Ecclésiaste, Chapitre 1, vers 2
2 Solomon shews, that there is no true happiness to be had in mirth and the pleasures of sense, Eccl 2:1-11.
He considers wisdom again, and owns it to be an excellent thing, and yet insufficient to give happiness, Eccl 2:12-16.
He shews that business and wealth are only vanity and vexation of spirit, Eccl 2:17-23.
And that if there be any good therein, it is only to these who sit loose to them, Eccl 2:24-26.
2:21 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.
2:22 For what - What comfort or benefit remains to any man after this short and frail life is once ended?
2:23 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.
3
3:1 If ye are risen, seek the things above - As Christ being risen, immediately went to heaven.
3:3 For ye are dead - To the things on earth. And your real, spiritual life is hid from the world, and laid up in God, with Christ - Who hath merited, promised, prepared it for us, and gives us the earnest and foretaste of it in our hearts.
3:4 When Christ - The abruptness of the sentence surrounds us with sudden light. Our life - The fountain of holiness and glory. Shall appear - In the clouds of heaven.
3:5 Mortify therefore - Put to death, slay with a continued stroke. Your members - Which together make up the body of sin.Which are upon the earth - Where they find their nourishment.Uncleanness - In act, word, or thought. Inordinate affection - Every passion which does not flow from and lead to the love ofGod. Evil desire - The desire of the flesh, the desire of the eye, and the pride of life. Covetousness - According to the derivation of the word, means the desire of having more, or of any thing independent on God. Which is idolatry - Properly and directly; for it is giving the heart to a creature.
12
12:14 Who made me a judge? - In worldly things. His kingdom is not of this world.
12:15 He said to them - Perhaps to the two brothers, and through them to the people. A man's life - That is, the comfort or happiness of it.
12:17 What shall I do? - The very language of want! Do? Why, lay up treasure in heaven.
12:20 Thou fool - To think of satisfying thy soul with earthly goods!To depend on living many years! Yea, one day! They - The messengers of death, commissioned by God, require thy soul of thee!
12:21 Rich toward God - Namely, in faith, and love, and good works.
1 The title of the book, Eccl 1:1.
The general doctrine, All is vanity, Eccl 1:2-3.
Proved from the shortness of life, and the perpetual changes of all the creatures, Eccl 1:4-7.
From the unsatisfying toil of men, and the return of the same things over again, Eccl 1:8-11.
The vanity of knowledge, Eccl 1:12-18.
1:2 Vanity - Not only vain, but vanity in the abstract, which denotes extreme vanity. Saith - Upon deep consideration and long experience, and by Divine inspiration. This verse contains the general proposition, which he intends particularly to demonstrate in the following book. All - All worldly things. Is vanity - Not in themselves for they are God's creatures and therefore good in their kinds, but in reference to that happiness, which men seek and expect to find in them. So they are unquestionably vain, because they are not what they seem to be, and perform not what they promise, but instead of that are the occasions of innumerable cares, and fears, and sorrows, and mischiefs. Nay, they are not only vanity but vanity of vanities, the vainest vanity, vanity in the highest degree. And this is redoubled, because the thing is certain, beyond all possibility of dispute.