Ecclesiastes 9:3

This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead. THIS IS AN EVIL AMONG ALL THINGS ... Not only "there is one event unto all," but "also the heart of the sons of men" makes this fact a reason for 'madly' persisting in evil "while they live, and after that (they go) to the dead." Sin is "madness." MADNESS (IS) IN THEIR HEART - mad thoughts about God's government, because of the adversity of the godly, tempt them to take wrong courses to help. themselves (Malachi 3:13). THE DEAD - (;...

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....

Verse Ecclesiastes 9:3. _THE HEART OF THE SONS OF MEN IS FULL OF EVIL_] No wonder then that the curse of God should be frequent in the earth....

Compare Ecclesiastes 8:11. The seeming indiscriminateness of the course of events tends to encourage evil-disposed men in their folly....

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,...

THIS [IS] AN EVIL AMONG ALL [THINGS] THAT ARE DONE UNDER THE SUN, THAT [THERE IS] ONE EVENT UNTO ALL,.... A very great evil, a very sore one, the worst of evils. Not an evil, as the providence of God is concerned with it, who does no evil; nor is there any unrighteousness in him; he is righteous in all his ways: but this is an evil, and distressing thing, to the minds of good men; see Psalms 73:2; and is what bad men make an ill use of, to harden themselves in sin, and to despise religion as an unprofitable thing, Job 21:14; YEA, ALSO THE HEART OF THE SONS OF MEN IS FULL OF EVIL: they are naturally full of evil, of all unrighteousness and wickedness, what comes out of them show it; and because the same things happen to good and bad men, and the wicked pass with impunity, and are outw

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

AN EVIL. The Preposition (= B) in _bebol,_ gives the force of the superlative: i.e. the greatest or worst calamity of all, &c. EVIL. calamity. Hebrew. _ra'a'_ App-44. UNDER THE SUN. See note on Ecclesiastes 1:3. MADNESS. Plural as elsewhere. See note on Ecclesiastes 1:17. THEY GO. Omit these words and note the Figure of speech _Aposiopesis_ (App-6), "and after that to the dead! "See the following note....

_This is an evil among all things_ The pessimism of the thinker returns once more upon him, and he falls into the strain which we have heard before in chs. Ecclesiastes 2:14-16; Ecclesiastes 3:19; Ecclesiastes 5:15; Ecclesiastes 6:12. The great leveller comes and sweeps away all distinctions, and there is no assured hope of immortality. Life is "evil" even while it lasts, and death is the same for all, when the curtain drops on the great drama. _madness is in their heart while they live_ The "madness" is that of chs....