Ecclesiastes 2 commentary

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 as before. Happiness arises not from the situation in which we are placed. It is only through Jesus Christ that final blessedness can be attained.

Solomon found that knowledge and prudence were preferable to ignorance and folly, though human wisdom and knowledge will not make a man happy. The most learned of men, who dies a stranger to Christ Jesus, will perish equally with the most ignorant; and what good can commendations on earth do to the body in the grave, or the soul in hell? And the spirits of just men made perfect cannot want them. So that if this were all, we might be led to hate our life, as it is all vanity and vexation of spirit.

Our hearts are very loth to quit their expectations of great things from the creature; but Solomon came to this at length. The world is a vale of tears, even to those that have much of it. See what fools they are, who make themselves drudges to the world, which affords a man nothing better than subsistence for the body. And the utmost he can attain in this respect is to allow himself a sober, cheerful use thereof, according to his rank and condition. But we must enjoy good in our labour; we must use those things to make us diligent and cheerful in worldly business. And this is the gift of God. Riches are a blessing or a curse to a man, according as he has, or has not, a heart to make a good use of them. To those that are accepted of the Lord, he gives joy and satisfaction in the knowledge and love of him. But to the sinner he allots labour, sorrow, vanity, and vexation, in seeking a worldly portion, which yet afterwards comes into better hands. Let the sinner seriously consider his latter end. To seek a lasting portion in the love of Christ and the blessings it bestows, is the only way to true and satisfying enjoyment even of this present world.

CHAPTER 2

Ec 2:1-26.

He next tries pleasure and luxury, retaining however, his worldly "wisdom" (Ec 3:9), but all proves "vanity" in respect to the chief good.

1. I said ... heart--(Lu 12:19).

thee--my heart, I will test whether thou canst find that solid good in pleasure which was not in "worldly wisdom." But this also proves to be "vanity" (Is 50:11).

2. laughter--including prosperity, and joy in general (Job 8:21).

mad--that is, when made the chief good; it is harmless in its proper place.

What doeth it?--Of what avail is it in giving solid good? (Ec 7:6; Pr 14:13).

3-11. Illustration more at large of Ec 2:1, 2.

I sought--I resolved, after search into many plans.

give myself unto wine--literally, "to draw my flesh," or "body to wine" (including all banquetings). Image from a captive drawn after a chariot in triumph (Ro 6:16, 19; 1Co 12:2); or, one "allured" (2Pe 2:18, 19).

yet acquainting ... wisdom--literally, "and my heart (still) was behaving, or guiding itself," with wisdom [Gesenius]. Maurer translates: "was weary of (worldly) wisdom." But the end of Ec 2:9 confirms English Version.

folly--namely, pleasures of the flesh, termed "mad," Ec 2:2.

all the days, &c.--(See Margin and Ec 6:12; Job 15:20).

12. He had tried (worldly) wisdom (Ec 1:12-18) and folly (foolish pleasure) (Ec 2:1-11); he now compares them (Ec 2:12) and finds that while (worldly)

wisdom excelleth folly (Ec 2:13, 14), yet the one event, death, befalls both (Ec 2:14-16), and that thus the wealth acquired by the wise man's "labor" may descend to a "fool" that hath not labored (Ec 2:18, 19, 21); therefore all his labor is vanity (Ec 2:22, 23).

what can the man do ... already done--(Ec 1:9). Parenthetical. A future investigator can strike nothing out "new," so as to draw a different conclusion from what I draw by comparing "wisdom and madness." Holden, with less ellipsis, translates, "What, O man, shall come after the king?" &c. Better, Grotius, "What man can come after (compete with) the king in the things which are done?" None ever can have the same means of testing what all earthly things can do towards satisfying the soul; namely, worldly wisdom, science, riches, power, longevity, all combined.

13-14. (Pr 17:24). The worldly "wise" man has good sense in managing his affairs, skill and taste in building and planting, and keeps within safe and respectable bounds in pleasure, while the "fool" is wanting in these respects ("darkness," equivalent to fatal error, blind infatuation), yet one event, death, happens to both (Job 21:26).

15. why was I--so anxious to become, &c. (2Ch 1:10).

Then--Since such is the case.

this--namely, pursuit of (worldly) wisdom; it can never fill the place of the true wisdom (Job 28:28; Jr 8:9).

16. remembrance--a great aim of the worldly (Ge 11:4). The righteous alone attain it (Psa 112:6; Pr 10:7).

for ever--no perpetual memorial.

that which now is--Maurer, "In the days to come all things shall be now long ago forgotten."

17. Disappointed in one experiment after another, he is weary of life. The backslider ought to have rather reasoned as the prodigal (Ho 2:6, 7; Lu 15:17, 18).

grievous unto me--(Job 10:1).

18-19. One hope alone was left to the disappointed worldling, the perpetuation of his name and riches, laboriously gathered, through his successor. For selfishness is mostly at the root of worldly parents' alleged providence for their children. But now the remembrance of how he himself, the piously reared child of David, had disregarded his father's dying charge (1Ch 28:9), suggested the sad misgivings as to what Rehoboam, his son by an idolatrous Ammonitess, Naamah, should prove to be; a foreboding too fully realized (1Ki 12:1-18; 14:21-31).

20. I gave up as desperate all hope of solid fruit from my labor.

21. Suppose "there is a man," &c.

equity--rather "with success," as the Hebrew is rendered (Ec 11:6), "prosper," though Margin gives "right" [Holden and Maurer].

evil--not in itself, for this is the ordinary course of things, but "evil," as regards the chief good, that one should have toiled so fruitlessly.

22. Same sentiment as in Ec 2:21, interrogatively.

23. The only fruit he has is, not only sorrows in his days, but all his days are sorrows, and his travail (not only has griefs connected with it, but is itself), grief.

24. English Version gives a seemingly Epicurean sense, contrary to the general scope. The Hebrew, literally is, "It is not good for man that he should eat," &c., "and should make his soul see good" (or "show his soul, that is, himself, happy"), &c. [Weiss]. According to Holden and Weiss, Ec 3:12, 22 differ from this verse in the text and meaning; here he means, "It is not good that a man should feast himself, and falsely make as though his soul were happy"; he thus refers to a false pretending of happiness acquired by and for one's self; in Ec 3:12, 22; 5:18, 19, to real seeing, or finding pleasure when God gives it. There it is said to be good for a man to enjoy with satisfaction and thankfulness the blessings which God gives; here it is said not to be good to take an unreal pleasure to one's self by feasting, &c.

This also I saw--I perceived by experience that good (real pleasure) is not to be taken at will, but comes only from the hand of God [Weiss] (Psa 4:6; Is 57:19-21). Or as Holden, "It is the appointment from the hand of God, that the sensualist has no solid satisfaction" (good).

25. hasten--after indulgences (Pr 7:23; 19:2), eagerly pursue such enjoyments. None can compete with me in this. If I, then, with all my opportunities of enjoyment, failed utterly to obtain solid pleasure of my own making, apart from God, who else can? God mercifully spares His children the sad experiment which Solomon made, by denying them the goods which they often desire. He gives them the fruits of Solomon's experience, without their paying the dear price at which Solomon bought it.

26. True, literally, in the Jewish theocracy; and in some measure in all ages (Job 27:16, 17; Pr 13:22; 28:8). Though the retribution be not so visible and immediate now as then, it is no less real. Happiness even here is more truly the portion of the godly (Psa 84:11; Mt 5:5; Mr 10:29, 30; Ro 8:28; 1Ti 4:8).

that he--the sinner

may give--that is, unconsciously and in spite of himself. The godly Solomon had satisfaction in his riches and wisdom, when God gave them (2Ch 1:11, 12). The backsliding Solomon had no happiness when he sought it in them apart from God; and the riches which he heaped up became the prey of Shishak (2Ch 12:9).

I will prove thee with mirth - This is well expressed by the author so often referred to. Having tried speculative knowledge in vain, passion and appetite whisper: - "From the rugged thorny road

Of wisdom, which so ill repays thy toil,

Turn back, and enter pleasure's flowery paths.

Go, take thy fill of joy, to passion give

The reins; nor let one serious thought restrain

What youth and affluence prompt."

I said of laughter, It is mad - Literally "To laughter I said, O mad one! and to mirth, What is this one doing?"

Solomon does not speak here of a sober enjoyment of the things of this world, but of intemperate pleasure, whose two attendants, laughter and mirth are introduced by a beautiful prosopopoeia as two persons; and the contemptuous manner wherewith he treats them has something remarkably striking. He tells the former to her face that she is mad; but as to the latter, he thinks her so much beneath his notice, that he only points at her, and instantly turns his back.

To give myself unto wine, (yet acquainting [נהג noheg, "guiding"] mine heart with wisdom) - I did not run into extremes, as when I gave up myself to mirth and pleasure. There, I threw off all restraint; here, I took the middle course, to see whether a moderate enjoyment of the things of the world might not produce that happiness which I supposed man was created to enjoy here below.

I builded me houses - Palace after palace; the house of the forest of Lebanon, 1Kgs 7:1, etc.; a house for the queen; the temple, etc., 2Chr 8:1, etc.; 1Kgs 9:10, etc., besides many other buildings of various kinds.

I made one gardens and orchards - פרדסים pardesim, "paradises." I doubt much whether this be an original Hebrew word. ferdoos, is found in the Persian and Arabic; and signifies a pleasant garden, a vineyard. Hence our word paradise, a place full of delights. How well Solomon was qualified to form gardens, orchards, vineyards, conservatories, etc., may be at once conceived when we recollect his knowledge of natural history; and that he wrote treatises on vegetables and their properties, from the cedar to the hyssop.

Pools of waters - Tanks and reservoirs.

To water therewith the wood - Aqueducts to lead the water from the tanks to different parts.

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.

The peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces -

1. The tares levied off his subjects.

2. The tribute given by the neighboring potentates. Both these make the "peculiar treasure of kings;" taxes and tribute.

Men singers and women singers - This includes all instrumental and vocal performers. These may be called the delights of the sons of men.

Musical instruments, and that of all sorts - For these seven words, there are only two in the original, שדה ושדות shiddah veshiddoth. These words are acknowledged on all hands to be utterly unknown, if not utterly inexplicable. Some render them male and female captives; others, cups and flagons; others, cooks and confectioners; others, a species of musical compositions derived from a celebrated Phoenician woman named Sido, to whom Sanchoniatha attributes the invention of music. Others, with more probability, wives and concubines; of the former of whom Solomon had seven hundred, and of the latter, three hundred; and if these be not spoken of here, they are not mentioned at all; whereas music, and every thing connected with that, was referred to before. The author of Choheleth paraphrases thus: - "To complete

This scene of earthly bliss, how large a span

Of that which most delights the sons of men

Fell to my portion! What a lovely train

Of blooming beauties, by connubial ties,

By purchase, or the gifts of neighboring kings,

Or spoils of war, made mine."

If, after all this, I may add one conjecture, it shall be this; שדה sadeh, in Hebrews is a field, and occurs in various parts of the Bible. שדות sadoth is fields, 1Sam 22:7, the points in such a case are of no consideration. May not Solomon be speaking here of farms upon farms, or estates upon estates, which he had added by purchase to the common regal portion? We know that a king of Israel (Ahab) once desired to have a vineyard (Naboth's) which he could not obtain: now, Solomon having spoken before of gardens, orchards, and vineyards, why may he not here speak of supernumerary estates? Perhaps every man who critically examines the place will be dissatisfied, and have a conjecture of his own.

I withheld not my heart from any joy - He had every means of gratification; he could desire nothing that was not within his reach; and whatever he wished, he took care to possess.

And, behold, all was vanity - Emptiness and insufficiency in itself.

And vexation of spirit - Because it promised the good I wished for, but did not, could not, perform the promise; and left my soul discontented and chagrined.

For what can the man do that cometh after the king? - I have examined every thing proposed by science, by maddening pleasure, and by more refined and regulated mirth. I seized on the whole, and used them to the uttermost; and so far, that none ever shall be able to exceed me; as none can, in the course of things, ever have such power and means of gratification.

Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly - Though in none of these pursuits I found the supreme good, the happiness my soul longed after; yet I could easily perceive that wisdom excelled the others, as far as light excels darkness. And he immediately subjoins the reasons.

The wise man's eyes, etc. - Well expressed by Choheleth: - "The wise are circumspect, maturely weigh

The consequence of what they undertake,

Good ends propose, and fittest means apply

To accomplish their designs."

But the fool walketh in darkness - "But fools, deprived

Of reason's guidance, or in darkness grope,

Or, unreflecting like a frantic man,

Who on the brink of some steep precipice

Attempts to run a race with heedless steps,

Rush to their own perdition."

One event happeneth to them all - "Though wide the difference, what has human pride

To boast? Even I myself too plainly saw,

That one event to both alike befalls;

To various accidents of life exposed,

Without distinction: nor can wisdom screen

From dangers, disappointments, grief, and pain."

As it happeneth to the fool - Literally, "According as the event is to the fool, it happens to me, even me." There is a peculiar beauty and emphasis in the repetition of me. Having pointed out the advantages that wisdom has over folly, he takes this opportunity of reminding us of the danger of trusting too much to it, by showing that it is equally subject to the common accidents of life; and, therefore, incapable of making us completely happy. Having given his sentiments on this point in general terms, he proceeds to those particular instances wherein human prudence chiefly exerts itself; and shows how egregiously it is mistaken in every one of them - C.

There is no remembrance - The wise and the fool are equally subject to death; and, in most instances, they are equally forgotten. Time sweeps away all remembrances, except the very few out of millions which are preserved for a while in the page of history.

Therefore I hated life - את החיים et hachaiyim, the lives, both of the wise, the mad man, and the fool. Also all the stages of life, the child, the man, and the sage. There was nothing in it worth pursuing, no period worth re-living and no hope that if this were possible I could again be more successful.

I hated all my labor - Because,

1. It has not answered the end for which it was instituted.

2. I can enjoy the fruits of it but a short time.

3. I must leave it to others, and know not whether a wise man, a knave, or a fool will possess it.

A wise man or a fool? - Alas! Solomon, the wisest of all men, made the worst use of his wisdom, had three hundred wives and seven hundred concubines, and yet left but one son behind him, to possess his estates and his throne, and that one was the silliest of fools!

I went about to cause my heart to despair - What makes all worse, there is no remedy. It is impossible in the present state of things to prevent these evils.

For there is a man - Does he not allude to himself? As if he had said, "I have labored to cultivate my mind in wisdom and in science, in knowledge of men and things, and have endeavored to establish equity and dispense justice. And now I find I shall leave all the fruits of my labor to a man that hath not labored therein, and consequently cannot prize what I have wrought." Does he not refer to his son Rehoboam?

For what hath man of all his laborer - Labour of body, disappointment of hope, and vexation of heart, have been all my portion.

His days are sorrows - What a picture of human life where the heart is not filled with the peace and love of God! All his days are sorrows; all his labors griefs; all his nights restless; for he has no portion but merely what earth can give; and that is embittered by the labor of acquisition, and the disappointment in the using.

This is also vanity - Emptiness of good and substantial misery.

There is nothing better for a man - The sense of this passage is well expressed in the following lines: - "For these disorders wouldst thou find a cure,

Such cure as human frailty would admit?

Drive from thee anxious cares; let reason curb

Thy passions; and with cheerful heart enjoy

That little which the world affords; for here,

Though vain the hopes of perfect happiness,

Yet still the road of life, rugged at best,

Is not without its comforts -

Wouldst thou their sweetness taste, look up to heaven,

And praise the all-bounteous Donor, who bestows

The power to use aright."

For who can eat - more than I? - But instead of חוץ ממני chuts mimmenni, more than I; חוץ ממנו chuts mimmennu, without Him, is the reading of eight of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., as also of the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic. "For who maye eat, drynke, or bring enythinge to pass without him?" - Coverdale.

I believe this to be the true reading. No one can have a true relish of the comforts of life without the Divine blessing. This reading connects all the sentences: "This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God; - for who can eat, and who can relish without Him? For God giveth to man that is good." It is through his liberality that we have any thing to eat or drink; and it is only through his blessing that we can derive good from the use of what we possess.

Giveth - wisdom, and knowledge, and joy -

1. God gives wisdom - the knowledge of himself, light to direct in the way of salvation.

2. Knowledge - understanding to discern the operation of his hand; experimental acquaintance with himself, in the dispensing of his grace and the gifts of his Spirit.

3. Joy; a hundred days of ease for one day of pain; one thousand enjoyments for one privation; and to them that believe, peace of conscience, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

But to the sinner he giveth travail - He has a life of labor, disappointment, and distress; for because he is an enemy to God, he travails in pain all his days; and, as the wise man says elsewhere, the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the just. So he loseth earthly good, because he would not take a heavenly portion with it.

I said - Being disappointed of my hopes from knowledge, I resolved to try another course. Go to - O my soul! I will try whether I cannot make thee happy, by the enjoyment of sensual delights. Vanity - Is vain, and unable to make men happy.

It is mad - This is an act of madness, more fit for fools who know nothing, than for wise men in this sinful, and dangerous, and deplorable state of mankind. What doth it - What good doth it? Or how can it make men happy? I challenge all the Epicures in the world to give me a solid answer.

To wine - To gratify myself with delicious meats and drinks. Yet - Yet resolving to use my wisdom, that I might try whether I could not arrive at satisfaction, by mixing wine and wisdom together. To lay hold - To pursue sensual pleasures, which was my folly. 'Till - 'Till I might find out the true way to contentment and satisfaction, during this mortal life.

The wood - The nurseries of young trees, which for the multitude of them were like a wood or forest.

Peculiar treasure - The greatest jewels and rarities of other kings, which they gave to me, either as a tribute, or by way of present. Of provinces - Which were imposed upon or presented by all the provinces of my dominions.

Great - In riches, and power, and glory. My wisdom remained - As yet I was not wholly seduced from God.

And - Whatsoever was grateful to my senses. Rejoiced - I had the comfort of all my labours, and was not hindered from the full enjoyment of them by sickness or war, or any other calamity. My portion - This present enjoyment of them, was all the benefit which I could expect from all my labours. So that I made the best of them.

Vexation - I found myself wholly dissatisfied. No profit - The pleasure was past, and I was never the better for it, but as empty as before.

I turned - Being frustrated of my hopes in pleasure, I returned to a second consideration of my first choice, to see whether there was not more satisfaction to be gotten from wisdom, than I discovered at my first view. Done - As by others, so especially by myself. They can make no new discoveries as to this point. They can make no more of the pleasures of sense than I have done. Let me then try once more, whether wisdom can give happiness.

I saw - I allowed thus much. Although wisdom is not sufficient to make men happy, yet it is of a far greater use than vain pleasures, or any other follies.

Head - In their proper place. He hath the use of his eyes and reason, and foresees, and so avoids many dangers and mischiefs. Yet - Notwithstanding this excellency of wisdom above folly, at last they both come to one end. Both are subject to the same calamities, and to death itself, which takes away all difference between them.

Why - What benefit have I by my wisdom?

For - Their memory, though it may flourish for a season, yet will in a little time be worn out; as we see it, most of the wise men of former ages, whose very names, together with all their monuments, are utterly lost. As the fool - He must die as certainly as the fool.

Life - My life was a burden to me. Is grievous - All human designs and works are so far from yielding me satisfaction, that the consideration of them increases my discontent.

All my labour - All these riches and buildings, and other fruits of my labour, were aggravations of my misery. Because - Because I must, and that everlastingly, leave them all behind me.

Or a fool - Who will undo all that I have done, and turn the effects of my wisdom into instruments of his folly. Some think he had such an opinion of Rehoboam.

Despair - I gave myself up to despair of ever reaping that satisfaction which I promised to myself.

Wisdom - Who uses great industry, and prudence, and justice too, in the use and management of his affairs. To a man - Who has spent his days in sloth and folly. A great evil - A great disorder in itself, and a great torment to a considering mind.

For what - What comfort or benefit remains to any man after this short and frail life is once ended?

Sorrows - Full of sorrows. Tho' he took great and unwearied pains all his days, yet the toils of his body were accompanied with vexation of mind. His heart - Because his sleep was broken with perplexing cares.

Enjoy - That he should thankfully take, and freely and chearfully enjoy the comforts which God gives him. It was - A singular gift of God.

More than I - Therefore he could best tell whether they were able of themselves, without God's special gift, to yield a man content, in the enjoying of them. Who can pursue them with more diligence, obtain them with more readiness, or embrace them with more greediness?

Wisdom - To direct him how to use his comforts aright; that so they may be blessings, and not curses to him. Joy - A thankful contented mind. To heap up - He giveth him up to insatiable desires, and wearisome labours, that he may leave it to others, yea to such as he least desired, to good and virtuous men.

1 I Said in mine heart , Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth , therefore enjoy pleasure : and behold, this also is vanity .

Being disappointed of my hopes from Knowledg, I resolved in my own Mind to try another course.

O my Soul I will try whether I cannot make thee happy.

By allowing to my self the free enjoyment of the present and sensible Delights of humane Life.

Take thy fill of pleasure, and expect satisfaction thence.

Is vain, and unable to make men happy, because sensible pleasures are mean and unsutable to the noble and heaven-born Soul of Man, and if excessively used, apter to cloy and glut men, than to satisfie them, and are frequently mixed with, and most commonly end in bitterness, as being the great instruments and occasions of sin, and of all its fatal consequences.

2 I said of laughter , It is mad : and of mirth, What doth it ?

Of excessive Mirth, which discovers itself by immoderate Laughter, and other outward gestures.

This is an act and sign of madness, more fit for fools who know nothing, than for wise men, at least in this sinful, and dangerous, and deplorable state of mankind, which calls for seriousness and sorrow from all considerate persons, in which case it is like the laughter of one in a phrenzy. And none but a Fool, or mad-Man, can take satisfaction in such light and frothy Pleasures, or expect Happiness from them.

What good doth it? Or how can it make men happy? I challenge all the Epicures in the World to give me a solid and satisfactory Answer.

3 I sought in mine heart to give my self unto wine , (yet acquainting my 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 .

To relax and gratifie my flesh with delicious meats and drinks, Synecdochically expressed by Wine here, as also Prov. 9. 2. Cant. 2. 4. &c. as necessary food is by Bread, Amos 7. 12. compared with 8. 11.

Yet resolving to use my Wisdom, either 1. To set bounds to my pleasures. Or rather 2. That I might try whether I could not arrive at satisfaction, by mixing Wine and Wisdom together, by using Wine to sweeten and allay the toils of Wisdom, and Wisdom to prevent that destruction which many bring upon themselves by intemperate pleasures whilest they seek for satisfaction, that so I might have the comfort, without the danger and mischief of Pleasures.

To pursue and addict my self to carnal pleasures, which was my folly.

Till by trying several methods I might find out the true way to Contentment and Satisfaction, during this mortal Life.

Marginal references: Ch. 1. 17.; Heb. to draw my flesh with wine.; Heb. the number of the days of their life.

4 I made me great works , I built me houses , I planted me vineyards .

Magnificent works for my honour and delight.

Of which see 1 King. 7. 1, &c. & 9. 15, &c.

See Cant. 8. 11.

5 I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits .

Heb. Paradises, or Gardens of Pleasure.

Mixing Pleasure and Profit together.

6 I made me pools of water , to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees .

Because the Rain there fell but seldom.

The nurseries of young Trees newly planted in the Orchards, which for the multitude of them were like a Wood or Forrest.

7 I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house ; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle, above all that were in Jerusalem before me.

Of my Bond-servants, which therefore were a part of my possessions, See 1 King. 10. 1. Ezra. 2. 55.

Marginal references: Heb. sons of my house.

8 I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings , and of the provinces : I gat me men-singers and women-singers , and the delights of the sons of men , as musical instruments, and that of all sorts.

Either 1. Vast Riches, answerable to the State of a King. Or 2 The greatest Jewels and ra[illegible: 1+ letters]ities of other Kings, which they gave to me either as a Tribute, or by way of Present: of which see 1 King. 4. 21. & 9. 11. & 10. 2, 10.

Which were imposed upon or presented by all the Provinces of my Dominions.

Whose voices were more sweet than the Mens.

Either 1. All other delightful things. Or 2. That in which men generally delight, to wit, musical instruments, as it follows.

Marginal references: 1 Kin. 9. 28. & 10. 10, 14, 21, &c.; Heb. musical instruments, or a choice woman and choice women. Gr. men and women cup-bearers.

9 So I was great , and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me .

In Riches, and Power, and Glory.

As yet I was not wholly besotted and seduced from God by these things, as I was afterwards. I still had the use of my Reason, whereby I was capable of searching after and finding satisfaction, if it was to be had in those things.

10 And whatsoever mine eyes desired , I kept not from them , I with-held not my heart from any joy : for my heart rejoiced in all my labour , and this was my portion of my labour .

Whatsoever was grateful to my Senses, or my Heart desired. He ascribes desire to the Eyes, because the sight of the Eyes is the usual and powerful incentive of Desires; of which see Ios. 7. 21. Iob 31. 1. Mat. 5. 28.

I denied my self nothing, at least of lawful delights, but went to the very utmost bounds of them: which was the occasion of his falling afterward into sinful pleasures.

As my Heart was vehemently set upon Pleasure, so I did not resist or curb it therein, but made all possible provisions to gratifie it.

I had the comfort of all my Labours, and was not hindred from the free and full enjoyment of them by Sickness or War, or any other calamitous occurrent.

This present and temporary enjoyment of them, was all the benefit which I could expect or receive from all my Labours. So that I made the best of them, I had an heart to use them, which many men through Covetousness have not, and I tasted the sweetness of them, which many others cannot do; and therefore if any man could arrive at happiness by this means, I had done it.

Marginal references: Ch. 3. 22. & 5. 18. & 9. 9.

11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do : and behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit; and there was no profit under the sun.

I made a serious review of my former works and labours, and considered whether I had obtained that satisfaction in them which I designed and expected.

The pleasure was past and gone, and I was never the better for it, but as empty as before, and had nothing left but sorrowful reflections upon it.

k I found my self suddenly disappointed and wholly dissatisfied in this course.

Marginal references: Ch. 1. 3, 14.; Or, excellency.

12 And I turned my self to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly : for what can the man do that cometh after the king ? even that which hath been already done .

Of which see Ch. 1. 17. Being frustrated of my hopes in pleasure, I returned to a second and more serious consideration of my first choice, to see whether there was not more satisfaction to be gotten from wisdom, than what I discovered at my first view.

To find out the truth in this matter, to discover the utmost satisfaction which was possibly to be found in pleasures. So this is added as a reason why he gave over the thoughts of Pleasures, and directed them to another object, and why he so confidently asserted their vanity from his own particular Experience, because he had made the best of them, and it was a vain thing for any private man to expect that from them which could not be found by a King, and such a King, who had so much Wisdom to invent, and such vast Riches to pursue and enjoy all imaginable delights, and who had made it his design and business to search this to the bottom.

That succeeds me in this enquiry.

As by others in former times, so especially by my self. They can make no new discoveries as to this point.

Marginal references: Ch. 1. 13. & 7. 25.; Or, in those things which have been already done.

13 Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly , as far as light excelleth darkness .

Or, Yet I saw. For this is added to prevent an Objection or mistake.

Although Wisdom is not sufficient to make men truly and perfectly happy, yet it is of a far greater use and excellency than vain Pleasures, or any other follies.

i. e. Vastly and unspeakable. Light is very pleasant and comfortable, and withal of great necessity, and singular use to discover the differences of persons and things, to prevent mistakes and dangers, and to direct all a mans paths in the right way, whereas Darkness is in itself doleful, and leads men into innumerable Confusions, and Errours, and Miseries.

Marginal references: Heb. that there is an excellency in wisdom more than in folly, &c.

14 The wise mans eyes are in his head , but the fool walketh in darkness : and I my self perceived also, that one event happeneth unto them all .

In their proper place, and therefore they can see, which they could not do if they were out of his head. He hath the use of his Eyes and Reason, and sees his way, and orders all his affairs with discretion, and foresees, and so avoids many dangers and mischiefs.

Manageth his affairs ignorantly, rashly, and foolishly, whereby he sheweth that his Eyes are not in his head, but in his heels, or as it is expressed, Prov. 17. 24. in the ends of the earth.

Or, Yet, notwithstanding this excellency of Wisdom above folly, for our conduct in the matters of this Life, yet at last they both come to one end.

Both are subject to the same calamities, and to death itself which utterly takes away all difference between them.

Marginal references: Pro. 17. 24. Ch. 8. 1.; Ps. 49. 10. Ch. 9. 2, 3.

15 Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise ? Then I said in my heart, That this also is vanity.

What benefit have I by my Wisdom? Or, To what purpose did I desire and take so much pains for Wisdom?

Marginal references: Heb. happen [illegible: 1 word] to me, [illegible: 1 word] to me.

16 For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever ; seeing that which now is, in the days to come shall all be forgotten: and how dieth the wise man? as the fool .

Their Name and Memory, though it may flourish for a season among some men, yet it will not last for ever, but will in a little time be worn out, as we see in most of the wise men of [illegible: 1 word] ages, whose very Names, together with all their Monuments, are utterly lost, as hath been oft observed and bewailed by learned Writers in several Ages.

He must die as certainly as the fool, and after death be as little remembred and honoured.

17 Therefore I hated life , because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me : for all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

My Life, though accompanied with so much Honour, and Pleasure, and Wisdom, was a burden to me, and I was apt to wish either that I had never been born, or that I might speedily die.

All humane designs and works are so far from yielding me that satisfaction which I expected, that the consideration of them encreaseth my discontent.

18 Yea, I hated all my labour, which I had taken under the sun : because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me .

All these Riches, and Buildings, and other fruits of my labour, were the matter of my Repentance, and aggravations of my Misery.

Because I must, and that everlastingly, part with them, and leave them all behind me.

Marginal references: Heb. laboured.; Ps. 49. 10.

19 And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool ? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have shewed my self wise under the sun. This is also vanity.

Who will undo all that I have done, and turn the effects of my Wisdom into instruments of his Folly, and occasions of ruine. Some think he had such an Opinion of Rehoboam.

20 Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun.

I gave my self up to despondency, and despair of ever reaping that satisfaction which I promised to my self.

21 For there is a man whose labour is in wisdom, and in knowledg, and in equity : yet to a man that hath not laboured therein , shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity, and a great evil .

Who useth great Industry, and Prudence, and Justice too in the management of his affairs, and therefore might as confidently expect Gods blessing, and the comfort of his labours, as any other man.

So as I have done: who hath spent his days in sloth and folly.

A great disorder in itself, and a great disgrace to this World, and a great torment to a considering mind.

Marginal references: Heb. gi[illegible: 1+ letters]t..

22 For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart wherein he hath laboured under the sun?

What comfort or benefit remains to any man after this short and frail Life is once ended? Or, what advantage hath he by all his labours above him who never laboured, and yet enjoyeth all the fruits of his labours.

Marginal references: Ch. 1. 3. & 3. 9.

23 For all his days are sorrows , and his travel grief ; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night . This is also vanity.

Or, Though all his days were sorrows, i. e. full of sorrows. For this seems added to aggravate the evil mentioned in the foregoing verse. Though he took great and unwearied pains all his days, yet after death he hath no more benefit by it than another man hath.

The toils of his Body are, or were, accompanied with the vexations of his Mind.

Either because his mind is distracted, and his [illegible: 1+ letters]leep broken with perplexing cares and fears.

Marginal references: Job 14. 1.

24 There is nothing better for a man , than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in all his labour. This also I saw that it was from the hand of God .

Or, Is there any thing better for a man? Which implies that there is nothing better, to wit, for mans present comfort and satisfaction; this is the chief, and indeed the only considerable benefit of his labours.

That he should thankfully take, and freely and chearfully enjoy the comforts which God gives him.

That this also is a singular gift of God, and not to be procured by a mans own Wisdom or Diligence.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 3. 12, 13, 12. & 5. 18. 28. 15.; [illegible: 1 word], [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word].

25 For who can eat , or who else can hasten hereunto more than I?

Who can more freely and fully enjoy the Comforts of this Life than I did? This verse is added to confirm what he said in the foregoing verse from his own Experience, which was the more considerable, because no man ever was a more capable Judg of these matters, none could either have more Creature-comforts, or more addict himself to the enjoyment of them, or improve them to better advantage than he did, and therefore he could best tell what was the greatest good to be found in them, and whether they were able of themselves, without Gods special gift, to yield a man satisfaction.

To wit, to the procuring and enjoying of them. Who can pursue them with more diligence, or obtain them with more speed and readiness, or embrace them with more greediness and alacrity?

26 For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight , wisdom and knowledge , and joy : but to the sinner he giveth travel, to gather and to heap up , that he may give to him that is good before God . This also is vanity, and vexation of spirit.

Who not only seems to be good to Men, as many bad Men do, but is really and sincerely good. Or, who pleaseth him, as this Phrase is rendred, Eccl[illegible: 1+ letters]s. 7. 26. and oft elsewhere. Whereby he seems to intimate the Reason why he found no more comfort in his Labours, because his ways had been very displeasing to God, and therefore God justly denied him that gift.

To direct him how to use his Comforts aright, that so they may be blessings, and not snares and curses to him.

A thankful and contented Mind with his portion.

He giveth him up to insatiable desires, and wearisom labours, to little or no purpose.

That he may have no comfort in them, but leave them to others, yea to such as he least expected or desired, to good and virtuous men, into whose hands his Estate falls by the wise and all disposing Providence of God.

Marginal references: Heb. before [illegible: 1 word].; [illegible: 1+ letters]ob 27. 16, 17. Pro. 28. 8.

Ecc 2:1 “I have said in mine heart: Up then, I will prove thee with mirth, and enjoy thou the good! And, lo, this also is vain.” Speaking in the heart is not here merely, as at Ecc 1:16-17, speaking to the heart, but the words are formed into a direct address of the heart. The Targ. and Midrash obliterate this by interpreting as if the word were אנסּנּה, “I will try it” (Ecc 7:23). Jerome also, in rendering by vadam et affluam deliciis et fruar bonis, proceeds contrary to the usual reading of 'אן Niph. of נסך, vid., at Psa 2:6), as if this could mean, “I will pour over myself.” It is an address of the heart, and ב is, as at 1Ki 10:1, that of the means: I will try thee with mirth, to see whether thy hunger after satisfaction can be appeased with mirth. וּראה also is an address; Grätz sees here, contrary to the Gramm., an infin. continuing the בּשׂ; ūrēh, Job 10:15, is the connect. form of the particip. adj. rāěh; and if reēh could be the inf. after the forms naqqēh, hinnāqqēh, it would be the inf. absol., instead of which וּראות was to be expected. It is the imper.: See good, sinking thyself therein, i.e., enjoy a cheerful life. Elsewhere the author connects ראה less significantly with the accus. - obj., Ecc 5:17; Ecc 6:6; Ecc 2:24.

This was his intention; but this experiment also to find out the summum bonum proves itself a failure: he found a life of pleasure to be a hollow life; that also, viz., devotedness to mirth, was to him manifestly vanity.

Ecc 2:2 “To laughter I said: It is mad; and to mirth: What doth it issue in?” Laughter and mirth are personified; meholāl is thus not neut. (Hitz., a foolish matter), but mas. The judgment which is pronounced regarding both has not the form of an address; we do not need to supply אתּה and אתּ, it is objectively like an oratio obliqua: that it is mad; cf. Psa 49:12. In the midst of the laughter and revelling in sensual delight, the feeling came over him that this was not the way to true happiness, and he was compelled to say to laughter, It has become mad (part. Poal, as at Psa 102:9), it is like one who is raving mad, who finds his pleasure in self-destruction; and to joy (mirth), which disregards the earnestness of life and all due bounds, he is constrained to say, What does it result in? = that it produces nothing, i.e., that it brings forth no real fruit; that it produces only the opposite of true satisfaction; that instead of filling, it only enlarges the inner void. Others, e.g., Luther, “What doest thou?” i.e., How foolish is thy undertaking! Even if we thus explain, the point in any case lies in the inability of mirth to make man truly and lastingly happy, - in the inappropriateness of the means for the end aimed at. Therefore עשׂה is thus meant just as in עשׂה פרי (Hitz.), and מעשׂה, effect, Isa 32:17. Thus Mendelssohn: What profit does thou bring to me? Regarding זה; מה־זּה = mah-zoth, Gen 3:13, where it is shown that the demonstrative pronoun serves here to sharpen the interrogative: What then, what in all the world!

After this revelling in sensual enjoyment has been proved to be a fruitless experiment, he searches whether wisdom and folly cannot be bound together in a way leading to the object aimed at.

Ecc 2:3 “I searched in my heart, (henceforth) to nourish my body with wine, while my heart had the direction by means of wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what it was good for the children of men that they should do, all the number of the days of their life.” After he became conscious that unbridled sensual intoxication does not lead to the wished-for end, he looked around him farther, and examined into the following reception for happiness. Inappropriately, Zöckl., with Hengst.: “I essayed in my heart to nourish ....” תּוּר does not mean probare, but explorare, to spy out, Num 10:33, and frequently in the Book of Koheleth (here and at Ecc 1:13; Ecc 7:25) of mental searching and discovery (Targ. אלּל). With למשׁוך there then follows the new thing that is contrived. If we read משׁך and נהג in connection, then the idea of drawing a carriage, Isa 5:18, cf. Deu 21:3, and of driving a carriage, 2Sa 6:3, lies near; according to which Hitzig explains: “Wine is compared to a draught beast such as a horse, and he places wisdom as the driver on the box, that his horse may not throw him into a ditch or a morass.” But moshēk is not the wine, but the person himself who makes the trial; and nohēg is not the wisdom, but the heart, - the former thus only the means of guidance; no man expresses himself thus: I draw the carriage by means of a horse, and I guide it by means of a driv. Rightly the Syr.: “To delight (למבסמן, from בּסּם, oblectare) my flesh with wine.” Thus also the Targ. and the Venet., by “drawing the flesh.” The metaphor does not accord with the Germ. ziehen = to nourish by caring for (for which רבּה is used); it is more natural, with Gesen., to compare the passing of trahere into tractare, e.g., in the expression se benignius tractare (Horace, Ep. 1:17); but apart from the fact that trahere is a word of doubtful etymology,Vid., Crossen’s Nachtr. zur lat. Formenlehre, pp. 107-109.tractare perhaps attains the meaning of attending to, using, managing, through the intermediate idea of moving hither and thither, which is foreign to the Heb. משׁך, which means only to draw, - to draw to oneself, and hold fast (attractum sive prehensum tenere). As the Talm. משׁך occurs in the sense of “to refresh,” e.g., Chagiga 14 a: “The Haggadists (in contradistinction to the Halachists) refresh the heart of a man as with water”; so here, “to draw the flesh” = to bring it into willing obedience by means of pleasant attractions.Grätz translates: to embrocate my body with wine, and remarks that in this lies a raffinement. But why does he not rather say, “to bathe in wine”? If משׁח can mean “to embrocate,” it may also mean “to bathe,” and for ביין may be read ביוני: in Grecian, i.e., Falernian, Chian, wine.

The phrase which follows: velibbi nohēg bahhochmāh, is conditioning: While my heart had the direction by means of wisdom; or, perhaps in accordance with the more modern usus loq. While my heart guided, demeaned, behaved itself with wisdom. Then the inf. limshok, depending on tarti as its obj., is carried forward with velěěhhoz besichluth. Plainly the subject treated of is an intermediate thing (Bardach: ממצּעת). He wished to have enjoyment, but in measure, without losing himself in enjoyment, and thereby destroying himself. He wished to give himself over to sweet desipere, but yet with wise self-possession (because it is sadly true that ubi mel ibi fel) to lick the honey and avoid the gall. There are drinkers who know how to guide themselves so that they do not end in drunken madness; and there are habitual pleasure-seekers who yet know how so far to control themselves, that they do not at length become roués. Koheleth thus gave himself to a foolish life, yet tempered by wisdom, till there dawned upon him a better light upon the way to true happiness.

The expression of the donec viderem is old Heb. Instead of אי־זה טוב, quidnam sit bonum in indirect interrog. (as Ecc 11:6, cf. Jer 6:16), the old form מה־טוב (Heb 6:12) would lie at least nearer. Asher yǎǎsu may be rendered: quod faciant orut faciant; after Ecc 2:24; Ecc 3:22; Ecc 5:4; Ecc 7:18, the latter is to be assumed. The accus. designation of time, “through the number of days of their life,” is like Ecc 5:17; Ecc 6:12. We have not, indeed, to translate with Knobel: “the few days of their life,” but yet there certainly lies in מספּר the idea that the days of man’s life are numbered, and that thus even if they are not few but many (Ecc 6:3), they do not endure for ev.

The king now, in the verse following, relates his undertakings for the purpose of gaining the joys of life in fellowship with wisdom, and first, how he made architecture and gardening serviceable to this new style of life.

Ecc 2:4-6 “I undertook great works, built me houses, planted me vineyards. I made me gardens and parks, and planted therein all kinds of fruit-trees. I made me water-pools to water therewith a forest bringing forth trees.” The expression, “I made great my works,” is like Ecc 1:16; the verb contains the adj. as its obj. The love of wisdom, a sense of the beautiful in nature and art, a striving after splendour and dignity, are fundamental traits in Solomon’s character. His reign was a period of undisturbed and assured peace. The nations far and near stood in manifold friendly relations with him. Solomon was “the man of rest,” 1Ch 22:9; his whole appearance was as it were the embodied glory itself that had blossomed from out of the evils and wars of the reign of David. The Israelitish commonwealth hovered on a pinnacle of worldly glory till then unattained, but with the danger of falling and being lost in the world. The whole tendency of the time followed, as it were, a secular course, and it was Solomon first of all whom the danger of the love of the world, and of worldly conformity to which he was exposed, brought to ruin, and who, like so many of the O.T. worthies, began in the spirit and ended in the flesh. Regarding his buildings, - the house of the forest of Lebanon, the pillared hall (porch), the hall of judgment, the palace intended for himself and the daughter of Pharaoh, - vid. the description in 1Ki 7:1-12, gathered from the annals of the kingdom; 1Ki 9:15-22 = 2Ch 8:3-6, gives an account of Solomon’s separate buildings (to which also the city of Millo belongs), and of the cities which he built; the temple, store-cities, treasure-cities, etc., are naturally not in view in the passage before us, where it is not so much useful buildings, as rather buildings for pleasure (1Ki 9:19), that are referred to. Vineyards, according to 1Ch 27:27, belonged to David’s royal domain; a vineyard in Baal-hamon which Solomon possessed, but appears at a later period to have given up, is mentioned at the close of the Song. That he was fond of gardening, appears from manifold expressions in the Song; delight in the life and movements of the natural world, and particularly in plants, is a prominent feature in Solomon’s character, in which he agrees with Shulamith. The Song; Sol 6:2, represents him in the garden at the palace. We have spoken under the Song; Sol 6:11., of the gardens and parks at Etam, on the south-west of Bethlehem. Regarding the originally Persian word pardēs (plur. pardesim, Mishnic pardesoth), vid., under Sol 4:13; regarding the primary meaning of berēchah (plur. const. berēchoth, in contradistinction to birchoth, blessings), the necessary information is found under Sol 7:5. These Solomonic pools are at the present day to be seen near old Etam, and the clause here denoting a purpose, “to water from them a forest which sprouted trees, i.e., brought forth sprouting trees,” is suitable to these; for verbs of flowing and swarming, also verbs of growing, thought of transitively, may be connected with obj. - accus., Ewald, §281 b; cf. under Isa 5:6. Thus, as he gave himself to the building of houses, the care of gardens, and the erection of pools, so also to the cultivation of forests, with the raising of new trees.

Another means, wisely considered as productive of happiness, was a large household and great flocks of cattle, which he procured for himself.

Ecc 2:7 “I procured servants and maidens, and also I obtained servants born in the house; also the possession of flocks; I obtained many horned and small cattle before all who were in Jerusalem before me.” The obtaining of these possessions is, according to Gen 17:12., to be understood of purchase. There is a distinction between the slaves, male and female (mancipia), obtained by purchase, and those who were home-born (vernae), the בּית (ילידי) בּני, who were regarded as the chief support of the house (Gen 14:14), on account of their attachment to it, and to this day are called (Arab.) fada wayyt, as those who offer themselves a sacrifice for it, if need be. Regarding לי היה, in the sense of increasing possession; and regarding היה for היוּ, vid., at Ecc 1:10, Ecc 1:16; at all events, the sing. of the pred. may be explained from this, that the persons and things named are thought of in the mass, as at Zec 11:5; Joe 1:20 (although the idea there may be also individualizing); but in the use of the pass., as at Gen 35:26; Dan 9:24, the Semite custom is different, inasmuch as for it the passive has the force of an active without a definite subject, and thus with the most general subject; and as to the case lying before us in Ecc 2:7, we see from Exo 12:49, cf. Gen 15:17, that היה (יהיה) in such instances is thought of as neut. According to Gen 26:14 and the passage before us, מקנה lay nearer than מקנה, but the primary form instead of the connecting form is here the traditional reading; we have thus apposition (Nebenordnung) instead of subordination (Annexion), as in zevahim shelamim, Exo 24:5, and in habbaqar hannehhosheth, 2Ki 16:17, although vaqar vatson may also be interpreted as the accus. of the more accurate definition: the possession of flocks consisting in cattle and sheep. But this manner of construction is, for a book of so late an origin, too artificial. What it represents Solomon as saying is consistent with historical fact; at the consecration of the temple he sacrificed hecatombs, 1Ki 8:63; and the daily supply for the royal kitchen, which will at the same time serve to show the extent of the royal household, was, according to 1Ki 5:2., enormous.

There now follows the enumeration of riches and jewels which were a delight to the eye; and finally, the large provision made for revelling in the pleasures of music and of sensual love.

Ecc 2:8 “I heaped up for myself also silver and gold, and the peculiar property of kings and of countries; I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the children of men: mistress and mistresses.” The verb כּנשׁ כּנס, συνάγειν, is common to all Semitic dialects (also the to Assyr.), and especially peculiar to the more recent Heb., which forms from it the name of the religious community συναγωγή, כּנסת; it is used here of that which is brought together merely for the purpose of possession. Segūllah (from sagal, Targ., to make oneself possess), properly possession, and that something which specially and peculiarly belongs to one as his property; the word is here meant collect., as at 1Ch 29:3 : that which only kings and individual countries possess. The interchange of melachim, which is without the article, with the determ. hammedinoth, is arbitrary: something special, such as that which a king possesses, the specialities which countries possess, - one country this, and another that. The hammedinoth are certainly not exclusively the regions embraced within the dominion of Solomon (Zöckl.), as, according to Est 1:1, the Persian kingdom was divided into 127 medinoth. Solomon had a fleet which went to Ophir, was in a friendly relation with the royal house of Tyre, the metropolis of many colonies, and ruled over a widely-extended kingdom, bound by commerce with Central Asia and Africa. - His desires had thus ample opportunity to stretch beyond the limits of his own kingdom, and facilities enough for procuring the peculiar natural and artistic productions which other lands could boast of. Medinah is, first of all, a country, not as a territory, but as under one government (cf. Ecc 5:7); in the later philosophical language it is the Heb. word for the Greek πολιτεία; in the passage before us, medinoth is, however, not different from ארצות.

From the singing men and singing women who come into view here, not as appertaining to the temple service (vid., the Targ.), with which no singing women were connected, but as connected with the festivities of the court (2Sa 19:36; cf. Isa 5:12), advance is made to shiddah veshiddoth; and since these are designated by the preceding ותענגות (not ותענגּות) bene hāādam, especially as objects and means of earthly pleasure, and since, according to Heb 2:7, sexual love is the fairest and the most pleasant, in a word, the most attractive of all earthly delights (Solomon’s luxus, also here contradicting the law of the king, Deu 17:17, came to a height, according to 1Ki 11:3, after the example of Oriental rulers, in a harem of not fewer than one thousand women, princesses and concubines), of necessity, the expression shiddah veshiddoth must denote a multitude of women whom the king possessed for his own pleasure. Cup-bearers, male and female (Syr., lxx), cannot at all be understood, for although it may be said that the enumeration thus connects itself with the before-named בּיּין, yet this class of female attendants are not numbered among the highest human pleasures; besides, with such an explanation one must read שׁרה ושׁדות, and, in addition, שׁדא (to throw, to pour to, or pour out), to which this Heb. שׁדה may correspond, is nowhere used of the pouring out of wine. Rather might שׁדה, like שדא, hydria, be the name of a vessel from which one pours out anything, according to which Aq. translates by κυλίκιον καὶ κυλίκια, Symmachus, after Jerome, by mensurarum (read mensarum)Thus, according to Vallarsi, a Cod. Vat. and Cod. Palat. of the first hand.species et appositioines, and Jerome, scyphos et urceos in ministerio ad vina fundenda; but this word for kelē mashkēh, 1Ki 10:21 (= 2Ch 9:20), is not found. Also the Targ., which translates by dimasaya uvē venavan, public baths (δημόσια), and balneae, vindicates this translation by referring the word to the verb שׁדא, “with pipes which pour out (דּשׁרין) tepid water, and pipes which pour out hot water.” But this explanation is imaginary; שׁדּה occurs in the Mishna, Mikwaoth (of plunge-baths) Ecc 6:5, but there it denotes a chest which, when it swims in the water, makes the plunge-bath unsuitable. Such an untenable conceit also is the translation suggested by Kimchi, כלי זמר, according to which the Event. σύστεεμα καὶ συστήματα (in a musical sense: concentus), and Luther: “all kinds of musical instruments;” the word has not this meaning; Orelli, Sanchuniathon, p. 33, combines therewith Σιδών, according to the Phoenician myth, the inventress of the artistic song. The explanation by Kimchi is headed, “Splendour of every kind;” Ewald, Elster, and Zöckler find therein a general expression, following taanugoth: great heap and heaps = in great abundance [die Hülle und Fülle]. But the synon. of כבוד, “splendour,” is not שׁד, but עז; and that שׁדד, like עצם, is referred to a great number, is without proof. Thus shiddah veshiddoth will denote something definite; besides, “a large number” finds its expression in the climactic union of words. In the Jerus. Talm. Taanith Ecc 4:5, shiddah must, according to the gloss, be the name of a chariot, although the subject there is not that of motion forward, or moving quickly; it is there announced that Sîchîn, not far from Sepphoris, a place famed also for its pottery, formerly possessed 80 such shiddoth wholly of metal. The very same word is explained by Rashi, Baba kamma ix. 3, Shabbath 120 a, Erubin 30 b, Gittin 8 b, 68 a, Chagiga 25 a, and elsewhere, of a carriage of wood, and especially of a chariot for women and distinguished persons. The combination of the synonyms, shiddah uthivah umigdal, does not in itself mean more than a chest; and Rashi himself explains, Kethuboth 65 a, quolphi dashidah of the lock of a chest (argaz); and the author of Aruch knows no other meaning than that of a repository such as a chest. But in passages such as Gittin 8 b, the shiddah is mentioned as a means of transport; it is to all appearance a chest going on wheels, moved forward by means of wheels, but on that very account not a state-chariot. Rashi’s tradition cannot be verified.

Böttcher, in the Neue Aehrenlese, adduces for comparison the Syr. Shydlo, which, according to Castelli, signifies navis magna, corbita, arca; but from a merchant ship and a portable chest, it is a great way to a lady’s palanquin.

He translates: palanquin and palinquins = one consignment to the harem after another. Gesen., according to Rödiger, Thes. 1365 b, thinks that women are to be understood; for he compares the Arab. z'ynat, which signifies a women’s carriage, and then the woman herself (cf. our Frauenzimmer, women’s apartment, women, like Odaliske, from the Turk. oda, apartment). But this all stands or falls with that gloss of Rashi's: 'agalah lemerkavoth nashim usarim. Meanwhile, of all the explanations as yet advanced, this last of splendid coaches, palanquins is the best; for it may certainly be supposed that the words shiddah veshiddoth are meant of women. Aben Ezra explains on this supposition, shiddoth = shevuyoth, females captured in war; but unwarrantably, because as yet Solomon had not been engaged in war; others (vid., Pinsker’s Zur Gesch. des Karaismus, p. 296), recently Bullock, connect it with shadäim, in the sense of (Arab.) nahidah (a maiden with swelling breast); Knobel explains after shadad, to barricade, to shut up, occlusa, the female held in custody (cf. bethulah, the separated one, virgin, from bathal, cogn. badal); Hitzig, “cushions,” “bolsters,” from shanad, which, like (Arab.) firash, λέχος, is then transferred to the juncta toro. Nothing of all that is satisfactory. The Babyl. Gemara, Gittin 68 a, glosses ותען וגו by “reservoirs and baths,” and then further says that in the west (Palestine) they say שׁדּתא, chests (according to Rashi: chariots); but that here in this country (i.e., in Babylon) they translate shiddah veshiddoth by shēdah veshēdathin, which is then explained, “demons and demonesses,” which Solomon had made subservient to him.A demon, and generally a superhuman being, is called, as in Heb. שׁד, so in the Babyl.-Assyr. sîdu, vid., Norris’ Assyrian Dictionary, II p. 668; cf. Schrader, in the Jena. Lit. Zeit. 1874, p. 218f., according to which sîdu, with alap, is the usual name of Adar formed like an ox.

This haggadic-mytholog. interpretation is, linguistically at least, on the right track. A demon is not so named from fluttering or moving to and fro (Levy, Schönhak), for there is no evidence in the Semitic langauge of the existence of a verb שוד, to flee; also not from a verb sadad, which must correspond to the Heb. השׁתחוה, in the sense of to adore (Oppert’s Inscription du palais de Khorsabad, 1863, p. 96); for this meaning is more than doubtful, and, besides, שׁד is an active, and not a passive idea-much rather שׁד, Assyr. sîd, Arab. sayyid, signifies the mighty, from שׁוּד, to force, Psa 91:6.Vid., Friedrich Delitzsch’s Assyr. Theirnamen, p. 37.

In the Arab. (cf. the Spanish Cid) it is uniformly the name of a lord, as subduing, ruling, mastering (sabid), and the fem. sayyidat, of a lady, whence the vulgar Arab. sitti = my lady, and sîdi = my lord. Since שׁדד means the same as שׁוד, and in Heb. is more commonly used than it, so also the fem. form שׁדּה is possible, so much the more as it may have originated from שׁדה, 5 שׁיד = שׁד, by a sharpening contraction, like סגּים, from סיגים (Olsh. §83 c), perhaps intentionally to make שׁדה, a demoness, and the name of a lady (donna = domina) unlike. Accordingly we translate, with Gesen. and Meyer in their Handwört.: “lady and ladies;” for we take shiddoth as a name of the ladies of the harem, like shēglath (Assyr. saklâti) and lehhenath in the book of Daniel, on which Ahron b. Joseph the Karaite remarks: shedah hinqaroth shagal.

The connection expressing an innumerable quantity, and at the same time the greatest diversity, is different from the genitival dor dorim, generation of generations, i.e., lasting through all generations, Psa 72:5, from the permutative heightening the idea: rahham rahhamathaim, one damsel, two damsels, Jdg 5:30, and from that formed by placing together the two gram. genders, comprehending every species of the generic conception: mash'ēn umash'enah, Isa 3:3 (vid., comm. l.c., and Ewald, §172b). Also the words cited by Ewald (Syr.), rogo urogo, “all possible pleasures” (Cureton’s Spicil. p. 10), do not altogether accord with this passage for they heighten, like meod meod, by the repetition of the same expression. But similar is the Arab. scheme, mal wamwal, “possession and possessions,” i.e., exceeding great riches, where the collective idea, in itself according by its indetermination free scope to the imagination, is multiplied by the plur. being further added.

After Koheleth has enumerated all that he had provided for the purpose of gratifying his lusts, but without losing himself therein, he draws the conclusion, which on this occasion also shows a perceptible deficit.

Ecc 2:9 “And I became great, and was always greater than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me. And all that mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I refused not any kind of joy to my heart; for my heart had joy of all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour. And I turned myself to all the works which my hands had done, and to the labour which I had laboured to accomplish: and, behold, all was vain, and windy effort, and there was no true profit under the sun.” In vehosaphti there is here no obj. as at Ecc 1:16; the obj. is the gedullah, the greatness, to be concluded and thought of from vegadalti, “and I became great.” To the impers. היה for היוּ, 7 b, cf. 7 a, Ecc 1:16, Ecc 1:10. He became great, and always greater, viz., in the possession of all the good things, the possession of which seemed to make a man happy on this earth. And what he resolved upon, in the midst of this dulcis insania, viz., to deport himself as a wise man, he succeeded in doing: his wisdom forsook him not, viz., the means adapted to the end, and ruling over this colossal apparatus of sensual lust; אף, as e.g., at Psa 16:6, belongs to the whole clause; and עמד, with ל, does not mean here to stand by, sustain (Herzfeld, Ewald, Elster), which it might mean as well as על עמד, Dan 12:1, but to continue, as Jerome, and after him, Luther, translates: sapientia quoquo perseveravit mecum; the Targ. connects the ideas of continuance (lxx, Syr., Venet.) and of help; but the idea intended is that of continuance, for נהג, e.g., does not refer to helping, but self-maintaining.

Ecc 2:10

Thus become great and also continuing wise, he was not only in a condition to procure for himself every enjoyment, but he also indulged himself in everything; all that his eyes desired, i.e., all that they saw, and after which they made him lust (Deu 14:26) (cf. 1Jo 2:16), that he did not refuse to them (אצל, subtrahere), and he kept not back his heart from any kind of joy (מנע, with min of the thing refused, as at Num 24:11, etc., oftener with min, of him to whom it is refused, e.g., Gen 30:2), for (here, after the foregoing negations, coinciding with immo) his heart had joy of all his work; and this, viz., this enjoyment in full measure, was his part of all his work. The palindromic form is like Ecc 1:6; Ecc 4:1. We say in Heb. as well as in German: to have joy in (an, ב), anything, joy over (über, על) anything, or joy of (von, מן) anything; Koheleth here purposely uses min, for he wishes to express not that the work itself was to him an object and reason of joy, but that it became to him a well of joy (cf. Pro 5:18; 2Ch 20:27). Falsely, Hahn and others: after my work (min, as e.g., Psa 73:20), for thereby the causative connection is obliterated: min is the expression of the mediate cause, as the concluding sentence says: Joy was that which he had of all his work - this itself brought care and toil to him; joy, made possible to him thereby, was the share which came to him from it.

Ecc 2:11

But was this חלק a יתרון - was this gain that fell to him a true, satisfying, pure gain? With the words uphanithi ani he proposes this question, and answers it. פּנה (to turn to) is elsewhere followed by expressions of motion to an end; here, as at Job 6:28, by בּ, by virtue of a constructio praegnans: I turned myself, fixing my attention on all my works which my hands accomplished. La'asoth is, as at Gen 2:3 (vid., l.c.), equivalent to perficiendo, carrying out, viz., such works of art and of all his labour. The exclamation “behold” introduces the summa summarum. Regardingיתרון, vid., Ecc 1:3. Also this way of finding out that which was truly good showed itself to be false. Of all this enjoyment, there remained nothing but the feeling of emptiness. What he strove after appeared to him as the wind; the satisfaction he sought to obtain at such an expense was nothing else than a momentary delusion. And since in this search after the true happiness of life he was in a position more favourable for such a purpose than almost any other man, he is constrained to draw the conclusion that there is no יתרון, i.e., no real enduring and true happiness, from all labour under the sun.

Ecc 2:12 “And I turned myself to examine wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what is the man who could come after the king, him whom they have made so long ago!” Mendelssohn’s translation, Ecc 2:12: “I abandoned my design of seeking to connect wisdom with folly and madness,” is impossible, because for such a rendering we should have had at least מלּראות instead of לראות. Hitzig, otherwise followed by Stuart: “I turned myself to examine me wisdom, and, lo, it was madness as well as folly.” This rendering is impossible also, for in such a case הנּהו ought to have stood as the result, after חכמה. The pasage, Zec 14:6, cited by Hitz., does not prove the possibility of such a brachyology, for there we read not veqaroth veqeppayon, but eqaroth iqeppaūn (the splendid ones, i.e., the stars, will draw themselves together, i.e., will become dark bodies). The two vavs are not correlative, which is without example in the usage of this book, but copulative: he wishes to contemplate (Zöckler and others) wisdom on the one side, and madness and folly on the other, in their relation to each other, viz., in their relative worth. Hitzig’s ingenuity goes yet further astray in Ecc 2:12: “For what will the man do who comes after the king? (He shall do) what was long ago his (own) doing, i.e., inheriting from the king the throne, he will not also inherit his wisdom.” Instead of āsūhū, he reads ǎsōhū, after Exo 18:18; but the more modern author, whose work we have here before us, would, instead of this anomalous form, use the regular form עשׂותו; but, besides, the expression ēth asher-kevar 'asotho, “(he will do) what long ago was his doing,” is not Heb.; the words ought to have been keasotho kevar khen i'sah, or at least 'asāhū. If we compare Ecc 2:12 with 18 b, the man who comes after the king appears certainly to be his successor.The lxx and Symm. by hammělêk think of melak, counsel, βουλή, instead of melek, king; and as Jerome, so also Bardach understands by the king the rex factor, i.e., God the Creator.

But by this supposition it is impossible to give just effect to the relation (assigning a reason or motive) of Ecc 2:12 to 12 a expressed by כּי. When I considered, Knobel regards Koheleth as saying, that a fool would be heir to me a wise man, it appeared strange to me, and I was led to compare wisdom and folly to see whether or not the wise man has a superiority to the fool, or whether his labour and his fate are vanity, like those of the fool. This is in point of style absurd, but it is much more absurd logically. And who then gave the interpreter the right to stamp as a fool the man who comes after the king? In the answer: “That which has long ago been done,” must lie its justification; for this that was done long ago naturally consists, as Zöckler remarks, in foolish and perverse undertakings, certainly in the destruction of that which was done by the wise predecessor, in the lavish squandering of the treasures and goods collected by him. More briefly, but in the same sense, Burger: Nihil quod a solita hominum agendi ratione recedit. But in Ecc 2:19, Koheleth places it as a question whether his successor will be a wise man or a fool, while here he would presuppose that “naturally,” or as a matter of course, he will be a fool. In the matter of style, we have nothing to object to the translation on which Zöckler, with Rabm., Rosenm., Knobel, Hengst., and others, proceeds; the supplying of the verb יעשׂה to meh hāādām = what can the man do? is possible (cf. Mal 2:15), and the neut. interpret. of the suffix of עשׂוּהוּ is, after Ecc 7:13; Amo 1:3; Job 31:11, admissible; but the reference to a successor is not connected with the course of the thoughts, even although one attaches to the plain words a meaning which is foreign to them. The words עשׂוּהוּ...את are accordingly not the answer to the question proposed, but a component part of the question itself. Thus Ewald, and with him Elster, Heiligst., construes: “How will the man be who will follow the king, compared with him whom they made (a king) long ago, i.e., with his predecessor?” But את, in this pregnant sense, “compared with,” is without example, at least in the Book of Koheleth, which generally does not use it as a prep.; and, besides, this rendering, by introducing the successor on the throne, offends against the logic of the relation of Ecc 2:12 to Ecc 2:12.

The motive of Koheleth’s purpose, to weigh wisdom and folly against each other as to their worth, consists in this, that a king, especially such an one as Solomon was, has in the means at his disposal and in the extent of his observation so much more than everyother, that no one who comes after him will reach a different experience. This motive would be satisfactorily expressed on the supposition that the answer begins with את, if one should read עשׂהוּ for עשׂוּהוּ: he will be able to do (accomplish) nothing but what he (the king) has long ago done, i.e., he will only repeat, only be able to confirm, the king’s report. But if we take the text as it here stands, the meaning is the same; and, besides, we get rid of the harsh ellipsis měh hāādām for měh yǎǎsěh hāādām. We translate: for what is the man who might come after the king, him whom they have made so long ago! The king whom they made so long ago is Solomon, who has a richer experience, a more comprehensive knowledge, the longer the time (viz., from the present time backwards) since he occupied the throne. Regarding the expression eth asher = quem, instead of the asher simply, vid., Köhler under Zec 12:10. עשׂוּהוּ, with the most general subj., is not different from נעשׂה, which, particularly in the Book of Daniel (e.g., Dan 4:28.), has frequently an active construction, with the subject unnamed, instead of the passive (Gesen. §137, margin). The author of the Book of Koheleth, alienated from the theocratic side of the kingdom of Israel, makes use of it perhaps not unintentionally; besides, Solomon’s elevation to the throne was, according to 1 Kings 1, brought about very much by human agency; and one may, if he will, think of the people in the word 'asuhu also, according to 1Ki 1:39, who at last decided the matter. Meh before the letters hheth and ayin commonly occurs: according to the Masora, twenty-four times; before other initial letters than these, eight times, and three of these in the Book of Koheleth before the letter he, Ecc 2:12, Ecc 2:22; Ecc 7:10. The words are more an exclamation than a question; the exclamation means: What kind of a man is that who could come after the king! cf. “What wickedness is this!” etc., Jdg 20:12; Jos 22:16; Exo 18:14; 1Ki 9:13, i.e., as standing behind with reference to me-the same figure of extenuatio, as mah adam, Psa 144:3; cf. Ecc 8:5.

There now follows an account of what, on the one side, happened to him thus placed on a lofty watch-tower, such as no other occupied.

Ecc 2:13-15 “And I saw that wisdom has the advantage over folly, as light has the advantage over darkness. The wise man has eyes in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness.” In the sacred Scriptures, “light” is generally the symbol of grace, Psa 43:3, but also the contrast of an intellectually and morally darkened state, Isa 51:4. To know a thing is equivalent to having light on it, and seeing it in its true light (Psa 36:10); wisdom is thus compared to light; folly is once, Job 38:19, directly called “darkness.” Thus wisdom stands so much higher than folly, as light stands above darkness.יתרון, which hitherto denoted actual result, enduring gain, signifies here preference; along with כּיתרוןThus written, according to J and other authorities. there is also found the form כּיתרוןThus Ven. 1515, 1521; vid., Comm. under Gen 27:28-29; Psa 45:10. (vid., Pro 30:17). The fool walks in darkness: he is blind although he has eyes (Isa 43:8), and thus has as good as none, - he wants the spiritual eye of understanding (Job 10:3); the wise man, on the other hand, his eyes are in his head, or, as we also say: he has eyes in his head, - eyes truly seeing, looking at and examining persons and things. That is the one side of the relation of wisdom to folly as put to the test.

The other side of the relation is the sameness of the result in which the elevation of wisdom above folly terminates. “And I myself perceived that one experience happeneth to them all. And I said in my heart, As it will happen to the fool, it will happen also to me; and why have I then been specially wise? Thus I spake then in my heart, that this also is vain.” Zöckler gives to גּם an adversative sense; but this gam (= ὃμως, similiter) stands always at the beginning of the clause, Ewald, §354a. Gam-ani corresponds to the Lat. ego idem, which gives two predicates to one subject; while et ipse predicates the same of the one of two subjects as it does of the other (Zumpt, §697). The second gam-ani serves for the giving of prominence to the object, and here precedes, after the manner of a substantival clause (cf. Isa 45:12; Eze 33:17; 2Ch 28:10), as at Gen 24:27; cf. Gesen. §121. 3. Miqrěh (from קרה, to happen, to befall) is quiquid alicui accidit (in the later philosoph. terminol. accidens; Venet. συμβεβεεκός); but here, as the connection shows, that which finally puts an end to life, the final event of death. By the word יד the author expresses what he had observed on reflection; by בּל...אם, what he said inwardly to himself regarding it; and by דּבּ דל, what sentence he passed thereon with himself. Lammah asks for the design, as maddu'a for the reason. אז is either understood temporally: then when it is finally not better with me than with the fool (Hitz. from the standpoint of the dying hour), or logically: if yet one and the same event happeneth to the wise man and to the fool (Eslt.); in the consciousness of the author both are taken together.The זה of the conclusion refers, not, as at Ecc 1:17, to the endeavouring after and the possession of wisdom, but to this final result making no difference between wise men and fools. This fate, happening to all alike, is הבל, a vanity rendering all vain, a nullity levelling down all to nothing, something full of contradictions, irrational. Paul also (Rom 8:20) speaks of this destruction, which at last comes upon all, as a ματαιότης.

The author now assigns the reason for this discouraging result.

Ecc 2:16 “For no remembrance of the wise, as of the fool, remains for ever; since in the days that are to come they are all forgotten. And how dieth the wise man: as the fool!” As in Ecc 1:11, so here זכרון is the principal form, not different from זכּרון. Having no remembrance forever, is equivalent to having no eternal endurance, having simply no onward existence (Ecc 9:6). עם is both times the comparat. combin., as at Ecc 7:11; Job 9:26; Job 37:18; cf. יחד, Psa 49:11. There are, indeed, individual historically great men, the memory of whom is perpetuated from generation to generation in words and in monuments; but these are exceptions, which do not always show that posterity is able to distinguish between wise men and fools. As a rule, men have a long appreciating recollection of the wise as little as they have of the fools, for long ago (vid., beshekvar, p. 640) in the coming days (כּב אבּ, accus. of the time, like the ellipt.הב, Isa 27:6) all are forgotten; הכּל is, as at Psa 14:3, meant personally: the one as the other; and נשׁכּח is rendered by the Masora, like Psa 9:6, כּב אב, as the pausal form of the finite; but is perhaps thought of as part., denoting that which only in the coming days will become too soon a completed fact, since those who survive go from the burial of the one, as well as from that of the other, to the ordinary duties of the day. Death thus sinks the wise man, as it does the fool, in eternal oblivion; it comes to both, and brings the same to both, which extorted from the author the cry: How dieth the wise man? as the fool! Why is the fate which awaits both thus the same! This is the pointed, sarcastic איך (how!) of the satirical Mashal, e.g., Isa 14:4; Eze 26:17; and ימוּת is = moriendum est, as at 2Sa 3:3, moriendum erat. Rambach well: איך est h. l. particula admirationis super rei indignitate.

What happened to the author from this sorrowful discovery he now states.

Ecc 2:17 “The life became hateful to me; for the work which man accomplsihes under the sun was grievous to me: because all is vain and windy effort.” He hated life; and the labour which is done under the sun, i.e., the efforts of men, including the fate that befalls men, appeared to him to be evil (repugnant). The lxx translate: πονηρὸν επ ̓ ἐμέ; the Venet.: κακὸν ἐπ ̓ ἐμοί; and thus Hitzig: as a woeful burden lying on me. But עלי רע is to be understood after tov al, Est 3:9, etc., cf. Psa 16:6, and as synon. with בּעיני or לפני (cf. Dan. 3:32), according to which Symmachus: κακὸν γάρ μοι ἐφάνη. This al belongs to the more modern usus loq., cf. Ewald, §217 i. The end of the song was also again the grievous ceterum censeo: Vanity, and a labour which has wind as its goal, wind as its fruit.

Ecc 2:18 “And I hated all my labour with which I laboured under the sun, that I should leave it to the man who shall be after me;” i.e., not: who shall come into existence after me, but: who shall occupy my place after me. The fiction discovers itself here in the expression: “The king,” who would not thus express himself indefinitely and unsympathetically regarding his son and successor on the throne, is stripped of his historical individuality. The first and third שׁ are relat. pron. (quem, after the schema egymologicum עמל עמל, Ecc 2:11, Ecc 9:9, and qui), the second is relat. conj. (eo) quod. The suffix of שׁאן refers to the labour in the sense of that which is obtained by wearisome labour, accomplished or collected with labour; cf. כּח, product, fruit, Gen 4:12; עבודה, effect, Isa 32:17.

How this man will be circumstanced who will have at his disposal that for which he has not laboured, is uncertain.

Ecc 2:19 “And who knoweth whether he shall be wise or foolish? and he will have power over all my labour with which had wearied myself, and had acted wisely, under the sun: this also is vain.” או...ה, instead of אם...ה, in the double question, as at Job 16:3. What kind of a man he will be no one can previously know, and yet this person will have free control (cf. שׁלט, p.641) over all the labour that the testator has wisely gained by labour - a hendiadys, for חכם with the obj. accus. is only in such a connection possible: “my labour which I, acting wisely, gained by labour.”

In view of this doubtful future of that which was with pains and wisely gained by him, his spirit sank within him.

Ecc 2:20 “Then I turned to give up my heart on account of = to despair of all the labour with which I wearied myself under the sun.” As at 1Sa 22:17., Sol 2:17; Jer 41:14, סבב has here the intrans. meaning, to turn about (lxx ἐπέστρεψα = ἐπεστρεψάμην). Hitzig remarks that פנה and שוב signify, “to turn round in order to see,” and סבב, on the contrary, “to turn round in order to do.” But פנה can also mean, “to turn round in order to do,” e.g., Lev 26:9; and סבב, “to turn in order to examine more narrowly,” Ecc 7:25. The distinction lies in this, that פנה signifies a clear turning round; סבב, a turning away from one thing to another, a turning in the direction of something new that presents itself (Ecc 4:1, Ecc 4:7; Ecc 9:11). The phrase, יאשׁ את־בלבּו,With Pathach under the yod in the text in Biblia Rabb. and the note ל Thus also in the ms. Parva Masora, and e.g., Cod. P. closely corresponds to the Lat. despondet animum, he gives up his spirits, lets them sink, i.e., he despairs. The old language knows only נואשׁ, to give oneself up, i.e., to give up hope in regard to anything; and נואשׁ, given up, having no prospect, in despair. The Talm., however, uses along with nithyāēsh (vid., p. 638) not only noǎsh, but also יאשׁ, in the sense of despair, or the giving up of all hope (subst. יאוּשׁ), Mezîa 21 b, from which it is at once evident that יאשׁ, is not to be thought of as causative (like the Arab. ajjasa and aiasa), but as simply transitive, with which, after the passage before us, לבו is to be thought of as connected. He turned round to give up all heart. He had no more any heart to labour.

Ecc 2:21 “For there is a man who labours with wisdom, and knowledge, and ability; and to a man who has not laboured for it, must he leave it as his portion: also that is vain, and a great evil.” Ewald renders: whose labour aims after wisdom. But בּח וטו do not denote obj. (for the obj. of עמל is certainly the portion which is to be inherited), but are particular designations of the way and manner of the labour. Instead of שׁעמל, there is used the more emphatic form of the noun: שׁעמלו, who had his labour, and performed it; 1Sa 7:17, cf. Jer 9:5, Jer 9:6, “Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit,” and Hitz. under Job 9:27. Kishron is not ἀνδρεία (lxx), manliness, moral energy (Elster), but aptness, ability, and (as a consequence connecting itself therewith) success, good fortune, thus skilfulness conducting to the end. בּו refers to the object, and יתּננּוּ to the result of the work; חלקו is the second obj.-accus., or, as we rather say, pred.-accus.: as his portion, viz., inheritance.

That what one has gained by skill and good fortune thus falls to the lot of another who perhaps recklessly squanders it, is an evil all the greater in proportion to the labour and care bestowed on its acquisition.

Ecc 2:22-23 “For what has man of all his labour, and the endeavours of his heart with which he wearies himself under the sun? All his days are certainly in sorrows, and his activity in grief; his heart resteth not even in the night: also this is vain.” The question literally is: What is (comes forth, results) to a man from all his labour; for “to become, to be, to fall to, happen to,” is the fundamental idea of הוה (whence here הוה, γινόμενον, as at Neh 6:6, γενεεσόμενος) or היה, the root signification of which is deorsum ferri, cadere, and then accidere, fieri, whence הוּה, eagerness precipitating itself upon anything (vid., under Pro 10:3), or object.: fall, catastrophe, destruction. Instead of שׁהוּא, there is here to be written שׁהוּא,Thus according to tradition, in H, J, P, vid., Michlol 47 b, 215 b, 216 a; vid., also Norzi. as at Ecc 3:18 שׁהם. The question looks forward to a negative answer. What comes out of his labour for man? Nothing comes of it, nothing but disagreeableness. This negative contained in the question is established by כּי, 23 a. The form of the clause, “all his days are sorrows,” viz., as to their condition, follows the scheme, “the porch was 20 cubits,” 2Ch 3:4, viz., in measurement; or, “their feast is music and wine,” Isa 5:12, viz., in its combination (vid., Philippi’s Stat. Const. p. 90ff.). The parallel clause is וכעם ענינו, not כו; for the final syllable, or that having the accent on the penult, immediately preceding the Athnach-word, takes Kametz, as e.g., Lev 18:5; Pro 25:3; Isa 65:17 (cf. Olsh. §224, p. 440).But cf. also ולא with Zakeph Katan, 2Ki 5:17; ואר וגו with Tiphcha, Isa 26:19; and וריב under Psa 45:10.

Many interpreters falsely explain: at aegritudo est velut quotidiana occupatio ejus. For the sake of the parallelism, ענינו (from ענה, to weary oneself with labour, or also to strive, aim; vid., Psalmen, ii. 390) is subj. not pred.: his endeavour is grief, i.e., brings only grief or vexation with it.

Even in the night he has no rest; for even then, though he is not labouring, yet he is inwardly engaged about his labour and his plans. And this possession, acquired with such labour and restlessness, he must leave to others; for equally with the fool he fails under the stroke of death: he himself has no enjoyment, others have it; dying, he must leave all behind him, - threefold הבל, Ecc 2:17, Ecc 2:21, Ecc 2:23, and thus הבלים הבל.

Ecc 2:24 “There is nothing better among men, than that one eat and drink, and that he should pamper his soul by his labour: this also have I seen, that it is in the hand of God.” The lxx, as well as the other Greek transl., and Jerome, had before them the words באדם שיאכל. The former translates: “Man has not the good which he shall eat and drink,” i.e., also this that he eats ... is for him no true good; but the direct contrary of this is what Koheleth says. Jerome seeks to bring the thought which the text presents into the right track, by using the form of a question: nonne melius est comedere ...; against this Ecc 3:12, Ecc 3:22; Ecc 8:15, are not to be cited where טוב אין stands in the dependent sentence; the thought is not thus to be improved; its form is not this, for טוב rof ,siht, beginning a sentence, is never interrog., but affirm.; thus טוב אין is not = הלא טוב, but is a negative statement. It is above all doubt, that instead of שׁיּ בּאדם we must read בּאדם משּׁיּ, after Ecc 3:12, Ecc 3:22; Ecc 8:15; for, as at Job 33:17, the initial letter mem after the terminal mem has dropped out. Codd. of the lxx have accordingly corrected ὃ into πλὴν ὃ or εἰ μὴ ὃ (thus the Compl. Ald.), and the Syr. and Targ. render ש here by אלא דּ and אלהן דּ unless that he eat; Jerome also has non est bonum homini nisi quod in his Comm.; only the Venet. seeks to accommodate itself to the traditional text. Besides, only מ is to be inserted, not אם כי; for the phrase לאכל אם כי is used, but not כי אם ס. Instead of ba-a-da-m, the form la-a-da-m would be more agreeable, as at Ecc 6:12; Ecc 8:15. Hitzig remarks, without proof, that bāādām is in accordance with later grammatical forms, which admit ב = “for” before the object. ב, Ecc 10:17, is neither prep. of the object, nor is ἐν, Sir. 3:7, the exponent of the dative (vid., Grimm). bāādām signifies, as at 2Sa 23:3, and as ἐν ἀνθ, Sir. 11:14, inter homines; also Ecc 3:12 designates by טוב טוב what among them (men) has to be regarded as good.

It is interesting to see how here the ancient and the modern forms of the language run together, without the former wholly passing over into the latter; משׁי, quam ut edat, is followed by norm. perfects, in accordance with that comprehensive peculiarity of the old syntax which Ewald, by an excellent figure, calls the dissolution of that which is coloured into grey. טוב ... הד is equivalent to לו הי, Psa 49:19, the causative rendering of the phrase טוב ראה, Ecc 3:13, or ר טובה, Ecc 5:17; Ecc 6:6. It is well to attend to בּעמלו by his labour, which forms an essential component part of that which is approved of as good. Not a useless sluggard-life, but a life which connects together enjoyment and labour, is that which Koheleth thinks the best in the world. But this enjoyment, lightening, embellishing, seasoning labour, has also its But: etiam hoc vidi e manu Dei esse (pendere). The order of the words harmonizes with this Lat.; it follows the scheme referred to at Gen 1:4; cf. on the contrary, Ecc 3:6. Instead of גּם־זה, neut. by attraction, there is here the immediately neut. גּם־זה; the book uniformly makes use of this fem. form instead of זאת. This or that is “in the hand of God,” i.e., it is His gift, Ecc 3:13, Ecc 3:18, and it is thus conditioned by Him, since man cannot give it to himself; cf. minni, Isa 30:1; mimmenni, Hos 8:4; mimmennu, 1Ki 20:33.

This dependence of the enjoyment of life on God is established.

Ecc 2:25 “For who can eat, and who can have enjoyment, without [= except from Him?]” Also here the traditional text is tenable: we have to read ממנו חוץ, after the lxx (which Jerome follows in his Comm.) and the Syr. If we adopt the text as it lies before us, then the meaning would be, as given by Gumpel,Vid., regarding his noteworthy Comm. on Koheleth, my Jesurun, pp. 183 and 195. The author bears the name among Christians of Professor Levisohn. and thus translated by Jerome: Quis ita devorabit et deliciis effluet ut ego? But (1) the question thus understood would require ממּנּי יותר, which Gumpel and others silently substitute in place of חוץ ם; (2) this question, in which the king adjudicates to himself an unparalleled right to eat and to enjoy himself, would stand out of connection with that which precedes and follows.

Even though with Ginsburg, after Rashi, Aben Ezra, and Rashbam, we find in Ecc 2:25 the thought that the labourer has the first and nearest title to the enjoyment of the fruit of his labour (חוץ ם thus exemplif. as Ecc 4:8, ע ... למי), the continuation with כּי, Ecc 2:26, is unsuitable; for the natural sequence of the thoughts would then be this: But the enjoyment, far from being connected with the labour as its self-consequence and fruit, is a gift of God, which He gives to one and withholds from another. If we read ממּנּוּ, then the sequence of the thoughts wants nothing in syllogistic exactness. חוּשׁ .ssen here has nothing in common with חוּשׁ = Arab. ḥât, to proceed with a violent, impetuous motion, but, as at Job 20:2, is = Arab. ḥss, stringere (whence hiss, a sensible impression); the experience here meant is one mediated by means of a pleasant external enjoyment. The lxx, Theod., and Syr. translate: (and who can) drink, which Ewald approves of, for he compares (Arab.) ḥasa (inf. ḥasy), to drink, to sip. But this Arab. verb is unheard of in Heb.; with right, Heiligst. adheres to the Arab., and at the same time the modern Heb. ḥass, חושׁ, sentire, according to which Schultens, quis sensibus indulserit. ממנו חוּץ is not = ולא ם, “except from him” (Hitz., Zöckl.), but מן חוץ together mean “except;” cf. e.g., the Mishnic לאמנה וחוץ לם, beyond the time and place suitable for the thank-offering, חוץ מאחד מהם, excepting one of the same, Menachoth vii. 3, for which the old Heb. would in the first case use בלא, and in the second זולא or מן לבד (= Aram. מן בּר) (vid., p. 637). Accordingly ממנו חוץ means practer cum (Deum), i.e., unless he will it and make it possible, Old Heb. מבּ, Gen 41:44.

In enjoyment man is not free, it depends not on his own will: labour and the enjoyment of it do not stand in a necessary connection; but enjoyment is a gift which God imparts, according as He regards man as good, or as a sinner.

Ecc 2:26 “For to a man who appears to Him as good, He gave wisdom, and knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner He gave the work of gathering and heaping up, in order to give it to him who appears to Him as good: this also is vain, and grasping after the wind;” viz., this striving after enjoyment in and of the labour - it is “vain,” for the purpose and the issue lie far apart; and “striving after the wind,” because that which is striven for, when one thinks that he has it, only too often cannot be grasped, but vanishes into nothing. If we refer this sentence to a collecting and heaping up (Hengst., Grätz, and others), then the author would here come back to what has already been said, and that too in the foregoing section; the reference also to the arbitrary distribution of the good things of life on the part of God (Knobel) is inadmissible, because “this, although it might be called הבל, could not also be called רוח רעות“ (Hitz.); and perfectly inadmissible the reference to the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, and joy (Bullock), for referred to these the sentence gains a meaning only by introducing all kinds of things into the text which here lie out of the connection.

Besides, what is here said has indeed a deterministic character, and לפניו, especially if it is thought of in connection with ולח,Written with segol under ט in P, Biblia Rabb., and elsewhere. Thus correctly after the Masora, according to which this form of the word has throughout the book segol under ,ט with the single exception of Ecc 7:26. Cf. Michol 124 b, 140 b. sounds as if to the good and the bad their objective worth and distinction should be adjudicated; but this is not the meaning of the author; the unreasonable thought that good or bad is what God’s arbitrary ordinance and judgment stamp it to be, is wholly foreign to him. The “good before Him” is he who appears as good before God, and thus pleases Him, because he is truly good; and the חוטא, placed in contrast, as at Ecc 7:26, is the sinner, not merely such before God, but really such; here לפניו has a different signification than when joined with טוב: one who sins in the sight of God, i.e., without regarding Him (Luk 15:18, ἐνώπιον), serves sin. Regarding ענין, vid., under 23 a: it denotes a business, negotium; but here such as one fatigues himself with, quod negotium facessit. Among the three charismata, joy stands last, because it is the turning-point of the series of thoughts: joy connected with wise, intelligent activity, is, like wisdom and intelligence themselves, a gift of God. The obj. of לתת (that He may give it) is the store gathered together by the sinner; the thought is the same as that at Pro 13:22; Pro 28:8; Job 27:16. The perfect we have so translated, for that which is constantly repeating itself is here designated by the general expression of a thing thus once for all ordained, and thus always continued.

Vanity of Worldly Pleasure.

1 I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity. 2 I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it? 3 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. 4 I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards: 5 I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits: 6 I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees: 7 I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me: 8 I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts. 9 So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me. 10 And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour. 11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

Solomon here, in pursuit of the summum bonum—the felicity of man, adjourns out of his study, his library, his elaboratory, his council-chamber, where he had in vain sought for it, into the park and the playhouse, his garden and his summer-house; he exchanges the company of the philosophers and grave senators for that of the wits and gallants, and the beaux-esprits, of his court, to try if he could find true satisfaction and happiness among them. Here he takes a great step downward, from the noble pleasures of the intellect to the brutal ones of sense; yet, if he resolve to make a thorough trial, he must knock at this door, because here a great part of mankind imagine they have found that which he was in quest of.

I. He resolved to try what mirth would do and the pleasures of wit, whether he should be happy if he constantly entertained himself and others with merry stories and jests, banter and drollery; if he should furnish himself with all the pretty ingenious turns and repartees he could invent or pick up, fit to be laughed over, and all the bulls, and blunders, and foolish things, he could hear of, fit to be ridiculed and laughed at, so that he might be always in a merry humour. 1. This experiment made (v. 1): "Finding that in much wisdom is much grief, and that those who are serious are apt to be melancholy, I said in my heart" (to my heart), "Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth; I will try if that will give thee satisfaction." Neither the temper of his mind nor his outward condition had any thing in them to keep him from being merry, but both agreed, as did all other advantages, to further it; therefore he resolved to take a lease this way, and said, "Enjoy pleasure, and take thy fill of it; cast away care, and resolve to be merry." So a man may be, and yet have none of these fine things which he here got to entertain himself with; many that are poor are very merry; beggars in a barn are so to a proverb. Mirth is the entertainment of the fancy, and, though it comes short of the solid delights of the rational powers, yet it is to be preferred before those that are merely carnal and sensual. Some distinguish man from the brutes, not only as animal rationale—a rational animal, but as animal risibile—a laughing animal; therefore he that said to his soul, Take thy ease, eat and drink, added, And be merry, for it was in order to that that he would eat and drink. "Try therefore," says Solomon, "to laugh and be fat, to laugh and be happy." 2. The judgment he passed upon this experiment: Behold, this also is vanity, like all the rest; it yields no true satisfaction, v. 2. I said of laughter, It is mad, or, Thou art mad, and therefore I will have nothing to do with thee; and of mirth (of all sports and recreations, and whatever pretends to be diverting), What doeth it? or, What doest thou? Innocent mirth, soberly, seasonable, and moderately used, is a good thing, fits for business, and helps to soften the toils and chagrins of human life; but, when it is excessive and immoderate, it is foolish and fruitless. (1.) It does no good: What doeth it? Cui bono—of what use is it? It will not avail to quiet a guilty conscience; no, nor to ease a sorrowful spirit; nothing is more ungrateful than singing songs to a heavy heart. It will not satisfy the soul, nor ever yield it true content. It is but a palliative cure to the grievances of this present time. Great laughter commonly ends in a sigh. (2.) It does a great deal of hurt: It is mad, that is, it makes men mad, it transports men into many indecencies, which are a reproach to their reason and religion. They are mad that indulge themselves in it, for it estranges the heart from God and divine things, and insensibly eats out the power of religion. Those that love to be merry forget to be serious, and, while they take the timbrel and harp, they say to the Almighty, Depart from us, Job xxi. 12, 14. We may, as Solomon, prove ourselves, with mirth, and judge of the state of our souls by this: How do we stand affected to it? Can we be merry and wise? Can we use it as sauce, and not as food? But we need not try, as Solomon did, whether it will make a happiness for us, for we may take his word for it, It is mad; and What does it? Laughter and pleasure (says Sir William Temple) come from very different affections of the mind; for, as men have no disposition to laugh at things they are most pleased with, so they are very little pleased with many things they laugh at.

II. Finding himself not happy in that which pleased his fancy, he resolved next to try that which would please the palate, v. 3. Since the knowledge of the creature would not satisfy, he would see what the liberal use of it would do: I sought in my heart to give myself unto wine, that is, to good meat and good drink. Many give themselves to these without consulting their hearts at all, not looking any further than merely the gratification of the sensual appetite; but Solomon applied himself to it rationally, and as a man, critically, and only to make an experiment. Observe, 1. He did not allow himself any liberty in the use of the delights of sense till he had tired himself with his severe studies. Till his increase of sorrow, he never thought of giving himself to wine. When we have spent ourselves in doing good we may then most comfortably refresh ourselves with the gifts of God's bounty. Then the delights of sense are rightly used when they are used as we use cordials, only when we need them; as Timothy drank wine for his health's sake, 1 Tim. v. 23. I thought to draw my flesh with wine (so the margin reads it) or to wine. Those that have addicted themselves to drinking did at first put a force upon themselves; they drew their flesh to it, and with it; but they should remember to what miseries they hereby draw themselves. 2. He then looked upon it as folly, and it was with reluctance that he gave himself to it; as St. Paul, when he commended himself, called it a weakness, and desired to be borne with in his foolishness, 2 Cor. xi. 1. He sought to lay hold on folly, to see the utmost that that folly would do towards making men happy; but he had like to have carried the jest (as we say) too far. He resolved that the folly should not take hold of him, not get the mastery of him, but he would lay hold on it, and keep it at a distance; yet he found it too hard for him. 3. He took care at the same time to acquaint himself with wisdom, to manage himself wisely in the use of his pleasures, so that they should not do him any prejudice nor disfit him to be a competent judge of them. When he drew his flesh with wine he led his heart with wisdom (so the word is), kept up his pursuits after knowledge, did not make a sot of himself, nor become a slave to his pleasures, but his studies and his feasts were foils to each other, and he tried whether both mixed together would give him that satisfaction which he could not find in either separately. This Solomon proposed to himself, but he found it vanity; for those that think to give themselves to wine, and yet to acquaint their hearts with wisdom, will perhaps deceive themselves as much as those do that think to serve both God and mammon. Wine is a mocker; it is a great cheat; and it will be impossible for any man to say that thus far he will give himself to it and no further. 4. That which he aimed at was not to gratify his appetite, but to find out man's happiness, and this, because it pretended to be so, must be tried among the rest. Observe the description he gives of man's happiness—it is that good for the sons of men which they should do under the heaven all their days. (1.) That which we are to enquire after is not so much the good we must have (we may leave that to God), but the good we must do; that ought to be our care. Good Master, what good thing shall I do? Our happiness consists not in being idle, but in doing aright, in being well employed. If we do that which is good, no doubt we shall have comfort and praise of the same. (2.) It is good to be done under the heaven, while we are here in this world, while it is day, while our doing time lasts. This is our state of work and service; it is in the other world that we must expect the retribution. Thither our works will follow us. (3.) It is to be done all the days of our life. The good we are to do we must persevere in the doing of to the end, while our doing time lasts, the number of the days of our life (so it is in the margin); the days of our life are numbered to us by him in whose hand our times are and they are all to be spent as he directs. But that any man should give himself to wine, in hopes to find out in that the best way of living in this world, was an absurdity which Solomon here, in the reflection, condemns himself for. Is it possible that this should be the good that men should do? No; it is plainly very bad.

III. Perceiving quickly that it was folly to give himself to wine, he next tried the most costly entertainments and amusements of princes and great men. He had a vast income; the revenue of his crown was very great, and he laid it out so as might most please his own humour and make him look great.

1. He gave himself much to building, both in the city and in the country; and, having been at such vast expense in the beginning of his reign to build a house for God, he was the more excusable if afterwards he pleased his own fancy in building for himself; he began his work at the right end (Matt. vi. 33), not as the people (Hag. i. 4), that ceiled their own houses while God's lay waste, and it prospered accordingly. In building, he had the pleasure of employing the poor and doing good to posterity. We read of Solomon's buildings (1 Kings ix. 15-19), and they were all great works, such as became his purse, and spirit, and great dignity. See his mistake; he enquired after the good works he should do (v. 3), and, in pursuit of the enquiry, applied himself to great works. Good works indeed are truly great, but many are reputed great works which are far from being good, wondrous works which are not gracious, Matt. vii. 22.

2. He took to love a garden, which is to some as bewitching as building. He planted himself vineyards, which the soil and climate of the land of Canaan favoured; he made himself fine gardens and orchards (v. 5), and perhaps the art of gardening was no way inferior then to what it is now. He had not only forests of timber-trees, but trees of all kinds of fruit, which he himself had planted; and, if any worldly business would yield a man happiness, surely it must be that which Adam was employed in while he was in innocency.

3. He laid out a great deal of money in water-works, ponds, and canals, not for sport and diversion, but for use, to water the wood that brings forth trees (v. 6); he not only planted, but watered, and then left it to God to give the increase. Springs of water are great blessings (Josh. xv. 19); but where nature has provided them art must direct them, to make them serviceable, Prov. xxi. 1.

4. He increased his family. When he proposed to himself to do great works he must employ many hands, and therefore procured servants and maidens, which were bought with his money, and of those he had servants born in his house, v. 7. Thus his retinue was enlarged and his court appeared more magnificent. See Ezra ii. 58.

5. He did not neglect country business, but both entertained and enriched himself with that, and was not diverted from it either by his studies or by his pleasures. He had large possessions of great and small cattle, herds and flocks, as his father had before him (1 Chron. xxvii. 29, 31), not forgetting that his father, in the beginning, was a keeper of sheep. Let those that deal in cattle neither despise their employment nor be weary of it, remembering that Solomon puts his having possessions of cattle among his great works and his pleasures.

6. He grew very rich, and was not at all impoverished by his building and gardening, as many are, who, for that reason only, repent it, and call it vanity and vexation. Solomon scattered and yet increased. He filled his exchequer with silver and gold, which yet did not stagnate there, but were made to circulate through his kingdom, so that he made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones (1 Kings x. 27); nay, he had the segullah, the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces, which was, for richness and rarity, more accounted of than silver and gold. The neighbouring kings, and the distant provinces of his own empire, sent him the richest presents they had, to obtain his favour and the instructions of his wisdom.

7. He had every thing that was charming and diverting, all sorts of melody and music, vocal and instrumental, men-singers and women-singers, the best voices he could pick up, and all the wind and band-instruments that were then in use. His father had a genius for music, but it should seem he employed it more to serve his devotion than the son, who made it more for his diversion. These are called the delights of the sons of men; for the gratifications of sense are the things that the generality of people set their affections upon and take the greatest complacency in. The delights of the children of God are of quite another nature, pure, spiritual, and heavenly, and the delights of angels.

8. He enjoyed, more than ever any man did, a composition of rational and sensitive pleasures at the same time. He was, in this respect, great, and increased more than all that were before him, that he was wise amidst a thousand earthly enjoyments. It was strange, and the like was never met with, (1.) That his pleasures did not debauch his judgment and conscience. In the midst of these entertainments his wisdom remained with him, v. 9. In the midst of all these childish delights he preserved his spirit manly, kept the possession of his own soul, and maintained the dominion of reason over the appetites of sense; such a vast stock of wisdom had he that it was not wasted and impaired, as any other man's would have been, by this course of life. But let none be emboldened hereby to lay the reins on the neck of their appetites, presuming that they may do that and yet retain their wisdom, for they have not such a strength of wisdom as Solomon had; nay, and Solomon was deceived; for how did his wisdom remain with him when he lost his religion so far as to build altars to strange gods, for the humouring of his strange wives? But thus far his wisdom remained with him that he was master of his pleasures, and not a slave to them, and kept himself capable of making a judgment of them. He went over into the enemies' country, not as a deserter, but as a spy, to discover the nakedness of their land. (2.) Yet his judgment and conscience gave no check to his pleasures, nor hindered him from exacting the very quintessence of the delights of sense, v. 10. It might be objected against his judgment in this matter that if his wisdom remained with him he could not take the liberty that was necessary to a full experimental acquaintance with it: "Yea," said he, "I took as great a liberty as any man could take, for whatsoever my eyes desired I kept not from them, if it could be compassed by lawful means, though ever so difficult or costly; and as I withheld not any joy from my heart that I had a mind to, so I withheld not my heart from any joy, but, with a non-obstante—with the full exercise of my wisdom, I had a high gust of my pleasures, relished and enjoyed them as much as ever any Epicure did;" nor was there any thing either in the circumstances of his condition or in the temper of his spirit to sour or embitter them, or give them any alloy. In short, [1.] He had as much pleasure in his business as ever any man had: My heart rejoiced in all my labour; so that the toil and fatigue of that were no damp to his pleasures. [2.] He had no less profit by his business. He met with no disappointment in it to give him any disturbance: This was my portion of all my labour; he had this added to all the rest of his pleasures that in them he did not only see, but eat, the labour of his hands; and this was all he had, for indeed it was all he could expect, from his labours. It sweetened his business that he enjoyed the success of it, and it sweetened his enjoyments that they were the product of his business; so that, upon the whole, he was certainly as happy as the world could make him.

9. We have, at length, the judgment he deliberately gave of all this, v. 11. When the Creator had made his great works he reviewed them, and behold, all was very good; every thing pleased him. But when Solomon reviewed all his works that his hands had wrought with the utmost cost and care, and the labour that he had laboured to do in order to make himself easy and happy, nothing answered his expectation; behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit; he had no satisfaction in it, no advantage by it; there was no profit under the sun, neither by the employments nor by the enjoyments of this world.

Superiority of Wisdom to Folly.

12 And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what can the man do that cometh after the king? even that which hath been already done. 13 Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness. 14 The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all. 15 Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity. 16 For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool.

Solomon having tried what satisfaction was to be had in learning first, and then in the pleasures of sense, and having also put both together, here compares them one with another and passes a judgment upon them.

I. He sets himself to consider both wisdom and folly. He had considered these before (ch. i. 17); but lest it should be thought he was then too quick in passing a judgment upon them, he here turns himself again to behold them, to see if, upon a second view and second thoughts, he could gain more satisfaction in the search than he had done upon the first. He was sick of his pleasures, and, as nauseating them, he turned from them, that he might again apply himself to speculation; and if, upon this rehearing of the cause, the verdict be still the same, the judgment will surely be decisive; for what can the man do that comes after the king? especially such a king, who had so much of this world to make the experiment upon and so much wisdom to make it with. The baffled trial needs not be repeated. No man can expect to find more satisfaction in the world than Solomon did, nor to gain a greater insight into the principles of morality; when a man has done what he can still it is that which has been already done. Let us learn, 1. Not to indulge ourselves in a fond conceit that we can mend that which has been well done before us. Let us esteem others better than ourselves, and think how unfit we are to attempt the improvement of the performances of better heads and hands than ours, and rather own how much we are beholden to them, John iv. 37, 38. 2. To acquiesce in Solomon's judgment of the things of this world, and not to think of repeating the trial; for we can never think of having such advantages as he had to make the experiment nor of being able to make it with equal application of mind and so little danger to ourselves.

II. He gives the preference to wisdom far before folly. Let none mistake him, as if, when he speaks of the vanity of human literature, he designed only to amuse men with a paradox, or were about to write (as a great wit once did) Encomium moriæ—A panegyric in praise of folly. No, he is maintaining sacred truths, and therefore is careful to guard against being misunderstood. I soon saw (says he) that there is an excellency in wisdom more than in folly, as much as there is in light above darkness. The pleasures of wisdom, though they suffice not to make men happy, yet vastly transcend the pleasures of wine. Wisdom enlightens the soul with surprising discoveries and necessary directions for the right government of itself; but sensuality (for that seems to be especially the folly here meant) clouds and eclipses the mind, and is as darkness to it; it puts out men's eyes, makes them to stumble in the way and wander out of it. Or, though wisdom and knowledge will not make a man happy (St. Paul shows a more excellent way than gifts, and that is grace), yet it is much better to have them than to be without them, in respect of our present safety, comfort, and usefulness; for the wise man's eyes are in his head (v. 14), where they should be, ready to discover both the dangers that are to be avoided and the advantages that are to be improved; a wise man has not his reason to seek when he should use it, but looks about him and is quick-sighted, knows both where to step and where to stop; whereas the fool walks in darkness, and is ever and anon either at a loss, or at a plunge, either bewildered, that he knows not which way to go, or embarrassed, that he cannot go forward. A man that is discreet and considerate has the command of his business, and acts decently and safely, as those that walk in the day; but he that is rash, and ignorant, and sottish, is continually making blunders, running upon one precipice or other; his projects, his bargains, are all foolish, and ruin his affairs. Therefore get wisdom, get understanding.

III. Yet he maintains that, in respect of lasting happiness and satisfaction, the wisdom of this world gives a man very little advantage; for, 1. Wise men and fools fare alike. "It is true the wise man has very much the advantage of the fool in respect of foresight and insight, and yet the greatest probabilities do so often come short of success that I myself perceived, by my own experience, that one event happens to them all (v. 14); those that are most cautious of their health are as so on sick as those that are most careless of it, and the most suspicious are imposed upon." David had observed that wise men die, and are involved in the same common calamity with the fool and the brutish person, Ps. xlix. 12. See ch. ix. 11. Nay, it has of old been observed that Fortune favours fools, and that half-witted men often thrive most, while the greatest projectors forecast worst for themselves. The same sickness, the same sword, devours wise men and fools. Solomon applies this mortifying observation to himself (v. 15), that though he was a wise man, he might not glory in his wisdom; I said to my heart, when it began to be proud or secure, As it happens to the fool, so it happens to me, even to me; for thus emphatically it is expressed in the original: "So, as for me, it happens to me. Am I rich? So is many a Nabal that fares as sumptuously as I do. Is a foolish man sick, does he get a fall? So do I, even I; and neither my wealth nor my wisdom will be my security. And why was I then more wise? Why should I take so much pains to get wisdom, when, as to this life, it will stand me in so little stead? Then I said in my heart that this also is vanity." Some make this a correction of what was said before, like that (Ps. lxx. 10), "I said, This is my infirmity; it is my folly to think that wise men and fools are upon a level;" but really they seem to be so, in respect of the event, and therefore it is rather a confirmation of what he had before said, That a man may be a profound philosopher and politician and yet not be a happy man. 2. Wise men and fools are forgotten alike (v. 16): There is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool. It is promised to the righteous that they shall be had in everlasting remembrance, and their memory shall be blessed, and they shall shortly shine as the stars; but there is no such promise made concerning the wisdom of this world, that that shall perpetuate men's names, for those names only are perpetuated that are written in heaven, and otherwise the names of this world's wise men are written with those of its fools in the dust. That which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. What was much talked of in one generation is, in the next, as if it had never been. New persons and new things jostle out the very remembrance of the old, which in a little time are looked upon with contempt and at length quite buried in oblivion. Where is the wise? Where is the disputer of this world? 1 Cor. i. 20. And it is upon this account that he asks, How dies the wise man? As the fool. Between the death of a godly and a wicked man there is a great difference, but not between the death of a wise man and a fool; the fool is buried and forgotten (ch. viii. 10), and no one remembered the poor man that by his wisdom delivered the city (ch. ix. 15); so that to both the grave is a land of forgetfulness; and wise and learned men, when they have been awhile there out of sight, grow out of mind, a new generation arises that knew them not.

Sources of Dissatisfaction; The Cheerful Use of Abundance.

17 Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit. 18 Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me. 19 And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have shewed myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity. 20 Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun. 21 For there is a man whose labour is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22 For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun? 23 For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity. 24 There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God. 25 For who can eat, or who else can hasten hereunto, more than I? 26 For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Business is a thing that wise men have pleasure in. They are in their element when they are in their business, and complain if they be out of business. They may sometimes be tired with their business, but they are not weary of it, nor willing to leave it off. Here therefore one would expect to have found the good that men should do, but Solomon tried this too; after a contemplative life and a voluptuous life, he betook himself to an active life, and found no more satisfaction in it than in the other; still it is all vanity and vexation of spirit, of which he gives an account in these verses, where observe,

I. What the business was which he made trial of; it was business under the sun (v. 17-20), about the things of this world, sublunary things, the riches, honours, and pleasures of this present time; it was the business of a king. There is business above the sun, perpetual business, which is perpetual blessedness; what we do in conformity to that business (doing God's will as it is done in heaven) and in pursuance of that blessedness, will turn to a good account; we shall have no reason to hate that labour, nor to despair of it. But it is labour under the sun, labour for the meat that perishes (John vi. 27; Isa. lv. 2), that Solomon here speaks of with so little satisfaction. It was the better sort of business, not that of the hewers of wood and drawers of water (it is not so strange if men hate all that labour), but it was in wisdom, and knowledge, and equity, v. 21. It was rational business, which related to the government of his kingdom and the advancement of its interests. It was labour managed by the dictates of wisdom, of natural and acquired knowledge, and the directions of justice. It was labour at the council-board and in the courts of justice. It was labour wherein he showed himself wise (v. 19), which as much excels the labour wherein men only show themselves strong as the endowments of the mind, by which we are allied to angels, do those of the body, which we have in common with the brutes. That which many people have in their eye more than any thing else, in the prosecution of their worldly business, is to show themselves wise, to get the reputation of ingenious men and men of sense and application.

II. His falling out with this business. He soon grew weary of it. 1. He hated all his labour, because he did not meet with that satisfaction in which he expected. After he had had his fine houses, and gardens, and water-works, awhile, he began to nauseate them, and look upon them with contempt, as children, who are eager for a toy and fond of it at first, but, when they have played with it awhile, are weary of it, and throw it away, and must have another. This expresses not a gracious hatred of these things, which is our duty, to love them less than God and religion (Luke xiv. 26), nor a sinful hatred of them, which is our folly, to be weary of the place God has assigned us and the work of it, but a natural hatred of them, arising from a surfeit upon them and a sense of disappointment in them. 2. He caused his heart to despair of all his labour (v. 20); he took pains to possess himself with a deep sense of the vanity of worldly business, that it would not bring in the advantage and satisfaction he had formerly flattered himself with the hopes of. Our hearts are very loth to quit their expectations of great things from the creature; we must go about, must fetch a compass, in arguing with them, to convince them that there is not that in the things of this world which we are apt to promise ourselves from them. Have we so often bored and sunk into this earth for some rich mine of satisfaction, and found not the least sign or token of it, but been always frustrated in the search, and shall we not at length set our hearts at rest and despair of ever finding it? 3. He came to that, at length, that he hated life itself (v. 17), because it is subject to so many toils and troubles, and a constant series of disappointments. God had given Solomon such largeness of heart, and such vast capacities of mind, that he experienced more than other men of the unsatisfying nature of all the things of this life and their insufficiency to make him happy. Life itself, that is so precious to a man, and such a blessing to a good man, may become a burden to a man of business.

III. The reasons of this quarrel with his life and labours. Two things made him weary of them:—

1. That his business was so great a toil to himself: The work that he had wrought under the sun was grievous unto him, v. 17. His thoughts and cares about it, and that close and constant application of mind which was requisite to it, were a burden and fatigue to him, especially when he grew old. It is the effect of a curse on that we are to work upon. Our business is said to be the work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord had cursed (Gen. v. 29) and of the weakening of the faculties we are to work with, and of the sentence pronounced on us, that in the sweat of our face we must eat bread. Our labour is called the vexation of our heart (v. 22); it is to most a force upon themselves, so natural is it to us to love our ease. A man of business is described to be uneasy both in his going out and his coming in, v. 23. (1.) He is deprived of his pleasure by day, for all his days are sorrow, not only sorrowful, but sorrow itself, nay, many sorrows and various; his travail, or labour, all day, is grief. Men of business ever and anon meet with that which vexes them, and is an occasion of anger or sorrow to them. Those that are apt to fret find that the more dealings they have in the world the oftener they are made to fret. The world is a vale of tears, even to those that have much of it. Those that labour are said to be heavy-laden, and are therefore called to come to Christ for rest, Matt. xi. 28. (2.) He is disturbed in his repose by night. When he is overcome with the hurries of the day, and hopes to find relief when he lays his head on his pillow, he is disappointed there; cares hold his eyes waking, or, if he sleep, yet his heart wakes, and that takes no rest in the night. See what fools those are that make themselves drudges to the world, and do not make God their rest; night and day they cannot but be uneasy. So that, upon the whole matter, it is all vanity, v. 17. This is vanity in particular (v. 19, 23), nay, it is vanity and a great evil, v. 21. It is a great affront to God and a great injury to themselves, therefore a great evil; it is a vain thing to rise up early and sit up late in pursuit of this world's goods, which were never designed to be our chief good.

2. That the gains of his business must all be left to others. Prospect of advantage is the spring of action and the spur of industry; therefore men labour, because they hope to get by it; if the hope fail, the labour flags; and therefore Solomon quarrelled with all the works, the great works, he had made, because they would not be of any lasting advantage to himself. (1.) He must leave them. He could not at death take them away with him, nor any share of them, nor should he return any more to them (Job vii. 10), nor would the remembrance of them do him any good, Luke xvi. 25. But I must leave all to the man that shall be after me, to the generation that comes up in the room of that which is passing away. As there were many before us, who built the houses that we live in, and into whose purchases and labours we have entered, so there shall be many after us, who shall live in the houses that we build, and enjoy the fruit of our purchases and labours. Never was land lost for want of an heir. To a gracious soul this is no uneasiness at all; why should we grudge others their turn in the enjoyments of this world, and not rather be pleased that, when we are gone, those that come after us shall fare the better for our wisdom and industry? But to a worldly mind, that seeks for its own happiness in the creature, it is a great vexation to think of leaving the beloved pelf behind, at this uncertainty. (2.) He must leave them to those that would never have taken so much pains for them, and will there by excuse himself from taking any pains. He that raised the estate did it by labouring in wisdom, and knowledge, and equity; but he that enjoys it and spends it (it may be) has not laboured therein (v. 21), and, more than that, never will. The bee toils to maintain the drone. Nay, it proves a snare to him: it is left him for his portion, which he rests in, and takes up with; and miserable he is in being put off with it for a portion. Whereas, if an estate had not come to him thus easily, who knows but he might have been both industrious and religious? Yet we ought not to perplex ourselves about this, since it may prove otherwise, that what is well got may come to one that will use it well and do good with it. (3.) He knows not whom he must leave it to (for God makes heirs), or at least what he will prove to whom he leaves it, whether a wise man or a fool, a wise man that will make it more or a fool that will bring it to nothing; yet he shall have rule over all my labour, and foolishly undo that which his father wisely did. It is probable that Solomon wrote this very feelingly, being afraid what Rehoboam would prove. St Jerome, in his commentary on this passage, applies this to the good books which Solomon wrote, in which he had shown himself wise, but he knew not into whose hands they would fall, perhaps into the hands of a fool, who, according to the perverseness of his heart, makes a bad use of what was well written. So that, upon the whole matter, he asks (v. 22), What has man of all his labour? What has he to himself and to his own use? What has he that will go with him into another world?

IV. The best use which is therefore to be made of the wealth of this world, and that is to use it cheerfully, to take the comfort of it, and do good with it. With this he concludes the chapter, v. 24-26. There is no true happiness to be found in these things. They are vanity, and, if happiness be expected from them, the disappointment will be vexation of spirit. But he will put us in a way to make the best of them, and to avoid the inconveniences he had observed. We must neither over-toil ourselves, so as, in pursuit of more, to rob ourselves of the comfort of what we have, nor must we over-hoard for hereafter, nor lose our own enjoyment of what we have to lay it up for those that shall come after us, but serve ourselves out of it first. Observe,

1. What that good is which is here recommended to us; and which is the utmost pleasure and profit we can expect or extract from the business and profit of this world, and the furthest we can go to rescue it from its vanity and the vexation that is in it. (1.) We must do our duty with them, and be more in care how to use an estate well, for the ends for which we were entrusted with it, than how to raise or increase an estate. This is intimated v. 26, where those only are said to have the comfort of this life who are good in God's sight, and again, good before God, truly good, as Noah, whom God saw righteous before him. We must set God always before us, and give diligence in every thing to approve ourselves to him. The Chaldee-paraphrase says, A man should make his soul to enjoy good by keeping the commandments of God and walking in the ways that are right before him, and (v. 25) by studying the words of the law, and being in care about the day of the great judgment that is to come. (2.) We must take the comfort of them. These things will not make a happiness for the soul; all the good we can have out of them is for the body, and if we make use of them for the comfortable support of that, so that it may be fit to serve the soul and able to keep pace with it in the service of God, then they turn to a good account. There is therefore nothing better for a man, as to these things, than to allow himself a sober cheerful use of them, according as his rank and condition are, to have meat and drink out of them for himself, his family, his friends, and so delight his senses and make his soul enjoy good, all the good that is to be had out of them; do not lose that, in pursuit of that good which is not to be had out of them. But observe, He would not have us to give up business, and take our ease, that we may eat and drink; no, we must enjoy good in our labour; we must use these things, not to excuse us from, but to make us diligent and cheerful in, our worldly business. (3.) We must herein acknowledge God; we must see that it is from the hand of God, that is, [1.] The good things themselves that we enjoy are so, not only the products of his creating power, but the gifts of his providential bounty to us. And then they are truly pleasant to us when we take them from the hand of God as a Father, when we eye his wisdom giving us that which is fittest for us, and acquiesce in it, and taste his love and goodness, relish them, and are thankful for them. [2.] A heart to enjoy them is so; this is the gift of God's grace. Unless he give us wisdom to make a right use of what he has, in his providence, bestowed upon us, and withal peace of conscience, that we may discern God's favour in the world's smiles, we cannot make our souls enjoy any good in them.

2. Why we should have this in our eye, in the management of ourselves as to this world, and look up to God for it. (1.) Because Solomon himself, with all his possessions, could aim at no more and desire no better (v. 25): "Who can hasten to this more than I? This is that which I was ambitious of: I wished for no more; and those that have but little, in comparison with what I have, may attain to this, to be content with what they have and enjoy the good of it." Yet Solomon could not obtain it by his own wisdom, without the special grace of God, and therefore directs us to expect it from the hand of God and pray to him for it. (2.) Because riches are a blessing or a curse to a man according as he has or has not a heart to make good use of them. [1.] God makes them a reward to a good man, if with them he give him wisdom, and knowledge, and joy, to enjoy them cheerfully himself and to communicate them charitably to others. To those who are good in God's sight, who are of a good spirit, honest and sincere, pay a deference to their God and have a tender concern for all mankind, God will give wisdom and knowledge in this world, and joy with the righteous in the world to come; so the Chaldee. Or he will give that wisdom and knowledge in things natural, moral, political, and divine, which will be a constant joy and pleasure to them. [2.] He makes them a punishment to a bad man if he denies him a heart to take the comfort of them, for they do but tantalize him and tyrannize over him: To the sinner God gives by travail, by leaving him to himself and his own foolish counsels, to gather and to heap up that, which, as to himself, will not only burden him like thick clay (Hab. ii. 6), but be a witness against him and eat his flesh as it were fire (Jam. v. 3); while God designs, by an overruling providence, to give it to him that is good before him; for the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just, and gathered for him that will pity the poor. Note, First, Godliness, with contentment, is great gain; and those only have true joy that are good in God's sight, and that have it from him and in him. Secondly, Ungodliness is commonly punished with discontent and an insatiable covetousness, which are sins that are their own punishment. Thirdly, When God gives abundance to wicked men it is with design to force them to a resignation in favour of his own children, when they are of age and ready for it, as the Canaanites kept possession of the good land till the time appointed for Israel's entering upon it. [3.] The burden of the song is still the same: This is also vanity and vexation of spirit. It is vanity, at the best, even to the good man; when he has all that the sinner has scraped together it will not make him happy without something else; but it is vexation of spirit to the sinner to see what he had laid up enjoyed by him that is good in God's sight, and therefore evil in his. So that, take it which way you will, the conclusion is firm, All is vanity and vexation of spirit.

CHAP. II. Verſ. 1. Goe to now, I will prove thee with mirth.

THe merry Greeks of the World think that they have the only life of it, that there is no ſuch happineſſe as to laugh and be fat, to ſing Care away, and to lye carouſing and melting in ſinful pleaſures; yea though they periſh therein, as the Duke of Clarence did in his Butt of Malmeſey. But a little time will confute theſe fools, ſaith Solomon, and let them ſee, that it is better to be preſerved in brine, than to rot in Hony Flyes and Waſpes uſe to come to honey and ſuger, and ſuch ſweet things; ſo doth Beelzebub (the god of flyes) to the hearts of Epicures and voluptuaries. Behemoth haunteth the fennes, Job 40.21. Here therefore this Wiſe-man was utterly out, and made an ill tranſition from the ſearch of wiſdome, to the purſute of pleaſures; from the ſchool of Socrates, to the herd of Epicurus. For though theſe hoggs may grunt out their [Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we ſhall dye;] yet if death but draw the curtain, and look in upon them, all the mirth is marr'd, and they put into as great an agony as Belſhazzar was at the ſight of the hand-writing that was againſt him.

Verſ. 2. I ſaid of mirth, it is mad] q. d. Thou mad fool, what doſt thou? Yet is not mirth amiſſe, ſo it be moderate; nor laughter unlawful (as ſome Anabaptiſts in Calvins time held) ſo that it bee well limited. Carnal mirth, and abuſe of lawful things doth mightily weaken, intenerate and emaſculate the ſpirit; yea, it draws out the very vigour and vivacity of it, and is therefore to be avoyded. Some are ſo afraid of ſadneſſe, that they baniſh all ſeriouſneſſe; they affect mirth as the Eel doth mud, or the Toad ditches. Theſe are thoſe that dance to the Timbrel and Harp, but ſuddenly turn into Hell, Job 21.

Verſ. 3. Yet acquainting my heart with wiſdome] i. e. reſolving to retain my wiſdome; but that could not be: For whoredome, and wine, Hoſ. 4.11. and new wine take away the heart; they dull and diſable nature, and ſo ſet us in a greater diſtance from grace; they fight againſt the ſoul, 1 Pet. 2.12 Ariſt. de mirah. auſcul. lib. 8. and take away all ſent and ſenſe of heavenly comforts; Much like that parcel of ground in Sicily, that ſendeth ſuch a ſtrong ſmell of fragrant flowers to all the fields thereabouts, that no Hound can hunt there. And here I beleeve began Solomons Apoſtaſie, his laying the reigns in the neck to purſue ſinful pleaſures, pleaſing himſelf in a conceit, that he could ſerve God and his luſts too. A Chriſtian hath ever God for his chief end; and never ſins with deliberation about this end; he will not forgo God upon any terms; only he erres in the way, thinking he may fulfill ſuch a luſt, and keep God too: But God and ſin cannot cohabit; and Gods graces groaning under our abuſes in this kind, cry unto him for help, who gives them thereupon (as he did to the wronged Church, Rev. 12.14.) the wings of an Eagle: after which, one luſt calls upon another, as they once did upon their fellow-ſouldiers, Now Moab to the ſpoyl, till the heart be filled with as many corruptions, as Solomon had Concubines.

Verſ. 4. I made me great works] I took not pleaſure in trifles, as Domitian did, in catching and killing flyes with his Pen-knife; or as Artaxerxes did, in making hafts for Knives; or as Solyman the great Turk did, in making notches of horn for Bowes; but I built ſtately houſes, planted pleaſant Vineyards, &c. A godly man may be buſied in mean low things, but he is not ſatisfied in them as adequate objects, hee trades for better commodities, and cannot reſt without them.

I builded mee houſes] Curious and ſpacious, ſuch as is the Turks Seraglio, or palace, ſaid to bee more than two miles in compaſs. William Rufus built Weſtminſter hall, and when it was done, found much fault with it, for being built too little;Daniels hiſt. ſaying, It was fitter for a chamber, than for a hall for a King of England, and took a plat for one far more ſpacious to bee added unto it.

I planted mee vineyards] That no pleaſant thing might be wanting to mee. To plant a vineyard is a matter of much coſt and care, but it ſoon quits coſt by bearing, firſt, plenty of fruit in cluſters and bunches, many grapes together. Secondly, by bearing pleaſant fruit, no fruit being more delectable to the taſte than is the grape; nor more comfortable to the heart, than is the wine made of the grape, Judg. 9.13. Solomon had one gallant vineyard at Baalhamon, that yeelded him great profit, Cant. 8.1.

Verſ. 5. I made mee gardens] ſo called, becauſe garded and encloſed with a wall, Cant. 4.12. like as we call garments quaſi gardments in an active acception of the word: becauſe they guard our bodies from the injury of wind and weather. The Hebrew word [non-Latin text not transcribed] Gan comes likewiſe from a word that ſignifieth to protect or guard. And there are that give this for a reaſon, why the Lord forbad the Jews to keep ſwine, becauſe they are ſuch enemies to gardens, whereof that country is very full.

And Orchards] Heb. Paradiſes, famous for curious variety and excellency of all ſorts of trees and forcin fruits; reſembling even the garden of God for amenity and delight.Athenaeus, Diod. lib. 2. cap. 4. Q. Curt. lib. 5. And herein perhaps hee gratified Pharaoh's daughter (the Aegyptians took great pleaſure in gardens) like as that King of Aſſyria did his wife Horto penſili, with a garden that hung in the ayr, to his incredible coſt.

Verſ. 6. To water therewith the Wood] i. e. the gardens or hort-yards that were as large as little woods: Chriſts garden in the Canticles as it hath a wall (Verſ. 5.) ſo a well to water it, and make it fruitful.

Verſ. 7. I got mee ſervants, &c] Too many by one, ſc. Jeroboam, who rent ten tribes from his ſonne. I[illegible: 1 letter] is well obſerved by an Interpreter, that Solomon, among all his delights, got him not a Fool or Jeſter, which ſome Princes cannot bee without, no not when they ſhould bee moſt ſerious. It is recorded of Henry the third King of France, that in a Solemn proceſſion at Paris, hee could not bee without his Jeſter,Epic. hiſt. Gallicae. who walking between the King and the Cardinal, made mirth to them both. There was ſweet devotion the while.

Melanch. in Heſiod. I had great poſſeſſions of great and ſmall cattel] [non-Latin text not transcribed] pecudes, & poſtea ſynechdochic[illegible: 1 letter]s opes ſignificant: ſic pecunia a pecude. So cheſita ſignifies in Hebrew both mony and a lamb.

Verſ. 8. I gathered me alſo ſilver and gold] Gold of Ophir (now called Peru) where the Spaniards are ſaid to meet with more gold oar, than earth: Beſides his great gifts from other Princes, as Hiram, Queen of Sheba, &c. his royal revenue,Petrarch. his tributes from forein nations, ſubdued by his Father David, to a very great value. Sixtus the fourth was wont to ſay, that a Pope could never want mony, while he could hold a pen in his hand. His predeceſſor John 22. left in his treaſury to his heirs 250 tonnes of gold. Boniface the 8. being plundered by the French, Heidfield. was found to have more wealth (ſaith mine Authour) than all the Kings of the earth could have raiſed by one years revenue. It ſhould ſeem by the peoples complaint after Solomons death, 1 King. 12.4. that hee lay over heavy upon them by his exactors, and gold-gatherers, which cauſed the revolt of the ten tribes. One act of injuſtice, oft loſeth much that was juſtly gotten. Kedarlaomer and his fellow-Kings were deprived of the whole victory, becauſe they ſpared not a man whom they ſhould have ſpared. Ill-gotten gold hath a poyſonful operation, and will bring up the good food, together with ill humors, Job 20.15.

And the delights of the ſons of men] Theſe drew out his ſpirits, and diſſolved him, and brought him to ſo low an ebbe in grace; his wealth did him far more hurt than his wiſdome did him good: it is as hard to bear proſperity, as to drink much wine and not bee giddy: it is alſo dangerous to take pleaſure in pleaſure, to ſpend too much time in it; as Solomon, for ſeven years ſpent in building Gods houſe, ſpent thirteen in his own. Lovers of pleaſures are ſet as laſt and worſt in that catalogue of wickedneſſe in the laſt daies, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. 2 Tim. 3.4.

Verſ. 9. Alſo my wiſdome remained with mee] Outward things are dead things, and cannot touch the ſoul, (a lively ſpirit) unleſs by way of taint: Solomon, if not at firſt, yet at length, was fearfully tainted by them, making good that of the Poet, Stultitiam patiuntur opes— Ardua res haec eſt, opibus non tradere mores,Martial. Et cum tot Croeſos viceris, eſſe Numam.

Verſ. 10. And what ſoever mine eyes deſired, &c.] I fed them with pleaſant pictures, ſhews, ſights, and other objects of delight, which yet have plus deceptionis quam delectationis, able to entice, and ready to kill the intangled:Lactant. How many are there that have died of the wound in the eye? David knowing the danger, prayeth, Pſal. 119.37. Turn away mine eyes from beholding of vanity. Job ſteps one degree further, from a prayer to a vow, chap. 31. yea from a vow to an imprecation, ver. 7. If our firſt parents fell by following the ſight of their eyes, and luſt of their hearts, what can Solomon or any of us promiſe our ſelves, qui animas etiam incarnavimus, who have made our very ſpirit a lump of fleſh, prone to entertain vice, yea to ſolicit it?

For my heart rejoyced in all my labour] This is not every worldlings happineſs. For ſome live not to injoy what they have raked together, as that rich fool in the Goſpel: others live indeed, but live beſide what they have gotten, as not daring to diminiſh ought; but defrauding their own genius, and denying themſelves neceſſaries. So did not Solomon, and yet hee found not the good hee ſought for neither, as hee tells us in the next words. Nor is it want of variety in theſe pleaſures, but inward weakneſs, an emptineſs, and inſufficiency in the creature. In heaven the objects of our delight and bleſſedneſs ſhall bee, though uniform, yet everlaſtingly pleaſing.

Verſ. 11. Then I looked on all the works] A neceſſary and profitable practice, well worthy our imitation, viz. to recognize and review what wee have done, and to how little purpoſe wee have wearied our ſelves, in the multitude of our counſells, Eſay 47.13. God looketh upon men, and if any ſay, I have ſinned and perverted that which was right, and it profited mee not, Hee will deliver his ſoul from going into the pit, and his life ſhall ſee the light, Job 33.27, 28. Tully could tell Nevius, that if hee had but well weighed with himſelf thoſe two words, Quid ago? What do I?Orat. pro Quintio. his luſt and luxury would have been cooled and qualified.

And behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit] In the very purſute of them is much anguiſh, many grievances, fears, jealouſies, diſgraces, interruptions, diſcontentments. Next, it is ſeldome ſeen, that God allows to the greateſt darlings of the world a perfect contentment. Something they muſt have to complain of, that ſhall give an unſavoury verdure to their ſweeteſt morſels, and make their very felicity miſerable. Yet all this avails mee nothing, ſo long as I ſee Mordecai, ſaith Haman the Kings minion. Laſtly, after the unſanctified enjoyment, follows the ſting of conſcience, that will inexpreſſibly vex and torment the ſoul throughout all eternity.

And there was no profit under the ſun] Nullae emolumenta laborum, nothing but labour for travell, no contentation but deſperation, no ſatisfaction but endleſs vexation; as children tire themſelves to catch a butterflie; which when they have caught, profits them nothing, onely fouls their fingers. Or rather as the dropſical body, by ſtriving to quench thirſt by drinking, doth but increaſe the diſeaſe, and in the end deſtroy it ſelf.

Verſ. 12. For what can the man doe that cometh after the King?] q. d. who is it that can out-doe me in this review and diſcovery? Neither is this a vain-glorious vaunting of his own vertues, but an Occupation or prevention of an objection, thus.

Obj. It may be thou haſt not perfectly known the difference of things, and ſo haſt not rightly determined.

Sol. To this he anſwers, that he hath ſo quit himſelf in ſearching and trying the truth in theſe points, that it is not for any other to goe beyond him. And having removed this rub, having carried this dead Amaſa out of the way, that might have hindred his Hearers march, hee proceeds in his diſcourſe.

Verſ. 13. Then I ſaw that wiſdome excelleth folly] i. e. Philoſophy and Humane wiſdome, though it cannot perfect the mind, nor make a man happy, yet it is as farre beyond ſenſuality and brutiſhneſſe, as light is beyond darkneſſe. Thoſe that ſeek for the Philoſophers Stone, though they miſſe of their end, yet they find many excellent things by the way: So, Philoſophers, Politicians, Moraliſts, though they miſſed of the pearl of price, yet they ſought out other goodly pearls (with that wiſe Merchant, Mat. 13.45.) for the which they have their juſt praiſe and profit.

Verſ. 14. The wiſe mans eyes are in his head] Hee judiciouſly pondereth things paſt, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Deſcrip. of the world, chap. of China. Heyl. Geog. and prudently ordereth things preſent, and providently fore-ſeeth to prevent dangers likely to enſue. The Chineſes uſe to ſay of themſelves, that all other Nations of the world ſee but with one eye, they only with two. Italians tell us, that whereas Spaniards ſeem wiſe and are fools, French-men ſeem fools and are wiſe; Portugals neither are wiſe, nor ſo much as ſeem to bee ſo; they themſelves both ſeem wiſe and are ſo. This I could ſooner beleeve, if from a better mouth than their own. Romani, ſicut non acumina, ita non impoſturas habent, ſaith Bellarm. The Romans (thoſe wittieſt of the Italians) are neither very ſubtile, nor very ſimple.

But the fool walketh in darkneſſe] Hee hath neither fight nor light, but is acted and agitated by the Prince of Darkneſs, who holds his black hand before the eye of ſuch mens minds, and blinds their underſtandings; dealing with them, as Pliny ſaith the Eagle deals with the Hart, ſhee lights upon his horns and there flutters up and down, filling his eyes with duſt borne in her feathers, that at laſt he may caſt himſelf from a rock, and ſo be made a prey unto her.

One event hapneth to them all] As did to Joſiah and Ahab in the manner of both their dying in battel. They may be all wrapt up together in a common calamity,Aug. and Sapientes ſapienter in gehennam deſcendant, the worlds great wiſe men goe very wiſely down to hell: there (for want of ſaving grace) fools and wiſer men meet at one and the ſame Inne, though by ſeveral wayes; at one and the ſame Haven, though from ſeveral coaſts.

Verſ. 15. As it happeneth to the fool, ſo it happeneth] It is with men, as with Counters, though in the account one ſtand for a penny, another for a pound; yet in the bag there is no difference: ſo here in the event, all our wiſedom is ſoon refuted with one black Theta, which underſtanding us not, ſnappeth us unreſpectively without diſtinction, and putteth at once a period to our reading, and to our being.

And why was I then more wiſe] This is a peece of peeviſhneſſe, a childiſh folly we are all prone to, viz. to repent us of our beſt pains if not preſently paid for it; ſo ſhort ſpirited are we, that unleſſe we may ſow and reap all in a day, unleſſe all things may goe with us as well as we could wiſh, wee repent us of our repentance with David, Pſal. 73.13. hit God in the teeth with our obedience, as thoſe hypocrites in Eſay, chap. 58.2, 3. and as that elder brother in the Parable, that told his father he had never been worth a Kid to him for all his good ſervice. But what? is God like to break, or to dye in our debts, that we are ſo haſty with him? This was good Barucks fault, and he is ſoundly chidden for it, Jer. 45.1. with chap. 36.1, 2. Good men oft find it more eaſie to bear evil, than to wait till the promiſed good bee enjoyed. It was ſo with thoſe Chriſtian Hebrews, chap. 10.34, 36. whom therefore the Apoſtle there tells, they had need of patience, or tarriance, to carry Gods time. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. It needs not repent the wiſe of this world (much leſſe the children of Light) of any good they have done or gotten (however it prove with them) ſith ſome degree of comfort follows every good action, as hear accompanies fire, as beams and influences iſſue from the Sun. And this is ſo true, that very Heathens upon the diſcharge of a good Conſcience, have found comfort and peace anſwerable.

Verſ. 16. For there is no remembrance of the wiſe] viz. unleſſe hee bee alſo wiſe to ſalvation: for then he ſhall be had in everlaſting remembrance. Or otherwiſe, either he ſhall be utterly forgotten (as being not written among the living in Jeruſalem, Eſay 4.3.) or elſe he ſhall not have the happineſs to bee forgotten in the City where he had ſo done, Eccl. 8.10. I mean where he had been either a dogmatical, or at leaſt a practical Atheiſt, as the very beſt of the Philoſophers were, Rom. 1. & 1. Cor. 1. the choyſeſt and the moſt picked men amongſt them, 1 Cor. 3.21.

And how dyeth the wiſe man? as the fool] See the Note on verſ. 14▪ & 15. wiſe men dye as well as fools, Pſal. 49.10. good men dye as well as bad, Ezek. 21.4. yet with this difference; that the righteous hath hope in his death, which to him is neither total, but of the body only, nor perpetual, but for a time only, till the day of refreſhing. See both theſe, Rom. 8.10, 11.

Verſ. 17. Therefore I hated life] i. e. I leſſe loved it than I had done; I ſaw mortality to be a mercy, with Cato; I was neither fond of life, Ʋſque adeone mori miſerum Virgil. nor afraid of death, with Q. Elizabeth. I preferred my Coffin before my Cradle, my Burial-day before my Birth-day, chap. 7.1. A greater than Solomon threatens thoſe that love life, with the loſs of life, Luk. 17.33. and hath purpoſely ſet a particular vanity and vexation upon every day of our life, that wee may not dote upon it, ſith we dye daily. Sufficient to the day is the evil (that is, the miſery) thereof. Quicquid boni eſt in mundo, ſaith Auſtin, what good thing ſoever we have here, is either paſt, preſent, or to come. If paſt, it's nothing: if to come, it's uncertain: if preſent, yet it is unſufficient, unſatisfactory. So that, whilſt I call to mind things paſt (ſaid that incomparable Q. Elizabeth) behold things preſent, and expect things to come,Camb. Eliz. fol. 325. I hold them happieſt that goe hence ſooneſt.

Verſ. 18. Yea, I hated all my labour] i. e. I was ſorry to think, that I had been ſo eager and earneſt in getting a great eſtate, which now I muſt leave, and to whom I know not; ſure I am, to thoſe that never took any pains for it. And herein we ſee the corruption of our nature diſcover it ſelf, in that we are ſo wedded to the things of this world (eſpecially if gotten by our own art and induſtry) that we think much to bee divorced from them by death, and to leave them to others, when our ſelves can enjoy them no longer. Henry Beauford that rich and wretched Cardinal, Biſhop of Wincheſter, and Chancellor of England, in the reign of Henry 6. when hee perceived that hee muſt dye,Act. & Mon. fol. 925. and that there was no remedy, murmured at death, that his riches could not reprieve him till a further time. For he asked, wherefore ſhould I dye, being ſo rich? If the whole Realm would ſave my life, I am able either by policy to get it, or by riches to buy it. Fye, (quoth he) will not death bee hired? will money doe nothing?

Latimer, in a Sermon before King Edward the 6. tells a ſtory of a rich man, that when hee lay upon his Sick bed, there came one to him and told him, that certainly, by all reaſon they can judge by, hee was like to be a man for another world, a dead man. As ſoon as ever he hears but theſe words (ſaith Latimer) What muſt I dye? ſaid he, ſend for a Phyſician; wounds, ſides, heart, muſt I dye? wounds, ſides, heart, muſt I dye? and thus he goes on, and there could bee nothing got from him, but wounds, ſides, heart, muſt I dye? Muſt I dye and goe from theſe? here was all: here's the end of a man that made his portion to bee in this world. If this mans heart had been ript up a[illegible: 1 letter]ter hee was dead, there might have been found written in it, The God of this preſent world.

Serm. on Pſal. 17.14. April 3. 1643. before the L. Maior.Mr. Jeremy Burroughes relates in print of another rich man, that had ſometime lived neer unto him; who, when hee heard his ſickneſs was deadly, ſent for his bags of mony, and hugg'd them in his arms, ſaying: Oh! muſt I leave you? Oh! muſt I leave you? And of another, who when hee lay upon his ſick bed, called for his bags, and laid a bag of gold to his heart, and then bad them take it away, it will not do, it will not do.

Mr. Rogers in his Treatiſe of love, tels of one, that being near death, clapt a twenty ſhillings peece of gold into his own mouth, ſaying, Some wiſer than ſome, Ile take this with mee, howſoever.

Verſ. 19. And who knoweth whether he ſhall bee a wiſe man] A friend or an enemy, an acquaintance or a meer ſtranger: riches oft change maſters. How many by a juſt hand of God dye childleſs; or elſe leave that they have to dingthrifts, that will ſpend it as merrily, as ever their parents got it miſerably? ſcatter with a fork as it were, what they have wretchedly raked together? Our Henry 2. ſome few hours before hee died, ſaw a liſt of their names, who conſpired with the King of France, and Earl Richard (his ſonne and ſucceſſor) againſt him; And finding therein his ſon John (whom hee had made Earl of Cornwal, Sommerſet, Nottingham, Derby, and Lancaſter, and given him a vaſt eſtate) to bee the firſt; he fell into a grievous paſſion, both curſing his ſons, and the day wherein himſelf was born:Dan. hiſt. 112. and in that diſtemperature departs the world, which ſo often himſelf had diſtempered.

Verſ. 20. Therefore I went about to cauſe my heart, &c.] i. e. I ſet my ſelf to take off the edge of my affections from theſe outward comforts that are ſo uncertain, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Symmachus. Metaph. ab equis, quos qui agitant circumagunt. and ſo unſatisfactory; and to take another courſe for the attaining of true happineſſe. The Hebrew word ſignifies, I ſet a compaſs, I turned round, or I turned ſhort again upon my ſelf, by a reflex act of my mind, as Ephraim did, Jer. 31.19, 20. as the prodigal did when hee came to himſelf, who before had been beſides himſelf in point of ſalvation: and as Solomon elſewhere prays, that the captive people may bethink themſelves, or (as the Hebrew hath it) bring back to their heart, 1 King. 8.47. return and diſcern between the righteous and the wicked, Mal. 3.18. Thus David examined his ways, and finding all to be naught and ſtark naught, (contrary to that of God, who reviewing his works, found all good and very good) hee bethought himſelf of a better courſe, hee turned his feet to Gods teſtimonies, Pſal. 119.59. Set not thy heart upon the aſſes, ſaid the Prophet to Saul, foraſmuch as better things abide thee, the deſire of all Iſrael is to thee.

Verſ. 21. For there is a man whoſe labour is in wiſdome] This ſeemed to Solomon (whoſe own caſe it was like to be) ſo unworthy a thing, and ſuch a vexation of ſpirit, that hee can never ſay enough of it; but could find in his heart to cry out with the Poet, [non-Latin text not transcribed], I am thrice miſerable, nay ten times, nay an hundred, nay a thouſand times ſo, that am born to be a provident and a perfect drudge of an idledrone, or perhaps of a meer ſtranger.

This is alſo vanity and a great evill] Not privation of good onely, a nothing; but a poſition of evill, a ſad thing; an inconveniency not to bee avoided by the moſt circumſpect prudence: [non-Latin text not transcribed] for it is written, Hee taketh the wiſe in their own craftineſs. And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wiſe (their inward diſceptations, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. their debating the matter with themſelves) that they are vain, 1 Cor. 3.19, 20. The rich fool talked to himſelf (as fools uſe to do) and ſet down how every thing ſhould be, Luke 12.17. but it proved ſomewhat otherwiſe, ere he was a day elder.

Verſ. 22. For what hath a man of all his labour] What makes hee of it (every thing reckoned) ſee chap. 1.3. what takes hee with him when hee dies, more than a poor winding ſheet? as that Great Emperour of Egypt cauſed to bee proclaimed at his funeral,Caron. Chron. that that ſhirt of his (there hanged up for the purpoſe) was all that hee now had of all his labour, and great atchivements. Saladine the mighty Monarch of the Eaſt is gone, and hath taken no more with him than what you ſee, ſaid the bare Prieſt that went before the bier.Carion. Chron. See the Note on 1 Tim. 6.7.

Verſ. 23. For all his days are ſorrows, &c.] All the days of the afflicted are evil, Prov. 1[illegible: 1 letter].15. and every day hath a ſufficient evil laid upon it by God, Matth. 16.34. Few and evil were the days of Jacobs pilgrimage.Gen. 47.9 God gave him not a draught only of the cup of affliction, but made him a diet-drink. Man is born to trouble (ſaith Eliphaz, Job 5.7.) as the ſpark flyes upward. [non-Latin text not transcribed], &c. Iſocr. Man and Miſerable are in a manner terms convertible: He that remembers that himſelf is a man, will not think much of any ſorrow betides him, ſaith the Heathen Oratour. For, Si niſi res cujus nulla eſt contraria votis Vivere nemo poteſt, vivere nemo poteſt.

Yea, his heart taketh no reſt in the night] As a clock can never ſtand ſtill, ſo long as the plummets hang thereat; ſo neither can a worldlings heart for cares and anxieties. Theſe gnats will not ſuffer him to ſleep, theſe flyes of Aegypt are continually ſtinging him, Nocte ac die non dabunt requiem, as thoſe Tyrants, Jer. 16. Night and day he is diſquieted with them; he lyes upon a pillow ſtuft with thorns. Not ſo the godly man, he contracts his cares into a narrow compaſſe, communes with his own heart upon his bed; and having made all even with God, ſleeps undiſturbed, Pſal. 3. & 4. Jacob reſts ſweetly when his head lay upon a hard ſtone at Bethel: Ahaſueroſh cannot reſt, though upon a Bed of Doun, but calls for the Chronicles. It was wiſely done of Burleigh L. Treaſurer, to put off his cares together with his clothes,Camden. when he laid by his Gown, he would commonly ſay, Lye there Lord Treaſurer, and ſo quietly compoſe himſelf to take his ſleep. In nothing be careful (ſaith the Apoſtle) but let the peace of God guard your hearts and mindes in Chriſt Jeſus, Phil. 4.6, 7.

Verſ. 24. There is nothing better for a man, &c.] This may ſeem to ſavour of Epicuriſme; as may alſo ſome following paſſages of this book. For which cauſe ſome of the old Jew-Doctors were once in a minde to hide this whole book out of the way; and not ſuffer the common ſort to [illegible: 1 word] any more. But this they needed never to have done: for the Preacher expreſly calls carnal mirth madneſſe, in this very chapter; and ſheweth that the happineſs of a man ſtands in fearing God, and keeping his Commandements, chap. 12. All which is poynt-blank againſt Atheiſme and Epicuriſme. And whereas here and elſewhere the liberal uſe of the Creatures is commended and commanded; this is done in oppoſition to, and deteſtation of ſuch parſimonious penny-fathers, as deny themſelves that neceſſary and honeſt affluence that God hath permitted and afforded them: living ſordidly, that they may grow rich ſuddenly, although they know not how ſoon they may leave all, nor yet to whom.

This alſo I ſaw that it was from the hand of God] It is he that fills our hearts, as with food, ſo with gladneſſe, Acts 14.17. He can curſe our bleſſings, make our table a ſnare, ſauce that we eat, ſpice that we drink, with his fierce wrath, as he did the Quails to thoſe Iſraelites. He can diſſweeten our Delicates, either with ſickneſſe, Job 33.20. or ſorrow, Pſal. 107.17, 18. or ſudden terrour, 1 Sam. 30.16, 17. & 1 King. 1.41. Adoniah's feaſt ended in horrour; aſtoniſhment was ſerved up for their laſt diſh. Let God therefore bee ſought, for a comfortable uſe of the Creature, and then be merry at thy meat, and put ſorrow from thy heart, chap. 9.7. Eat the fat, and drink the ſweet, &c. for the joy of the Lord is your ſtrength, Nehem. 8.10.

Verſ. 25. For who can eat? or who can haſten, &c.] And yet I have found, (and ſo ſhall you) that tranquillity and true happineſs (the Kindgom of God) doth not conſiſt in meats and drinks. A Turk may beleeve ſenſualities in his fools paradiſe: but no ſervant of God is a ſlave to his palate.

Verſ. 26. Wiſdome and knowledge] To get theſe things rightly, and to uſe them comfortably.

To gather and to heap up] Converrere & congerrere, to rake and ſcrape together; the muck-worms occupation.

That he may give] As he did the Aegyptians goods to Iſrael, Nabals to David, Hamans to Mordecai.