of his life whether he is the object of...