Ecclesiastes
ANNOTATIONS ON THE BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES
ECCLESIASTES, OR, THE PREACHER
THE ARGUMENT
The author of this book, both by the style and by the title of it, appears to have been Solomon, since no other son of David was king in Jerusalem but he. He seems to have written it in his old age, when he took a more serious view of his past life. The honors, pleasures, wealth, wisdom, he had so abundantly enjoyed; the errors and miscarriages which he had fallen into; the large experience and many observations he had made; of things natural, moral, domestical, civil, sensual, divine; the curious and critical inquiry he had made after true happiness, and what contribution all things under the sun could afford thereunto. Concerning which, he does, 1. In the general discover the utter vanity and insufficiency of all things here below to make a man blessed, in regard of their mutable nature, of their weakness and disproportion to the soul of man; of the weariness which is contracted by the studying of them; and the impossibility of over-drawing from them more than has been formerly extracted; and consequently the fruitless attempt of any that should ever after go about to receive satisfaction from them. 2. He demonstrates this general proposition touching the most vain vanity of all things under the sun by an induction of those particulars, from which, above all others, men usually expect the greatest contentment. Those are, 1. Wisdom and knowledge, both natural and moral, for inquiry whereinto no man was ever furnished with greater abilities and stronger inclinations in himself, or with more fitting provisions and assistants from without, than Solomon was, in regard of the greatness of his dignity and estate; and yet after all he concludes, that wisdom and knowledge do but increase grief and sorrow, so far are they from bringing such blessedness to the soul as may fully satisfy the desires thereof. 2. Pleasures and delights, which he had as much advantage by his greatness to enjoy, and by his wisdom to examine, as ever any other man should have: and yet all the content he expected from them did end in hatred of them, and despair of ever mending his condition by them. 3. Honor, greatness, and power in the world, concerning which, he shows that it is so far from making men happy, as that without the fear of God to correct and temper it, it is the occasion of much wickedness to those that have it, and of much misery to those that suffer under it: it usually breaking forth into oppression and violence, whereby men in power carry themselves like beasts towards their brethren, and shall themselves die like beasts, undesired and unlamented. It being likewise matter of much discouragement to men that are oppressed by it, making them weary of their lives, rather careless of their labors, resolved upon idleness, than upon envied employments; and to get what they can privately to themselves, than having been publicly useful to be repaid with no other rewards than wrong and danger: by which means society and community of services amongst men, so greatly beneficial to public interest, are obstructed and dissolved. 4. An outward form of religion and of divine worship, into which foolish men by carnal confidence and superficial performances do also put diverse vanities, and make even God's service unuseful to their happiness. 5. Riches and great possessions, which are so far from satisfying the heart of man, as that they occasion more cares, less sleep, less quiet, are snares and occasions of much hurt to the owners of them, who, living, possess them with sorrow; and dying, part with them with wrath and indignation: having little benefit by them in their life, as having not power to enjoy them nor in their death any comfort from them, as leaving them to they know not whom, being not at all exempted by them either from misery or mortality.
And having thus discovered the vanity of the principal things from whence the heart of man might have expected satisfaction: he does thereupon prescribe many excellent means for healing and abating of that vanity, and for procuring tranquility unto the mind: and peace and comfort to the life of a man. Such are, contentation of heart: in the sweet and free enjoyment of all outward blessings, with thanksgiving, and in the fear of God. Quiet and humble acquiescency under the holy and powerful providence of God in all the events which befall us in the world. Sincerity of heart in his worship, and prudent piety in our vows, prayers, and addresses unto him. Patience of spirit under all the oppressions we meet with in the world. A composed preparedness of mind to undergo sorrows and afflictions. Prudent and pious moderation of spirit in our behavior towards all men, that so we may preserve our names from calumny, and our persons from danger. Meekness, charity, patience toward such as offend, considering common frailty, and our own weakness. Sobriety of mind, contenting ourselves with a measure of wisdom and knowledge, and not busying ourselves with things too high for us. Practical prudence, which may render us beautiful in the eyes of others. Loyalty and obedience towards magistrates, that our lives may not be made uncomfortable by their displeasure. Wisdom to discern of time and judgment. Preparedness of heart against inevitable evils. Submission to holy and invincible providence of God, admiring his works, adoring his judgments. Joyful fruition of comforts, conscionable and industrious walking in our particular callings, wisdom how to carry ourselves amidst the many calamities which meet us in the world, so as that we may by our loyalty towards superiors decline the danger of displeasure from them: and by our charity to inferiors lay up a good foundation for ourselves against the time to come. Lastly, moderation in the use of comforts here, and preparation by the fear of God, and keeping of his commandments, for death and judgment hereafter. That by these means as our life is sweeter, so our death may be welcome. That the piety of our youth may help us to bear the infirmities of our age, and to lift up our heads in the day of redemption.
CHAPTER 1
Verses: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18
In this chapter, we have, 1. The inscription of the whole book, verse 1, wherein the author thereof is described by his natural relation, the son of David, his civil relation, king in Jerusalem: and his church relation, a preacher; or a penitent soul, returning into the bosom of the church, from whence by many gross miscarriages he had secluded himself. 2. A general proposition, setting forth the utter insufficiency of all things under the sun to make a man blessed, and the extreme vanity which is in them, in relation unto such an end, (however otherwise useful and beneficial they may be, within their own sphere, when sanctified, to sweeten and comfort the life of a man; who has placed his happiness in God:) insomuch, that all the labor which is taken, to extract happiness from the creature, will be wholly fruitless, and without any profit at all, verse 2, 3. The proof of this general proposition;
1. By man's mortality, whereby he is quickly removed from the fruition of them, whereas that which makes a man happy ought forever to abide with him, verse 4.
2. By the instability of all other creatures; they come, and presently they go, and are never in a fixed condition: if coming, they make happy; then departing, they leave miserable again. By which instability of the creatures, being themselves continually unsatisfied, is implied, 1. Their weakness to minister satisfaction to so noble a creature as man, verse 5, 6, 7. 2. The restless and fruitless labor which is taken in seeking satisfaction from things which only affect the sense, since the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing, verse 8.
3. By the continual vicissitudes and returns of the same things, which having failed once, yea often before, are never likely to afford further supplies, than already they have done (which indeed are none) towards the happiness of a man. And therefore except they can minister some new matter of satisfaction to the soul, which was never found in them before, and which indeed they will never do; impossible it is, but the same disappointments which others have met with, must likewise befall those who shall from the same things seek for that, which the wisest of men heretofore were never able to extract from them, verse 9, 10, 11.
4. By Solomon's own experience, who by the dignity of his place, by the inclination of his heart, by the greatness of his wisdom and learning, and by the abundance of his wealth; was able to go as far as any other man could in this inquiry after true happiness; and when he had set himself to make a most critical and accurate search into all things here below, does conclude of them all in general, and of the most excellent of them all in particular; namely of wisdom and knowledge, that they are not only vanity, and so unable to satisfy the soul, but are further vexation of spirit, as causing much grief and sorrow to that heart which is immoderately conversant about them.
Verse 1. {The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem} These words are the inscription of this book, setting down the author thereof by his parentage, dignity, and design in this writing. The author is prefixed, as owning and avowing the doctrine therein contained: his dignity is added, to set on the drift and scope of the book the better. A king. Such a king, the son of David, so piously educated, 1 Reg. 2:2, 3. 1 Chr. 28:9. Prov. 31:1, so solemnly by God selected, separated to that honor, 2 Sam. 7:12–15. 2 Chron. 1:1, so admirably endowed with inward wisdom, whereby he was fitted, as in special for the work of government, 1 Reg. 3:12, 28, so likewise for all natural and moral inquiries, 1 Reg. 10:3. 1 Reg. 4:29–34, so richly furnished with all outward means to further such an inquiry, 2 Chron. 9:22, so fixed and wholly taken up with it, sometimes viciously taking his fill of outward pleasures, 1 Reg. 11:1, sometimes critically, setting himself to extract the quintessence of all sublunary perfections, Eccles. 1:17, and lastly, being instructed by God, an inspired person, and called out to publish this as a preacher of so necessary a truth to God's people. In all these respects, there is much authority added to what the wise man delivers in this book, and he does hereby excite the acceptation of the people thereunto, as unto the words of a penitent convert, and of a wise, holy, and potent prince.
{The words of the Preacher} Some read it as a proper name, the words of Koheleth son of David, and so would have it to be one of the names of Solomon, as Jedidiah, 2 Sam. 12:25. Lemuel, Prov. 31:1. It is usually out of the Greek rendered Ecclesiastes, or, the Preacher: as if Solomon had publicly delivered it to the congregation, (as we find sometimes kings and extraordinary persons have spoken to the people in their church assemblies, 1 Reg. 8:1, 12.) But it seems chiefly to signify Solomon's repentance, and reuniting himself to the congregation of God's people, from whence by his idolatries and other apostasies he had departed: and so the sense is, the words of the soul, or person congregated or gathered unto the church, or congregation of saints, Psal. 89:6. viz. of the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Some were not to be admitted into the congregation at all, Deut. 23:3. Nehem. 13:1, and others by idolatry and apostasy, did shut out themselves from the assemblies of the saints, by joining themselves to other gods. Now here Solomon does by serious and solemn repentance return into the bosom of that congregation, from which by his idolatry he had departed, and turned his heart from the Lord God of Israel, 1 King 11:9. And does therein and thereunto declare the vanity of all other ways, save only the fear and worship of the Lord, unto true happiness. And herein he imitates his father David, whose name is haply here for that cause mentioned, that as David being converted did publish his repentance unto the church, in that solemn penitential Psalm, Psal. 51. So his son, having fallen from his integrity, did take the same course to give glory to God in the great congregation Psal. 40:10, and to make known his repentance to all the church, that thereby he might glorify God, and strengthen his brethren. Whence he frequently in this book gives himself this title, as, of a penitent convert, chap. 1:12, and 7:29, and 12:8, 9, 10. The word is a participle or adjective of the feminine gender, yet joined here to a verb masculine, as elsewhere to a verb feminine; chap. 7:27. There, because of the grammatical congruity, here with relation to the person thereby signified. They use to supply the sense with the word nephesh, soul, which is mentioned presently after it, chap. 7:27, 23. And so that word is elsewhere supplied, 2 Sam. 13:29, so where it is said, Gen. 49:6, My glory, be not thou united unto their assembly; the noun is masculine, the verb feminine, to signify that by glory, the same is to be understood in that clause, which was expressed by the feminine noun, the soul, in the former clause: and so glory seems elsewhere to signify the soul of a man, Psalm 30:12. If it be enquired what may be the cause why Solomon does not prefix his proper name to this book, as to the other two, of the Proverbs and Canticles: though it be not necessary to be curious in questions of this nature, yet this may be inoffensively conjectured; 1. That he seems hereby to intimate, that by his former sins he had as it were forfeited his name of peace, and so we find after by reason of those his sins, God stirred up adversaries against him, 1 King 11:14, 23. 2. To note his sincerity, who now chose to be known rather by the name of a penitent convert, than of a peaceable prince, as if he who had troubled Israel by his sins, did no longer deserve his name of peace, as the prodigal said to his father, I am no more worthy to be called thy son. So in Scripture, men have taken new names suitable to a new condition, Gen. 32:28. Ruth 1:20. Mark 3:16, 17. Nehem. 9:7. The other additions likewise to his name of penitence may seem to be looked on by him as aggravations of his sins. 1. That he was the son of David, a godly father, who had given him such holy education, who had provided him materials to build God's house, and greatly encouraged him to advance the worship of the Lord; who had been an example to him to take heed of falling into gross sins, that the son of such a father should fall so foully. 2. That he was a king on his father's throne, and that not by right of inheritance, but by special designation from the Lord, who had singled him out above his brethren, and had appeared unto him twice, and gave him wisdom and princely endowments for so great a place, that he should defile the throne whereunto he had been so graciously advanced; and from thence give to all the people so sad an example of sensuality and apostasy. 3. That he was a king in Jerusalem, a holy city, where was God's throne as well as the thrones of the house of David; that he should defile the Lord's land, and his dwelling place. These were considerations worthy for such a penitent to have his eyes on, for his greater humiliation. Thereby teaching us, 1. That the sins of the child are greatly aggravated by the godliness of the parent, Jer. 22:15, 16, 17. 2. That the sins of the child are greatly aggravated by the falls and miscarriages of the parent, Dan. 5:18–23. 3. That sins are greatly aggravated by the dignities and privileges of those that commit them, 2 Sam. 12:7, 8, 9. Deut. 32:12–19. Amos 2:9–13. 3:2. 4. That the greater the person is that sins whereby the scandal to the church is likewise the greater, the more solemn ought his repentance to be, Numb. 12:14, 15. 16. 2 Chron. 33:11, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19. 5. That the power of grace is exceeding great, which can subdue the hearts of the greatest men, unto the severest yoke of public and solemn repentance, 2 Cor. 10:4, 5, 6. And further, from the description of the person, and his writing of this book, we may observe, 1. That eminency of wisdom without the continued assistance of grace, cannot keep a man from gross and foul lapses. Never a wiser man than Solomon, and never any saint fell into more foolish faults. God is pleased sometimes to suffer men to fall into such sins, the contrary graces whereunto they had most eminently been adorned withal. As David, a most spiritual man into fleshly lust; Lot whose righteous soul had been vexed at the filthy conversation of the Sodomites, into another sort of unnatural impurity, to incest with his daughters; Job, into impatience; Moses, the meekest man alive into great passion of mind Numb. 20:10. Peter the boldest disciple, into base fear and cowardice of spirit, in denying his master. 2. That height of honor and abundance of wealth, are sore snares and temptations, even to the wisest and most excellent men, Mark 10:23, 25. 1 Tim. 6:9. Isaiah 38:17. 3. That repentance sets a man most against that evil, by which he had most dishonored God, and been foiled under temptation. Abundance of knowledge and treasures drew Solomon's heart too far from the Lord, and being converted, he sets himself most to discern the emptiness and vanity of them. So Zaccheus, Luke 19:8. And Mary Magdalen, Luke 7:37, 38. 4. That the Lord makes the falls of his servants very beneficial unto his church; David's fall was an occasion of his penning some excellent Psalms, and Solomon's of writing this excellent book, setting forth the vanity of those worldly things, whereby even wise men are many times drawn away from God. 5. That the saints, after some great offense given by their falls to the church, make it their business, upon their repentance, to do some more notable and eminent service to the church: as Peter, who had been most fearful in denying Christ, was after most forward in preaching him, and most bold in the profession of him, Acts 1:15, and 2:14, and 3:12, and 4:8, and 5:29.
V. 2. {Vanity of vanities (saith the preacher, vanity of vanities, All is vanity)} The scope of the wise man is to direct us in the right way to true happiness. And this he does, first, negatively, assuring us that it is not to be found in anything under the sun. Secondly, affirmatively, that it is to be found only in God and his service. For the former, this is the last issue and result of all that curious inquiry, which Solomon made into the utmost excellencies of creatures here below. He was furnished above all other men, with all variety of requisites for such a work, set himself critically about it, to dissect as it were, and take a thorough view of the creature, and having so done, this is the upshot that all is nothing but very vanity. And this he does in a vehement and pathetical manner, that it may be the more observed. He does not say, all is vain; but in the abstract, (which is much more emphatical) all is vanity: not vanity only, but vanity of vanities, that is, extreme vanity. The genitive case of the noun, according to the use of that tongue, supplying an adjective of the superlative degree Gen. 9:35. Cant. 1:1. Hos. 10:15. 1 Tim. 6:15. And this proposition he doubles and repeats again, thereby intimating, 1. The unquestionable certainty of it, Gen. 40:32. Isa. 8:9. 2. The great consequence of it, as being a truth necessary to be inculcated, that it might make the deeper impression on the heart, Ezek. 21:27. Psal. 62:11. Rev. 18:2. 3. The natural unaptness which is in us to give credit to it, or to take notice of it except it be thus inculcated upon us. Jer. 22:29. 4. The earnest affection of the wise man in pressing this necessary truth, with which he himself in his repentance was so deeply affected. Repetitions argue vehemency of affections, and earnest contending for the things so repeated, Ezek. 16:6. Luke 23:21. Gal. 1:8, 9. Psal. 93:3.
And because it might be thought to be true only of some things, and that some other things which Solomon had not looked so narrowly into, might haply have more excellency in them, therefore he adds, to prevent this objection, that all is vanity. All, not simply, but with limitation to the subject matter of which he treated in this book; everything severally, all things jointly. Not any one thing alone, not all things collectively and together are able to satisfy the soul, and to make it happy. It is true, the works of God are all good and excellent, sought out of all those that have pleasure in them. But good in their kind and order; of excellent use to set forth the glory, power, wisdom and goodness of God, and of necessary service for the use of man, 1 Tim. 4:4, 5. Yet withal vain in other respects; 1. Comparatively vain, when put in the balance with God, and heavenly things, Job 15:15. Isa. 40:15, 16, 17; 2. Vain by that super-induced vanity, whereunto they are subjected by the sin of man, Rom. 8:20. 3. Vain in order unto happiness, the full possession, the most vigorous fruition of them, cannot bring real satisfaction to the soul of a man; man himself, the noblest of them all, and that at his best estate, being altogether vanity, Psal. 39:5, 6, 11. Psal. 62:9, and 144:3, 4. They are vain, 1. In regard of their unprofitableness unto such an use Jer. 16:19. 2. In regard of their falseness and deceitfulness to those who lean upon them, Job 5—20. Ps. 31:7, and 62:10. Jon. 2:8. 3. In regard of their instability and impermanency, as being under the bondage of corruption Rom. 8:20. 1 Cor. 7:30, 31. Psal. 39:11. 2 Cor. 4:18. And in all these respects useless unto happiness; for that which makes a man happy, must bear a thorough proportion to all the wants, desires and capacities of the soul, and must withal be of an equal duration and continuance therewith; neither of which is to be found in any worldly thing.
{saith the preacher} Both by inspiration, as a pen-man of the Holy Ghost: and by experience, as one who had learned it dearly and to his cost. He sets his name as in the inscription to the whole book, so here, a second time to this, which is the sum of the whole book, confidently owning the truth thereof; as sometimes the apostle added his name emphatically, to set on what he affirmed or threatened, 2 Cor. 10:1. Gal. 5:2. Philem. verse 9, 19. So 1 Pet. 5:1. 1 Joh. 1:1, 3. They who speak to the church should do it experimentally, and from demonstration of the truth to their own hearts, that they may be confidently able to own, and to avow what they say.
V. 3. {What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?} Or, what remains and abides with a man of all his labor? What is added to him, or what more has he by it?
{of his labour} The word imports toilsome and troublesome labor, and so rendered by the Septuagint, μόχθος; and by Aquila, κόπος.
{under the sun} This may relate to either passage of the verse; either, what remaineth to a man under the sun; that is, nothing under the sun will tarry or abide with him. Or, of all the labor which he hath labored under the sun; do in relation to worldly matters here below. There is a conversation and a labor in order to things above the sun; which will remain with a man, and profit him, Phil. 3:20. Col. 3:1, 2. Joh. 6:27. But labor in earthly things will not do so. We are said to labor under the sun, because earthly labor is done by the light of the sun, Ps. 104:22, 23. Joh. 9:4, and because by that light we are more comforted in the fruition of worldly things, as Eccles. 11:7, and because the benefit we expect from our labors, is wrought instrumentally by the warmth and influence of the sun. Deut. 33:14. Here then the wise man proves his general proposition, whatsoever is unprofitable and perishing is very vanity: all things under the sun, about which the anxious and toilsome labor of man is conversant, are unprofitable and perishing, for nothing of them will remain unto him, or abide with him. Therefore they are all vain. And this he propounds by way of interrogation, which makes the negative more unquestionable, as appealing to the conscience of every man, and challenging any man to disprove it. The Scripture usually denies more emphatically by way of interrogation as Gen. 30:2. 2 Sam. 7:5, compared with 1 Chron. 17:4. Mat. 16:26. Zech. 1:5. And he further insists on this point as certain and necessary, chap. 2:11, and 3:9, and 5:15. The sum is this; 1. Whatever fruit we have from worldly things, we get it with very hard and toilsome labor, either of the mind or body, Gen. 3:17, 19. Job 5:7. 2. However that labor be useful and subservient to our temporal condition, yet it is wholly unprofitable in order unto happiness. 3. The foundation of this unprofitableness, is; 1. It does not cause a man to excel, it adds nothing of real worth unto him at all, James 2:1–6. Eccles. 9:14, 16. Psal. 49:12, 13, 20. 2. It does not abide with him; all the comfort it brings, is dying comfort; it stops at the grave and goes no further. Now nothing is profitable to a man which he cannot transport beyond the grave, which he does not carry with him into another world, Job 1:21, and 21:21. Psalm 49:14, 17. John 6:27. 1 Tim. 6:7. Those works are beneficial which follow a man, Revel. 14:13. Therefore we must lay out our labor upon a life that abides and abounds, John 10:10. Isaiah 55:2, and not labor in the fire and for very vanity, Habac. 2:13. Luke 12:6. Matth. 24:38, 39.
V. 4. {One Generation goeth, and another generation cometh, but the earth abideth for ever} By generation is meant the time wherein a body of men do live and continue together, so we read of this or that generation, Luke 21:32. Heb. 3:10, the second, third, tenth generation or ages of men yet to come, Deut. 23:2, 3, 8. A man's own generation, or the age wherein he lives, Acts 13:36. There is a constant succession of men to one another, a fixed time, as the days of a hireling. Job 7:1–10, and 14:14. The invariable principles of change and mortality are always working, and life is like a shepherd's tent, which does not continue in one place or stay, Isaiah 38:12.
{But the earth abideth or standeth for ever} Continues much longer than the men that are upon it; forever, notes often a long time, so long as the present course and order of nature is to continue, Psal. 119:90, so long as such or such an administration lasts, Gen. 9:12. 1 Sam. 2:30. 1 Sam. 13:13, otherwise we know the earth is to be changed, and in some sense at the least to pass away, as now the inhabitants thereof do, Matth. 24:35. Psal. 102:25, 27. There seems to be a double sense in the words, both consonant to the present argument. 1. That man cannot be happy by anything which is here below, in regard of his transitory condition, fathers going, and children succeeding: a man's labor haply may enrich him, or bring him to honor, but it cannot lengthen out his days beyond one generation, and then he and all his acquirements must part, and in this respect the earth on which he treads, is in a better condition than himself, for it abides to the end. 2. Man seeking happiness from the earth and earthly things, must needs be disappointed of his expectation, because he passes away, and the earth stays behind him. If he could carry the earth along with him, he might haply promise himself his wonted contentment, but the earth abides where it was, when he goes from it, and can enjoy it no more, Job 7:10. Psal. 49:17. Here then we may observe, first, a determinate time prefixed to the life, states, honors, offices of men; at uttermost, they are but for one generation, wherein every man has his service to do, his warfare to accomplish, his race to run, Job 7:1, and 14:5. 1 Cor. 9:24. Phil. 3:14. 2 Tim. 4:7. Acts 13:36. Secondly, the providence of God, in continuing the several succeeding ages of men, that he may still have a seed to serve him, that one generation may declare his works to another. That the admirable contexture of the works of providence, carried along by pieces, through various successions of men, may at last most gloriously set forth his wisdom, justice and goodness, Psalm 22:30, 31, and 102:18. Isaiah 38:19. Eccles. 8:17. Thirdly, a man's labor under the sun is for himself and his posterity: but his labor about heavenly things will abide with, and benefit himself forever. Fourthly, so long as the generations of men continue, so long does the Lord by his decree continue the earth for their supportance and salvation, because he has given it to the children of men, Deut. 32:8, and when the generations of men are ended, it shall then appear that the whole creation was subject to vanity, and to the bondage of corruption, Rom. 8:20. 2 Pet. 3:5, 7.
V. 5. {The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to the place where he arose} Or, pants towards the place. A metaphor from one who runs earnestly to some mark, or presses forward with strong desire to something it would attain, Psalm 119:131. Job 7:2. A like expression, Psalm 19:6, 7, and 104:19, whereby is signified an unwearied, yet constant and regular motion, founded in a covenant or ordinance of heaven, Jer. 31:35, 36, and 33:20. Job 38:33, from which without a special and extraordinary restraint from God (as Josh. 10:12. Isa. 38:8. Job 9:7) it never varies. Having thus affirmed of all things under the sun, that they are vain, he here begins with the sun itself, which does as it were weary itself out of breath, with continual motion, 1. If it did bring happiness to a man in its rising, it would remove it again in its setting. 2. Though the earth abides forever, and the sun moves regularly over it with its warmth, and the winds blow on it, to refresh the fruits thereof, Cant. 4:16, and the waters pass through it to make it fruitful, Gen. 2:10, 11, yet all this can benefit a man only in his own generation, but cannot convey any durable happiness unto him. 3. The earth abides always alike, the sun moves, the winds blow, the rivers run after one constant manner in one age as in another. If they have never yet made any happy, they never will, because they do minister but the same comforts again. 4. Mortality and mutability here is as natural to man, as standing to the earth, the motions of the sun, the circuits of the winds, the flowing of the rivers: so that it is as impossible for him to be happy by creatures on earth, as it is to alter the covenant of day or night, or to stop the regular and invariable courses of the heavens. 5. The sun runs his course, observes his time of rising and setting, and though he sets, he rises in equal glory again, but when man goes, he returns hither no more, Job 14:7, 11, 12. Observe the constant and steady obedience of other creatures, to that law of working, which was primitively implanted in them, they act as it were knowingly, Psal. 104:19, willingly, Rom. 8:20, vigorously with joy and strength, Psal. 19:5, and thereby shame those who have indeed a principle of light and reason, but act not in conformity thereunto.
V. 6. {The wind goeth towards the south, and turneth about unto the north}, &c. As the sun, so the winds have their courses, whereby is noted the uncertainty of outward things, if they please in their coming, they must disquiet in their departing, whereas the matter of happiness must be ever present, and permanent. Here we may also note the wise providence of God in the circuits of the winds and other sublunary creatures, which he brings out of his treasure and directs as it pleases him for the use of men, one while making them helpful to one part of the earth, and another while to another, Psalm 135:7. Job 37:17, and 38:22. Jer. 10:13. Deut. 28:12. Psalm 78:26. Gen. 8:1. Exod. 8:1, and 14:21. He seems likewise to have respect to those winds which in some parts of the world, have a very regular and uniform motion in some months of the year, blowing constantly out of one quarter, and in others, out of another. The words [going, circuiting, whirling about, returning] are used to show the restless, and unquiet nature of these things, their busy and speedy motion, as if they were ever out of their place; all which show how full of vanity they are, and represent the disquiet agitations of the mind of man, till it fix upon him that is immutable.
V. 7. {All rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full: unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again} Though rivers hastily run into the sea, as into their cistern, yet the sea is not filled, so as to swell above the earth, or overflow the bounds within which God has decreed it to stay, Job 38:8–11. Psal. 104:8, 9. Jer. 15:22. The reason whereof is, because there is a perpetual and proportionable return, as fast as by some channels, waters go from their fountains to the sea, by others, they return from the sea, into the earth again. Thus, which way ever we cast our eyes, we everywhere meet with evidences of inconstancy and mutability here below, as testimonies of that vanity which all things under the sun are subject unto. 1. By the continual motions of these creatures, he seems to describe the restlessness of the mind of man, in enquiring after good. 2. The dissatisfaction which it everywhere meets withal, finding no reason to rest or stay there, whither it had formerly hasted with greatest speed. As all rivers cannot fill the sea, so all creatures cannot fill the heart of man. It moves every way, forward and backward, to the south, and to the north, from one content unto another for full satisfaction, but can find none, Psal. 39:6, and 74:11, 19. Prov. 19:21. Luke 12:41.
V. 8. {All things are full of labour, man cannot utter it: The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing} All things, to wit, all these and the like things. This is a close of the former argument. Having shown the unquiet motion of sun, winds, rivers, he here concludes his induction of particulars, with a general assertion, that as it was in them, so it is in all things else, no man is able with words to run over all particulars, but as it is in some, so is it in the rest which cannot be numbered. They are said to be full of labor, or weariness, because they weary out man in his studies, and endeavors about them, Gen. 3:17, 19. Psalm 127:2. Here is also another argument, proving the main proposition, whatever things bring toilsome labor and weariness with them, cannot make a man happy, but are altogether vain, as to such a purpose: but all things under the sun do bring unto him that is conversant about them toilsome labor and weariness, therefore they cannot make men happy. This toil and weariness does not only appear in grievous and unpleasing labors, whereunto men are against their wills compelled, Job 5:7. Lament. 5:5. Jerem. 20:18, nor only in those labors which the Lord is pleased to blast and frustrate of an expected end, when men labor as it were in the fire, and reap no fruit of all their pains, Habac. 2:13. Hag. 1:6. Levit. 26:20. Isaiah 17:11, and 55:2. Eccles. 5:16. Luke 5:5. But it is also true of those labors which a man sets about with greatest delight and willingness, they also have weariness and satiety attend on them; the very honeycomb brings a loathing with it, Prov. 27:7. And this general he proves by a double instance. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing: and accordingly, it is in all other numberless particulars. A man may cloy and tire out these faculties, before he can at all satisfy them. He seems to instance in these rather than others, 1. Because the exercise of them is easiest, and least labor is spent in the using of them; there is not much force or stress put forth in seeing an amiable and beautiful object, or in hearing some excellent music. 2. Because they are the most curious and inquisitive senses. 3. Because their delights are sweetest: as being senses which have nearest cognation unto reason, and are principal instruments and handmaids to the soul in her noblest operations. Now if the most spiritual, unwearied, rational senses cannot be so satisfied, but that they are pricked with further desires of new objects to delight them, Acts 17:21, or satiated and glutted with the excess of what did delight them before; how much more is this true in those other faculties, where there is more labor in pursuing their objects and more loathing in fruition of them, Prov. 27:20. And this is such labor and weariness as no man can utter it, no man can express how many ways any one faculty may be wearied out, nor recount all those objects, which when they minister some delight, do yet leave no satisfaction behind them. As the happiness which we expect in God, cannot be uttered, 1 Cor. 2:9. 2 Cor. 12:4, so the labor and weariness which the mind contracts by excessive search into the creatures, cannot be uttered neither.
V. 9, 10, 11. {The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done, is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun}, &c. The substance of these verses is this, if no man has ever hitherto been able to find out happiness in the creature, let no man think now or hereafter to do it, since there is no new thing out of which it may be extracted. All natural causes and effects continue as they were at the beginning, Gen. 8:22. Jerem. 31:35, 36, and all human and voluntary actions, counsels and studies, having the same principles of reason to produce them, and the same objects to draw them out, are in substance the same now as heretofore. And though some discoveries of new things have been made, as the mariners' card, the art of printing, gunpowder, etc. of which learned men have written, yet from defective and insufficient principles of happiness, such as all natural things are, no thing, though new, can be sufficient unto such an end, since the particulars cannot afford that which the general has not comprised within it. As face answers to face in water, so the courses of natural causes and effects, and the hearts, desires, counsels of the men in one age, do answer unto those of another, Matth. 24:38, 39. Prov. 27:19.
V. 10. {Is there any new thing whereof it may be said, See this, It is new?} This is a challenge to any man to produce any new thing if he can, with a peremptory repeating of the former assertion, and denying the success of any such attempt. He speaks of such new things as may so far surpass the things which had been discovered before, as to be able to satisfy the heart, and make it truly blessed. And this he confidently denies, that anything can further be extracted out of the womb of nature in order unto human happiness more than had been already discovered. Men may haply flatter themselves in their inventions, as if they had invented new things which were not before, and such as may afford more matter of content and satisfaction than other men in former ages have found. But he shows that this is but a mistake, for, It hath been already of old time which was before us. The discoveries of former ages have been as pregnant towards satisfaction of the heart, as any of after ages can be.
V. 11. {There is no remembrance of former things, neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.} If new things be found out, as many old things are forgotten, so that still the stock of nature is as defective towards happiness in our age, as in another. Shortness of life, and narrowness of experience, causes us to forget the things which have been before us, which were they all in our distinct view, no one thing would occur without its pattern and parallel, at least something as excellent as it in former ages: and as things past are forgotten by us, so things present will be forgotten by those that shall come after us.
Here then we see, 1. The aptness which is in man to nauseate and grow weary of the things which he is used unto, though they be otherwise never so excellent, Num. 11:6. 2. The wantonness of our hearts in having an itching desire after new things, and such as former ages were unacquainted with, Acts 17:21. 3. That it is ignorance and inexperience which makes things appear new, which indeed are old. 4. That the vanity which our forefathers have found in things here below, is an infallible argument that we shall find the same, and shall certainly miscarry, if we think to get more satisfaction out of the creature, than others have gotten before us. Job 8:8, 9, and 15:18. 5. That new things are not to be looked for under the sun, or in the course of natural causes and effects: but in a spiritual and heavenly conversation all things are new: durable, excellent. In the study of God's word and ways, there are ever new and wonderful things to be discovered, Psal. 119:18. 2 Cor. 5:17. 2 Pet. 3:13. Rev. 21:5. God's mercies and judgments are wonderful, and he does many times strange things, which neither we nor our forefathers have known, Deut. 4:32–36. 1 Cor. 2:9.
V. 12, 13. {I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I gave mine heart to seek and search out by wisdom, concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travel hath God given to the sons of men, to be exercised therewith.} Having shown the vanity of things under the sun in general: he now proceeds unto some special and principal things, wherein men are now apt to place felicity. And he begins with the knowledge of things natural and human: showing, that if any man could in that respect make himself happy, he himself had more means to do it than any other man. And the better to gain belief to what he should deliver, he gives it them upon the word and experience of a convert, a king, an inspired king, a most wise and active king, a king in Jerusalem, the seat of God; provoked unto this inquiry, by the strong inclination of his own heart, by the special call, and direction of God, by the eye and help of that habitual wisdom which by prayer he had obtained of God in a more eminent manner, than any other man; and by his zeal towards the people of God, and towards his house at Jerusalem. I, being such a person, so completely furnished with all internal and external advantages do testify the truth which I have delivered upon mine own most exact and accurate trial, that all is vanity.
{I the Preacher} Or the convert, who am returned by repentance unto the communion of saints, from whence by my sins I had formerly wandered, am able now by sad experience to seal the truth which I have so dearly bought, touching the vanity of all outward things. So this book was the fruit of Solomon's conversion and returning to the bosom of the church.
{was king over Israel} This book therefore was written when he was on his throne, furnished with wisdom from God to manage his royal office, and with abundance of wealth to prosecute this inquiry after true happiness, 1 Reg. 3:7–16.
{over Israel} God's peculiar people, a wise and understanding people, Deut. 4:6, 7, for whose good Solomon had sought his wisdom, and out of the care of whose welfare in soul and estate, he had made this solicitous search.
{in Jerusalem} This being expressed thus twice, in this, and in the first verse, has some emphasis in it. In Jerusalem was the house of the Lord, and the testimony of Israel, Psal. 122:1, 2, 3. Here God was in a special manner present and might most comfortably be sought, Psal. 132:13, 14. There were continual attendances of the priests, officers, and wise men about the temple, 1 Chron. 25, 26. There were the thrones of justice, and public conventions of state, Psal. 122:5. There were the masters of the assemblies, or a college and senate of the most learned men of the nation, Eccles. 12:11. 2 Reg. 22:14, so that there he met with all the furtherances which a learned and wise man could desire in the prosecution of such a design.
{And I gave my heart} I did cheerfully and purposely set myself about it, and made it my business and delight, 2 Chr. 11:16. 1 Chr. 22:19. 2 Cor. 8:5.
{to seek and search out} Searching is more than seeking, and denotes an orderly and accurate exploration, such as merchants use, who with great diligence procure rarest commodities out of several countries, Eccles. 7:25. Ezek. 20:6.
{by wisdom} An excellent instrument in such an inquiry.
{all things done under the sun} All natural causes and effects, all human counsels and events: this phrase is much used by Solomon in this book, whereby is limited the subject matter about which he inquires.
{the sore travel} Or, afflicting labor; as chapter 2:23, and 4:8.
{hath God given to the sons of man} It is his ordinance, he has called them to search his works and ways.
{to be exercised} Or afflicted and distracted therein, therefore not at all to be made blessed thereby.
From hence we may observe: first, that the best way of teaching is out of our own experience, and exact disquisition, Psal. 66:16, 17. Gal. 1:16.
2. That sound repentance does notably fit a man to know and search out the will of God, and to discover and teach the vanity of all other things, 2 Tim. 2:25. Jam. 1:21. Luke 22:32. Psal. 51:12, 13.
3. That men in highest authority are by their studies as well as their power to seek the welfare of those over whom they are set; and to endeavor with all their hearts to fit themselves with wisdom and abilities for discharge of their office, 1 Reg. 3:7, 8, 9. Luke 2:52. Acts 6:4. 1 Tim. 4:13, 14, 15.
4. That the piety, age, dignity, authority, experience of a person, though it add nothing to the truth itself, yet has a great power to persuade and prepare the hearts of hearers to the entertainment of it, Philem. verse 9. 2 Cor. 10:7, 8, and 11:5, 6, 22, 23, and 12:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 11. 1 Cor. 9:1, 2, and 15:8, 9, 10.
5. That largeness of gifts and helps from God, should quicken us unto a more cheerful and vigorous study of our duties, Matth. 25:16, 17.
6. That largeness of heart in knowledge of things natural, moral, human, divine, are royal endowments, and things fit for a king to set his heart upon, Prov. 31:4. The greater our place, power, wealth is, the more noble and serious should our thoughts and employments be.
7. The more men abound with worldly things, the looser should they keep their hearts from them, and the more should they study the vanity of them, lest otherwise they steal away their hearts from God, Psal. 62:10.
8. The dignity, wisdom, piety of the people being duly considered, does whet and add vigor to the studies and cares of those who are set over them for their good, 2 Reg. 3:8, 9. Mark 6:5, 6.
9. We should improve the benefit of places and persons amongst whom we converse, to fit ourselves thereby for the service of the church. It is not only a comfort, but a furtherance unto wise and learned men, to live in places where wisdom and learning is professed, Acts 1:4.
10. It is a great comfort when men have helps and encouragements answerable to their employments, and having such, when they have hearts to use them, Prov. 17:16.
11. Here are the right principles of successful diligence in our place; 1. A willing heart, when a man goes about his work with all his strength, Eccles. 9:10. 2. Attendance on the call of God, and for that reason submitting unto travel and pains, Acts 26:19. Gal. 1:15. 3. Stirring up the gifts which God has given us as furtherances unto duty, 2 Tim. 1:6. Exquisite inspection into the business about which we are employed, that we may not through our own negligence come behind in any gift, 1 Cor. 12:31, and 14:12.
12. It is the will of God, that even our honorable and our necessary employments should be accompanied with sore travel, that we may be kept humble in ourselves, weaned from the creature, and made the more thankful for any assistance the Lord gives us in our labors, and for any blessing upon them, Job 5:7. Gen. 3:19.
13. The study of the creatures is of excellent use to lead us to the knowledge of the Creator, Rom. 1:19. Psal. 111:2.
V. 14. {I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold all is vanity and vexation of spirit} The former words showed the exactness of Solomon's search into natural and human things. That it was the labor of an aged convert, (for Solomon was drawn away from God in his old age, 1 Reg. 11:4) of a wise king, furnished with all helps for such an inquiry: that it was an accurate and deep search, not loose or superficial: that it was undertaken with great impulsion of heart, and with a special call of God: and now after all this he concludes,
1. That he had {seen} That is, diligently heeded, and fully understood, as to the issue of this inquiry: all the works done under the sun, Exod. 33. Eccles. 2:13, 14.
{all the things} That is, the several kinds of them, 1 Reg. 4:33. He had gotten as large and as intuitive a knowledge as human curiosity or industry with all manner of furtherances could attain unto. Which appears not to be an arrogant boast, but a true account of the fruit of his studies, the Holy Ghost testifying the same thing of him: 1 Reg. 4:29, 34, and 10:23.
2. That he found all to be {vanity and vexation of spirit} Not only vain and ineffectual to confer happiness: but, which is worse, apt to bring much affliction and trouble upon the heart of him who is too earnestly conversant about them. From several original roots there are by interpreters given several explications of this word evil or affliction of spirit. Breach, contrition, torment of spirit; feeding upon or consuming of the spirit: or vanity and feeding upon wind, as fruitless labor is expressed, Hos. 12:1. 1 Cor. 9:26. Thus he applies his general conclusion particularly unto all kind of knowledge, natural or moral. There is sore travel in the getting, danger of forgetting it again, discovery thereby of more ignorance than a man observed in himself before; insufficiency and impossibility of perfecting the understanding, or satiating the desires thereof. Such and many other considerations, make knowledge itself, as to the procuring of true happiness, altogether vain.
V. 15. {That which is crooked cannot be made strait} This is the reason of the vanity of knowledge, because it cannot rectify anything in us which is amiss nor supply anything which we want to make us happy, Eccles. 7:13. The wisest and wealthiest king with all his power and knowledge was not able to remedy all the evils which he saw, or to supply all the defects which he could discover.
The words may be understood two ways; 1. In relation to knowledge itself, to show the vanity and vexation thereof. For, 1. Much of it is exceeding tortuous, intricate, and abstruse, there are many knots and difficulties, Dan. 5:12, so it cannot be clearly and plainly demonstrated, but in the inquiries thereunto, the mind will be left dark and unsatisfied; there are δυσνόητα, not only in the Scripture, 2 Pet. 3:16, but in the book of nature too, Job 28:20, 21, and 37:14, 15, 16, and 38:16–33. 2. The defects of this kind are innumerable, the things which a man knows not, are infinitely more than those which he knows, Job 11:6–9.
2. In relation unto the efficacy of knowledge. The heart and life of man is naturally crooked and perverse, very tortuous wicked, and deceitful, Jer. 17:9. Psal. 125:5; and it is exceeding defective both in principles, and in power to do good as it ought, Rom. 3:23. 2 Cor. 3:5. Now all the most exquisite natural knowledge is not able to rectify these things, either to restore man to his original integrity, or supply his manifold defects. Such knowledge will puff up, 1 Cor. 8:1, but it will not sanctify, Rom. 1:20, 21, 32. Jude verse 20. The Lord indeed by his grace and spirit does both, Luke 3:5. Psal. 84:11. 1 Thess. 3:10. Eph. 3:19. 1 Cor. 1:5, but no natural or acquired knowledge is able to do it.
3. As it cannot rectify that which is amiss in man, so neither in any other thing. Sin has brought much disorder, corruption, confusion upon the whole creation, Rom. 8:20; infinite are the defects and failings everywhere. And none of this can all the wisdom of man be able to correct, but he must still leave it as he found it, vain and imperfect. So it will be till the time of the restitution of all things, when God will make a new earth and a new heaven, and deliver the creature from the bondage of corruption, into a glorious liberty, Acts 1:21. 2 Pet. 3:13. And all this he affirms of the most excellent natural knowledge; how much more vain and unprofitable are the perverse and impertinent studies of many men, which have nothing of solidity or usefulness in them, Col. 2:8. 1 Tim. 6:4, 5. Rom. 1:22. 1 Cor. 1:20.
V. 16, 17. {I communed with mine own}, &c. This is a prolepsis wherein he meets with an objection, viz. that the knowledge of the creatures might make a man happy, though he had not attained unto it, not for any defect in them, but in the narrowness of his own understanding. To which he answers, that if any man could have found it out in them, he should in regard of the greatness of his parts, and exquisite industry; as chap. 2:12.
{I communed with mine heart} I cast up my accounts, and exactly viewed the fruit and sum of all my labors in getting knowledge. I did seriously deliberate, and take a view of mine own heart, Psal. 4:5. True wisdom makes a man thoughtful and discursive within himself.
{I am come to great estate, and have gotten}, or added, {more wisdom} Or, I have gotten great estate and wisdom, and added to it, I have exceeded and increased in wisdom. So the word seems elsewhere to import, 1 Sam. 20:41. Esay 9:3. Amos 8:5. Or, I have come to be a great man, Joel 2:20, to do great things, ἐμεγαλύνθω [reading uncertain].
{than all they that have been before me} 1 King. 4:30, and 10:27. Yea all that come after him too, Christ only excepted, 1 King. 3:12.
{in Jerusalem} Where the study of wisdom was, more than in other places.
{my heart had great experience. Had seen much wisdom and knowledge} Wisdom seems to note the general knowledge of things, divine and human; knowledge, the experimental: or wisdom the habit and instruments; knowledge, the acquired perfection gotten by the help of that habitual wisdom. Here, 1. He seems to have magnified wisdom in his choice, which also may be implied in the word הגדלתי, 1 Reg. 3:9, 11. 2. To have increased it. 3. To have carried it to his heart, it was inward and experimental knowledge. 4. To have delighted in it, and gone seriously and with full purpose about it.
{gave my heart} See verse 13. The more wise any man is, the more he labors to grow in wisdom.
{to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly} Chapter 7:25. Hereby he understands moral, political, and practical knowledge; in order to his better government, to observe the difference between wise and virtuous, and between foolish and wicked actions. The word rendered folly, is in this only place written with the letter ש Sin, in all others with the letter ס Samech, and so may be here rendered either folly, or prudence. And this he found to be vexation of spirit, or feeding on wind; observing how short men came of the one, and how much the other did abound. Or finding by his own experience, that neither the perfection of moral wisdom so far as it is acquirable by human diligence, nor yet the pleasures and delights of vicious and foolish courses could quiet and settle the heart of man, 1 Cor. 1:20. Eccles. 11:8, 9. A bare speculative knowledge of good, and an experimental presumptuous knowledge of evil, such as Adam's was in eating the forbidden fruit, are so far from making men happy, that they increase their misery.
But here Solomon may seem to have committed an error against the moral wisdom which he here professed to inquire after, namely, in speaking so much of his own eminency in gifts beyond other men, John 8:13. He does it not falsely, arrogantly, nor proudly and vaingloriously, to magnify himself, but humbly, in acknowledging God's gifts, and necessarily to discover thereby the truth of that doctrine he was now teaching the church by his own experience: and so it is lawful to make mention of God's gifts and graces bestowed on us, as the Apostle does, 1 Cor. 14:18, and 15:10. 2 Cor. 11:5, 6.
V. 18. {in much wisdom} Or, in the abundance of wisdom, as Psal. 72:7, and 51:1. Prov. 20:6, 15. Hos. 8:12. Or in the man who is much in wisdom, or who has much wisdom, Job 11:2. The sense is every way the same.
{is much grief} Or, anger, or indignation. Whence the Chaldee paraphrase. The more knowledge any man has, without repentance, the more wrath is upon him from the Lord, as Luke 12:47. But the meaning according to the scope of the context, is, that abundance of wisdom is always accompanied with a proportion of trouble and perturbation of mind; as indignation to see how little fruit, and how much disappointment a man does meet with in it, and how little account is made of it in the world, as Eccles. 9. Grief and discontent, when the more wisdom a man has the more ignorance he does discover in himself, and the more pains still he must take to go on unto more knowledge yet unattained, and yet still find his crookedness of mind, and manifold defects uncorrected: unsupplied fear of losing, and forgetting what with so great pains had been gotten. Some begin the next chapter with these words, and so make them a transition to the next endeavor of Solomon, to find out happiness in some other thing, and so the sense runs thus. Forasmuch as in much wisdom there is much grief, etc. and this was not the way to attain true happiness and content to toil and weary out myself with pains, sorrow of mind and body in the attaining of wisdom; Therefore I said in my heart. Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, etc. Yet the purpose of the wise man is not to deter men from so noble a labor as the study of wisdom and learning, but to raise up to the study of heavenly wisdom and the fear of God, whereby all their other knowledge would be sanctified, sweetened, and made excellently useful and comfortable to them.
CHAPTER 2
Verses: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18 · 19 · 20 · 21 · 22 · 23 · 24 · 25 · 26
Being disappointed in his expectation from the knowledge of the creature, he now resolved to search what good may be found in the use and fruition of it, and so sets himself to try what content either sensual, or rational pleasures could bring to the heart; which he does, from verse 1 to verse 12, and finding that he had changed for the worse, he goes back again to the consideration of wisdom and madness, and finding as much disappointment the second time, as he had done the first, verse 12–23. He concludes, that there is no comfort nor tranquility to be found in the use of creatures, till by the favor of God it be sweetened unto us, verse 24, 25, 26.
Verse 1. {I said in my heart} I purposed within myself, and did resolve with intimate affection to try what pleasures would do, chap. 1:16. Luke 12:19.
{Go to now} It is an adverbial form of exhorting and quickening his heart unto such a course.
{I will prove thee with mirth} Or, by mirth, as by the instrument of inquiring after happiness, Judges 6:39. 1 Kings 10:1. I will make trial another way, whether pleasures will content thee, Psalm 26:2. The word being derivable from another root, admits of another sense, but to the same purpose, I will pour out myself in delights, or I will abound in delights. Pleasures do melt and pour out the soul; hence Reuben is said to be unstable as waters, Genes. 49:4. Ezek. 16:15. Lusts have a greediness and excess in them, Ephes. 4:19. I will wholly give myself, my heart shall flow forth into delights, I will fully gratify my senses, and indulge my fancy in all pleasing things.
{therefore enjoy pleasure} Or, see good. To see, is to enjoy, Isaiah 53:11. Psalm 34:8, and 4:6. Live plentifully, indulge to yourself all delights, restrain not yourself from any desire of your eyes.
V. 2. {I said of laughter} By laughter, he means any excess of joy, and merriment, when the heart is so full, that it cannot contain its delight within, but it breaks forth into the face, voice, and outward behavior, Gen. 21:6. Psalm 126:2. Luke 6:21.
{or I said to laughter, Thou art mad} By a prosopopoeia. Excess of joy transports the mind, and as it were displaces reason, argues much levity, vanity, incomposedness of judgment. True joy is a severe and serious thing, keeps the heart always in a stayed and fixed condition, but the joy which breaks forth into laughter, is like the crackling of thorns, Eccles. 7:6, and has sorrow at the bottom of it: as a mad man the more merry he is, the more miserable, Prov. 14:13. Jam. 4:9.
{and of mirth, what doth it?} What good or profit brings it with it? Job 35:6, 7. Matth. 20:32. The interrogation bids a challenge to all the masters of mirth, to produce any one satisfactory fruit which it affords. Thus we see by the example of Solomon, that the heart cannot stay long on any one inquiry wherein it meets with dissatisfaction, but it quickly hastens unto another, as a bee flies from flower to flower; when there is not enough to satisfy it, as a sick man that removes from one bed, couch, chamber, unto another for ease, and finds none; Esay 57:10. Jer. 2:23, 36. 2. That in such kind of changes usually the heart goes from better to worse, as here Solomon from wisdom to pleasures. 3. Here is observable the nature of sensual mirth, it tends towards excess, and so towards indecency and madness; for here is not condemned moderate, but excessive pleasure, when a man gives up his heart to it, and makes it the business of his life.
V. 3. {I sought in my heart} Upon serious deliberation, and further exploration of that good which men may in this life attain unto, finding that neither wisdom alone, nor pleasures alone, could bring me unto it, I purposed to temper them together; and since I found that wisdom and knowledge was accompanied with grief and sorrow, I intended to mitigate those griefs with bodily delights and yet so, as that my wisdom might restrain those delights from any excess, and from disabling me in the duties which I owed to God or men.
{to give my self unto wine} To draw my flesh with wine. Or, to draw forth myself unto wine. Abstinence does shrink and contract the body, and keep it under, 1 Cor. 9:27. Dan. 1:10. Feasting and mirth does draw it forth, Psal. 73:7. That leanness, or wasting of body which by hard studies I had contracted, I now purposed by more delicacy of living, and indulgence to draw forth into freshness, fullness, and beauty again. Or, to draw with wine, to spend more time in feasting, banqueting and delights, than formerly I had done. So drawing signifies sometimes continuance and prolongation of a business, Psal. 85:5. Isa. 13:22. Ezek. 12:28. So the glutton, Luke 16:19.
{unto wine} (i.e.) By a synecdoche, unto all kind of delicates in eating and drinking, in banqueting and feasting. As bread signifies all necessaries, Amos 7:12, with 6:11, so wine all delicates, Prov. 9:2. Cant. 8:2, and 2:4.
{yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom} Or, leading my heart by wisdom, resolving to keep such a temper, as to carry myself not licentiously, but wisely, in the use of pleasures, to keep myself from being captivated unto, or swallowed up of these carnal delights as using them not sensually, with a brutish excess, but critically and rationally, to find out what real content they do afford unto the heart of an intelligent man. I did so give my flesh unto wine, as though I kept my heart for wisdom still.
{and to lay hold on folly} By folly, he means those pleasures, the laying hold on which he found in the event to be nothing but folly. Thus to lay hold on them, is fully to possess a man's self with them, and to embrace and apprehend them with all one's strength, Isa. 56:4. 1 Tim. 6:19. Phil. 3:12, 13. It may likewise seem to intimate thus much, that he held folly from mixing with his pleasures, or coming into his heart along with them, to hold it, as a man holds an enemy from doing him any hurt, Judg. 12:6, and 16:21.
{till I might see what was that good for the sons of men} This was the end of his inquiring; it was not to drown himself in sensuality, but to discover what kind of course was that, which would render this present mortal life more comfortable to a man. He did it not viciously, but to make an experiment only. Solomon found in himself emptiness and indigency; he felt strong appetitions after some good which might supply those wants; and he had active principles of reason to inquire what that good was, which nature did so much want, and so greatly desire. And this reason and habitual wisdom he employed to the uttermost, to discover that good under heaven, which might most perfectly satisfy the wants and desires of the reasonable soul.
{under heaven} As before under the sun. He was not ignorant, but that in the heavens there was a supreme and infinite good, which the glorified souls should enjoy unto endless satisfaction; but he speaks here of that good under the sun, which may most sweeten the mortal life of man.
{all the days of their life} That is, true good which is durable, and commensurate to the soul that feeds on it. Now most of the things he here recounts, are only for some seasons of life, as painful studies, vigorous pleasures, active negotiations; when age and infirmities come, they forsake him; and so these good things die before the man that should enjoy them, 2 Sam. 19:35. Psalm 90:10. Eccl. 12:3, 4, 5. Therefore in this inquiry, the duration of the good, is as requisite to be considered as the quality of it; whether it will continue with a man as a stay and comfort to him all the days of his life. Nothing will do this but godliness, Psal. 92:13, 14. There can be no time, no condition in a man's life, wherein the fear of God will not be comfortable unto him.
Here we observe; 1. That in all these inquiries Solomon begins with his heart, thereby noting unto us, that the good which must satisfy a man, must bear proportion to his heart, and to his inward man. 2. That he tempers his pleasures and his pains in seeking knowledge, together; teaching thereby, that the right use of pleasures, is not to take up the whole man, but to mitigate the bitterness, and pains of several studies thereby. 3. That a man has never greater need of the bridle of wisdom, than when he is in pursuance of carnal delights. 4. That pleasures and folly are very near of kin; and a very hard thing it is to hold folly so fast in, but that it will get loose, and immix itself in carnal delights. 5. That a free and full indulgence unto pleasure, though not upon sensual, but critical and more curious aims, will by degrees steal away the heart, and much abate more spiritual and heavenly delights: corruption ever creeping in with curiosity, Prov. 20:1, and 23:3. 6. It is a noble and high frame of spirit to look out in everything which a man undertakes, after that which is truly and principally good for his heart, in the use of that thing. 7. That the comfort of a man's life under heaven, is to the doing of that good which God has given him his strength and life for. 8. That nothing is truly the good of a man's life, which is not commensurate in duration and continuance thereunto, and will not proportionally minister comfort unto him, into whatsoever various conditions of life, as sickness, poverty, bondage, disfavor, old age, etc. he may be cast into.
V. 4. Having upon further deliberation, declared his purpose, to search for good amongst pleasures and bodily delights; he now shows what magnificent and royal provisions he made, in order to that design, sumptuous diet, stately buildings, vineyards, gardens, orchards, forests, parks, fishponds, honorable retinue of servants, possessions of all sorts of cattle, treasures of gold, silver, and all precious things; music, vocal, instrumental, and all these in great abundance, as far as royal wealth could procure, largeness of heart's desire, or exquisite wisdom contrive: in all which he took exceeding much joy and delight, being withheld by no manner of impediments from the full fruition of them; yet in the conclusion, he passes the same censure here, as he had done before. That all was vanity, etc.
{I made me great works} I did not stoop to base and inconsiderable things, to find out that pleasure which might satisfy my desires, but I sought it in magnificent works, becoming the royal state of a king, as Esth. 1:4. Of which works he does immediately subjoin a large catalog.
{I builded me} Or to myself, or for myself (it is dativus commodi) houses, large and stately, thirteen years in building, 1 Reg. 7:1–13, and 9:15, 17, 18, 19. Houses for habitation and houses for state and pleasure; winter-houses, and summer-houses, Amos 3:15. David had built a house of cedar before, 2 Chron. 2:3, but Solomon contents not himself with that.
{vineyards} Cant. 8:11. David likewise had vineyards and orchards, and cattle, and treasures, and servants set over all these, 1 Chron. 27:25–31, yet Solomon will have them in greater magnificence, having no wars nor troubles to interrupt him, as his father had.
V. 5. {I made me gardens and orchards} gardens for flowers, plants, spices, Cant. 6:2, orchards, or paradises for trees of all sorts; under which we may comprise forests and parks, or places for choicest cattle, Cant. 4:13, 14. Neh. 2:8, which were places of great pleasure and delight, Esth. 1:5.
V. 6. {pools of water, to water therewith the wood}, &c. Artificial ponds and receptacles of water, whether arising from springs, or otherwise by aqueducts, and other means derived thither, 2 Reg. 18:17. These used to be in, or near great gardens, and near princely works, 2 Reg. 20:20. Neh. 2:14, and 3:15. Gen. 2:9, 10. Cant. 7:4. To water the wood or forest, whereby he seems to mean the gardens and orchards, before mentioned, for the spaciousness of them. So a forest is elsewhere called an orchard, or paradise, Neh. 2:8. These things in these hot countries, were accounted special blessings and from thence, they have their name, Josh. 15:19. These things he had as materials for his wisdom, 1 Reg. 4:33.
V. 7. {I got me servants and maidens} Some he bought or hired from abroad, others, were born unto him in his house: and these he had for the manifold duties of his royal family: such had David, 1 Chron. 27:26–31, and so Solomon, 2 Reg. 4:7, and 5:16, 17, and 10:5.
{And had servants born in mine house} Sons of mine house; the children of a handmaid born in her master's house, were born servants unto the master of the house, Gen. 14:14, and 15:3, and 17:12. Jer. 2:14. Hereunto David alludes, when he says, I am thy servant the son of thy handmaid, Psal. 116:16. The servants of Solomon, which were certain public officers, appointed by Solomon, we read of long after, Ezra 2:58. Neh. 7:60, who may seem to be those of the Canaanites, whom Solomon made bondslaves, 1 Reg. 9:21. Some by sons of the house, understand those officers whom Solomon did set over his house, to order the affairs thereof, 1 Reg. 4:27.
{possessions of great and small cattle} Or, I had cattle both great and small, or herds and flocks. The first word is general to all cattle, great or small; the two next, the species of that general, Gen. 34:23. 1 Reg. 4:22, 23, 26.
{above all that were before me in Jerusalem} As more wisdom, chap. 1:16, so more wealth, and provisions for that wisdom to work upon, 1 Reg. 3:13, and 10:23.
V. 8. {I gathered me also silver and gold} I heaped it up; as Psal. 33:7. 1 Reg. 9:28, and 10:14, 15, 27. The ways of this great gain were tribute, 1 Reg. 10:25, honorable presents, sent out of the high admiration of his wisdom from other princes, 1 Reg. 10:10, and 4:34, and merchandise, or free trade into remote countries, 1 Reg. 9:26, 28, and 10:15, 28.
{and the peculiar treasure of kings and of provinces} Precious rarities, or most choice and desirable things which men use to lay up in their treasures; the chief rarities of several countries, 1 Chr. 29:2, 3. Hence whatsoever is intimately dear and honorable, is metaphorically called segullah, Exod. 19:5. Psal. 135:4. Mal. 3:17. The Apostle renders it περιούσιον, Tit. 2:14, others, ἐξαίρετον, that which is of principal worth and esteem, Isai. 39:2. The preciousest and most desirable things, which kingdoms and provinces could afford, or wherewith princes and provinces did use to present him, 1 Reg. 4:21, and 9:11, and 10:2, 10. 2 Chron. 9:9, 10.
{I gat me men-singers, and women-singers} These as well as those, because naturally their voice is sweeter than men's; so we find them joined, 2 Sam. 19:35. 2 Chron. 35:25, and we read, that not only Moses and the men, but Miriam and the women did sing at the overthrow of Pharaoh, Exod. 15:1, 20, 21. 1 Sam. 18:6, 7.
{and the delights of the sons of men}, viz. {musical instruments}, &c. The word translated, musical instruments, is nowhere else used in the Scripture, and has various interpretations put upon it. Some understanding by it, beautiful daughters, denominated from their breasts, as elsewhere from their womb, Judges 5:30. Others, for choice and delicate women, taken as a prey in war, as we find there the manner was: and others for divers other things, as we find in Hierom, Drusius, Mercer, and others. But the most received sense, and most agreeable with the former delight of singers, is musical instruments.
V. 9. {So I was great, and increased} Or, added to my greatness; as chap. 1:16. 1 Reg. 10:23.
{also my wisdom remained with me} This he adds, 1. As a rare and unusual thing, that pleasures should not at all smother and suppress wisdom: 2. As an argument towards the main conclusion, that in the midst of all these delights, he did intend the business for which he used them, namely, by wisdom to observe, what real good and satisfaction they did bring to the heart of man.
V. 10. {And whatsoever mine eyes desired}, &c. It might be objected, that his wisdom haply, and his fear of God, restrained both his eye and his heart, from so full a fruition of these delights, as were requisite to extract all the comfort of them; so Job restrained his eye, Job 31:1, and Solomon advises a glutton to restrain his appetite, Prov. 23:2. Numb. 15:39. To this he answers, that whatsoever his eyes desired, (as the eye is one of the principal seats of desire or lusting, 1 John 2:16. Josh. 7:21) he did not reserve anything of it from them, which withheld his heart from any joy: neither did any accidental hindrance intercede; as war, or sickness, or sorrow or any notable affliction, which might debar him from a liberal and cheerful use of all this his greatness. The eye here is taken synecdochically for all the senses, (for in this ample preparation, there was provision for them all.) Much labor and care he had taken to make those provisions for the flesh; (as the Apostle's phrase in another sense is, Rom. 13:14) and there was no other fruit of all that labor, but having gotten them, to enjoy them.
{my heart rejoiced} That is, I myself did intimately rejoice and please myself in the fruit of my labors.
{this was the portion of all my labour} This was all the fruit, benefit, and as it were, inheritance, which my labors in this kind did purchase for me. A metaphor from the manner of dividing inheritances, Numb. 18:20, or spoils, 1 Sam. 30:24.
V. 11. {Then I looked on all}, &c. After all this, I turned and looked back, or took an impartial survey of all my works, which with such painful labors and trouble I had wrought: and found, that the fruit was not answerable to the toil which was sustained for the reaping of it: but that this also was vanity, a perishing, withering, and dying comfort, a feeding upon wind, and that it left no abiding benefit behind it, ch. 1:3.
V. 12. {And I turned my self} Here Solomon does once more seriously apply himself as he did before chap. 1:17, to take a view of wisdom and folly. Because it might haply be objected, that at the first consideration of them, he might let many things slip, which were of weight and moment in his present inquiry. Because second thoughts, and solemn review of former studies, may haply beget some retractation, and discover some error: the later day being usually the disciple of the former; and we use to say, that the second thoughts are the wisest: therefore when the Scripture will put a thing beyond the question, it says it over again, Gal. 8, 9.
{I turned my self} This notes reconsideration and special heedfulness, to inquire anew into a business; and likewise a weariness of those pleasures which had disappointed him, John 20:14.
{to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly} To compare the one with the other, that I might the better understand them, as contraries serve to set forth the other. There is nothing more usual in Solomon's Proverbs than this kind of antithesis, to put contraries together for mutual illustration.
{for what can the man do that cometh after the king} Here man and king seem to be opposed, what further progress can any private man make in this disquisition, than I who am such a king? This is a prolepsis or answer to a tacit objection, for it might be said, it was a high and bold attempt for one man out of his particular experience to pass so confident a sentence of vanity, and vexation, upon all wisdom and great works. To this he answers, that no man after him could do more in this inquiry, than he had done, who was so eminent in wisdom, in power, in industry, who was as it were fitted and stirred up by God unto this business; and therefore if any man after him should set about the same work, he shall do no other thing, than that which the king had done before him. This appears to be no arrogant boast in Solomon because the Scripture testifies the same of him, 1 Reg. 3:12. The man who will not believe it upon my report, but will make trial of it himself, if he will go with the same wisdom and integrity about it as I have done, shall find the same vanity in the bottom of every creature, as I have found. So here are two reasons why Solomon challenges belief in this point. 1. The advantages which he so great a king had above any other man, to draw forth all the flower and quintessence of the creature. 2. The double diligence which he used in it, in not only viewing thoroughly once, but reviewing again the things upon which he passed such a judgment.
{what the man} The words intimate a kind of indignation, disdain, undervaluing of anyone who should attempt such an inquiry after him, as Psal. 8:4. Quid dignum tanto tulit hic promissor hiatu; what is the man who comes after the king, whom they have made king before; so some read the words: but the most genuine and coherent sense is that which our translation expresses; he that comes after, can do nothing but what they have done: i.e. what is done already before them. The active voice indefinite used for the passive, as Isa. 9:6. Jer. 23:6. Gen. 16:14. 1 Sam. 23:22.
I would observe hence, 1. That the double and multiplied experience of wise, great and good men, does gain much credit and strength to the doctrines so confirmed, 1 John 1:3. Heb. chap. 11, and 12:1. Jam. 5:10, 11.
2. That the more prejudice is in the heart of men against a truth, the more care must be used to vindicate the same from all show of exception, Tit. 1:11, and 2:8. Acts 6:10, and 18:28.
3. For a man to speak the truth of himself touching the gifts of God bestowed on him, and to mention his own experiences, only aiming therein at the glory and truth of God, and the edification of the church, is no arrogance, or violation of modesty, but an improving of God's gifts to the ends for which he gave them, chapter 1:16.
V. 13. {Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly}, &c. That there is an excellency in wisdom more than in folly, etc. This Solomon confesses, that indeed there is a great difference between wisdom and pleasures, that being many ways more excellent than those; and therefore though the study of wisdom be not without pain and sorrow, chap. 1:18, yet it is not therefore to be rejected. Wisdom leaves behind it some permanent good, as the word here imports, whereas pleasures do perish in their use, and nothing stays behind them but the sting and sorrow. The sorrow of wisdom is in the getting, but the sorrow of pleasures is after the using, and enjoying of them. It is true, wisdom and knowledge are vain, in order to a higher and nobler end than they bear proportion unto, viz. to make man truly happy; yet they are of excellent use, and singular ornaments to the soul which has them. So the Apostle though he tells us that charity is more excellent than gifts, the one serving for edification only of others, but the other for sanctification of a man's self, yet acknowledges that they are all operations of God's Spirit, and bestowed on men for very profitable uses, and accordingly to be earnestly desired, 1 Cor. 12:4, 7, 31, and 14:1, 39, yet we are so to esteem gifts, as that we prefer salvation and happiness before them, Luke 10:20.
{As far as light excelleth darkness} Wisdom to the mind being as light to the body, and therefore the Rabbins called their wise men the light of the world; as our Savior his Apostles, Matth. 5:14. Light is many ways comfortable, it shows things in their distinct forms, it discovers anything hurtful, that it may be avoided, or beneficial that it may be embraced, whereas darkness confounds all things, and exposes a man to many dangers. Light is pleasant in itself, Eccles. 11:7, and it is metaphorically used to express the most excellent things, as joy, Psalm 97:11. Ester 8:16; liberties and deliverance, Isa. 9:1; glory, 1 Tim. 6:16; prosperity, Mic. 7:9; life itself, Job 3:16, 20, and usually, wisdom and knowledge, whereunto it is here compared, Dan. 5:14. And it is very useful and necessary for direction in our works and labors, John 11:9, 10. But darkness on the other side is very uncomfortable; it is used to express the most calamitous and disconsolate condition, Job 30:26. Eccles. 5:17. Isa. 8:22. Amos 5:18, 20. Isa. 50:10. Eccl. 11:8. Very unuseful, as putting a stop to all labor, Exod. 10:23. John 4:9. Very dangerous, as causing a man to stumble at every stone, to fall into every pit, to wander out of his way, etc., Josh. 11:12, and 12:35, and folly and ignorance in the mind, is usually expressed by the name of darkness, Eph. 4:18, and 5:8. Rom. 1:21. In the creation, darkness was the first evil which God removed, and light the first good creature that he made, Gen. 1:2, 3. Light excels darkness, as the beautiful and orderly frame of nature, does the first confused chaos.
V. 14. {The wise mans eyes are in his head} The reason of the former comparison, a wise man is in the light, but a fool in darkness. In his head, as in a watchtower, from whence he sees his way before him afar off, takes notice of things to come, as well as things present, is circumspect and heedful, judicious and wary in his undertakings: therefore they who are called wise men in one place, Deut. 16:19, are called men that have their eyes open, in another place, Exod. 23:8. They do in the beginning of a business look forward to the end of it, they forecast events, foresee consequences; their eyes try their ways as Psalm 11:4, so looking straight forward, denotes pondering and weighing a man's actions, Proverbs 4:25, 26. Hence it is that Moses said to his father-in-law, who was a very wise man, Thou shalt be to us in stead of eyes, to guide and counsel us, Numb. 10:31, where the LXX render it πρεσβύτην, thou shalt be an elder, a counselor, a guide amongst us; so Job says of himself, that he was eyes to the blind, Job 29:15. A counselor and guide unto them. Thus the excellency of wisdom is described by the eye, as being the principal part of the body and most beneficial to the whole, 1 Cor. 12:16, 17, 21. Matth. 6:22, and what the eye is to the body, that is, to the mind, Eph. 1:18.
{but the fool walketh in darkness} Hereby we understand what is meant by having the eyes in the head, namely, to have them useful for guiding and ordering our ways, so as that we may not err, wander, stumble, fall, mistake, miscarry in our affairs. The antithesis should have run thus, but the fool's eyes are in his heels, or he has no eyes to see; but the use of Scripture is to put in the place of the antithesis, that which shall in sense amount thereunto, as Prov. 12:27, the one part of the verse is parabolical or proverbial, but the antithesis is plain and familiar; so Prov. 14:3, and 15:19. The fool is rash, heady, inconsiderate, cannot discern events, nor foresee dangers; knows not which way to choose, or to refuse; his eyes are anywhere, rather than in his head, Prov. 17:24, is carried headlong in his business, easily snared and taken, Proverb. 4:18, 19. 2 Pet. 1:19. Matth. 13:15, 16. By darkness here, we may understand blindness, Acts 13:11, and then walking in darkness, is a discovery of folly, when a man wants eyes, and yet will be wandering and venturing abroad; when he knows not whither he goes, nor what dangers are in his way.
Thus far he has showed the excellency of wisdom above folly, now he shows wherein, notwithstanding, they do so far agree, as that vanity belongs unto them both.
{And I perceived} The meaning is, notwithstanding this excellency of the one above the other; yet I perceived that one event happeneth to them all] They are equally subject to the same unhappy events; the wisest man that is cannot by his own counsel exempt himself from the same common calamities which other men fall into: as two ways which seem to part, the one turning to the right hand and the other to the left, and yet both at last bring to the same town, chap. 9:2, and 3:19.
V. 15. {Then said I in mine heart} i.e. Therefore, or hereupon I said in mine heart, if it happen to me, even to me, as to the fool, to what end have I taken so much pains to be more wise and learned than he, being by all my wisdom not a whit protected from those evils which he has by his folly exposed himself unto.
{That this also is vanity} Some make this to be a judgment on that hasty and angry inference, why was I then more wise? And so the meaning to be; this was my infirmity and vanity, to undervalue wisdom, and measure it by the casual events which befall it, as Psalm 73:13–15, and 77:10. But the meaning is, that in this respect wisdom is no more able to make a man happy, or to bring perfect tranquility to the soul, than folly is: albeit in other respects there be a singular excellency in it above the other.
Here then observe, 1. That the most excellent endowments of mind that are, cannot perfectly satisfy the heart of man.
2. That yet there is a special beauty and goodness in such gifts, to draw the delight of the heart unto them, as being to the mind, as the eye to the head, the guide and the beauty of it; or as light to the eye, a most congenial and suitable good unto it.
3. That events and successes depend not upon the counsels of men, nor upon the gifts of God bestowed on them, but his providence has the casting voice, and does overrule and order them all as pleases him, Eccles. 9:11. Psalm 127:1, 2. Many times those who have least wisdom or goodness, have greatest successes, Job 21:7–13. Psalm 73:3, 12. Jer. 12:1, 2. Hab. 1:13. Mal. 3:15, and many times the wisest and most circumspect men, are most frustrated in those courses which were contrived with greatest skill and cunning, 2 Sam. 17:14. Job 5:12–14. Isa. 19:11–14. 1 Cor. 1:20.
4. That notwithstanding the providence and counsel of God has the preeminence in the events of things, yet that hinders not the excellency of wisdom above folly, neither are we thereby at all encouraged to find fault with ourselves for any labor in the use of means, only we must so use them; as not to deify them, nor to trust in them, but wholly to depend upon God for his blessing on our counsels, to submit to his wise and holy purposes, when they are disappointed, to admire his goodness when at any times he turns our imprudence or improvidence unto good and makes the event not answerable to our follies, but to his love.
5. That we cannot judge of the wisdom or folly, the goodness or badness of men by outward events, because these happen alike to all, chap. 8:14, and 9:11.
V. 16. {There is no remembrance}, &c. What he observed in the general before, he now makes good in two particulars, viz. oblivion and death, which are both alike common to wise men and to fools. Wise men may seem to secure at least their names though they cannot their bodies from mortality; by such magnificent works as Solomon here wrought, and by such noble contemplations as he was conversant in; but he assures us here the contrary; and elsewhere, that piety only keeps the name from rotting with the body, Prov. 10:7. Psalm 112:6. Psalm 49:11, 12. Jer. 17:13. Time will eat out all the monuments of wisdom, or though they continue, yet the renown of a wise man does him no good at all, he is not after death sensible of it, or comforted with it, so chap. 1:11, new wise men, that arise in after ages, will darken and eclipse the honor of those that went before them: and so will it be done to them in the ages that follow. To be sure, no mere wise or great man's honor separated from piety, will hold pace with his being; at the last day there will so much shameful matter be discovered against the wisest of wicked men, as they shall then lose all their renown, and shall appear to be vessels of dishonor and shame forevermore, 1 Cor. 4:5. 2 Tim. 2:20.
{And how dieth the wise man? as the fool} The second fate common to both. This how, is a passionate interrogation, noting grief that it is so; wonder that it is no otherwise: and indignation or disdain, that things so exceeding different in their worth, should both of them perish alike. Thus there is a Quomodo dolentis, of grieving, Lam. 1:1; admirantis, of wondering, Acts 2:7, 8; Indignantis, or objurgantis, of chiding and disdain, John 5:44. Matth. 23:33. And because it may be objected that this argument may as well disable piety from making a man happy, as wisdom: since the same question may be framed of them, as well as of these, how dies the just man? as the unjust: we must remember that piety follows a man, and so abides with him after death, which no other acquired excellencies do either as ornaments or as comforts, Rev. 14:13. Death does not cut off their spiritual life and union with Christ, which was that which made them happy here. Wicked men are dead, being alive, 1 Tim. 5:6, and good men live in death, John 11:25, 26. Mat. 22:32. Therefore the Jews called their burying places domus viventium, the houses of the living. Therefore there is no durable life or honor, but in the fear of the Lord.
V. 17. {Therefore I hated life}, &c. This is the effect which this great vanity of the most excellent human endowment wrought in the heart of Solomon, made him weary of living to so little purpose, as to die at last like the basest of men. He saw no loveliness or desirableness in life itself, (though the choicest outward blessing) all the course thereof being full of evil, grievous, cruciating, disquieting labor, all which at last runs down like the waters of Jordan, into the same lake of death, with the other refuse of men. Many men's poverty, pains, sickness, worldly troubles, have caused them to complain of their life; but here is one who had health, peace, honor, abundance of all the contents which the world could afford, not murmuringly, but as it were judiciously and critically making the same complaints. The greatness of his wisdom being such, as that all the comforts of life were too narrow to satisfy the inquiries of it, he saw little valuable or desirable in it.
Here observe: 1. That life itself is too mean a thing to bring full content to the soul of man. It must be something better than life which must do it, Psal. 63:3.
2. That in the greatest confluence of worldly things, the life of a man may be full of grievous labor, and he weary of it, not only out of anguish of spirit, but of natural wisdom observing the vanity thereof.
3. That the wisdom of man, without making use of the grace of God, is very apt to undervalue the greatest outward blessing which human nature is capable of; as Solomon here does life. There is naturally so much distemper in the heart of man, that except all things answer his own desires and expectations, he will fall out with his very life, and pick quarrels with the choicest blessings that God here affords him. As a little cloud hides the light of the whole sun from the eye, so amidst a multitude of enjoyments, a little labor or trouble which comes along with them, does darken the beauty, and remove the content of them all, Gen. 30:1. Psal. 59:15. Esth. 5:13.
4. Concerning this point, of being weary of life or hating it as an unlovely and undesirable thing, we may note, 1. That life is the choicest and principal outward blessing which God here affords us, and that unto the comfort and preservation whereof all other outward blessings are directed, Matth. 6:25. 2. That though in a way of obedience we are to undervalue it at the command of God when he calls on us to lay it down, Luke 14:26. Acts 20:24. 1 John 3:16. John 12:25, and in comparison of a better life, we may groan for a deliverance from it, and to be with Christ, Phil. 1:23, yet it is a great fault out of passion, murmuring, outward troubles, nay, out of largeness of heart, as here Solomon does, to disesteem and wax weary of so great a blessing, Gen. 27:46. Numb. 14:2. Job 10:1, and 36:20. Jon. 4:3, 8.
V. 18. {Yea, I hated all my labour}, &c. All those magnificent and excellent works, which with so much labor I had wrought. They were all so far from ministering unto my heart any solid contentment, that I grew wholly out of love with them, had no regard nor respect at all unto them. If by hatred here, and in the former verse, be meant only an abatement of that love and delight which his heart might oversensually take in them, then this was a very commendable fruit of the vanity which he discovered in them; according to the counsel of the Apostle, upon the same ground, 1 Cor. 7:29, 30, 31. 1 John 2:15. Love not the world, that seems to be a worldly and secular life, or temporal being, nor the things of the world, that is, the provisions and materials which are the fuel of lust in the world: and so hatred sometimes signifies an abatement and moderation of love, Matth. 10:37, compared with Luke 14:26. John 12:25. Gen. 29:30, 31. But if by hatred is meant a detestation and abhorrency of them, so as to leave off all care of duty to be exercised in worldly things, according to the travel which God has appointed for the sons of men, ch. 1:13. Ephes. 4:28. 2 Thes. 3:10–13, and this to do, because we find not that plenary satisfaction from them, which they were never ordained to administer, then this was an inordinate hatred which did not belong unto the works themselves, (being in themselves good) but unto the sinful distemper of the heart from whence it proceeded. Such was the sullen distemper of Israel in the wilderness, Numb. 11:6, and 20:4. Jon. 4:1.
{Because I should leave it unto}, &c. Here the wise man does subjoin reasons of this his weariness and dislike of all his past labors: 1. Because he was to leave them; there was a necessity of parting with them at the last. As the heart of man in this state of corruption is naturally apt to cleave to the world and worldly things, so there is a peculiar delight in those works which are the fruit of his own wisdom and labor: and he finds it more hard to wean and take off his affections from them, than from any other. As the Apostle says of a man's own proper lust, so we may of his own labor and work, that it does more easily draw away the heart, Jam. 1:14. Therefore when God punishes such men, he usually does it in the works of their own hands, in their principal and peculiar employments; as Tyrus in her merchandise, Ezek. 27:27; Pharaoh in his river, Ezek. 29:3, 4. The wise man is apt to glory in his wisdom, and the strong man in his strength, etc., Jer. 9:23. Dan. 4:30, 31. This is the first ground of vexation, they must leave their wealth to others, Psal. 49:10, 12.
V. 19. {And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool?} 2. The reason of his forementioned dislike of all his labor; because he must leave them to the man that comes next after him, who haply may be very unfit to succeed him in so wise and great works. It is not in man's power to leave the works of his hands, when he must himself no longer enjoy them, unto such as are most likely to improve or preserve them: but be he what he will, wise or foolish, he must have, not only the fruition of my labors: but the dominion over them, Psal. 39:6. And this is a great vanity, to know a man's self how to get great things, and to know how to preserve, and to enjoy them; but not to know what will become of them at the last: a wise man it may be will alter all; a fool will scatter and dissipate all, and so all the father's wisdom may quickly come to nought by the son's folly.
{wherein I have laboured and wherein I have shewed my self wise} Which by my labor and my wisdom I have gotten. He understands human wisdom in managing worldly affairs to the best improvement, Isa. 10:13. Ezek. 38:4, 5. These are the two great principles of human actions, wisdom to direct; labor to execute: wisdom by counsel guides labor; and labor through experience increases wisdom. That wisdom is fruitless, which does not produce labor; and that labor is useless, which is not managed by wisdom. Some conceive that Solomon here did foresee, or at least fear that Rehoboam by his folly might scatter many of those great works and lose much of that ample power and wealth which his father by his wisdom had gotten, 1 Reg. 12:13, 15.
V. 20. {Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour}, &c. I went about, or, I circled. The meaning is, having turned hither and thither to take a view of all human actions, and everywhere discovering notable vanity in them all, I found myself, after I was wearied in this round, brought at last to utter despair and despondency of spirit; being without hope of ever finding out that in any of my labors for which I had undertaken them. When I found after all my labor, this sad uncertainty attending on them, that it was out of my power to dispose them for the future so, but that they might fall into the hands of a fool that would demolish and dissipate them all; who by his folly would extinguish the monuments of my wisdom; and by his luxury the fruits of my labor: then I bestirred myself to make my heart despair, to call it wholly off from all my labors. The word imports a desisting from a purpose or work undertaken, a changing of a man's counsel, finding the attempt to be fruitless or unfeasible, Isa. 57:10. Jer. 2:25, and 18:12. There is a rational despair, when a man having erroneously sought for some good from that which is wholly unable to afford it, does thereupon give over so fruitless an inquiry, and betake himself to that which is more effectual, Isa. 55:2, and there is a passionate despair, proceeding from that frowardness of heart which such a disappointment is apt to produce in carnal minds; when, because a man cannot enjoy that good from a thing which he expected, he will therefore wholly fall out with it, though it be otherwise good in its degree, and does bring such comfortable fruit as God appointed it for. This is a sinful despair: for the Lord has made many promises unto the labor which we take about outward things, Prov. 12:24, and 13:11, and 31:31. Psal. 128:1, 2. And has a word of blessing ever proportionable to those ends and uses for which he has appointed them, Deut. 28:2–8. Mat. 4:4. If Solomon mean here the former despair, then it was an effect of his wisdom, dictating unto him not to place his hopes upon vain things which would delude and abuse him, but to take off his heart from the inordinate love of empty things. If the latter, then it was a corrupt and froward aversion from things good in their degree, because the providence of God might haply dispose otherwise of them than he desired. Duty and labor about outward things belongs unto us, but the disposition of them into what hands he pleases, belongs unto God. In the meantime, it is a good argument to draw off the heart from anxious and inordinate toil about worldly things: and rather to employ our thoughts about the education of our children, lest much wealth in the hands of a foolish son prove an argument of our folly; whereas a little estate with principles of wisdom and piety instilled into him that must enjoy it, will be a greater blessing unto him, and an evidence of more wisdom in ourselves.
V. 21. {For there is a man whose labour is in wisdom}, &c. i.e. Who, 1. By his habitual skill and faculty of contrivance. 2. By his experimental and improved knowledge; and 3. By his just, honest, and righteous dealing, concurring all; 4. With diligent labor, (unto which kind of principles so attempered, the blessing of God is usually annexed,) does get a fair and full estate: and when he has all done, must leave it to another who never took thought about it, nor stirred hand or foot towards the gathering of it. This is a third reason of the wise man's weariness of his life and labors: namely, that he should be a very drudge for another man, and should use all his skill and pains, and suffer so much anxiety and disquiet only to purchase rest and idleness for his successor. And this is a great and sore evil, that the labor should be one man's, and the fruit thereof another's, and is often threatened as a punishment, Job 5:5. Hos. 7:9, and 8:7. Deut. 28:30, 31, 32, 33. Psal. 39:6. Prov. 13:22.
{shall he give it for his portion} Or, shall he give his portion. That which in all reason after so much labor should have been the portion of him who labored for it, he is compelled by death to give or leave it to another man, and so to make it that other man's portion.
V. 22. {for what hath man of all his labour}, &c. What is there unto a man of all his labor? Nehem. 6:6. Viz. what profit, comfort, advantage, can a man have of such labor wherein all the pain is his, and all the fruit and benefit another man's? Chap. 1:3, and 3:9. Psal. 39:6.
{vexation of his heart} Hereby are noted those disquieting, distracting, careful thoughts, whereby he does project and contrive within himself all ways of gain, and how to increase and preserve a great estate, Psal. 49:11. Hab. 2:5, 6. 1 Tim. 6:9, 10. This may refer to all the three reasons before given; 1. What has man left to himself of all his labor and vexation when he is dead and gone, all the world is then gone to him, Job 1:21. 1 Tim. 6:7. Psal. 49:17. 2. What good has he by all that pains which was taken for another man, who if he were wise, would be able to take the pains for himself, and if foolish, will be likely to make all another man's pains fruitless, which he took to provide for him, Job 27:16, 17. 3. What has he of all his labor more than the other man who sat still, and lived quietly, and saw him toil and drudge to get him an estate who labored not for it? Nothing at all more as to concernment and fruition, much more as to weariness and vexation.
V. 23. {For all his days are sorrows, and his travel grief}, &c. These words are very emphatical, to set forth the pain and trouble of such a man who toils for others: and the wise man closes this disquisition as he did the first, chap. 1:18, only this is expressed with greater emphasis, as being the greater evil of the two; as ver. 21. 1. The words are many, to show the greatness of the trouble. 2. The word translated sorrows, signifies a very painful and cruciating grief, the grief of some sore wound, Gen. 34:25. Jer. 51:8, and used in the case of Israel's sorrow in their bondage in Egypt, Exod. 3:7, and in Babylon, Lam. 1:12, and to express the sorrows of Christ, Isa. 53:3, 4. See Job 33:19. Prov. 14:13. 3. The abstract is used for the concrete, it is not said, all his days are sorrowful, but very sorrow itself; which adds much force to the sense, as Gen. 3:6. Psal. 5:9, and 39:5. Hag. 2:8. Gen. 12:2. Cant. 5:16. 4. The word is in the plural number, all his days are sorrows, (i.e.) full of sorrow; great sorrow, and variety of sorrow; as Isa. 65:6. 2 Pet. 3:11. So it is said, that the Sodomites were smitten with blindnesses, Gen. 19:11. 2 Cor. 1:3. Eccl. 5:6.
{and his travail} [or anxious and careful labor] {grief}. Or, indignation, his wearisome employments, full of disquietness, and of continual solicitude, meeting withal, with many miscarriages and disappointments, do stir up much grief and displeasure of heart. Hereby is noted the exceeding great trouble of heart, which arises out of an inordinate conversing about worldly things, and apprehension of parting with them. For the less measure there is in the labor of getting them, the more trouble there is in the thoughts of parting with them. If the life of the best men be full of evil and labor, Gen. 47:9. Psal. 90:10. Job 14:1, and 5:7. (Our mother brings us forth in sorrow and unto sorrow) much more unquiet must be the life of those who labor in the fire, and for very vanity, Habbac. 2:13.
{yea, his heart taketh no rest in the night} The night was appointed by God for man to rest in, as the day to labor, Psal. 104:23, and 127:2. Job 4:13. But such a man deprives himself of that blessing, which God by the very season offers him, Job 7:3, 4, 13, 14. Eccl. 5:12, 13. Prov. 3:24. Or, if such a man's body, through labor and weariness, do sleep, yet his heart is still taken up with unquiet thoughts and cares; for the heart may be awake when the body sleeps, Cant. 5:2.
V. 24. {There is nothing better for a man, than to eat}, &c. In this verse, and so to the end of the chapter is contained, that which is the whole sum and subject of this book, which is to show, wherein the only good which a man can attain unto in his labor about worldly things, does consist, and the happiness of this present life, which is to get the heart seasoned with the fear of God, and to be good in his sight, or approved of him; and then, in the assurance and joy of his favor, to make use of all outward good things with quiet contentment, with freedom, cheerfulness and delight, which is a special blessing which the Lord gives unto his own servants. The Apostle puts all this into two words, godliness and contentment, 1 Tim. 6:6.
The words admit of a several reading, though all run to the same issue. There is nothing better for a man than—so our version. The word [than] according to the reading is to be supplied, it not being in the original. And so interpreters agree, that such a word as nisi, or tantum may be understood, as it is necessary to be supplied elsewhere; as Isa. 1:6, where, in the original, the words run in this manner; There is no soundness in it, wounds and bruises, &c., where the word but, or only is necessarily to be supplied; no soundness, [but] wounds or bruises: so here, There is no good for a man that he eat; the word but is to be supplied, there is not, or it is not good for a man but that he eat: it is expressed, chap. 3:12. Others read the words with an interrogation, Is it not good for a man that he eat, &c.? (i.e.) It is good. Others read thus, This good is not in a man, (i.e.) in the power of man, that he eat and drink, &c. As he cannot help it, but he must in time leave his outward things, which with so much labor he has gotten, and that to such as it may be, will not dispose of them to his desire; so even while he does actually possess them himself, it is not in his power to use them, much less to enjoy them with delight and pleasure, without the special gift of God. All amounts to the same issue, which is this: since there is in all the studies, labors, affairs of men so much vanity and vexation, as has been here discovered, by the ablest and wisest inquirer into the creature; it remains, if we would effectually free ourselves from this vanity and vexation, that giving over those anxious and disquieting labors, we betake ourselves to a free, cheerful, and comfortable use of those good things which God has blessed us withal; and that so we may do, to commend ourselves by sincerity of heart unto God, from whose hand and gift alone this mercy proceeds, and not from the power or will of man.
{make his soul see or enjoy good} i.e. Make himself to enjoy the good which outward blessings do afford, the like phrase making to see good is used, Psal. 4:6, and 50:23; supra, verse 1.
{in his labour} 1. In the fruit of labor, not of idleness. 2. Of his own labor, of that which is righteously his own, not gotten from others by violence or injustice.
{this also I saw that it was from the hand of God} Or the special gift of God, as verse 26. Chap. 3:13, and 5:19. 1 Chr. 29:16. It may seem but an easy thing when man has, with much toil and trouble, gotten provisions about him, to eat the fruit of his own labors, yet he has no power to do it without God's blessing.
Here we may observe. 1. That the utmost good of all worldly labors reach no further as to real benefit, than the supply of the body, Eccles. 6:7. 1 Tim. 6:7, 8.
2. That it is not in the power of man, after all his hard labor for these things, either to use them, or with cheerfulness and joy to delight at all in them, without the special hand and gift of God; to say nothing of sickness, or sorrow, or other distempers within, and of robbers without, which may take away the taste of any sweetness in them, and consequently the desire of them, 2 Sam. 19:35. Job 33:19, 20, so that the floor and the winepress shall not feed us, Hos. 9:2, and 2:9. There is such a sordid and base cruelty in the mind of a man towards himself, as to defraud and grudge himself the fruit of his own labor, Eccles. 6:2, 4, 8. Much less can a man with cheerfulness, contentment, and sweet tranquility, make use of these blessings without the special favor of God unto him therein, Prov. 10:22. Psal. 128:1, 2. Nehem. 8:10, 12. 1 Chr. 29:22. Acts 14:17. Deut. 8:12–18. Phil. 4:11, 12, 13.
3. That the happiness of this life stands in a free, cheerful and contented enjoyment of the good blessings of God, together with the sense and comfort of his fatherly love, 1 Tim. 6:4.
4. That all the sweetness of outward blessings stands in this that they are reached out unto us, from the hand, and sanctified by the blessing and grace of a merciful Father, Psal. 37:16. Prov. 15:16. 1 Tim. 4:5. 1 Tim. 6:17. It is the love of God which puts sweetness into all outward mercies.
5. Honest labor whereby a man's bread is his own, is the proper object of our comfortable fruition. Then only we can rejoice in our eating and drinking and other outward delights when in them we taste the sweet of our righteous labors, Prov. 16:8. Eph. 5:28. 2 Thes. 3:12.
V. 25. {for who can eat, or who else can hasten thereunto more than I?} He proves what he had said, that it is the gift of God: because he so wise, so wealthy a prince, who had so great variety to hold up his delight, could of himself find nothing in all his great estate, but matter of vexation. What power can others have to enjoy them, when he could not; or else it may refer to the former part of the foregoing verse. There is nothing for a man then to eat and drink and enjoy good in his labor: this he proves by his own experience. As by his own experience, he has all along proved the vanity and vexation of the creatures in other respects; so here, by his own experience he proves, that the only tranquility is, having made sure of the favor of God, to eat and drink with cheerfulness. He does not mean sensual Epicure-like surfeiting on the creatures, but a quiet, free contented use of them; who is fitter to eat of my estate, and to make haste so to do, i.e. readily and cheerfully to do it, than I myself who labored for it? And I unto whom God has given such plenty, and such readiness of heart to use it, can by my own taste of God's goodness give to others a judgment and assurance hereof. So verse 10, 12.
{who else can hasten thereunto more than I?} This notes a special promptitude and cheerfulness of heart, which Solomon did put forth in the fruition of the good things he had gathered, as Job 20:2. Others read it, who has taken more care thereunto, to abound in delights and contents than I? Others, who has quicker senses to discern the comforts of them, than I? But the first sense seems more genuine; for as in the former verse, he spoke, 1. Of eating and drinking, or of the free using of God's blessings. 2. Of making the heart to enjoy them: so here he tells us that his practice was suitable; who can eat? that relates to the former, and who can hasten more than I, that relates to the latter.
V. 26. {for God giveth to a man that is good in his sight, wisdom, and knowledge, and joy}, &c. Having commended this free and comfortable use of God's blessings, with godliness and contentment, by the author of it, it is the gift of God: he here further commends it by the subject of it, unto whom God does afford so excellent a gift: many gifts of God are common to good and bad men, Matth. 5:45. 1 Cor. 13:1, 3, but this is a peculiar blessing which he bestows on his beloved, Psal. 127:2. The subject of it is a good man; the character of that good man, he is good in his sight, good in the judgment of God, who tries the heart, Gen. 17:1. 1 Cor. 10:18. Rom. 12:1, 2. 1 Tim. 2:3. Heb. 13:21. The gift of God to this man. 1. Wisdom to get. 2. Knowledge to use. 3. Joy to use cheerfully and comfortably all outward blessings, and this is illustrated by an antithesis.
{but to the sinner he giveth travel, to gather and to heap up} i.e. He gives them up, or leaves them to their own greedy desires, to gather and heap together with much anxiety and tormenting solicitude, Habbac. 2:6. Luke 12:18. Psal. 39:6.
{That he may give to him that is good before God} That is, that God may dispose of it by his own overruling providence, besides and against the purpose of the gatherer, to whom he pleases, or to those that fear him, making wicked men but the drudges and purveyors for others. Isa. 10:7. Prov. 13:22, and 28:8. Job 27:16, 17. Ester 8:1, 2. Isai. 65:13, 14. As wicked men built the ark but Noah enjoyed it, according to the Greek proverb, one man makes the garment, but another wears it.
{This also is vanity} Viz. for a wicked man to labor for others whom he loves not, nor ever intended his labor for.
Here we see, 1. Goodness consists in approving a man's self to God. 2. That sweet and perfect contentment is peculiar unto good men. 3. That wisdom or skill to get riches is the gift of God, Deut. 8:18. 4. That knowledge to use them being gotten is likewise God's gift, as verse 24. 5. That good men only are the proper subject of true joy, Gal. 5:22. 6. That amongst other curses God does many times punish wicked men with giving them up to the insatiable desires of their covetous hearts, to weary themselves in gathering wealth to no purpose of their own, of Eccles. 4:8. 7. God's providences many times disposes the labors of wicked men for the use and good of the godly.
CHAPTER 3
In this chapter the wise man proceeds, in discovering the vanity of worldly things, and of all men's toil and labor about them, in regard of the total uncertainty of future events, as having their whole dependence on the predeterminate purpose of God, and not at all on the anxious care and thoughts of man. And that therefore since man is not able to alter the series and contexture of events, foreordained by God, he ought with contentment of heart to enjoy his condition, and to fear the Lord, and depend on his providence, which it is not possible for him by all his own solicitude to prevent, or escape. And therefore though he may cheerfully enjoy present blessings, yet he must not have his heart glued to them, nor build his chief hope on them, in regard they are so variable and subject to unavoidable changes and uncertainties. So that the doctrine of the ten first verses of this chapter seems to be; 1. An argument enforcing the former counsel of the wise man, chap. 2:24. That since there is a set and prefixed season for all, even the most contingent events, and that it is out of the power of man by all his thoughts, counsels and cares, to break through the limits of God's providence in the guidance of them; therefore our wisest way is to yield ourselves unto God, to depend on his counsel and provision, to rest contented in that which he gives, and not to disquiet ourselves with the cares, fears, hopes of such things, as are wholly without the order of our wisdom or power. 2. A caveat in the use of outward comforts, still to remember that they are changeable, subject to time and providence to wear them out, and deprive us of them: and therefore not to be offended, if we have not always our desires, nor enjoy them so long, and in so constant a tenor of success, as we could wish ourselves. 3. A further observation of vanity in outward things, in the various actions of other men, as he had before discovered it in his own labors.
V. 1. {To every thing there is a season} A predeterminate and an appointed time: so it is used, Est. 9:31. Ezra 10:14. Nehem. 13:31.
{to every purpose} To voluntary and contingent things, which seem most in a man's own power; yet these are overruled, for their beginning, duration and ending, by the providence of God. To every purposed business: where note; 1. That all events in the world, both natural and contingent, voluntary, or fortuitous, are all of them limited and bounded for their beginning, duration and ending, by the providence of God, Psal. 31:15. Job 14:14. Acts 17:26. So we read of a time for wrath, Psal. 37:13. Ezek. 7:7. Hos. 5:7. Isa. 40:2. A time of love, Ezek. 16:8. 2 Cor. 6:2. A time to work in, John 2:4. A time to suffer in, John 7:30, and 8:20, and 13:1, and 17:1. It is great wisdom for men to observe the providences of God in this point, that they may accordingly behave themselves towards him, 1 Chron. 12:32. Luke 19:42. Eccl. 9:12. Jer. 8:7. 2. That whatever are the thoughts or cares of men, yet the purposes of God must stand; no man can by his anxious fears or contrivances, mend or alter his condition. Means we must use in obedience unto God, and expectation of his promised blessing, but events and successes we must leave wholly unto him, Isa. 46:10. Prov. 19:21. Psal. 33:10, 11. Matth. 6:27. Jer. 10:23. 3. That all things under the sun are subject to continual changes; there are various revolutions and vicissitudes of events, now one thing, and anon the contrary, to the intent that men should, neither be wanton in prosperity, nor desperate in adversity, but should always fear before the Lord, and seek for a kingdom which cannot be shaken, 1 Cor. 7:29–31. Prov. 27:1. Jam. 4:13, 14. Dan. 2:21.
V. 2. The wise man subjoins an induction of several particulars, obvious to every man's experience, whereby he demonstrates the truth of this general proposition. Some of these particulars are things natural, and wholly out of the power of man; others human and voluntary, such as are done and directed by the skill of man. To teach us, that all the most free and contingent actions are under the law of God's providence, directed and limited thereby, as well as those which are most natural and necessary, 1 Reg. 22:24. Isa. 10:5, 6, 7. Acts 4:27, 28.
Some again begin with pleasant instances, and end in sad ones. Others begin with sadness, and end with delight. The Lord as he pleases ordering the affairs of men so, as that sometimes they have their good days first, and afterwards sorrow: sometimes evil first, and after, deliverance, Luke 16:25. Job 42:12. John 21:18.
Another thing to be remembered here, is; that the Lord does not by every one of these particulars signify what is good or lawful to be done, but only teach us, that not only the good actions of men, but their sins, not only their serious actions, but those which are most ludicrous and vain, are all of them under the decrees and overruling counsels of God, directing of them and their seasons as it pleases him, Matth. 10:29, 30. Gen. 45:5, and 50:20. Judg. 21:21, 22, 23.
{A time to be born}, or to bear and bring forth Called the hour of a woman, John 16:21.
{and a time to die} Called the hour wherein a man must depart, John 13:1. For, though the sentence of death has sometimes been revoked, Isa. 38:1, 5, yet, the predeterminate time forefixed in the purpose of God was not altered.
V. 3. {A time to kill} There is a providence of God in the violent deaths of men, directing actions either sinful or fortuitous, as it pleases him, 2 Reg. 10:30, compared with Hos. 1:4. Exod. 21:13. 1 Reg. 22:34. Hos. 6:1. 1 Sam. 2:6. Job 30:26.
{to bear down, and to build} Jer. 1:10, and 18:7, and 31:28. Esay 5:2, 5.
V. 4. {A time to weep} Viz. from the Lord; for he speaks all along of the providence of God, in whose hand all our times both of sorrow and joy are, Psal. 80:5. Ruth 1:20, 21.
{and a time to laugh} Psal. 126:1, 2. Gen. 21:6.
{to mourn} As in funerals and public calamities, chapter 12:5.
{to dance} i.e. Greatly to rejoice, and express joy in the outward behavior, 2 Sam. 6:14. Acts 3:8.
V. 5. {A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather them together} Some by this, understand the erecting of trophies over conquered enemies, as Josh. 8:29. 2 Sam. 18:17, 13. Zach. 9:16. Others, the demolishing or erecting of buildings, all ordered by God's providence, Luke 13:4. Judg. 9:53. Lam. 2:2, 5, 7, 8, 9, and 4:1. Zach. 5:4. Mic. 1:6. 2 Reg. 3:25. Mark 13:1, 2.
{to embrace, and to abstain from embracing} 1 Cor. 7:5.
V. 6. {to get} Prov. 10:6.
{to cast away} Either out of necessity, as Jon. 1:5. Acts 27:18, 38, or out of charity, Prov. 11:24. Eccles. 11:1, or out of special duty to God, Heb. 10:34. Matth. 10:37, 38, and 19:29.
V. 7. {To rent} As the custom was in mourning, Job 1:20. Joel 2:19.
{to speak, to keep silence} According to difference of seasons, Prov. 26:4, 5, and 25:11. Amos 5:13.
V. 8. {A time of war} 2 Sam. 11:1.
Thus Solomon by an induction of divers particulars, and those very various, and each by way of antithesis with his contrary joined to him, some natural actions, some civil, some domestical, some vicious, some virtuous, some serious and solemn, others light and ludicrous, some wise, some passionate; by all these he assures us, that there is a holy and wise work of God in predefining, ordering, limiting, tempering, disposing of all these and the like affairs of men, and so qualifying in the life of a man one contrary with another, and balancing prosperity and adversity by each other, that in every condition a good man may find cause of praising God, and of trusting in him, and of exercising this tranquility and contentment of mind, even in contrary conditions because the holy hand of God is in the one, as well as in the other, Job 1:21. Phil. 4:11, 12.
V. 9. {What profit hath he that worketh, in that wherein he laboureth?} As chap. 1:3. Matth. 6:27. In vain is it for a man by any anxious toil to go about to effect anything according to his own will, if the counsel and providence of God be against it. When he builds, God may pull down, or put in some accident and casual event which shall divert, or undo all: yet he does not intend to restrain men from needful labor in their callings; but from trusting in or building on their labors, and fretting if such fruits follow not thereupon as they intended and expected; but patiently to submit to the holy will of God, unto whom it belongs to dispose of our persons, of our liberties as it pleases him. Whence observe; that carking and caring is indeed a striving with the irresistible providence of God, which no labor of ours can alter, or bend to our wills, Isa. 4.1, 5.9. Jon. 4:8, 9, as on the other side, glorying of our own strength or wisdom, is a robbing him of his honor, Deut. 8:17, 18. Habbac. 1:16. Labor is subordinate unto providence, but must never strive with it. There is no profit to any man in his labor, without God's blessing, which therefore he must pray for, and rejoice in without fruitless anxiety for the future.
V. 10. {I have seen the travel} Chap. 1:13. Men might be apt to think when they see so many turns and changes in the world, that all things are carried by a blind and rash disorder, casually and uncertainly, as it falls out, without any beauty or order in them. To this he answers, that it is God who has given unto men this travel to exercise themselves in various and contrary employments, passions, events, and that he does, though we do not suddenly observe it, direct them all unto a beautiful issue: all these contraries work together, for good, Rom. 8:28. Again, men might think on the other hand, if man have indeed no profit of all his labor, but when all is done, God alone orders the event, then to what end should he weary himself in so fruitless an employment? To this also there is an answer in these words; God has given to man his work, which he is to undertake in obedience to God's command: and God does usually dispense his mercies unto us in the use of means, and by blessing on our labors, Prov. 10:4, 22. John 21:3, 6. Acts 27:22, 31. And though labor do not effect what we expected from it, but God's providence should (as sometimes it does) act contrary to, or diversely from our endeavors; yet this good there is in honest labor alone, and this end God has in requiring it of us, we are exercised therein, and so kept from idleness, and the evil effects which would follow thereupon. Labor is not only a duty, but in this respect beneficial, (even when it miscarries as to the principal end aimed at in it) that the heart is thereby kept in that station and order wherein God did originally set it, Gen. 3:17, 18, 19.
V. 11. {He hath made every thing beautiful in his time}, or in the time and proper season thereof This is a further commendation of the wise providence of God in the government of the world, and all the events which happen in it, to the end that men may with more quietness and contentment acquiesce therein. We might be apt to stumble and be offended at the seeming confusions which are in the world, and the great uncertainty of affairs therein. But however it seem to us, who are not able to put together all the pieces of God's providence, nor to foresee that frame and feature which he will form them unto at the last, yet this is certain, that as in the work of creation all things were very good, Gen. 1:31, so in the work of gubernation and providence, all things will at last appear to be very beautiful, and those things which seemed but as confused heaps when they lay asunder, will, when God's whole work is done, (Isa. 10:12) and they are all put together, appear to have been full of order, and decorum: as beauty in the body arises out of an equal temperament of contraries together, and so in a curious piece of hanging various colors wisely mixed, make an elegant piece; and letters which in the printer's boxes seem all confused, and signify nothing; yet being set together by an exquisite copy, they afford us a learned and elaborate work: as we see in the history of Joseph and his brethren, of David's troubles and kingdom: Mordecai, Esther, and Haman, of the Jews crucifying of Christ, etc.
Again {God hath made every thing beautiful in its time} As cold and frost, are as orderly, as necessary, as useful in the winter, the season for them, as fruits, and flowers, and other delights at in the summer. Sorrow and affliction is in the season of it as useful and needful for men and in its kind as beautiful, as mirth and joy in another season, 1 Pet. 1:6, 7. Jam. 1:2, 3, and 5:7, 11. Eccles. 7:13, 14. Psal. 104:24.
{also he hath set the world in their heart}, &c. These words are in this place very difficult, and variously both rendered, and understood. Some read them thus, Quamdiu seculum est, as long as the world, or worldly things continue, the Lord does put into the mind of man the work which God does from the beginning to the end, excepting only that which man cannot find out, or attain unto: and so the sense to be, that God has in the book of the world, and of his providence in the government of all things therein, so legibly represented to the mind of man his righteous and beautiful ordering of them all, that man may if he set himself about it, easily discover God's wonderful wisdom therein; as Acts 14:17. Rom. 1:19, 20. Only indeed some things are unsearchable to human reason, which he is to admire and adore, waiting till the time of the revelation of God's righteous judgments for the full and distinct understanding of them, Rom. 11:33, 34. Job 9:10, and 11:7, 8, 9. Others, by putting the world in men's hearts, understand, according to one of the usual acceptions of the word, עולם, a desire implanted in man of eternity and perpetuity, and so the sense to be, that albeit God does make everything good and beautiful, yet the heart of man is so set upon immortality, that he cannot find out amongst any of God's works here which have a beginning and an end, or are measured by time, anything wherein his heart may fully and finally rest.
But that which seems most agreeable to the scope of the place, and grammar of the words, is this; God has indeed made everything beautiful in his time, and hereupon men ought with quiet and cheerful hearts to observe God's providence in all things, and therein to rest, without anxiety or disquieting care: but man cannot find out the work of God, nor observe the beauty thereof so exactly as he should; which is the reason that he does not so patiently acquiesce therein. Of this defect he gives two reasons.
1. That, they have the world in their hearts, they are so taken up with the thoughts, and cares of worldly things, and are so exercised in the sore travel belonging unto them, that they do not naturally look up to the wise and holy disposition of God, so as to rest therein. This duty is the remedy of such cares, Matth. 6:26, 30, 32, and such cares are the hindrance of this duty.
2. They cannot find out the work which God doth from the beginning to the end. Man being of short continuance, does not many times live to observe a full point in the works of God. Their beginning may be in one age and their end in another. That part which I see in my days, may appear to me full of disorder and confusion, as heaps of stone and lime, and other provisions towards a goodly building: whereas if I did live to see the end of God in such works, it would appear, that in their time, or maturity they would be full of beauty: that fruit which is most sweet and delicate in its season, is sour and unpleasant while it is yet green. It is the end of God's work which sets forth its beauty. Works of providence, as works of creation, may begin in a chaos, and seem without form and void, Gen. 1:2, but they end in admirable order and beauty, chap. 8:17. Psal. 37:37, 38. Jam. 5:11. Hab. 2:3. So here is the doctrine of the excellent beauty which is in God's providences. The reason why man is not thereby persuaded unto contentment and patience in all estates, namely, his natural impotency to observe the same. The grounds of that impotency, 1. His worldly-mindedness. 2. His short continuance: yet he ought by faith, and by the evidence of God's dealings in other ages, to rectify this defect, and upon that ground to build his cheerful enjoyment of blessings while God bestows them upon him. So it follows.
V. 12. {I know that there is no good in them; but for}, &c. I know by my trial and experience, that there is no good in or for them, i.e. for men; but only with contentment of heart to rejoice in God's blessings, and to do good in his life, i.e. to live in the fear of God; as chap. 2:24, 25, or to do good unto themselves in a liberal enjoyment of their life and labors, as Psal. 49:18, or to do good to others in the time of their joy, as Neh. 8:10, 12.
V. 13. {And also that every man should eat}, &c. Here are the parts of this contentment, to eat, drink, enjoy our labors; and to rejoice in them. Whereby is meant not a gluttonous, luxurious, and intemperate use of these things, as they, 1 Cor. 15:32. Matth. 44:49, but a free and comfortable use, without anxious thoughts for the future, moderated by the fear of God, as before, chap. 2:24.
V. 14. {I know that whatsoever God doth it shall be for ever}, &c. Here from the unchangeableness of God's providence, the permanent and irrevocable course of his counsels, the absolute perfection of his works, wherein there is nothing defective, which requires addition, nothing superfluous, or to be taken from them; he does further teach us with willingness and contentment to submit to God, whose counsels we are not able by all our cares to alter or disannul.
{shall be for ever} The works themselves may alter and vanish, but the counsel of God is constant and immutable, and he does in a stable and fixed way dispose of all things to holy ends, beyond the power of any creature, either to alter or evade it, Mal. 3:6.
His decrees are like chariots proceeding out of mountains of brass to note their firmitude and immutability, Zach. 6:1, 2, which no power can shake or remove, Isa. 38:10. Job 38:31–35, and 48:8, and 42:2. Job 9:12. Isa. 14:27, and 46:10.
{and God doth it, that men should fear before him} God's decrees and immutable providence should not drive us either into despair and a willful neglect of all means, in the use whereof God expects that we should wait upon him, and in which as in the way of his providence, he uses to work good for his people: nor do they allow us to lean on our own wisdom, and to deify our own counsels, or burn incense to our own nets; but by them we are taught in consideration of sovereignty, power, and wisdom of God in all things, to stand in awe of him, to submit unto him; in blessings to be thankful, in sufferings to be patient, because still it is the Lord that decrees, orders, disposes and overrules all, Job 1:21. 1 Sam. 3:18. 2 Sam. 15:25, 26. Psal. 37:5, 7.
V. 15. {That which hath been, is now, and that which is to be}, &c. Chap. 1:9. This is an explication of what was last said, verse 14, to show how what God does is forever: the things themselves pass, and others succeed in their places, but this series of things is carried on regularly and uniformly by a standing law, and fixed decree, appointing a perpetual and proportionable succession of things one after another, as has been from the beginning, Gen. 8:22. Jer. 31:35, 36. Job 38:10, 33.
{and God requireth that which is past} That which time thrusts forward, and so makes to be past, God restores and brings it back again. And this is also an excellent argument of contentment in our estate, be it what it will: 1. Because God deals not in a strange and unusual manner with us, otherwise than with others before us, that which now is our case, has been the case of other good men; and will be the case of others when we are gone, 1 Cor. 10:13. A human temptation there, is that which God does usually exercise men withal, as elsewhere the rod of a man, 2 Sam. 7:14. 2. Because God tempers our lives, and does not keep us always in one and the same estate. In trouble he brings back and restores comfort to those that wait on him, Psal. 126:1, 4, as to Job, chap. 42:12. In abundance, he can shake our mountain which we thought unmovable, and bring back our sorrows again, Psal. 30:6, 7, so that in both respects we ought to carry an awful, reverend, and humble heart towards God in all conditions, quietly referring ourselves in every estate unto his fatherly disposal, who best knows what is good for us.
V. 16. {And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment}, &c. I saw another vanity under the sun. Having formerly showed the vanity of knowledge, and of pleasures, and of human labors, in regard of the internal anxiety and travel of mind that does accompany them, and of the external changes they are subject unto; and manifold miscarriages and disappointments which are incident unto them, together with the remedy hereof, a free and cheerful enjoyment of God's blessings with piety towards him for the present, and a comfortable dependence on his holy providence, with godly fear for the future: upon a visible objection which might be made against the providence of God, (which he had so much commended) with which temptation many good men have been shaken, to wit, the prosperous impiety and oppressions of wicked men, and the sad condition of the innocent and oppressed; Job 21:3–13. Psal. 7:2–5. Jer. 12:1. Habac. 3:14, he proceeds to vindicate the doctrine of providence, and to show the vanity of men in honor and great place without the fear of God: (for all the vanities in this book are still to be understood in that sense; the fear of God being the remedy of it, and that which makes all other outward good things sweet and comfortable to us.) The greatest honor without a holy use of it, is so far from making a man happy, that it is an occasion of much wickedness amongst men, one man proving a devil and wolf unto another, and making no other use of power, than lions or bears do, to mischief others by. This wickedness is aggravated, in that it was committed under the pretense of God's ordinance; magistracy and courts of justice were erected by God's appointment to be sanctuaries and places of refuge for wronged innocency to repair unto for succor and relief: now then, for those who were ordained to comfort and help poor and oppressed persons, to be themselves through bribery, partiality, and injustice, the greatest oppressors, and that with so high a hand, as to make the very tribunals of judgment to be slaughterhouses, and shops of cruelty, this was a great vanity amongst men, and a great temptation whereby a poor man's comfortable waiting on the providence of God is in danger to be shaken.
We here note; 1. That power without piety, is very apt to degenerate into cruelty and oppression. It is an unwieldy and a willful thing that wants much balance of humility and self-denial to temper and allay it, Isa. 1:21, 22, 23, and 10:13, 14. Jer. 22:14, 17. Mich. 3:9, 10, 11. Habac. 1:13, 14. Ezek. 22:25.
2. That it is the height of impiety, to fetch power and advantage from any ordinance of God to commit it, Isa. 5:27 [reference uncertain]. 1 Sam. 2:17. Jer. 23:26, 38. Jer. 14:14, 15. 1 Reg. 22:11, 12, 24. John 19:10. Isa. 36:10. Mal. 2:8.
3. That wickedness is many times grossly aggravated by the circumstance of place where it is committed; Hos. 6:8. Ezek. 8:5, 9, 17. Isa. 26:10. Mal. 1:7. Matth. 21:12, 13.
{and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there} This is the same thing repeated, as the use of that tongue, and of the Scripture is, whereby may be signified, how usual a thing it was in places of judgment, here and there, one as well as another, to find this corruption, Jer. 5:5. Isa. 5:7.
V. 17. {I said in my heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked}, &c. This is the censure Solomon passes upon this vanity; that though power do oppress, and the poor be oppressed, yet this ought not to discourage good men from contented waiting on the providence of God, nor to encourage or embolden wicked men in their ways of tyranny or oppression, because the Lord will in due time review all again, and pass a righteous judgment upon the one, and the other.
{I said in mine heart} I comforted my heart against this vanity, by the consideration of the righteous judgment of God.
{God will judge the righteous} By a sentence of absolution.
{and the wicked} By a sentence of condemnation.
{for there is a time there} (i.e.) With God, in the judgment to come. The antecedent is to be understood in the relative; as Num. 7:89. Him, for, God, Ester 9:25. She, for Ester; Psal. 114:2. His sanctuary, for, God's sanctuary, Job 1:21. naked shall I return thither; namely to the earth.
Here we see, 1. That faith can look on the pride and power of wicked men as a very vain thing, even when they are in the height of their greatness, Job 5:3. Psal. 92:7, and 39:5, 37, and 10:10, and 35, 36. Habbac. 2:7. Luke 12:20.
2. That it is matter of comfort to men oppressed, that the Lord will judge their cause over again, and right them against their oppressions. Therefore they ought patiently to wait on him; and to expect what issue he will give them out of their troubles, Eccles. 5:8. Jam. 5:7. Psal. 7:6, 7, 8, 9, 11, and 9:4, 9.
3. There is a prefixed time beyond which God will no longer suffer innocency to be oppressed, nor tyranny to prevail, and we are patiently to wait for God's time, who will certainly come when wicked men have filled up their measure. Acts 17:31. Jam. 5:7, 8. Job 21:30. Psal. 37:13. Habbac. 2:3. Zach. 5:5–7.
V. 18. {I said in my heart concerning the estate of the sons men} The order, condition, manner of men, or concerning men themselves; as Psal. 110:4. Eccles. 8:2; or concerning the degrees of men, superiors, and inferiors.
{That God might manifest them} I saw that man being in power, did not, could not rightly consider his own frail condition; and therefore that God must manifest them, in his righteous judgment, or by his word unto themselves, and make them know their own natural vileness; and that they are, as to outward respects, but as the beasts that perish, Psal. 49:20, as Psal. 32:6, 7; ye are gods by office, but ye shall die like men; so here, men by reason, by power, by dignity; but ye shall die like beasts. Others thus, that they might clear, or purge God when he judges them, and shall make them see that they lived like beasts, Psal. 51:4. Others, that God indeed has chosen and advanced them to dignity, but by what is seen, and does outwardly appear of them they are by their cruelty and injustice, no better than beasts, as Mic. 3:3. Zeph. 3:3.
{That they themselves are beasts} Heb. A beast. Or that these are as a beast to those, or as a beast, one to another; the singular number is put collectively, they act the part of all kind of hurtful beasts one towards another: so Christ called Herod a fox, Luke 13:32, and the hypocritical Jews, vipers, Luke 3:5. See Psal. 22:12, 16, and 10:9, and 57:4. 2 Tim. 4:17. Psal. 80:13. Ezek. 22:27. Jer. 5:6. Psal. 68:30. Amos 4:1. Matth. 7:6. 2 Pet. 2:22. Ezek. 2:6.
Some render those words על דברת בני האדם by Secundum rationem humanam: and thence infer, that Solomon speaks here according to judgment of carnal and corrupt reason, and under a prosopopoeia, does deliver the judgment of atheists and Epicures, touching the mortality of the soul, and the total parity of condition between men and beasts in regard of mortality; who thence allow themselves in all kind of violence, oppression, and luxury: and so they understand all that follows to the end of this chapter, to be spoken as in the person of an Epicure and atheist: the same events happen to man and beast, their end the same, their original and matter the same, their senses, breath, motions the same, their soul alike earthly, for who knows that man's soul goes upward more than a beast's, and therefore it is equal, that they should live sensually, without fear or care of the future as beasts do.
But the necessity of such a sense does not appear, since the wise man's purpose here seems to be no other but to humble the highest of men, as in the former words, by consideration of God's judgment over them so in these to the 21st verse, by the consideration of their own mortal and earthly condition, wherein as to many particulars they agree with the brute beasts: for he speaks not here of man's immortal or heavenly condition; but throughout this book the scope is to show the vanity of earthly things, and of human actions in order unto things under sun; which vanity is by no means to be remedied, but only by the fear of God. The vanity of all the honors and labors of this life, he here discovers by the equal condition in mere outward respects between men and beasts.
V. 19. {For that which befalleth the sons of men, befalleth beasts, even one thing befalleth them} For as for the event of the sons of men, and the event of beasts, one event is to them both, Psal. 49:10.
{as the one dieth, so dieth the other} Or, as is the death of the one, so is the death of the other, chap. 2:15, 16.
{they have all one breath} They draw in and out the same air; by the same kind of vital organs, man's breath is in his nostrils, as the breath of beasts, Isa. 2:22. Job 27:3, 4. Gen. 2:7. He speaks not of the soul of man, but of animal and vital breath, which is common to both, Ezek. 37:5, 10. So we read of the common provisions which God makes in regard of this life, for beasts, birds, fishes, and men, and the common fate which attends them all, Psal. 104:11, 12, 14, 15, 21, 23, 27–30.
{so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast} In outward respects, without piety to raise him above a mere corporal and sensual use of them: nay in many outward things beasts have the preeminence, some more strength; others more agility; some more exquisite senses, others longer life; most more healthy, more hardy, able to work more, able to bear and endure more, than man.
{for all is vanity} All equally vain and mortal.
V. 20. {All go into one place, all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again} As they agree in one vital principle, so are they subject to one law of mortality, their original, in regard to bodily constitution, the same, and by dissolution their condition in regard of bodies the same, Gen. 3:19. Job 34:15. Psal. 22:16. We must still remember, that he speaks of man's mere natural condition, as he is under the sun. Otherwise, in regard of man's future condition, his body is again to be raised, and brought to judgment.
V. 21. {Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast which goeth downward to the Earth?} It is true indeed there is a future happiness belonging unto men who have immortal souls, which beasts have no right unto, nor are capable of; the soul of the one goes upward, chap. 12:7. Luke 18:27. Acts 7:59, whereas the souls of beasts perish. But no man can by sense discern the ascent of the one, or the descent of the other; and Solomon speaks not of man's future celestial happiness in this book, but of the vanity of all outward things, without true piety, to satisfy the heart of man while he is under the sun. As for the other celestial happiness, it cannot be discerned by a natural disquisition, but is revealed in the word unto a few, 1 Cor. 2:9–11.
V. 22. {Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works} He repeats his former conclusion, chap. 2:24, and 3:13, from these vanities, since there is so little difference in outward things between a man and a beast; therefore to remedy this vanity, he is in the fear of God, while he lives, to enjoy with cheerfulness and contentment his own labors: for that only which he so does enjoy is his own portion: and not to trouble himself with thoughts or cares for the future, since being gone, he has no more share in them, nor knowledge of them.
{for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?} If he hoard them up for others, and use them not himself, what good will he have of them when he is gone? Who can foretell him what use shall be made of them, what good shall be done with them? Therefore let him take comfort of them himself before he die, chap. 5:18.
CHAPTER 4
Having showed the vanity of oppression and injustice in those who are in place of power and judgment, who carry themselves like beasts to their brethren, and must themselves die like beasts, undesired, unlamented: he shows further in this chapter diverse other vanities, which are consequents upon oppression and misgovernment; both in persons oppressed, whose life is a weariness to them, verse 1, 2, 3, and in other men; who thereby are subject to be envied for their industry and prosperity, verse 4, and thereupon some foolishly give over all employment, verse 5, 6. Others scrape together what they can get, and live privately and alone, out of the eye of the world, and from being observed, verse 8, and thereupon he returns to show the vanity even of the greatest power, when it thus oppresses the people, verse 13, 14, yea, of the most regular power, through the mutability of the affections of the people, verse 15, 16.
Verse 1. {So I returned, and considered all the oppressions}, &c. Returned and considered, (i.e.) considered again; the verb is put for the adverb, as is usual in the Scripture, in verbs which signify repeating, or iterating of an action; as Gen. 25:1. Abraham added and took a wife, (i.e.) took another wife, or married again. Psal. 106:13. They made haste and forgot, (i.e.) They soon forgot: Hos. 9:9. They were profound and corrupted themselves, (i.e.) They deeply corrupted themselves: so Isai. 64:4. Gen. 26:18. Rom. 10:20. Psal. 6:10. He had considered violence and injustice in the seat of judgment, before, chap. 3:16, and had showed the vanity of that, and yet notwithstanding that a good man should endeavor to rejoice in his labors: but when he looks on it again he finds instead of rejoicing, nothing but the tears of oppressed men, without strength in themselves, without comfort from others, which must needs render their lives very grievous and irksome to them.
{all the oppressions} It imports, either violent, or fraudulent detaining of men's goods or rights from them, Jer. 22:3. Luke 3:14, and 19:8. 1 Thess. 4:6. Jer. 5:26, 27.
{and behold the tears of such as were oppressed} The greatness of this evil is set forth, 1. By the grief of such poor oppressed persons, it squeezed forth tears out of their eyes, Lam. 1:2. 2. By their helplessness, they had no comforter: it is some ease of a man in sorrow, to see others pity him, and a great aggravation of misery to be without a comforter, when a man's adversaries are so powerful, so malicious and cruel, that others are afraid, so much as to pity him, Job 6:14, 15, and 19:21. 3. By their impotency to escape from the hand of their oppressors. So much is implied in the next words, which way ever we read them, whether so, as to repeat the negative of the former clause with the latter, which is usual, Psal. 1:5. Job 30:20, 25, and 31:20, thus, And no power from the hand of their oppressors, namely, to escape from them. They have no power but to weep, none to help themselves. Or else, as we read it, On the side of their oppressors there is power; so much as to keep others from comforting them. So the word hand, is sometimes rendered by the word side, Psal. 140:6. Prov. 8:3. The doubling of that clause, notes the sadness of their condition; as Job calls once and again for pity, Job 19:21.
V. 2. {Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead}, &c. I esteemed the dead more happy. The dead which are already dead, this is emphatical; our mortality makes us, as it were, dead while we live, much more our lusts, Matth. 8:22. Eph. 2:1. 1 Tim. 5:6. Rev. 3:1. Prov. 9:18. There are dead men that are yet living, and dead men that are already dead. Men are said to be dead likewise that are in a desperate condition, under an invincible calamity, as the Jews in Babylon, Isa. 26:19. Ezek. 37:11, 12, 13. 1 Cor. 15:31. 2 Cor. 1:9, 10. Oppression is, in the Scripture account, a killing, a devouring of poor men, eating them up, gnawing their bones, Hab. 1:13. Psal. 10:8–10, and 14:4. Zeph. 3:3. Ezek. 22:27. Mic. 3:2, 3. Psal. 8:3, 4, 5. The emphasis then of the place is thus, I esteemed those more happy who are already quite dead, than those who do thus continually die, and languish away under the cruelties of their oppressors. This may seem to be spoken after the judgment of the flesh, because grievous miseries and oppressions make men weary of their life, and choose rather to die. Death is a haven to such a soul after shipwreck; Job 3:13–16. Jon. 4:3. 1 Reg. 19:4. And indeed life being the greatest of mere outward blessings and that whereunto all the rest are ordered, Matth. 6:25, it can hardly be either rationally or piously undervalued, because of the evils which crush and lie heavy on it, or the contrary thereunto desired, save only in order to the escaping evils which are worse than death, and to obtaining of good things which are better than life. In which sense the Apostle desired to depart, that he might be with Christ, Phil. 1:23. Therefore he here speaks according to the judgment of men under oppression, and who lie groaning and sighing amidst many miseries, whose reason is darkened by the weight of their sorrows; for oppression, in this sense, makes even a wise man mad, chap. 7:7.
{more than the living who are yet alive} By the living who are yet alive, he seems to mean those poor men, who languish and pine away under their oppressions; of whom we can say only, as we do of a man ready to die; he is yet alive, his breath is not quite gone, he does live, and that is all; as Luke 10:30. He does not simply prefer death before life; but the ease and quietness of death, before the miseries, and sufferings of a dying life, Job 3:17, 18, 19.
V. 3. {Yea, better is he than both they}, &c. He speaks only according to the judgment of sense, and with relation to the greatness of outward miseries, which he, who is yet unborn, has not seen in others, or felt in himself, Job 3:10, and 40:18, 19.
{seen the evil} To see good is to enjoy it, chap. 2:24. To see evil is to have experience of it, and to suffer it; in which sense the serpent told Eve, that her eyes should be opened to know good by the loss, and evil by the danger of it, Gen. 3:5, and this kind of not being, and not having been born, though it cannot reasonably or piously be preferred before a sorrowful life, which will consist with the fear of God, yet it may, before a cursed condition, which sinks a man under the wrath of God, Matth. 26:24.
Here then we may observe, 1. The sad condition of men under the power of oppressors, when they have not so much abatement of their misery as to be pitied. 2. The cruelty of powerful oppressors, which deters others from compassioning those whom they oppress. 3. The dangerous temptation which oppression exposes men unto, even to be weary of life, as we see in the case of Job, Elijah, and others. 4. The inconvenience in cases of difficulty, which relate any way to conscience, to consult with carnal reason, which will easily lead us into extremes.
V. 4. {Again, I considered all travel and every right work} Here he proceeds to another vanity, arising out of the former of oppression and misgovernment, under which men usually are discouraged from all ingenuous and useful undertakings, from all noble enterprises of any sort, by reason of the envy and danger, which, partly, through the jealousies of superiors, partly, through the malignancy and evil eye of equals, or inferiors, they are by their eminency and industry exposed unto. By every right work, we are to understand not so much works done in integrity towards God, as the ingenious and accurate works of human issue, done by the wisdom and practic cunning of artificers in any kind; such as the wisdom of Bezaleel, Exod. 31:3, 4, and Hiram, 1 Reg. 7:14.
{that for this a man is envied of his neighbour} That the more he deserves for his industry, and ingeniousness of invention, the more he is exposed to envy and danger; envy being like those moths and cankers which usually feed on the richest garments, as we see in many examples, Gen. 4:5; Numb. 11:27–29; 1 Sam. 18:7, 8; Gen. 26:12–14, and 37:8; 1 Sam. 17:28; Dan. 6:3, 4, &c. And this is a great vanity and disappointment, when that from whence a man might have expected credit and thanks from the world, shall procure him hatred and danger, and must needs thereupon be a great disquieting of heart, and discouragement against so fruitless endeavors, Prov. 37:4; Psal. 73:12, 13.
V. 5. {The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh} This is one fruit of this danger and envy, taken up by foolish and slothful men, they refuse to take pains, and rather choose to be poor than to be envied. Here is the character of an idle person, 1. He is a fool, to make so absurd an inference, that for fear of envy and trouble, will not only neglect duty, but undo himself. 2. He foldeth his hands; puts himself into a posture of idleness, composes himself to do nothing. Labor requires the stretching forth of the hands, Prov. 31:19. Laziness wraps them up in one another, Prov. 6:9, 10, and 26:14, and 19:24. 3. He eateth his own flesh; brings himself to extreme poverty, contracts weakness in his body, enfeebles his mind, wastes his stock, consumes his family, brings the curse of beggary upon himself and his. For as the diligent hand makes rich, Prov. 13:11, so the slack hand makes poor, Prov. 10:4. He thinks it a part of wisdom to spare his pains, and sit quiet; and because he cannot attain so much dexterity and skill as another man, therefore enviously to sit down and gnaw his own flesh, either with hunger or indignation, Prov. 26:16. Whereas indeed he is a fool, (i.e.) 1. A wicked man, in neglecting the duty of labor, which he owes to himself, to his family, to his generation, and whereunto by the ordinance of God he is appointed, Gen. 3:19; Tit. 3:14; 1 Thess. 3:10, 11. 2. An absurd man, to reason himself into contempt and beggary, and to be cruel to himself, because he is fretted at other men, Prov. 11:17; Psal. 27:2. For as he had before touched the vanity which arises from others, so here that which arises from a man's own self.
V. 6. {Better is an handful with quietness, than both the hands full with travel and vexation of spirit} This may be here taken, either as Solomon's own words, and then to import a seasonable remedy against the evils here spoken of, viz. envy, idleness, and covetousness; namely, sweet contentment with a competent estate, rather than vexation with a greater, Prov. 15:16, 17, and 17:1; Psal. 37:16; Luke 12:15. Or rather as the words of the sluggard, and then they are his apology for his laziness: If he strive to excel in his profession, he shall many ways disquiet himself, he cannot do it without much travel, nor after all that travel be free from much envy and danger. And therefore he rather chooses a smaller portion, with more ease and contentment. In which, there is a great deal of false arguing; 1. It is false, when he calls his slothful and idle way of living, rest, or quietness. For true tranquility of mind is the consequent of a fruitful conversation, Psal. 119:165, bodily rest a fruit of honest labor, Psal. 127:2; Eccl. 5:12. 2. It is false, when he calls industry in a man's course of life, vexation of spirit, whereas honest labor takes off the heart from many vain thoughts and desires, which would more sorely vex it. 3. It is a great profaneness to palliate his own sin, under the name of rest and quietness of spirit, and under the protection of God's own truth to find an hiding place for his brutishness and sensuality; as Saul pretended sacrifice to excuse rebellion, 1 Sam. 15:15; 2 Sam. 15:7, 8; Prov. 7:14, 15; Hos. 12:8; 1 Reg. 21:9. 4. It is a like profaneness to give ear to the wisdom of the flesh, against the duties of our calling, and so to argue from inconveniences, which we fear, to discourage ourselves from those labors which God has promised to bless. God says to encourage us unto duty, That his light shall shine on our ways, he will comfort and bless us in them, and his Angel shall keep us in our ways, Psal. 91:11, but the sluggard says to discourage himself, There is a lion in the way, Prov. 22:13, as if lions were more terrible to affright, than Angels to protect. 5. It is a vain conceit, to think contentment is tied to a small estate, and vexation to a greater; whereas true content knows as well how to abound, as how to want, Phil. 4:11, 12, and discontent will make men as anxious, as froward, as impatient under a small estate, as craving, hoarding, coveting under a greater, Prov. 30:9; Psal. 59:15. The words of this verse are proverbial, the former part, by the word handful, expressing a little estate; as Psal. 72:16; Ezek. 13:19. The other, by hands full, a greater and more plentiful, gotten with all the strength and labor of the whole man, Mic. 7:3.
V. 7. {vanity under the sun} Another vanity, and quite contrary to the former; as fools when they avoid one extreme, fall into the other.
V. 8. {There is one alone}, &c. One, (i.e.) one by himself; as Gen. 19:9, and not a second; that is, either no companion, or member in his family to provide for, or no heir to succeed him in his estate; none for whom he can say, It is this man for whom I labor. See v. 15.
{neither child or brother} His labor is not founded in any natural love to those, for whom he is bound to provide, 1 Tim. 5:8; Gen. 47:12; Prov. 17:17, but merely on the inordinate love of riches themselves.
This covetous wretch is here described, 1. By his solitariness, he lives all alone, he cannot endure two mouths in a house.
2. By his excessive labor; there is no end of all his labor: He toils infinitely, and without measure, Isa. 2:7; Job 22:5. Some by labor, understand wealth gotten by labor. He has a vast estate, and yet is as greedy as if he had nothing.
3. By his insatiable desires, {neither is his eye satisfied with riches} He has enough for his back, his belly, his calling, the decency of his state, and condition, but he has not enough for his eye. Though he can but see it, and have no use of it, yet he is displeased that he sees no more. The eye is the instrument of coveting, 1 Joh. 2:16; Josh. 7:21; chap. 1:8, and 2:10. A covetous man, though he have as much as his eye can see, yet he would have more still, Isa. 5:8; Hab. 2:5; Prov. 30:15; Job 40:23, 24.
4. By his folly and inconsiderateness, he does not weigh with himself the absurdities of his so living, he still goes out of himself in labor after riches, but never comes to himself, to reason and argue the case, or to call himself to an account of his doings, Jer. 8:6; Luke 15:17; Psal. 4:5.
5. By his inhumanity and self-cruelty, denying those comforts to himself, which God has given him, using himself worse than God would have the ox used in the Law, Deut. 25:4. Treading out the corn, and yet muzzling himself, chap. 6:2.
6. By the groundlessness of his cruelty, He has none, while he lives, for whom he does it, and when he dies, he leaves no heir, kinsman, second, to enjoy it, but undergoes all this toil, and bereaves himself of all comfort, for he knows not whom, Psal. 39:6. The censure of all which is, that it is vanity, and a very sore and grievous affliction.
V. 9. {Two are better than one} Good more than one: so the comparative uses to be expressed; as chap. 7:1, 2, 3, 5, 8; Prov. 8:11; Hag. 2:10. Upon occasion of the solitary life of this miser, he shows the benefit of society and mutual helpfulness which thereby one man affords unto another; therefore God made woman for a companion and an helper unto man, Gen. 2:18. And Christ sent forth his disciples by two and two, Mar. 6:7; Luke 10:1, not only that they might be joint witnesses of the truth which they were to deliver, as Moses and Aaron, Joshua and Zorobabel, in reference unto whom we read of two witnesses, Rev. 11:3, 4, and in that respect the Apostle usually joins one or two more to himself in the inscription of his Epistles, as joint witnesses of the truth of the doctrine therein delivered, 1 Cor. 1:1; 2 Cor. 1:1; Phil. 1:1; Coloss. 1:1; 1 Thess. 1:1. But withal, That they might with more ease and success carry on the ministry, wherein they were employed, and help mutually to strengthen, to encourage, to comfort one the other.
{because they have a good reward for their labour} Or, a benefit mutually from each other in their labor, by counsel, by comfort, by assistance and co-operation, by supply of any want, or infirmity which may befall each other, 1 Sam. 23:16, 17; 2 Cor. 8:18, 19, 22; Act. 13:2, 5; Prov. 27:17; Act. 19:29; Phil. 4:3. They do both promote the common good, they do the more easily compass it, they do the more sweetly enjoy it. This mutual benefit is further opened in some particulars of mutual danger, mutual rest, and mutual defense.
V. 10. {If they fall} That is, if one or either of them fall, the plural is used distributively or partitively to either of the singulars: as, The wicked men they fly, Prov. 28:1, i.e. every man. She shall be saved, if they abide, 1 Tim. 2:15; i.e. if any of them abide. Falling here, may be understood in all senses, for corporal falls, into a pit, from a horse or the like. Metaphorically, if they fall into diseases, disgraces, dangers. Spiritually, into sins or errors. In any adversities, The society of friends is useful to pity, to restore, to support, to convince, to comfort. Whereas such a solitary worldling as he spoke of before, is forsaken of all, and has none to stand to him. This is sometimes the lot of the godly in trouble, but then God stands by them, Psal. 22:11; 2 Tim. 4:16, 17.
{But woe to him that is alone} Woe to him, is in the original, one word made of two; as is observed out of Kimchi. It is here an interjection of grieving, with a denouncing of some evil which is coming towards a man: It is once more used in this book, chap. 10:16, and hardly at all elsewhere in that sense. Woe to him that is alone, or, to him that One, when he falls, and there is not a second to lift him up.
V. 11. {Again, if two lie together, then they have heat}, &c. This also may be understood not only literally, as 1 Reg. 1:1, 2, but metaphorically for all kind of mutual assistance, and encouragement in any work which is to be done, Heb. 10:24; Luke 24:32.
V. 12. {And if one prevail against him} i.e. Some stranger or third person assault, and be too hard for him, that is, for one of the two, then two or three shall stand against that One, and shall be easily able to resist him. See 2 Sam. 10:11; Jer. 41:13, 14; Psal. 127:5. This is another benefit of society and friendship, aid and protection against assaults, whether outward, or spiritual in temptations from Satan. In all those, and so proportionably in all other cases; in war, in peace, in danger, in business, day and night, in the multitude of counselors there is safety, Prov. 11:14, and 14:22, provided that this society be undertaken in the fear of God, and in good and lawful things; otherwise, combinations in wickedness are cursed, Psal. 64:5, 6, 7; Psal. 83:3–9; Nahum 1:10, 12; Prov. 11:21.
{two shall withstand him} Or, stand before him with confidence and courage to help one another, standing, is a military posture, Ephes. 6:11, 13, 14; Psal. 94:16; Esther 8:11. Standing before one, as an enemy to destroy him, Rev. 12:4. Hence that expression of looking one another in the face, 2 Chron. 25:17.
{a threefold cord or a triple twisted thread, is not easily broken} A proverb setting forth the strength and benefit of concord and society.
V. 13. {Better is a poor and wise child}, &c. From this verse to the end of the chapter, Solomon proceeds to set forth the vanity of the highest and most eminent condition amongst men, namely, of kingly dignity, which he shows both in foolish and willful princes, who refuse to be counseled, and in all other, be they never so circumspect. To manifest the former, he takes first one of the most contemptible persons, one could think on, and compares him with one of the most honorable; a child to an aged man, a poor child to a potent king. Childhood is alone very contemptible, and exposed to neglect and scorn; looked on as rash, heady, unstayed, without judgment or experience; Isa. 3:4, 5; 1 Reg. 3:7; 1 Cor. 14:20; Eph. 4:14; 2 Chron. 13:7. Hereunto poverty being added, will make such an one much more neglected, Eccl. 9:15; Jam. 2:3, 6; Prov. 14:20; 1 Tim. 4:12; on the other side, old age alone is venerable, though but in an ordinary person, Lev. 19:32; Isa. 3:2, 3. Gray hairs alone are a crown, and beauty, Prov. 16:31. How much more honorable, when they are joined with a crown; yet this poor child being wise, is preferred before that aged king being foolish and intractable; as Prov. 19:1. The wisdom of such a child here, is his knowledge of God in his Word, whereby a young man is instructed how to order his ways; as that of Timothy, 2 Tim. 3:15; Psal. 119:99, 100. The foolishness of such a prince is, He knows not to be admonished; He cannot counsel himself, and he will not be counseled by others. So, not to know, does import a foolish obstinacy and impotency in the mind, a neglect of what is offered unto a man to consider of, Isa. 56:11, and 7:16, contrary to that which is called knowing, or considering in the heart, Deut. 8:5; Prov. 29:7.
Here we see, 1. That wisdom makes the meanest person honorable; makes the face shine, chap. 8:1.
2. That the fear of God teaches children wisdom, 2 Tim. 3:15; 1 Sam. 16:18, and 18:5; Psal. 119:98, 100; Dan. 1:20.
3. That intractableness of heart against counsel, is an evidence of folly. Solomon though the wisest of princes, yet had a council about him of aged and the most able men, whose counsel Rehoboam rejecting, showed his weakness, 2 Chron. 10:[verse obscured], and 13:17.
4. That old age, and power, without a corrective of wisdom, are very likely to render men willful, and opinionative; Job 32:9.
V. 14. {For out of prison he cometh to reign} Out of the house of men bound, Judg. 16:21; Gen. 40:3, 7; Isa. 14:17, from the midst of bonds and fetters. He cometh] Namely, the poor and the wise child: For these words are a confirmation of those before, from the event which happens to both; The wisdom of the child advances him from a prison, to a throne; from chains, to a crown. The obstinacy and folly of the other, hurries him from power to poverty; from honor to contempt. Out of prison he cometh to reign: i.e. from the lowest and most obscure condition, Job 5:11; Psal. 113:7, 8; Gen. 41:14, 39–44; 2 Sam. 7:8; Dan. 2:25, 48, and 3:26, 30, and 6:3.
{whereas also he that is born in his kingdom becometh poor} Or, whereas he in his kingdom is born poor, i.e. is made poor. So passing from one condition to another, is a kind of birth: but the other sense is more emphatical, he who from his childhood was a king, and in actual possession of his throne, becomes poor, Psal. 149:8; Job 12:19, 20, 21; 2 Chron. 33:11, and 36:3, 4, 6; 2 Reg. 25:6, 7; Dan. 4:30–33.
V. 15. {I considered all the living, which walk under the sun, with the second child that shall stand up in his stead} These two verses set forth another vanity attending upon kingly power, not for the fault of the person, but through the inconstant and fickle disposition of the people, who ever have, and ever will be given to changes, worship the rising sun, and grow weary of him who is likely soonest to leave them.
{all the living} That is all the present generation of men living under a present prince or government. He speaks of the generality of men, and therefore expresses them under a general notion of living men, Job 30:23; Dan. 4:17. And withal, to intimate a ground in them of what he here considered, when the father is going away, and the son ready to succeed, they think that they must live and be preserved by the living, and not by the dead, and accordingly worship him under whom they expect protection and preservation of life; for, for that end, was government instituted, 1 Tim. 2:2.
{which walk under the sun} Elsewhere, which see the sun, chap. 7:11. Another expression intimating this to be the popular humor of the generality of men or the vulgar people, who go up and down the streets; as the vulgar are distinguished from the greater and nobler sort, Jer. 5:1, 4, 5. Or walking may be joined with the following words, viz.
{with the second child} I observe that the generality of people walk with the second child, join themselves unto him, and flatter and crouch to him, forsaking in their affections and behaviors the father, because he is about to forsake them.
{which shall stand up in his stead} Namely, in the father's or predecessor's stead. By standing up, he means, rising to the throne, Dan. 11:2; they look on the predecessor as falling, sinking, lying down, stooping towards the grave, and therefore apply themselves to his heir. Whereby he notes as the unhappiness of princes, who if they live long, live to see their glory die before themselves; so the fickleness of the generality of the people, who do not honor rulers for their office sake, as they ought to do, and especially should reverence it the more, by how much the more experience they have had of happiness under it, Rom. 13:1–5; 1 Pet. 2:13, 14, 15, but honor them merely out of interest, and self-respect, not considering so much present duty, as future advantage. There is naturally in the minds of the people a weariness of being long under one prince, a querulousness and repining at every thing which pinches them, and thereupon a desire to change him for the next, not so much out of choice or assurance that he will be better, but out of natural levity and inconstancy; as sick men change beds, chambers, couches, but carry their disease with them, they love changes for the very change sake, 1 Sam. 8:5, 18, 19, 20, and 12:12, 13; 2 Sam. 15:12; 1 Reg. 2:15; 2 Sam. 20:2; Prov. 14:21.
V. 16. {There is no end of all the people}, &c. By all the people, he means the giddy and inconstant multitude, whose levity and discontent with their present estate, is the cause that they thus desire continual changes, and reject today, whom yesterday they adored. There is no end of all the people, or, to all the people] There are infinite numbers of people in every age and generation who stand thus affected: it is not a contingent or unusual thing, but very common. It is not a vanity which princes have experience of only sometimes, as in some few persons; but it is the general disease of the vulgar, to stand thus variously affected towards their princes, in all ages. So this phrase, There is no end, is used to express a great or infinite number, Isa. 2:7, supra, verse 8; Job 22:5; Nahum 3:3. Again, There is no end to all the people] The people never put an end or do a stop to this vanity, but it passes on, from one generation to another. They which went before did so, so do these now, and so will they do which follow. 3. By no end, may be meant no satisfaction to desires, no through and fixed acquiescency of heart in the people towards their princes; they will still entertain expectations of new men, and new events to satisfy their desires. So the word End, is used for that wherein the heart may acquiesce, and look no further for something else, Prov. 23:18. They do not terminate and fix their affections in one man, be he never so wise, or worthy, but grow weary of him, and join themselves unto his Successor.
{even of all those that have been before them} Namely, before the father, and the son, or successor which was second unto him. The word [before] may signify either in the presence of them, i.e. who have been officers under them, or done service, and born allegiance to them, 2 Sam. 16:19; 1 Reg. 10:8. Or else an antecedence in time unto them. They who were before them did thus languish in their affections to the father, and apply themselves unto the son.
{They also that come after shall not rejoice in him} i.e., In the son, unto whom now they seem so zealously and with so much loyalty to join themselves.
{not rejoice} That is, they will be weary of him, troubled with him, wish themselves freed from him. The verb negative by a μείωσις, seems to import the Affirmative contrary unto it, as is usual in scripture, Exod. 20:7; Prov. 17:21; Zach. 8:17; Rom. 4:19. This then is hereditary to all people; There is no End of it, they can never be settled or contented with the present estate, as they before did dislike the father in expectation of the son, so they after will cast off the son in expectation of the grandchild, and so it will be in all generations.
{this is vanity and vexation of spirit} This must needs be matter of indignation and grief to princes, to see so much falseness and inconstancy in their people, to see their honor grow old and decrepit with their bodies.
CHAPTER 5
The wise man having spoken of the vanity which attends on the very highest condition of men here below; seems here to make a kind of digression, and to go yet higher unto the consideration of that, which principally concerns man in this life, to wit, The worship of God. This is the supreme remedy of all the other vanities, and may seem here to be subjoined (as also it is in the end of the Book) to that purpose, to show that though neither knowledge, nor pleasures, nor honors, nor crowns, can make men happy, though it be beyond the sphere and activity of any creature to administer complete tranquility to the heart of a man: yet even in this life a man may be happy by worshipping of God and Communion with him. As if he should have said; We have gone through the world, and sought as high there for satisfaction, as ever any man could arrive, even to Crowns and thrones, and yet have missed of it. It remains therefore that we go higher yet, before we can be truly happy, and that is from the world to the sanctuary; from the thrones of princes, to the Throne of grace; from the creature, to God, In whose service alone there is complete felicity.
But besides this, I take it, the scope of the wise man is, by way of prolepsis or answer to a tacit objection, to discover yet a higher and a stranger vanity than any he had spoken of before, namely, vanity in the worship of God, not as it is in itself, but as it is performed by vain and foolish men. They might say, we do easily agree with you in all that you have said, we know we must look above the creatures, if ever we intend to arrive at true happiness. Therefore what pains soever we take about things under the sun, yet we seek for our happiness nowhere but in God, and in his service. Solomon now, acknowledging the truth of this in the thesis, That the worship of God is the true felicity of man in this life; does withal assure these men, that they may put vanity in the very worship of God, and render even that, by their foolish and carnal performances, wholly unprofitable to any such end: yea there may be therein divers vanities, vers. 7, for discovery and avoiding whereof, he prescribes a solemn caveat to those, who being convinced of vanity in the creatures, do go to God in his worship to mend themselves.
This is, 1. General, relating to all parts of God's worship, which is, in our approaches unto God, to look to our affections, and to prepare our hearts to meet with him, not resting in outward sacrifices, which are but the oblations of fools, who think they do well, when in truth they do the contrary, vers. 1.
2. Particular, in some species of worship; 1. In hearing, which he says must be done with readiness, with a docile and tractable spirit, yielding up itself to the whole counsel of God, vers. 1. 2. In prayer and speaking unto God, where is first condemned a double vanity; Rashness of tongue, hastiness of heart, both enforced by consideration of God's greatness, and of our own vileness, vers. 2. Secondly, prescribed fewness of words, without vain and unnecessary babbling, and that because of God's Majesty, and the folly of so doing, vers. 3.
3. In vows, which being once made, are to be performed, and that cheerfully, without grudging or delay, which doctrine he does, 1. prove, 2. vindicate from shiftings and excuses. He proves it, 1. By the folly of the contrary course, it argues a levity of spirit to dally, and to be off and on with God, who as he is constant himself in all his promises, so he expects constancy from us in all ours. 2. By God's dislike of such folly and falseness, vers. 4.
Next he vindicates it from a double excuse which men are apt to make: 1. It was free for me to vow; the thing was in my own power, therefore it is not so heinous a thing though I do fail, because I was not bound to what I vowed till I had vowed it. This he answers, That it had been better to have kept this liberty still, and not to have vowed, than after vows to resume liberty when it is too late, vers. 5.
2. But I was mistaken, there was an error in my vow. To this he gives a double answer, and sets it on with weighty considerations: First, Look well before you vow, that you do not bring a bond of sin upon yourself: Suffer not thy mouth to cause thee to sin. Secondly, take heed of pretending error and oversight, out of unwillingness to do what you have promised: Say not that it was an error. For consider, 1. You are in the presence of the Angel. 2. You provoke God's anger. 3. The damage which by that anger you will suffer, he will destroy the work of thine hands, disappoint you in that benefit, the preservation whereof you did aim at in excusing your vow. 4. The folly of such vain excuses. There is a vanity in all parts of worship, when undertaken by fools, or wicked men; the fool's sacrifice, vers. 1. The fool's voice, vers. 3. The fool's vow, vers. 4. Divers vanities in all this, vers. 7.
Now having showed the vanities in the carnal performance of Divine worship, he does (as he had done formerly in the other vanities which he spoke of before) prescribe a remedy of this also, viz. The inward principle of all right and spiritual worship which is to fear God, vers. 7.
And because it might be objected, That piety itself is not likely to secure a man's tranquility and peace, inasmuch as we find poor and righteous men everywhere, all a province over, oppressed and persecuted by great men in high place: he removes this objection, 1. By showing the compassion of God and his justice, He sees and regards it. 2. The greatness and power of God, that he is higher than any of those that oppress his servants, vers. 8.
Now he proceeds to another vanity, which is in riches and outward possessions. They are of two sorts; 1. Substantial and real wealth, in the profits and fruits of the earth, corn, cattle, &c. 2. Instrumental, in that which is by men's agreement made a measure to other wealth, viz. silver and gold. Concerning both which he shows, 1. The excellency of the former, in regard of real and general profit, before the latter, vers. 9. 2. The vanity both of the one and the other, when, 1. Inordinately loved. 2. Immoderately increased.
This vanity is showed, 1. Absolutely, in that the inordinate love of them is unsatisfiable, vers. 10, and that troubles and cares are proportionably increased in the increase of them, vers. 11.
2. Comparatively, and that, 1. In respect of any real benefit and good in the fruition of them. The owner has no more true profit by them, (further than that he looks on them as his own) than any of his friends and servants, who are fed and clothed by them as well as he: only his cares are increased. 2. In respect of consequent rest and quietness, The servant's heart is less troubled, his body more refreshed, than the owner's, vers. 12. 3. In regard of the evil effects of riches:
1. The damage and hurt which sometimes a man lays up with them against himself, vers. 13.
2. The uncertainty of their abode with a man; having hurt the owners, they perish themselves, vers. 14.
3. The certainty of parting with them; they must die, they cannot carry one handful away with them, vers. 15, 16.
4. The sordid and uncomfortable use of them, vers. 17.
5. Impatiency and fretfulness in parting with them, or in getting of them, vers. 17.
Lastly, he gives the remedy of this vanity and vexation, in the right use of riches, viz. In a free and cheerful enjoyment of them: which is here commended, 1. By its goodness to the owners. 2. By its comeliness and commendableness towards others. 3. By its equity, It is the fruit of a man's own labor, and provided for his own life. 4. The end of it, and his right to it, It is His portion, all that he is ever like to get by it, vers. 18. 5. The Author of it; it is a special gift of God. 1. To give riches. 2. To give an heart to enjoy them, vers. 19. 6. Freedom thereby from the trouble of all his labors, when himself tastes the fruit of them, and has experience of God's special blessing, in answering the desires of his heart, and causing him comfortably to enjoy them, vers. 20.
Verse 1. {Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God} He had gone up and down the world, from learning to pleasures, from pleasures to honors, from honors to thrones, to find out happiness, and had met with nothing but vanity. Now he sends us to a fitter place to find it; The house of God, whether his Temple, or other Synagogues where God is present with those that serve him; here they shall find remedies against the vanity of other things, and that which will stay and fix their hearts, Psal. 73:16, 17; Psal. 4:6, 7. Only we must take heed of putting vanity into God's worship, lest we be there disappointed of our aims, as well as elsewhere. This caveat he gives us in those words, Keep thy foot] Or, each foot. The letters are plural, the points direct to read it in the singular number. So foot, for feet, Psal. 119:105. This enallage of numbers is very usual, the singular for the plural; as Psalm 14:1, The fool hath said, &c. They, i.e. fools are corrupt. In that day a man shall cast away his idols which they have made, Esay 2:20.
{Keep thy foot} Seriously advise how you are to behave yourself in God's presence, look to your heart and affections, let your heart be fixed, your affections composed, your thoughts ordered, call all that is within you together to serve him, Psal. 57:7, and 103:1. A metaphor from men that walk in dangerous ways, who take heed to their steps lest they stumble and fall: or rather an allusion to the speech of God to Moses, Exod. 3:5. So Exod. 19:21; Josh. 5:15. As Mephibosheth dressed his feet when he went to David, 2 Sam. 19:24. So they used washings and purifyings before they came into God's presence, Exod. 19:14, 15; Numb. 8:7; Psal. 26:6; Heb. 10:22; Lev. 19:30, and 16:2, 3; Gen. 28:16, 17; Exod. 40:32.
{and be more ready to hear, than to offer the sacrifice of fools} Or, Draw near to hear, rather than with, or as fools, to offer a sacrifice, who think to be accepted for their outward work. The infinitive used for the imperative, as Exod. 20:8; Matth. 5:39; Luke 22:42. Or we may read it in the infinitive, thus, for to draw near to hear, i.e. to bring before God an obedient heart, is better than when fools do give a sacrifice. Or, than to give a sacrifice of fools, or as fools. He does not forbid or condemn sacrifices, but he prefers obedience, and shows the vanity and folly of those who are very forward in the outward acts of religion, without the love and service of the heart, 1 Sam. 15:22; Hos. 6:6; Isa. 1:11–18; Amos 5:21, 22, 23, 24; Psal. 50:7–17, and 51:16, 17; Isa. 66:2, 3; Prov. 15:8, 21, 27.
{be more ready} The word is, Draw near to Hear. It is a word very frequently used in Scripture, to express our addressing ourselves unto the solemn service and worship of God, Levit. 9:8; 1 Sam. 14:36; 2 Reg. 16:12; Psal. 73:28; Isa. 58:2; Ezek. 44:15, 16; Matth. 15:8, whereunto there is a frequent allusion in the New Testament, Ephes. 2:18; Heb. 4:16, and 7:25, and 10:1, 21, and 11:6. It imports a serious composing of our hearts, in an humble, reverend, and holy manner to appear before God, and to have a comfortable access unto the Throne of grace, Lev. 10:3; Heb. 12:28, 29.
{to hear} Whereas there are two parts of worship, sacrifice and obedience, be you most careful of this, which is the spiritual and inward part of service rather than of that which fools, hypocrites, wicked men can offer as well as you. Be ready to receive instruction, and to accept of what God says, Psalm 85:8; Job 34:32; 1 Sam. 3:10; Acts 9:6, and 10:33; James 1:19. Be ready to obey and give up your will to every one of God's holy Commandments, Psal. 119:128.
{than to offer the sacrifice of fools} Than as fools, (i.e.) wicked men do, to offer up sacrifice, and neglect obedience, Mic. 6:6, 7, 8.
{for they consider not, know not, that they do evil} Some would have the word, But, to be supplied, they know not, But to do evil: They can only do evil, even when they worship God; as Isa. 1:6. See chap. 2:24. Others thus, non attendunt ad facere malum, vel ad stultitiam: which is to the sense of our version. They are here called fools, and that is further expressed, by want of knowledge: They know not, and that does further appear by doing of evil, Isa. 1:3, 4; Jer. 8:9. The most natural sense is, as we render it, They know not that they do evil: when they do evil, they consider it not, they understand it not: the like phrase, 1 John 2:6, 9, ὁ λέγων μένειν, ὁ λέγων ἐν τῷ φωτὶ εἶναι. He that saith to abide, (i.) that he abideth. He that saith, to be in the light, (i.) that he is in the light. So here, They know not to do evil, (i.) that they are doing of evil. And hereby is meant by an auxesis, they think they do very good service: So when the Lord is said not to command a thing, the meaning is, that he does forbid it, Lev. 10:1. He will not hold them guiltless that take his Name in vain, (i.) he will hold them very guilty, Exod. 20:7. He will withhold no good thing from them that walk upright, (i.) He will largely supply them, Psalm 84:12. He will not break a bruised reed, (i.) he will bind them up and strengthen them, Isa. 42:3. Abraham was not weak in faith, (i.) he was strong, Rom. 4:19. Men may think they do God good service, when they do greatly offend him, Isa. 66:5; Prov. 14:22; Isa. 58:2, 3; Hos. 8:2, 3; Joh. 16:2; Acts 26:9.
These things are here observable; 1. That in God's worship we do in a special manner draw nigh unto him.
2. That when we do so, we ought to prepare and compose our hearts and affections by faith and humility to appear before God.
3. That a prepared heart brings purposes of obedience, and to hear God in all that he shall say unto it.
4. That mere outward service without the heart prepared obediently to serve the Lord, is but a sacrifice of fools, a mere formal and ceremonial worship.
5. That hypocrites may think they please God when indeed they provoke him, and know not that they do evil, John 4:22.
V. 2. {Be not rash with thy mouth} Having spoken in general of the due preparation of the heart unto God's service, he now gives direction in the particulars of prayer and vows.
{be not rash} Go not about God's worship, as men that, in a fright or terror, being amazed, fly hastily they know not whither. Do not precipitate your words, nor speak any thing hastily, unadvisedly, according to the dictate of carnal and hasty desires, before God, or in his house and presence. We know not what to ask as we ought, Rom. 8:26, and are very apt to put our greedy and sudden passions into prayers, complaints, deprecations, to think God deals not well with us, if we be not answered according to our wills, and in our own time, Psalm 31:22, and 116:11; Job 10:2, 3, 18; Jer. 15:18; Jon. 4:2, 3; Matth. 20:20, 21; Psal. 77:7–10.
{and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God} Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, Matth. 12:34. Therefore the remedy of rashness in our words, is to compose our thoughts and affections aright; to let our heart guide our tongue, not to bring raw, tumultuary, indigested thoughts into God's presence, but to get a collected heart, to pray with understanding, with spirit, with judgment, and according to God's will; as David found his heart to pray to God, 2 Sam. 7:27, and called together his scattered affections, that he might fix them upon God, Psalm 103:1; Dan. 9:2, 3; Rom. 8:26, 27; 1 Cor. 14:15; 1 John 5:14.
We may likewise understand the caveat, as directed against that carnal pride and contradiction of spirit, whereby the heart is apt to rise against God and his Word, when we hear of more spiritual service required by God, than our foolish sacrifices do amount unto, or our carnal hearts are able to perform, James 1:19, 20; Rom. 10:21; Acts 13:45, and 28:19.
{before the Lord} That is, in his house or sanctuary. Therefore they who sin here, are said to provoke the Lord to his very face, and to do evil before his eyes, Isa. 65:3, and 66:3, 4.
{for God is in heaven, and thou on the earth} These are two arguments to enforce this caveat upon us; the one drawn from God's greatness, the other from our vileness. Mean persons behave themselves with all humility and reverence, when they supplicate unto men of honor and eminency. Much more should men do so unto God. So Christ teaches us in prayer to come unto God, as with confidence and comfort, because he is a Father; so with reverence and fear, because he is a Father in Heaven, Matth. 6:9. His being in heaven denotes, 1. His dominion over us as Lord and Master, Eph. 6:9. 2. His glory and majesty above us, 1 Reg. 8:27, that we might learn to fear before him, Mal. 1:6; Deut. 28:58; Heb. 12:18, 19. 3. His holiness and purity, Deut. 26:15; Isa. 57:15, and 63:15. Hereby to raise us unto heavenly mindedness in our approaches unto him, Col. 3:1, 2; Lam. 3:40, 41. 4. His power to answer us, and to do for us according to our desires, 2 Chron. 20:6, 7; Psalm 115:3; Matth. 5:45, and 7:11. 5. His omniscience, he looks down on us, and sees how we behave ourselves in his presence, Matth. 6:32; Psalm 11:4, and 33:13, 14. 6. His justice and displeasure against evil doers, Psalm 14:2, 3; Rom. 1:18. In all which respects, we ought to take heed of an hasty, rash, and unadvised frame of heart in God's presence. Man's being on earth, signifies his baseness and vile condition, his great distance from God, and by reason of corruption, in his great dissimilitude unto him. He is of the earth, earthly, 1 Cor. 15:47; Psalm 10:18. This consideration of our natural and sinful vileness, should greatly humble us in our approaches unto God, Job 4:19, and 25:4, 5, 6, and 40:4; Gen. 18:17; Isaiah 6:5.
{therefore let thy words be few} First, use not rash and vain babbling, and empty, heartless repetitions as the heathen, Matth. 6:7, but weigh and choose out words to speak unto him, Job 9:14; Eccles. 12:10. He speaks not against all length in prayer: for Christ prayed whole nights; nor against all repetition, when it proceeds from zeal, love, and holy fervency; as that of Daniel, chap. 9:16, 18, 19, but of that which is a clamorous and vain ingeminating of the same thing without faith or wisdom, 1 Reg. 18:26. Secondly, let thy words be few, (i.) Let not your vows be more, than you may comfortably perform.
V. 3. {For a dream cometh through the multitude of business, and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words} (i.e.) As multitude of business produces dreams, so multitude of words discovers folly. When two sentences are connected together by a copula, there is frequently imported a similitude between them; Prov. 17:3, and 25:23, 25, 26, 27, and 26:3, 7, 9; 11:14, 17, 20, 21; Isa. 53:7. Another argument moving unto the former duty, because, as certainly as much business produces dreams, so much speech discovers folly within, Prov. 10:19; Eccles. 10:11–14; James 3:2.
V. 4. {When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it} He gives direction in the other particular, wherein men use to address themselves unto God, viz. vows; and as he did in the former forbid rash hastiness: so he does in this, warn to take heed of grudging delays. A vow is a solemn promise, or promissory oath made unto God, wherein a man does voluntarily bind himself unto something, which was in his own power to bind himself unto. He does not direct us here to make such a vow, but having made it, to take heed of breaking faith and promise with God, who never fails in any promise of his unto us, Josh. 21:45, nor delays to perform it in its time, Exod. 12:41, 51; Hab. 2:3; 2 Pet. 3:9. This then is the first rule concerning vows, That lawful vows must be speedily and cheerfully performed, Psalm 66:13, 14, and 76:11; Numb. 30:2; Deut. 23:21; Isa. 19:21; Matth. 5:33. God would not have an alteration in a vow though it were for the better, Lev. 27:10. Thus Hanna made haste to perform her vow in dedicating her child unto God, as soon as he was weaned, 1 Sam. 1:11, 24, 28. God calls on Jacob, and minds him of his vow made before, and expected that he should go to Bethel, and pay it as he had promised, Gen. 35:1, compared with Gen. 28:20, 22.
{for he hath no pleasure in fools} He is greatly displeased with those who go about one while to flatter him in making a vow, and afterwards to mock him in refusing or delaying to perform it, Prov. 20:25. This is one reason, drawn from the folly in offending God; whereunto there is another adjoined.
V. 5. {Better it is that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay} It was arbitrary, and in our own power to make the vow, for vows were to be of things in a man's power, Numb. 30:3–15; Deut. 23:22; Acts 5:4. But it is not in our power, whether being made, we will pay it or no, for we bring a bond upon our souls, and the vows of God will be upon us, Psal. 56:12.
V. 6. {Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin} These words contain the second rule concerning vows, which is to teach us to avoid all rash vows which are unadvisedly made, and that is done two ways; 1. When we vow things sinful, when our mouth causes us to sin. 2. When in lawful things we vow, and presently repent, seeking after shifts and evasions to elude the obligation, and to excuse ourselves. Suffer not thy mouth, by making an hasty vow, to cause thy flesh] That is, your tongue, or yourself to sin. Flesh is taken by synecdoche, for the whole man, Gen. 6:12; Isa. 40:5; Rom. 3:20. It may seem here to be used for the whole man, to intimate, that rash vows are usually grounded upon fleshly, rather than spiritual reasons. A man did not go about them with his soul and spirit, upon solemn and serious grounds, but to gratify himself in some carnal interest or other, or to carry on some sinful end, Act. 23:12, 13; Mal. 1:14; 2 Sa. 15:8, 9; Pro. 7:14. A like expression, Ec. 11:10.
{neither say thou before the Angel} By the Angel some do understand the Priest, or messenger of the Lord towards the people; so they are called, Job 33:23; Mal. 2:7; Rev. 1:20, for in the case of an oath, wherein there was error or ignorance, the person was to bring a sacrifice, and the Priest was to make an atonement for him, Lev. 5:4, 5, 6. And then the meaning is, Do not when you have vowed, repent and grudge, and go to the Priest, acknowledging an error or ignorance, that so you may save charges, and lick yourself whole, by offering a sacrifice to excuse a vow. Others understand the Angels of heaven, who are sent forth for the good of the Elect, and who observe our behavior in God's worship; as that in the Apostle uses to be understood, 1 Cor. 11:10; Matth. 18:10; Luk. 12:8; 1 Tim. 5:21. The Greek reads it, πρὸ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ, Before God; it may happily be meant of the Temple or house of God, where they did pay their vows, Psal. 66:13, wherein there were Cherubims drawn, in token of the presence of the Angels, and their protection to the Church, 1 Reg. 6:29, 32. Others understand it of Christ, who is the searcher of hearts and will not be mocked, cannot be deceived; who is the Angel of the Covenant, and who is in the midst of his people, his Candlesticks, when they come to worship, Exod. 23:20, 21, called the presence of God, Exodus 33:14; Mal. 3:1; Isay 63:9; Joh. 12:41. It seems to me to have some allusion to the history of Balaam, who when the Angel stood in the way against him, made such an excuse as this, It was an error, I knew not that thou stoodst against me, if it displease thee, I will go back, Numbers 22:34.
{that it was an error} That is, either do not vow so rashly and unadvisedly, as to be at last brought to a necessity of confessing a sinful error, but advise beforehand that you may not err. Such a rash vow was that of Jephthah, Judges 11:30, 31, 35, and that other of Saul, 1 Sam. 14:24, 29, 39, 40. Or else, do not excuse yourself for breaking your vow, by saying, you did it imprudently, and were mistaken in it, it was an ignorance which you are willing, by some sacrifice, or other way of devotion to expiate; as sacrifices were to be offered for the ignorances of the people, Levit. 2:27; Num. 15:24, 25; Heb. 9:7. Do not cover a willful prevarication with a specious pretense, nor after vows make inquiry, Prov. 20:25.
{wherefore should God be angry at thy voice?} The word signifies foaming anger; Why should he through anger foam against you? An interrogation of dehorting. As, Why will ye die, (i.e.) Be careful that you may not die. This is one reason God will be angry. Another, You shall feel his anger, he will destroy the work of thy hand. He will not bless those endeavors, for the accomplishing whereof you did make that vow; you destroy the vow, he will destroy your work, Deut. 28:15, &c. The third follows.
V. 7. {For in the multitude of dreams, and many words, there are many vanities: but fear thou God} Or, In multitude of dreams there are also vanities: and so in many words. Or, As in multitude of dreams, so also of words there are divers vanities. Some take ברב not for a noun, but for the infinitive mood of the verb; and render it thus, Quia sicut in multiplicare, or, quando multiplicantur somnia, etiam vanitates multiplicantur: sic se habent verba multa. As when the dreams are multiplied, vanities also are multiplied, so it is in many words. In all, the sense is the same. Mercer, a most learned Interpreter, makes the connection and sense to be thus, I have given you these cautions, to be tender of your behavior in the presence of God, that you may not by dreams, fancies, vanities, or multitude of difficult business, be brought to utter any thing rashly before God, but amidst all dangers or dreams or vanities, or difficulties to fear God, and not to suffer yourself to be withdrawn from him by any temptations. But the words seem to prescribe the same remedy against rash vows, as before against other hasty addresses unto God, verse 3. There is a πολυσύνδετον in the conjunction copulative, as elsewhere, Gen. 43:8, and 25:34. The plural vanities, is as much, as plurima vanitas, great vanity, or many vanities; as Prov. 1:20, Wisdoms, (i.) principal or excellent wisdom; Isa. 64:6, Our righteousnesses (i.) most righteous actions; Gen. 19:11, Blindness, (i.) thick and through blindness; Psal. 45:15, With gladnesses, (i.) with great gladness; 2 Pet. 3:11, What manner of persons ought we to be in holy conversations and godlinesses, (i.) In all manner of holy conversation and godliness; Cant. 5:16, His palate is sweetness, and he is altogether, or every whit of him is desires, (i.) Most sweet, and most desirable; Dan. 9:23, A man of desires, (i.) Greatly desired or beloved; Isay 53:3, A man of sorrows, (i.) Full of sorrows.
{but fear thou God} This is the remedy of all vanities in worship, to serve God rather with inward reverence and fear, than with rash, hasty, many, formal, empty expressions. The fear of God is the foundation of all holy duties, chap. 12:13; Isay 29:13; Deut. 28:58; Mal. 1:6; Heb. 12:28, 29.
V. 8. {If thou seest the oppression of the poor and violent}, &c. The connection of these words, with the former, stands thus: The fear of God does many times expose men unto injury and violence, and that everywhere, all a province and country over, and that not only from ordinary persons but from great men, and that without remedy; because if haply they have recourse unto judgment and justice for ease, even they find wresting, perverting, distorting of justice: So that a man's tranquility in this life, may seem to be but little mended by piety and fear of God, whereby he is in danger of being reduced to poverty and distress. This is a stumbling block, which may cause men to be offended at the ways of God, Matth. 11:5, 6, and 13:21; Gal. 5:11, and good men have stumbled at it, Psal. 73:12, 13. Against this temptation, he here subjoins a seasonable antidote; they should not be much amazed at it, but rather comfort themselves, that there lies an appeal to an higher Court, where they shall certainly be righted, and their innocency vindicated. If you see the oppression of the poor, and that such oppression, as that you have no remedy against it, but it is powerful enough to wry and pervert judgment: And yet further, no escape from it, but it meets with you all the Nation or province over. If you see a poor man that fears God, not only suffer under the meanness of his condition, but under fraud, calumny, violence, wherever he goes; as Ezek. 18:12, 18; Job 20:19; Micah 3:2; Job 24:2–12, and 19:7, 8; Psalm 74:20; Jer. 6:6, 7, and 20:8; Ezek. 8:17.
{marvel not at the matter} Be not amazed or astonished at it: so much the word imports, Isay 13:8; Job 26:11. Think it not a strange thing, 1 Pet. 4:12. Do not think hardly of God, nor distrust his providence, or grow weary of his service. What wonder at all is it to see power crush poverty; or wickedness suppress piety? Psalm 37:8, 9.
{at the matter} Or at the will or purpose, to wit, of God, in suffering, and ordering this thing: for these things happen not without his appointment and providence, Hab. 1:12; Isay 10:5; Psalm 17:13.
{for he that is higher than the highest regardeth, and there be higher than they} Higher, viz. God, who is higher: the relative without the antecedent, which is very usual: or, The High from above; The High regards it. It seems to be a vehement and emphatical anadiplosis: the same word is used so from above, Gen. 27:39, and 49:25. This kind of elegant and emphatical repetition is frequent in the Scripture, Psalm 22:1; Jer. 7:4, and 22:29; Ezek. 21:27; 2 Sam. 18:33; 1 Reg. 18:39; Judges 5:30; Psalm 98:4, 5, 6, and 124:1, 2; Hos. 2:2; Dan. 10:19. And according to this sense, God is said in a way of judgment to look down from heaven upon the violence of great men, and to speak from thence in his wrath unto them, Psalm 2:4, 5, and 11:4, 5, 6; Exod. 2:23, 24; 1 Sam. 9:16; Psalm 93:4. Or, He that is higher than the High, God, who is the High above all the earth, the High and mighty One, above the potentates of the world who are called High ones, Isa. 24:21; Isay 2:11, 12; 2 Sam. 23:1. He that is King of kings, and Lord of lords, Higher than the kings of the earth, Psal. 89:27.
{regardeth} Observes the violence of proud men to avenge it. Or keeps the poor who are oppressed by them, Isay 3:14; Prov. 22:22, 23; Psalm 10:12–18, and 11:5, and 68:5, and 72:14.
{and there be higher than they} Namely, The Holy Angels who are sent forth for the good of the Church, Heb. 1:14, who pitch their tents about believers, and are guardians over them, Psalm 34:7, and 91:11, who behold the face of God, as Ministers ready to execute his commands in behalf of them, Matth. 18:10, whose service God is pleased to use in the punishment of tyrants, and subversion of States, Isay 37:36; Acts 12:23.
V. 9. {Moreover, the profit of the earth is for all} Here he returns to consider the vanity of all kind of riches; amongst which, though some are to be preferred before others, as namely, corn and cattle which are the profits of the earth, yet both the one and the other, are unable to make the possessors of them happy. Yet withal, the words may seem to have some relation to what went before, namely, That God in his providence has so ordered things in the civil body, that the Head cannot say to the Foot, I have no need of thee: the king himself wants the help, and cannot subsist without the labor of poor men, and that may be a check unto oppression and violence.
{the profit of the earth is for all} Or, above all other profit. He commends husbandry, consisting in tillage and grazing, above all other ways of gain, as extending to the necessary supply of all men whatsoever; for bread is the staff of life, Isay 3:1; Gen. 41:55; Prov. 24:7, and 27:23, 24, and 31:16. Adam, even in innocence was to have dressed the earth, Gen. 2:15. There is an excellency or profit of the earth, in, or above all. The substantive is put for an adjective of the superlative degree; as Gen. 12:2; Psalm 21:7; Psalm 88:9; Cant. 5:16.
{the king himself is served by the field} Or, the king himself is for the field: or the king is served for the field's sake, that under him men may quietly labor and eat the fruits of the earth; or the king himself dresses his field, is as it were a servant to his field to order and husband it. It lies on him to take care of husbandry, that he and his people may be nourished. The most simple meaning is to show, that from the meanest to the greatest, the fruits of the earth are necessary for every man's supportance. Therefore Joseph reserved the fifth of the fruits of the Earth for Pharaoh, Gen. 47:24, and it is recorded for the commendation of King Uzziah, that he was a lover of husbandry, 2 Chron. 26:10.
V. 10. {He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase} This may be understood, either absolutely by itself, to set forth the unsatiable greediness of covetous wretches, whose desires are like the grave and never say, It is enough, Hab. 2:5, 6, 8, 9; Isa. 5:8. Or comparatively, with relation to what was said before. There is a profit and real benefit which the earth brings unto those that labor about it, but money though a man increase it never so much, and though it appear never so lovely unto him, yet it cannot of itself satisfy any desire of nature; if a man be hungry, it cannot feed him; if naked, it cannot clothe him; if cold, it cannot warm him; if sick, it cannot recover him. As it is an instrument of traffic, which answers unto All things, Eccles. 10:19. So it may be a defense to a man, chap. 7:12, and may provide other things for him. But if God should withhold the fruits of the earth, and forbid that to bring them forth, abundance of wealth would be as useless as so many stones: a man has no good of money, nor of other trades, further than they purchase or manage for us the fruits of the earth.
The latter clause some thus render, He that loveth it, shall not have it increased, or in the abundance thereof. Increase here, is a word which signifies the increase of the earth, such fruits as may be eaten: and money is not fructus edulis, though it come out of the earth. But the prefix ב set before the word Abundance, being sometimes a note of the accusative case, and expressing the object of an action, we may well render it as it is in our version; He that loveth abundance; as Gen. 34:1, and 37:2; Prov. 9:5. Multitude or abundance, here, is taken in the same kind, for gathered wealth; as Psalm 37:16.
V. 11. {When goods increase, they are increased that eat them} He showed the vanity of the love of money; here he shows the vanity of husbandry and great possessions: or else goes on upon occasion of the last words, he that loveth abundance, shall not be satisfied with increase; because as his wealth increases his charge and family, and friends, and retinue will increase likewise. The possessor can have no more real good nor satisfaction from his great estate, than his servants have; many hands must be set on work, and consequently many bellies filled, many backs clothed, and all they have their real share as fully, as he himself in the things which he possesses: no man had greater experience of this than Solomon, of whose numerous family, and large expense, we read, 1 Reg. 4:22, 26. So we read of the great family of Abraham, Gen. 14:14.
{and what good, or what profit is there to the owners thereof} Chap. 1:3, and 2:14, and 3:9.
{saving the beholding of them with their eyes} He has no advantage above others, save that he sees them eat that, the property whereof is his: and this is some good; for it is a more blessed thing to give, than to receive, Acts 20:35. Or, he can only please himself with looking on his land and moneys as his own, whereas the real benefit which they yield, does accrue unto others, as well as to himself. And if his eye have any advantage above his servants in this respect; Theirs have an advantage above his in another; for, they are refreshed with sweet sleep, which his are usually deprived of.
V. 12. {The sleep of a labouring man} Or, of a servant, or of him that tills the ground, or is conversant about any painful trade and work, Genesis 4:2; 2 Samuel 9:10; Proverbs 12:11; Isay 19:9.
{is sweet} Whether he eat little or much: If he eat little, his labor causes sweet sleep; If much, his healthiness and strength causing good concoction, does not suffer his sleep to be disquieted with crude and offensive vapors. Besides labor taking up the mind does free it from those careful thoughts and covetings which are usually the hinderers of sweet sleep.
{but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep} This may be understood either of abundance of wealth, with the many cares, businesses, fears, troubles, which are consequent thereupon, Gen. 41:29; Prov. 3:10; Luke 12:16, 17. Or of the fulness of diet, gluttony and excess of delicious fare, which causes distempers, and so hinders sleep. This seems rather to be intended, (because he mentioned eating before) and so to be directed against rich gluttons, who spend their time in riot, feasting and excess, and so overcharge nature with intemperance, beyond its strength, Luke 16:19, and 21:34, which causes indigestion and malignant vapors, whereby sleep is removed or disquieted, Eccles. 8:16; Prov. 4:16, 17, and this is a great vexation; for sweet sleep is a blessing of God to man, Psal. 127:2; Prov. 3:24.
V. 13. {There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun} An evil that causes sickness, a very grievous and bitter evil. Or an evil falling on men, chap. 6:2.
{riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt} Prov. 1:19. Either being unto them occasions of sin, and fuel of lust, causing pride, vanity, oppression, violence, gaming, gluttony, idleness, excess, Hab. 2:9, 10; Luke 12:15–21; 1 Tim. 6:9, 10; Luke 16:19; Deut. 6:11, 12, and 8:10–12; Prov. 30:9; Jam. 2:6, 7, and 5:3–6. Or else exposing them unto envy and danger, to rapine and violence, Prov. 13:8; 2 Reg. 25:6, 7, 9, 12.
V. 14. {But those riches perish by evil travel} Or, with much affliction. Either by their own improvidence, imprudence, luxury, &c. Or by the fraud, circumvention and violence of others, or by casualties and miscarriages in trading: or by some secret blast and curse from God, Prov. 23:5, and that after much travel and toil to get them, after much solicitude and anxious care to keep them, after much providence and tenderness towards his children to lay up for them.
{he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand} Or in his power and possession, Dan. 2:38; John 3:35; 1 Reg. 20:6; 1 Chron. 29:12. his hand, (i.) either the father's, to leave unto the son, or the son's to inherit after his father.
V. 15. {As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came} Though he could secure all his wealth from perishing, yet he himself must leave them, and go out of the world as naked as he came into it. And that which has no power to free us from death, to comfort us in death, to go with us into another world after death, is no foundation of happiness or solid tranquility, Job 1:21; Psal. 49:17; 1 Tim. 6:7; Luke 12:20, 21.
{to go} (i.) To die, chap. 6:4; Job 16:22; Psal. 39:13; Phil. 1:23. Return, viz. to the womb of the common mother, the earth, Job 1:21; Eccles. 12:7.
{and shall take nothing of his labour} That is, of his estate gotten by hard labor, chap. 2:19; Prov. 5:10; Deut. 28:33, which he may carry away, or cause to go along with him, in his hand. He cannot carry so much as one handful of all that he has with him.
V. 16. {And this also is a sore evil} As before verse 13. That though his riches haply are not kept for his hurt; nor do not perish in his time, yet they will not at all keep him from death, nor profit him in it. Riches will not profit in the day of wrath.
{that in all points as he came, so shall he go} His death and his birth are over against one another in an exact proportion.
{and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind?} For that which will not stay, which cannot be held fast, which is emptiness and very vanity. So words of wind, are empty and vain words, Job 16:3. A man walking in wind, that is, a lying Prophet, Mic. 2:11. So to reap a whirlwind, Hos. 8:7, to fill the belly with the east wind, Job 15:2, to inherit wind, Prov. 11:29, to bring forth wind, Isa. 26:18. To feed upon wind, Hos. 12:1. To speak into the air, 1 Cor. 14:9. To beat the air, 1 Cor. 9:26. Are expressions of very vain and fruitless enterprises. Here money is compared to wind; The one has wings to fly away with, Prov. 23:5, so has the other; Psal. 104:3. The one cannot be held, Prov. 30:4, neither can the other, 1 Cor. 7:31.
V. 17. {All his days also he eateth in darkness, and hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness} Or, according to the words in their order thus, Also all his days he eateth in darkness, and much sorrow, and his sickness, and wrath. A further vanity of riches in the hands of a covetous worldling, he denies himself a full, free, and comfortable enjoyment of outward things, he cannot unbend himself from his carking cares, even when he goes to eat, but as he gets, so he uses and enjoys his wealth in darkness, i.e. (for the words following are exegetical) in sorrow, and wrath, even unto very sickness.
{All his days he eateth in darkness} It may be understood either literally, that he does so lengthen out his labor, and grudge to spare himself any times even of necessary refreshment that he defers eating till it be dark, till he can work no longer. Or rather metaphorically, he eats without any pleasure, and with much trouble and anxiety of mind; so much darkness commonly imports, Isa. 49:9, 10, and 50:10; Mic. 7:8.
{and hath much sorrow} Or, indignation. The word in some copies (as the learned observe) is read with the points of a noun; in others, of a verb; and so they render it, multum irascitur, or indignatur, he is very angry, or he sorrows much, and has sickness, and wrath. The meaning (as I conceive) is he eateth in darkness, basely, and wretchedly, as a slave to his riches, he storms, grieves, frets, is even sick with anger and vexation, at the expenses he is put unto in keeping but a mean and a sordid table. The Greek by a very easy mistake in the letters which are much alike, read it thus, All his days he is in darkness, καὶ ἐν πένθει, and in mourning and in sorrow and in sickness and in wrath. His sickness, for he has sickness. The affix is used for the separate and absolute pronoun; as Psalm 115:7; Ezek. 29:3. Our reading, He hath sorrow and wrath with his sickness, (where the conjunction copulative is rendered by the preposition, [with] as sometimes elsewhere, 1 Sam. 14:18) seems to intimate such a sense as this, All his days, or while he lives, he eats in sorrow, and when he falls sick, and is in danger of death, he has much wrath and indignation in his sickness, for fear of parting from his wealth, which he so dearly loves, and has so hardly labored for.
V. 18. {Behold, that which I have seen, It is good and comely}, &c. Here is subjoined a remedy of this vanity, setting forth the right use of riches, to take away all this sinful anxiety which is conversant about them; which is, in the fear of God comfortably to enjoy his good blessings without afflicting ourselves for the future, but casting our cares upon him, who cares for us.
{that which I have seen, is this} He speaks out of experience, and upon exact study and inquiry after the truth; as 1 Joh. 1:1, 3; John 1:14; chap. 1:13, and 2:24, and 3:22.
{It is good and comely} Good and comfortable to a man himself. Comely, decent, honorable, and of good report toward others. Or, there is a good which is also comely. Or, it is good, yea, it is comely. Or, Behold, I have seen that which is good, that which is comely. The like manner of expression, 1 Sam. 15:20; Psalm 10:6. Teaching us in our conversation, 1. To look unto that which is good in itself, and then to that which is decent towards the world, Phil. 4:8.
{that a man eat and drink, and enjoy good of all his labour} Or, in all his labors, to sweeten his labors with a comfortable fruition of the fruit of them. Of all his labors; So the preposition ב is used, to signify as much as Ex or De, Exod. 12:43; Leviticus 22:4.
{all the days of his life which God giveth him} When God gives life, we should not deny the comforts of it to ourselves.
{for it is his portion} All the good he can ever have from them: A metaphor from division of heritances; or from distribution of meat at a feast. It is that which God has allotted him of all his labor. But withal he must remember, that God allows him but a part; God himself, and the poor, and his family, country, friends, challenge part likewise in those goods, wherewith God has blessed him, Prov. 3:8; 1 Cor. 9:13, 14; 1 Cor. 16:2; Gal. 6:6, 10; 2 Cor. 12:14; 1 Tim. 5:8; Isa. 23:18.
V. 19. {Every man also to whom God hath given}, &c. Here is only a further insisting on the same argument; as chap. 2:4, and 13:3, and 6:2. He shows, 1. That God gives us our wealth, Deut. 8:18. 2. That he gives us dominion over our wealth, that we may not be captivated unto it; every man is a slave to his estate further than God sets them free. 3. Wherein this power stands; 1. In using it, to eat thereof. 2. In using it proportionably to his condition; or as Divines speak, Secundum decentiam status, to take his portion. 3. To use it with fruition and cheerfulness, to rejoice in it, 1 Tim. 6:17. 4. Not to let his joy swallow up his duty, nor his delight his labor, but to sweeten his labor with joy, and to moderate his joy with labor, Eph. 4:28. 5. To use and to enjoy his own, the fruit of his own labor, not to be burdensome or injurious unto others, 2 Thess. 3:12.
V. 20. {For he shall not much remember the days of his life} Some make the sense to be thus; Although he give not much, or although it be not much which God has given, (which sense the distinguishing accent does somewhat favor) yet he shall remember, that all his life long, God sweetens that little unto him with the joy of his heart: And a little with joy and cheerfulness, and God's blessing, is better than much riches of the ungodly, Psal. 37:16; Prov. 17:1; Luke 12:15; Prov. 15:17; Dan. 1:15. But our translation prefers another sense, which seems most consonant to the drift of the place. He that in this manner, does cheerfully enjoy the blessings which God gives him, shall not, with much sorrow or weariness, remember the troubles of his life; neither shall his labor be very irksome or grievous unto him, because the Lord does answer him, or does proportionably unto his labors, return comfort to him in the joy of his heart, in the joyful and contented fruition of them.
{because God answereth him in the joy of his heart} Answers all his labor with joy, gives him such joy of heart, as is a full compensation for all his labor. As money is said to answer unto all things, in a proportionable value to them all, Eccl. 10:19, so shall his joy bear a full value to all the labor which was taken for it. Other expositions there are, but this is most genuine and natural.
CHAPTER 6
In this chapter is continued a further description of the common vanity of riches, in the hands of a covetous person. He is here set forth,
First, by the good things which he has; 1. Riches in abundance, riches and wealth. 2. Honor, and both to the uttermost of his desires, verse 2. 3. Many children. 4. Many years, a great old age, verse 3, 6.
Secondly, By his misery, which makes all that vain unto him. 1. God gives him not power to enjoy it. 2. A stranger eats it. 3. His soul is not filled with good. 4. He has no burial, verse 2, 3.
Thirdly, the censure of all this. 1. Absolutely, 2. Comparatively. Absolutely; It is first, an evil, secondly, a common evil; thirdly, a vanity; fourthly, a disease, verse 1, 2. Comparatively, an untimely birth, or abortive is better: For, 1. He is born dead, and so free from sense of miseries, which the other discruciated himself withal. 2. He departs in darkness without the loss of light and comfort, which the other denies unto himself. 3. His name is covered in darkness, the other's name is odious, vers. 4. 4. He has not seen the sun, nor known any thing: the other has indeed seen the sun, but has seen no good, nor known any thing but sorrow and vexation, and at last goes to the same place, vers. 5, 6. This vanity he further opens:
First, By the narrow use of riches, and all the labor conversant about them; it terminates in the body; it cannot satiate the mind or appetite; that is, If evil and covetous, insatiable; if wise and prudent, above satisfaction by these things, vers. 7. That they cannot satisfy the mind, appears, because then wise men might find out some more good in them than fools; but the wisest can have no more out of them, than for their mouths, and so have fools, and the poorest men that know how to live, as well as the richest, vers. 8.
Secondly, by the vanity of wandering and endless desires; the wise, the foolish, the rich, the poor have things present and necessary, so long as they live they have enough to that use; and this is a real fruit, much better, than to let the heart wander and weary itself in endless desires, v. 9.
Thirdly, By the impossibility of mending a man's condition by these things, or of raising him above the state of mortality and infirmity. A man will be but a man how rich soever he be, and all his wealth will not guard him against the evils incident to humanity, verse 10. He will be still never the better, by such things, as do but increase vanity, verse 11.
Fourthly, By the ignorance of man to make the best use of things and to resolve himself, whether a great or a moderate estate be better for him; especially, considering the shortness of his life, and the ignorance of what will become of his estate or family after he is gone, vers. 12. Thus we may connect the two last verses, with the argument of those before: or rather we may take them for a general conclusion of all the precedent vanities; since so many things there are which increase vanity, what is man the better for them? vers. 11. For first, amongst them all, he can hardly know what is good for himself. 2. If he do, he can enjoy that good but a little while, his very life (the best outward blessing he has) is vain, and but a shadow. 3. When his life is over, he shall be never the better for any thing which comes after him. 4. Neither can he please himself with the foresight of what shall be after him; because he cannot tell it to himself, neither can any man else declare it to him.
Verse 1. {There is an evil which I have seen under the sun} He shows the misery of a discontented covetous disposition, and that it is a special gift of God to bestow upon a man the sweet enjoyment of outward blessings, which when he has, he is apt enough to deny unto himself.
{and is common amongst men} Or, much and great. Covetousness is both a great sin, and yet a very usual and frequent sin, that is to be met with, in all parts of the habitable world, wherever the sun rises and sets. The commonness of sin, does not at all extenuate the greatness of it, but rather aggravate the same, Psal. 14:2, 3; Jer. 5:1, 5.
V. 2. {A man to whom God hath given}, &c. There is a man, who has all things that heart can desire; not only riches, but substance of all sorts, lands, movables, with honor and great place, 2 Chron. 1:11, 12.
{so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth} He is, not defective, nor destitute of any thing which his soul can wish for; his substance extends to all just and large desires; it cannot be exhausted or worn out, Deut. 8:9; Isa. 51:14; 1 Reg. 17:16. He speaks not of the boundless desires of covetous men, which are never satisfied, but of the just desires, which a man of dignity and honor could have, in order to the decency of his estate, and to the quality of his place. He cannot rationally wish for any thing towards the satisfaction of his just desires, which his estate will not plentifully afford him, Psal. 73:7; Luk. 12:17, 18; Job 21:7–13; Psal. 17:14. All this a covetous wretch is said to have from God not in a way of blessing, as if God did prosper and approve of his sordid, or sinful ways of gain; but in a way only of providence, his sun shining on the just and unjust, Matth. 5:45.
{yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof} Chap. 5:18, 19. To eat of them, imports a moderate and prudent use of them, for necessity and delight, taking a man's own portion; that is a special curse and judgment of God, when a man has not an heart to enjoy the blessings which God bestows on him: as the contrary is a blessing from God, ch. 5:19.
{but a stranger eateth them} One that is in no relation of nearness, blood, friendship to him: or an enemy, who spoils and plunders him of them. This is noted as a great affliction, Hos. 7:9; Deut. 28:33; Isa. 1:7; Lam. 5:2; Jer. 5:17. Here the learned observe a difference between a man's own use of his goods and a stranger's; for he himself does but eat of them; but a stranger eats them. The former notes care, moderation, providence: The latter cruelty and devouring without pity, without measure.
{this is a vanity and an evil disease} Not only a fruitless thing, but a very grievous trouble, when a man by sordid thoughts, baseness of spirit, unquiet and incessant cares, greedy desires, distrustful jealousies, anxious fears, thronging employments, keeps himself from taking any delight in his abundance, and pierces himself through with divers sorrows, 1 Tim. 6:10.
V. 3. {If a man beget an hundred children} He spoke before of one who had none to succeed him in his estate, but a stranger; here, he shows the misery of a covetous person to be as great though he have many children, and live many years. These be great blessings in themselves, Psalm 127:3, 4, 5, therefore children were called the glory of their Parents, Hos. 9:11; Job 5:25, 26; Psal. 21:5, and 128:6. But covetousness takes away the comfort of them.
{an hundred children} Very many; a certain number for an uncertain; as 1 Cor. 14:19; Prov. 17:10; 1 Sam. 18:7.
{many years so that the days of his years be many} He seems, speaking of long life, to correct himself, and call it rather, many days, than many years: so Gen. 47:9.
{and his soul be not filled with good} Or, satisfied with good. Either in regard of his own insatiable desires, or of some curse of God, mixing bitterness therewith, as chap. 5:10; Job 9:25. By his soul, is meant τὸ ἐπιθυμητικόν, his appetite and desires; as Gen. 34:8; 1 Sam. 20:4; Psal. 103:6. Others, understand this of the vanity of children and old age without riches, when a man is so poor, that he has nothing to satisfy nature while he lives, and cannot leave enough to bury him when he is dead. Which sense is touched at in the Contents of the chapter, in our English Bibles.
{and also that he have no burial} Either through cruelty of murderers and spoilers, or through neglect of heirs and successors, who deny him an honorable interment. It is a part of human misery to be without burial, Deut. 28:26; 1 Reg. 14:11, 13; 2 Reg. 9:37; Isaiah 14:20; Jerem. 8:2, and 16:4, and 22:19; 2 Chron. 21:19.
{I say, that an untimely birth is better than he} In regard of outward respects, never to have felt good or evil, not to be born at all, or to be born and die at once, than to live long in misery, and then die without love or honor from any. Hereby is noted the base condition of such a person, who is worse than an untimely birth, which has not had the ordinary comfort of the meanest living creatures, to see the sun, Job 3:10, 11, 12, 16; Psal. 58:8.
V. 4. {For he cometh in with vanity} (i.) He is born, Job 21; Joh. 1:9. To no purpose. That which never comes to perfection, but melts and vanishes away as soon as it is born, is born in vain.
{and departeth in darkness} Or, into darkness, or obscurely without any notice. A periphrasis of death, Eccles. 11:8.
{his name shall be covered with darkness} (i.) Shall utterly be forgotten; there shall never be any mention of him.
V. 5. {hath not seen the sun} Job 3:16. Has not felt any worldly delight, and therefore is not affected with the loss of it.
{nor known} Has had no life, either of sense or reason, and so cannot compare the evil of loss with the good of fruition.
{this hath more rest than the other} For he rests immediately from the womb, whereas a covetous man lives a toilsome and unquiet life, and then parts with all, unwillingly, into the condition of the abortive.
V. 6. {Yea though he live a thousand years twice told} Whereas it might be objected, that the one has lived a long life, and that alone is a blessing; and therefore in that respect, he is to be preferred before an untimely birth. He answered, that long life, without seeing good, does but lengthen out misery; It is not the life, but the good, which makes a solid difference, Psal. 34:12, else the evil of the day, Matth. 6:34, makes day and life itself undesirable, Job 3:20–23; 7:1, 2.
{Do not all go to one place?} As well he that lives longest, as he that never saw the sun: and though one never saw the sun, yet if the other never saw good, but only wearies himself with sorrows and vanities, and goes to the same dust, what difference is there between them?
V. 7. {All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled} For his mouth, For his bodily substance, and the services of life. Here is first a metonymy of the subject, the mouth for the nourishment which is put into it: and then a synecdoche, of the part for the whole; food being, though the principal, yet but one part of man's necessary provision; all which the Apostle comprises in food and raiment, 1 Tim. 6:3. All the real fruit which any man can reap of all his worldly labors, is to have his daily bread, the bread of his allowance, or food convenient for him, Prov. 30:8. Things simply necessary for life, and things secondarily necessary for the decency of his condition, and proportion of his quality and degree in the world.
{yet the appetite is not filled} (i.) Either the covetous desires of a worldling remain still insatiable, he is not contented with his own portion, he cannot contain his heart within the limits of reason or religion; but though he have abundantly sufficient for all his wants, yet he toils still as if he had nothing, ch. 4:8. Or else, the soul is not filled; riches may benefit the body, and feed, and clothe, and comfort that, but to the nobler part of man, they can afford no satisfaction, they do not bear any proportion at all. They cannot hold the soul, Luke 12:19, 20. They cannot help the soul in the day of trouble, Prov. 11:4; Zeph. 1:18. They cannot follow it into another world, Psal. 49:17. They have no suitableness, either in excellency or in duration unto it.
V. 8. {For what hath the wise more than the fool}, &c. This question is a denial, The wise man has nothing more than the fool. Internal excellency there is in wisdom above folly, chap. 2:13. But here he speaks with relation to wealth, and the outward events of things, in which regard the wise man has no peculiar prerogative above the fool. The one fares as deliciously, is clothed as richly, has lands and revenues left him by his ancestors, as well as the other. The wisest man can but provide for back and belly, and such other conveniences, as outward things are proper to supply, and so much may he do, who has wealth without wit: Outward things promiscuously happen unto all, and beyond their own use, they are not able to supply a wise man more than a fool.
{what hath the poor which knoweth to walk, before the living?} A poor man that lives has the substantial benefit of outward things, as well as the richest or the wisest. What has he less than the rich? he knows how to get his living, and walk through his short time of life, as well as the other. Or, what has the poor wise man, who by his industry and prudent conversing amongst men does maintain himself, more than the poor foolish man, who makes a shift to live as well as the other?
{to walk before the living} That is to live decently and discreetly amongst men, chapter 4:15; Isaiah 42:5; Psalm 56:13; chap. 7:12.
V. 9. {Better is the sight of the eyes, than the wandering of the desire} By the sight of the eyes, he means things present, and in possession, which we have before us, in our eye, and in hand: by the wandering or walking of the soul, he means an insatiable and endless pursuit of the heart after things which we have not, and cannot easily overtake. So sight is opposed by the Apostle to faith, Because sight looks on things in possession; Faith, on things in expectation, 2 Cor. 5:7, and so property or possession is before called the seeing of things with the eye, Eccles. 5:11, and on the other side, unsatisfied desires are expressed by wandering of the heart up and down, Isaiah 57:10; Jer. 2:25, and 14:10, when the mind is not stayed and fixed with contentment in its present condition, but like a bee flying from flower to flower, from creature to creature, to gather more. This then is the plain meaning of these words, It is better for a man quietly and contentedly to enjoy the things which he has in present possession, than to rove up and down, and weary himself with anxious and unsatisfied desires after things which he has not: since the poor man has as much the substantial and principal benefit of outward things, as the rich, namely life and health, and food convenient: since the wisest man that is, can fetch no more real good out of wealth, than fools themselves do enjoy from it, it is much more comfortable to enjoy what we have, than endlessly to weary ourselves in hoarding and hunting after more, Matth. 6:25–31. This is the same in sense with that, chap. 4:6, but spoken here by Solomon as a remedy against covetous desires; there, by the sluggard, an apology for his laziness. Though some would have it here understood in the person of a covetous rich man. As if he would answer Solomon's question, what good has one more than another, the wise than the fools, the rich than the poor? yes says the covetous rich man, he has an estate to look on, the other is continually vexed with want and desires, and it is much better to be in possession of a good estate, than to languish under poverty; and be ever in a craving condition. But the former sense is more genuine.
{This also is vanity and vexation of spirit} That is, in the latter sense It is a vain and troublesome thing to possess good things only to look on them, and not to use them. Or rather in the former sense The wandering of the soul up and down after new gain, and denying itself the comfortable fruition of present contentments, is vanity, because much can do a man no more real good, than a little cheerfully used: and vexation of spirit because insatiable desires do bring perpetual disquiet upon the heart of a man.
V. 10. {That which hath been, is named already} He shows the vanity of wandering desires, and greedy endeavors after greater things than God has yet afforded a man: for whatever things have been or are, whether a man be rich or poor, noble or base, his condition comes not unto him by chance, but is preassigned him, in the purpose and decree of God, and therefore much better it is for him, contentedly to enjoy what God gives, than with a vain and ineffectual ambition, to strive for things without his reach. Especially since no things acquirable by human industry, can exempt or protect a man from the evils, or common miseries, which mankind is exposed unto. Let one grow as rich, as potent, as honorable as the world can make him, A man he was before, and he will be but a man still, from earth he came, and to earth he will go, he lies under a decree of mortality and infirmity, which by the help of no worldly wealth or grandeur, he is able to break through.
{That which hath been The name of it is called already} That is, Its state, quality, order, condition, every thing belonging to the nature and being of it; every thing externally happening unto it, is all preordained in the counsel and decree of God; He by his immutable and irresistible providence has assigned unto every one his order, and does by his wisdom dispose of all things belonging unto men; they are under his care and allowance, and therefore ought not anxiously and solicitously to insist upon provisions for the future: but rather comfortably to enjoy things present, and in a conscionable discharge of duty, to wait for a like blessing and providence of God for hereafter, as ever before they have had experience of, Psalm 33:11, 13, 14, 15; 1 Sam. 2:7, 8; Acts 2:23, and 4:28.
{and it is known that it is man} Be his wealth or honors what they will, yet a frail, mortal, mutable, earthly creature he is still, as he was before. And though men have been so demented with worldly greatness, as to take divine honor to themselves, and to think themselves lawless, and exempted from the bonds of other men, yet it is known and visible, that they remain men still, and so God will at last make them known to themselves, Psal. 9:20; Ezek. 28:6, 9; Isa. 2:22, and 31:3.
{neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he} He cannot implead God, nor enter an action or suit in judgment with him, he cannot call him to an account, or judge him; he may not think by contending with God, to alter or break through the order of his providence or decrees, Isa. 45:9; Job 9:2, 3, 12; Jer. 50:44; Job 4:17; Rom. 9:20; Psal. 51:4; 1 Cor. 10:22; Ezek. 22:14; Psal. 33:10, 11; Job 34:23.
V. 11. {Seeing there be many things which increase vanity, what is man the better?} This is commonly understood as a further argument against insatiable desires of wealth, because where there are many of them, their increase does but increase vanity; that is the usual concomitant of great abundance, more cares, more distractions, more fears, more troubles and employments come along with them, and yet man is not a whit better than he was before; he was fed and clothed then, and he is no more now. Can he carry any of them away with him? can he find out any more excellency in them? will there any real advantage remain unto him more than his own portion, and comfortable accommodations by them? But I rather conceive these words to be a solemn conclusion of all the former discoveries of vanity in the creatures, and repetition of what he gave summarily before, chap. 1:3. It was there laid down as the proposition which he undertook to demonstrate, and having demonstrated it, it is here in the close of the whole discourse resumed again, and the whole drawn together in one brief recapitulation; seeing there are thus many things, wisdom, folly, pleasures, honors, crowns, riches, that increase vanity, what is man the better in regard of solid happiness and contentment for any, or for all of them?
V. 12. {For who knoweth what is good for man in this life?} Amongst such variety of things under the sun which the heart of man is apt to be drawn unto, neither he himself nor any other is able certainly to inform him, which of all those is best for him to enjoy and reap comfort from. Whether it be better for him to be rich or poor, in a high or low condition, in a private retirement, or in public service, some men's greatness has undone them, other men's meanness has secured them, 2 Reg. 25:9, 12. Some men had not been so wicked, if they had not been so learned; others had not been so vicious, if great wealth had not excited and been fuel to feed their lusts. Achitophel might have lived longer with less wisdom, and Nabal with less wealth. No man can tell whether that which he snatches at, as the silly fish, with most greediness, and greatest expectation of contentment from it, may be tempered with poison, or have a hook under it, and so be the occasion of his greater misery, Rom. 1:22; 2 Pet. 2:18, 19; Rom. 6:21; Prov. 1:13, 18, 19.
{All the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow} If he do by chance, rather than by election, happen upon that way and course which was best for him: yet his very life, the best of all outward blessings, is itself but a very vanity and shadow. It is but a very little while before he must part with it, and all those comforts which rendered it peaceable and cheerful to him. A very elegant description of the shortness of man's life, all the number of the days of the life of his vanity, which he spends as a shadow: 1. He calls them days, not years. 2. Days that may be numbered, which likewise intimates fewness of them, as Job 16:22; Isa. 10:19; Psal. 105:12; Num. 9:20. 3. A life of vanity; a very vain life. The substantive for the adjective; as Psal. 31:3, and 68:31; Psal. 140:12; Rom. 7:24; Ephes. 4:24; Phil. 3:21. 4. A life spent like a shadow that has little of substance while it lasts, and does presently vanish away, Psal. 39:6, and 144:4; Job 14:2; Jam. 4:14; Job 8:9.
{for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?} As a man can have little satisfaction by outward good things here in his own sight and lifetime: so can he promise himself as little in name or family, when he is gone; because he can by no means foresee or foreknow future and contingent events, chapter 2:18, 19.
CHAPTER 7
The wise man having set forth many vanities of this life, and the great disappointment which men meet with, who seek for happiness and satisfaction from them, and thereupon the vexation which naturally arises from such a disappointment: and having interwoven some general remedies against these vanities, namely, the fear and worship of God, and the cheerful enjoyment of outward blessings: He here proceeds to many other particular means of healing the vanities of this life, and procuring tranquility and peace to the mind of man in the midst of them. Such are, 1. A good name, verse 1. 2. A composed preparedness of mind to entertain death, the chiefest outward evil, and consequently to bear any other sorrow, verse 2, 3, 6. 3. Moderation and patience of spirit to bear with present evils, and to digest injuries, expecting the end and issue which God will give, verse 7–10. 4. Wisdom to defend a man's self against the vanity of riches, verse 11, 12. 5. Acquiescency in the government of all things by the wise providence of God, verse 13, 15. 6. Contentation of heart in all estates, as well adversity as prosperity, considering God's wise and just attempering of them together for our good, verse 14. 7. Prudent and pious moderation of our behavior, so as that we may not by rash zeal, or inordinate walking, expose ourselves to danger and trouble, verse 16, 17. 8. Resolution and constancy in the fear of God, verse 18. 9. Wisdom of meekness, charity, and patience toward such as offend, considering the gene[ral] frailty of human nature, and the experience and sense of our own weakness, verse 19–22. 10. Contentment with such a measure of wisdom as is in this life attainable, and not to busy and disquiet our thoughts with things which are above us, verse 23, 24. Now as before in the handling of human vanities he did occasionally intermix some remedies thereof: so here in handling the remedies of it, and the means to obtain tranquility of mind, he does here and there intermix some other vanities, which are great occasions of vexation and unquietness of the heart of man: one principal one, whereof he had very sad experience, he does here subjoin, namely, the bitterness of an ensnaring woman, verse 25–29.
Verse 1. {A good name is better than precious ointment} Or, A name is good before good ointment. A name, for, a good name, as a wife, for, a good wife, Prov. 18:22. By a good name, understand that which has its foundation in an innocent, unblamable and profitable life, when a man has reverence in the conscience of others, 2 Cor. 4:2, for the name of the wicked will rot, Prov. 10:7. So to be a man of name, is meant an eminent person, renowned in his generation, Gen. 6:4; 1 Chron. 5:24, and names of men, Rev. 11:8, and 3:4, may seem to note special persons of honor and renown.
{better than sweet ointment} So the name of Christ which signifies his gracious doctrine, Acts 9:14, is compared unto sweet ointment, Cant. 1:3, called the sweet savor of Christ, 2 Cor. 2:14, 15. Precious aromatical ointments were things greatly in use and esteem amongst the Israelites, and a special part of their treasures: appointed by God to anoint the holy vessels of the Tabernacle, Exod. 30:22–33, used in the consecration of persons to offices of honor and eminency, Exod. 28:41; 1 Sam. 16:13; Psal. 89:20, called therefore the oil of gladness, Heb. 1:9; Isa. 61:3, used likewise in feasts, great entertainments and expressions of joy, Amos 6:6; Esther 2:12; Psal. 23:5; Luke 7:46. Reckoned amongst the special blessings of God, and treasures of that people, Psalm 92:10; Job 29:6; Deut. 33:24; Prov. 21:20; Isaiah 39:2, whence some would have it here taken synecdochically to signify all kind of riches, before which Solomon does here prefer a good name; as also Prov. 22:1.
{and the day of death, than the day of one's birth} Some understand here a note of similitude to join the two clauses together, As a good name is better than sweet ointment, so is the day of death than the day of birth. Others repeat the former clause in the latter unto such a man who has a good name, better is the day of death, than of birth. And the clauses seem to have cognation with one another: for the day of birth is a time of festivity and rejoicing, and accordingly used to be celebrated, Gen. 40:20; Mark 6:21, 22, in which kind of solemnities, they used to anoint themselves with sweet ointments: as on the other side, in days of sorrow, they abstained from them, 2 Sam. 14:2; Dan. 10:23. On the other side, The day of death removes a man wholly out of this world, and leaves nothing of him behind, but only his name and memory, which the Lord threatened wicked men to blot out, and cause it to rot, Deut. 29:20, and 32:26; Prov. 10:7; Job 18:17. But the name of good men remains behind them, as the sweet savor of a precious perfume, when the substance of the perfume itself is consumed with fire: or as spices when they are broken and dissolved, leave an excellent scent behind. And so the meaning is, That although the day of birth be a day of feasting and joy, and the day of death a day of sorrow and mourning: yet unto a good man this is much better than the other, and the memorial which he leaves behind him, is much sweeter than that of spices or perfumes. If we take the latter clause alone, without connection to the former, then they relate unto the many vanities and vexations which the life of man is exposed unto; in which consideration, That day which delivers a man from them, is better than that day which lets him into the possession of them: for man is born unto much trouble and sorrow, Job 5:7, and 14:1, but a godly man's death puts a period to all his sins, to all his sorrows, Rom. 7:24; Rev. 14:13; 2 Cor. 5:6, 7, 8; Phil. 1:23.
V. 2. {It is better to go to the house of mourning}, &c. As to a good man, the day of his death is better than the day of his birth, because it puts an end unto all those sorrows and vanities which he was born unto: so for those that remain alive, it is better to go to a funeral, the house of mourning, than to a feast, or a birthday solemnity, the house of jollity and rejoicing.
{for that is the end of all men} Or, in the which is the end of all men. In which house of sorrow, a man is minded of the common end of all men. A man sees his own end in the end of another man, and is admonished of his frailty and mortality, for it is the way of the whole earth, Josh. 23:14; Heb. 9:27.
{and the living will lay it to heart} Or, will put it up, and fasten it to his heart: will be seriously and sadly affected with it, and have deep impressions thereby made upon his spirit, of the greatness and power of God, who draws away our breath, and we perish, Psal. 104:29, and of his own vanity and baseness, even in his best estate, Psal. 39:5. Putting in the heart, notes diligent attendance on a thing, σὺ δ᾽ ἐνὶ φρεσὶ βάλλεο σῇσιν, Deut. 11:18; Isa. 42:25; Luke 21:14, whereas feasting and jollity is very likely to draw off the heart from the remembrance of God, Job 1:5; Deut. 8:12–14; Isa. 22:13; Amos 6:3–6; Deut. 32:15; Isa. 5:11, 12.
V. 3. {Sorrow is better than laughter} That sorrow which arises from the meditation of death, a sad, a sober, and composed temper of spirit, whereby a man is rendered capable of instruction, and sensible of serious things which concern his peace, is better, and does a man much more good, than laughter and the jollity which belongs unto feastings. The word signifies anger, and so by some is the sense rendered, that charitable and wholesome anger which reproves men for their faults, and so makes them sorrowful, is better than the flattery of Parasites, which feed their foolish lusts with laughter and vain mirth; and so to tend unto virtue.
{for by the sadness of the countenance} Heb. by the illness or badness of the countenance, Neh. 2:2, badness of the heart, 1 Sam. 17:28. The heart is made better. Vain lusts and foolish, exorbitant light affections are checked and suppressed, as the outward man is grieved, the inward man is amended, Prov. 20:34; 1 Cor. 4:16, and 7:9, 10, whereas on the other side, empty mirth does dissolve the heart, and let it out unto more vanity, chap. 2:2, 3; Hos. 4:11; Esth. 1:10; 1 Sam. 25:36.
V. 4. {The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning} He proves sorrow to be better, wholesomer for the soul than laughter, by the judgment and choice of wise men, and of fools. That which wise men prefer, is indeed better than that which fools make choice of: but wise men prefer spectacles, places, occasions of sorrow; fools make choice of the contrary: ergo that is better than this. Wise men consider the end of things; and choose the most proper means unto the best ends: whereas fools look only on things present and before their eyes. By the house of mourning, we understand any place or object which occasions mourning; so the grave is called domus seculi, the house of ages, or man's long home, Eccles. 12:5. So, a trench is called a house of measures, 1 Reg. 18:32; Isaiah 3:21.
{The heart of the wise} When his body is elsewhere, yet his thoughts and heart are thinking on the evil day, which wicked men thrust far from them, Amos 6:3. So Job in prosperity did with a religious fear forecast evil, Job 3:25; Neh. 2:2–5; Psal. 137:6.
{but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth} Though he may by poverty, business, or many other divisions be absent in his body, yet his good will, he would have his share in every merry meeting; his heart is upon pleasures, and his love runs wholly that way, so that he is amazed and overwhelmed through unpreparedness of heart when any sudden evil overtakes him, 1 Pet. 4:3, 4; 2 Pet. 2:13, 14. Houses of joy we read of, Esay 32:13. Here then we are taught to moderate ourselves in regard of outward pleasures, because love of them is the character of a fool, and of an heart estranged from God, Job 21:12, 13; Prov. 21:17; 1 Cor. 7:30; 1 John 2:15, 16.
V. 5. {It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools} He instances in another cause of sorrow, namely, the rebukes of wise and good men, which though they may sad the heart of man for the present; yet they are much more wholesome and beneficial, than the songs and flatteries of ungodly Parasites, which soothe men in their sins, and feed the flame of their lusts and corruptions. It is better to hear, (i.) patiently, and obediently to listen to the counsel and reproof of a prudent friend who does seasonably and faithfully discover his errors to him, than that a man should hear the song of fools, Prov. 13:18, and 15:31, 32, and 27:6; Psalm 141:5. It is a token of a wise and teachable disposition, to receive with meekness the words of reproof, as David did, not only from Nathan a Prophet, 1 Sam. 12:7–13, but from Abigail a woman, 1 Sam. 25:32, 33; Heb. 13:22; Prov. 9:9, and 17:10. By the song of fools, understand any flattering speeches, or any merry and pleasant discourses being a synecdoche, whereby all kind of jests, and bewitching pleasures are signified, Isa. 24:8, 9; Gen. 31:27.
V. 6. {For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool} The voice of thorns, so the noise of chariots, is called the voice of chariots; and the noise that fire makes in stubble is called the voice of a flame, Joel 2:5; Ezek. 1:24. Fools are elegantly compared unto thorns, they are burdens to the place they live in, Gen. 3:17, 18. They are intractable, he must be fenced which touches them, 2 Sam. 23:6, 7. They are unprofitable, good for nothing but the fire, Heb. 6:8. The laughter of these fools, that is, all those flatteries, jests, vain, and frothy discourses, mimical and apish practices, whereby they beget laughter, and feed the delights of vain men like themselves are compared to the noise of thorns burning under a pot; as these make a sudden blaze, and a great noise but do no good; presently go out, and the meat is left as raw as when it was put in; in stipulis magnus sine viribus ignis incassum furit: whereas a solemn fire in coals or great wood, boils the meat without any such noise: so the effuse mirth and jollity of fools, (i.) of wicked men, though it may seem to promise more pleasure and content, than the more sad and severe conversation of serious men; yet this does suddenly vanish without leaving any solid joy behind it; whereas the reproof of wise men sinks down into the heart, and helps to work out the scum and vanity which lay within it, Psalm 58:9, and 118:12, and as the crackling of thorns to the ear: so the laughter and vain mirth of fools to the heart of a wise man is wholly offensive and unsavory. Hereby seems likewise to be noted the aptness of a vain man to be caught with every light and empty pleasure; as fire does suddenly take in thorns, and passes through them, Exod. 22:6.
V. 7. {Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad}, &c. This may be understood two different ways. 1. That even wise men when they see innocence oppressed, and violence prevail instead of justice, or when they themselves are unrighteously oppressed, are hereby much shaken and discomposed, tempted to passion and indignation against so great disorder, Psalm 73:2, 3, 8, 13, 21; Prov. 23:17; Hab. 1:2, 3, 13, 14; 2 Sam. 16:9, and then the latter clause is thus to be taken, and it, namely oppression, destroys the heart of a gift, (i.) an heart endowed and adorned with excellent gifts from above; which sense the Chaldee Paraphrase favors: and many times, when two substantives come together, the latter is taken adjectively, as Psalm 5:6, a man of blood, (i.) a bloody man. Psalm 140:11, A man of tongue, (i.) an evil speaker. Luke 4:22, words of grace (i.) gracious words. Ephes. 4:24, holiness of truth, (i.) true holiness: and in this sense likewise does the Septuagint, and the vulgar Latin render this clause, ἀπολύει τὴν καρδίαν εὐγενείας αὐτοῦ, Perdet Robur Cordis Ejus. So by Cor muneris, they understand Cor munificum & liberale.
2. Oppression, (i.) wealth gotten by oppression, makes a wise man mad. When a wise man turns oppressor, and sees bribes and gifts come in apace he becomes mad in greediness to get more, or mad in violence against his poor neighbors, or mad in his understanding; his eye is blinded, his heart is infatuated and besotted, he is bereft of his wonted wisdom, ruining his family when he thinks to raise and to establish it: and so gifts do destroy his heart, (i.) his understanding, Hos. 4:11; Deut. 16:19; Exod. 23:8. Either sense will consist well with the scope of the wise man in the whole context, which is to persuade unto patience against fretfulness, when oppressors grow rich, and run madding after gain, and to direct them to wait quietly and observe the end of such men, (as David also directs, Psalm 37:37, 38, and 73:17) and not to break forth into anger and madness at the present disorder which we conceive to be in these things.
V. 8. {Better is the end of a thing, than the beginning}, &c. This maxim holds in many things. The beginnings are difficult and painful, the end fruitful, and rewards those pains; as in the studies of learning, in the ways of virtue, in the bearing of afflictions, &c., Heb. 12:11. On the other side, the beginnings of vice seem sweet and pleasant, but they end in bitterness, like the roll that was sweet in the mouth, but bitter in the belly, Rev. 10:9, 10; 2 Sam. 2:16. So in the business, a man may suddenly enterprise some great work, and glory in the conceit of his abilities, who after comes off with shame, and is not able to finish it, for want of wisdom to forecast events, Luke 13:28–32; 1 Reg. 20:11. Perseverance is that which crowns and honors an enterprise, Matth. 10:22; Heb. 3:6; Rev. 2:26. Many begin in the Spirit, who end in the flesh, Gal. 3:3. They use to say of the Devil, that he cannot change his feet. He can begin like a Saint, and transform himself into an angel of light: but he will still end like himself. But though this be applicable many ways, yet here the scope of the wise man is to arm us with moderation of spirit against the present and prevailing oppressions which we meet with. Although you see much violence, and do yourself suffer much evil thereby, yet do not despond, nor give over waiting upon God, do not look only on the present face of things: but patiently expect what issue he will give; go on in his way, be not dismayed nor affrighted from any good purpose, many times the end is comfortable, when the beginnings are troublesome, and they who sowed in tears, do reap in joy, Psalm 126:5, 6; Psalm 73:17; Jam. 5:11; Heb. 10:36, 37; Phil. 4:5; Isaiah 10:12, 24, 25.
{and the patient in spirit, than the proud in spirit} Long in spirit, That can long restrain and keep in anger or impatience. This is frequently in Scripture attributed unto God, Exod. 34:6; Neh. 9:17; Psal. 145:8, and it is the evidence of his power, Num. 14:17, 18; Nahum 1:3, and so it is of wisdom and strength in a man, Prov. 14:29, and 16:32.
{than the proud in spirit} The proper antithesis had been, than the hasty, or short in spirit, as the expression is, Prov. 14:29, 17; Exod. 6:9. But his purpose is to show, that patience is rooted in humility, the meaner esteem men have of themselves, the more willing they are to endure what God inflicts, and to wait his time for an issue out of trouble. Whereas pride and high-mindedness makes men willful, and impatient of any opposition, Prov. 13:10. Therefore when God humbled David, we find how strong he was to bear the railing and cursing of Shimei, 2 Sam. 16:11, 12; Hab. 2:3, 4.
V. 9. {Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry} Do not fret at the oppression and violence which you see in human affairs, do not rashly and hastily give way to murmuring and impatience. So the Chaldee paraphrase understands it of contumacy and frowardness against God and his providence, when things go not as we would have them. Be not hastily nor revengefully angry against rich oppressors, Psalms 37:1; Prov. 23:17, 18, and 24:19; chap. 5:2. Anger is naturally a hasty passion, and very apt to prevent reason. The Philosopher compares it to a dog which barks at a man before he observe whether it be his master or a stranger, and to a hasty messenger which runs away without his errand. And therefore slowness and deliberation is necessary to keep it in, James 1:19; Proverbs 19:11, and 15:18; Titus 1:7. It being of itself very willful and hasty, Gen. 49:6; Hab. 1:6. David was overtaken in this point in the case of Nabal, 1 Sam. 25:21, 22, and the disciples, whom our Savior rebukes for it, Luke 9:54, 55.
{for anger resteth in the bosom of fools} A thing is said to be in the bosom, when it is much loved, cherished, delighted in, Deut. 13:6, and 28:56; John 1:18; Ruth 4:16. Fools delight in anger. It rests, it is in its proper place, it never departs from him, is ever at hand, ready to enrage and inflame him. A wise man uses anger as physic, in its proper time, but a fool uses it as his constant diet. It is bound up in the heart of a fool, and as it were sewed and sealed up in it. It is an inmate in a fool, it is but as a passenger through the heart of a wise man, it does not lodge in it all night, Ephes. 4:26. Therefore the Apostle exhorting unto perfect patience, directs us to pray for wisdom as the foundation of it, James 1:4, 5.
V. 10. {Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these} He does not forbid us with godly sorrow, and holy zeal to bewail the corruption of the days wherein we live, and to be sensible of the sins or judgments which make them evil; for there is no question but some ages are worse than others, there were purer, and then darker and corrupter times of the Church, Gen. 6:11, 12; Amos 5:13; Ephes. 5:16; 2 Tim. 3:1–5; 2 Thess. 2:3; Luke 18:8.
But 1. He condemns our aptness to pass over the good things which we enjoy in our own age, and to look only on that which pinches us, to complain of wrong, oppression, injustice now, as if former ages had not the like reasons or other evils, which we are freed from, to complain of as well as we; Israel had God's presence, and Manna in the wilderness, and they value not that, because they miss the onions they had in Egypt, Exod. 16:3; Num. 11:4, 5, 6, and 14:1–4.
2. He teaches us not to charge the evils we lie under unto the times, but to our sins, which make the times evil: for that is all one, as if a man should think he should be better, if he were removed into another chamber, or did lie on another couch. He that is wicked now, would have been so in the best of times, Matth. 23:30. You cannot change the world, your work is to mend yourself: a briar is but a briar, though it be in paradise, and a lily is a lily, though it grow in a wilderness.
3. According to the scope of the place, his principal purpose is, to reprove that repining disposition which is in us, whereby we are apt to murmur at the providence of God, because he has given us our lot in an age of trouble, when violence haply and oppression prevails; and so foolishly to charge God, as if human affairs were not balanced with so equal and indifferent a distribution of blessings as they ought to be; do not, says he, question the government of the world, nor the wisdom and righteousness of God therein; leave God's work unto him, to whom it belongs to temper and order the several ages of the world in what manner it pleases him. Attend you on your own duty, be contented with the present condition of the times, study how to serve God in your generation; leave not your station, depart not from your rank, afflict not yourself with the things which you cannot help, walk with God, as Noah did in the worst of times, Gen. 6:9, and let the badness of the age you live in, make you more wise, more circumspect, more humble, as fire burns in hottest the coldest weather.
{otherwise thou dost not wisely inquire concerning this matter} This is a μείωσις, the meaning is, It is a foolish arrogancy to complain of the providence of God, as if you were wise enough to teach him, or to mend his works, Job 38:2, 3; Job 21:22.
V. 11. {Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it}, &c. This is to be understood comparatively, for wisdom is good of itself alone, but it is better, more useful and beneficial to a man's self and others, when it meets with an inheritance: as the Rabbins say, bona est lex cum viâ terræ. Wisdom without wealth is despised, chap. 9:15, and wealth without wisdom is a snare, a temptation, fuel of lust, pride, vanity, luxury, oppression, 1 Tim. 6:9; Psal. 49:6; Prov. 28:11. Therefore as life, expressed here by seeing of the sun, is uncomfortable without the means and supports of life, an inheritance to maintain it: so an inheritance is unwieldy and harmful without wisdom to order it. But wealth in the hand of a wise and good man, is an excellent instrument, whereby he is enabled to do much good, Isa. 23:18; Prov. 3:9; Isa. 60:6, 9; Luke 16:9; 1 Tim. 6:17, 18, 19. Here we see, 1. It is not having of wealth, but right using of it, which makes life comfortable; for a fool may have it. 2. That wealth without wisdom to use it aright, is nor good unto the owner of it. 3. That it is a special skill and wisdom, so to manage an estate, as that it may be for good to ourselves and others. 4. That wealth is a great ornament unto wisdom, Proverbs 14:24, and a great instrument unto the works thereof: therefore they use to say, that wealth is the sinews of action. 5. That it is happier for a wise man to have an inheritance, an estate derived on him from his ancestors, than to be put to get wealth by his own labor and industry: res non parta labore, sed relicta.
{and by it there is profit to them that see the sun} That is, by wisdom with an inheritance, there is more profit, or more excellent advantage to men in this life, than if they were separated. Or, though wisdom with an inheritance be good, yet the fruit of wisdom is more permanent, and more excellent, and beneficial, than the profit of an inheritance.
V. 12. {For wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence} In the original the words go thus, For in the shadow of wisdom, and in the shadow of money. But the excellency of knowledge, &c. Where there is either an ellipsis of some verb, supplied by the Chaldee version, as a man is preserved in the shadow of wisdom, so is he preserved in the shadow of money. And by others, A man rests, and is sheltered against danger under the shadow of wisdom, and of money, or else an hypallage, in the shadow of wisdom, that is, in wisdom there is a shadow. The doubling of the prefix beth, notes the proportion of the one, and the other, in that which is in common affirmed of them; as the one is a shadow, so is the other. And so the vulgar Latin renders it, As wisdom defends, so money defends. Which kind of proportion is commonly expressed by a double Caph, as Isa. 24:2. Or lastly, the preposition ב may here form a nominative case; as Psal. 55:18; Hos. 13:9, and in other places, as some learned men have observed. A shadow, (i.) a defense by a metaphor borrowed from the shelter, which in those hot countries men received under trees from the scorching of the sun, Job 7:2; Isa. 25:4, and 30:2, 3; Psal. 121:5, 6; Num. 14:9; Jon. 4:6, 8. Wisdom is thus a refreshing defense from oppression and danger, Prov. 3:18; Eccles. 9:15; Acts 23:6–9. And money is a defense; it will arm, it will ransom and buy a man out of danger, Prov. 13:8, and 10:15, and 19:4.
{but the excellency of wisdom is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it} They both defend, and therefore both together are very profitable; but of the two, wisdom is the most excellent; he means spiritual wisdom, joined with the fear of God which is the beginning of it, for this gives life, Prov. 3:16, and 9:11, which riches cannot do, Psal. 39:5, 6, and 49:16–19; Prov. 11:4. Rich Nabal died with sorrow, when wise Abigail saved the life of the family, 1 Sam. 25:33, 37, 38. Therefore wisdom is better than wealth, Prov. 8:11, and 16:16, and 4:5–10. Many times a man's wealth shortens his days, either by his own luxurious and inordinate use of them, or by exposing him to the cruelty of thieves and murderers. But a man's wisdom will fence him against such dangers; or at least will quiet and comfort him under them, that he shall not sink nor despond.
V. 13. {Consider the work of God: for who}, &c. He seems to have prescribed wisdom, with an inheritance, or unquestionable estate, to be the best remedies against oppression, violence, and those other evils, which in a bad age we are apt to complain of: but because such may be the badness of the times, and so prevalent the injuries and corruptions thereof, as that neither wealth nor wisdom can defend a man against them; he here therefore directs to another act of wisdom, namely, to look above the creatures, and all second causes, unto the righteous hand and irresistible providence of God in them all; and where wisdom cannot mend our condition, nor make the times, or the men thereof, or our affairs therein, so right and orderly as we would have them, there to let it, at the least, teach us contentment, silence, and an humble acquiescency in the good pleasure of the Lord. Many things there are, which no human wisdom can rectify. In a public pestilence or famine, no ability of man can purge the air, or open the windows of heaven to supply us. In a shipwreck, no wisdom of men can rebuke the winds and seas and command a calm. But in all such cases, wisdom must teach us to submit to God; and to wait upon him.
{See the work of God} (i.) Diligently view and take notice, in the course of the world, of God's overruling providence. The Scripture commonly uses words of external senses, to express the actions of the soul within, chap. 2:24, and 3:10.
{the work of God} Namely, his righteous government of the world; when you are apt to complain of the times, and the oppressions therein, then remember, how crooked soever things are, it is God that has ordered and appointed all things; and it is vain for you to think, that by your solicitude or anxiety, you can rectify everything which you are apt to complain of; for the decrees of God are unalterable, like mountains of brass which cannot be moved, Zach. 6:1; chap. 1:15. Therefore make that light by patience, which you cannot correct.
{for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?} This shows the unalterableness of God's order which he in his providence has placed things in. It may be understood, 1. In the course of nature, Be not angry, nor fretful against God's work, in unseasonableness of winds or weather, in losses by sea or land, in sicknesses or infirmities, or deformities, which God brings upon you or yours; nor at the miscarriage of any means, or weakness of any endeavors you use to rectify these things. This sin was the fault of Israel in the wilderness, they murmured at things which they could not mend, Exod. 17:2, 3; Num. 11:4, 5, 6; 2 Reg. 6:33; Jon. 4:8, 9. 2. In civil policy, and the managing of human societies; if you see great concussions in states, depopulating of countries, translating of kingdoms, plucking down and rooting up, the sword devouring as it pleases; wonder not nor murmur not, but seriously consider, that God has an overruling providence therein, and whatever else displeases you, yet rest silent and contented with what he does, Job 9:5–13; Job 12:14–24; Psal. 75:6, 7; Isa. 2:10–19; Dan. 2:21; Jer. 18:6–10, and 47:6, 7; Ezek. 14:17. 3. In the sins and prevailing wickedness of men in any kind, when you see men incorrigible in wickedness, so crooked, that no means will reclaim or rectify them; consider the work of God's most righteous judgment in hardening whom he will; and remember that God is so holy that he would not suffer sin to prevail, if he were not also so wise and powerful as to order it to his own glory, and that no wickedness of man shall proceed further, than to execute what his predeterminate counsel has appointed, and that the remainder of it he will restrain, Rom. 9:18; 1 Sam. 2:25; Gen. 50:20; Exod. 7:3, 4; 2 Thess. 2:11, 12; Acts 4:28; Rom. 11:8; Psal. 76:10.
V. 14. {In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider} In the day of good be you in good. Or, Be you good; That is joyful, and cheerful. The prefix ב, sometimes denoting a nominative case, as some learned have observed. Or, it may note a fullness of joy; Be you very joyful: as the like phrase seems to import, Exod. 32:22; 1 Joh. 5:19; Joh. 9:34; Mark 5:2, 25; Psal. 29:4, and 33:4. When God gives you prosperity, do you enjoy it with a cheerful and a thankful heart.
{but in the day of adversity} Or, in the day of evil consider, or, see. Times of trouble and affliction are called evil days, Amos 5:13; Eph. 5:16; Eccl. 12:1. Consider; he does not say, Be you in evil, or do you droop and languish under your affliction; but consider the righteous providence of God, behave yourself wisely, and suitably to his visitation; see from what hand it comes, to what issue it tends; be not fretful; use not sinful means to extricate yourself out of trouble; look on it as the work of God, which though it seems crooked unto you, yet you cannot make straight, verse 13, nor by murmuring, or wrestling, mend yourself. Therefore in the day of evil, see to yourself, take heed of any undecent and unbeseeming behavior of heart; so much the word seeing sometimes does import, Mark 12:38, and 13:9; 1 Cor. 10:12; as also serious observing of what is proposed unto us, 1 Sam. 24:11, and accurate perpending and attendance upon it that we may learn something by it. So should we behave ourselves in the time of trouble, Mic. 6:9; Psal. 94:12, and 119:71; Isa. 26:11, and 42:25.
{God also hath set the one over against the other} Has so ordered and tempered the life of man, that good and evil should be, as it were, interwoven with one another, that the vicissitude of them should take off the heart, either from surfeiting on prosperity, or desponding in adversity; as God has set winter and summer, Day and Night, over against one another, Gen. 8:22; Psal. 74:16, 17, so good and evil in the life of man, Lam. 3:38; Isa. 45:7, that in prosperity, a man might not say, He shall never be moved; nor in adversity, He shall never be delivered; but that in the one, he might learn moderation; and in the other, might exercise faith and hope, and might thankfully receive both good and evil at God's hand, Job 1:21, and 2:10. Habet has vices conditio mortalium, ut adversa ex secundis, ex adversis secunda nascantur. As in a curious and well proportioned building, one side does answer unto that which is over right it, Ezek. 40:21; as in a balance, the weight in the one side, does poise and answer to the wares in the other; so does God measure forth good and evil in the lives of men, and proportion them to one another, so as may be best fitted for human frailty, and may most conduce unto the spiritual good of his servants, 1 Cor. 10:13; Psal. 90:15, and 103:9, 14; 2 Cor. 1:4, 5, 9, 10; Isa. 57:16–18.
{to the end that man should find nothing after him} Or, To the end, that man should not be able to find out, or to foresee anything that is to befall him afterwards; that it being impossible for him, by his providence or prudence, to prevent that order and vicissitude of events, which God has foreordained, he may thereupon resolve patiently to submit to the will of the Lord, (which must obtain notwithstanding all our unquietness) and to adore the wisdom and goodness of God, who as he does by his Sovereign authority, whatsoever he pleases both in heaven and earth: so does he by his admirable wisdom, and Fatherly goodness, so dispose of things, and so temper them together for the good of his servants, that none, who comes after him, can mend his work, be able to order things better to his own advantage, than God has done; and hereupon since no man can find out anything superfluous, anything defective, anything irregular in the work of God, anything, which if he had been consulted, might have been better done, every man therefore ought to take heed of fretting or complaining, or finding fault with the providence of God towards him, and believe, that what the Lord does, is best done, and accordingly acquiesce in it, and with silence and submission yield unto it, 1 Sam. 3:18; 2 Sam. 15:25, 26, and 16:10; Psal. 39:9; Acts 11:17, 18; Isa. 39:8; Rom. 8:28; Job 9:12, 13, 14, 15, 32; Mic. 7:9; Lam. 3:26–39; Job 40:4.
V. 15. {All things have I seen in the days of my vanity}, &c. He confirms the former doctrine of God's dark and wonderful providence, by his own observation and experience. All these things have I observed in my vain and short life, chap. 6:12.
{there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness} Is oppressed and ruined, being innocent; or, for his righteousness, as Naboth, 1 Reg. 21; Hab. 1:13. In, sometimes is as much as for; as Gen. 29:18; Hos. 12:13; Gen. 18:28; Jon. 1:14; Matth. 6:7; Acts 7:29.
{and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life} Lives impunely in a wicked way without control, and that many times, because he is wicked, Job 21:7; Jer. 12:1, 2. The Lord thereby teaching us, that there is a day to come wherein he has appointed to judge the world in righteousness, called the day of the revelation of his righteous judgments, Acts 17:31; Rom. 2:5. He is most just and righteous now in all his ways of providence, but many times in them he hides himself, Isa. 45:15, that he may exercise the faith and patience of his servants, and that the perdition of wicked men at the last, may by his long-suffering and patience towards them, be the more conspicuous.
V. 16. {Be not righteous overmuch} Some would have this spoken in the name, and according to the judgment of carnal reason, as a politic precept unto neutrality and indifferency in good courses, seeing piety and righteousness does so often expose men unto danger, be not therefore over-forward and religious, over-wise and scrupulous; be not so inflexible upon grounds of conscience, remit a little of your strictness, and accommodate yourself to the exigence of times and circumstances, slacken your hand, strike sail, loosen the rudder bonds in a tempest. Why should you unnecessarily expose yourself into danger? But I rather conceive that the name of the mean is here given to the extreme, for a man may many times do a thing conscientiously, and upon an opinion of duty, and thereby involve himself in much trouble and danger, when indeed there was no necessity so to do, 1 Sam. 15:21; 2 Sam. 21:1, 2; Joh. 13:8; Rom. 10:2, 3; Phil. 3:6; Acts 26:9; Joh. 16:2; Col. 2:18; 1 Tim. 5:23, and in this sense the meaning is, be not righteous overmuch, be not too much bent on a thing, just in your own opinion but temper your zeal with godly wisdom, advise with others, lean not on your own understanding; make not yourself over-wise, as if your own private judgment were ground enough to regulate all your behaviors by, flatter not yourself in any opinionative confidence of your own ability to judge of all that is fit to be done, but think soberly of yourself, Rom. 12:3. The more humble you are, the more wary and circumspect you will be, and the more wary, the more safe. Some apply this against too much rigor and severity in censuring of men for unjust, when we see them perish, or for righteous when we see them prosper, grounded upon the doctrine of the former verse. But I rather take it for a caution and direction to moderate our zeal with prudence lest it bring upon us the forementioned danger, Matth. 10:16. It was the commendation of Agricola in Tacitus, Retinuit quod est difficillimum, ex sapientia modum. Quisquis plus justo non sapit, ille sapit.
V. 17. {Be not overmuch wicked, neither be thou foolish}, &c. Though there is a wicked man that prolongs his life in his wickedness, do not you thereupon take courage to loosen the reins to all lust, or to make the impunity of others an encouragement to any excess of wickedness in yourself, for this is folly and madness to run against a rock, because some one or other has escaped shipwreck. He does not here allow any degree of wickedness, but because in many things we sin all, and no man by his greatest vigilance can preserve himself wholly from miscarriage; therefore he warns us to beware above all, of breaking forth into presumptuous sins, and superfluity of naughtiness, Jam. 1:21. Excess and profuseness of evil, 1 Pet. 4:3; greediness of lust, Eph. 4:19; Jer. 6:7, and 2:23, 24, and 8:6; Hos. 4:2; Mic. 7:3.
{why shouldest thou die before thy time?} Why should you by excess of sin consume your body, waste your strength, cast yourself into the danger of civil justice, or under the curse threatened against desperate sinners, Psal. 55:23; Prov. 10:27; Job 15:32.
V. 18. {It is good that thou shouldest take hold of this}, &c. Take hold, that is, firmly and constantly keep to it, and never let it go, Isa. 56:4; Job 17:9; Prov. 4:13.
{of this} Meaning either that which he speaks of in the present verse, the fear of God, whereby the heart will be preserved from vicious and imprudent extremes, and the dangers ensuing thereupon. Or else, the mediocrity he before spoke of, it is good that you hold fast this counsel, to follow the middle and safe way, sincerely keeping unto duty, and yet wisely declining danger, and then the clauses [of this] and [from this] must relate unto the two former precepts; it is good that you take hold of this, namely that you be not overmuch wicked; and withal, that you withdraw not your hand from that, namely, that you be not righteous overmuch.
{for he that feareth God shall come forth of them all} Of all those dangers, which extremes are likely to draw men into. He that orders his ways in the fear of God, turns aside neither to the right hand, nor to the left, but does observe one precept, as that he departs not from another, shall thereby be preserved from the dangers which lie on either hand, Psal. 34:9–16, shall have comfort in trouble, and deliverance out of it; for the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, he does teach them how they may walk without offense, Psal. 25:12, 14; Job 22:28; Psal. 32:7, 8.
V. 19. {Wisdom strengtheneth the wise, more than ten mighty men that are in the city} By wisdom he means that wisdom which he advised in the three preceding verses, that fear of God, whereby men are taught to keep a holy moderation, and to avoid all unnecessary and imprudent extremes in evil times, this wisdom will keep a man from the dangers mentioned, verse 15, more than ten, that is, many mighty men, or principal commanders can preserve a city. A godly man, who has God for his friend, and his Angels pitching their tents about him is thereby much safer from dangers, than a city is by the power of many dynasts or potentates, who are entrusted with the defense of it, 2 Reg. 6:16; Eccl. 9:16; Isa. 8:10; 2 Sam. 20:16–22; Prov. 24:3, 4, 5; Zach. 2:5; Psal. 34:7; Prov. 3:21–26, and 4:12, 13.
V. 20. {for there is not a just man upon earth, that doth good and sinneth not} Though some conceive these words to have no relation or connection to the words going before, or following after, yet they seem to have a very fair aspect both ways. 1. To the former words; there is no man so just, but he will sometimes be overtaken with sin, which will easily expose him unto danger, if he have not spiritual wisdom to behave himself, in a fair accommodation towards others. 2. To the following words, there is no man so just, who does not sometimes fall into sin, and therefore he ought to bear with the errors and failings of others. The common corruption of the best men requires of them, both wisdom towards themselves to prevent danger, and charity towards their brethren to forgive offenses: wisdom towards themselves, that they give not occasion to any to reproach and speak evil of the ways of God, Col. 4:5, 6; 1 Thess. 4:11, 12; Eph. 5:13, 16; 2 Cor. 11:12; 1 Pet. 2:12, 15, 16. Charity towards others, when they are overtaken with a fault, as considering themselves, who are, without God's continued assistance, equally obnoxious to the same miscarriages, Gal. 6:1; Col. 3:13.
{not a just man upon earth} For the Saints in heaven are made perfect, they sin no more, Heb. 12:23. The words in their absolute sense are a full testimony of the imperfection of our inherent righteousness in this life, and that even justified persons come very short of that exact and perfect obedience, which the Law requires, Psal. 103:3, 4, and 143:2; 1 Reg. 8:46; Isa. 64:6; Prov. 20:9; 1 Joh. 1:8, 10; Rom. 7:14–23.
V. 21. {Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken, lest thou hear thy servant curse thee.} Set not your heart upon all words that men speak, or all things that they do unto you; set not your heart over-curiously to know them: when you do know them, lay them not to heart, be not troubled at them, do not set yourself to revenge them, let them not disquiet your mind, see them and see them not, 1 Sam. 9:20; 2 Sam. 13:20; 1 Sam. 25:25, and 1 Sam. 10:27; Prov. 19:11, and 20:3. It is a great point of wisdom to dissemble injuries, to connive at them, to take no notice of them, to pass them by with meekness, and neglect, 2 Sam. 16:10, 11. This meekness he requires to be showed even towards mean and abject persons, or towards the poorest servant in a man's family, who does sometimes, it may be, through our own provocation, utter some hard and undutiful speeches against us, Job 31:13, 14.
V. 22. {for oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth, that thou thyself likewise hast cursed others} The order of the words seems to be inverted; for the meaning is, you are conscious to yourself that you have oftentimes cursed or spoken evil of others. The consideration of our own frequent passions and infirmities, should move us patiently to suffer, and willingly to pardon the oversights of our brethren, Gal. 6:1; Tit. 3:3; Jam. 3:1, 2; Matth. 7:1–5. The more sensible any man is of sin in himself, the more meek and charitable he will be towards others. Pride is the ground of contention and censoriousness, Prov. 13:10.
V. 23. {All this have I proved by wisdom: I said I will be wise, but it was far from me.} He professes the truth of all which he had before taught, that wisdom is an excellent protection to a righteous man against his own corruptions, and dangers ensuing thereupon, and confirms it by his own experience and trial, according to that great wisdom which God had given him. Yet withal, he acknowledges how short he came of that perfection in wisdom, which he promised himself by the diligent use of means to attain unto, professing the great difficulty he found therein: 1. He was endued with the Spirit of God, and with his fear, which is ever accompanied with spiritual wisdom, Psal. 119:99, 100. 2. He had personal and extraordinary promise of wisdom above any other men, 1 Reg. 3:12. 3. He had used all the means to increase this excellent grace of God in himself: 1. He did very highly prize it, Prov. 3:13–26, and 8:11, 12. 2. He had the benefit of a religious education, and his father's instructions to quicken him in it, Prov. 4:4–13. 3. He set his heart wholly upon it, that, according to the property of wise men, he might be yet wiser, and get more knowledge, Prov. 9:9, and 10:14; Eccles. 1:13. 4. He prayed earnestly unto God for it, (which is an excellent means to get wisdom, Jam. 1:5; Eph. 1:17; Col. 1:9) 2 Chron. 1:10. 5. He had humility, and a due sense of his want of wisdom, (which also is a fit disposition of heart to be taught of God, 1 Cor. 3:18, and 8:2; Psal. 25:9; Matth. 11:25) 1 Reg. 3:7. 6. He had all outward furtherances and accommodations towards the getting of it, wealth, peace, power, authority, to call in all the assistances which might be useful unto him in it, Eccl. 2:9, 10. 7. He had an extraordinary stock of infused wisdom to begin withal, which he greatly improved by long and accurate experience, 1 Reg. 4:30; Eccl. 1:16. And yet after all this he professes, That though he said he would be wise, Though the purpose of his heart was wholly set upon it, yet he found that it was far from him. Teaching us thereby, 1. The unsearchable deepness and distance of wisdom in its whole wideness from the noblest and most sublime understanding of man, Job 28:12–21, and 37:15–23, and 38 per totum; Rom. 11:33, 34. 2. That the most perfect Saints are the most sensible of their imperfection; as the more delicate the senses are, the more sharply are they affected with what offends them, Rom. 7:14–24, and 12:3; 1 Cor. 15:9, 10, and 13:9, 10. 3. That it is the nature of spiritual wisdom to discover spiritual wants, and the more the soul knows of God, the greater does it discern and bewail its distance from him; as things nearest the Center make most haste unto it, Exod. 33:11, 18.
V. 24. {That which is far off, and exceeding deep, who can find it out?} Or, that which hath been, is far off and exceeding deep: the word is doubled, to note the superlative degree, as Prov. 20:14. He shows the cause why he was far from wisdom, because the works of God, whether of Creation, Redemption, or Providence, are very profound, abstruse, and mysterious, greatly distant from the eye, and beyond the comprehension of the weak and narrow reason of man, Prov. 2:4; Job 11:6–10; Psal. 139:6.
V. 25. {I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom}, &c. Or, I and my heart turned every way, left no means unattempted, exactly to discover wisdom, &c. The using of many words unto one purpose, implies the exquisite and curious search which Solomon made in this inquiry; as Deut. 13:14. See chap. 1:13, 17, and 2:3, 12. Solomon was not so much discouraged by the difficulty, as provoked by the excellency of wisdom, and made no other use of the profoundness and abstruseness thereof, than to multiply his endeavors in searching after it.
{to seek out wisdom and the reason of things} The curious art and subtle contrivance of things: the same word is used, ver. 27, 29; chap. 9:10; 2 Chron. 26:15, whereby we are taught in the disquisition of knowledge, especially that which is spiritual, not to content ourselves with a superficial show, but to get rooted and grounded principles, that we may be able with full assurance to give a reason of the hope which is in us, 1 Pet. 3:15, and to have a distinct comprehension of the truth, that we may be rooted and fixed on it, Eph. 3:16, 17, 18, and 4:14, and give a clear and deliberate judgment upon it.
{I, and my heart} That is, I did heartily and seriously seek out. The copulative Vau, does either import a preposition, I with my heart did search, as 1 Sam. 14:19, or a more clear explication; I, that is, my heart: so the learned conceive that copula many times to signify as much as, That is, as Gen. 35:12; 1 Chron. 21:12; 2 Sam. 17:12; 1 Sam. 17:40, and 28:3.
{And to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness} Or, the foolishness of madness: as the Apostle's expression is, ἁμαρτωλὸς ἁμαρτία, a sinning sin, Rom. 7:13, so here the wise man expresses the desperate wickedness and folly of corrupt hearts: by wickedness of folly, and foolishness of madness, thereby signifying the vast and deep corruption and deceit which is in the heart of man. The knowledge whereof he did search after, that he might be the better able to convince and to direct the consciences of others, 1 Cor. 14:24, 25; Heb. 4:12; Ezek. 14:5; Isa. 49:2; Psal. 45:5; Rev. 1:16. Only his study is in this order: first he searches and seeks out wisdom, as an antidote against the danger of his second studies, to discover the wickedness, folly, and madness of sensual pleasures. And therefore we shall observe, that in the particular wickedness which he specifies in the next verse, namely, the enticements of a whorish woman, he does often premise the commendations of wisdom, and the study of that, as an effectual prevention of that mischief, Prov. 2:10–19, and 5:1, 2, 3, and 6:6, 20–24; Prov. 7:4, 5, and 9:10–13.
V. 26. {And I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets}, &c. He shows the discovery which he had made by his study to find out the wickedness of folly, and foolishness of madness, by instancing in one particular vanity of the wiles and subtleties of harlots, which it was necessary for him to add to the former catalogue of vanities, that he might give to the Church then, and leave a record for all posterity to take notice of his special repentance for those gross miscarriages which by that means he had been drawn unto. And here he gives, 1. The character of a whorish woman, described, 1. By her subtlety. Her heart is snares and nets, her cunning devices to deceive and entangle sensual persons, are as gins laid to catch silly creatures, who are enticed with the bait, but discern not the danger. See Prov. 2:16, and 6:24, 26, and 7:5, and 9:16, 17, and 22:14. 2. By her power, her hands, wherewith she catches, holds, embraces him, are as strong cords to hale simple fools as an ox to the slaughter, Prov. 7:13, 21, 22; Judg. 16:15–19. 2. Here is the great danger of these nets and bands to the souls of men.
{They are more bitter than death} More pernicious, and bring more heavy miseries with them. We read of the bitterness of death, 1 Sam. 15:32, and of a worse bitterness, the end of a strange woman is bitter as wormwood, and her steps take hold on hell, Prov. 5:4, 5. Death may be sweetened and sanctified, made a welcome and a desirable thing to a believer, 1 Cor. 15:55; Phil. 1:23; Luke 2:29, 30. But the bitterness of hell is incurable; death may be honorable, to die in a good cause, in a good old age, to go to the grave in peace, lamented, desired, with the sweet savor of a holy life, and many good works to follow one, Rev. 14:13; Phil. 1:21; Psal. 116:16. But to consume and putrefy alive, under a body of impure lusts, to perish, as Tiberius did at Capreæ, quotidie perire me sentio, to shipwreck a man's honor, ruin his estate, shorten his years, consume his flesh, put a hell into his conscience, to bury his name, his substance, his soul, his carcass, in the bosom of a Harlot; this is a bitterness beyond that of death, Prov. 5:9, 10, 11, and 6:26, 33, and 9:16, 17, 18.
{whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her, but the sinner shall be taken by her} Here is intimated the great wrath of God against this sin. It is a sin which he uses to give over reprobates, and those whom he in special manner hates, unto; a sin which few repent of, to take hold of the paths of life again, Prov. 2:19, and 22:14; Amos 7:17; Rom. 1:24–28; Eph. 4:18, 19. A man is not preserved from the power of this temptation by his own wisdom or strength, but only by the supernatural grace of God.
V. 27, 28. {Behold, this I have found (saith the Preacher)} &c. This, which he had spoken of, verse 26, or which follows, verse 28.
{saith the Preacher} This is added, 1. To give credit from his wisdom and experience to what he here affirms: especially having made so distinct and accurate an inquiry, weighing and comparing one by one, to find out the account, and to come to a determinate and clear judgment in the case, and to make a certain conclusion. 2. To testify to the Church his repentance. This have I found, says the soul, which, by sound repentance, is returned unto the congregation of Saints, which was before ensnared in the nets and bands of seducing women, and that upon serious and sad recollected thoughts, which he has not yet given over, but does insist upon the same penitent inquiry still.
{one man amongst a thousand have I found, but a woman amongst all those have I not found} The meaning is not to condemn one sex rather than the other; (for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, Rom. 3:23) and Solomon had known good and wise women, as well as men, Prov. 18:22, and 19:14; Prov. 12:4, and 31:10–30. But he speaks here of his observation, according to his former sensual conversation with wanton women, which seems to be the reason of the number, here mentioned: for Solomon had a thousand wives and concubines, all strange women of the neighbor wicked nations, which turned away his heart from the Lord unto idols. Amongst all these thousand, Solomon had not found one good one, 1 Reg. 11:1–9. Or the subtle counsels of one man, amongst many, may more easily be discovered, than of any harlot, because their flatteries and dalliances do steal away the heart, and put out the eyes and judgment, and infatuate a man so, that he can look no further, than the present delights wherewith they do bewitch him, Hos. 4:11; Judg. 16:17–21; Prov. 7:21, 22, and 5:6.
V. 29. {Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions} This only: He could not discover all the streams of wickedness and folly amongst men: but the original and fountain of them all he does discover, namely, the corruption of the heart of man by the fall; this he found, that their wickedness was not from God, nor by creation, but from themselves, and their willing entertainment of the temptation of the serpent. Some more subtly expound these words, as a confirmation of the former: God made Adam right, and so he continued so long as he was alone: but when the woman was given unto him, she tempted him, and then they sought out many inventions. Because the woman was first in the transgression, 1 Tim. 2:14. But here he speaks of both sexes together, under the name of man, and shows, that they were made without any of this sinful and subtle wisdom, after the image of God, endowed with divine wisdom to discern the way unto true happiness, and with perfect ability to pursue the same, Gen. 1:26; Col. 3:10. But though he were made upright, yet he was as a creature, mutable, and so subject to be overcome by temptation, and accordingly he did easily admit of the temptation of Satan, and sought out many inventions of his own; did not content himself with that way to happiness which God had prescribed, but fancied to himself a higher perfection, and yielded to follow those new ways unto blessedness, which Satan and his own deceived heart, did suggest unto him, and so fell from his primitive honor, and became like the beasts that perish, and contracted a bottomless and unsearchable depth of sinful deceit, which none but God can thoroughly search and discover, Jer. 17:9; Isa. 57:10; Jer. 2:23, 24, and 32:22. By many inventions, he means all these vain, though crooked counsels, and carnal shifts wherewith men do pacify, palliate, excuse, defend all their sinful courses, Psal. 119:133; Rom. 1:21; 2 Cor. 10:5; Gen. 6:5. Ludovicus De Dieu translates the words thus, Ipsi autem quæsiverunt cogitationes magnatum, They sought out the inventions of mighty men, or of the Angels, who were not contented with their own station, but forsook it, Jud. v. 6, and so relates to the temptation of the serpent; Ye shall be like unto Gods; you shall be advanced into a nobler and more honorable condition, than now you are in, Gen. 3:5, these thoughts being suggested by Satan, they ambitiously entertained, and so fell from their primitive perfection.
CHAPTER 8
The wise man proceeds in this Chapter, to give further precepts touching tranquility of life. And they are, 1. Practical prudence with the fear of God, which stamp a kind of majesty and luster on the face of a man, and make him to be had in reverence of others, ver. 1. 2. Obedience to magistrates, without hastily attempting, or obstinately persisting in any rebellious design, it being in their power, as they please, to avenge themselves upon us, ver. 2, 3, 4, 5. 3. Preparedness of heart to bear inevitable evils, by a prudent observation of times, and judging of what is in a concurrence, of such and such circumstances fittest to be done, and where things are dark and undiscernible, to dispose our hearts quietly to yield to the providence of God, ver. 6, 7, 8. 4. Because it is a very great temptation unto disquietness and impatiency of spirit, when a man lives under wicked rulers, against whose cruelty, all a man's wisdom and meekness can hardly be security enough: He therefore, 1. Observes the providence of God in this particular, ver. 9, 10. 2. The reason of that insolence and excess of evil in the lives of such men, ver. 11. 3. The grounds of comfort unto good men in this temptation, and of terrors and restraint upon evil men, notwithstanding their present power and prosperity, ver. 12, 13. Laying down a general proposition concerning God's providence in the affairs of this life, whereunto good men should submit, ver. 14. 5. A cheerful enjoyment of outward and present blessings, without anxious solicitude for the future, ver. 15. 6. A patient resting in the providence of God admiring his works, and adoring the unsearchableness of his counsels; whose judgments, though they may be secret, yet they cannot be unrighteous, verse 16, 17.
Verse 1. {Who is as the wise man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing?} He had set his heart to seek out wisdom and folly, chap. 7:25. And having there handled the latter of these two, (as the use of the Scripture many times is, when two members, or branches of a subject are proposed, to handle the latter first, and then to resume the former. Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity, Psal. 133:1. Pleasant as the precious ointment of Aaron, vers. 2. Good and profitable, as the dew of Hermon, vers. 3; Isa. 56:3, 4, 6) he does here return to the former member, showing the excellency of wisdom, whereunto no other is to be compared. The prefix Caph may be understood either as a note of similitude, Who is as the wise man? (i.) None is to be compared to him: And so it may be understood as spoken of himself, Who has attained a greater measure of wisdom than I have? who yet with my utmost studies have not been able to find out the perfection of it, chap. 7:23, 24. Or it may be taken pro notâ veritatis, and so the sense to be, that no man can attain unto perfect wisdom, as verse 16, 17.
{and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing?} Here are two sorts of wise men noted unto us; 1. He that is wise in himself. 2. He that is able to teach others wisdom. Or, who is able truly to judge of all affairs, and rightly to discern what in every case is to be done, or left undone? Dan. 2:4, 5, 7, and 4:3, 16.
{a man's wisdom maketh his face to shine} This seems to allude to the brightness of Moses his face, Exod. 34:29, 30, 34, the like whereunto we read of Stephen, Acts 6:15. Hereby is noted, 1. That wisdom does beautify a man with tranquility of mind, and cheerfulness of countenance, spem fronte serenat, Psal. 4:6, 7; Prov. 15:13, and 17:24; Psal. 34:5. 2. That it makes his light of holiness to shine out unto others, Matth. 5:16; Joh. 5:35; Phil. 2:15. 3. That it renders him reverend, venerable, amiable in the eyes of others, and does conciliate special honor and favor unto him, in the hearts of those that converse with him, Job 29:7–16. 4. That it enlightens his eyes, that he may more clearly understand what he is to do, and to leave undone; the light of the Lord shines on his ways, Psal. 25:9; Job 22:28; Psal. 32:8; 1 Joh. 2:10.
{and the boldness} Or, strength of his face shall be changed, or, doubled. By the strength of the face, we may understand fierceness, impudency, sourness, austerity; as Dan. 8:23; Deut. 28:50; Prov. 7:13, and 21:29; Isa. 3:9; Psal. 10:4; Jer. 5:3. Wisdom changes all this into mildness, meekness, and sereneness of countenance; as Moses was the wisest and holiest, so he was the meekest man, Num. 12:3; Prov. 11:2. 2. By strength of face, we may understand confidence and courage; For the righteous is bold as a lion, Prov. 28:1. Guilt and shame cast down the countenance, Gen. 4:5, 6. Righteousness and Wisdom embolden it, 1 Sam. 1:18; Job 11:15; Luke 21:28. And in this sense, some read the text thus, (which the original word well bears) The strength of his countenance, his confidence and courage shall be doubled, chap. 7:19; Isa. 40:31; Prov. 4:18.
V. 2. {I counsel thee to keep the king's commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God} I to keep. There is in the original an ellipsis, and something necessarily to be supplied, as is usual in other places, Psal. 120:7; Hos. 14:8; 2 Cor. 9:6; Matth. 25:9; 2 Thess. 2:3; 1 Tim. 4:3; Gen. 25:22; Matth. 21:30. I, if you will admit of my counsel or persuasion, thus advise you. It is put elliptically, to intimate a special emphasis, and to give authority to the precept, Gal. 5:2.
{To keep the king's command} To observe the mouth of the king. The Angels are said to see, or observe the face of God, in token of obedience and readiness to execute his commands, Matth. 18:10; Esth. 1:14; 1 Reg. 10:8. The mouth is often used for the command, which proceeds from it, Exod. 38:21; Num. 4:27; Josh. 1:18. Our obedience must not be according to our own fancies or conjectures, but according unto the prescript of the Law, for the Law is the mouth of the magistrate. This is one special part of prudence, in order unto tranquility of life, to be faithful and obedient towards magistrates, and not to make ourselves wiser than the Law.
{and that in regard of the oath of God} These words are both an enforcing, and a limitation of the duty prescribed; 1. An enforcement: it is necessary to yield obedience unto magistrates, not only out of fear towards them, because of their sword: but out of conscience towards God, and because of his vows that are upon us, Rom. 13:5, and so it seems to relate unto some covenant and oath of fidelity, which was taken by them towards their princes. We read of the covenant between the king and the people, made before the Lord, 1 Chron. 11:3, and a promise or league made in the presence of God, was likely to be by the intervention of an oath, as the covenant between Abimelech and Abraham, Gen. 21:23, 24. See Gen. 26:28, 29, and 31:44, 53. And this may seem to be intimated in that phrase of Giving the hand under Solomon; which we render, by submitting themselves unto him, 1 Chron. 29:24. A like ceremony, whereunto, Abraham's servant used, when he swore faithfulness unto him, Gen. 24:2, 3; Gen. 47:29. So giving the hand, was a ceremonial confirmation of some sworn covenant or promise, Ezra 10:19; Ezek. 17:18. χεῖρας τ᾽ ἀλλήλων λαβέτω, καὶ πιστώσαντο [Greek reading uncertain]; Iliad 2. And hence some here by Juramentum Elohim, understand the oath of the magistrates, who are sometimes in Scripture so called, Exod. 22:28; Psal. 82:1, 6; Josh. 10:34. Thereby to teach them to rule for God, not by their own lust, but by his law, and for the good of his people. But I rather understand, by the oath of God, an oath sworn unto God, Isa. 19:18, and 44:4; 2 Chron. 15:12, 14, and 34:31, 32. So that we are bound to be obedient unto magistrates for the Lord's sake, 1 Pet. 2:13–17, as servants are required upon the same account, to yield obedience to their masters, Eph. 6:5–8. 2. This clause contains a limitation, by which our obedience unto men is to be bounded: Keep the king's command; yet so, that you do not violate your oath and obedience due unto God. Your service to the one, must be such as will consist with the fealty to the other; for we are bound unto God and his service by oath and covenant, 1 Pet. 3:21; Neh. 9:38, and 10:29; Psal. 119:106, and no subordinate obedience to others, must make us forget our duty unto him, 1 Sam. 19:1, and 22:17; Dan. 3:16, 17, 18; Acts 4:19, and 5:29; 1 Pet. 2:17; Prov. 24:21; 1 Reg. 21:3; Esth. 3:2; 1 Sam. 14:45.
V. 3. {Be not hasty to go out of his sight}, &c. Or, Go not hastily out of his sight; When two verbs finite come together, either the latter is to be taken infinitely; as Deut. 2:31; Esth. 8:6; Psal. 102:13, or the former adverbially; as Gen. 24:18; 1 Sam. 4:14; Hos. 9:9. Be not hasty to go. It signifies such haste, as arises out of terror and perturbation of spirit, in which sense the word is frequently taken, Exod. 15:15; 2 Sam. 4:1; Job 23:15. He shows the root of rebellion, namely, impatiency, fear, perturbation of spirit, whereby men fling off from their allegiance. Servants are said to stand in the presence of their lords, 1 Reg. 10:8; Esth. 1:4. So that hasting out of their presence, implies, a declining and casting off of obedience, Jon. 1:3; 1 Reg. 12:16. This is one part of obedience here forbidden, hastiness in taking offense, discovering of choler and discontent, flying away in passion, either from the presence, or from the commands, or from the anger of a king; not remembering that kings have many eyes, and can see at a great distance, and long arms, and can easily reach those that fly in discontent, from them. Obedience, innocence, calmness of spirit, a meek and yielding disposition, may secure, and reconcile a man, (for a soft answer turneth away wrath) when turbulency and unquietness will but plunge him into greater disfavor and danger. Another and worse error is, willfully to persist in disobedience, and to boil up the former passion into habitual stubbornness.
{Do not thou stand in an evil thing} If you have been transported with perturbation, and gone out of the way; cool and draw back betimes, do not harden yourself in your defection; but labor, by forbearance and mildness, to recover his favor again, Prov. 15:1, and 25:15, and 30:32. To stand in a thing, is to have a fixed and unmoved resolution upon it, 1 Cor. 7:37; Eph. 6:11, 13, 14.
{for he doth whatsoever pleaseth him} This is not spoken to confirm, or give allowance unto any revengeful and cruel actions of princes, as if their power did serve to execute their own lusts: but he shows, besides the sinfulness of it, how unsafe, and how fruitless it is to resist those, who have power to do what they please, and who being injured and provoked, can easily break in pieces those, who rise up against them.
V. 4. {Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What dost thou?} Think not that you shall be able to escape the wrath of a king: for if he but speak the word, he has power enough to reach you wherever you go: wherever the command of a king comes, it is accompanied with power enough to be avenged on any that provoke him. He never wants instruments to execute his displeasure. When Saul pronounced death upon the Priests, there wanted not a Doeg to set upon them, 1 Sam. 22:18; Dan. 5:19.
{and who may say unto him, What dost thou?} This elsewhere is spoken of God, who works all things by the counsel of his own Will, and does whatsoever he pleases both in heaven and earth, Job 9:12. But of princes and magistrates it cannot be absolutely and so fully spoken; for being subject unto error, and miscarriages, they may with humility and wisdom be admonished, 1 Sam. 14:45, 46. But he speaks here of the great power which they have, against which the people dare not to mutter, Prov. 30:31, and ought not without much reverence to contest withal, Job 34:18.
V. 5. {Whoso keepeth the commandment, shall know no evil} This may be understood either of the Commands of God; piety and godly wisdom will teach a man to walk so circumspectly, as that he shall not provoke the wrath of the king to his own ruin: or of the commandment of the king, whereof he spoke, verse 2.
{he that observeth his commandment, shall know no evil} None of the dangers before mentioned, ver. 3, shall live securely, and quietly, out of fear, Rom. 13:3, 4; 1 Tim. 2:2.
{and a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment} This is a qualification of the precept; a wise man will not, for fear of danger, or hope of advantage, do all that is commanded him by a blind obedience, but he considers the season wherein, and the manner how to execute commands: or he knows to find out a proper season, and right way to apply himself unto the prince, to prevent his displeasure, to gain his favor, to qualify or alter his Commands, if they be any way grievous, 1 Chron. 21:3; Judg. 6:27; Gen. 32:7, 8, 13, 16, 17, and 33:12, 14; 1 Sam. 25:18–; 1 Chron. 12:32; Neh. 2:4, 5, 12, 16; Esth. 4:5, and 7:2, 3, and 8:5, 6.
V. 6, 7. {Because to every purpose, there is a time and judgment: therefore the misery of man is great upon him; For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?} Because to every purpose or enterprise there is a proper season, and peculiar manner of acting, upon which narrow points, the happy success of such undertakings do depend, and this cannot without much wisdom be duly observed: hence it comes to pass, that the misery of man is great upon him. This general is to be applied to the particular case, a man by incurring the displeasure of his prince, brings much misery upon himself, because he wants that wisdom which should suggest a proper opportunity, and right way of regaining his favor again. When there is ignorance and folly within, dangers and snares without, it is very hard for a man to walk safely. There is no greater part of wisdom than the prudent observing of times, circumstances, and the right manner of transacting businesses that are of weight and consequence unto us, Jer. 8:7, 8; Amos 5:13; Luke 19:44; Prov. 15:23; Acts 22:25–29; Acts 23:6, 7.
{for he knoweth not that which shall be.} Because a man cannot foresee future events, nor exactly judge of the consequences of actions, therefore it is very difficult to avoid many of those miseries which by reason of this ignorance do attend him. There is one season, and one manner of acting, which would have been seconded with success, if a man could have foreseen it, but any other time, any other way of proceeding, would miscarry: great therefore must needs be the misery of man by reason of this ignorance, who has a thousand ways to miss the mark, and but one to hit it. A man cannot so much as fore-appoint his own actions for the future, much less foresee the consequences and issues which would follow thereupon, Prov. 27:1; Jam. 4:14. None can foretell a man what shall be, but God alone, Isa. 41:23, and 44:7, and 46:10. Only this a wise and holy man may be sure of, that whatever falls out shall be for his good, though it may be contrary to his desire and expectation, 1 Cor. 3:22.
V. 8. {There is no man that hath power over the spirit, to retain the spirit, neither hath he power in the day of death} By spirit, he means the breath of life, or the soul. So it is often understood, Gen. 6:19; Job 7:7; Isa. 42:5; Psal. 104:29; Luke 8:55; Jam. 2:26. This may be understood, 1. Generally, to signify the weakness which is in man to help himself against the greatest future evil, namely, death: no power, industry, wisdom, can keep the soul, when God by death requires it: no man has the dominion over his own life, to live as long as it pleases himself; nor over death, to repel and resist it when it comes, Psal. 49:7–10; Heb. 9:27. 2. Particularly, to the present argument of obedience to princes, whose wrath is as the roaring of a lion, whose displeasure cannot be avoided. An offender has no power to retain his life, when supreme authority passes judgment against it: and therefore we ought wisely to take heed of those provocations which are likely to cast us under so great danger: for the punishment of rebellion can no more be avoided, than the wind can be held fast. Therefore we ought to keep ourselves still within the bounds of duty, and that will preserve us from evil, as verse 5.
{to retain the spirit} To shut it in, to keep it from going away. Neither has he, or any man power in the day, or, over, and against, the day of death to adjourn and prorogue it; æquo pede pulsat pauperum tabernas, regumque turres. The power of a king is as little against death, as the power of the meanest beggar. And therefore some have observed, that whereas when David is mentioned upon other occasions, he is usually spoken of by name of King David; when his death is spoken of there is no mention of his dignity and office, but only of his name, 1 Reg. 2:1.
{and there is no discharge in that war} Or, no weapon wherewith we can prevail in our war with death. There is no apparatus bellicus against such an Adversary, no arrow or javelin that a man can let fly in this combat: Or, there is no mission into this battle, in vain does any man go forth to make war against death. So the word seems to be understood, Psal. 78:49. οὐδὲ ἔστι παρατάξασθαι εἰς πόλεμον. So Symmachus renders it. It is not possible to stand in battle array against such an adversary: the Septuagint render it thus, οὐκ ἔστιν ἀποστολὴ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ πολέμου. There is no mission or dismission in that war; which sense our Interpreters seem to follow, in their version. There is no discharge in that war, no man can have a vacation or an exauctoration from that warfare. There is no protection or deliverance from the hand of death.
{neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it} Unquiet wickedness, sinful shifts, which men in danger are apt to betake themselves unto, though a man turn himself every way, and move every stone, yet he shall not be able to deliver himself. Saul and Pilate would fain shift off the guilt of their sins upon the people, 1 Sam. 15:21; Matth. 27:24, and Caiaphas pretended necessity for his persecuting of Christ, Joh. 11:50, but this did not deliver their souls. By wickedness, here may be understood, in relation to the argument of the text, Rebellion, Sedition, disobedience against magistrates, as 1 Sam. 24:13. The words are a μείωσις, wickedness shall not deliver, that is, It shall destroy those that use it; as Rom. 1:16; Psal. 51:17; Prov. 17:21; Prov. 14:4.
V. 9. {All this have I seen, and applied mine heart unto every work, that is done under the sun: There is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.} With his wonted transition he passes on to the observing of another vanity, which was to be found amongst men; I applied or gave mine heart unto every work, as chap. 7:25, teaching us with special attention to observe the ways of God's providence in the world, Psal. 111:2; 1 Pet. 1:10, 11. When he was thus considering of the right means of living comfortably, by yielding due obedience unto government: He found that some princes were so tyrannical and intolerable, that it was very hard for men to live quietly under them, they go on without control, and miserably afflict the poor people, Prov. 28:15, 16, for whose good and comfort they were appointed, Rom. 13:4. God thus pleasing in his justice many times to punish the sins of a Nation, by giving them up into the hands, and under the will of unrighteous governors, Zach. 11:6; Hos. 13:11; Job 34:30; Isa. 10:6, and 14:20, and 19:4. But he shows the vanity of such tyrannical courses. They tend at last to the hurt of those that use them: the rod which beats the children, is usually at last thrown into the fire. As their power has put into their hands a greater liberty of sinning, so has it heaped up for them a greater measure of wrath, Isa. 10:12; Dan. 11:36–40; Isa. 14:4–23; 1 Reg. 15:29, 30.
V. 10. {And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the Holy; and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: This is also vanity} These words are obscure, some understanding the former part of wicked rulers, and the latter part of good rulers? others, the whole, only of wicked ones. The sum of the former sense is this; When I considered the rule of tyrants over others, I observed that when they were dead and buried, they did as it were come and return again in their children or wicked successors, who reigned like them, Job 8:18, 19, or when they had been deprived and deposed, and so as it were buried, I saw them return to dominion again. But other good men, who had walked with God in his holy place, are driven out of sight, made to run into corners, and as it were buried in forgetfulness, Prov. 28:12, 28; Psal. 12:8, even in that city where they had done right. This he looked on as a great vanity, that the memory of good men should perish, and wicked men should be had in honor. But the other sense which applies all to wicked rulers, seems to be more genuine, and is followed by our translation; I saw wicked rulers continue all their life long in the place of the Holy one, to be had in great honor, and after they had gone in and out before the people in the place of Justice and government, (which is in the throne of God) I saw them magnificently buried in very great pomp and solemnity, Luke 16:22, yet being dead, notwithstanding all those flatteries and formalities in their funeral, their name and memories did quickly perish and die with their bodies, insomuch, that in that very city where they had lived in so great power, and been buried in so much state, they were presently forgotten: neither the nobleness of their families, nor the flatteries of their creatures, nor the magnificent monuments erected for them, were able to preserve their names from rottenness, Psal. 37:9, 10, 35, 36; Prov. 10:7. By the place of the Holy, or of the Holy one, as Hab. 3:3, understand the tribunals of judgment, whereon they sit as his Vicegerents, Deut. 1:17; Psal. 82:1; Exod. 22:28; 1 Chron. 29:23; 2 Chron. 19:6. By coming and going, seems to be intimated the administration of the public office of government, elsewhere expressed in the like manner, by going in and out before the people, Num. 27:17; Deut. 31:2; 1 Reg. 3:7.
{And they were forgotten} The Septuagint render it, and they were praised; upon an easy mistake of one letter for another in the original word.
{where they had so done} Others, where they had done right, in the first of the two former senses; ὡς δίκαια πράξαντες, as Symmachus: or whatsoever they did was accounted right, and so it is applicable to the latter sense.
{This is also Vanity} All the power and pomp of wicked men in their life, and funerals, is but mere vanity, since when they are gone, their names and memorials perish with them.
V. 11. {Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily: therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.} Here is intimated the Reason why wicked rulers go on without remorse or control in their tyranny and oppression all their life long, namely, because the Judgments of God threatened against them, are not presently put in execution. The prosperity of wicked men does exceedingly strengthen and harden them in their wickedness. This proceeds from infidelity, and a root of atheism in their hearts, they cannot see afar off, or if they do, yet because evil seems far from them, therefore they go on securely, abusing the goodness and long-suffering of God unto presumption, which should have led them unto repentance, Rom. 2:4.
First, we here see that there is sentence pronounced against every wicked work, Isa. 3:10, 11.
Secondly, That the Lord is slow in putting that sentence in execution, being willing that men should repent, 2 Pet. 3:9.
3. That the sentence being pronounced though it come slowly, yet it will come surely against ungodly men. It is every day nearer and nearer, and the longer it stays, the more heavy it will be. It comes with feet of wool, but it will strike with hands of lead, Gen. 6:3.
4. That wicked men abuse God's patience unto presumption, and because they see all well with them, do despise his threatenings to their own destruction, Isa. 5:19; Jer. 5:12, and 17:15; 2 Pet. 3:4; Ezek. 12:22; Psal. 55:19.
5. That Impunity makes wickedness more excessive and outrageous, and the heart of man is the more filled and emboldened in wickedness, by how much the more experience it has of God's slowness to wrath, Matth. 24:48, 49; Prov. 7:18, 19, 20; 2 Pet. 3:3, 4.
{therefore the heart of the sons of men is full in them} Or is fully set in them to do evil, is bold in them, so Aquila: therefore the sons of men do evil, ἀφόβῳ καρδίᾳ, with a fearless and presumptuous heart; so Symmachus: the phrase notes a height of confidence and resolvedness on sinful courses, called in the Scripture, madness, excess, greediness, rushing, breaking forth, superfluity, &c., Ester 7:5; Acts 5:3; Gen. 6:12, 13; Luke 6:11; Jer. 50:38; 1 Pet. 4:4; Ephes. 4:19; Jer. 6:7, and 8:6; Hos. 4:2; Jam. 1:21.
V. 12, 13. {Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged: yet surely I know}, &c. Here he answers the temptation whereby good men are apt to be offended at the prosperity of wicked men, Psal. 73:2, 3; Jer. 12:1, and wicked men to be hardened in their sins thereby: Though a sinner do continue to do evil, and escape punishment a hundred times, never so often, as chap. 6:3.
{and his days be prolonged} Or, his punishment delayed: or God do put off his anger, and not straightway execute it upon him, chap. 7:15; Isa. 48:9; Deut. 4:40; Exod. 20:12, yet surely I know, and do confidently affirm, that it shall be well with them that fear God, Isa. 3:10, 11. The order of the consequences is inverted, and first the remuneration of good men is mentioned, before the punishment of evil men, to strengthen their faith, and to comfort them against the oppressions and injuries of their potent adversaries, because usually the rage of tyrants does vent itself against those that fear God.
{which fear before him} This is the character of a good man, they fear God sincerely, they tremble at his presence, they labor to commend their hearts and consciences unto him in well-doing, Isa. 8:13. When wicked men prosper and rage, they fret not, they fear not their cruelty, but still they hold fast their integrity, and go on steadily in obedience and patient waiting on God.
{But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days which are as a shadow} It shall not be well: This is a μείωσις, less being said than is intended: for the meaning is, It shall be very ill with him; as Exod. 20:7; Psal. 34:5; Rom. 1:16; Psal. 84:12; Isa. 42:3; Rom. 4:19; Revel. 12:11.
{neither shall he prolong his days} Long life is oftentimes promised as a blessing, Prov. 28:16; Exod. 20:12; Psal. 91:16; Prov. 3:2, and the contrary threatened as a curse, Psal. 55:23, and though they seem to live long, their longest life is but as a shadow, which suddenly is gone, Psal. 144:4, wrath does at last certainly overtake them. Whereas in Scripture sometimes prolonging of one's days, relates to a life after death, and a victory over it, Isa. 53:10.
V. 14. {There is a vanity which is done upon the earth} He does not pass this censure upon the wise and righteous providence of God, who orders all the seeming confusions and disorders which are in the world, and who is pleased after a seeming inequality to dispense good or evil unto men, contrary to what our reason does judge most equal and righteous, Job 9:22, and 21:7, 8. But first he speaks according to the judgment of flesh and blood, which is apt to judge hardly of so strange a distribution, Psal. 73:13, 14. 2. He does it, to show the vanity of all outward things which do variously happen unto men under the sun, which being distributed without any great difference, sometimes evil things to good men, and good things to evil men, do lead us necessarily to think but meanly of them, and to look after a further judgment, wherein rewards and punishments shall be in a more notable manner dispensed, chap. 7:15; 1 Cor. 15:19. And even in this distribution there is much goodness showed to one man in his sufferings, whereby his graces exercised: and much wrath and justice to others in their prosperity, whereby they are many times hardened and ensnared, Psal. 69:22; Hos. 13:6.
V. 15. {Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry}, &c. Some make this to be a sensual and carnal deduction drawn from the former observation, that since by a man's most circumspect walking he can no more free himself from evils, than if he lived more loosely, and since evil men do many times go away with the rewards of good men, and good men suffer such things as they had not deserved: since a man gets nothing by his holiness, nor loses anything by his wickedness: It is therefore the best way to take our pleasures, to eat and drink and be merry, and to take no further care than how we may for the present gratify our licentious desire, 1 Cor. 15:32; Isa. 22:12, 13; Amos 6:3–6; Psal. 73:11, 12. But I rather understand the words in the sense formerly expressed, chap. 2:24, and 3:12, 13, 22, and 5:18. Since it is impossible for a man to free himself from those common vanities and temptations which are under the sun, Therefore there is no greater wisdom, no better remedy for our present vexations, than to compose our hearts in a holy calmness and security, not over-curiously or querulously to inquire into the dark providences of God in the world, but with a holy submission to commit ourselves to the Lord, and in his fear, and with cheerfulness and thanksgiving to enjoy the present blessings which his bounty has bestowed upon us, without any unquietness of spirit at the disorders we see, or any anxious and solicitous thoughts touching anything which for the future we may fear, Phil. 4:11, 12, 13; 2 Thess. 3:12.
{for that shall abide with him of his labour, in the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun} This is the only fruit which a man can reap in this life from all his labors; greater benefit he can never expect from anything under the sun, than to have food and raiment, with cheerfulness of heart in the use of them.
V. 16, 17. {When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth} He here concludes with a reason why a man ought not anxiously to perplex or disquiet his thoughts about the works of God's providence, in the government of the world, why good men are afflicted, and ill men advanced; because when a wise man has applied his mind, made it his business, broken his sleep in this inquiry, yet he shall come short of what he promised himself, and must at last acquiesce in the sovereignty and dominion of God, whose works are unsearchable, and whose Judgments past finding out: therefore we must suppress all rash censures of those things the reasons whereof we are not able to attain unto, and with calmness and tranquility of spirit, labor to enjoy present comforts, rather than to busy ourselves with curious and fruitless inquiries.
{to see the business that is done on the earth} That is, to discover and get a clear, and distinct satisfying account of all the works of God's providence in the world, to comprehend the reasons of the administration and government thereof, to have a rational view of the compages and whole frame of human affairs, to reconcile all the seeming absurdities and incongruities which appear in them, to look exactly into the temperament and composition of so many infinite and contrary events, unto the making up of one most exquisite and beautiful work.
{for there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes} As chap. 2:23. This he speaks of his incessant study, in denying himself necessary refreshments, out of the intentness of his mind in this inquiry, as strong and fixed thoughts will keep away sleep from our eyes, Psal. 127:2; Eccles. 5:12.
{a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun} Cannot perfectly understand, or search into the counsel of God in the government of human affairs, his secret Judgments, his admirable contrivances, his various wisdom, Job 11:7, 8, 9; Psal. 36:6, and 92:5. A man can neither by labor, nor by wisdom, (the Two great engines and instruments of discovery) attain unto it. He does not hereby discourage us from searching into the works of God, which elsewhere we are directed to observe, Psal. 111:2, and 104:24, and 105:5, and 206:13; Isa. 5:12. But only teaches us after all, to adore the depths of his wisdom, to rest satisfied that whatever he does, how contrary soever it appear unto human reason, is righteously, holily, and wisely done. Secret and wonderful his works may be, but they are never unjust: and therefore when we cannot understand them, we must admire and adore them, Job 9:2–14, and 40:2, 3; Rom. 11:33–36.
CHAPTER 9
In the end of the former Chapter, the wise man observed the secret and hidden course of God's providence; and in this, proceeds in the same argument, taking notice of a confused administration of the world in the common events which do equally befall both the good and the bad, even as death at the last happens to them all alike, verse 1, 2, 3. Whereupon he resumes his former remedy against this Vexation, to wit, that we should comfortably enjoy life, and the good things thereof, while we have time to do it, and not defer it till it be too late, because when death comes, it deprives us of all the comforts and delights which this present life does afford unto us: upon which occasion he praises life before death, because therein we have the liberty of enjoying all good things under the sun, the sense of all which, death does bereave us of, verse 4, 5, 6. And therefore since the days of our life are but vanity, we ought with much cheerfulness and intention of mind to enjoy all the sweet contentments which life does afford us, yet so, as not to leave the duties of our Calling undone, this being all the portion which we can have in this life of all our labors, verse 7, 8, 9, 10. After which he falls into the contemplation of another wonderful providence of God, whereby events seem to befall men rather by chance, than by reason and counsel, and contrary to those previous dispositions by which we are led to expect far different effects from those which do come to pass, verse 11. The reason whereof in part he subjoins, namely, that invincible ignorance which is in all men of the proper seasons wherein actions are to be done, or else disability to foresee and prevent the evils which are coming towards them, and do suddenly surprise them, verse 12. Lastly, lest he should seem to dictate unto us a supine neglect of all good means towards our desired ends, in regard that things seem to be governed rather by chance, than by counsel, He shows the excellent use of godly wisdom to deliver us out of such dangers, by an example of One poor, but wise man, who being in a little city meanly manned and defended, did by his wisdom deliver it from the power and military assaults of a mighty king which came against it. Yet showing withal a very great vanity amongst men in neglecting so wise a man because of his poverty, verse 13, 14, 15, 16, whence he concludes, by showing the excellency of wisdom, that silent wisdom is better than clamorous and bustling power, and than all instruments of war. And withal, that as one wise man may avert much danger, so one wicked man may destroy much good, verse 17, 18.
Verse 1. {All this I considered in mine heart} I gave all this in my heart. I laid it up in mine heart. It notes special study and attention thereunto, Luke 2:51, and 21:14.
{even to declare all this} To prove, examine, perfectly to understand, and clearly to manifest all this. The word signifies to purify and purge, because when a thing is soiled and defaced, it is the more difficultly known, 2 Cor. 3:16, 17, 18.
{That the Righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God} That the persons and works of the best and most prudent men are not in their own power or disposal, but are guided by a Divine providence, and by a secret, invisible, and unpreventable direction from above, by him who works all things, by the counsel of his own Will: To be in the hand of God, notes, 1. Subjection to his power, Joh. 3:35; Matth. 28:18; Joh. 5:22. 2. Direction and guidance by his providence, Acts 4:28; Jer. 10:23; Prov. 16:9, and 20:24; Exod. 34:24. 3. Ruling by his powerful though sometimes secret and invisible government. So the hand of the king, notes the command or order given by the king, 1 Chron. 25:3. 4. Custody and protection from evil by his care, Ester 2:3; Isa. 62:3; Joh. 10:28, 29. Our works are transient things, and as they come from us, seem to vanish away, and to be no more, they are quickly out of our hands: but they are always in God's hands, and written in his book, he reserves them unto the time of Retribution, and he keeps an exact Record and Register of them: So that no one of them shall be unrewarded, Heb. 6:10. Our persons, our times, our employments are in the hand of God, men cannot do to us, or dispose of us as they will, Joh. 19:10, 11, neither can we dispose of ourselves as we please: but he who is wisest, and knows what is best for us, and what uses we are fittest for, does as it pleases him, order both our persons, our times, our places, our callings, our work, our wages, as may be most for glory of his Name, whose we are, and whom it is our happiness to serve, in whatsoever station he shall be pleased to place us, 2 Sam. 15:25, 26.
{no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them} The words will admit of such a reading as this; The Righteous, and the wise, and their works are in the hand of God, also love and hatred, to wit, are in the hand of God. He loves whom he will, he hates whom he will, Rom. 9:11, 12, 13, 15, 16. No man knows anything that is before him: no man can discover the counsel or the love and hatred of God by any outward things which he looks on, the same things equally happening to the good and to the bad, chap. 8:14; Matth. 5:45. Or, no man can know whether the things which he loves, or the things which he hates, shall befall him, though he guide his works with never so much rectitude and prudence; events depending on the providence of God, and not on the counsel of men, Rom. 9:16; Jer. 9:23, 24; Isa. 45:9; Jam. 4:13, 14, 15.
V. 2. {All things come alike unto all: and there is one event}, &c. Some would have these words, and so forward to verse 13, to be the perverse judgment of the flesh, and the voice of Atheists and Epicures upon the doctrine of providence before observed: But we must remember, that Solomon speaks only of outward things, and the different administration of them: and of the remedies of vanity and vexation, in regard of our condition here under the sun, restraining and limiting all the confused events of worldly things by the holy hand and wise providence of God; And all the precepts which might otherwise seem to savor of Sensuality and Epicurism by the fear of God, and honest labor in our vocations: which things being premised, all that is here set down, does well consist with the will of God, and the scope of Solomon in this book, which is to set down such rules de Tranquillitate animi, as may make a man comfortably to digest the vanities of this life, and sweetly to pass over the time of his pilgrimage here.
{All things come alike to All} Omnia sicut omnibus: So Symmachus, ἅπαντα ὅμοια τοῖς πᾶσι, All alike unto All. This is the reason why we cannot judge of love or hatred by outward things: for albeit good things are promised unto good men, and evil things threatened unto evil men; yet God does so proceed in the execution of these promises and threatenings, as that faith only can discover the difference; all things outwardly, and to the eye of sense appearing alike to all: As if the Lord had subjected all things to the domination of Fortune, rather than of Justice; and that the events of the world, were all rather casual and contingent, than either predetermined by the counsel, or governed by the providence of God.
{one event to the righteous and to the wicked}, &c. Moses dies in the wilderness, as well as those that murmured. Josiah in the wars as well as Ahab. Is Abraham rich? so is Nabal: Is Solomon wise? so is Achitophel: Is Joseph honored by Pharaoh? so is Doeg by Saul. And usually, as to outward things, the advantage is on the side of the worst men, Psal. 73:12, 13; Mal. 3:15.
{to the righteous and the wicked} In regard of their spiritual state and condition towards God. Not that any man is perfectly righteous in this life, chap. 7:20, but inchoately by the first fruits of the Spirit. Comparatively, in opposition to the wicked. Evangelically, by sincere dispositions of heart, and by the ordinary prevalency and dominion of grace.
{to the clean and unclean} Between whom great difference was to be made, Ezek. 22:26.
{to him that sacrificeth, and him that sacrificeth not} That carefully observes, or profanely neglects the worship of God; as we see in the examples of Jeroboam and Jehu.
{as is the good, so is the sinner} The doubling of the prefix Caph, notes an equal comparison, and absolute similitude between the things compared, Gen. 18:25, and 44:18; Isa. 24:2; 1 Reg. 22:4.
{and he that sweareth} Namely, falsely or rashly, without truth, or judgment, or righteousness.
{as he that feareth an oath} The character of a godly man, who does so reverence the great Name of God, Deut. 28:58, that by the fear thereof, he is kept from swearing rashly by it, and when he is called to swear, does it with an awful regard towards that glorious and fearful Name.
V. 3. {This is an evil amongst all things that are done}, &c. When I considered the course of providence, I found this to be one of the most grievous things which happens under the sun; That all things, the same equal events, both in life and in death, do happen not only to the just and the unjust, but even to the maddest and most desperate of sinners, who all their life long do give up themselves unto all excess of wickedness.
{This is an evil among all things} It is not evil in regard of God, who does all in a most wise and holy manner: but evil, that is, grievous and troublesome unto man to behold, a great temptation unto him to consider, that just and wise men should be exposed to the self-same miseries with fools and ungodly.
{an evil amongst all things} Or, above all other evils: Some render it, hoc pessimum, this is the worst of evils. As the superlative is often expressed by an adjective, governing an ablative case with the preposition ב: Examples whereof, the Learned give in, 1 Sam. 17:12; Prov. 30:30; Cant. 1:8; Luke 1:28; Jer. 49:15.
{yea also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil}, &c. Yea also; That upon occasion hereof, when men see that it is all one, whether men be good or bad, as to any outward difference in things here below; they judge it vain to serve the Lord, they despise all threats, they undervalue all promises, they let loose the reins, and run headlong unto all kind of wickedness and madness, all sort of furious headstrong and desperate excess, with boldness and presumption. See chap. 8:11.
{and after that they go to the dead} After a life spent in madness and sensuality, then they die. Or, Their latter end is to go to the dead: τελευταῖα εἰς νεκρούς; so Symmachus. Others, After that, (i.) Following their own heart; running after their own lusts, they do at last fall into the pit. The end of all their madness is death, Rom. 6:21.
V. 4. {For to him that is joined to all the living, there is hope} In the written text it is, Who shall be chosen? but the Masoreths direct the reading to be, instead of chosen, joined, by a transposition of the original letters. This correction some learned men have conceived unnecessary. Some rendering it thus, For what or which shall be chosen? Thereby meaning, how difficult it is to resolve, which state or condition to choose, that of the living or the dead. Yet quickly passing a judgment on the side of the living, in regard of the hope a man may have, while he lives, of bettering his condition. Others annexing these words unto the last of the former verse, thus, After all men's madness, their end is to die: Who shall be chosen out, or exempted from that common condition? Since therefore all men, without any choice or exemption, must die, most miserable is the condition of those mad men, whose hearts are full of wickedness, even till death overtake them: For while men live there is some ground of hope, but the mightiest of sinners, when once dead are past hope, and in a worse condition than the meanest men who are yet alive. Others retaining the marginal reading, render it thus by an interrogation, For who will be joined, to wit, with the dead; Who will choose a dead man for his companion, since that is, of all, the most hopeless condition? But this is a forced sense; herein therefore Interpreters do most agree. As for him that is joined to, or is a companion of the living, he has hope, While life remains, what evils ever befall a man, he is in hope to break through, and to mend his condition; some good things howsoever he does yet enjoy: But, as to the good things of this world, after death there is no hope. Symmachus, whom the vulgar follows, reads it thus, τίς γὰρ εἰς ἀεὶ διατελέσει ζῶν; Who shall always continue alive? Unto such a man there would be hope. Pagnin and Montanus keep the reading in the text, and render it thus, Whosoever is chosen unto: or amongst the living unto him there is hope. The Septuagint renders it differently from all. ὅτι τίς δὲ κοινωνεῖ πρὸς πάντας τοὺς ζῶντας; Who is there that communicateth with or towards all the living? They seem to follow, not the written text, but the reading; and so by communicating, mean, joining in fellowship with the living; who is there that shall have the society and communion of all the living? Surely none. According to the sense of Symmachus, and Hierom: Marinus Brixianus offers two other senses; 1. By reading the word actively, with a different punctuation, thus, Whosoever chooseth any thing while he is yet alive, he hath hope to compass and to effect his desire. 2. By keeping to the written text, in the passive sense, thus, Whosoever shall be chosen unto any life, or condition of life, he may therein have hope; which makes a clear and good sense. The adjective which we render, Living, being usually taken for the substantive or abstract, to wit, for life; as Gen. 2:7; Psal. 21:4; Prov. 18:21; Psal. 63:3. I take it, the expression we find Isa. 4:3 may give light unto this place. Every one that is written among the living: To be chosen among the living, here; seems to be the same, with being written amongst the living, there. It is an allusion unto Cities, wherein there is a Matricula or Record kept of such as were free men, whereunto the Scripture seems to allude, Psal. 87:6; Ezek. 13:9; Heb. 12:23; Jer. 17:13; Luke 10:20; Psal. 4:3. For as the Elect are said to be written in the Book of life, Dan. 12:1; Psal. 69:28; Rev. 17:8, and 21:27, and 22:19, so the living may be said to be elected unto life; as all such enrollments in the records of a city, do follow upon a preceding choice of the persons so enrolled.
{for a living dog is better than a dead lion} A proverbial speech; whereby is meant, that the basest and most contemptible person while he lives, is in a better and more hopeful condition than the most honorable, when he is laid in the dust. The Scripture uses the metaphor of a dog, to denote the vilest and most abject persons, 2 Reg. 8:13; Matth. 15:16; Revel. 22:15; Phil. 3:2, as on the other side: a lion is the most noble of beasts, Prov. 30:30, yet a dead lion is exposed to the scorn of the weakest and most fearful creatures; according to the Greek Epigram, καὶ αὐτοὶ νεκροῦ σῶμα λέοντος ἐφυβρίζουσι λαγωοί. The lowest expression of a vile thing, which the Scripture uses is this, A dead dog, 1 Sam. 24:14; 2 Sam. 9:8.
V. 5. {For the living know that they shall die} By this knowledge they gain much, if they rightly improve it. For, 1. Hereby they are persuaded to repent, and to fit themselves to meet with the king of terrors. 2. Hereby they are set seriously to consider, how this unavoidable evil may be sweetened, and sanctified unto them, that they may comfortably desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is best of all, 2 Cor. 5:4; Phil. 1:23. 3. Hereby they are excited unto duty with more vigor, when they look on this as the day of grace, as the time of light, wherein only they can work, Joh. 9:4; Isa. 38:18, 19; Psal. 118:17; Job 14:14; Psal. 39:1–4, and 90:12. But 4. and which seems most pertinent unto this place, knowing that they shall die, and that the present comforts of this world, are for the use of the living only, and not of the dead: therefore they set themselves comfortably to enjoy the good blessings of God here, while they have time to enjoy them, and by a cheerful and thankful enjoyment of present mercies, to fit themselves for a happy dissolution. For godliness teaches us, both quietly to enjoy the world, and willingly to leave it when God calls.
{but the dead know not any thing} This is not spoken absolutely, for the spirits of just men are made perfect, and are with Christ, but according to the subject matter in the context. They know nothing of the things of the world, or any outward comforts and blessings here below under the sun, they can no longer be delighted with the knowledge or fruition of earthly things, Job 14:21; Isa. 63:16.
{neither have they any more reward} He speaks not of the reward of a holy life, for so the dead have a reward, because their works do follow them, Rev. 14:13, but he speaks of the comfortable use of outward blessings; as the only reward which worldly things can afford for all their labor; as it is more plainly expounded in the next verse; and chapter 3:12, and 5:18, 19, and 8:15.
{for the memory of them is forgotten} They are wholly removed from all human and worldly conversation with men, their house, their families, their friends know them no more. So far are they from enjoying and knowing outward things, that the living do by degrees forget them, Isa. 26:14; Job 10:8, 9, 10.
V. 6. {Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy is now perished} He speaks in relation to outward things; living men meet here with objects of all sorts, some lovely, some hateful: some things that they pity, some that they envy. But when they are dead, they have no knowledge left of any such things, and consequently no affections at all towards them. And because it were endless to recount particulars, therefore he concludes in general, That they have not any more a portion for ever in any thing under the sun. They have not the possession, the fruition, so much as the contemplation of any worldly things; They carry away nothing with them, their glory, their contents do not descend after them. A covetous man does no more dote upon wealth, nor an ambitious man upon honor, nor a sensual voluptuous man upon pleasure: all their thoughts, desires, emulations perish; therefore if ever we will enjoy the good blessings of God, it must be while we live, because there is no knowledge nor wisdom in the grave whither we go, Psal. 49:17; Luke 12:20; Job 3:17, 18, 19, and 7:7–10.
V. 7. {Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart} Inasmuch as the dead neither know, nor enjoy any of these worldly blessings; and inasmuch as God gives them to his servants in love, and as comfortable refreshments unto them in the days of their vanity: Therefore he exhorts unto a cheerful fruition of them, while we have time and liberty so to do, that so the many other sorrows and bitternesses which they shall meet with in this life, may be mitigated and sweetened unto them. He speaks not (as some conceive) of sensual, epicurean, and brutish excess, but of an honest, decent, and cheerful enjoyment of blessings, with thankfulness, and in the fear of God.
{Go thy way} It is used adverbially, as much as Age igitur, eia Agedum, by way of adhortation, or encouragement; as Gen. 19:32; Prov. 1:11; Eccles. 2:1; Isa. 1:18, and 55:11. Since in death you cannot have any love, nor sense of any outward blessings, therefore hearken to my counsel, make use of your time, and enjoy mercies while you may.
{eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a good} (i.) a merry {heart} As a sad heart is called an evil heart, Neh. 2:2; 1 Reg. 21:7; Ruth 3:7; Eccles. 7:3. Enjoy the fruit of thine own labors: as chap. 3:22. When he says, Thy bread, wine, &c., he shows, that our comforts and delights must be bounded within our own labors and possessions; though stolen waters, and bread of deceit may be sweet, yet it has gravel and bitterness in it at the last, Prov. 9:17, 18; 2 Thess. 3:12. And also, that our delights must be proportioned to the decency of our condition: we must eat, panem statutum, our proper portion, and dimensum, and not either luxuriously exceed, or sordidly live beneath our own estate and condition, Prov. 30:8.
{for God now accepteth thy works} It is pleasing unto God, that when you have, in the fear of his Name, and in obedience to his Ordinance, labored, and by his blessing, gotten your appointed portion, then you should, after an honest, cheerful, decent and liberal manner, without further anxiety, or solicitousness enjoy the same. This is the principal boundary of our outward pleasures and delights, still to keep ourselves within such rules of piety and moderation, as that our ways may be pleasing unto God. And this shows us the true way to find sweetness in the creature, and to feel joy in the fruition thereof, namely, when our persons and our ways are pleasing unto God: for piety does not exclude, but only moderate earthly delights, and so moderate them, that though they be not so excessive as the luxurious and sensual pleasures of foolish Epicures, yet they are far more pure, sweet, and satisfactory; as having no guilt, no gall, no curse, nor inward sorrow and terrors attending on them, Nehem. 8:10.
V. 8. {Let thy garments be always white} Food and raiment are the substantials of outward blessings, 1 Tim. 6:8. Having directed unto cheerfulness in the one, he here directs unto decency and comeliness in the other. Whiteness was anciently an expression of things pleasing and delightful. Albosque dies horasque serenas in Silius Italicus. Candidus & felix proximus annus erit, in Ovid. So the stone of absolution, is called a white stone, Rev. 2:17, the Asses on which persons of honor did ride, were white Asses, Judg. 5:10. In like manner they did use in the Eastern countries to use white garments, as expressions of dignity and honor, Ester 8:15. Therefore our Savior showing his glory to Peter, and James, and John, in the mount, had his garments white as light, Matth. 12:2. And the glory of the Saints in heaven is expressed by white Robes, Rev. 3:4, 5, 18, and 6:11, and 19:8. Here it is used as a Symbol of joy and cheerfulness; as on the other side, Blackness is the color of grief and sorrow, Jer. 14:2. They were wont to use white garments at feasts and joyful solemnities: when he says, let them be always white, it is to be understood not absolutely, as if they were never to mourn, chap. 7:2, this was the sin of the rich Glutton, Luke 16:19, but with restriction to the rules of seasonableness and decency, Prov. 5:19.
{And let thine head lack no ointment} This likewise was an expression of joy used in feasts, Luke 7:46; Joh. 12:3, and in triumphal solemnities, whereunto the Apostle seems to allude, 2 Cor. 2:14, 15, 16, and in the like occasions of rejoicing, Amos 6:6; Prov. 27:9. As in times of humiliation and sorrow they were wont not to anoint themselves, Dan. 10:3. The meaning is, that we should lead our lives with as much sereneness, cheerfulness, and sweet delight, in the liberal use of the good blessings of God, as the quality of our degree, the decency of our condition, the rules of Religious wisdom, and the fear of God do allow us, not sordidly or frowardly denying ourselves the benefit of those good things which the bounty of God has bestowed upon us.
V. 9. {Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest} See life, or enjoy life. So Symmachus, ἀπόλαυσον ζωῆς: as 1 Pet. 3:10; Eccles. 2:1, 24.
{with the wife whom thou lovest} Therefore, he speaks not in the person of an Epicure, to whom stolen waters are sweet, Prov. 9:17, but of a lawful and chaste love; as Prov. 5:15–19.
{whom thou lovest} This is the character of a wife, and the duty of the husband, that which makes their communion comfortable, Ezek. 24:16, 16, 18; Ephes. 5:25, 28, 29. Therefore the husband is called the friend of his wife, Jer. 3:20. There is a special freeness of delight and liberty of love which is allowed in this relation, though still within the bounds of honor and sobriety, Prov. 5:19; Gen. 26:8. It notes also the difference between conjugal and adulterous love, that is, a love, wherein a man may live joyfully, or may sweetly enjoy his life with comfort; whereas the pleasures of the other lead unto death, Prov. 2:18, and 5:3–11, and 6:26, 32, 33, and 7:23.
{all the days of the life of thy vanity} As chap. 6:12. This is repeated again, to mind us in the midst of all our earthly contentments, that they are perishing and Temporary things. This living joyfully All our days, is to be understood as the Always, in the former verse, with restriction to the duties of piety and humiliation, 1 Cor. 7:5, and also it intimates the duty of cohabitation, that they should not depart one from the other, 1 Cor. 7:10.
{which he hath given thee} That may refer either to the wife, which elsewhere he tells us, is the gift of God, Prov. 19:14, or to the days of the life of our vanity, which also are the gift of God, Job 10:12; Acts 17:25; Psal. 31:15.
{this is thy portion in this life} As chap. 2:24, and 3:13, and 5:18, 19, and 8:15. When you die, you shall carry none of these comforts away with you; in the next world there is no enjoyment of these kind of blessings, Psal. 49:17; Matth. 22:30.
V. 10. {Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do it with thy might} Having instanced in the principal outward comforts of life, food, raiment, marriage, he concludes with a general precept, that in all things else wherein the tranquility and comfort of life did consist, they should freely and cheerfully make use of them, before they go into their graves, where, as they shall have none of these outward materials to work upon, so neither, if they had them, should they have any wisdom or skill to make use of them, or to reap delight from them.
{Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do} Whatsoever is within your power, and your abilities can reach unto, whatever works in your Calling do belong unto you, or whatsoever state and condition the providence of God shall put you in, Gen. 32:13; Lev. 5:7, and 12:8; Num. 6:21; Judg. 9:33. Whatsoever just occasion of honest cheerfulness does offer itself unto you, embrace it.
{do it with thy might} Vigorously, industriously, instantly, do not slack time, nor defer it till it be too late, Rom. 12:11; 2 Thess. 3:8; Tit. 3:8, 14.
{for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither thou goest} In this life you have opportunities of doing good, of delighting yourself in the studies of knowledge and wisdom, of improving your strength and invention to pleasure yourself and others, Therefore work while it is day, and while you have yet an opportunity, Joh. 9:4, and 12:35; Gal. 6:10, while there is strength in your hand, while there is wisdom in your head, while the vigor of your faculties last: for in the Grave, or in the state of death, whither you are every moment hastening, there is no place for any of these things, that is not seculum operis, but mercedis. If you will be rewarded then, you must work now. Carpe diem, quàm minimum credulus postero. Jam te premet nox. Though this be applicable unto all duties of piety, and charity, yet the scope of the place aims principally at the enjoyment of the comforts and commodities of this present life, which we are cheerfully, while they are put into our hands, to enjoy, and not put them off till death, when we shall have neither skill nor strength to use them. Here also we may observe what manner of delights he allows them, namely, such as arise from honest labors, and are guided and moderated by art, knowledge, and wisdom. Our delights must not be sensual, but rational and industrious.
V. 11. {I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong}, &c. These words some make to be the observation of another vanity under the sun, to wit, That events and success do sometimes fall out quite otherwise than the preparation or probability of second causes do seem to promise: That things are so done usually in the world, as that no reason can at all be given of them. Others make them a kind of corrective to the former precept, of living joyfully in the use of all outward blessings; Though it were to be wished that man could thus evenly and comfortably pass over his days, yet when I further considered, I found, That no man can ever enjoy a stable and constant delight in this world, in regard that future events do oftentimes quite vary from those principles and preparations which went before them. The words seem to have relation both to the general scope of the Chapter before, Touching the powerful and unsearchable providence of God, chap. 8:16, 17, and 9:1, 2, and also the words immediately preceding; for whereas he had advised, That whatever our hand finds to do, we should do it with our might: Lest any man should thereupon presume, that things must needs fall out according to those abilities which he brings unto the effecting of them, He here directs us to look up in all our works, above second causes, not to trust in our own gifts, not to attribute anything to our own strength, to remember, that it is not in him that willeth, nor in him that runneth, but in God who showeth mercy, Rom. 9:16, and accordingly to implore his assistance and blessing in all our labors, who works all our works for us, Isa. 26:12; Psal. 127:1, 2; Deut. 8:17, 18; Prov. 10:22; Jer. 9:23. And having done our duty, and used such good means as God affords, then quietly to refer the success unto God, in whose hand are all the ways of the children of men, and upon whose good pleasure do all the issues of things depend.
{I returned and to see} The infinitive mood is put for the indicative; as Jer. 14:5; Zach. 12:10.
{I saw under the sun} I considered the things which are done in this Life amongst men, and found by my observation, that the race is not to the swift. That swiftness does not ever avail a man, to win the prize, or to escape danger, 2 Sam. 2:18, 23; Jer. 46:5, 6; Amos 2:14, 15, 16.
{nor the battle to the strong} That the strength of the mighty does not always avail them either to fight or conquer, Judg. 7:7; 1 Sam. 14:6; 2 Chron. 14:9–12; Psal. 33:17, 18.
{nor yet bread to the wise} Livelihood and subsistence to men whose wisdom should commend them to honor and great place, chap. 10:6, 7; Psal. 127:2. David was put to desire supplies from Nabal; and Christ, in whom were all the treasures of wisdom, was ministered unto, Luke 8:2; Matth. 8:20; 2 Cor. 11:26, 27.
{nor riches to men of understanding} We read of rich fools, 1 Sam. 25:2, 3, 25; Luke 12:16, 20, and of poor wise men here, verse 15.
{nor yet favour to men of skill} Joseph cast into prison, Daniel in the lions' den, David hated of Saul.
{But time and chance happeneth to them all} Their endeavors do arrive at such a success as the counsel of God had preordained, which is wholly hidden from our eyes, and therefore seem to fall out many times rather at adventure, and casually than according to any regular means that have been used in order unto them. Whereby we learn, that Divine providence has a wise and holy hand in ordering the most casual and fortuitous events, to the execution of his righteous counsels, 1 Reg. 22:34; Ester 6:1–11; 1 Sam. 6:7–12; 2 Reg. 3:22–24. He does not hereby dishearten us from the use of means, but direct us in the use of them, not to sacrifice to our own net, nor to glory in our own wisdom, but to wait upon the blessing and providence of God, to give him the praise of our successes, and quietly to bear whatever miscarriages he has ordered to befall us, 1 Cor. 1:31; Ja. 4:13–16; 2 Sa. 15:25, 26.
V. 12. {for man also knoweth not his time} events are then said to be casual, when no previous knowledge or counsel has made way unto them. Therefore to prove that even able, wise, and skillful men are subject in common with others unto time and chance, he here adds, That man knoweth not his time. καιρὸν αὐτοῦ, so the Septuagint: εὐκαιρίαν αὐτοῦ, so Symmachus: His proper season and opportunity of working. But by the similitudes here used to illustrate this ignorance, It should seem, that His time, notes the time of evil and calamity; which many times befalls a man when he little dreams of it. This is called his day, or his hour, Psal. 37:13; Joh. 16:4, and 13:1. Calamity comes as a Thief in the night, unseen, unexpected, Matth. 24:50; 1 Thess. 5:3; Luke 12:20. Or as a snare which a man thinks not of, Luke 21:35.
{As the fishes that are taken in an evil net}, [evil and exitious unto them] {and as the birds that are caught in a snare, so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them} Many times when we think things go best with us, as the fish and the bird go with much hope and promise of good to themselves, unto the bait and snare; so men fall into evil by those very means by which they promised much good unto themselves, Ester 5:12; Psal. 69:22; 2 Sam. 13:28; Luke 12:19, 20. He intimates likewise, that as the wisdom of man can easily deceive the simple birds, so the providence and power of God can be too hard for all the wisdom of men, and ensnare them in their own counsels, Job 5:12, 13, 14; Prov. 11:5. He can suddenly infatuate them, Isa. 19:11–15, or suddenly start up some unexpected circumstance which shall vary the nature of the whole business, though otherwise never so wisely contrived, 1 Sa. 23:27, 28; Job 22:10; Isa. 64:7.
V. 13, 14, 15, 16. {This wisdom have I also seen under the sun, and it seemed great unto me: There was a little city}, &c. These words may be understood either as the observation of another vanity, namely, the disrespect which is showed unto wisdom, when it is overclouded with poverty, by the example or parable of a little city, delivered from a great king by a poor despised man: or else in relation to the words next preceding, thus; Though it be true, that sometimes events fall out contrary to the second causes, so that even wise men are disappointed in their works of those ends which regularly should have ensued upon them; yet wisdom ought not therefore to be despised, no not in the meanest persons, for as sometimes God does deny success to the most powerful and probable causes, so does he at other times give great deliverance by unknown and unthought on means. The scope is to show the excellent use of wisdom, and how highly it is to be valued, though it be as a treasure in an earthen vessel, 2 Cor. 4:5, though brought unto us by mean hands: as David blessed God for the wise counsel of Abigail, 1 Sam. 25:32, 44, and Naaman rejected not the advice of a little maid, 2 Reg. 5:2, 3, 4. Wisdom in but a woman, saved a city from destruction, 2 Sam. 20:16–22.
{It seemed great unto me} However the wisdom of the poor man was undervalued by others, yet it seemed very great unto me, so much the greater, by how much fewer helps and means he had to attain unto it.
{there was a little city, and few men within it} Here in a parable, he shows the excellency of wisdom, by the greatness of the danger from which it delivers; set forth by a little city, with few men, and weak defense, assaulted by a great king, with a numerous army, and strong bulwarks: so that the disadvantage was every way on the city side.
{now there was found in it a poor wise man} He found in it: verbs active of the third person are used sometimes passively; Isa. 9:6; Hos. 10:2. God many times makes one wise and holy man a means of delivering a whole people, Prov. 11:11; Gen. 19:20; 2 Reg. 2:12; 1 Sam. 17:8, 9, 51, 52; Deut. 2:30.
{And he by his wisdom delivered the city} As one Archimedes at Syracuse, by his art did more towards the defense of the city, than all the rest that were in it; ἓν σοφὸν βούλευμα πολλὰς χεῖρας νικᾷ.
{yet no man remembered that poor man} This deliverance was wrought by a poor man whom no man made any account of, nor expected any such good from, being an obscure unknown person: and when he had wrought it, no man looked after him, to return him any thanks for it, 2 Cor. 4:7.
{Then said I, wisdom is better than strength} As chap. 7:19; Prov. 21:22, and 24:3, 4, 5. Hereby we are taught to consider the goodness of things in comparison one to another, and to prefer that which is most excellent, 1 Cor. 12:31, and 7:38; 1 Sam. 15:22.
V. 17. {The words of wise men are heard in quiet, more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools} Are heard, that is, ought to be heard. As a son honoreth his father, Mal. 1:6, that is, he ought to honor him.
{are heard in quiet} That is, either are to be delivered with submission and meekness, Prov. 25:15; 1 Reg. 12:7. Or, are to be heard with a tractable and calm spirit, without pride or contradiction, Job 29:21, 22; Jam. 1:21. A wise man speaking, though without clamor, contention, or ostentation, does by his weighty and seasonable advice, more calm the spirits of his hearers, and by his sober and serious counsel, more powerfully prevail with them, than all the angry and passionate words of such as have more power, but no skill to manage it:
Ille regit dictis animos & pectora mulcet.
V. 18. {Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good} Wisdom is not only better than strength, but than strength armed and seconded with military provisions: the poor man's wisdom did not only deliver the city from the great king and his numerous army, but from his bulwarks and fortifications which he had raised against it.
{but one sinner destroyeth much good} By the opposition between a sinner and a wise man, it is evident, that Solomon's wise man here, is also a godly man: otherwise God uses to infatuate and defeat the counsels of worldly wisdom, 2 Sam. 15:31; Isa. 19:11–14; Isa. 29:14, and 44:25; 1 Cor. 1:19.
{one sinner} Some render it, Qui in uno peccat. He that in war through folly and inadvertency commits one error, may destroy a whole army: for they say, In bello non licet bis peccare. That one error of Absalom in preferring the counsel of Hushai before Achitophel's, did undo his whole enterprise. But it is rather to be understood in opposition to the one poor wise man, verse 15: one wicked man like Achan will endanger the camp, Josh. 7:1–5; 1 Cor. 5:6; as one leak in a ship; one spark in a barrel of gunpowder will suddenly undo all. One fool can throw a jewel into the sea, which a thousand wise men cannot get up again: πολλάκι καὶ ξύμπασα πόλις κακοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἐπαυρεῖ. Grex totus in agris unius scabie cadit.
CHAPTER 10
In the latter end of the former chapter, he showed the excellent use of godly wisdom in order unto tranquility, both private and public, and the mischief which one fool might do in destroying much good: which last clause in that chapter, he proceeds in the beginning of this, to demonstrate by three instances, showing first how folly destroys a good name, which he illustrates by an excellent similitude, verse 1. Secondly, how it spoils a man's actions and undertakings, which by wisdom might be dexterously managed, verse 2. Thirdly, how it disgraces a man's whole behavior, and conversation, verse 3.
Then he proceeds to show the excellent use of true wisdom, in relation to our behavior towards princes, and persons in authority, whereby, through prudent caution, meekness, and gracious deportment, a man may restrain in himself, all thoughts, speeches, or attempts tending unto rebellion, and may allay and pacify the displeasure which had been conceived against him, in the mind of the ruler; whereas folly transporting a man into any disloyal resolutions, does but ruin himself, and end in fruitless and weary labor. Concerning those kind of disloyal affections, he shows, first, the rise and occasion of them, which may be double. First, undutiful and revengeful passions, upon any private displeasure, of the ruler against us in our own particular persons, verse 4. Secondly, envy or indignation growing out of errors in government; when a man observes foolish and unworthy persons to be advanced, and those more honorable and deserving to be depressed and discountenanced, verse 5, 6, 7.
Secondly, he shows the great danger of disloyalty, and that 1. In regard of actions and attempts, which usually prove pernicious to their authors, and this illustrated by many lively similitudes, verse 8, 9, 10, 11.
2. In regard of rebellious and foolish speeches, contrary unto that gracious circumspection and decorum which wisdom would teach a man to observe, in the which through the heat of passion, a man usually proceeds on from bad to worse, verse 12, 13, 14. Concerning which he shows, 1. The mischief which they bring, verse 12. 2. The vanity and fruitlessness of them to the person that utters them, verse 15. 3. The root of them, ignorance of civil affairs, and want of skill to converse with men, verse 14. 4. The nature of them, they begin in folly, they end in madness, they proceed in babbling, and multiplicity of words, concerning things which a man cannot foresee or know anything of them, verse 13, 14.
3. In regard of inward thoughts and affections; concerning which he shows how little security a man can promise himself even in his most secret and inmost projections of disloyalty, inasmuch as God has invisible and unexpected means to bring it all to light, verse 20.
And because princes might haply hereupon think themselves free from all tie or duty towards their people, because they should be free from all danger and rebellion from them: he does therefore further show the necessary dependence which prince and people mutually have in regard of weal and woe. Thereby deterring princes from tyranny and misgovernment (whereby they utterly subvert the end of God's ordinance, which was for the peace and prosperity of the people). And also directing them unto the right means of government, and proper virtues requisite thereunto; which are, 1. Wisdom and maturity of judgment, that he be not a child, verse 16. 2. Nobleness of mind, not only in regard of blood, but chiefly in virtuous endowments, raising the soul above all sordid and base designs. 3. Temperance and sobriety, eating and drinking to strengthen unto duty, not to disable or indispose unto it, nor to encroach upon it, verse 16, 17. 4. Diligent attendance, and superinspection over the house of the commonwealth, that there may be no ruptures in it, but that all be sound, and in good repair, verse 18. 5. Moderation in delights, not to feast for laughter, nor spend the life in mirth and drinking, because excess in these will require a proportionable increase in money and treasures to maintain them, whence will necessarily arise oppressions and extortions upon the people, verse 19.
Verse 1. {Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly}, &c. In these words the wise man does by an elegant similitude or proverbial speech, illustrate what he had last spoken, namely, That one sinner destroyeth much good, as one dead fly does corrupt and mar a whole vessel of most precious ointment, which in those countries was had in great account, 2 Reg. 20:13. It is here applied unto a man's good name which is compared unto sweet ointment, Eccles. 7:1; Cant. 1:3. And as a fly, though but a little creature, can taint and corrupt much precious perfume, so a little mixture of folly and indiscretion will stain and blemish the reputation of a man, otherwise very wise and honorable. And this so much the rather, because of the malignity and ingratitude of men, who do more hastily censure one error, than value many graces, and with whom one small miscarriage does blot out the memory of all other deservings: as one little cloud does serve to overshadow the whole body of the sun. Therefore it concerns us to walk so much the more unblamably, that we may not by the least oversight or folly blemish our profession, or cause it to stink in the nostrils of others, Gen. 34:30; Phil. 2:15; 1 Tim. 6:1; 2 Cor. 6:3; 1 Pet. 2:15; much less by our leaven sour the whole mass, and derive infection upon many others: 1 Cor. 5:6; Gal. 5:9.
{Dead flies} Flies of death, the genitive case is in the place of an adjective, Psal. 2:9, and 31:3; Rom. 7:24; Phil. 3:21; Judg. 7:13; 2 Thess. 2:3; 2 Pet. 2:1. This may be taken either actively, flies which cause death, as the plague of the locusts is called death, Exod. 10:17; poisonous flies which do render sweet ointment deadly and mortiferous, as instruments of death, Psal. 7:14, i.e., which do cause death: or else, passively, flies which are dead, and by their putrefaction do taint the ointment in the which they are drowned.
{Dead flies doth cause} The noun is plural, and the verb singular, which may properly thus be rendered, Any one of dead flies doth cause the ointment to stink; as Exod. 31:14; Rom. 1:20. Thereby intimating the great mischief and damage which may arise from very small causes.
{cause to send forth a stinking savour} Heb. maketh to stink; exhaleth or belcheth forth; thereby noting a continual emanation of unsavoriness, so that the stink does never cease or give over. When two verbs of the same tense come thus together, grammarians tell us, that the former has an adverbial signification, as Jer. 13:18. Humble your selves, sit down, i.e., sit humbly down. Hos. 9:9. They have made deep, they have corrupted, i.e., they have deeply corrupted. Rom. 10:20. Esay is bold and saith, i.e., speaks boldly. So here, foetere facit, eructat, i.e., foetide eructat. Which is well rendered in our version, causeth to send forth a stink.
{so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour} The note of similitude is wanting, as in many other places, both in the πρότασις, and in the ἀπόδοσις, as Prov. 11:22; Jer. 17:11; Psal. 125:2.
{so doth a little folly} Here is the ellipsis of the verb, which is to be repeated out of the former member, namely, It causeth to send forth a stinking savor; as Gen. 1:29, 30. The more eminent any person is for wisdom and honor, the more circumspect ought he to be in his conversation, because a little folly and oversight will much diminish his reputation; as spots are soonest observed in the whitest and finest garments, and vermin like worms and moths do usually feed on the purest cloth, Neh. 6:11. Hierom and the vulgar read the words to another sense; Pretiosior est sapientia & gloria, parva, ad tempus, stultitia. That sometimes a little folly is more precious than wisdom and honor, 1 Sam. 21:13. But this, besides the grammatical incongruity, holds no proportion to the former part of the verse, whereunto it answers, and therefore is neglected by the best interpreters.
V. 2. {A wise man's heart is at his right hand, but a fool's heart at his left} A like kind of proverbial form we had, chap. 2:14. The right hand is usually the most expedite and ready for action, does its work more surely, more speedily, more decently, therefore the right hand is the dearer of the two, Matth. 5:29, 30; and it is noted as a thing strange and unusual when men have been left-handed, or able to use both hands alike, Judg. 3:21, and 20:16; 1 Chron. 12:2. So the meaning is, a wise man's heart is ready and prepared unto every good work, he does things with judgment and counsel; he does with mature advice and deliberation so weigh his actions; the circumstances, consequences, probabilities, and events of them, as that he may not afterwards repent of his behavior therein. He works by the guidance of his heart, Prov. 15:22; Luke 14:28–32. But a fool is left-handed in his works, does all his business bunglingly, preposterously, inconsiderately, either, when he advises about business, his hand is absent, and does not execute it; or when he works and goes about it, his heart is absent, and does not direct it. A wise man has the command of his heart, knows how to use it seasonably, opportunely, and in conformity to times, places, persons, so that his undertakings may be successful and prosperous: whereas a fool is transported with passion, amazed at difficulties, perplexed with uncertainties, at his wit's end, and knows not which way to take, or what to resolve, goes about his business as awkwardly and undecently, as a man would do whose right hand were tied behind him, and had only his left hand to help him, Prov. 2:10–15, and 4:26, and 13:16, and 16:22, 23. Examples of this wisdom we have in Jacob, Gen. 32; Joseph, Gen. 41; David, 1 Sam. 16:18; Abigail, 1 Sam. 25; Jethro, Exod. 18:19; the woman of Abel, 2 Sam. 20; Paul, Act. 23:6; and of the contrary folly, Num. 14:40–45; 1 Reg. 12:8; Isa. 19:11–17.
V. 3. {Yea also when he that is a fool walketh by the way, his wisdom faileth him}, &c. Not only in his private actions and undertakings, but in his open conversation amongst men, in his motions, gestures, behavior, gait, countenance, usual deportment; he is destitute of prudence and common discretion, and bewrays the folly of his heart, by the affected fondness of his conversation.
{and he saith to every one, that he is a fool} The Septuagint render it, ἃ λογίζεται πάντα ἀφροσύνη ἐστί, whatsoever he thinketh on is folly. Symmachus in Hierom, He suspecteth of all men that they are fools. Whereunto the vulgar answers, Cum ipse insipiens sit, omnes stultos aestimat, being a fool himself, he accounts all other men fools: as to him that has the jaundice, everything seems yellow; and to him that has a distempered palate, every sweet thing tastes bitter; to him that has a vertiginous brain, every fixed thing seems to run round: so to a man made up of pride and folly, other men much wiser than himself do appear fools. The Chaldee renders it, All men say that he is a fool. But the most emphatical is as we read it, He saith to all men, That he is a fool. He does so palpably discover, and as it were, proclaim his own folly, by his gestures and behavior, as if he would himself tell all men that he is a fool, Prov. 6:13, and 12:23, and 13:16, and 18:2; Jude verse 13.
V. 4. {If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place} Here he shows the excellent use of wisdom in ordering our conversation towards superiors, teaching us to bridle all disloyal passions, to restrain all unlawful attempts, to keep ourselves in the same, even and unmoved temper, whatever provocations we meet with to the contrary.
{If the spirit of the ruler} The Chaldee hereby understands the power and dominion of any ruling lust, by which a man should not suffer himself to be shaken from his steadfastness, nor removed out of his place, or from his duty. But this is inconsonant with the series of this chapter, which is much taken up in the errors of government, and the inconvenient passions which those errors may produce in the minds of the people. Others understand it of the spirit of rule and government, as we often read of the spirit of judgment, of prophecy, of revelation, of wisdom, of knowledge; so the skill of governing, is called the Spirit of God, 1 Sam. 10:10, 11, and 11:6, and 16:14; Isa. 11:1, 2. And they understand it thus, if the Lord advance you unto high place of power and government, leave not your place, continue humble and lowly still, forget not your duty towards your brethren; as Deut. 17:15–20. But the latter clause of this verse plainly leads us to another sense; If the spirit, that is, the wrath and displeasure of the ruler rise up against you; so passion is sometimes called, chap. 7:9; Prov. 25:28; Judg. 9:23; 2 Chron. 21:16. And it seems to denote high displeasure, like that of Saul, of whom it is said, that he breathed out threats against the church, Act. 9:1. His rage was as a terrible blast of a storm against a wall, Isa. 25:4. And this is further intimated in the phrase of Ascending or rising up, as a grievous tempest, or as a flame of fire, 2 Sam. 11:20; Ezek. 24:8; Psal. 78:21. If the high displeasure of the ruler be, though unjustly and injuriously, lifted up against you, as Potiphar's against Joseph, Saul's against David, Laban's against Jacob, Paul's against the church of Christ; leave not thy place. Contain yourself within the bounds of your own calling and condition, do not either through fear and despair, withdraw yourself from your duty, nor through insolence, and impatience, rise up in disloyalty against him, whose spirit is risen against you; keep still in the rank of a subject, and behave yourself with that lowliness and submission which becomes a subject. He speaks not against a prudent withdrawing from a storm, and hiding a man's self, as Jacob fled from Esau, and David from Saul, and Elias from Jezebel, and Christ from Herod, Matth. 10:23; but of disloyal and rebellious defection, going out of his sight, ch. 8:3, as Israel to their tents, 1 Reg. 12:16. He requires us for conscience towards God, to suffer wrongfully, and to be subject even to those that are froward, and injurious, 1 Pet. 2:18, 19. Not to violate our allegiance, nor to attempt any conspiracy against them, but only in our sufferings, to make our prayers and complaints known unto God, who is a judge between them and us, and is able to vindicate our innocency, and to deliver us out of their hands. Every man must keep his station, as soldiers in an army are to stay in their own rank, 1 Cor. 7:20, 21. A man cannot expect to have God's blessing anywhere, but in his own place. His promises and protection are annexed unto our duty, Psal. 91:11; 2 Chron. 15:2. This was the sin of the ten tribes against the house of David, Hos. 8:4, and of Absalom and Sheba against David himself, 2 Sam. 15:10, and 20:1.
{for yielding pacifieth great offences} This is a reason ab uti, to persuade unto the duty. For whereas a man might haply conceive, that the wrath of a king is implacable, and their lost love unreconcilable again, and that therefore their case being desperate, a man were as good give over duty, as perish under it: he shows, that by submission and lenity of spirit, a man may not only recover the favor, but prevent and preserve his prince from many offenses. Some render the words vir sanans, a healer, pacifies great offenses, and so the Septuagint, ὅτι ἴαμα καταπαύει ἁμαρτίας μεγάλας: he that by modest and gentle behavior, seeks to heal the wound and breach between him and his sovereign, shall pacify great offenses. Or, as a man in a course of physic, will abstain from those things which are hurtful unto him: so a wise man will leave off all those sins, whereby the anger of the ruler may be stirred up against him. Wisdom is of a healing nature, Prov. 12:18, and 16:24, as we see in the carriage of Abigail to David, 1 Sam. 25, and of the woman of Abel to Joab, 2 Sam. 20; others rendering it by mollities or remissio, yielding, or fainting, give a double sense of it; first, that a man's yielding to temptations and passions of disloyalty, does cause many offenses to rest on him, does bring with it many other sins, through fainting in the day of adversity, Prov. 24:10. Secondly, that yielding, for a while, unto the tempest, does break the force of it, and cause the heart of a man to relent and to melt towards those, who do with calmness and humility endeavor to divert it, Prov. 15:1, and 25:15. As a tempest which breaks strong oaks that resist it, does no hurt unto the weak corn which yields unto it. Or as wool or mud, does more abate the force of a cannon bullet, than walls of stone that stand stubbornly against it. See Judg. 8:1, 2, 3; Gen. 32:13–20, and 33:4; 1 Sam. 24:16–19, and 25:32, 33.
V. 5, 6. {There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as an error which proceedeth from the ruler}, &c. Here is intimated, another cause of defection and rebellion against princes, namely misgovernment, when through their error and inadvertency, unworthy persons are exalted, and men of eminency and desert depressed.
{There is an evil} Another evil, or a common evil; an evil under the sun, in human affairs.
{as an error} Which is indeed an error: it is here Caph veritatis, not a note of comparison, or similitude, but of truth; as Judg. 13:23; Neh. 7:2; Hos. 4:4, and 5:10; Luke 22:44. By error, is noted a fault committed ignorantly and through inadvertency; as Levit. 4:2; Num. 15:24. Whereby we are taught to put the fairest construction upon the faults of superiors, in the case of misgovernment; it being so easy a thing for them, who must see much with other men's eyes, and cannot possibly have a clear knowledge of the worth of all persons whom they advance, but may easily be carried into mistakes, by the flatteries, or plausible pretenses of those that serve them, to be deceived in their opinions, of the fitness of persons for those places of trust, wherein they do employ them.
{Folly is set in great dignity; and the rich sit in low place} fools are very highly advanced; the abstract for the concrete, to denote men extremely foolish and wicked; as Psal. 5:9; 1 Cor. 2:14; Phil. 3:2; Cant. 5:16. This is matter of much grief and trouble to good men, when power is put into the hands of men, as vicegerents for God, who yet will use it all against him; when the great interests of states and churches, shall be entrusted in the hands of those, who have neither skill nor hearts to promote the good of them, Psal. 12:8; Prov. 28:28, and 29:2; Esth. 3:1–15. This the Lord is often pleased, in his providence, to permit, sometimes for the punishment of a wicked people, Job 34:30; Isa. 19:4; Hos. 13:11; Zach. 11:6; Prov. 28:2; Judg. 9:23, 24; and sometimes for the trial of his faithful servants; and to stir up in them earnest prayer for those who are in authority, that according to their duty they may be friends to those that are pure of heart, 1 Tim. 2:1, 2; Prov. 22:11; Psal. 101:6, 7, 8. And sometimes to show the greatness of his power in destroying tyrants, Exod. 9:16.
{and the rich sit in low place} This is to be understood in opposition to the former; and so by rich is meant, men of noble endowments for wisdom and goodness, Psal. 45:12. To sit in low place, or in an abject and despised condition, is noted here as a posture of mourning and great sorrow; as Jer. 13:18. Humble your selves, or make yourselves low, sit. So Isa. 47:1; Ezek. 26:16.
V. 7. {I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth} By servants, he means men of a low and base condition, fitter to be the tail than the head, Gen. 9:27; Lam. 5:8; which is a thing extremely preposterous and absurd when servants do bear rule, men of slavish condition are advanced above those that are free, noble, and pious, Prov. 19:10, and 30:21, 22; Deut. 28:43, 44.
{upon horses} This is a note of honor and dignity, Esth. 6:8, 9; Jer. 17:25; Ezek. 23:23. Hereby he means, that abject and vile persons, who ought to be under government, were exalted unto the throne, and unto places of trust and honor. Such an one was Athenion in Greece, who of a poor and mean person, grew up to be a proud and potent tyrant; laid aside wise counselors, spoiled temples and cities, wasted men of their estates; and filled pits with treasure; as Atheneus, lib. 5, reports: and the like, Xenophon relates, lib. 2, Hellenicon.
{and princes walking as servants upon the earth} As David seemed to have walked when he fled from Absalom, 2 Sam. 15:30.
V. 8, 9. {He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it, and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him. Whoso removeth stones, shall be hurt therewith: and he that cleaveth wood, shall be endangered thereby} These are four proverbial similitudes, tending all to one end, viz., to show, that evil usually returns on the heads of those who were authors of it; ἡ δὲ κακὴ βουλὴ τῷ βουλεύσαντι κακίστη [Greek reading uncertain]: Psal. 7:15, 16, and 9:15, 16; Job 5:13; Prov. 11:5, 6, and 26:27; Esth. 7:10; 2 Sam. 17:23; Exod. 14:28, and 18:11; Obad. verse 15; Isa. 33:1; Judg. 1:6, 7. Quod quisque alieno excogitavit, supplicio excipit suo. He that made the fetters for another, does many times wear them himself.
The application of the general, in the present case, is, first, against princes, who do advance unworthy men, and depress the well-deserving: such disorders in government do, many times, redound unto their own sufferings, and while they oppress the people, they do supplant their own thrones, Prov. 16:12, and 25:5; 2 Reg. 8:8, 15. Secondly, against such as attempt to alter the long established, and wholesome constitutions of nations and people, and do rashly overturn the foundations of laws and customs; such changes are usually mortiferous to the undertakers of them, Prov. 22:28, and 24:21, 22. Thirdly, against the undutiful and rebellious carriages of people, towards their princes and rulers; which commonly are pernicious unto the authors thereof, as we find in the examples of Absalom, Sheba, and others, 2 Sam. 18:14; 2 Sam. 20:22; 2 Chron. 23:15, and 25:3, and 33:24, 25; Esth. 2:21, 22, 23.
{he that diggeth a pit shall fall into it} It is a similitude drawn from huntsmen, who dig pits, and then cover them over again, as if they were firm ground, by which means the beasts passing on them, fall in and are taken. Many times in the digging of such a pit, the earth falls on the head of him that opens it. It is used metaphorically, for an attempting of evil to ensnare another man, Job 6:27; in the which snare many times a man is taken himself, Psal. 10:2, and 9:15; Prov. 5:22; Dan. 6:24.
{and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him} serpents and adders, use to harbor in old walls and hedges, so that without much caution, he that rashly removes them, is in danger of being stung by them, Act. 28:5. Now as hedges do enclose grounds, and distinguish the property of one man from another; so the Lord has set an hedge about his own ordinance of magistracy, which he will not have violated by any disloyal attempts, as the phrase is used in another case, Job 1:10; Ezr. 9:9. And all traitorous attempts against the ordinance of God, is a breaking of that mound, and an encroaching upon that authority, which seldom escapes some mischief or other; which the contrivers thereof did not foresee, nor were wise enough to prevent. It is a dangerous thing to confound rule and subjection, and to break down the partition wall between the one and the other. They who are impatient of rule over them, have ruin very near them.
{Whoso removeth stones shall be hurt therewith} He that goes about to demolish a building, and to pull the great stones out of the walls thereof, διαπονηθήσεται; shall be put to pain and labor thereby. So the Septuagint σπασθήσεται; shall be broken and torn thereby. So Aquila, κακωθήσεται; shall be hurt and suffer evil thereby: so Symmachus. So dangerous is the attempt of those, who go about to unjoint, and dissolve the ligaments of government. And like expressions we find, Zach. 12:13; Matth. 21:44.
{and he that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby} Or, heated thereby; the Chaldee, shall be burnt thereby: shall not do it without danger, if his tools be blunt; as it follows in the next verse. We find mention of danger in this employment, Deut. 19:5; 2 Reg. 6:4, 5. So all these four proverbial similitudes, tend to one and the same end.
V. 10. {If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct} This seems to relate to the words next immediately before it. He that cleaves wood, if the iron be blunt, shall be endangered and overheated thereby, as being every stroke necessitated to put to more strength, and all in vain, till wisdom, by whetting the weapon, do get the better of the wood. Nay, the more strength is used, when the iron is too blunt to enter, the more danger there is of its recoiling upon him that uses it: so in the present case, the more violent and froward the passions of men are against governors, the more danger do they create unto themselves: princes being like strong oaks that are not easily wrought upon by opposition: but wise, mild, and gentle behavior may break their displeasure: as wisdom directing a man to whet his iron, will with less labor cleave the strongest timber. Like hereunto was that of Aesop to Solon, that we should speak unto princes ἢ ἥκιστα ἢ ἥδιστα; either very little, or that which may sweeten and please them.
{then must he put to more strength} Or, then it will overcome the strength of him that heweth. Some understand it of an army; it will exercise and weary the whole strength of an army, to cleave wood with it. Or, in war, though the arms be blunt, so that strength can do little good, yet wisdom may supply that defect, and get the victory; as chap. 9:15, 16.
{but wisdom is profitable to direct} Or, the excellency of direction is wisdom. The infinitive mood for the noun, as Mercer has observed; as 2 Reg. 19:27; Psal. 101:3. The direction which wisdom gives, is more profitable than strength; it guides a man's actions without so much toil and labor, unto a better end. It is of all other, the most excellent moderator and director of the actions of life; because without it, all other means are bootless and full of hazard: without it labor is dangerous; there is wisdom requisite in the most ordinary and meanest works, in digging, in bearing burdens, in cleaving and hewing of wood; as we read of a porter, whom a philosopher took and bred unto learning, because he observed a natural wisdom and dexterity, in his ordering of his burden for the more easy carriage; 1 Reg. 5:6; Isa. 28:24, 25, 26. Without it strength of body is useless; a blunt axe will tire out the arm of the strongest man, if he have not wisdom to whet it. Art and cunning can move bodies, and apply engines, which exceed all the strength of the body alone, to stir or stand under. As we find what huge stones were placed in the temple in our Savior's time, Luke 21:5. Josephus says of them, that they were twelve cubits, one way, and eight another. 3. Without it, eloquence is to no purpose, for unless a man have wisdom to charm a serpent before he bite, all a man's eloquence afterward will not be able to heal him.
V. 11. {Surely a serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better} Or, if the serpent bite without being charmed, or before he be charmed there is then no profit to him that is a master of his tongue, or an eloquent man. A man's eloquence will do him no good, after the serpent has bitten him; except he do wisely charm him, before the danger be come. The meaning is, that a man should by meekness of wisdom, as by a charm, allay the displeasure of the ruler against him, before it break forth, and be too late to pacify him. Or, according to the scope of our version, a wise man should, by meekness and discretion, charm his own bitter tongue, and spirit of detraction; whereby he is apt to curse and revile the ruler of the people. Such a vain babbler, whose lawless tongue is ever finding fault with government, and speaking evil of dignities, is no better than an uncharmed serpent, Psal. 58:4, 5; Rom. 3:13. Or, as a serpent bites most dangerously, which bites without hissing, does not give warning of the harm, that a man might fly from it; so of all enemies, a secret detractor is the worst.
The scope is, 1. To compare the spirit of disloyalty and murmuring in the people against their rulers, (so often forbidden, Exod. 22:28; Act. 23:4; Jude verse 12; 1 Pet. 2:23) unto the biting of a serpent, every rebellious and traitorous speech against those who are over us by God's ordinance and in his stead, is full of deadly poison, Ezek. 2:6; a sin which the querulous disposition of people is very apt to transport them into, Exod. 15:24, and 16:2, and 17:2; Num. 14:2.
2. To compare the wise and humble behavior of men towards their offended governors, unto an enchantment, whereby that serpentine spirit of detraction is allayed, as an adder is kept from biting by a charm. In the original it is, If the serpent bite, &c. We take the conditional conjunction for a confirmation or asseveration of a truth, as we likewise render it in other places, Psal. 139:19; Prov. 3:34, and 23:18.
V. 12. {The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious: but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself} He here shows, how the words of wise men are not only as a charm to prevent the biting of an enemy, but do further conciliate favor and grace.
{are gracious} Heb. Grace. They are so comely and graceful in themselves, that they minister grace to others, Ephes. 4:29; Col. 4:6, and obtain grace and respect from them. As Abigail did not only appease the wrath of David, but did greatly draw his heart and love towards her, by her wise and gracious words, Prov. 10:32, and 15:1, 2, 4, 26, and 16:23, 24.
{but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself} Or, will destroy and drown him. καταποντίσει αὐτὸν; so the 70, the noun is plural, and the verb singular, which may be emphatical, to note that every one of his words do devour: or do suddenly ruin, as a whale, or a grave, does presently devour that which it swallows. A foolish man by froward and disloyal speeches, lays snares against his own life, provokes so much wrath and displeasure, as thereby utterly to undo, and, as it were, eat up himself, Prov. 19:28; Prov. 12:13; Rom. 3:13.
V. 13. {The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, and the end of his talk is desperate madness} Hereby we understand the emphasis of the former verse, where a plural noun was joined to a singular verb, noting, that every one of his words, from the beginning to the end, tends unto ruin. The more he speaks, the more folly he discovers, and goes on from evil unto worse, according as his rage or distemper of mind does further and further transport him. Corruption in the heart when it breaks forth, is like a breach in the sea, which begins in a narrow passage, till it eat through and cast down all the banks, 2 Tim. 3:13; as the Pharisees and other Jews in their discourses with Christ, did commonly begin with arguments, (such as they were) and ended with stones, John 8:33, 48, 59, and 10:24, 31; Act. 6:9, and 7:54, 57, and 19:28, 34. First they deal foolishly, and then they lift up their horn, Psalm 75:4, 5. From reproaches they go on to oaths and madness, Psalm 102:8; Acts 22:22, 23; Prov. 21:24; 2 Sam. 16:13; Prov. 26:18, and 15:28. Thus a furious man abounds in transgression, Prov. 29:22.
V. 14. {A fool also is full of words: A man cannot tell what shall be: and what shall be after him who can tell him?} Besides the madness and folly of such a man's discourses, they are also many and endless. A wise man is contented with words enough to express his mind, he speaks always pertinently such things as may bring glory to God, and minister grace to the hearers. He speaks with choice and election, and therefore in measure and moderation. As the orator gives this for the reason why learned men do not make so long and tedious orations as others of weaker parts, quia doctis est electio & modus; they choose a few things out of many, and weigh their words before they utter them. Whereas fools pour out all that offers itself; verbis humidis & lapsantibus, in ore non in pectore natis defluunt; as he said, Prov. 15:28, and 29:11, and 10:19; Eccles. 5:7. Nature has given a man but one tongue, and that well fenced in; but two ears, to teach us to be swift to hear, and slow to speak, Jam. 1:19.
{a fool multiplieth words} Uses many boasting discourses, vainly reports his own undertakings and purposes, brags what he will do, and what he shall have, as if all events were in his own power: whereas no man, much less a fool, can either tell himself, or understand by any other man, what shall be after him. There seems to be an emphasis in the word, After him, he boasts what he will do, whither he will go, what success he shall have, the next month, or the next year, when haply the next month or year may be after him, he may be cut off before it come, Psalm 49:11, 18; Luke 12:19, 20; Jam. 4:13–16; Eccles. 3:22, and 6:12.
The words may haply be a Mimesis, setting forth the humor of such a garrulous person, who says, A man cannot tell what shall be after him; and then says it over again, what shall be after him who can tell him? Therefore let us indulge to our genius, eat and drink, and enjoy our pleasures while we have time to enjoy them. The former sense seems rightest.
V. 15. {The labour of the fool wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the city} Having showed the many attempts of foolish men, both in deeds and words, he here discovers the vanity and fruitlessness of them all. All his boasting projects and undertakings prove but labor in vain. As the Sodomites being smitten with blindness, wearied themselves to find out the door, which they could not get to, Gen. 19:11. He tires and wearies out himself in matters which are most easy, and yet cannot overcome them: for even children can find out the way into a city when they are near unto it. Or, though he have not wit enough to keep a highway, yet he will be wearying of himself in abstruse things, which are as difficult as to foresee future and contingent events, as in the former verse.
The sense seems to be much like that, verse 10, as there the fool puts out all his strength to cleave knotty wood with blunt tools, and all in vain; whereas a little wisdom to whet his iron, would make his work both more easy, and more effectual: so here the fool, like an ignorant traveler that has missed his way, goes up and down to little purpose, till he quite weary himself, and yet can never find the way into the city for want of skill, or a guide to direct him, which otherwise would have been most easily and speedily done. Where wisdom is wanting to direct our actions, labor will be endless, we shall sooner weary ourselves, than effect anything by blind endeavors. If we understand the words in a civil sense consonantly to the other passages of the chapter before, then those words, because he knoweth not to go into the city, do signify the ignorance of such a man to converse with men, or to behave himself wisely in civil or political relations: whereas true wisdom is to understand our way, and to make straight paths for our feet to walk in, and to have the light shine on our ways, whatever relation we stand in, or whatever employment we are called unto, Prov. 14:8; Heb. 12:13; Psal. 5:8.
V. 16. {Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning} The wise man is not only careful to keep subjects from rebellion and disloyalty, (which was the matter of the greatest part of the chapter before) but also to mind princes of their duty, that they be not willful, sensual, tyrannous, but that they manage their office with nobleness of spirit, with temperance, and industry, and all that by a most weighty argument, because they cannot be good or bad to themselves alone, multitudes are concerned in it, and the weal or woe of whole nations does depend upon it. A wicked prince is a great argument of divine displeasure against a whole people, 1 Sam. 8:6–18; Isa. 19:4; Job 34:30; Prov. 28:2. And a good prince an argument of his love, and that he intends to bless such a nation, 1 Reg. 10:9.
{when thy king is a child} He means not so much in age; for many have in their tender years, by the fear of God, and the help of prudent counselors, governed their people aright, and some of them much better than afterwards, 1 Reg. 3:7–12, compared with 1 Reg. 11:4; 2 Chron. 24:2, 3, 17; 2 Chron. 25:1, 2, 14, 27, and 26:3, 4, 5, 16. But in understanding, in experience, in manners, when a man childishly suffers the affairs of a kingdom to be turned upside down, and to be broken to pieces by his carelessness, and through want of prudence and skill to discern between right and wrong, Ephes. 4:14; Heb. 5:13; Isa. 3:4; 1 Cor. 14:20. Such a child was Rehoboam in the strength of his age, a child of one and forty years old; 1 Reg. 14:21; 2 Chron. 13:7. When a man is, 1. Ignorant or forgetful of his duty.
2. Changeable and easily turned out of it with every persuasion.
3. Passionate, easily angry, and fearful, and accordingly alterable upon such sudden impressions.
4. Sensual, and given unto vain delights.
5. Craving and covetous, and so easily turned aside by gifts.
6. Vain and subject to be flattered by those that know how to make a prey of him.
These and such like impotencies, argue childishness in one that governs. The wise man instances in one principal of these, viz., sensuality, in the next words.
{And thy princes eat in the morning} Though the king be a child, yet if he have prudent and vigilant counselors, their care may recompense and supply his defects, but where they be likewise as bad as he, Prov. 29:12, where all other ministers of state follow only their private gain and pleasure, without any regard unto public welfare; no wonder if such a nation have a woe hang over it.
{eat in the morning} Are riotous, luxurious, spend their whole time in sleep, and excess. Rise not up unto service, but unto delights, consecrate the flower and best of their time (which should have been given to God and to the public) to their own vanity and riot, Jer. 21:12; Isa. 5:11, 12; Hos. 7:3, 4, 5, 6; Act. 2:15; Prov. 31:4. This is matter of patience unto the afflicted people, when they consider, that God does thus reprove kings for their sake, Psal. 105:14.
V. 17. {Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles; and thy princes eat in due season, for strength and not for drunkenness} The son of nobles, that is, men trained up, instructed, and shaped with principles of true nobility, wisdom, and holiness. As a son of death, of perdition, of wrath, is one devoted thereunto: so a son of nobles, is one nobly seasoned with principles of honor and government. As sons of God, Gen. 6:2, men bred in the church of God, and under a godly education; sons of the prophets: sons of physicians, men bred in such professions.
{of nobles} From a word which signifies whiteness, either because persons of honor did use to wear white raiments, Esth. 8:15; Rev. 3:4; sit in white thrones, Rev. 20:11; ride on white asses, Judg. 5:10; or to denote the purity of manners which should be in rulers, that they might be examples of all integrity unto others, Rev. 19:8. By sons of nobles, then, he does not understand men barely born of noble parents, and who have noble blood in their veins, (such an one likely might the child be of whom he spoke in the former verse) but as there he meant a child not in years, but in manners and qualities: (as the words presbyter, elder, ancient, in the Scripture use, do not so much signify age, as wisdom, and authority) so here he means one noble as well in virtue, as in blood and birth. This is the true nobility, when piety, wisdom, righteousness, courage, and the fear of God, do adorn the royal blood, and render persons truly illustrious, and not dark and obscure creatures, as mean persons are, Prov. 22:29; Deut. 1:13; Exod. 18:21. Nobility of blood, without nobility of virtue and holiness, adds nothing to a governor at all, Psal. 16:3, and 47:9, and 87:3, 4, 5, 6, and 110:3; Act. 17:11.
{and thy princes eat in due season} In the time of eating, after they have spent their strength in duty: as to everything there is a fit time, Eccles. 3:1, so to this particular of eating and drinking, Psal. 145:15; Matth. 24:45. Labor and service should go before eating, Luke 12:35, 37, and 17:7, 8, 9. Abraham's servant would not eat till he had done his business, Gen. 24:33, and our Savior preferred his Father's work before his own refection, John 4:31, 32. Sometimes even wicked men have been so intent on their wickedness, as to deny liberty of eating, drinking, and other refreshments, to themselves, till their designs were to be accomplished, Act. 23:12; Prov. 4:16; and so we find magistrates so serious in duty, as to forbear eating, and to forbid it even sometimes when it was necessary, Ezra 10:6; 1 Sam. 14:23. Temperance is in no calling more requisite, than in the calling of a magistrate, Prov. 31:4. Multitude of business, and those of greatest importance, and such as do often require immediate consultation and dispatch, (and such are many times the affairs of state) will not allow liberty of eating and drinking, all delights must be laid aside to attend them, Exod. 12:34, 39. It was wickedly done by the king and Haman to sit down to drink when the city was in perplexity, Esth. 3:15, to let public safety lie still, while private luxury was served.
{for strength and not for drunkenness} The end of eating, is to repair that strength which had been weakened in duty, and so to enable unto the attendance upon duty again. It ought not to be the end of our living, but only a necessary means unto life, and unto the services thereof.
And therefore gluttony and drunkenness are to be avoided, as by all men, because of many other evils which are in them; so in special manner by princes and rulers, because they do totally indispose for such weighty affairs as are to be managed by wisdom and counsel, Isa. 28:1; Hos. 4:11, and 7:5.
V. 18. {By much slothfulness the building decayeth: and through idleness of the hands, the house droppeth through} This is a proverbial form of speech, and applicable unto all kind of business, showing the danger of idleness and procrastination in them. And it is here used as an illustration of what he had said verse 16, to set forth the misery of a land under childish and careless government, by a comparison drawn from the lesser to the greater, from an house to a state; for as an house being exposed to wind and weather, will in time drop through, and so endanger the rotting of the timber, and the ruin of the whole, if the owner thereof do not, by timely repairs, prevent such a mischief: so the commonwealth, being exposed to various dangers, from the subtlety and hostility of enemies abroad, and from the rebellion, sedition, and various discontents of ill-affected people within itself, will be continually in danger of dissolution, if governors, who should be the healers, repairers, and builders thereof, be not exceeding vigilant upon its preservation and safety: which if he be, he will have little time left for luxury and intemperance.
Here then, 1. A state or kingdom, is compared to an house, as sometimes the church is, 1 Cor. 3:9; Ephes. 2:21, and 3:15; Heb. 3:2–6; 1 Tim. 3:15; nothing more usual, than to call the kingdom of Israel, the house of Israel, the house of Jacob, etc., Isa. 2:6, and 5:7; Luke 1:33; Obad. verse 18.
2. Princes are compared unto the masters of the family, and to those unto whom it belongs to heal and repair the ruins and breaches in that great building, Isa. 3:7; Job 34:17; Isa. 58:12, and 61:4. As elsewhere to foundations, Psal. 82:5. Βασιλεὺς quasi βάσις τοῦ λαοῦ, to coverings, Ezek. 28:16; to bars, which keep a house from being broken open, Hos. 11:6; to the quoins, or corners in a building, which keep the compages of a structure together, Isa. 19:13.
3. Misgovernment is compared unto carelessness in an housekeeper, or steward, that does not in time prevent those ruins in an house, which a few breaches uncured, will quickly draw after them. Which to show the greatness of it, is called in the dual number, double slothfulness, or the slothfulness of both hands: and so the 70, ἐν ὀκνηρίαις, by slothfulness. The building decays, is vitiated, weakened, disjointed, sinks, inclines; the 70, ταπεινωθήσεται, is brought low: a proper expression, being spoken of the roof of the house: and so the word is rendered, Psal. 106:43; Job 24:24. And through idleness of the hands, so the 70, ἀργίᾳ χειρῶν; the word is, through the humility, abjection, demission, hanging down of the hands, that do not put themselves forth, nor lift themselves up unto labor; as Heb. 12:12; Exod. 17:12. The like expressions whereunto we have, Psal. 76:5, and 74:11; Prov. 6:10, and 19:24, and 26:15; Prov. 10:4.
{the house droppeth through} Which first causes the walls and timber to rot, and so tends unto ruin; and secondly causes a man's habitation to be irksome and uncomfortable unto him, Prov. 19:13, and 27:15.
V. 19. {A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things} These words, if taken absolutely and alone, are to show the dominion of money in human affairs above all other things; other common things, even the best of them, bread and wine, (whereby the Scripture uses to express most outward contents) have a definite and limited use, proper to themselves, distinct from others. They tend to make men laugh and be merry, but money is the measure of all things; it will feed, and clothe, and harbor, and purchase, and extend as a civil instrument unto all secular provisions. But they seem rather to bear relation to what went before; slothful men intend not the supportance of their houses, families, or estates, but they spend their whole time in feasting and luxury, and all that, not out of any store which by their provident labors they had laid up, but by the constant expense of treasure, and emptying of their bags, whereby at last their houses, families, estates, are wholly brought to ruin. Some join the words unto the former; thus; Through idleness of the hands of those men, the house droppeth through, who make feasts for laughter, and prepare wine to make their life merry, and whose money doth readily answer all these, greedy lusts and desires of theirs, and does bring in supplies and fuel unto them. So this verse looks back to verse 16, showing the cause of the woe there pronounced against a land whose princes were luxurious, and by whose slothfulness in regard of public service, the house of the state was ready to decay and drop through; for by riot and excess, which cannot be maintained without vast proportion of treasure to answer all the exigencies of them, such princes are constrained to crush and oppress the poor people, and to squeeze them with heavy exactions, Jer. 22:13–19, which is unto the hearts of the people as a continual dropping in a ruinous house, causes them either through sadness of spirit to fall and despond, and so to become an abject and low-conditioned nation, Ezek. 17:13, 14; 2 Reg. 15:20; or else stirs them unto more resolute practices, to shake off the yoke which they are not willing nor able any longer to bear, 1 Reg. 12:14, 15, 16.
{They make a feast for laughter} So facere panem, vitulum, agnum, are expressions used for dressing of such things towards a feast or entertainment, Dan. 5:1; Gen. 18:7, 8; 2 Sam. 12:4.
{and wine maketh merry} Laetificat vitam, makes a man's life merry, as elsewhere Laetificat cor, gives him a merry heart, Psal. 104:15.
{But money answereth all things} LXX, ἐπακούσεται τὰ πάντα. Whereunto agrees the vulgar, pecuniae obediunt omnia. Money can command all things, to wit, which are measurable thereby. It being the instrument and element of commerce, as the philosopher calls it. Symmachus, εὐχρηστήσει εἰς ἅπαντα. Is profitable for all things, which may be bought therewith: or Exaudit omnia, it hears the desires of men, when men desire such things as they outwardly want; if they have money, that ordinarily can answer this desire, and procure those things for them: a like expression we find Hos. 2:21, 22.
V. 20. {Curse not the king, no not in thy thought: and curse not the rich in thy bed-chamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter} Because, by occasion of such sins of misgovernment in evil princes, men might be very apt, through impatiency of spirit, to break forth into disloyal thoughts and affection towards them, however they might haply be by fear of danger restrained from seditious speeches or rebellious practices: he therefore concludes this whole argument with a strict prohibition of all hard and undutiful thoughts and risings of heart against rulers, notwithstanding their errors in government, and corruptions in living, not so much as secretly in their hearts to wrong them, both for conscience' sake, and for fear of wrath, as the apostle likewise directs, Rom. 13:5.
{Even in thy thought}, or in thy conscience {curse not the king}. Entertain not any light, vain, contemptuous, or dishonorable thoughts of him, do not wish any evil to his person, crown, or government, not so much as in your inmost and most secret retirements, Exod. 22:28; 2 Pet. 2:10; Psal. 62:4; 1 Sam. 10:27; 2 Sam. 19:21; 1 Reg. 2:8; Isa. 8:21.
The second clause, neither curse the rich, is a reinforcing of the same precept again, meaning by the rich, the governor, Isa. 53:9. In the chambers of thy bed, or, in your most secret retirement.
And lest a man should presume so to do, as conceiving thoughts to be free, and far enough out of the sight of the governor to observe or avenge; he adds the great danger like to ensue, by means, which they could not so much as imagine, or suspect:
{for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter} As if he had said, your thoughts and secret curses are heard in heaven, by him who will certainly punish them, however secret they are kept from men. And the Lord can easily find out ways, even by brute creatures, to bring them to light: as he did rebuke the madness of Balaam by his ass, 2 Pet. 2:16, and punish the pride of Pharaoh, and Herod by frogs, lice, and worms, Exod. 8:6, 17; Act. 12:23. We read how a flight of cranes did discover the murder done upon the poet Ibycus; and how Bessus, who had slain his father, overthrew a nest of swallows chattering; because, says he, they accuse me for killing my father. As our Savior says in another case, If these should hold their peace, the very stones would cry out, Luke 19:40. So the Lord can by even dead and inanimate creatures, discover wickedness. The earth itself which drank blood in, shall disclose and reveal it, Gen. 4:11; Isa. 26:21; Hab. 2:11. The Chaldee by birds of the air, understand the angels of heaven, who like winged eagles shall make report of secret wickedness. Others understand it of fame, which is a swift, and as it were a winged messenger; alluding unto that which is said of princes, πολλοὶ βασιλέων ὀφθαλμοὶ καὶ πολλὰ ὦτα. That princes have many eyes, and many ears, and long arms, that can see, and hear, and punish offenses at a greater distance.
CHAPTER 11
In the former chapter he showed the excellent use of true wisdom, as a means of tranquility of mind, and remedy against the vanity of outward things, in ordering our behavior aright towards superiors for prevention of those dangers which their displeasure may subject us unto. In this chapter he further discovers the use thereof unto the same end of comfortable living, in ordering of our behavior towards inferiors, those especially that are in want.
Concerning which, we have, first, the precept itself, concerning substantial and useful charity, verse 1, with an effectual reason thereof, both drawn from a metaphor of sowing and reaping seed, verse 1.
Secondly, the manner and measure of this our charity, which is to abound towards all that are in want, and that enforced by a reason drawn from the uncertainty of future events; now you are able; hereafter you may be disabled, therefore do good while you have means so to do, and thereby provide friends to yourself against any evils which you also may fall into, verse 2.
Thirdly, both those are illustrated by many similitudes, in the which he does by way of prolepsis prevent such objections as the covetous hearts of men are apt to make against this duty.
1. A man is apt to say, that he is nearest to himself, and must look after his own supplies, and leave others to look after theirs.
To which he answers, that as clouds are not filled with waters to keep them to themselves, but to empty them upon the earth: so God's blessings are not deposited to men only for their own good, but as stewards they are to dispense out of them unto others, verse 3.
2. It may be objected, if I must relieve seven and eight; take notice of the wants of many, it will be seven to one if much of this bounty will not be cast away upon unworthy and ungrateful persons, who will make no return either unto God or man for it.
To this he answers, that as it is all one to the master of a tree, whether it fall north or south, for either way it falls to the owner's use and benefit: so that good which is done to any man in want, out of a desire thereby to honor God, and to help our neighbor, shall prove beneficial unto him that so does it, whatever the person be unto whom it is done, verse 3.
3. It may be objected, that it is not yet a season to be thus bountiful, there are many impediments and discouragements thereunto, this charge, this loss, that affliction or danger, or expense lies upon me; when I am gotten over these, it will then be a fitter time to think on the wants of others, when I am secured against mine own.
To this he answers by another similitude drawn from husbandry; he that will not sow his seed lest the wind should blow it away, nor reap his corn, lest the clouds should rain and wet it, shall never want exceptions against that which is necessarily to be done. Therefore our duty is, to embrace the present opportunity, and leave the success for the future unto God's blessing.
If we could certainly foresee better weather, and more seasonable accommodations, for our businesses tomorrow than today, we might haply pretend some reason for delay of duty. But that is in God's hand alone, as unknown unto us, as the way of the wind, or of the soul's coming into the body, or the growing of the bones of an embryo in the womb. Therefore it is our duty to do good at present while we have opportunity, and to commit the success of all for the future unto God, verse 4, 5. Whereupon he repeats the exhortation in the same metaphor, sow your seed, scatter your charity in season and out of season, in youth, in age, at all times, on all occasions, since you know not which will be most successful, verse 6.
And now having thus largely set down various precepts for making the life of a man comfortable, and his mind quiet amidst all the vanities of the world, he proceeds to instruct him how he may provide for death, and judgment, and so secure happiness in another world too: for a man might be apt to say, when I am thus thoroughly fitted by these many precepts unto a secure and comfortable manner of living, having the favor of great men, the blessing of poor men, peace within, and plenty without, when by godly wisdom, vexation of mind, and the vanity and disquietness thereupon of all outward things is healed, and removed; it cannot then but be a very pleasant thing to live, to see the light of the sun, and to enjoy those contents which by these means we have arrived at, verse 7. To this the wise man answers, that albeit by these means life is much sweetened, and the vanity thereof is much abated, yet it is never thoroughly removed: but when all is done which can be done to render our condition here comfortable, yet all that cometh, both life, and the supplies thereof, are still vanity, and will pass away, and the days of darkness which follow, will be abundantly more than the days of light which went before. And that therefore we ought, by the timely remembrance of them both, to moderate our delights in things present, and to prepare ourselves to lift up our heads with comfort in the judgment to come, verse 8.
And because of all others, young men, whose blood is fresh, and spirits active, are most apt to surfeit on present pleasures, and to put far from them the evil day, slighting such admonitions as these; therefore the wise man, who had had himself as full a gale of youthful pleasures, as ever any other man; and had found the vanity of them all, does by an irony, deride the folly, and by a solemn citation unto the tribunal of God, awaken the conscience of such a voluptuous Epicure, verse 9, persuading him by the assurance of a future judgment, wherein he must be called to a strict account for all the vanities and miscarriages of his youth: and by the flitting condition of that age wherein he does so glut upon them, to remove far from himself those sinful excesses, which would fill his heart with sorrow, and his flesh with sin.
Verse 1. {Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days} This is a proverbial form of speech, drawn from the manner of husbandmen, who sow their land in expectation of a plentiful harvest, after many days. Whereby the wise man, in pursuance of his principal argument, touching tranquility and comfort of life, does persuade unto liberality towards the poor, that their mouths and bowels may bless us. Some make it an allusion to merchants, who send their estates in ships upon the sea, expecting in time a return with much gain, called the harvest of the river, Isa. 23:3, if the prophet do not rather there allude to the plenty of Egypt, by the overflowing of the river, whereunto possibly the wise man may likewise allude in this place. Others, more generally, understand it of giving alms to the poor, where all we do, may seem to be cast away, as if it were thrown into the sea. Though you think, what is so given, is all lost, because given to those, who can never recompense you; yet do you lend in that manner, looking for nothing again, Luke 6:35, being assured, that what is thus given to the poor, is lent unto the Lord, Prov. 19:17, who will in his time, certainly repay it with advantage unto you. But I rather take it to be an allusion unto seed, which is sowed on very fertile ground, which is near a river, or is made fat by the overflowing of a river, Num. 24:7; Isa. 32:20. So they used in Egypt to make their land fertile, by drawing the water when the river flowed over, by art, unto it, Deut. 11:10, 11. Therefore amongst other plagues, which the Lord threatens Egypt withal, this is one, that their rivers should be dried up, and that which was sowed by them, should wither, Isa. 19:5, 6, 7, and so we read of the seed of Sihor, Isa. 23:3, which was a river in Egypt, Josh. 13:3; Jer. 2:18. By casting the bread upon the waters, we understand, by or near the waters; as Psal. 1:3; Gen. 41:1, because those places are the most fertile. When he says, thy bread, he thereby teaches us, that our charity must be out of our own estate, and according to that condition wherewith God has blessed us, Eph. 4:28.
{for thou shalt find it after many days} The seed which a man sows seems to die and perish, but the husbandman waits patiently for many days together, and at last he reaps a plentiful harvest, Jam. 5:7, as Isaac did, Gen. 26:12; Mark 4:28. And in like manner, that which is sowed in the bellies and backs of the poor, will be repaid, as the seed is in harvest, manifold into the bosoms of righteous men, Prov. 19:17; 2 Cor. 9:6–10; Deut. 15:10; Matth. 19:22; Psal. 112:9.
V. 2. {Give a portion to seven, and also to eight: for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth} By waters, is sometimes in the Scripture meant, multitudes of people; as Isa. 8:7, and 17:12; Revel. 17:15, and the wise man here bidding us to cast our bread on the waters, does in this verse explain what he meant thereby, namely, that we should disperse our good works, and almsdeeds unto many, that we should be large-hearted, and open-handed unto the poor.
{Give a portion} He alludes unto the manner of their feasts and entertainments in old times, when they did use to distribute portions to their guests, and to send to the poor, 2 Sam. 6:19; 1 Sam. 1:4, 5; Gen. 43:34; Esth. 9:22; Neh. 8:10, 12; Isa. 58:7. Whereunto our Savior haply alludes, when he says that Mary had chosen ἀγαθὴν μερίδα; a good part or portion, Luke 10:42. Which custom of distributing equal portions to the guests, we find in Homer and Plutarch, to have been observed likewise among the Grecians; as also the custom of sending portions from the tables of greater persons, to those that were absent. Vide Stuck. Antiq. Conviv. lib. 3, cap. 3.
{to seven and also to eight} That is, to many: a definite number, for an indefinite, 1 Sam. 2:5; Job 5:19; Mic. 5:5. So hereby is noted, large and cheerful liberality to all in want, according to our abilities. We may not think we have done our duty, when we have been charitable to one or two persons; but we must disperse our bounty, as seed that is sown; and do good unto all men, according to their need and to our condition, cheerfully and incessantly. The necessity of a man may require it, when his person does not deserve it, Luke 6:30; 2 Cor. 9:5–10; Gal. 6:10; Isa. 23:18; Prov. 31:20.
{for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth} Embrace the present opportunity of doing good, you cannot foresee how soon you may be deprived of it, since you know not what a day may bring forth, Jam. 4:14; Prov. 27:1, and 3:27, 28; Luke 12:20. Haply you may die, and leave your wealth to those, who will shut up their bowels against the poor; however, what they do shall not be put on your account. You are a steward of your estate, no longer than for your own life; and therefore be your own executor, and consider the wants of the poor are present, therefore let not bounty be only future. Haply God may disable you another time, from doing that good which now he puts into your hand. It is wisdom to do God's work in God's time. Haply you yourself may fall into want, and stand in need of help from others; therefore make yourself friends of mammon beforehand, Luke 16:9; Psal. 37:26, and 41:1, 2, 3; 1 Tim. 6:18, 19.
V. 3. {If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree fall towards the south, or towards the north, in the place where the tree falleth there it shall be} He urges the duty of charity and bounty, by elegant similitudes. Clouds that are full of moisture, do not keep it to themselves, but shed it forth in showers on the earth, and on all kind of corn, and herbs for the benefit of many; whence they are called the bottles of heaven, Job 38:37, and the chambers of the Lord, Psal. 104:13, from whence he pours down rain according to the vapor thereof, Job 36:27, 28; so should rich men, Prov. 11:25, whom the Lord has filled with his blessings, as the Scripture uses to express it, Deut. 33:23; Job 22:18; Prov. 5:10; Deut. 6:11; Prov. 30:9; Phil. 4:12, 18, not keep God's blessings to themselves, but pour them forth upon those that are empty.
{and if the tree fall}, &c. This some apply unto death, as if we were thereby warned to do good while we may, because death will at last cut us down, and deprive us of any further opportunity, Eccles. 9:10; Joh. 9:4; and as death leaves us, judgment will find us. But it seems rather to denote the benefit of charity unto the authors thereof, that wheresoever their bounty and mercy is placed, there it will be found again to their comfort; they shall not go without their reward, as the tree on which side ever it falls, it will there be found, when the owner thereof inquires after it.
V. 4. {He that observeth the wind shall not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap} By these similitudes, he prevents all those pretenses and objections, which carnal hearts are apt to make against the present season of doing good, and are apt thereby to defer and put it off to some fitter time, when they shall be more able, or when they shall have found out more fitting objects on which to place their bounty. We are very apt to frame excuses against present duty, Hag. 1:2; Act. 24:25; Prov. 3:27, 28. Here therefore the wise man removes these pretenses; he that will by every wind be deterred from sowing his seed, lest it should be blown away; and by every cloud from reaping his corn, lest the weather should be unseasonable, shall never do his business, because there will never be wanting some discouragement or other: so he that is ever framing carnal objections against doing good, shall overslip the season, and never do his duty, nor receive his reward. We are to take notice of the present call of God unto any good work, and the present opportunity he puts into our hands, and not delay service upon the fear of future contingents, which are not in our power, Matth. 6:34.
V. 5. {As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all} By our ignorance of the works of God's providence, he warns us to be diligent in embracing every present opportunity of doing good, and not to defer or delay duty, till haply the Lord will put us out of all capacity to do it. This ignorance he proves a minori. If we know not things more ordinary and familiar unto us, which happen every day, as the way of the spirit. Symmachus renders it, of the wind, which way it comes and goes, how it rises and slackens, Joh. 3:8. Or how the soul comes into the body, and quickens it; so the Septuagint, ὁδὸς τοῦ πνεύματος; or, how the bones do grow; how the several parts of the body, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, some hard, some soft, are all shaped out of the same seed, Psal. 139:13–16; Job 10:10–13. Much less are we able to foresee the works of God's providence, which are far off and exceeding deep, chap. 7:24. Therefore since we know not what shall be tomorrow, how God may dispose of our life, or our estate, how long he may continue unto us opportunities of doing good, we ought not to defer or put off duty from time to time, but while we have a present season, to embrace it, chap. 9:10; Gal. 6:10.
V. 6. {In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good} He infers from the former doctrine, of the uncertainty of future events, an hortatory conclusion, to be doing good on all occasions, and to be assiduous and diligent in the work which God has set us to do, whether all our labor take effect or no. The Lord being sometimes pleased to frustrate men's endeavors, and to defer the success they expected from them; first, to try them whether they would persevere in their calling: and continue therein with God, though they had not always alike encouragement. 2. To teach them, that success depends not upon the labors of man, but upon the will and free blessing of God. And he persists in his former metaphor of sowing seed; meaning thereby, first, in particular, works of charity and mercy to the poor; as verse 1–4; 2 Cor. 9:6; Psal. 112:9. Secondly, in general, works of mercy and righteousness in our general or particular callings, Prov. 11:18; Hos. 12:10. Thereby teaching us, that works of mercy and righteousness do not perish, but will bring forth an harvest of comfort, and great reward unto those that abound in them, Gal. 6:8.
{sow thy seed} Do your own work, intend your own calling, immix not yourself in things which belong not unto you, 2 Thess. 3:10; 1 Thess. 4:11. Be liberal of your own estate, Ephes. 4:28.
{In the morning sow}—{and in the evening withhold not thine hand}, or let not your hand rest and give over. Begin betimes, and be not weary of well-doing, but continue unto the end; be always doing of good, morning and evening, the whole day from one end of it to the other, Gen. 1:5; Dan. 8:14; Psal. 104:22, 23. So Solomon bids us, be in the fear of the Lord all the day long, Prov. 23:17. It is to be understood of the morning and evening of a man's life, which should be wholly consecrated to God, Lam. 3:27; Eccles. 12:1; Psal. 92:14; Matth. 10:22; or of the morning and evening of a man's prosperity; as soon as ever God gives you an estate, begin to do good with it, and be not weary of so doing, but continue to the end. God requires our charity to be set about on the first day of the week, 1 Cor. 16:2; Gal. 6:9, 10. The night is shut out of the time of working, or of duty; therefore while it is day, while we have life and opportunity, we must ply our duties, Eccles. 9:10; Joh. 9:4.
{for thou knowest not whether shall prosper}, or whether will be most right, or congruous, {the one or the other}, etc. You may justly expect a blessing upon all, however, though the success, as to men, be not always prosperous; sometimes your bounty is misplaced upon those that abuse it, or return evil for good, yet with God, constancy in well-doing will not miss of its reward; and by this largeness of heart, you may unawares entertain angels, and bring extraordinary blessings upon your family, Matth. 10:41, 42; Heb. 13:2; 1 Reg. 17:13–16.
V. 7. {Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun} By light, and beholding the sun, we are to understand the time of this present life, as is evident by what follows in the next verse; so Job 3:20, and 33:30; and withal, we may take in those pleasures and comforts thereof, which serve to render it more sweet and contentful. Some make it to be a tacit objection, against that continual labor which he before prescribed. Since life is short, we ought to use all the ways we can to render it pleasant, and not weary out our time and strength in continual toil and labor; it is much more sweet, to enjoy the light and pleasures of life while we may, 1 Cor. 15:32, whereunto they make the words of the next verse to be an answer; that when death comes, the good we have done will remain with us, but all our pleasures and delights will vanish into nothing. It may seem to relate unto the former verse as well as to that which follows; sow your seed in the morning, and in the evening, so long as you have the light of the sun to guide you; for this is the chief comfort and sweetness of life, to be doing good while we have time and opportunity, because the days of death and darkness are coming, wherein we cannot work.
But it seems rather to be a transition unto a new matter. In the former parts of this book, the wise man had set forth the vanity of all outward things, and had prescribed many gracious and excellent means to remedy the same, and to frame the heart of man unto tranquility and peace. But now when by these precepts the life of man here is rendered as full of comfort, and quietness, as an earthly condition is capable of, yet though his life be never so sweet, there are great evils coming, which will require much meditation and preparation of heart to fit a man for them: and there is a far longer condition for the future, which will abide us after this life is gone; necessary therefore it is unto the completing of that happiness whereinto he had all this while inquired, to secure not only the comforts of this life, but the assurance of a better, which is the business of Solomon in the remaining part of this book, by a timely meditation of death and judgment, and by the fear of God, and keeping his commandments in our youth, to arm us against the terror of future evils, and to fit us for that happiness, which is the whole of man, and which will be thoroughly proportionable to his largest desires. And so the meaning is this, it is true indeed, to enjoy the light of the sun, and the comforts of this present life, is a very sweet thing: sensually sweet unto those, who are voluptuous; solidly and substantially sweet unto those, who by all the foregoing precepts, have gotten wisdom to cure the vanity and vexation of spirit; which otherwise outward things are apt to produce; yet both the one and the other, must remember, that though life be sweet under the sun, yet it is not long, much less, perpetual, days of darkness are to come, therefore unto complete happiness there is yet more to be done, and such an estate to be secured, as may bear full proportion to the capacities of an immortal soul, and may make up the whole of man.
{Light is sweet} Sweetness here is that, properly, which is the object of our taste, Judg. 14:18; Prov. 24:13; but it is usual in the Scripture to attribute that which is proper unto one sense, to another; as to see thunder, Exod. 20:18; to see the smell of a field, Gen. 27:27. It is a broken and concise sentence, unto which something is to be added or understood, it is indeed sweet to see the sun, life is pleasant, but yet it is vanity, and will end in death; by the meditation whereof, we are to abate our inordinate love of the profits and pleasures of so vanishing a condition.
V. 8. {But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity} Though it be a sweet thing to enjoy life, and the comforts thereof, and though a man should live long, and all that long life, should have his full of worldly delights, yet the serious meditation of death, and the long abode we shall after all those pleasures have in the house of darkness, will sufficiently demonstrate the vanity of temporal life, how long, or how prosperous soever it have been; such a life we find described, Job 21:7–13. By days of darkness, are understood in opposition to light; and the seeing of the sun, in the former verse, that space of time wherein men shall lie in the dust, Psal. 88:12, 13; Psal. 143:3; Eccles. 6:4; Job 10:21.
{for they shall be many} This some apply to the first words of the verse, though the days of life be many, yet let a man remember the days of darkness, and that will make him judge all things which happen in this world to be vanity: we may likewise read the words thus; if a man live many years, let him rejoice in them all, he is not debarred the comforts and contents of them, but let him withal temper and moderate the joys of life, with the meditation of death, and know that everything which happens, that every man which comes into the world is vanity.
V. 9. {Rejoice, O young man in thy youth, and let thine heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: But know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment} Since all that comes is vanity, as well youth as age, both which he shows here and in the next chapter: and since the days of life and jollity here, how long soever, are very short and inconsiderable, in comparison of the days of darkness which follow after them, he therefore persuades those who are most subject to be transported with the pleasures of life, to remember death and judgment, and thereby to restrain their inordinate desires. A young Epicure, who is scornful and impatient of such cooling and chill doctrines as those of death and judgment, might be apt to say; if the days of darkness be so many, let us not make them more than they are by denying ourselves the pleasures of light, but let us freely indulge to ourselves all our delights, and live to the length of our desires, 1 Cor. 15:32. Whereunto Solomon answers in these words, 1. By way of concession, 2. By way of sad and severe premonition. The concession some would have to be real and serious, as if he had said, I would not discourage you from the use of lawful pleasures, nor debar you such contents as the flower of your age do call for: only I would have you careful not to exceed the bounds of temperance and moderation, but by the vanity of things present, and certainty of future judgment, to compose your mind to sobriety in enjoying, and to a readiness to depart from these vain delights, as Gal. 5:13; 1 Pet. 2:16: enjoy pleasures, but be not drowned in them; use honest delights, but be not a slave unto them: you see that all here is vanity, that the fashion of this world, the power, wealth, honor, pleasures, strength, health, beauties thereof, all vanish and pass away, and that all of us must be brought before God's tribunal, and all our actions undergo a severe trial: therefore let it be your chiefest care to provide for that account. But the place is much more emphatical, if we understand the concession ironically; as 1 Reg. 18:27, and 22:15; Ezek. 28:3, 4; Matth. 26:45. Since you are willful and scornful: take your course, Rejoice in thy youth, or, because you are young, strong, healthful, and your bones full of marrow, Job 21:23, 24.
{And let thine heart cheer thee} Symmachus, ἐν ἀγαθῷ ἔστω [Greek reading uncertain], let it be wholly in good, or in delights.
{and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes} Do what you please, let your wanton and wandering eye inflame the lusts of your heart, and let your sensual heart give law to your whole man, deny not yourself anything which heart can wish, or eye look on, Num. 15:39; 1 John 2:16; 2 Pet. 2:14, and 3:2; Ezek. 23:16; Josh. 7:21; Jer. 18:12; Psalm 81:12; Job 21:7. Thus sharply does the Lord deride the pride and folly of young men in their career of lust and vanity, and as it were give them over to their own heart's desires, Prov. 1:24–28; Rom. 1:28.
{But know thou} Though you endeavor to blind your own eyes with sensual delights, to smother your conscience, and to baffle those principles of fear and restraint which God has planted in you; though you would not see, yet you shall see and know to your cost, Isa. 26:11; 1 Reg. 22:25; 2 Pet. 3:5.
{that for all these things} For all the sins, vanities, and excesses of your youth, for all those things which are now so grateful to your senses, though they please your eye, they will gnaw and sting your conscience, Job 13:26; Psal. 25:7. God, whose word and fear you now despise, from whose eye you cannot hide your sins, from whose tribunal you cannot withdraw your conscience; will bring thee. Perforce whether you will or no, when you shall in vain call to mountains and rocks to hide you, Rev. 6:16; Luke 23:30.
{into judgment} The judgment of the great day, Jude verse 6, called the terror of the Lord, 2 Cor. 5:10; Acts 17:30; the consideration whereof should abate the heat of lust, and cause the heart of young men to tremble at the wrath to come.
V. 10. {Therefore remove sorrow from thine heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity} This is not to be understood ironically, as the former words of the verse foregoing, nor in that sense; but seriously, as a seasonable precept unto young men, who are of all other men, by reason of the heat of their blood, subject unto passions and unto pleasures; the one seated in the heart, the other in the flesh; from both which, he does here forewarn them.
{Remove sorrow}, or anger and indignation {from thine heart}. If we read it sorrow, then hereby is meant all those sinful pleasures which though the deceitful heart look on as matter of joy, yet will certainly fill the heart with sorrow at the last, Prov. 14:13. If anger, or indignation, then the meaning is, that he should restrain all inordinate passions and perturbation of mind, especially take heed of swelling or storming at the will and ways of God, or at any serious advice minding him thereof, James 1:19; Job 6:24.
{and put away evil}, sinful lusts, {from thy flesh}. From your bodily members, Rom. 6:13; 1 Cor. 6:15; 2 Cor. 7:1; 1 Pet. 2:11; 2 Tim. 2:22; and so some understand the word flesh, in the sense as it is used, Ezek. 16:26, and 23:20; 2 Pet. 2:10; Jude verse 23.
{for childhood and youth are vanity} The reason of this advice, drawn from the vanishing condition of youth and the pleasures thereof: youth is but as the aurora or early morning of a day quickly gone, from thence to noon, and from noon to night, therefore care should be used to spend it in such a manner, as that we may have an abiding fruit, and pleasure which will not vanish with the years which were consumed in the pursuance of it.
CHAPTER 12
In this chapter, the wise man proceeds to demonstrate the vanity of youth and old age, which both quickly run into death, and then concludes the whole book.
He had before by an emphatical irony, deterred young men from those inordinate passions, and sensual pleasures, which that slippery age is most subject unto, and that by the consideration of that dreadful account which in the last judgment God will require of them. And because that age of all other is most apt to put the evil day far from them, and so look on death and judgment as at a great distance (as evil men use so to do, Ezek. 12:27; 2 Pet. 3:3, 4; Amos 6:3, 5), therefore he does by a prolepsis prevent that shift; young men might be apt to say, the things you press us unto are good, but we shall have time enough before judgment come, to think of them, old age will be a fit season to draw off from the world, and to draw nigh to God. Solomon here persuades from so dangerous a resolution, showing the necessity of seeking and serving God in our youth, in regard old age will be very unfit to begin so great a work in.
Whereupon he shows, 1. The vanity of old age, setting it forth by a large and an elegant allegory, and by other expressions, verse 2–6.
2. He presses the same duty by another argument, from the approach of death, which takes away all means of repentance and conversion, verse 7. And having thus by an induction of many particulars showed the vanity both of the creatures here below, and of the condition of man under the sun, who, were they never so excellent, could no longer enjoy them; he does conclude the whole book, 1. With resuming his first conclusion, verse 8. 2. By vindicating the truth of his doctrine therein, and in other his writings, by arguments; 1. From the penman of them, his piety, he was a penitent convert; his wisdom: his fidelity in teaching the people: his diligence, in seeking out choice matter to teach them: his success in composing many excellent and profitable sentences for their furtherance in piety, virtue, and prudence, verse 9.
2. From the quality of the doctrine which he taught, which he commends, 1. Absolutely, and for itself, in regard, 1. Of the pleasantness. 2. The uprightness. 3. The truth of it, verse 10. The efficacy of it, set forth by two similitudes of goads, and of nails. 5. The authority of it, 1. In regard of the office of those who dispense it, they are masters of the assemblies. 2. In regard of the great shepherd of the sheep, by whose Spirit it was revealed, verse 11.
2. He commends it comparatively, from the vanity of all other studies and learning without this; all other books are made without end or number, and read without satisfaction or content; by these a man may be admonished; by others he can be only wearied, verse 12.
And having thus demonstrated the doctrine he had in this book delivered, he closes the whole with a most grave and solemn conclusion, containing 1. A summary abridgment of the means of perfect happiness and tranquility of mind, in two words, fear and obedience, fear of God in the heart, as the root; obedience of his will in the life, as the fruit of that holy fear, verse 13.
2. A strong motive thereunto drawn from the future judgment, upon which and that final sentence of absolution or condemnation then to be pronounced, the everlasting happiness or misery of man stands; verse 14. He will bring every work to judgment, therefore keep his commandments: he will bring every secret thing to judgment, therefore fear him, and sanctify him in your hearts.
Verse 1. {Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them} Remember: we are naturally apt to forget God, and not to retain him in our knowledge but to live, as it were, without him, Psalm 10:4, 5; Ephes. 2:12; and this most of all, when earthly and sensual objects draw the heart with a stronger attraction; therefore the wise man, having dissuaded young men from youthful lusts, does here exhort them as a necessary means thereunto, to remember their Creator. To set the Lord always before their eyes, Psalm 16:8; to be in his fear all the day long, Prov. 23:17. To compose themselves unto his service, to keep in memory, to hold fast, to ponder, and stir up the thoughts of him, and desires towards him in their hearts, 1 Cor. 15:2; Titus 1:9; Prov. 4:4; Luke 8:15; Deut. 11:18; Psalm 119:11; Luke 2:51. This remembrance imports love, desire, obedience, Verba notitiae connotant affectus, Psal. 119:55; Isa. 26:8, 9.
We find two psalms amongst David's, with this inscription, To bring to remembrance, so careful was he not to forget the dealings of God with him, Psal. 38:1; Psal. 70:1. For this purpose were sacraments instituted, Exod. 12:42; 1 Cor. 11:24; festivals ordained to keep alive the memory of mercies, Esth. 9:27, 28. Stones and monuments erected for the remembering of God's goodness, Josh. 4:6, 7. The law written on door-posts, fringes, frontlets to keep ever in mind, Deut. 6:7, 8, 9. For this purpose God has appointed his ordinances, and given his Spirit to his church, to put them in remembrance, 2 Pet. 1:12; 1 Tim. 4:6; John 14:26.
{thy Creator} This word includes many reasons, why God ought to be remembered and served by us.
1. He made us and not we ourselves, and we owe our service to him from whom we receive our being, Psalm 100:2, 3. Remember he made all things for himself, we are of him, therefore we must live to him, Prov. 16:4; Isa. 43:21; Rom. 11:36, and 14:7, 8.
2. He made us after his own image, to know him, and to have special interest in him, and acquaintance with him; and being made like him, we are the more obliged unto his service, Eph. 4:23, 24.
3. By that power which created us, we are continually preserved; if he withdraw it, we presently perish. In him we live and move and have our being. The more vigor and strength we have, the more sensible we should be of that divine supportance, which continues it unto us, Acts 17:27–30; Psalm 104:28, 29.
4. He who has power to create, has power to destroy; and he will show the same almighty power, in destroying those, who live not suitable to the ends of their creation, 1 Sam. 2:6, 8; 2 Thess. 1:9. This creating power of God, should teach us to fear him, Jer. 5:22.
{in the days of thy youth} The choicest time of your life, Lam. 3:27; Prov. 22:6; 2 Chron. 34:1, 2, 3; 2 Tim. 3:15; Psalm 119:9. Therefore God required, that the first ripe fruits should be dedicated unto him, Exod. 23:19; and the firstborn, Exod. 22:29. And his sacrifices he would have to be young, Exod. 12:5, and 29:1; Lev. 4:3. We enjoy mercies in our youth, therefore we should do duty in our youth; we expect eternal life from God, therefore we should not withdraw any part of our temporal life from him. He requires to be served with all our strength, therefore we may not put him off till all our strength is gone.
{before the evil days come}, &c. If you will have God to pity and help you in your evil days, you must serve him in your good days. The days of old age are called evil days, aetas mala, in Plautus, because they bring many pains and troubles along with them: vitae hyems, the winter of our life as Solon called it, nam res plurimas pessimas cum advenit affert. As the days of youth are called, aetas bona, in Cicero, and aetas optima in Seneca: because then nature is strong and vigorous, and does most fully enjoy itself. Your old age will bring evils enough of its own, do not you bring upon it the bitterness and burden of all your youthful follies; repentance is a hard work, when your sins are fewer, and your strength greater: when infirmities bend your back, do not keep your iniquities to break it. Since the days of old age will be evil days, lay up as many graces as you can to sweeten it, as many comforts as you can to strengthen your heart against the evils of it. Gather, in summer, against such a winter as this, Prov. 10:5. That old age may not be to you an evil age, but as it was to Abraham, a good old age, Gen. 25:8.
{And the years wherein thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them} This seems to be added, as an aggravation of the evil of those evil days, that if they be lengthened into years, yet all that while a man can find no matter of pleasure or content, whole years together shall be full of weariness and sorrow. So Job complains of the length of his misery, that he possessed months of vanity, Job 7:3; and Hezekiah, Isa. 38:12, 13, 15. The very strength of the years of an old man, is all labor and sorrow, Psalm 90:10.
V. 2. {While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars be not darkened: nor the clouds return after the rain} These words may be understood either literally, or allegorically, as those that follow. Literally, the meaning is, that unto old men, by reason of the decay of their senses, even the lightest bodies seem to be darkened; they look upon the sun, at noon through the clouds and scales which are over their own eyes. And whereas it is a pleasant thing to behold the sun, chap. 11:7, this shall minister no delight at all unto them: light is little worth unto a man that is in misery, Job 3:20, 23. Allegorically, it is by some understood so, as that the sun, moon, stars, light, may refer unto some parts in man, signified thereby, (as the other parts of the allegory ensuing do) and thus: first, the Chaldee paraphrase refers it unto the face, and eyes; before the glory and beauty of your face be changed, and the light of your eyes be darkened, and the comeliness of your cheeks be abated, and the apples of your eyes, the stars of your countenance, be extinguished; and your eyelids drop down tears, as clouds after rain. Secondly, others understand it of the weakening of the inward vigor of the soul, and rational faculties; understanding, perspicacy, memory, judgment, phantasy; all which in the nature of man, answer to the celestial lights. Others, by sun, moon, stars, and light, understand the various sorts and degrees of prosperity and joy, which men meet with in their younger years: and so the sense to be, Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth, before those evil days come, wherein all your light shall be turned into darkness, all your prosperity into sorrow, before greater and lesser comforts do all fail you, and your days and nights be full of trouble and darkness, one calamity (like storms of the winter) coming upon the neck of another. Prosperity is usually in Scripture compared unto the sun, and to light, Judg. 5:31; 2 Sam. 23:4; and in greater prosperity, than usual, the light of the moon is said to be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun sevenfold, Isa. 30:26, and 60:20. And on the other side, when great afflictions, such as swallow up all former joy and contentments, come upon a man, the Scripture expresses it by the obscurity, blackness, and falling of the sun, moon and stars, Isa. 13:9, 10, 11; Isa. 24:20–23, and 34:4, 3; Jer. 4:23, 24, and 15:9; Ezek. 32:7, 8; Joel 2:10, and 3:15; Amos 8:9; Matth. 24:29. And this sense seems most genuine, as expressing the reason, why the days of old age are evil days, and years wherein a man has no pleasure, because, both day and night, the life of such a man is full of darkness and trouble. Therefore mention is made of sun, and of moon and stars, to note the incessant pains, aches, troubles, weakness which this age is afflicted with, Job 7:4, 13, 14, 18, 19; Psalm 32:4.
{nor the clouds return after rain} This likewise may be understood generally of the troubles of old age; in the former sense, to note the continual returns of them day and night. A proverbial speech, expressing the constant succession of one grief, pain, disease, calamity, after another; as when the winter is set into rains, one cloud is no sooner blown over, but another succeeds and brings more rain; Velut unda supervenit unda. Others understand it of the catarrhs, and defluxions, which by reason of natural weakness, and want of heat to concoct them, do still ascend from the stomach to the head, and from thence fall down upon the breast and lungs; so that the head is ever rainy, never serene.
The former sense seems most pertinent, because in this verse, is a general description of the miseries of old age, the particular specification whereof follows in the rest. For as usurers, before the whole debt is paid, do fetch away some good parts of it for the loan: so before the debt of death be paid by the whole body, old age does, by little and little, take away sometimes one sense, sometimes another, this year one limb, the next another; and causes a man, as it were, to die daily. No sun can dispel the clouds and sorrows of old age, but Christ, who is the Sun of Righteousness, and the bright morning star, Mal. 4:2; Prov. 4:18; Revel. 22:16.
V. 3. {In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease, because they are few, and those that look out of the windows shall be darkened} The body is here compared to an house, or castle, so elsewhere called, Job 4:19; 2 Cor. 5:1, which has watchmen and keepers, to preserve it from being broken open. By these, some understand the outward senses, which observe any danger approaching, and give timely notice of it to have it prevented. Others, the inward faculties of the memory, wisdom, providence, which take special care of the common safety. Others and the most, the hands and arms, which are the principal instruments, which the body uses in repelling any evil from it. Others, understand the ribs, whereby the vital parts are fenced and hedged in, that danger may not easily come near them: as the expression is, Job 10:11. Though the verb, Tremble, seem to carry the sense chiefly unto the hands and arms, which are more subject unto palsies, and shakings; yet it is not amiss to take in many of the other; the head, the seat of the senses, as the watchman; the arms, as the soldiers in the castle; the ribs, as the walls or works which serve to defend it: all which are much shaken and weakened in old age.
{and the strong men shall bow themselves} The legs and thighs, which were wont to carry the body upright, shall now falter, and sink under their weight, and buckle for feebleness, Isa. 35:3. Or, the back, which is the strongest part of the body for bearing burdens, shall bow and stoop under its own weight. Symmachus renders it, διαφθαρῶσιν, shall perish, or be corrupted; the Septuagint, διαστραφῶσιν, shall be perverted, shall, as it were, trip up and supplant one the other with crooked and unsteady motion. The old wife in the comedian, excused her slow and faltering pace, because she carried a very heavy burden, the weight of seventy-four years. Cajetan understands it literally, when the strongest men that are do fail, and stoop through weakness.
{and the grinders cease because they are few} Dentes molares, the great jaw-teeth, wherewith we grind our meat, shall cease and be unable to work, because they are diminished and made few, or because they do diminish their grinding, being sluggish and dull, both for want of strength in themselves, and of appetite in the stomach.
{and those that look out of the windows shall be darkened} The vulgar, per foramina, through the holes; as Zach. 14:12. It is elsewhere rendered, windows, 2 Reg. 7:19; Isa. 60:8; Gen. 8:2. So it is understood of the dimness of the eyes in old men, Gen. 27:1, and 48:10. Solomon Glassius in his Rhetorica Sacra, by windows understands spectacles, which for weakness of sight, aged men are necessitated to use: Cajetan applies it to all the senses; and by foramina understands the holes of the ears, nose, mouth, as well as of the eye. All these for want of vital spirits, being blunted and dulled in their exercise. But the words, looking out and darkened, plainly limit the meaning unto the sight only, which through the want of spirits, dryness, and ineptitude of the organs, hardness of the membranes, defluxion of humors, and other inconveniences, is much weakened in aged men. So that it is noted as a strange thing in Moses, that when he was a hundred and twenty years old, his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated, Deut. 34:7; and the like we read of Caleb, Josh. 14:10, 11.
By these infirmities, we should be taught, in our younger years, to provide, and lay in comforts against them, and not to trust in the strength of our own arms, which are so easily broken, but to make the Lord our arm, and his right hand our keeper, whose arms are everlasting, Isa. 33:2; Deut. 33:27; Psalm 121:5. Not to rest upon our own bottom, nor stay only upon our own strength, by which no man shall be established, 1 Sam. 2:9, but to make the Lord our stay and support, in whom there is everlasting strength; he is eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame, he gives power to the faint, and to them that have no might, he increases strength, Psal. 18:18; Isa. 26:4, and 40:29, and 41:10; Psal. 145:14.
V. 4. {And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low} Various interpretations are given of these particulars. Some understand the first clause, literally. The doors of the house, by which he was wont to go into the streets, to visit his friends, to walk up and down about his business, shall be now shut up: he shall, by reason of his many infirmities, keep within doors, and abstain from all public meetings, wherein, in his younger years he was wont greatly to delight. Others, refer it allegorically to the body, here compared to an house; the doors whereof towards the street, are, in old age, shut up, and made useless. Whereby many things are understood. First, the two lips, which are the doors of the mouth outwardly, Psalm 141:3. The word is in the dual number. Or, the mouth, which is the door of the heart: this may be applied both unto eating, and unto speech, unto the oesophagus, and the arteria, the passages for the meat to go down to the stomach, and for the breath to go to the lungs, called fistula cibaria, and fistula spiritualis. These pipes are haply here compared unto the street, or passages down into several parts within the body which have doors or covers, that open one way, and shut another way when we eat and drink, that our food may go right to the stomach, and not awry to the lungs. These doors in old age, are, through weakness, shut up, and as it were off from their hinges, do not so pliantly and readily, do their proper office, as they were wont to do. Whence difficulty of swallowing, and difficulty of speaking; unto which two, most of the interpretations of this place, may be referred. Some by the two doors, understand the eyelids, when they are weak, and hang down over the eyes. Others, all the senses, which are the outward doors, by which objects enter, and are admitted to the soul; all which, in old age, are so weakened, and unuseful, that they do very little service.
The next clause, seems most to favor that sense, which by doors, understands the passages of the meat, down into the stomach, and of the voice from the lungs, unto both which uses, the teeth are greatly subservient.
{when the sound of the grinding is low} This some apply unto hearing, when that grows weak. Others, unto the concoction of the stomach, when that is decayed: but the most probable interpretation is that which applies to the teeth, which being few and weak, cannot readily crush and break harder meats, and so make a lesser sound in eating, than young men do; frangendus misero gingiva panis inermi. When the teeth are gone, the lips are compressed, the mouth falls down, the organs of feeding and speaking are much disabled. They who take the former clauses literally, join the senses thus together. Old men stay within doors, and walk little abroad because the weakness of their appetite and digestion does cause them to eat little, whereby their strength is much abated, neither do they for this reason care to go to feasts, or merry meetings, all desires and delights being in them wholly decayed and broken.
{and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird} At the chirping or singing of any little bird. An expression of the little sleep which old men have, by reason of the coldness of their stomach, and difficulty of concoction, sending up fewer vapors to the brain, or those being so thin that they are easily awaked with every little noise. It may also be understood of his weariness to lie long in his bed, by reason of leanness and aches, so that he is willing to rise as early as the birds leave their nests.
{and all the daughters of music shall be brought low} By daughters of music, we may understand, 1. Some organs of the body tending unto music, either to sing ourselves, as the arteriae for speaking, those fibrae vocales which are bended and inflected in singing, or the ear which judges of sounds, as the palate of meats, when we hear others sing; or secondly, all kind of musical consort and harmony, vocal or instrumental, which young men greatly delight in, as Solomon did, Eccles. 2:8; but to old men are little delightful, they can neither sing themselves, nor are greatly pleased with the music of others, 2 Sam. 19:34, 35. By these defects, we are instructed in the days of our youth, to open all the doors of our heart to let Christ in, that in old age he may be with us, and when our appetite fails us, he may sup with us, Revel. 3:20, and when our sleep fails us, he may give us rest; and when all other delights are worn out, a good conscience may be a continual feast, 15:15, and may give songs in the night, Job 35:10; Eph. 5:19.
V. 5. {Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets} These are further degrees of the infirmities of old age when it grows now more decrepit, and near unto the grave.
{Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high} Either to go up to any high place, for fear of weariness or want of breath or giddiness of brain, or disability to hold out, or danger of falling from it; or lest anything that is over them should fall down upon them and hurt them.
{and fears shall be in the way} They shall go slowly and timorously, lest they stumble at every stone or little bunch that is before them, lest they be thrust and bruised by any that pass by them, lest weariness, sickness, or some other infirmity come upon them, and hinder them in their journey, lest anything run against them, and cast them down; no way is so smooth and easy, wherein there will not be something to affright them.
{and the almond tree shall flourish} This some take literally, when the almond flourishes in the beginning of the spring, when the grasshopper is fat in the middle of the summer, then shall the desires and delights (which in those seasons young men were wont to take) fail them, they shall find no pleasure in the most beautiful seasons of the year. And so they make the spring to be described by the flowering of the almond tree, which does first bring forth blossoms, Jer. 1:11, and the summer, by the fatness of the grasshopper, which then is most busy. Others understand it of aversion of sensual desires, and from pleasant fruits, as we find in Vatablus and Cajetan, Omnis Cibus suavis reprobabitur: flocci faciet coitum ob multam debilitatem. But he seems to carry on the allegory, and to compare the speed which old age makes to overtake a man, unto the almond tree, which thrusts out her blossoms before any other tree. And as the flowers of the almond are evident forerunners of approaching summer, so is old age of death. The most agreed sense is, of gray hairs, which are here compared to the white flowers of an almond tree, and are called flores Cemiterii. So λευκανθὲς κάρα, in Sophocles, a white hoary head.
{and the grasshopper shall be a burden} The lightest hop of so little a creature shall be burdensome to him, he is impatient of any the smallest weight. Allegorically, may be understood, either the bowing down of his back, and the sticking out of the vertebrae and bones thereof, which shall be a heavy weight unto him. Or, the legs which in a young man were as nimble as the legs of a grasshopper, shall now be heavy and swelled with gouts and evil humors, so the Chaldee Paraphrase. The former sense is most general.
{and desire shall fail} The desires of meat, drink, marriage, other pleasures, whatever is delightful to the eyes, ears, palate, other senses, shall all fail: A man shall abhor those things which in youth his nature greatly inclined unto. Symmachus renders it, διαλυθῇ, shall be dissolved, so some understand it of the mutual confederation between the soul and the body which will be loosened and broken. The Septuagint read it, διασκεδασθῇ ἡ κάππαρις; which word the Vulgar Latin retains, being a shrub, whose fruit, Galen says, is good for a weak appetite; and Avicen, ad irritandam Venerem: consonant whereunto is the Chaldee Paraphrase. Athenaeus numbers Capparis amongst other hot and salacious herbs.
{Because man goeth to his long home} Ad Domum Mundi sui, hic enim mundus non est suus. So Cajetan wittily, though impertinently. Domus Seculi, The long home is the grave, whence men are never more to return into this world. It is called a man's own and proper house, Isa. 14:18. They promise themselves houses forever here, Psalm 49:12, but they have no abiding home but in the grave, Job 7:10. The body is Domus pernoctationis, but the grave Domus aeternitatis.
{and the mourners go about the streets} Accompany the hearse unto the grave, Jer. 9:17. Or his friends that visit him, go from him mourning, and expecting his funeral. So we read of wailing in all streets, Amos 5:16. Those hired mourners who with music were wont to praise the party deceased, (whereunto alludes the Evangelist, Matth. 9:23,) we read of in Varro, lib. 6, de lingua latin. vid. Scalig. ib.
Now from these infirmities we may be instructed to take care, that amidst our own fears we may be guarded by angels, and led in our way, and upheld by the Lord's right hand: who has promised to give his Angels a charge to keep us in our ways, and to make his way plain before our eyes, that we may have plain paths for our feet to walk in, and every high thing may be taken down, Psalm 34:7; Gen. 48:16; Psalm 91:11; Psalm 37:24; Prov. 15:19; Psalm 27:11; Psalm 5:8; Heb. 12:13; Isa. 40:4; Luke 3:4, 5, 6; 2 Cor. 10:5, to be trees of righteousness, and then we shall bring forth fruit and flourish in old age, Psalm 92:12, 13, 14. When we can bear no burden for ourselves, if the Lord be ours, we may cast all our burdens on him who cares for us, and will sustain us, Psalm 55:22. And when all other desires fail, let us labor to be in such a preparation for death, as that we may say with old Simeon, Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace; and with Paul, I desire to depart and to be with Christ which is best of all, Phil. 1:23. And since the grave is our longest home, let our greatest care be to have that a house of rest and of hope unto us, Christ by his lying in it has sweetened it unto believers. Lastly, let us so live, as that we may die without fear, and they who bewail us, may not mourn as they who have no hope, 1 Thess. 4:13.
V. 6. {Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern} Some understand this verse literally, 1. Of the ornaments. 2. Of the more needful instruments of life, whether they be more obvious and easy to come by, as to draw water out of a fountain with a pitcher; or more remote, which are not gotten without labor and cost, as the drawing of water out of a deep well with a wheel and chain. And so the meaning runs thus, Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth, before God strip you of your ornaments wherein you now rejoice, your plate, chains, rings, jewels, bracelets, which will then be too heavy for you to wear, nec sufferre pares majoris pondera gemmae: 2. Before he spoil you of the other helps and commodities of life and make both your extraordinary ornaments and ordinary utensils all useless unto you: or haply, in this sense, the former clause may relate unto rich men, let not your silver and gold bewitch you: the latter unto meaner men, let not your pitcher and your wheel take off you from minding the things of another and a better life. Others carry on the allegory, making these things figurative and elegant expressions of death, and of those evils which immediately forego it, to wit, the dissolution of these parts which are most vital: for death, as in the storming or battering of a garrison, does first break and weaken the outworks, the bodily limbs, and outward senses, and after that sets upon the inworks, and the vitals. He here compares life unto a fountain, or well, out of which men draw water with a cord, a bowl, or bucket, a pitcher and a wheel. And as when these are broken we can draw water no more, so when the vital parts are decayed, there is no hope longer to draw life into the body which is the cistern. This life he compares, for the preciousness of it, unto silver and gold, for the weakness and fragility of it unto a pitcher, and for the instability and unsettledness of it, unto a wheel.
Now besides this general proportion between life and these things as the figures of it, interpreters do make the particulars here mentioned to answer unto some particulars in the vital parts of the body.
1. By the silver cord, they understand the marrow or pith of the back, continued from the brain as it were in a cord or string unto the bottom of the backbone, and for the white color of it, compared unto silver. It may also be applied unto all the other sinews and ligaments of the body, which from the head, as the fountain, convey sense and motion upon the other parts. Hereby also may not unfitly be understood the chain and sweet harmony of the elements and humors in the body, which being preserved in its due proportion, the body does receive life from the soul which is the spring thereof, but being once dissolved, life presently fails.
2. By the golden bowl, they understand the Meninx or skin wherein the brain and vital powers thereof are contained as in a bowl. Others understand the blood which is in the heart, as in the precious fountain of life. Schindler renders it, Scaturigo Auri or aurea, and would have us thereby understand the Law of God, which is compared unto gold: but the word is elsewhere used to signify a vessel, Zach. 4:2, 3.
4. By the fountain, we may understand those principal parts from whence vital supplies are drawn into the body, as from the head, sense and motion; from the heart, spirits, and heat, from the liver, blood.
4. By the pitcher, and the wheel, those instrumental and subservient parts, which from these convey those supplies into the several vessels of the body, as into a cistern, as the veins, blood from the liver, the arteries spirits from the heart, the sinews motion and sense from the brain. By all which we should learn to draw water of life out of the well of salvation, that out of our belly may flow rivers of living water, through the continual supplies of the Spirit of grace, that all our springs may be in Christ, and our life hidden with him in God, Isa. 14:3 and 66:11, 12; Zech. 13:1; John 4:14 and 7:38, 39.
In the second chapter Solomon had showed us, the many choice varieties of pleasure, riches, and other excellent outward blessings, in which he had sought for contentment: and in this chapter, he has in a most elegant allegory showed us how quickly old age does break them all, and take away the comfort of them.
V. 7. {Then shall the dust return to the earth, as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it} The dust, that is, the body, to show the original of it, Gen. 2:7. The weakness of it, dust is the weakest part of earth, Psalm 103:14. The baseness and vileness of it, Job 4:19; Phil. 3:21; Gen. 18:27; Job 30:19. Our original from the dust, our return unto the dust, should humble us, and make us vile in our own eyes and should warn us to make haste to secure a better life before this be ended, and not to put off the endeavors towards it unto old age, which haply we may never attain unto, and if we do, will bring itself work enough for us to do. Death is swift, and uncertain: Sin the longer lived in, does the more harden: Repentance is not in our call or command when we please: and it is a work of the whole man, and the whole life: The work deferred will be greater, the time to do it in will be shorter, the strength to do it by will be less, bodily infirmities will disable spiritual actions. God will have less honor and service from us, and we shall have more sorrow, and less comfort. Therefore remember your Creator, before the dust return to the earth whence it came.
{And the spirit shall return unto God who gave it} The soul is called a Spirit, to note the immaterial substance of it, and its original. It came from him who is the Father of spirits, Heb. 12:9; Gen. 2:7.
{shall return unto God that gave it} Or stet Judicio ante Deum: That it may appear before his tribunal to be judged: as the Chaldee well paraphrases the place. As certainly as the body goes unto the dust, so certainly the soul returns unto God to be judged. The godly are translated into Paradise, into Abraham's bosom, into the condition of just men made perfect, Luke 16:22 and 23:43; Hebrews 12:23. The wicked into the prison of disobedient spirits, reserved there in Hell unto the judgment of the great day, Luke 16:22; 1 Pet. 3:19.
V. 8. {Vanity of vanities saith the Preacher, All is vanity} As mathematicians having made their demonstration, do then resume their principal conclusion with a quod erat demonstrandum: so here the wise man having made a large and distinct demonstration, that the happiness of man does not stand in any, or in all the contents which the world can afford, both in regard of their disproportion unto him, and their discontinuance with him, he does hereby conclude his discourse, 1. With a confident affirming what he had in the beginning undertaken to prove.
2. With a strong and solid vindication thereof from any cavils, which might yet arise in the minds of men against it.
3. With a positive conclusion containing the sum of the whole book, and the right means unto true happiness indeed.
V. 9. {And moreover, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge: yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many Proverbs.} V. 10. {The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.} Here Solomon commends the doctrine taught in this book:
1. Because it was the doctrine of a penitent convert: for repentance is an excellent means to discern and acknowledge spiritual truth, 2 Tim. 2:25; James 1:21.
2. Because he was endued with wisdom from God, so that they came and sent from remote countries to hear him, 1 Reg. 4:30, 31.
3. He used this wisdom aright, he did not hide his talent in a napkin, but being taught of God himself; he also Taught the People; and being converted himself, he sought to convert others, and hereby showed himself to be wise, and a penitent indeed, Psalm 51:12, 13; John 4:28, 29; John 1:41, 45; Luke 2:17 and 24:33, 34, 35; Proverbs 11:30.
4. Because, he was exceeding considerate in the doctrine he taught, he gave good heed unto it, and weighed it in the balance of wisdom. He was exceeding diligent to learn of others, and to study himself. He was very perspicacious and judicious, to select choice matter to teach the people, 1 Peter 1:10.
5. Because he had been exceeding successful in that disquisition, and had composed many excellent and wise parables, for instruction in piety, virtue, and prudence, 1 Reg. 4:32.
Whereupon he does, sixthly, commend the doctrine he taught from the nature and quality of it, 1. They were Verba desiderii, pleasant, delightful, acceptable words, such as would be worthy of all entertainment, and minister solid comfort and refreshment to the hearers, Psalm 19:10; 1 Tim. 1:15.
2. They were Verba Rectitudinis, equal and right words, not loose, fabulous, amorous, impertinent, which should satisfy the itch of the ear, or tickle only a wanton fancy; but they were profitable and wholesome words, he did so seek to please men, as that it might be unto edification and for their profit, 1 Cor. 10:33; 2 Tim. 3:16, words written to make men sound and upright, Proverbs 8:8, to make their paths direct and straight, without falseness or hypocrisy.
3. They were Verba veritatis, words of truth and infallible certainty, which would not deceive or misguide those that should yield up themselves to the direction of them, Psalm 19:9; Joh. 17:17. A truth which is sanctifying and saving, Ephes. 1:13, and in these respects most worthy of our attention and belief. Many other books Solomon wrote, besides those which we now have mentioned, 1 Reg. 4:32, 33; 2 Chron. 35:4. See Josephus Antiquit. lib. 8, cap. 2. Pineda de Rebus Solomonis, lib. 3. Sixtus Senensis Biblioth., lib. 2.
V. 11. {The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails, fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.} Before, he showed the internal quality of the doctrine taught in the Church: here, he shows the use of virtue, efficacy and authority thereof, and that by two excellent similitudes.
First, of goads, sententious and concise parables and wise sayings, have a notable acumen in them to stir up the heart unto attention and to urge our sluggish affections forward unto obedience; as the goad quickens the ox unto labor. This is the nature of sound and spiritual doctrine, it searches, pricks, and stimulates the hearers of it unto duty, does not flatter any in their sins, or security, but rouses them up, and awakens them, Psalm 45:5; Isa. 49:2; Acts 2:37; Heb. 4:12. Shamgar with an ox goad slew six hundred Philistines, Judg. 3:31. Such is the power of the word to mortify our lusts and corruptions.
Secondly, of nails or stakes, by which we are fastened and confirmed in our duties; a metaphor either from smiths and carpenters, who fasten their works together with nails; or from shepherds, who fasten their hurdles and sheep-pens together with stakes fixed in the ground, as likewise tents were wont with cords, and pins or stakes to be pitched, Isaiah 33:20 and 54:2; Isaiah 22:23, elsewhere the word is compared unto a Hammer, whereby these nails are thus fastened, Jer. 23:29.
{fastened by the masters of assemblies} Or planted and fixed; so the Apostle compares preaching unto planting, 1 Cor. 3:6, and the word is called λόγος ἔμφυτος, an implanted, or ingrafted word, James 1:21. Some read the words thus, The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened, They are the masters of collections, or the choicest and most principal collections, unto which no other writing is to be compared, unto which all other learning is to be a handmaid, wait upon it, and to be subservient unto it: and thus they are a further commendation of the Scripture from the excellency and preeminency of them above all other writings. Others thus; As goads, and as nails fixed, quibus fiunt Congregationes or collectiones, so that the nails are the masters of the collections, according to the former sense: They who forsake the word, have scattered, broken, disjointed discomposed minds and affections: But this word is of a knitting and uniting virtue, Ephes. 4:12, 13, 14, 15, 16; Col. 2:19. Others by this expression, understand those who did collect the doctrine of the holy men of God, and compose them in brief summaries for the use of the Church: such as were the servants of Hezekiah, Prov. 25:1, like unto that college of wise and learned men, whom Justinian the Emperor employed in gathering into one body or Pandect the abridgment of the civil laws, and likewise, those doctors and pastors of the Church, whose work it is to fasten these nails in the hearts of the people by their ministry; as Peter did in theirs to whom he preached, Acts 2:37. These are all very sound and mutual consistent senses, which for substance agree in one end, to show the efficacy of the word. The authority whereof is confirmed by the next clause,
{which are given from one Shepherd} Though the collectors, expounders, and publishers of the word be many, some prophets, some apostles, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers; yet the word itself has its original from One principal shepherd, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and master of the house; he by his Spirit inspired it, and by the same Spirit assists his ministers in the dispensation of it; it is he that speaks in them and by them, so long as they keep to their commission, and deliver nothing to the people but the counsel of God, and that which they have first received. Christ is here, as elsewhere, called a shepherd, in pursuance of the metaphor of goads and stakes, whereby herdsmen drive their oxen, and shepherds pitch their tents, John 10:11; Heb. 13:20; 1 Pet. 5:4. Hereby then is noted, the divine authority of the holy Scriptures delivered by inspiration unto the penmen thereof for the use of the Church. The Spirit of Christ being in those that wrote them, 1 Pet. 1:11; 2 Pet. 1:21; 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Cor. 13:3; Heb. 1:1, 2 and 2:3, 4 and 12:25. And also the duty of pastors, to deliver nothing to the sheep of Christ, but that which is his, and which comes from himself, Jer. 23:22; Isa. 21:10; 1 Reg. 22:14; Ezek. 2:7; Acts 5:20 and 20:27; 1 Cor. 11:23; Ezek. 3:4; 1 Pet. 4:11; 1 John 1:1.
V. 12. {And further, by these my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.} And further, The learned do by this word, join this verse unto the three former, as an inference from them. And some render it thus, Quod reliquum est, that which remains, as the result of all this inquiry is this; That since the Preacher was wise and faithful, to seek out such acceptable words, words of truth, consonant to the doctrine of other wise men, effectual, as goads and nails, delivered from the great and chief shepherd of the flock: That I say, which hereupon remains is this; That thou my son, be admonished by these words. Others begin the ninth verse thus, And rather, because the Preacher was wise, etc., and then here repeat it, And rather, I say, by these be admonished, rather by these doctrines of mine, than by any other human and vain writings. Amplius, his cave quaeras, so Vatablus: and quod plus est istis, cave ab isto; so Cajetan. Whatever others say, if they speak not according unto these words, there is no wisdom in them, and therefore no heed to be given unto them, Isaiah 8:20. These are the most excellent monitors you can have; from these you may most richly be informed, and warned how to live, Psalm 19:11.
{of making many books there is no end}, etc. An argument to enforce the exhortation, from the fruitlessness and vanity of other studies.
First, there is no end of writing them; while one refutes what another wrote, another vindicates what his adversary disliked. If happiness were to be sought for in human writings; the volumes are so infinite, the opinions so endless and various, that it would be impossible for any man to find it out of them; when a man had with much curiosity and continual reading wearied himself, and pined his flesh away, he would find it all an unprofitable, and an impertinent labor, weariness to the body, without any satisfaction to the mind. Therefore let these words, so few, and yet so full be your counselors: He that will not be admonished by those, shall never be satisfied with any others: He that refuses the wheat, will be choked with the chaff. Well may we say unto this one Shepherd, as Peter did, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life, John 6:68. These only are the writings which make us wise unto salvation, and do furnish us thoroughly unto all good works, 2 Timothy 3:15, 17. Others are useful, in their order: These only are the Rule of faith and life.
V. 13. {Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his Commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.} Or, the whole end of the matter; or, the sum and substance of the whole matter is heard; the discourse of man's happiness, which in this book I have undertaken, is at an end, no more need be said of it; the sum of all is comprised in these two words, Fear God, Keep his commandments; this is all man needs, to lead a happy life.
{Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter} This is an Exordium to stir up attention; I will in two words give you an abridgment of all that can be said; therefore take special heed to remember them. The verse begins with a great letter in the original, which is as Buxtorf, in his Tiberias notes, to excite the more heed and attention, the whole sum of the duty of man, being contained in this short saying, wherein he observes the right order; for first, he begins with the internal root of all obedience and worship, which is, a filial, reverend, awful, and loving fear of God and his goodness in the heart, Hosea 3:5; Proverbs 1:7. Secondly, he proceeds unto the fruit, which grows out of this root of filial fear and love, shed abroad in the heart, which is an equal, uniform, constant, universal observing of his commandments; of all of them without partiality; of all of them, as his, in obedience to his authority, in acknowledgment of his holiness in them, and of his dominion and sovereignty over us: Keep his commandments out of fear to displease him; out of conscience to approve yourselves unto him, out of care to bring glory to his name, to testify your thankfulness for his mercies, and your conformity to his will.
Thus to fear God, and to keep his commandments, is the whole of man; about this should he spend all the strength of his thoughts and cares: This is the sum of all, which man can, after all his writing, reading, studying, inquiring, in order unto happiness attain unto; this is the whole happiness of man, or, all the means which man can use to come unto happiness at the last: This is the basis, and bottom of all that perfection which man is capable of; it is the whole duty of man, and the duty of all men that will be happy, Job 28:28.
This, necessarily, takes in the doctrine of faith in Christ, because without him we can do nothing, by faith in him the heart is purified to fear and love God; and by that fear and love it is inclined to obey his commandments, 1 John 3:5; John 14:22.
V. 14. {For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil} This is a strong motive unto fear and obedience; if the excellency of the doctrine do not persuade, let the terror of God's judgment drive unto duty, Because he hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness, Acts 17:31; 2 Corinthians 5:9, 10; Romans 2:16 and 14:10.
{with every secret thing} It is the day of the revelation of God's righteous judgment. Hypocrisy shall be disclosed, sincerity shall be rewarded, because nothing is hidden from him, Hebrews 4:13. All other things are vain, but it is not vain to fear the Lord. They that do good, their works will follow them into Heaven; and they that do evil, their works will hunt and pursue them into Hell.