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82 lines
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<p id="Chapter7" align="center">Commentary by A. R. FAUSSET<br>CHAPTER 7
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<p id="Ec7_1"><a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,'1-29');">Ecc 7:1-29</a>.
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<p><b>1.</b> (See see on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Ecc/Ecc006.html#Ec6_12">Ecc 6:12</a>).
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<br><br><b>name</b>—character; a godly mind and life; not mere reputation with man, but what a man <i>is</i> in the eyes of God, with whom the <i>name</i> and <i>reality</i> are one thing (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',9,6);">Isa 9:6</a>). This alone is "good," while all else is "vanity" when made the chief end.
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<br><br><b>ointment</b>—used lavishly at costly banquets and peculiarly refreshing in the sultry East. The <i>Hebrew</i> for "name" and for "ointment," have a happy paronomasia, <i>Sheem</i> and <i>Shemen.</i> "Ointment" is fragrant only in the place where the person is whose head and garment are scented, and only for a time. The "name" given by God to His child (<a onclick="return mV('Rev',3,12);">Rev 3:12</a>) is for ever and in all lands. So in the case of the woman who received an everlasting name from Jesus Christ, in reward for her precious ointment (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',56,5);">Isa 56:5</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mar',14,'3-9');">Mar 14:3-9</a>). Jesus Christ Himself hath such a name, as the Messiah, equivalent to Anointed (<a onclick="return mV('Sgs',1,3);">Sgs 1:3</a>).
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<br><br><b>and the day of</b> [his] <b>death,</b> etc.—not a general censure upon God for creating man; but, connected with the previous clause, death is to him, who hath a godly name, "better" than the day of his birth; "far better," as <a onclick="return mV('Phl',1,23);">Phl 1:23</a> has it.
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<p id="Ec7_2"><b>2.</b> Proving that it is not a <i>sensual</i> enjoyment of earthly goods which is meant in <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',3,13);">Ecc 3:13</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',3,13);">5:18</a>. A thankful use of these is right, but frequent feasting Solomon had found dangerous to piety in his own case. So Job's fear (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',1,4,5);">Ecc 1:4-5</a>). The house of feasting often shuts out thoughts of God and eternity. The sight of the dead in the "house of mourning" causes "the living" to think of their own "end."
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<p id="Ec7_3"><b>3. Sorrow</b>—such as arises from serious thoughts of eternity.
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<br><br><b>laughter</b>—reckless mirth (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',2,2);">Ecc 2:2</a>).
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<br><br><b>by the sadness...better</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',126,5,6);">Psa 126:5-6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('2Cr',4,17);">2Cr 4:17</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',12,10,11);">Hbr 12:10-11</a>). MAURER translates: "In sadness of countenance there is (may be) a good (<i>cheerful</i>) heart." So <i>Hebrew,</i> for "good," equivalent to "cheerful" (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',9,7);">Ecc 9:7</a>); but the parallel clause supports <i>English Version.</i>
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<p id="Ec7_5"><b>5.</b> (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',141,4,5);">Psa 141:4-5</a>). Godly reproof offends the flesh, but benefits the spirit. Fools' songs in the house of mirth please the flesh, but injure the soul.
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<p id="Ec7_6"><b>6. crackling</b>—answers to the loud merriment of fools. It is the very fire consuming them which produces the seeming merry noise (<a onclick="return mV('Joe',2,5);">Joe 2:5</a>). Their light soon goes out in the black darkness. There is a paronomasia in the <i>Hebrew, Sirim</i> ("thorns"), <i>Sir</i> ("pot"). The wicked are often compared to "thorns" (<a onclick="return mV('2Sa',23,6);">2Sa 23:6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Nah',1,10);">Nah 1:10</a>). Dried cow-dung was the common fuel in Palestine; its slowness in burning makes the quickness of a fire of thorns the more graphic, as an image of the sudden end of fools (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',118,12);">Psa 118:12</a>).
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<p id="Ec7_7"><b>7. oppression</b>—recurring to the idea (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',3,16);">Ecc 3:16</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',5,8);">5:8</a>). Its connection with <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,'4-6');">Ecc 7:4-6</a> is, the sight of "oppression" perpetrated by "fools" might tempt the "wise" to call in question God's dispensations, and imitate the folly (equivalent to "madness") described (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,'5-6');">Ecc 7:5-6</a>). WEISS, for "oppression," translates, "distraction," produced by merriment. But <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',5,8);">Ecc 5:8</a> favors <i>English Version.</i>
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<br><br><b>a gift</b>—that is, the sight of <i>bribery</i> in "places of judgment" (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',3,16);">Ecc 3:16</a>) might cause the wise to lose their wisdom (equivalent to "heart"), (<a onclick="return mV('Job',12,6);">Job 12:6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Job',21,6,7);">21:6-7</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Job', 24,1);">24:1</a>, etc.). This suits the parallelism better than "a heart of gifts"; a benevolent heart, as WEISS.
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<p id="Ec7_8"><b>8.</b> connected with <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,7);">Ecc 7:7</a>. Let the "wise" wait for "the end," and the "oppressions" which now (in "the beginning") perplex their faith, will be found by God's working to be overruled to their good. "Tribulation worketh <i>patience</i>" (<a onclick="return mV('Rom',5,3);">Rom 5:3</a>), which is infinitely better than "the proud spirit" that prosperity might have generated in them, as it has in fools (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',73,'2-3','12-14','17-26');">Psa 73:2-3,12-14, 17-26</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jam',5,11);">Jam 5:11</a>).
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<p id="Ec7_9"><b>9. angry</b>—impatient at adversity befalling thee, as Job was (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',5,2);">Ecc 5:2</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Pro',12,16);">Pro 12:16</a>).
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<p id="Ec7_10"><b>10.</b> Do not call in question God's ways in making thy former days better than thy present, as Job did (<a onclick="return mV('Job',29,'2-5');">Job 29:2-5</a>). The very putting of the question argues that heavenly "wisdom" (<i>Margin</i>) is not as much as it ought made the chief good with thee.
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<p id="Ec7_11"><b>11.</b> Rather, "Wisdom, <i>as compared</i> with an inheritance, is good," that is, is as good as an inheritance; "yea, better (literally, and a profit) to them that see the sun" (that is, <i>the living,</i> <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',11,7);">Ecc 11:7</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Job',3,16);">Job 3:16</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',49,19);">Psa 49:19</a>).
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<p id="Ec7_12"><b>12.</b> Literally, (To be) in (that is, under) the <i>shadow</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',30,2);">Isa 30:2</a>) of wisdom (is the same as to be) in (under) the <i>shadow</i> of money; wisdom no less <i>shields</i> one from the ills of life than money does.
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<br><br><b>is, that</b>—rather, "the excellency <i>of</i> the knowledge of wisdom giveth life," that is, life in the highest sense, here and hereafter (<a onclick="return mV('Pro',3,18);">Pro 3:18</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jhn',17,3);">Jhn 17:3</a>; <a onclick="return mV('2Pe',1,3);">2Pe 1:3</a>). Wisdom (religion) cannot be lost as money can. It <i>shields</i> one in adversity, as well as prosperity; money, only in prosperity. The question in <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,10);">Ecc 7:10</a> implies a want of it.
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<p id="Ec7_13"><b>13.</b> <i>Consider</i> as to <i>God's work,</i> that it is impossible to alter His dispensations; <i>for who can,</i> etc.
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<br><br><b>straight...crooked</b>—Man cannot amend what God wills to be "wanting" and "adverse" (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',1,15);">Ecc 1:15</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Job',12,14);">Job 12:14</a>).
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<p id="Ec7_14"><b>14. consider</b>—resumed from <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,13);">Ecc 7:13</a>. "Consider," that is, regard it as "the work of God"; for "God has made (<i>Hebrew,</i> for 'set') this (adversity) also as well as the other (prosperity)." "Adversity" is one of the things which "God has made crooked," and which man cannot "make straight." He ought therefore to be "patient" (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,8);">Ecc 7:8</a>).
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<br><br><b>after him</b>—equivalent to "that man may not find anything (to blame) after God" (that is, <i>after</i> "considering God's work," <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,13);">Ecc 7:13</a>). <i>Vulgate</i> and <i>Syriac,</i> "<i>against</i> Him" (compare <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,10);">Ecc 7:10</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rom',3,4);">Rom 3:4</a>).
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<p id="Ec7_15"><b>15.</b> An objection entertained by Solomon
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<br><br><b>in the days of his vanity</b>—his apostasy (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',8,14);">Ecc 8:14</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Job',21,7);">Job 21:7</a>).
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<br><br><b>just...perisheth</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('1Ki',21,13);">1Ki 21:13</a>). <i>Temporal</i> not eternal death (<a onclick="return mV('Jhn',10,28);">Jhn 10:28</a>). But see on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Ecc/Ecc007.html#Ec7_16">Ecc 7:16</a>; "<i>just</i>" is probably a <i>self-justiciary.</i>
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<br><br><b>wicked...prolongeth</b>—See the antidote to the abuse of this statement in <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',8,12);">Ecc 8:12</a>.
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<p id="Ec7_16"><b>16.</b> HOLDEN makes <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,16);">Ecc 7:16</a> the scoffing inference of the objector, and <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,17);">Ecc 7:17</a> the answer of Solomon, now repentant. So (<a onclick="return mV('1Cr',15,32);">1Cr 15:32</a>) the skeptic's objection; (<a onclick="return mV('1Cr',15,33);">1Cr 15:33</a>) the answer. However, "Be not righteous over much," may be taken as Solomon's words, forbidding a <i>self-made</i> righteousness of outward performances, which would wrest salvation from God, instead of receiving it as the gift of His <i>grace.</i> It is a fanatical, pharisaical righteousness, separated from God; for the "fear of God" is in antithesis to it (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,18);">Ecc 7:18</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',5,3,7);">5:3, 7</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mat',6,'1-7');">Mat 6:1-7</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mat',9,14);">9:14</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mat',23,23,24);">23:23-24</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rom',10,3);">Rom 10:3</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Ti',4,3);">1Ti 4:3</a>).
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<br><br><b>over wise</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Job',11,12);">Job 11:12</a> <a onclick="return mV('Rom',12,3);">Rom 12:3</a>, <a onclick="return mV('Rom',12,16);">16</a>), presumptuously self-sufficient, as if acquainted with the whole of divine truth.
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<br><br><b>destroy thyself</b>—expose thyself to needless persecution, austerities and the wrath of God; hence to an untimely death. "Destroy thyself" answers to "perisheth" (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,15);">Ecc 7:15</a>); "righteous over much," to "a just man." Therefore in <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,15);">Ecc 7:15</a> it is <i>self-justiciary,</i> not a truly righteous man, that is meant.
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<p id="Ec7_17"><b>17. over much wicked</b>—so worded, to answer to "righteous <i>over much.</i>" For if not taken thus, it would seem to imply that we <i>may</i> be wicked a <i>little.</i> "Wicked" refers to "wicked man" (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,15);">Ecc 7:15</a>); "die before thy time," to "prolongeth his life," antithetically. There may be a wicked man spared to "live long," owing to his avoiding gross excesses (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,15);">Ecc 7:15</a>). Solomon says, therefore, Be not so foolish (answering antithetically to "over wise," <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,16);">Ecc 7:16</a>), as to run to such excess of riot, that God will be provoked to cut off prematurely thy day of grace (<a onclick="return mV('Rom',2,5);">Rom 2:5</a>). The precept is addressed to a <i>sinner.</i> Beware of aggravating thy sin, so as to make thy case desperate. It refers to the days of Solomon's "vanity" (apostasy, <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,15);">Ecc 7:15</a>), when only such a precept would be applicable. By litotes it includes, "Be not wicked <i>at all.</i>"
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<p id="Ec7_18"><b>18. this...this</b>—the two opposite excesses (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,16,17);">Ecc 7:16-17</a>), fanatical, self-wise righteousness, and presumptuous, foolhardy wickedness.
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<br><br><b>he that feareth God shall come forth of them all</b>—shall escape all such extremes (<a onclick="return mV('Pro',3,7);">Pro 3:7</a>).
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<p id="Ec7_19"><b>19.</b> <i>Hebrew,</i> "The wisdom," that is, the true wisdom, religion (<a onclick="return mV('2Ti',3,15);">2Ti 3:15</a>).
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<br><br><b>than ten mighty</b>—that is, able and valiant generals (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,12);">Ecc 7:12</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,12);">9:13-18</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Pro',21,22);">Pro 21:22</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Pro',24,5);">24:5</a>). These "watchmen wake in vain, except the Lord keep the city" (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',127,1);">Psa 127:1</a>).
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<p id="Ec7_20"><b>20.</b> Referring to <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,16);">Ecc 7:16</a>. Be not "self-righteous," seek not to make thyself "<i>just</i>" before God by a superabundance of self-imposed performances; "for true 'wisdom, or 'righteousness,' shows that there is not a <i>just</i> man," etc.
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<p id="Ec7_21"><b>21.</b> As therefore thou being far from perfectly "just" thyself, hast much to be forgiven by God, do not take too strict account, as the <i>self-righteous</i> do (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,16);">Ecc 7:16</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Luk',18,9,11);">Luk 18:9, 11</a>), and thereby shorten their lives (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,15,16);">Ecc 7:15-16</a>), of words spoken against thee by others, for example, thy servant: Thou art their "fellow servant" before God (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',18,'32-35');">Mat 18:32-35</a>).
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<p id="Ec7_22"><b>22.</b> (<a onclick="return mV('1Ki',2,44);">1Ki 2:44</a>).
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<p id="Ec7_23"><b>23. All this</b>—resuming the "all" in <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,15);">Ecc 7:15</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,'15-22');">Ecc 7:15-22</a> is therefore the fruit of his dearly bought experience in the days of his "vanity."
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<br><br><b>I will be wise</b>—I tried to "be wise," independently of God. But true wisdom was then "far from him," in spite of his <i>human</i> wisdom, which he retained by God's gift. So "over wise" (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,16);">Ecc 7:16</a>).
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<p id="Ec7_24"><b>24. That...far off...deep</b>—True wisdom is so when sought independently of "fear of God" (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,18);">Ecc 7:18</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Deu',30,12,13);">Deu 30:12-13</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Job',11,7,8);">Job 11:7-8</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Job',28,'12-20',28);"> 28:12-20, 28</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',64,6);">Psa 64:6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rom',10,6);">Rom 10:6</a>, <a onclick="return mV('Rom',10,7);">7</a>).
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<p id="Ec7_25"><b>25.</b> Literally, "I turned myself and mine heart to." A phrase peculiar to Ecclesiastes, and appropriate to the penitent <i>turning</i> back to <i>commune with his heart</i> on his past life.
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<br><br><b>wickedness of folly</b>—He is now a step further on the path of penitence than in <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',1,17);">Ecc 1:17</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',1,17);">2:12</a>, where "folly" is put without "wickedness" prefixed.
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<br><br><b>reason</b>—rather, "the right estimation" of things. HOLDEN translates also "foolishness (that is, sinful folly, answering to 'wickedness' in the parallel) of madness" (that is, of man's mad pursuits).
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<p id="Ec7_26"><b>26.</b> "I find" that, of all my sinful follies, none has been so ruinous a snare in seducing me from God as idolatrous women (<a onclick="return mV('1Ki',11,3,4);">1Ki 11:3-4</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Pro',5,3,4);">Pro 5:3-4</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Pro',22,14);">22:14</a>). As "God's favor is better than life," she who seduces from God is "more bitter than death."
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<br><br><b>whoso pleaseth God</b>—as Joseph (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',39,2,3,9);">Gen 39:2-3, 9</a>). It is God's <i>grace</i> alone that keeps any from falling.
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<p id="Ec7_27"><b>27. this</b>—namely, what follows in <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,28);">Ecc 7:28</a>.
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<br><br><b>counting one by one</b>—by comparing one thing with another [HOLDEN and MAURER].
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<br><br><b>account</b>—a right estimate. But <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,28);">Ecc 7:28</a> more favors GESENIUS. "Considering <i>women one by one.</i>"
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<p id="Ec7_28"><b>28.</b> Rather, referring to his past experience, "Which my soul <i>sought</i> further, but I <i>found</i> not."
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<br><br><b>one man</b>—that is, worthy of the name, "man," "upright"; not more than one in a thousand of my courtiers (<a onclick="return mV('Job',33,23);">Job 33:23</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',12,1);">Psa 12:1</a>). Jesus Christ alone of men fully realizes the perfect ideal of "man." "Chiefest among ten thousand" (<a onclick="return mV('Sgs',5,10);">Sgs 5:10</a>). No <i>perfect</i> woman has ever existed, not even the Virgin Mary. Solomon, in the word "thousand," alludes to his three hundred wives and seven hundred concubines. Among these it was not likely that he should find the fidelity which <i>one</i> true wife pays to <i>one</i> husband. Connected with <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,26);">Ecc 7:26</a>, not an unqualified condemnation of the sex, as <a onclick="return mV('Pro',12,4);">Pro 12:4</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Pro',31,10);">31:10</a>, etc., prove.
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<p id="Ec7_29"><b>29.</b> The "only" way of accounting for the scarcity of even comparatively upright men and women is that, whereas God made man upright, they (men) have, etc. The only account to be "found" of the origin of evil, the great mystery of theology, is that given in Holy Writ (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',2,'1-);">Gen 2:1 - 3:24</a>). Among man's "inventions" was the one especially referred to in <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,26);">Ecc 7:26</a>, the bitter fruits of which Solomon experienced, the breaking of God's primeval marriage law, joining one man to "one" woman (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',19,4,5,6);">Mat 19:4-6</a>). "Man" is <i>singular,</i> namely, Adam; "they," <i>plural,</i> Adam, Eve, and their posterity.
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