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<title>Blue Letter Bible: Text Commentaries</title>
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Title = 'Ecclesiastes; or the Preacher';
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<p id="Chapter2" align="center">Commentary by A. R. FAUSSET<br>CHAPTER 2
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<p id="Ec2_1"><a onclick="return mV('Ecc',2,'1-26');">Ecc 2:1-26</a>.
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<p>He next tries pleasure and luxury, retaining however, his worldly "wisdom" (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',3,9);">Ecc 3:9</a>), but all proves "vanity" in respect to the chief good.
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<p><b>1. I said...heart</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Luk',12,19);">Luk 12:19</a>).
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<br><br><b>thee</b>—my heart, I will test whether thou canst find that solid good in pleasure which was not in "worldly wisdom." But this also proves to be "vanity" (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',50,11);">Isa 50:11</a>).
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<p id="Ec2_2"><b>2. laughter</b>—including <i>prosperity,</i> and joy in general (<a onclick="return mV('Job',8,21);">Job 8:21</a>).
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<br><br><b>mad</b>—that is, <i>when made the chief good;</i> it is harmless in its proper place.
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<br><br><b>What doeth it?</b>—Of what avail is it in giving solid good? (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',7,6);">Ecc 7:6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Pro',14,13);">Pro 14:13</a>).
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<p id="Ec2_3"><b>3-11.</b> Illustration more at large of <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',2,1,2);">Ecc 2:1-2</a>.
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<br><br><b>I sought</b>—I resolved, after search into many plans.
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<br><br><b>give myself unto wine</b>—literally, "to draw my flesh," or "body to wine" (including all banquetings). Image from a captive drawn after a chariot in triumph (<a onclick="return mV('Rom',6,16,19);">Rom 6:16, 19</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Cr',12,2);">1Cr 12:2</a>); or, one "allured" (<a onclick="return mV('2Pe',2,18,19);">2Pe 2:18-19</a>).
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<br><br><b>yet acquainting...wisdom</b>—literally, "and my heart (still) <i>was behaving,</i> or <i>guiding itself,</i>" with wisdom [GESENIUS]. MAURER translates: "<i>was weary of</i> (worldly) wisdom." But the end of <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',2,9);">Ecc 2:9</a> confirms <i>English Version.</i>
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<br><br><b>folly</b>—namely, pleasures of the flesh, termed "mad," <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',2,2);">Ecc 2:2</a>.
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<br><br><b>all the days,</b> etc.—(See <i>Margin</i> and <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',6,12);">Ecc 6:12</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Job',15,20);">Job 15:20</a>).
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<p id="Ec2_4"><b>4.</b> (<a onclick="return mV('1Ki',7,'1-8');">1Ki 7:1-8</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Ki',9,1,19);">9:1, 19</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Ki', 10,18);">10:18</a>, etc.).
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<br><br><b>vineyards</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Sgs',8,11);">Sgs 8:11</a>).
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<p id="Ec2_5"><b>5. gardens</b>—<i>Hebrew,</i> "paradises," a foreign word; <i>Sanskrit,</i> "a place enclosed with a wall"; <i>Armenian</i> and <i>Arabic,</i> "a pleasure ground with flowers and shrubs near the king's house, or castle." An earthly paradise can never make up for the want of the heavenly (<a onclick="return mV('Rev',2,7);">Rev 2:7</a>).
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<p id="Ec2_6"><b>6. pools</b>—artificial, for irrigating the soil (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',2,10);">Gen 2:10</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Neh',2,14);">Neh 2:14</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',1,30);">Isa 1:30</a>). Three such reservoirs are still found, called Solomon's cisterns, a mile and a half from Jerusalem.
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<br><br><b>wood that bringeth forth</b>—rather, "the grove that <i>flourisheth with</i> trees" [LOWTH].
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<p id="Ec2_7"><b>7. born in my house</b>—These were esteemed more trustworthy servants than those bought (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',14,14);">Gen 14:14</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Gen',15,2,3);">15:2-3</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Gen',17,12,13,27);">17:12-13, 27</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jer',2,14);">Jer 2:14</a>), called "<i>songs of</i> one's <i>handmaid</i>" (<a onclick="return mV('Exd',23,12);">Exd 23:12</a>; compare <a onclick="return mV('Gen',12,16);">Gen 12:16</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Job',1,3);">Job 1:3</a>).
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<p id="Ec2_8"><b>8.</b> (<a onclick="return mV('1Ki',10,27);">1Ki 10:27</a>; <a onclick="return mV('2Ch',1,15);">2Ch 1:15</a>; <a onclick="return mV('2Ch',9,20);">9:20</a>).
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<br><br><b>peculiar treasure of kings and...provinces</b>—contributed by them, as tributary to him (<a onclick="return mV('1Ki',4,21,24);">1Ki 4:21, 24</a>) a poor substitute for the wisdom whose "gain is better than fine gold" (<a onclick="return mV('Pro',3,14,15);">Pro 3:14-15</a>).
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<br><br><b>singers</b>—so David (<a onclick="return mV('2Sa',19,35);">2Sa 19:35</a>).
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<br><br><b>musical instruments...of all sorts</b>—introduced at banquets (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',5,12);">Isa 5:12</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Amo',6,5,6);">Amo 6:5-6</a>); rather, "a princess and princesses," from an <i>Arabic</i> root. One regular wife, or queen (<a onclick="return mV('Est',1,9);">Est 1:9</a>); Pharaoh's daughter (<a onclick="return mV('1Ki',3,1);">1Ki 3:1</a>); other secondary wives, "princesses," distinct from the "concubines" (<a onclick="return mV('1Ki',11,3);">1Ki 11:3</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',45,10);">Psa 45:10</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Sgs',6,8);">Sgs 6:8</a>) [WEISS, GESENIUS]. Had these been omitted, the enumeration would be incomplete.
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<p id="Ec2_9"><b>9. great</b>—opulent (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',24,35);">Gen 24:35</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Job',1,3);">Job 1:3</a>; see <a onclick="return mV('1Ki',10,23);">1Ki 10:23</a>).
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<br><br><b>remained</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',2,3);">Ecc 2:3</a>).
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<p id="Ec2_10"><b>10. my labour</b>—in procuring pleasures.
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<br><br><b>this</b>—evanescent "joy" was my only "portion out of all my labor" (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',3,22);">Ecc 3:22</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',5,18);">5:18</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',9,9);">9:9</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Ki',10,5);">1Ki 10:5</a>).
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<p id="Ec2_11"><b>11.</b> But all these I felt were only "vanity," and of "no profit" as to the chief good. "Wisdom" (worldly <i>common sense,</i> sagacity), which still "remained with me" (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',2,9);">Ecc 2:9</a>), showed me that these could not give solid happiness.
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<p id="Ec2_12"><b>12.</b> He had tried (worldly) wisdom (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',1,'12-18');">Ecc 1:12-18</a>) and folly (foolish pleasure) (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',2,'1-11');">Ecc 2:1-11</a>); he now compares them (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',2,12);">Ecc 2:12</a>) and finds that while (worldly)
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<br><br><b>wisdom excelleth folly</b> (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',2,13,14);">Ecc 2:13-14</a>), yet the one event, death, befalls both (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',2,'14-16');">Ecc 2:14-16</a>), and that thus the wealth acquired by the wise man's "labor" may descend to a "fool" that hath not labored (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',2,18,19,21);">Ecc 2:18-19, 21</a>); therefore all his labor is vanity (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',2,22,23);">Ecc 2:22-23</a>).
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<br><br><b>what can the man do...already done</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',1,9);">Ecc 1:9</a>). Parenthetical. A future investigator can strike nothing out "new," so as to draw a different conclusion from what I draw by comparing "wisdom and madness." HOLDEN, with less ellipsis, translates, "What, O man, shall come after the king?" etc. Better, GROTIUS, "What man can come after (compete with) the king in the things which are done?" None ever can have the same means of testing what all earthly things can do towards satisfying the soul; namely, worldly wisdom, science, riches, power, longevity, all combined.
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<p id="Ec2_13"><b>13, 14.</b> (<a onclick="return mV('Pro',17,24);">Pro 17:24</a>). The worldly "wise" man has <i>good sense</i> in managing his affairs, <i>skill</i> and <i>taste</i> in building and planting, and keeps within <i>safe</i> and <i>respectable</i> bounds in pleasure, while the "fool" is wanting in these respects ("darkness," equivalent to <i>fatal error, blind infatuation</i>), yet one event, death, happens to both (<a onclick="return mV('Job',21,26);">Job 21:26</a>).
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<p id="Ec2_15"><b>15. why was I</b>—so anxious to become, etc. (<a onclick="return mV('2Ch',1,10);">2Ch 1:10</a>).
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<br><br><b>Then</b>—Since such is the case.
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<br><br><b>this</b>—namely, pursuit of (worldly) wisdom; it can never fill the place of the true wisdom (<a onclick="return mV('Job',28,28);">Job 28:28</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jer',8,9);">Jer 8:9</a>).
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<p id="Ec2_16"><b>16. remembrance</b>—a great aim of the worldly (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',11,4);">Gen 11:4</a>). The righteous alone attain it (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',112,6);">Psa 112:6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Pro',10,7);">Pro 10:7</a>).
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<br><br><b>for ever</b>—no <i>perpetual</i> memorial.
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<br><br><b>that which now is</b>—MAURER, "In the days to come all things shall be now long ago forgotten."
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<p id="Ec2_17"><b>17.</b> Disappointed in one experiment after another, he is weary of life. The backslider ought to have rather reasoned as the prodigal (<a onclick="return mV('Hsa',2,6,7);">Hsa 2:6-7</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Luk',15,17,18);">Luk 15:17-18</a>).
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<br><br><b>grievous unto me</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Job',10,1);">Job 10:1</a>).
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<p id="Ec2_18"><b>18, 19.</b> One hope alone was left to the disappointed worldling, the perpetuation of his name and riches, laboriously gathered, through his successor. For selfishness is mostly at the root of worldly parents' alleged providence for their children. But now the remembrance of how he himself, the piously reared child of David, had disregarded his father's dying charge (<a onclick="return mV('1Ch',28,9);">1Ch 28:9</a>), suggested the sad misgivings as to what Rehoboam, his son by an idolatrous Ammonitess, Naamah, should prove to be; a foreboding too fully realized (<a onclick="return mV('1Ki',12,'1-18');">1Ki 12:1-18</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Ki',14,'21-31');">14:21-31</a>).
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<p id="Ec2_20"><b>20.</b> <i>I gave up as desperate all</i> hope of solid fruit from <i>my labor.</i>
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<p id="Ec2_21"><b>21.</b> Suppose "there is a man," etc.
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<br><br><b>equity</b>—rather "with success," as the <i>Hebrew</i> is rendered (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',11,6);">Ecc 11:6</a>), "prosper," though <i>Margin</i> gives "right" [HOLDEN and MAURER].
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<br><br><b>evil</b>—not in itself, for this is the ordinary course of things, but "evil," as regards the chief good, that one should have toiled so fruitlessly.
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<p id="Ec2_22"><b>22.</b> Same sentiment as in <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',2,21);">Ecc 2:21</a>, interrogatively.
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<p id="Ec2_23"><b>23.</b> The only fruit he has is, not only sorrows <i>in</i> his days, but <i>all</i> his days are sorrows, and his travail (not only <i>has</i> griefs connected with it, but is itself), grief.
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<p id="Ec2_24"><b>24.</b> <i>English Version</i> gives a seemingly Epicurean sense, contrary to the general scope. The <i>Hebrew,</i> literally is, "It is <i>not good</i> for man that he should eat," etc., "and should make his soul see good" (or "<i>show</i> his soul, that is, himself, happy"), etc. [WEISS]. According to HOLDEN and WEISS, <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',3,12,22);">Ecc 3:12, 22</a> differ from this verse in the text and meaning; here he means, "It is not good that a man should feast himself, and falsely make as though his soul were happy"; he thus refers to a false <i>pretending</i> of happiness <i>acquired by and for one's self;</i> in <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',3,12,22);">Ecc 3:12, 22</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',3,18,19);">5:18-19</a>, to <i>real seeing,</i> or <i>finding</i> pleasure <i>when God gives it.</i> There it is said to be <i>good</i> for a man to enjoy with satisfaction and thankfulness the blessings which God gives; here it is said <i>not</i> to be <i>good</i> to take an unreal pleasure to one's self by feasting, etc.
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<br><br><b>This also I saw</b>—I perceived by experience that good (real pleasure) is not to be taken at will, but comes only from the hand of God [WEISS] (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',4,6);">Psa 4:6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',57,'19-21');">Isa 57:19-21</a>). Or as HOLDEN, "It is the appointment from the hand of God, that the sensualist has no solid satisfaction" (good).
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<p id="Ec2_25"><b>25. hasten</b>—after indulgences (<a onclick="return mV('Pro',7,23);">Pro 7:23</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Pro',19,2);">19:2</a>), <i>eagerly pursue</i> such enjoyments. None can compete with me in this. If I, then, with all my opportunities of enjoyment, failed utterly to obtain solid pleasure of my own making, apart from God, who else can? God mercifully spares His children the sad experiment which Solomon made, by denying them the goods which they often desire. He gives them the fruits of Solomon's experience, without their paying the dear price at which Solomon bought it.
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<p id="Ec2_26"><b>26.</b> True, literally, in the Jewish theocracy; and in some measure in all ages (<a onclick="return mV('Job',27,16,17);">Job 27:16-17</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Pro',13,22);">Pro 13:22</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Pro',28,8);">28:8</a>). Though the retribution be not so visible and immediate now as then, it is no less real. Happiness even here is more truly the portion of the godly (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',84,11);">Psa 84:11</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mat',5,5);">Mat 5:5</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mar',10,29,30);">Mar 10:29-30</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rom',8,28);">Rom 8:28</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Ti',4,8);">1Ti 4:8</a>).
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<br><br><b>that he</b>—the sinner
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<br><br><b>may give</b>—that is, unconsciously and in spite of himself. The godly Solomon had satisfaction in his riches and wisdom, when God gave them (<a onclick="return mV('2Ch',1,11,12);">2Ch 1:11-12</a>). The backsliding Solomon had no happiness when he sought it in them apart from God; and the riches which he heaped up became the prey of Shishak (<a onclick="return mV('2Ch',12,9);">2Ch 12:9</a>).
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