Ecclesiastes 1
Title (v.1)
Ecclesiastes (the preacher ). The title of this book is in Hebrew Koheleth ,
signifying
one who speaks publicly in an
assembly. Koheleth is the name by which Solomon,
probably the author, speaks of himself throughout the book.
The book is that which
it professes to be, --the confession of a man of wide
experience looking back upon
his past life and looking out upon the disorders and
calamities which surround him.
The writer is a man who has sinned in giving way to
selfishness and sensuality, who
has paid the penalty of that sin in satiety and weariness
of life, but who has through
all this been under the discipline of a divine education,
and has learned from it the
lesson which God meant to teach him. (Excerpt from Smith’s Bible Dictionary)
Ecclesiastes (the preacher ). The title of this book is in Hebrew Koheleth ,
signifying
one who speaks publicly in an
assembly. Koheleth is the name by which Solomon,
probably the author, speaks of himself throughout the book.
The book is that which
it professes to be, --the confession of a man of wide
experience looking back upon
his past life and looking out upon the disorders and
calamities which surround him.
The writer is a man who has sinned in giving way to
selfishness and sensuality, who
has paid the penalty of that sin in satiety and weariness
of life, but who has through
all this been under the discipline of a divine education,
and has learned from it the
lesson which God meant to teach him. (Excerpt from Smith’s Bible Dictionary)
THE book is called in the Hebrew Koheleth, a title
taken from its opening
sentence, “The words of Koheleth, the son of David, King in
In the Greek and Latin Versions it is entitled
‘Ecclesiastes,’ which Jerome
elucidates by remarking that in Greek a person is so called
who gathers the
congregation, or ecclesia.
Symmachus gave is uncertain, but probably Παροιµιαστής-
Paroimiastaes -
Proverbmonger. The Venetian Greek has ‘H
‘Eκκλησιἀστρια
and ‘H
‘Eκκλησιἀζουσα. In modern
versions the name is usually ‘Ecclesiastes;
or, The Preacher.’ Luther boldly gives ‘The Preacher
Solomon.’ This is not
a satisfactory rendering to modern ears; and, indeed, it is
difficult to find a
term which will adequately represent the Hebrew word. Koheleth
is a
participle feminine from a root kahal (whence the
Greek καλέω - kaleo, Latin
calo, and English
“call”), which means, “to call, to
assemble,” especially
for religious or solemn purposes. The word and its
derivatives are always
applied to people, and not to things. So the term, which
gives its name to
our book, signifies a female assembler or collector of persons
for Divine
worship, or in order to address them. It can, therefore,
not mean “Gatherer
of wisdom,” “Collector of maxims,” but “Gatherer of God’s
people”
(1 Kings 8:1); others make it equivalent to “Debater,”
which term affords a
clue to the variation of opinions in the work. It is
generally constructed as
a masculine and without the article, but once as feminine
(ch. 7:27,
if the reading is correct), and once with the article (ibid. ch. 12:8). The
feminine form is by some accounted for, not by supposing
Koheleth to represent an office, and therefore as used
abstractedly, but as
being the personification of Wisdom, whose business it is
to gather people
unto the Lord and make them a holy congregation. In
Proverbs sometimes
Wisdom herself speaks (e.g. Proverbs 1:20),
sometimes the author
speaks of her (e.g. ibid. 8:1, etc.). So Koheleth appears now as the
organ of Wisdom, now as Wisdom herself, supporting, as it
were, two
characters without losing altogether his identity. At the
same time, it is to
be noted, with Wright, that Solomon, as personified Wisdom,
could not
speak of himself as having gotten more wisdom than all that
were before
him in
or how he had applied his heart to discover things by means
of wisdom (ch. 7:23, 25).
These things could not be said in this character, and
unless we suppose that the writer
occasionally lost himself, or did not strictly maintain his
assumed personation, we
must fall back upon the ascertained fact that the feminine
form of such words as
Koheleth has no special significance (unless, perhaps, it
denotes power and
activity), and that such forms were used in the later stage
of the language
to express proper names of men. Thus we find Solphereth,
“scribe”
(Nehemiah 7:57), and Pochereth, “hunter” (Ezra
2:57), where
certainly males are intended. Parallels are found in the
Mishna. If, as is
supposed, Solomon is designated Keheleth in allusion to his
great prayer at
the dedication of the temple (1 Kings 8:23-53, 56-61), it
is strange that
no mention is anywhere made of this celebrated work, and
the part he took
therein. He appears rather as addressing general readers
than teaching his
own people from an elevated position; and the title
assigned to him is
meant to designate him, not only as one who by word of
mouth instructed
others, but one whose life and experience preached an
emphatic lesson on
the vanity of mundane things.
1 “The words of the Preacher, the son of David, King in
“King of
Koheleth, a feminine
noun formed from a verb kalal, “to call”, and perhaps better
Rendered “Convener” or “Debater.” It is found nowhere else
but in this book, where
it occurs three times in this chapter (vs. 1, 2,
12), three times in ch.12:8, 9, 10, and
once in ch. 7:27. In all but one instance (viz.
ch.12:8) it is used without the article,
as a proper name. Jerome, in his commentary, translates
it, ‘Continuator,’ in his
version ‘Ecclesiastes.’ It would seem to denote one who
gathered around
him a congregation in order to instruct them in Divine
lore. The feminine
form is explained in various ways. Either it is used
abstractedly, as the
designation of an office, which it seems not to be; or it
is formed as some
other words which are found with a feminine termination,
though denoting
the names of men, indicating a high degree of activity in
the possessor of the
particular quality signified by the stem; e.g. Alemeth,
Azmaveth (I Chronicles 8:36;
9:42), Pochereth (Ezra 2:57), Sophereth (Nehemiah 7:57);
or, as is most probable,
the writer desired to identify Koheleth with Wisdom, though
it must be
observed that the personality of the author often appears,
as in ch. 1:16-18; 7:23, etc.;
the role of Wisdom being for the nonce forgotten.
The word “king” in the title is
shown by the accentuation to be in apposition to “Koheleth” not to “David;” and
there can be no doubt that the description is intended to
denote Solomon, though
his name is nowhere actually given, as it is in the two
other works ascribed to him
(Proverbs 1:1; Song of Solomon 1:1). Other intimations of
the assumption of
Solomon’s personality are found in v.12, “I Koheleth was king,” etc.; so in
describing his consummate wisdom (ch.1:13, 16; 2:15; compare I Kings 3:12;
5:12), and in his being
the author of many proverbs (ch.12:9; compare I Kings
4:32) — accomplishments which are not noted in the case of
any
other of David’s descendants. Also the picture of luxury
and magnificence
presented in ch.2. suits no Jewish monarch but Solomon. The
origin of the name
applied to him may probably be traced to the historical
fact mentioned in
I Kings 8:55, etc., where Solomon gathers all
of the temple, and utters the remarkable prayer which
contained blessing and
teaching and exhortation.
The assumption of the name is a mere literary
device to give weight and importance to the treatise to
which it appertains.
The term, “King in
to have reigned in
contrast with that at
used of Solomon, Rehoboam, and others (I Kings 11:42;
14:21; 15:2,10);
and the phrase probably denotes a time when the government
had
become divided, and
Prologue (vs. 2-11)
The vanity of all human and mundane things, and the
oppressive monotony of their
continued recurrence.
2 “Vanity
of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.”
(compare ch.12:8). “Vanity”
is hebel, which means “breath,”
and is used
metaphorically of anything:
o
transitory,
o
frail, or
o
unsatisfying.
We have it in the proper name Abel, an appropriate designation of the
youth
whose life was cut short by a brother’s murderous hand. “Vanity
of vanities,”
like “heaven of heavens” (I Kings 8:27), “song of songs” (Song
of Solomon 1:1),
etc., is equivalent to a
superlative, “most utterly vain.” It is here an exclamation,
and is to be regarded as the key-note of the whole subsequent treatise,
which is
merely the development of this text. Septuagint, ματαιότης ματαιοτήτων –
mataiotaes mataiotaeton – vanity of
vanities – other
Greek translators,
ἀτμὶς ἀτμίδων – atmis atmidon - vapor of vapors.
For “saith” the
Vulgate gives dixit; the Septuagint, εϊπεν – eipen –
saith - but as there is no
reference to any previous utterance of the Preacher, the
present is more suitable
here. In affirming that “all
is vanity,” the writer is referring to
human and mundane
things, and directs not his view beyond such phenomena. Such
reflection is
common in sacred and profane writings alike; such
experience is universal
(compare Genesis 47:9; Psalm 39:5-7; 90:3-10; James 4:14).
“Pulvis et umbra sumus,” says Horace (‘Carm.,’ 4:7. 16. “O
curas
hominum! O quantum est in rebus inane!” (Persius, ‘Sat.,’
1:1). If Dean
Plumptre is correct in contending that the Book of Wisdom
was written to
rectify the deductions which might be drawn from Koheleth,
we may
contrast the caution of the apocryphal writer, who
predicates vanity, not of
all things, but only of the hope of the ungodly, which he
likens to dust,
froth, and smoke (see Wisdom of Solomon 2:1, etc.; 5:14). Paul (Romans 8:20)
seems to have had Ecclesiastes in mind when he spoke of the
creation
being (τῇ ματαιότητι – tae
mataiotaeti - subjected to vanity), as a consequence
of the fall of
man, not to be remedied till the final
restitution of all things. “But a man
will say, If all things are vain and vanity, wherefore were
they made? If
they are God’s works, how are they vain? But it is not the
works of God
which he calls vain. God forbid! The heaven is not vain;
the earth is not
vain: God forbid! Nor the sun, nor the moon, nor the stars,
nor our own
body. No; all these are very good. But what is vain?
Man’s works, pomp,
and vain-glory. These came not from the hand of God, but
are of our own
creating. And they are vain because they have no useful
end That is called
vain which is expected indeed to possess value, yet
possesses it not; that
which men call empty, as when they speak of ‘empty
hopes,’ and that
which is fruitless. And generally that is called vain
which is of no use. Let
us see, then, whether all human things are not of this
sort” (St.
Chrysostom, ‘Hem. 12. in Ephes.’).
All
is Vanity (v. 2)
If we regard this book as Solomon’s own record and
statement of his
remarkable experience of human life, it must be deemed by
us a most
valuable lesson as to the hollowness and emptiness of worldly
greatness
and renown. If, on the other hand, we regard the book as the
production of
a later writer, who lived during the troubled and depressed
period of
Jewish history which followed the Captivity, it must be
recognized as
casting light upon the
providentially appointed consequences of national
sin, apostasy, and
rebellion. In the former case the moral
and religious
significance of Ecclesiastes is more personal, in the
latter case more
political. In either case, the treatise, as inspired by
Divine wisdom,
demands to be received and studied with reverential attention.
Whether its
lessons be congenial or unwelcome, they deserve the consideration of those
of every age, and of every station in society. Some readers will resent the
opening words of the treatise as gloomy and morbid; others
will hail them
as the expression of reason and wisdom. But the truth they
contain is
independent of human moods and temperaments, and is only to
be fully
appreciated by those whose observation is extensive and
whose reflection
is profound. The wise man makes a broad and unqualified statement,
that
all things earthly and human are but vanity.
OWING TO INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCE. There are times when every
man who lives is
distressed and disappointed, when his plans come to
naught, when his hopes
are blasted, when his friends fail him, when his
prospects are clouded,
when his heart sinks within him. It is the common
lot, from which none can
expect to be exempt. In some instances the
stormy sky clears and
brightens, whilst in other instances the gloom
thickens and settles. But
it may be confidently asserted that, at some period
and in some
circumstances, every human being, whose experience of life is
large and varied, has
felt as though he has been living in a scene of illusion,
the vanity of which has
been perhaps suddenly made apparent to him, and
then the language of the
writer of Ecclesiastes has risen to his lips, and he
has exclaimed in
bitterness of soul, “Vanity of
vanities; all is vanity!”
DEPENDENT UPON THE SPECIAL TIMES — POLITICAL AND
ECCLESIASTICAL — IN WHICH THE
mutability of human
affairs, that every nation, every Church, passes
through epochs of
prosperity, confidence, energy, and hope; and again
through epochs of
adversity, discouragement, depression, and paralysis.
The Israelites had their
times of conquest and of progress, and they had
also their times of defeat,
of captivity, of subjection, of humiliation. So has
it been with every people,
every state. Nor have the Churches into which
Christian communities have
been formed, escaped the operation of the
same law. So far as they
have been human organizations, they have been
affected by the laws to
which all things human are subject. In times when a
nation is feeble at home
and despised abroad, when faction and ambition
have reduced its power and
crippled its enterprise, there is proneness, on
the part of the reflecting
and sensitive among the citizens and subjects, to
lament over the unprofitableness
and vanity of civil life. Similarly, when a
Church experiences
declension from the Divine standard of faith, purity,
and consecration, how
natural is it that the enlightened and spiritual
members of that Church
should, in their grief over the general deadness of
the religious community,
give way to feelings of discouragement and
foreboding, which find a
fitting expression in the cry, “Vanity of vanities;
all is vanity!”
REFLECTION UPON THE FACTS OF NATURE AND OF HUMAN
LIFE. It would be a
mistake to suppose that the cry of “Vanity!” is always
the evidence of a merely
transitory though powerful mood of morbid
feeling. On the contrary,
there have been nations, ages, states of society,
with which it has been a
settled conviction that hollowness and emptiness
characterize all human and
earthly affairs. Pessimism may be a
philosophical creed, as
with the ancient Buddhists and some of the modern
Germans; it may be a
conclusion reached by reflection upon the facts of
life. To some minds
unreason is at the heart of the universe, and in this case
there is no ground for
hope. To other minds, not speculative, the survey of
human affairs is suggestive
of aimlessness in the world, and occasions
despondency in the observant
and reflective mind. Thus even some who
enjoy health and
prosperity, and in whose constitution and circumstances
there is nothing to justify
discouragement and hopelessness, are
nevertheless found, without
any serious satisfaction in existence, ready to
sum up their conclusions,
derived from a perhaps prolonged and extensive
survey of human life, in
the words of the writer of Ecclesiastes, “All is
vanity!”
BOTH SPRINGING FROM AND LEADING TO THE KNOWLEDGE
OF THE ETERNAL AND GLORIOUS GOD. The student of physical
science looks at facts; it
is his duty to observe and to classify facts; their
arrangement under certain
relations, as of likeness and of sequence, is his
business, in the discharge
of which he renders a great service to mankind.
But thought is as necessary
as observation. A higher explanation
than
physical science can give is imperatively required by human
nature. We are
constrained, not only to
observe that a thing is, but also to ask why it is.
Here metaphysics and
theology come in to complete the work which
science has begun. Human
life is composed not only of movements, which
can be scientifically
accounted for, but of actions, of which the explanation
is hyperphysical, is
spiritual. Similarly with the world at large, and with
human life and history. The
facts are open to observation; knowledge
accumulates from age to
age; as experience widens, grander classifications
are made. Still there is a
craving for explanation. Why, we ask, are things
as they are? It is the
answer to this question which distinguishes the
pessimist from the theist.
The wise, the enlightened, the religious, seek a
spiritual and moral
significance in the universe — material and psychical. In
their view, if things, as they are and have been, be
regarded by themselves,
apart from a Divine reason
working in and through them, they are
emptiness and
vanity. On the other hand, if they be
regarded in the light of
that Divine reason, which is order, righteousness, and
love, they are
suggestive of what is very
different indeed from vanity To the thoughtful
and reverent mind, apart from God, all is vanity; SEEN IN THE
LIGHT
OF GOD NOTHING IS VANITY! Both these seeming contradictions are true,
and they are reconciled in
a higher affirmation and unity. Look at the world in the
light of sentience ( a feeling or sensation as
distinguished from perception and
thought) and the logical understanding, and
it is vanity. Look at it in the
light of reason, and it is the expression of Divine wisdom
and Divine
goodness.
led to turn from the
phenomenal to the real, the abiding, the Divine. But it
will be to our hurt if we
dwell upon the vanity of all things, so that
pessimism be fostered, so
that we fail to recognize Infinite Reason at the
heart of all things, so
that we regard this as the worst of all worlds, so that
for us the future has no
brightness.
The Vanity of Man’s Life (v. 2)
At the very outset of his treatise, the wise man gives his
readers to understand
that the vanity which is ascribed to all things that are,
is distinctive in an especial
and obvious manner of human life. This is the most
interesting of all things to
observe and study, as it is the most precious to possess.
And there is some danger
lest, if the study of it lead to despondency, the possession of it should cease
to be valued. (God has made the Creation to be subject to vanity. Romans 8:20 –
We therefore should trust Him and depend on Him to deliver us and work
the work which he had planned from the beginning. Acts 15:18 – CY – 2013).
God’s design and remedy is to look to Jesus, “the Desire of all
nations.”
(Haggai 2:7)
OF LIFE IS FOUNDED.
Ø
The unsatisfying
character of human toil. Labor is the destiny of
Man (Genesis 3:19), and is
in most cases the indispensable condition
of not only life itself,
but of those things for the sake of which many men
value life — wealth,
comfort, pleasure, and fame. Yet in how many cases
does toil fail to secure
the objects for the sake of which it is undertaken!
Men labor, but reap no
harvest of their painful, wearying efforts. And
when the result is
obtained, how commonly does it yield little or nothing
of the satisfaction
desired! Men toil for years, and when
they attain that
upon which their hearts
were set, disappointment and dissatisfaction take
possession of their
nature. (One of the shortcomings of man
is that
he wants what he doesn’t
have, and then when he gets it, it wasn’t
what he wanted after
all! – CY – 2013)
Ø
The brevity of
human life, and the rapid succession of the
generations. The
reflection of the wise man is a reflection which
must have been current among men from
the earliest ages No sooner
has a laborious and
successful man
reached the summit of his ambition,
grasped the object of his
desire, than
he is taken away from the
enjoyment of that for the
sake of which he was content to “scorn
delights, and live laborious days” (John Milton). The
next
generation renews the
quest, only to repeat the experience of
disappointment. Changes and
improvements take place in many details
of our life; but life
itself remains throughout the ages, subject to the
same limitations and the
same calamities, to the same uncertainties
and the same close.
Ø
The contrast
between the transitoriness of human life and the
stability of the
unconscious earth. It appears strange
and inexplicable
that man, with the
great possibilities of his nature, should be so short-
lived, and that the earth
should outlast generation after generation of
mankind. (However, I learned recently, after a study
of the Book of
Judges, that it is good,
that a life so sinful, is so short! - CY
– 2013)
The writer of Ecclesiastes
felt, as every reflecting observer must feel,
the sadness of
this contrast between the perpetuity of the
dwelling-place and the brief sojourn of
its successive inhabitants.
Ø
The impossibility
of any generation reaping the harvest for which
it has sown. The toil, the genius, the enterprise of a generation may
indeed bear fruit,
but it is the generation which follows that enjoys
that
fruit (or
in a negative sense, as in our own country, the next
generation
that suffers the
consequences of our moral, political and economic
fall out! -
CY – 2013). All men labor more for posterity than for
themselves. “This
also is vanity.” (Even what I am
doing on this
web site is for those who
follow, hoping that by working four or five
hours on a chapter, the
next generation can study it within a half hour
or so and get the same
benefits! - CY – 2013)
VIZ. THAT LIFE IS PROFITLESS AND VAIN.
Ø
It is
attributable to the reflecting and aspiring nature of man.
A being less endowed with
susceptibilities and imagination, with moral
Capacities and far-reaching
aims and hopes, would be incapable of such
emotions and such
conclusions as this book expresses. The brute is
content to eat and drink,
to sleep, and to follow its several instincts
and impulses (II Peter
2:12-15a). But of man we may say that
nothing
that he can be and do can
give him perfect rest and satisfaction. It is
owing to an innate and
noble dissatisfaction that he is ever aiming
at something better and
higher, and that the narrow range
and
brief scope of
human life cannot content him,
cannot furnish
him with all the
opportunity he desires in order to acquire and to
achieve. (Thus, according to ch. 3:11, God has put eternity (the
world) in man’s heart
“so that no man can find out the work
that God maketh from the beginning to the end.” – CY – 2013).
Ø
It is attributable to
the very nature of earthly things, which, because
they are finite, are
incapable of satisfying such a nature as that
described. They may and do
answer a high purpose when their true
import is discerned — when
they are recognized as symbolical and
significant of what is
greater than themselves. But no material good,
no terrestrial
distinctions, can serve as “profit” of labor. If so regarded,
their vanity must sooner or
later be apparent. There is a divinely
ordained disproportion
between the spirit of man and the scenes and
occupations and emoluments
of earth. (May we truly be thankful
for the revelation “Eye
hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither
have entered into
the heart of man, the things which God
hath prepared for
them that love Him.” – I Corinthians
2:9 –
CY – 2013).
·
APPLICATION.
1. There is in human life a continuity only discerned by the
reflecting and
the pious. The obvious and striking fact is
the disconnection of the
generations. But as evolution reveals a
physical continuity, philosophy
finds an intellectual and moral continuity
in our race.
2. The purpose of God is unfolded to successive generations
of men. We see
this continuity and progress in the order
of revelation; but all history is,
in a
sacred sense, a revelation of the Eternal and Unchanging.
This state is not all:
a.
life explains school;
b.
summer explains
spring; and
c.
SO ETERNITY SHALL
EXPAIN the
disappointments,
perplexities,
and anomalies of time.
3 “What profit hath a man
of all his labor which he taketh under the sun?”
Here begins the elucidation of the
fruitlessness of man’s ceaseless
activity.
The word rendered “profit” (yithron) is found only
in this book, where it occurs
frequently. It means “that which remains over, advantage,” περισσεία - perisseia –
gain - as the
Septuagint translates it. As the verb and the substantive
are cognate in
the following words, they are better rendered, in all his labor wherein he laboreth.
Man is Adam, the natural man, unenlightened by the grace of God. Under
the sun is an expression
peculiar to this book (compare vs. 9, 14; ch.2:11, 17, etc.),
but is not intended to contrast this present with a future life; it merely refers
to what
we call sublunary matters. The phrase is often tact with in the
Greek poets. Eurip.,
‘Alcest.,’ 151 —
Γυνή
τ ἀρίστη τῶν ὑφ
ἡλίῳ μακρῷ|
-
Gunae t aristae ton huph haelio macro -
“By far the
best of all beneath the sun.”
Homer, ‘Iliad,’ 4:44
Αι{
γὰρ ὑπ ἠελίῳ
τε καὶ οὐρανῷ ἀστερόεντι
Ναιετάουσι
πόληες ἐπιχθονίων
ἀνθρώπων.
Hai gar hup aeelio te kai ourano asteroenti
Naietaousi polaees epichthonion anthropon
“Of all
the cities occupied by man
Beneath
the sun and starry cope of heaven.”
Cowper.
Ὄλβιος
οὐδεὶς
Ἀνθρώπων
ὁπόσους ἠέλιος
καθορᾷ
Olbios oudeis
Anthropon hoposous aeelios kathora
“No
mortal man
On whom
the sun looks down is wholly blest.”
Theognis, ‘Parcem.,’ 167
In an analogous sense we find in other passages of
Scripture the terms
“under heaven”
(v. 13; ch.2:3; Exodus 17:14; Luke 17:24) and
“upon the earth” (ch.8:14, 16; Genesis 8:17). The interrogative form
of the verse conveys a strong negative (compare ch.6:8),
like the Lord’s
word in Matthew 16:26, “What
shall a man be profited, if he shall
gain the whole world, and forfeit
his soul?” The epilogue (ch.12:13)
furnishes a reply to the desponding inquiry.
Human Life
and Human Labor (vs. 2-3)
What is the worth of our human life? This is an old and
ever-recurring
question; the answer to it depends far less on what
surrounds us than on
what is within us, far less upon our circumstances than
upon our spirit. But
it must be acknowledged:
·
THAT THE WORTH OF OUR LIFE DEPENDS LARGELY UPON
ITS ACTIVITIES. We
have to ask — How are we related to our fellows?
What is the number and what the
nature of the objects that minister to our
comforts? What opportunities are
there for leisure, for repose, for
recreation? But the largest of
all questions is this: What is the character of
our activities?
Are these congenial or uninviting,
burdensome or moderate,
tedious or interesting, fruitful
or barren, passing or permanent in their
effects?
·
THAT HUMAN ACTIVITY HAS ITS DEPRESSING ASPECTS. So
depressing were they to “the
Preacher,” that he pours forth his dejection of
spirit in the strong exclamation
of the text. The valuelessness of all human
labor made life itself seem to
him to be vain. Three things there are that
dwarf it.
Ø
Its slightness. A few men accomplish that which is observable,
remarkable, worthy of being
chronicled and remembered, making its mark
on the page of history or of
poetry; but how few they are! The great
majority of mankind spend all
their strength in doing that which is of
small account, which produces no calculable effect upon
their times,
of which no man thinks it worth while to speak or sing.
Ø
Its dependence on others. There are but very
few indeed whose labor
can be said to be original,
independent, or creative. Almost every man
is so working that if any of
those who are co-operating with him were to
withdraw their labor, his
would be of no avail; his work would be quite
unprofitable but for their
countenance and support.
Ø
Its insecurity. This is the main thought of the text. What is the use of a
man building up that which his
neighbor may come and pull down; of
gathering laboriously together
that which the thief may take away; of
expending toilful days and
exhausting energies on something which may
be taken from our grasp in the
compass of an hour, at the bidding of one
strong human will; of making
long and weary preparation for later life,
when the tie that
binds us to the present sphere may be snapped in a
moment? Insecurity, arising from one of a number of sources — the
elemental forces of nature, the
malice and treachery of men, despotism in
government, the chances and
changes of trade and commerce, failure of
health and strength, sudden
death, etc. — marks all the products of
human activity with its own
stamp, and brings down their value, who
shall estimate how much? The
Preacher says to nothing. But let it be
remembered:
·
THAT HUMAN ACTIVITY HAS ITS REDEEMING QUALITIES.
This is only one view of it.
Another and a healthier view may be taken of
the subject.
1. All honest and faithful labor is worthy in the sight of the
wise man and of
the Wise One (Proverbs 14:23).
2. All conscientious labor provides a sphere for the active
service of God;
by its honorable and faithful discharge, as
in His sight, we can serve and
please our Lord. (“And whatsoever ye do in work or deed, do
all in the
name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to
God and the Father by Him.”
Colossians 3:17; I Corinthians 10:31)
3. All such labor has a happy reflex influence on ourselves,
strengthening
us in body, in mind, in character.
4. All earnest work is really constructive of the
Although we see not its issues and cannot
estimate its worth, we may be
sure that “Every man’s work shall be made
manifest: for the day will
declare it,” (I Corinthians 3:13) and that it will be found at last that every
true stroke we struck did tell and count
for truth and righteousness, for
the
cause of humanity and of Christ.
4 “One
generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but
the earth abideth for ever.” One generation passeth away, and another
generation cometh. The
translation rather weakens the force of the original,
which is, a generation goeth, and
a generation cometh. Man is only a
pilgrim on
earth; he soon passes away, and his place is occupied by others.
Parallelisms of this sentiment will occur to every reader.
Thus Ben-Sira,
“All flesh waxeth old as a garment: for the covenant from
the beginning is,
Thou shalt die the death. As of the green leaves on a thick
tree, some fall
and some grow; so is the generation of flesh and blood, one
cometh to an
end, and another is born. Every work rotteth and consumeth
away, and the
worker thereof shall go withal” (Ecclesiaticus. 14:17,
etc.; compare Job 10:21;
Psalm 39:13). The famous passage in Homer, ‘Iliad,’ 6:146,
etc., is
thus rendered by Lord Derby —
“The race
of man is as the race of leaves:
Of leaves,
one generation by the wind
Is
scattered on the earth; another soon
In
spring’s luxuriant verdure bursts to light.
So with
our race: these flourish, those decay.”
But the earth
abideth forever. While the constant
succession of generations
of men goes on, the earth remains unchanged and
immovable. If men were as
permanent as is their dwelling-place, their labors
might profit; but as things are, the
painful contrast between the two makes itself felt. The
term, “for ever,”
like the Greek εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα – eis ton aiona
- does not necessarily imply
eternity, but often denotes limited or conditioned
duration, as when the slave is
engaged to serve his master “for ever” (Exodus 21:6), or the hills are called
“everlasting” (Genesis 49:26). This verse gives one instance of growth
and decay in contrast with insensate continuance. The
following verses
give further examples.
5 “The sun
also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his
place where he arose.” The sun also ariseth, and the sun
goeth down.
The sun is another instance of ever-recurring change in the face of an
enduring
sameness, rising and setting day-by-day, and resting never.
The legendary
‘Life of Abram’ relates how, having been hidden for some
years in a cave
in order to escape the search of Nimrod, when he emerged
from his
concealment, and for the first time beheld heaven and
earth, he began to
inquire who was the Creator of the wonders around him. When
the sun
arose and flooded the scene with its glorious light, he at
once concluded
that that bright orb must be the creative Deity, and
offered his prayers to it
all day long. But when it sank in darkness, he repented of
his illusion, being
persuaded that the sun could not have made the world and be
itself subject
to extinction (see ‘Abraham: his Life and Times,’ p. 12). And hasteth to
his place where he
arose; literally,
and panteth (equivalent to hasteth,
longeth to go) to
its place arising there; i.e. the sun, sinking in the west,
eagerly during the night returns to the east, duly to rise
there in the
morning. The “place”
is the region of reappearance. The Septuagint gives,
“The sun arises, and the sun sets, and draws (ἕλκει – helkei) unto its place;”
And then carries the idea into the following verse:
“Arising there, it proceedeth
southward,” etc. The Vulgate supports the rendering; but
there is no doubt
that the Authorized Version gives substantially the sense
of the Hebrew
text as accentuated. The verb שׁאפ
(shaaph)implies “panting,” not from
fatigue, but in eager pursuit of something; and all notions
of panting steeds or
morning exhalations are quite foreign from the conception
of the passage.
The notion which Koheleth desires to convey is that the sun
makes no real
progress; its eager panting merely brings it to the old
place, there to recommence
its monotonous routine.
6 “The
wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north;
it whirleth about continually, and the wind
returneth again according to his
circuits.”
The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about
unto
the north; literally, going
towards the south, and circling towards the
north. These words, as
we have seen above, are referred to the sun by the
Septuagint, Vulgate, and Syriac; but it is best to make
this verse refer only
to the wind — a fresh example of motion continually
repeated with no real
progress to an end. Thus each verse comprises one subject
and idea, v. 4
being concerned with the earth, v. 5 with the sun, v. 6
with the wind,
and v. 7 with the waters. There seems to be no particular
force in the
naming of north and south, unless it be in contrast to the
sun’s motion from
east to west, mentioned in the preceding verse. The words
following show
that these two directions are not alone intended. Thus the
four quarters are
virtually included. It
whirleth about continually. The original is more
forcible, giving by its very form the idea of weary
monotony. The subject is
delayed till the last, thus: Going towards the south…
circling, circling,
goeth the wind; i.e.
it blows from all quarters at its own caprice. And the
wind returneth
again according to his circuits. And
on its circlings
returneth the wind; it
comes back to the point whence it started. The wind,
seemingly the freest of all created things, is bound by the
same law of
immutable changeableness, insensate repetition.
7 “All the
rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place
from whence the rivers come, thither they
return again.”
All the rivers run
into the sea; yet the sea is not full. Here is
another instance of unvarying operation producing no
tangible result. The
phenomenon mentioned is often the subject of remark and
speculation in
classical authors. Commentators cite Aristophanes,
‘Clouds,’ 1293 —
Αὕτη μὲν (sc. ἡ θάλαττα) οὐδὲν γίγνεται Ἐπιῥῤεόντων
τῶν ποταμῶν
πλείων,
–- Autae men (hae thalatta) ouden gignetai epippeonton ton potamon pleion -
“The
sea, though all the rivers flow therein,
Waxeth
no greater.”
Lucretius attempts to account for the fact,
De Rer. Nat.,’ 6:608 —
“Nunc
ratio reddunda, augmen quin nesciat sequor.
Principio
mare mirantur non reddere majus
Naturam,
quo sit tantus decursus aquarum,
Omnia quo
veniant ex omni fiumina parte.”
This Dr. Busby thus versifies —
“Now in
due order, Muse, proceed to show
Why the
deep seas no augmentation know,
In ocean
that such numerous streams discharge
Their
waters, yet that ocean ne’er enlarge,” etc.
No particular sea is intended, though some have fancied
that the
peculiarities of the
Doubtless the idea is general, and such as would strike
every observer,
however little he might trouble himself with the reason of
the circumstance.
Unto the place
from whence the rivers come, thither they return again;
rather, unto the place whither the rivers go, thither
they go again. שָׁם ;
after verbs of motion has often the signification of
שָׁמָּה; and the idea is that the
streams continue to make their way into the sea with
ceaseless iteration. The other
rendering, which is supported by the Vulgate undo,
seems rather to favor
the Epicurean poet’s solution of the phenomenon. Lucretius,
in the passage
cited above, explains that the amount of water contributed
by rivers is a
mere drop in the ocean; that a vast quantity rises in
exhalations and is
spread far and wide over the earth; and that another large
portion finds its
way back through the pores of the ground to the bed of the
sea. Plumptre
considers that this theory was known to Koheleth, and was
introduced by
him here. The rendering which we have given above would
make this
opinion untenable; it likewise excludes the idea (though
that, indeed, may
have been entertained by the Hebrews, Psalm 104:10 and
Proverbs 8:28)
of the clouds being produced by the sea and feeding the
springs.
Thus Ecclesiasticus. 40:11, “All things that are of the
earth do turn to the earth
again; and that which is of the waters doth return into the
sea.”
The Stability of Nature (vs. 4-7)
The Preacher was struck with the strong contrast between
the permanence
of nature and the transiency of human life; and the thought
oppressed and
pained him. We may take his view of the subject — and our
own. We look
at the stability of nature:
continue as they were:
“Changeless
march the stars above,
Changeless morn succeeds to even,
And
the everlasting hills,
Changeless, watch the changeless heaven.”
The hills, “rock-ribbed and
ancient as the sun;” the “unchanging,
everlasting sea;” the rivers
that flow down the centuries as well as through
the lands; the plains that
stretch for long ages beneath the skies; — these
aspects of nature are impressive
enough to the simplest imagination; they
make this earth which is our
home to be charged with deepest interest and
clothed with truest grandeur. No
man, who has an eye to see and a heart to
feel, can fail to be affected by
them.
and above us:
Ø
Gives us time to study
the nature and the causes of things, and enables
one generation to hand down
the results of its researches to another, so
that we are constantly accumulating
knowledge.
Ø
Gives us proof of the
unity of God.
Ø
Assures us of the mighty power of the great Author of nature,
who is seen to be
strong to sustain and preserve and renew.
Ø
AS IT AFFECTS OUR LIFE.
For what would happen if everything
were inconstant and uncertain?
What would be the effect on human labor
and on human life if there were
no dependence to be placed on the
continuance, as they are, of
land and sea, of earth and sky, of hill and plain?
How does the security of all the
great objects and systems of the world add
incentive to our industry! how
does it multiply our achievements! how
does it enlarge and enrich our
life! That we shall be able to complete what
we have begun, and that we have
a good hope of handing down our work
to our successors, — is not this
a large factor, a powerful inspiration,
among us? (Our God, your
God, my God, made them all! – CY –
2013)
Ø
AS IT DWARFS OUR INDIVIDUAL CAREER. The Preacher
seemed to feel this acutely.
What a small, slight, evanescent thing is a
human life when compared with
the long ranges of time that the ancient
earth and the more ancient
heavens have known! A generation comes and
goes, while a river hardly
changes its course by a single curve; many
generations pass, while the face
of the rocks is not visibly affected by all
the waves that beat upon its
surface night and day; all the generations of
men, from the time that a human
face was first turned up to heaven, have
been looked down upon by those
silent stars! Why make so much of so
transient a thing as a human
life? Ay, but look at it:
Ø
IN THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRITUAL AND THE ETERNAL.
o
The worth of
spiritual life is not determined by its duration. The
life of a human spirit — if
that be the life of purity, holiness, reverence,
love, generosity,
aspiration — is of more account in the estimate of Divine
wisdom, even though it be
extended over a mere decade of years, than
the existence which knows
nothing of these nobilities, even though it
should be extended over many
thousands of years.
o
Moreover, holy
human life on earth leads on and up TO THE
LIFE WHICH IS
ETERNAL! So that we, whose
course upon the
earth is so short, who are but of yesterday and with whom tomorrow
may not be, do yet begin upon the earth A LIFE
WHICH WILL
ABOUND IN ALL THAT
IS BEAUTIFUL AND NOBLE,
when the “everlasting
hills” have crumbled into dust.
(II Peter 3:10-13)
The Cycles of Nature (vs. 5-7)
This is not to be taken as the language of one who makes
complaints of
nature, wishing that the great forces of the world were
ordered otherwise
than they actually are. It is the language of one who
observes nature, and is
baffled by its mysteries; who asks what all means, and why
everything is as
it is. Even at that distant time it was recognized that the
processes of
nature are cyclic. The stars accomplish their revolutions,
and the seasons
return in their appointed order. There is unity in
diversity, and changes
succeed one another with remarkable regularity. These
observations seem
to have suggested to the writer of Ecclesiastes the inquiry
— Is man’s life
and destiny in this respect similar to the order of nature?
Is our human
experience as cyclic as are the processes of the material
universe? Is there
no real advance for man? and is he destined to pass through
changes which
in the end will only leave him where he was?
AND RESTLESSNESS. The
three examples given in these passages are
such as must strike every
attentive observer of this earth and the
phenomena accessible to the view
of its inhabitants. The sun runs his daily
course through the heavens, to
return on the next morning to fulfill the
same circuit. The wind veers
about from one quarter to another, and quits
one direction only in a few
hours, or a few days, or at most a few weeks,
to resume it. The rivers flow on
in an unceasing current, and find their way
into the sea, which (as is now
known) yields in evaporation its tribute to
the clouds, whence the
water-springs are in due time replenished. Modern
science has vastly enlarged our
view of similar processes throughout all of
the universe which is accessible
to our observation. “Nothing continueth in
one stay.” There is in the world
nothing immovable and unchangeable. It is
believed that not an atom is at
rest.
CHANGES EXHIBITED. Not
only is there a want, an absence, of
stability, of rest; there is no
apparent advance and improvement. Things
move from their places only to
return to them; their motion is rather in a
circle than in a straight line.
It was this cyclic tendency in natural processes
which arrested the attention and
perplexed the inquiring mind of the wise
man. And modern science does not
in this matter effect a radical change in
our beliefs. Evolutionists teach
us that rhythm is the ultimate law of the
universe. Evolution is followed
by involution, or dissipation. A planet or a
system evolves until it reaches
its climax, and thenceforward its course is
reversed, until it is resolved
into the elements of which it was primevally
composed. In the presence of
such speculations the intellect reels, dizzy
and powerless.
THERE IS UNITY IN DIVERSITY, STABILITY IN CHANGE; THAT
THERE IS A DIVINE PURPOSE IN NATURE. If there be evidence of
reason in the universe, if
nature is the expression of mind, the vehicle by
which the Creator-Spirit
communicates with the created spirits He has
fashioned in His own likeness,
then there is at least the suggestion of what
is deeper and more significant
than the cycles of phenomena. There is rest
for the intelligence in such a
conviction as that of the theist, who rises
above the utterances to the Being who
utters forth His mind and will in the
world which He has made, and which He rules by laws that are the
expression of His own reason. He
looks behind and above the mechanical
cycles of nature, and discovers
the Divine mind, into whose purposes he
can only very partially
penetrate, but in whose presence and control he
finds repose.
MUTABILITY OF THE HUMAN
PURPOSE OF INSTRUCTION AND BLESSING. If, as it seems, it
occurred to the mind of the wise
man that, as in nature, so in human
existence, all things are cyclic
and unprogressive, such an inference was not
unnatural. Yet it is not a
conclusion in which the reasonable mind can rest.
The fuller revelation with which we have been favored
enlightens us with
respect to THE
INTENTIONS OF ETERNAL WISDOM AND LOVE!
Our Savior has founded upon
earth a kingdom which cannot be moved. And
the figures which He Himself has
employed to set forth its progress are an
assurance that it is not bounded
by time or space; that it shall grow until its
dimensions and beneficence
exceed all human expectations, and satisfy the
heart of the Divine Redeemer
Himself. Each faithful Christian, however
feeble and however lowly, may
work in his Master’s cause with the
assurance that his service shall
be not only acceptable, but effective. Better
shall be the end than the beginning. The seed shall give rise to a tree of
whose fruit all nations shall
taste, and beneath whose shadow humanity
itself shall find both shelter
and repose.
8 “All
things are full of labor; man cannot utter it: the eye is not
satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled
with hearing.”
All things are
full of labor. Taking the word dabar
in the sense of “word”
(compare the Greek ῤῆμα - rhema - word), the Septuagint translates, “All
words are wearisome;” i.e. to go through the
whole catalogue of such
things as those mentioned in the preceding verses would be
a laborious and
unprofitable task. The Targum and many modern expositors approve
this
rendering. But besides that, the word yaged implies
suffering, not causing,
weariness (Deuteronomy 25:18; Job 3:17); the run of the
sentence
is unnecessarily interrupted by such an assertion, when one
is expecting a
conclusion from the instances given above. The Vulgate has,
cunetse res
difficiles. The idea,
as Motais has seen, is this — Man’s life is constrained
by the same law
as his surroundings; he goes on his course subject to
influences which
he cannot control; in spite of his efforts, he can never be
independent. This conclusion is
developed in succeeding verses. In the
present verse the proposition with which it starts is
explained by what
follows. All things have been the object of much labor; men have
elaborately
examined everything; yet the result is most unsatisfactory, the
end is not
reached; words cannot express it, neither eye nor ear can
apprehend it. This is the view of
physicis, sed de ethicis quoque scirc difficile est. Nec
sermo valet explicare
causas natu-rasque rerum, nec oculus, ut rei poscit
dignitas, intueri, nec
auris, instituente doctore, ad summam scientiam pervenirc.
Si enim nunc
‘per speculum videmus in aenigmate; et ex parte
cognoscimus, et ex parte
prophetamus,’ consequenter nec sermo potest explicate quod
nescit; nec
oculus in quo caecutit, aspiecre; nec auris, de quo
dubitat, impleri.”
Delitzsch, Nowack, Wright, and others render, “All things are
in restless
activity;” i.e. constant movement pervades the whole world, and yet no
visible
conclusion is attained.” This, however
true, does not seem to be the
point insisted on by the author, whose intention is, as we
have said, to
show that man, like nature,
is confined to a circle from which he cannot
free himself; and though he uses all the powers with,
which he is endowed
to penetrate the enigma of life and to rise superior to
his environments, he
is wholly unable to effect anything in these matters. Man cannot utter
it.
He cannot explain all things. Koheleth does not affirm that
man can know
nothing, that he can attain to no certitude, that reason
will not teach him to
apprehend any truth; his contention is that the inner cause and meaning
elude his faculties, that his knowledge is concerned only
with accidents
and externals, and that there is still some depth which his
powers cannot
fathom. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor
the ear filled with
hearing. Use his sght as he
may, listen to the sounds around him, attend
to the instructions of professed teachers, man makes no
real advance in
knowledge of the mysteries in which he is involved; the
paradox is
inexplicable. We have, in Proverbs 27:20, “Sheol and Abaddon are
never satisfied;
and the eyes of man are never satisfied.” “Remember,”
says Thomas a Kempis (‘De Imitat.,’ 1:1.5), “the proverb, that the eye is
not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing.
Endeavor, therefore, to
withdraw thy heart from the love of visible things, and to
transfer thyself to
the invisible. For they
that follow their sensuality do stain their conscience
and lose the grace of God.”
Weariness
and Rest (vs. 7-8)
We have here:
·
THE COMPLAINT OF THE UNSATISFIED. “All things are full of
weariness” (Revised Version).
Ø
There are many obvious sources of satisfaction. Life has
many
pleasures, and many happy activities, and much coveted
treasure.
Human affection, congenial employment, the pursuit of
knowledge,
“the joys of contest,” the excitements of the field of sport, the
attainment
of ambition, etc.
Ø
All of them
together fail to satisfy the heart.
The eye is not satisfied with
seeing, nor the ear with
hearing, nor the tongue with tasting, nor the hand
with handling, nor the mind with
investigating and discovering. All the
streams of
temporal and worldly pleasure run into the sea of the human
soul, BUT THEY DO NOT FILL IT! The heart, on whatsoever it feeds,
is still ahungered, is still
athirst. It may seem surprising that when so much
that was craved has been
possessed and enjoyed, that when so many things
have ministered to the mind, there should
still be heart-ache, unrest,
spiritual disquietude, the painful question — “There be many who
say, Who will show
us any good? (Psalm 4:6) Is life worth having?
The profundity, the commonness and constancy of this
complaint,
is a very baffling and perplexing
problem. We surely ought
to be satisfied, but we are not.
The unillumined mind cannot explain it,
the uninspired tongue “cannot
utter it.” What is the solution?
·
ITS EXPLANATION. Its
solution is not far to seek; it is found in the
truth so finely uttered by
Augustine, “O God, thou hast made us for
thyself, and our heart findeth no rest until it resteth in thee.” The human
spirit, created in God’s image, constituted to possess
His own spiritual
likeness, formed for truth and righteousness, intended to
spend its noble
and ever-unfolding powers in the high service of the
Divine, — is
it likely
that such a one as this, that
can be so much, that can know so much, that
can love the best and
highest, that can aspire to the loftiest and purest
well-being, can be satisfied
with the love that is human, with the
knowledge that is earthly,
with the treasure that is material and transient?
The marvel is, and the pity is,
that man, with such powers within him and
with such a destiny before him, can sometimes
sink so low as to be filled
and satisfied with the husks of earth, unfilled with the
bread of heaven.
·
ITS REMEDY. To us, to
whom Jesus Christ has spoken, there is a
plain and open way of escape
from this profound disquietude. (“Why art
thou cast down, O
my soul? and why art thou disquieted
within me?
Hope thou in
God: for I shall yet praise Him, who is
the health of my
countenance, and
my God.” Psalm 42:5,11; 43:5)
We hear the
Master say, “Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I
will give you
rest. Take my yoke upon you… and ye shall find rest unto
your souls.” (Matthew
11:28-30)
Ø
In the reconciliation to God, our Divine Father, which we
have in
Jesus Christ;
Ø
in the happy love of our souls to that Divine Friend and
Savior;
Ø
in the blessed service of our rightful, faithful,
considerate Lord;
Ø
in the not unavailing
service we render to those whom He loved and for
whom He died;
Ø
in the glorious hope of immortal life beyond the grave, we do
“find rest unto
our souls.”
The Insatiability of Sense (v. 8)
Man is on one side akin to the brutes, whilst he is on the
other side akin to
God. Sense he shares
with the inferior animals; but the intellect and
conscience by which he may use his senses in the
acquisition of knowledge,
and his physical powers in the fulfillment of a moral
ideal, these are
peculiar to himself. On
this account it is impossible for man to be satisfied
with mere sensibility; if he makes the attempt, he fails.
To say this is not to
disparage sense (or
reason) — a great and wonderful gifts of God. It is simply
to put the senses in their proper place, as the auxiliaries
and ministers of reason.
Through the exercise of sense man may, BY DIVINE AID rise to
great
spiritual possessions, achievements, and enjoyments.
OF SIGHT AND HEARING.
These are chosen as the two noblest of the
senses — those by whose means we
learn most of nature, and most of the
thoughts and purposes of our
fellow-men and of our God. Around,
beneath, and above us are
objects to be seen, sounds and voices to be
heard. The variety is as
marvelous as the multiplicity. (Thus man
is
“fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14).
RECEIVE THE VARIED IMPRESSIONS PRODUCED BY NATURE.
The susceptibility of the nerves
of the eye to the undulations of ether, of
the ear to atmospheric
vibrations, has only been fully explained in recent
times. There is no more marvelous instance of design than the
mutual
adaptations of
the voice, the atmosphere, and the auditory nerve; of the
molecular
structure of colored body, the ether, and the retinal structure
of the optic
nerve. And
these are only some of the arrangements between
nature and sense which meet us
at every turn and at every moment of our
conscious existence. (To put it modern terms INTELLIGENT DESIGN –
CY – 2013)
SHOULD AFFORD A FULL SATISFACTION TO THE NATURE OF
MAN. (Unfortunately, something that seems to be lost on today’s lesbians,
homosexuals, libertines, free love advocates, etc. ad nauseum. The
Bible is very plain, “To be carnally minded is death.” - Romans 8:6 –
CY – 2013). It is not to be
supposed that any reasonable being should seek
his gratification merely in the
enjoyment of the impressions upon the senses.
But even curiosity fails to find
satisfaction, and those who crave such
satisfaction make it manifest
that their craving is in vain. The restlessness
of the sight-seer is proverbial.
When the impressions of sense are used as
the material for high
intellectual and spiritual ends, the case is otherwise.
But it remains true as in the
days of Koheleth, “The eye is not satisfied with
seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.”
PROOF OF THE INHERENT BADNESS OF THE SENSES. Such an
inference has sometimes been
drawn by enthusiastic minds; and mystics
have inculcated abstinence from
the exercise of the senses as essential in
order to intellectual and
spiritual illumination. The error here lies in
overlooking the distinction
between making ourselves the slaves of our
senses, and using the senses as our helpers and servants.
THAT MEN SHOULD SEEK THEIR SATISFACTION IN WHAT IS
HIGHER THAN SENSE. When the eyes are opened to the works of
God, when we look
upon the form of the Son of God, when we hear
the Divine Word
speaking in conscience and speaking in Christ,
our senses then become, directly or
indirectly, the instrumentality by
means of which
our higher
nature is called into exercise and finds
abundant scope.
Ø
Our reason may
thus find rest in truth;
Ø
our sympathies may
thus respond to the revealed love of the
Eternal Father through His blessed Son;
Ø
our whole heart
may rise into fellowship with Him from whom
all our faculties
and capacities are derived, and
Ø
IN WHOM ALONE, we,
His spiritual children can find
A PERFECT
SATISFACTION
and AN UNSHAKEN
REPOSE!
9 “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.” The thing that hath
been, it is that which shall be. The
Septuagint and the Vulgate render the first clauses of the two
parts of the verse
in both cases interrogatively, thus: “What is that which hath been? The very
thing which shall
be. And what is that which hath been done? The very
thing which shall
be done.” What has been affirmed of
phenomena in the
material world is now affirmed of the events of man’s life.
They move in an
analogous circle, whether they are concerned with actions
or morals.
Koheleth is speaking merely from experience, and is
indulging in no
philosophical speculations. There is no new thing under the sun. The
Vulgate transfers this clause to the next verse, which,
indeed, supports the
assertion. From classical authors commentators have culled
examples of
the same thought. Thus Tacitus, ‘Annal.,’ 3:55, “Nisi forte
rebus cunctis
inest quidam velut orbis, ut quem ad modum temporum vices,
ita morum
vertantur.” Seneca, ‘Epist.,’ 24., “Nullius rei finis est,
sod in orbem nexa
sunt omnia; fugiunt ac sequuntur Omnia transeunt ut
revertantur, nihil novi
video, nihil novi facio. Fit ali-quando et hujus rei nausea.”
Marcus Aurelius,
‘Meditations,’ 6:37, “He
that sees the present has seen all things, both that
which has Been from everlasting and that which shall Be
in the future. All
things are of one birth and one form.” Again, 7:1, “There is
nothing new;
all things are common and quickly over;” 12:26, “Everything that
comes
to pass was always so coming to pass, and will take place
again.”
10 “Is
there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath
been already of old time, which was before
us.” Is there any thing
whereof it may be said, See, this is new? The writer conceives that
objection may be taken to his statement at the end of the
preceding verse, so
he proceeds to reiterate it in stronger terms. “Thing” is dabar (see
on v. 8).
Septuagint, “He who
shall speak and say, Behold, this is new,” scil.
Where is he? Vulgate, “Nothing
is new under the sun, nor is any one
able to say, Lo!
this is fresh.” The apparent exceptions
to the rule are mistaken inferences. It hath been already of old time,
which was before
us. In
the vast aeons of the past, recorded or
unrecorded, the seeming novelty has already been known. The
discoveries
of earlier time are forgotten, and seem quite new when
revived; but closer
investigation proves their previous existence.
Novelty (vs. 9-10)
If, in the ancient days in which this book was written, men
were already
experiencing the weariness which comes from their
familiarity with the
scenes of earth and the incidents of life, how much more
must this be the
case at the present time! It is, indeed, ever
characteristic of the favorites of
fortune, that they “run through” the possibilities of
excitement and of
pleasure before their capacity for enjoyment is exhausted,
and cry for new
forms of amusement and distraction. It is remarkable how
soon such
persons are reduced to the painful conviction that there is
nothing new
under the sun.
·
THE LOVE AND QUEST OF NOVELTY ARE NATURAL TO MAN.
When we examine human nature, we
find there a deep-seated interest in
change. What is called
“relativity,” the passage from one experience to
another, is indeed an essential
condition of mental life. And transition from
one mode of excitement to
another is a constituent of a pleasurable life.
Thus, in the case of the
intellectual man, the aim is to know and to study
ever new things; whilst in the
case of the man of energy and activity, the
impulse is to view new scenes,
to undertake new enterprises. It is this
principle in our nature which
accounts for the efforts men put forth, and for
the sacrifices to which men
willingly submit.
·
THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF REAL NOVELTY IN THE NATURAL
WORLD AND IN HUMAN AFFAIRS. A little reflection will convince us
that continuous novelty is
unattainable. The laws of nature remain the
same, and their sameness
produces effects which with familiarity produce
the effect of monotony. The conditions of human life do not materially vary
from year to year, from age to
age. And human nature possesses certain
constant factors, in virtue of
which men’s employments and pleasures,
hopes, sufferings, and fears
remain substantially as they were in former
times. The chief exception to
this rule arises from the fact that what is old
to one generation is for a while
new to its successor. But it must not be
forgotten that the individual,
if favorably circumstanced, soon exhausts the
variety of human experience. The voluptuary
offers a reward to him who
can invent a new pleasure. The hero weeps for want of a new world to
conquer. The child of fortune
experiences in the satisfaction of his wants,
and even his caprices, the ennui
(boredom) which is a proof
that he has followed
the round of occupations and
pleasures until all have been exhausted. Thus the
most favored are in some cases
the least happy, and the most ready to join
in the complaint, “Vanity
of vanities; all is vanity!”
·
IT IS THE SPIRITUAL REALM WHICH IS ESPECIALLY
CHARACTERIZED BY NEWNESS. If it is impossible that the Book of
Ecclesiastes should be written
over again in the Christian ages, the reason
is that the fuller and
sublime revelations made by the Son of God incarnate
have enriched human thought and life beyond all
calculation. There is no
comparison between the
comparative poverty of knowledge and of life,
even under the Mosaic economy in
ancient times, and “the unsearchable
riches of Christ.” None can exhaust the treasures of knowledge and
wisdom, the possibilities of consecrated service and
spiritual progress,
distinctive of the Christian dispensation. Christianity is emphatically a
religion of newness. It is
itself the new covenant; its choicest gift to man is
the new heart; it summons the disciples of the Redeemer to newness of
life;
it puts in their mouth a new
song; whilst it opens up in the future the
glorious prospect of new heavens
and a new earth. God comes in the
Person of His Son to this
sin-stricken humanity, and His assurance and
promise is this: “Behold, I make all things new.” And in fulfillment of this
assurance, the
declaration, “Old
things have passed away; behold, all things are become
new.” (II
Corinthians 5:17)
The Changing
and the Abiding (vs. 9-10)
We are not to take the Preacher’s words in too absolute a
sense. There is
that which has been but which is not now. We are sometimes
powerfully
affected by:
·
THE CHANGING. Of those
things which bear the marks of time, we
may mention:
Ø
The face of nature.
Ø
The handiwork of man.
We look on prostrate palaces, fallen temples,
buried cities, disused and
decaying harbors, etc.
Ø
Historical characters.
We have been familiar with the faces and forms
of men that have played a great
part in their country’s history or created
an epoch in philosophy, or
poetry, or science; but where are
they now?
Ø
Human science.
Whether medical or surgical, whether geographical,
geological, philosophical,
theological, or of any other order, human
science is changing continually.
The top-stone of yesterday is the
stepping-stone of today.
Ø
The Character of philanthropic work. This was once represented by
almsgiving, but today we feel
that almsgiving is as much of an evil as a
good, and that we want to do
that for men which will remove for ever all
“charity” on the one side and
all dependence on the other. (Today, on
the way in to church, on the
side of a street was a young man
who was either begging,
panhandling or soliciting: who am I
to judge? One side of me wants to give, and I have,
perhaps even
to the same individual, another
side thinks of our
unwise government, seemingly for
political gain by those who
control it, who in the process of the last year have
given away
so-called stimulus checks which
have effectively caused people
not to work. To the point that businesses, restaurants,
etc.,are having
problems getting workers, I even
heard recently about a Jobs Fair in
But look at:
·
THE ABIDING. Many
things remain and will remain; among these are:
Ø
The main features of human life. Labor, sorrow, care,
struggle, death;
love, pleasure, success, honor.
Ø
Typical human characters. We still have with us
the false, the licentious,
the cruel, the servile, the
ambitious, etc.; and we still have the meek, the
grateful, the generous, the
pure-hearted, the devout, etc.
Ø
The spiritual element. Men have not done, and they never will have
done, with the mysterious, the
supernatural, the Divine. They still ask:
Whence came we? By whose power
are we sustained? To whom are we
responsible? Whither do we go?
How can we know and serve and please
God?
Ø
The truth of Jesus Christ. Heaven and earth
may pass away, but His
words “will not pass away.”
They are with us still, and they will remain,
amid all wreckage:
o
to enlighten our
ignorance,
o
to cheer our sorrow,
o
to accompany our
loneliness,
o
to conquer our sin,
o
to light up our
departure,
o
to bless and
o
to enrich us,
ourselves, with the blessings and
the treasures that
are not of earth BUT OF HEAVEN!
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.” There is no
remembrance of former things; rather, of
former men — persons who lived in former times. As things
are
considered novel only because they had been forgotten, so
we men
ourselves shall pass away, and be no more remembered.
Bailey, ‘Festus ‘—
“Adversity,
prosperity, the grave,
Play a
round game with friends. On some the world
Hath shot
its evil eye, and they are passed
From honor
and remembrance; and a stare
Is all the
mention of their names receives;
And people
know no more of them than they know
The shapes
of clouds at midnight a year hence.”
Neither shall
there be any remembrance of things that are to come
with those that
shall come after; rather, and even
of later generations
that shall be there will be no remembrance of them with
those that shall be
in the after-time.
Wright quotes Marcus Aurelius, who has much to say on
this subject. Thus: cap. 2:17, “Posthumous fame is oblivion;” cap. 3:10,
“Every man’s
life lies all within the present; for the past is spent and done
with, and the
future is uncertain;” cap. 4:33, “Those words
which were
formerly current
and proper are now become obsolete and barbarous. Alas!
This is not all:
fame tarnishes in time, too, and men grow out of fashion as
well as language.
Those celebrated names of ancient story are antiquated;
those of later
date have the same fortune; and those of present celebrity
must follow. I
speak this of those who have been the wonder of their age,
and shined with
unusual luster; but as for the rest, they are no sooner dead
than forgotten” (And our name shall be forgotten in
time, and no man
shall have our works in remembrance, and our life shall pass away as
the trace of a cloud, and shall be dispersed as a mist, that is driven
away with the beams of the sun, and overcome with the heat thereof.
Wisdom of Solomon 2:4). (On the keen desire to live in the
memory of posterity,
note “A wise man shall inherit glory among his people, and his name shall be
perpetual.” - (Ecclesiasticus 37:26); “All these were honored in their
generations, and were the glory of their times.” (Ibid. ch. 44:7)
The
Summary of a Life’s Experience (vs. 1-11)
“Solomon and Job,” says Pascal, “had most
perfect knowledge of human
wretchedness, and have given us the most complete
description of it: the
one was the most prosperous, the other the most
unfortunate, of men; the
one knew by experience the vanity of pleasure, the other
the reality of
sorrow.” In such
diverse ways does God lead men to the same conclusion
— that in human life, apart from him, there is no true satisfaction
or lasting
happiness, that the
immortal spirit cannot find rest in things seen and
temporal. The
words, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity: what profit hath
man of all his labor wherein he laboreth under the sun?” (Revised Version),
are the key-note of the whole book — the theme which the
author
maintains by arguments and illustrations drawn from a most
varied
experience. If Solomon be not the speaker, if we have in
Ecclesiastes the
composition of a later writer, no more appropriate
personage could have
been found than the ancient Jewish king to set forth the
teaching which the
book contains. For he had tasted all the good things human
life has to give.
On him God had
bestowed wisdom and knowledge, riches, wealth, honor,
and length of
days. All these he had enjoyed to the full,
and therefore
speaks, or is made to speak, as one from whom nothing had
been kept that
his soul desired, and who found that nothing results
from the mere
satisfaction of
appetites and desires but satiety and loathing and
disappointment.
We may contrast with this retrospect of
life that given us
by One whose aim it was to fulfill the Law of God and
secure the well-being
of his fellow-men; and we may thus discover the secret of
Solomon’s
failure to win happiness or to reach any lasting result. At
the close of His
life the Redeemer of mankind summed up the history of His
career in the
words addressed to God, “I glorified thee on the earth,
having
accomplished the work which thou hast given me to do” (John 17:4). It
may seem to some a dreary task to follow the course of
Solomon’s morbid
thoughts, but it cannot fail to be profitable, if we
undertake the task in the
earnest desire to discover the
causes of his melancholy and disappointment,
and learn from
the study how to guide our own lives more successfully,
and to enter
into the peace and contentment of spirit
which, after all his
efforts, he failed to make his own. In the first eleven
verses of this chapter
we have revealed to us
the despair and weariness which fell upon the soul
of him whose
splendor and wisdom raised him above all the men of his
time, and made
him the wonder of all. succeeding ages.
Life seemed to him
the emptiest and poorest thing possible — “a
vapor that appeareth for a
little time, and then vanisheth away.” (James 4:14) He
might have used the words
of the modern philosopher Amiel, “To appear and
to vanish, — there is the
biography of all individuals, whatever may be the length of
the cycle of
existence which they describe; and the drama of the
universe is nothing
more. All life is the shadow of a smoke-wreath, a gesture
in the empty air,
a hieroglyphic traced for an instant in the sand and
effaced a moment
afterwards by a breath of wind, an air-bubble expanding and
vanishing on
the surface of the great river of being — an appearance, a
vanity, a
nothing. But this nothing is, however, the symbol of
universal being, and
this passing bubble is the epitome of the history of the
world.” It seemed to
him that life:
Ø yielded no
permanent results,
Ø that it was insufferably
monotonous, and
Ø that it was destined
to end in utter oblivion.
The futility of effort, the monotony of life, and
the oblivion that engulfs it at last
are the topics of this opening passage of the book.
Let us take them up one
after the other.
·
THAT LIFE YIELDS NO PERMANENT RESULTS. (vs. 1-3.) We
have before us, then, the
deliberate judgment of one who had full
experience of all that men busy
themselves with — “the labor wherein they
labor under the
sun” — the pursuit of riches, the
enjoyment of power, the
satisfaction of appetites and
desires, and so on, and his conclusion is that
there is no profit in it all. And his sentence
is confirmed by the words of
Christ, “What
shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and
lose his own
soul?” In the case of Solomon,
therefore, we have a record of
permanent significance and
value. We cannot deprive his somber utterances
of their weight by saying that
he spoke simply as a sated voluptuary, and
that others might with more
skill or discretion extract from life what he
failed to find in it. For, as we
shall see, he did not confine himself to mere
pursuit of pleasure, but sought
satisfaction in intellectual employments and
in the accomplishment of great
tasks, for which the power and wealth at his
disposal were drawn upon to the
utmost. His melancholy is not a form of
mental disease, but the result of
the exhaustion of his energies and powers
in the attempt to find satisfaction for the ‘soul’s cravings.
And in
melancholy of this kind
philosophers have found a proof of the dignity of
human nature. “Man’s
unhappiness,” says one of them, “comes of his
greatness: it is because there is an
infinite in him, which, with all his
cunning, he cannot quite bury
under the finite He requires, if you consider
it, for his permanent
satisfaction and saturation, simply this allotment, no
more and no less: God’s infinite
universe altogether to himself, therein to
enjoy infinitely, and fill every
wish as fast as it rises Try him with half of a
universe, of an omnipotence, he
sets to quarrelling with the proprietor of
the other half, and declares
himself the most maltreated of men. Always
there is a blackspot in our sunshine; it is even the shadow
of ourselves”
(Carlyle). The very
consciousness of the unprofitableness of life, of failure
to attain to perfect satisfaction in the possession of earthly
benefits, painful
as it is, should convince
us of the value of the higher and better inheritance,
which may be ours, and in which alone we can find rest; and we should
take it as a Divine warning
to seek after those things that are eternal and
unchangeable. Our
dissatisfaction and our sorrows are like those of the
exile who pines for the pleasant
land from which by a hard fate he is for a
time dissevered; like the grief
of a king who has been deposed. And it is to
those whose hunger and thirst cannot be satisfied by
things of earth, who
find, like Solomon, that there
is “no profit in a man’s labor wherein he
laboreth under the
Sun,” that God issues the gracious
invitation, “Lo, every
one that
thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come
ye, buy, and eat;
yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without
price. Wherefore
do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your
labor for that
which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye
that which is
good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.” (Isaiah 55:1-2)
The idea of the unprofitableness
of human labor expressed by Solomon is
calculated, if carried too far, to put an end
to all
healthy and strenuous effort
to use the powers
and gifts God has bestowed upon us,
and to lead to
indifference and despair. If no adequate
result can be secured, if all that
remains after prolonged exertion
is only a sense of weariness and
disappointment, why should we
labor at all? (JUST QUIT - CY- 2021)
But such thoughts
are dishonoring to God and degrading to ourselves.
He has not sent
us into the world to spend our labor in vain, to be overcome
with the
consciousness of our poverty and weakness. There are ways in which
we can glorify Him and serve our generation (like
David - Acts 13:36); and
He has promised to bless our endeavors, and supply that wherein we
come short. Every
sincere and unselfish effort we make to help
the weak, to relieve the
suffering, to teach the ignorant, to diminish the
misery that meets us on every
hand, and to advance the happiness of our
fellows, is made
fruitful by His blessing. Something
positive and of enduring
value may be secured in this
way, even “treasure laid up in heaven, where
neither moth nor
rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break
through nor
steal?” (Matthew 6:20) We may so use the goods, the talents,
now committed to our charge, as
to create for ourselves friends, who will
receive us into everlasting
habitations when the days of our stewardship
are over, and this visible,
tangible world fades away from us.
·
The second reflection
of the royal Preacher is that HUMAN LIFE
IS
INSUFFERABLY MONOTONOUS;
that under all outward appearances
of variety and change there is a dreary sameness
(vs. 4-10). Generation
succeeds generation, but the
stage is the same on which they play their
parts, and one performance is
very like another. The incessant motion of
the sun, traveling from east to
west; the shifting of the wind from one point
to another, and then back again;
the speedy current of the rivers to join the
ocean, which yet is not filled
by them, but returns them in various ways to
water the earth, and to feed the springs, “whence the rivers come;” the
commonplace events of human
life, are all referred to as examples of
endless and monotonous
variation. The law of mutability (liability to
change), without progress, seems
to the speaker to prevail in heaven and in
earth — to rule in the material
world, in human society, and in the life of the
individual. The lordship over
creation, bestowed upon man, appeared to him
a vain fancy. Man himself was
but a stranger, sojourning here for but a very
short time, coming like a
wandering bird from the outer darkness into the light
and warmth of a festive hall,
and soon flitting out back again into
the
darkness. And, to one in this somber mood, it is not
wonderful that all
natural phenomena should wear
the aspect of instability and change. To the
pious mind of the psalmist the
sun suggested thoughts of God’s glory and
power; the majesty of the
creature gave him a more exalted idea of the
greatness of the Creator, and he
expatiated upon the splendor of that light
that rules the day. “The
heavens were His tabernacle;” morning by morning
he was as “a bridegroom coming forth from
his chamber, and rejoicing as a
strong man to run
a race.” (Psalm 19:4-5) Our Savior saw in the same
phenomenon a proof of God’s
impartial and bountiful love to the children
of men: “He maketh his sun to rise upon
the evil and the good.” (Matthew
5:45) But to the melancholy and brooding mind of
our author nothing more
was suggested by it than
monotonous reiteration, a dreary routine of rising
and setting. The sun also
ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to
his place where he arose.” “He
issues forth, day after day, from the east,
mounts up the vault of heaven
until he has reached the meridian, and then
he descends at once towards the
western horizon. He never stops in his course
at midday, as though he had
attained the end for which he issued forth with
the dawn; he never sinks beneath
the horizon to enjoy repose. Even throughout
the night he is still hastening
onward, that, at the appointed hour, he may again
reach his eastern starting-place.
The wind, great though its changes may be,
seems never to have accomplished
the purpose for which it puts forth its
power. It never subsides into a
state of lasting quiescence; it never even
finds a station which it can
permanently occupy. It, veereth about
continually, ‘yet
it ever bloweth again according to its circuits.’ The
streams flow onward to the
ocean; but the time never comes when the sea,
filled to overflowing, refuses
to receive their waters. The thirst of the sea is
never quenched; the waters of
the rivers are lost; and yet, with
unavailing
constancy, they
still pour their contributions into its bosom” (
so with regard to all the other
things on which the eye rests, or of which
the ear hears — weariness
clothes everything; an unutterable monotony
amid their changes and
variations. Human life, too, all through, is
characterized by the same unrest
and ceaseless, fruitless labor. Sometimes a
new discovery seems to be made;
the monotony seems to be broken, and
fresh and great results are
anticipated by those who are ignorant of the
world’s past history. But the
initiated, those whose experience has made
them wise, or whose knowledge
has made them learned, recognize the new
thing as something that was
known in times long ago; they can tell how
barren it was of results then,
how little, therefore, can be expected from it
now. There is scarcely anything
more discouraging, especially to the
young, than this kind of
moralizing. We feel, perhaps, that we can carry out
some scheme that will be of
benefit to the society about us, and are met
with lamentable accounts of how
similar schemes were once tried and
failed disastrously. We feel moved to
attack the evils that we meet in the
world, and are assured that they are too great and our own
strength too
puny for us to accomplish anything worth while. And in the
mean time our
fervor grows cold, our courage oozes away, and we really
lose the power
for good we might have had. Now, this teaching of Solomon is not meant
for the young and hopeful.
Indeed, those who collected together the books
of the Old Testament were rather
doubtful about including Ecclesiastes
among the others, and it ran a
narrow chance of being omitted from the
sacred canon. But it has its
place in the Word of God; and those who have
known anything of the doubts and
speculations contained in it will find it
profitable to trace the course
of thought that runs through it, until they find
the solid and positive teaching
which the Preacher at lasts gives. The
distressing fact remains, and
must be encountered, that to those who have
had long experience of the
world, and whose horizon is bounded by it, who
see only the things that are
done “under the sun,” in the midst
of ever-recurring
changes, there seems to be
little or no progress, and that which
appears to be new is but a
repetition of the old. But they should remember
that this world is meant as a place of probation for us —
a school in which
we are to learn great lessons; and that all the changing
circumstances of life
serve, and are
meant to serve, to develop our nature and character. If it
were to be our abiding-place,
many improvements in it might be suggested.
It is not by any means the best of possible worlds; but for purposes of
education, discipline, and testing, it is perfectly adapted. “Rest yet
remaineth for the
people of God” (Hebrews 4:9); it is not here, BUT IN
A WORLD TO COME! This truth is admirably stated by the poet Spenser,
who perhaps unconsciously
reproduces the melancholy thoughts of Solomon,
and answers them. He speaks of
mutability seeking to be honored above all the
heavenly powers, as being the
chief ruler in the universe, and as indeed
governing all things. In a synod
of the gods, she is silenced by Nature, who
combats her claims, and speaks
of a time to come when her present
apparent power will come to an
end“
But time
shall come that all shall changed bee,
And from
thenceforth none no more change shall see.”
And then the poet adds —
“When I
bethinke me on that speech whyleare [former]
Of
Mutability, and well it way,
Me seemes,
that though she all unworthy were
Of the
Heav’ns Rule; yet, very sooth to say,
In all
things else she bears the greatest sway:
Which
makes me loath this state of life so tickle [unsure],
And love
of things so vain to cast away;
Whose
flow’ring pride, so fading and so fickle,
Short Time
shall soon cut down with His consuming sickle.
“Then gin
I thinke on that which Nature sayd,
Of that
same time when no more Change shall be,
But
stedfast rest of all things, firmely stayd
Upon the
pillars of Eternity,
That is
contrayr to Mutability;
For all
that moveth doth in Change delight:
But
thence-forth all shall rest eternally
With Him
that is the God of Sabbaoth hight:
O I that
great Sabbaoth God, grant me that Sabbaoth’s sight!”
·
LIFE DESTINED TO END IN UTTER OBLIVION. To all these
considerations of the
resultlessness of life, of changefulness and monotony,
is added that of the oblivion
that sooner or later overtakes man and all his
works (v. 11). “There
is no remembrance of the former generations;
neither shall
there be any remembrance of the latter generations that are to
come, among those
that shall come after” (Revised
Version). One
generation supersedes another;
the new come up with fresh interests and
schemes of their own, and hustle
the old off the stage, and are themselves
in their turn forced to give
place to those who come up after them. Nations
disappear from the earth’s
surface and are forgotten. The memorials of
former civilizations lie buried
in the sand, or are defaced and destroyed to
make room for something else. On every page of
creation we find the
sentence written, that there is nothing here that lasts. Almost no means can
be devised to carry down to
succeeding generations even the names of the
greatest conquerors, of men who
in their time seemed to have the strength
of gods, and to have changed the
history of the world. The earth has many
secrets in her keeping,
and is sometimes forced to yield up a few of
them.
“The ploughshare strikes against
the foundations of buildings which once
echoed to human mirth, skeletons
of men to whom life once was dear; urns
and coins that remind the
antiquary of a magnificent empire now long
passed away.” And so the process
goes on. EVERYTHING PASSES!
A few years ago and we were not; a hundred years hence, and there may
be none who ever
heard our names. And a day will come
when:
“The
cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn
temples, the great globe itself,
Yea all
which it inherit, shall dissolve;
And… leave
not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams
are made on, and our little life
Is rounded
with a sleep.”
Abundant material, then, had the
Preacher, the son of David, for somber
meditation; abundant material for contemplation does he suggest to
us.
And if we cannot get much
further on in speculation than he did, if since
his time very little new light
has been cast upon the problems which he
discusses, we may still refuse
to be depressed by melancholy like his.
Granted that all is vanity, that restlessness and
monotony mark everything
in the world, and that its glories soon pass away and are
forgotten; STILL
IT IS NOT OUR
HOME! It may dissolve and
leave us no poorer. The tie that
binds together soul and body may
be loosened, and the place that knows us
now may soon know us no more. Our confidence
is in Him, who has promised
to take us to Himself, that where He is we may be also. “God is our Refuge
and Strength...
therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed.”
(Psalm 46:1-2) In contrast with the Preacher’s desponding,
despairing words
about the fruitlessness of life,
its monotony and its brevity, we may set the
hopeful, triumphant utterance of
Christ’s apostle: “The time of my departure is
at hand. I have
fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the
faith: henceforth
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which
the Lord, the
righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me
only, but
unto all them also that love His appearing.”
(I Timothy 4:6-8)
Vanity of Vanities (vs. 2-11)
(v. 3.) Passing over the
pathetic picture these words instinctively call up
of human life as a ceaseless round
of toil — a picture which modern
civilization, with all its
appliances and refinements, has not obliterated, but
rather, in the experience of
many, painted in still more lurid colors; a
picture which has always
possessed for poetic minds, sacred (Job 7:1-2)
no less than profane (Thomas
Hood 1799-1845), ‘Song of the Shirt’),
Song of the Shirt By Thomas Hood With fingers weary and worn, With eyelids heavy and red,A woman sat in unwomanly rags, Plying her needle and thread— Stitch! stitch! stitch!In poverty, hunger, and dirt, And still with a voice of dolorous pitchShe sang the "Song of the Shirt." "Work! work! work!While the cock is crowing aloof! And work—work—work,Till the stars shine through the roof!It's O! to be a slave Along with the barbarous Turk,Where woman has never a soul to save, If this is Christian work! "Work—work—work,Till the brain begins to swim; Work—work—work,Till the eyes are heavy and dim!Seam, and gusset, and band, Band, and gusset, and seam,Till over the buttons I fall asleep, And sew them on in a dream! "O, men, with sisters dear! O, men, with mothers and wives!It is not linen you're wearing out, But human creatures' lives! Stitch—stitch—stitch, In poverty, hunger and dirt, Sewing at once, with a double thread, A Shroud as well as a Shirt. "But why do I talk of death? That phantom of grisly bone,I hardly fear his terrible shape, It seems so like my own—It seems so like my own, Because of the fasts I keep;Oh, God! that bread should be so dear. And flesh and blood so cheap! "Work—work—work! My labour never flags;And what are its wages? A bed of straw, A crust of bread—and rags.That shattered roof—this naked floor— A table—a broken chair—And a wall so blank, my shadow I thank For sometimes falling there! "Work—work—work! From weary chime to chime, Work—work—work, As prisoners work for crime!Band, and gusset, and seam, Seam, and gusset, and band,Till the heart is sick, and the brain benumbed, As well as the weary hand. "Work—work—work,In the dull December light, And work—work—work,When the weather is warm and bright— While underneath the eaves The brooding swallows clingAs if to show me their sunny backs And twit me with the spring. "O! but to breathe the breathOf the cowslip and primrose sweet— With the sky above my head,And the grass beneath my feet;For only one short hour To feel as I used to feel, Before I knew the woes of want And the walk that costs a meal! "O! but for one short hour! A respite however brief!No blessed leisure for Love or hope,
But only time for grief!A little weeping would ease my heart, But in their briny bedMy tears must stop, for every drop Hinders needle and thread!" With fingers weary and worn, With eyelids heavy and red,A woman sat in unwomanly rags, Plying her needle and thread— Stitch! stitch! stitch! In poverty, hunger, and dirt,And still with a voice of dolorous pitch,—Would that its tone could reach the Rich!—
She
sang this "Song of the Shirt!"
a peculiar fascination — readers
may note the melancholy truth to which
the Preacher here adverts, viz.
that the solid outcome of human labor, in
the shape of permanent advantage
to either society at large or the individual,
is comparatively small.
Ø
This cannot mean
that labor is wholly useless (ch.5:19),
since without labor man
cannot find that bread which is needful for his
bodily sustenance (Genesis
3:19). It would be misconceiving the
Preacher to suppose he
disapproved of all that has been effected by
human industry and genius
to enrich, enlighten, and civilize the race, or
desired to teach that men
had better times of it on earth when they lived
like savages upon the
spontaneous fruits of the earth.
Ø
Nor is it likely that
he designed to glance at what has been a sore evil
under the sun ever since
men began to divide themselves into laborers
and capitalists, viz. the
small portion of labor’s fruits which usually
fall to the former, without whom there would be little or no
fruits at all.
Ø
It is rather probable
that the writer was thinking, not of laborers so
called, to the exclusion of
other workers, but of all toilers without
distinction, when he said that the outcome of man’s activity, so far
at least as attaining to
felicity was concerned, was practically nothing.
THINGS ARE SUBJECT.
(vs. 4-7.)
Ø
Illustrated in four particulars.
o
The passing by of
human generations, in comparison with
which the globe seems
stable (v. 4);
o
the daily revolution
of the sun (v. 5);
o
the circling of the
winds (v. 6); and
o
the returning of the
rivers to the seas (v. 7).
The writer means not to
assert that these different cycles have no
uses in the economy of
nature — which uses may be here illustrated;
merely he pitches upon what
belongs to them in common, the
element of
change, to him a picture of man’s condition on the
earth generally.
Ø
Explained by four
clauses. It is as if he said, “Look around
and
behold! All things of earth
are perpetually on the move — the
sun in the sky, the winds
in the firmament, the clouds in the air,
the waters in the ocean,
the rivers on the meadow (I have been
cooped up all winter and
yesterday, April 1, 2013, it went out
into the woods and walked
along the Little River and this is
certainly true of southern
21st century! –
CY – 2013), man himself upon the surface of
the
globe. Nothing bears the
stamp of finality. Everything is shifting.
Nothing remains long in one
stay. ‘All
things are full of labor
and weariness; man cannot utter it: the eye is not
satisfied
with seeing, nor is
the ear filled with hearing’” (v. 8)
by which he means that the
changeful condition is never done;
there never comes a time when
the eye says, “Enough!” or the
ear repeats, “Behold! I am
full.” This view of life had occurred to
many before the Preacher’s day (Genesis 47:9;
I Chronicles 29:15;
Job 4:19-20; 7:6; 8:9), as
it has occurred to some since — to the
Greek philosophers who
described nature as in a state of perpetual flux,
to modem poets such as
Shakespeare, and to sacred writers like John
(I John 2:17) and Paul (I
Corinthians 7:31.)
Ø
What the Preacher could not have meant. That no new
occurrence
ever happens on the earth,
that no new contrivance ever is devised,
that no new experience ever
emerges. Because since the Preacher’s
day multitudes of new
discoveries and inventions have been made in
all departments of science;
while in the sphere of religion at least one
new thing has taken place,
viz. the Incarnation of Jesus Christ,
and another will take place
(Isaiah 65:17).
Ø
What the Preacher did mean. That the general
impression made by
`life upon
beholders is that of sameness. Going back to the above
illustrations, he would have
said, “See how it is in nature. No doubt one
new day succeeds another, one
gale of wind follows another, and one
body of waters hastens after
another. But every day and always it is the
same thing over again; the same
old sun which reappears in the east; and
the same gusts of wind to which
we are accustomed that blow from the
north to the south, and whirl
about continually to all points of the compass;
and the same stream that keeps
on filling up its fountains and sending forth
its waters to the sea. And if
you will look at the world of humanity it is the
same. A new generation
appears on the globe every thirty years, and every
hour of every day new individuals
are being born; but they are substantially
the same old men and women
that were here before. ‘Fed by the same
food, hurt by the same weapons, warmed and cooled by the
same
summer and winter’ as those who preceded them, they go
through
the same
experiences their fathers and mothers went through before
them.” This feeling of monotony is even more emphasized when attention
is fixed on the individual. Try to think of how monotonous and
wearisome
an ordinary human life is! An attempt to realize this will awaken
surprise.
MUST EVENTUALLY SINK.
(v. 11.) So obvious is this that it
scarcely needs illustration.
Consider what a small portion of the earth’s
incidents during the past six
thousand years have survived in history, and
bow few of the world’s great
ones have left behind them more than their
names. The memory has been
preserved of a Flood, but what about the
ordinary words
and actions that make up everyday life during the years
between the Creation
and the Deluge? A few particulars have
been
preserved of the histories of an
Abraham and a David, a Sennacherib and a
Nebuchadnezzar, an Alexander and
a Caesar; but what about the
myriads
that formed their
contemporaries? How much has been
transmitted to
posterity of the history of
these islands? How few of the events of last year
have been recorded? How many of
those who then died are still
remembered? This is, no doubt,
all as it should be; but still it is a proof of
the vanity of things below, if these
be regarded simply in themselves.
CONCLUSION. This view
of life should not be possible to a Christian
who enjoys the fuller and clearer light of the New
Testament revelation,
and views all things in their relations to God, duty, and
immortality.
Oblivion and
its Consolations (v. 11)
We have here:
·
A NATURAL HUMAN ASPIRATION. We do not like to think that the
time is coming when we shall be
wholly forgotten; we should like to live on
in the memory of men, especially
in the memory of the wise and good. We
shrink from the idea of being
entirely forgotten; we do not care
to think
that the hour
will come when the mention of our name will not awaken the
slightest
interest in any human circle. There is
something exceedingly
attractive in the thought of
fame, and repelling in that of oblivion. There is
that within us which responds to
the fine line of Horace, in which he tells
us that he has built for himself
a monument more enduring than brass; and
to the aspiration of our own
something which “the world would
not willingly let die.”
·
ITS INEVITABLE DISAPPOINTMENT.
Ø
It is indeed true that
“the memory of the just is blessed,” and that they
who have lived well, loved
faithfully, wrought nobly, suffered meekly,
striven bravely, will be
remembered and honored after death; they may be
long, even very long, remembered
and revered.
Ø
There are just a few
men whose names and histories will go down the
long stream of time, of whom the
very last generation will speak and learn.
Ø
But the vast majority
of men will soon be forgotten. Their names may be
inscribed on memorial-stones,
but in a very few years none will care to
read them; the eye that lights
upon them will glance from them with
indifference; there will be “no
remembrance” of them. The world will take
its way; will do its work and
find its pleasure, regardless altogether of the
fact that these men once trod
its surface and now lie beneath it. (Isn’t it
wonderful that it is not so with God, the He knew us, He
knows us
and that we are one of His! CY - 2021)
·
THE TRUE CONSOLATION. This
is certainly not found in the
commonness of our lot. It is no
consolation to me that my neighbor is as
ill off as myself; that ought to
be an aggravation of my trouble. It is,
in fact, twofold.
Ø
We may be always
living in the deathless influence our faithful lives
exerted and handed down. For good
influences never die; they are
scattered and lost sight of, but
they are not extinguished; they live on in
human hearts and lives from
generation to generation.
Ø
We shall be loved and
honored elsewhere. What if we be forgotten
here upon the earth? Are there
not other parts of the
And is there not one where God
will have found for us a sphere, and in the
minds and hearts of those who
will be our friends and fellow-laborers there
we shall hold our place, honoring and
honored, loving and beloved?
PROOF OF THE
VANITY OF EARTHLY THINGS FROM
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
AND GENERAL OBSERVATION (v.12 – ch. 6:12)
Section 1. Vanity of Striving for Wisdom and Knowledge (vs. 12-18)
12 “I the Preacher was
king over
relates his own experience as king, in accordance with his
assumption of
the person of Solomon. The use of the past tense in this
verse is regarded
by many as strong evidence against the Solomonic authorship
of the book.
“I have been king” (not “I have become king,”) is a statement introducing the
supposed speaker, not as a reigning monarch, but as one who,
in time past,
exercised sovereignty. Solomon is represented as speaking
from the grave, and
recalling the past for the instruction of his auditors. In
a similar manner, the author
of the Book of Wisdom (8:1-13) speaks in his impersonation
of Solomon. That king
himself, who reigned without interruption to his death,
could not have
spoken of himself in the terms used here. He lost neither
his throne nor his
power; and, therefore, the expression cannot be paralleled
by the complaint of
Louis XIV., unsuccessful in war and weary of rule, “When I
was king.” Solomon
redivivus (brought back to life; reborn) is
introduced to give weight to the succeeding
experiences. Here is one who had
every and the most favorable opportunity of
seeing the best side of things; and yet his testimony is that all is vanity. In the
acquisition of wisdom,
the contrast between
the advantage of learned leisure and the
interruptions of a laborious life is set forth in Ecclesiasticus. 38:24, “The
wisdom of
a
learned man cometh by opportunity of leisure: and he that hath little
business shall become wise.. King over
before the division of the kingdom. We have it in I Samuel
15:26, and occasionally
elsewhere. The usual phrase is “King of Israel.” (For in
Koheleth,
the Preacher (vs. 1,12)
·
THE PREACHER’S NAME.
Koheleth, signifying:
Ø
The Assembler, or
Collector (Delitzsch, Bleek, Keil), not of
sentences
(Grotius), but of people. Hence:
Ø
The Preacher (Delitzsch, Wright), since the object for which he calls or
convenes the assembly is to
address it with words of wisdom
(ch. 12:9).
Ø
The Debater (Plumptre), since “the Ecclesiastes was not one who
called
the ecclesia or assembly
together, or addressed it in a tone of didactic
authority; but rather an
ordinary member of such assembly (the political
unit of every Greek state) who
took part in its discussions” (ibid.).
·
THE PREACHER’S PERSON.
Ø
Solomon. In support of this, the traditional view, may be urged:
o
That the work is, or
seems to be, ascribed to him by the writer (v. 1).
o
That the experiences
assigned to the Preacher (ch. 2:1-3), the works
declared to have been wrought by
him (ch. 2:4-5), and the wisdom
represented as possessed by him
(v. 17), are in perfect accord with
what is known of the historical
Solomon.
o
That the composition
of this book cannot be proved to have been
beyond the ability of Solomon (1
Kings 3:12; 10:3-4; 11:41;
II Chronicles 1:12; 9:22-23).
o
That the writer obviously
wished his words to be accepted as
proceeding from Solomon.
o
That if Solomon was
not the author, then the author is unknown —
which is, to say the least,
unfortunate.
·
THE PREACHER’S CHARACTER.
Ø
Not an atheist. Since besides making frequent (thirty-seven times)
mention of the name of God, he
expressly recognizes God as:
o
the true God, exalted
above the world (ch. 5:8),
o
the Object of man’s
fear (ch. 5:7; 12:13) and worship (ibid. vs.
1-2),
and
o
the Disposer and
Governor of all (ch. 7:13).
He acknowledges the existence in
man of a spirit (ch. 12:7), and
of such things as truth and
error, right and wrong, holiness and sin
(ch. 5:4-6; 7:15-16; 9:2-3);
places the sum of duty as well as the
secret of happiness in fearing God
and keeping His commandments
(ch. 12:13); and hints his
belief in the coming of a day when God
will bring the secrets of all
into judgment (ch. 11:9).
Ø
Not a pantheist. The God he believes
in is a
personal Divinity,
distinguished from the works He
has made (ch. 3:11) and the
man He has created (12:1); who
issues commandments (ibid. v. 13),
and can be worshipped by prayer,
sacrifice, and vows (ch. 5:1-7);
who should be feared (ibid. v. 7), and who can accept the service
of His intelligent creatures
(ch. 9:7).
Ø
Not a pessimist. Though at times seeming to indulge in gloomy views of
life, to imagine that all things
on earth are going to the bad, that the sum
of human happiness is more than
counterbalanced by that of human
misery, that life is not worth
living, and that the best a wise man can do
is to escape from it in the
easiest and most comfortable way he can; yet
that these were not his
deliberate opinions may be gathered from the
frequency with which he exhorts men to cultivate a cheerful mind,
and to enjoy the good of all their
labor which God giveth them under
the sun (ch. 2:24-26; 3:12;
9:7; 11:9), and from the emphatic manner
in which he repudiates morose
conclusions concerning the degeneracy
of the times (ch. 7:10).
Ø
Not a libertine. This notion (Plumptre) may appear to derive
countenance from what the
preacher says of himself (ch.2:1-3); but
his language hardly warrants the
conclusion that the author of this
book had in his lifetime been a
person of dissolute morals and profligate
manners. If he was, before he
penned this work he must have seen the
error of his way.
Ø
But a deeply thinking and religious man. When he looked
upon the
mystery of life he felt
perplexed. He saw that, APART FROM GOD
LIFE WAS EMPTINESS AND VANITY!
Yet was he not thereby
driven to despair, or impelled to renounce life as an unmixed evil;
but rather offered it as his opinion that man’s highest
duty was to fear
God and keep His
commandments, to accept whatever good
might pour into his cup, bear with
tranquility and submission whatever
trials might be mingled in his lot, and
prepare himself for the moment
when he should pass into the unseen to
render an account for the things
done in the body (II Corinthians
5:10).
·
THE PREACHER’S AIM. Neither:
Ø
To expound the doctrines of pessimism — to show “that the
past has
been like the present,” and “the
present like that which is to come,” that
“the present is bad,” that “the
past has not been better,” and “that the
future will not be preferable”
(Renan). Nor:
Ø
To furnish an autobiographical confession (ideal, but based on
personal
experiences) of the progress of
a Jewish youth from skepticism through
sensuality to faith (Plumptre).
But possibly:
Ø To comfort
God’s people, the
of Persian rule, e.g.,
supposing the book to be a late composition, by
showing them the vanity of
earthly things, and exhorting them “to seek
elsewhere their happiness; to
draw it from those inexhaustible eternal
fountains, which even at that
time were open to all who chose to come”
(Hengstenberg). And certainly:
Ø
To exhibit the true secret of felicity in the midst of life’s
vanities, which
consisted, as above explained,
in fearing God and keeping His
commandments.
·
LESSONS.
1. The inspiration of a Scripture not dependent on a knowledge
of its date
or author.
2. The value of the
Bible as a key to the problem of the universe.
3. The succession of Heaven-sent preachers that have appeared
all down
the centuries.
13 “And I
gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning
all things that are done under heaven: this
sore travail hath God given to
the sons of man to be exercised therewith.”
I gave my heart (v. 17; ch.7:25;
Daniel 10:12). The heart, in the Hebrew conception, was the seat,
not of the
affections only, but of the understanding and intellectual
faculties generally.
So the expression here is equivalent to “I applied my
mind.” To seek and
search out. The two words are not
synonymous. The former verb (דָּרַשׁ,
darash) implies
penetrating into the depth of an object before one; the
other word (תּוּר, tur) taking a comprehensive survey of matters
further
away; so that two methods and scopes of investigation are
signified. By
wisdom; τῇ
σοφίᾳ - en tae sophia - (Septuagint).
Wisdom was the means
or instrument by which he carried on his researches, which
were directed, not
merely to the collecting of facts, but to investigating the
causes and conditions of
things. Concerning
all things that are done under heaven; i.e. men’s
actions and conduct, political, social, and private life.
We have “under the
sun” in v. 9, and again in v. 14. Here there is no question of
physical
matters, the phenomena of the material world, but only of
human
circumstances and interests. This sore travail (rather, this is a sore travail
that) God hath given to the sons of man to be
exercised therewith. The
word rendered “travail”
(ˆעִנְיָן, inyan) occurs often in this book (e.g.
ch. 2:23, 26, etc.), and nowhere else in the Old Testament.
The same root is
found in the word translated “exercised;” hence “It is a
woeful exercise which
God has given to the sons of men wherewith to exercise
themselves.” If we keep
to the word “travail,” we
may render, “to travail therein.” It
implies distracting
business,
engrossing occupation. Septuagint, περισπασμόν – perispasmon –
heavy burden - Vulgate, occupationem. Man feels himself constrained to
make
this laborious investigation, yet the result is most unsatisfactory, as
the next verse
shows. “God” is here Elohim, and so throughout the book, the name Jehovah
(the God of the covenant, the God of Israel) never once occurring. Those who
regard Solomon as the author
of the book account for this on the plea that the
king, in his latest years, reflecting sadly on his
backsliding and fall, shrank from
uttering with his polluted lips the adorable Name once so
often used with filial
reverence and beloved.
But the true reason is found in the design of
Koheleth,
which was to set forth, not so much
condition of man in the face of the God of nature. The
idiosyncrasies and
peculiar features of the chosen people are not the subject
of his essay; he
deals with a wider sphere; his theme is man in his relation
to Divine
providence; and for this power he uses that name, common
alike to the true
and false religions, Elohim, applied to the Supreme
Being by believers and
idolaters.
14 “I have
seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold,
all is vanity and vexation of spirit.” Here is the result of this examination of human
actions. I have seen all the works that are done
under the sun. In his varied
experience nothing
had escaped his notice. And behold,
all is vanity and vexation
of spirit; reuth
ruach; afflictio spiritus (Vulgate); προαίρεσις
πνεύματος, –
proairesis
pneumatos - choice of spirit, or, wind - (Septuagint); νομὴ ἀνέμου –
nomae avemou - feeding on wind (
boskaesis avemou (Symmachus).
This last translation, or “striving
after wind,”
seems to be most agreeable to the etymology of the word רְעוּת, which, except
in this book (ch. 2:11, 17, 26, etc.), occurs elsewhere
only in the Chaldee portion
of Ezra (Ezra 5:17; 7:18).
Whichever sense is taken, the import is much the
same. What is implied is the
unsubstantial and unsatisfying nature of human
labors and endeavors. Many compare Hosea 12:1, “Ephraim feedeth on
wind,” and Isaiah 44:20, “He
feedeth on ashes.” In contrast, perhaps,
to this constantly recurring complaint, the author
of). Bailey, in ‘Festus,’ sings —
“Of all life’s aims, what’s worth the
thought we waste on’t?
How
mean, how miserable, seems every care!
How
doubtful, too, the system of the mind!
And then the
ceaseless, changeless, hopeless round
Of
weariness, and heartlessness, and woe,
And vice,
and vanity! Yet these make life —
The life,
at least, I witness, if not feel
No matter,
we are immortal.”
15 “That
which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is
wanting cannot be numbered.” That which is crooked cannot be made straight.
This is intended as a confirmation of v. 14. By the utmost
exercise of his powers
and faculties man
cannot change the course of events; he is constantly met
by anomalies
which he can neither explain nor rectify (compare ch.7:13).
The Vulgate takes the whole maxim as applying only to
morals: “Perverse men are
Hardly corrected, and the number of tools is infinite.” So
too the Syriac and
Targum. The Septuagint rightly as the Authorized Version.
The writer is
not referring merely to man’s sins and delinquencies, but
to the perplexities
in which he finds himself involved, and extrication from
which is
impracticable. That
which is wanting cannot be numbered. We
cannot reckon where there is nothing to count; no skill in
arithmetic will
avail to make up for a substantial deficit. So nothing man
can do is able to
remedy the anomalies by which he is surrounded, or to
supply the defects
which are pressed upon his notice.
Concerning Crooked Things and Things Wanting
(v. 15)
PROGRAM. This the
teaching of the two proverbs, that crooked things
cannot be straightened, i.e.
by man, or wanting things numbered. To the
seeker after wisdom, who surveys
all the works that are done under the
sun, and gives his heart to
search into and to seek out by wisdom with
regard to these what is their
end and issue, there appear in the physical,
mental, and moral worlds
anomalies, irregularities, excrescences,
deviations from the straight
line of natural order, as well as defects, wants,
imperfections, gaps, cleavages,
interruptions, failures to reach
completeness, which arrest
attention and excite astonishment.
Ø
Of irregularities or crooked things, such phenomena as
these
may be cited:
o
In the physical world:
§
storms,
§
tempests,
§
accidents,
§
diseases,
§
sudden and unexpected
calamities.
o
In the mental world:
§
perverted judgments,
§
erroneous beliefs,
§
false conclusions.
o
In the moral world:
§
wicked principles
§
depraved actions,
§
sins ofevery kind,
§
transgressions of
human and Divine law.
Ø
Of things wanting or defects, may be reckoned
these:
o
In the material realm, scenes where some element is wanting to
complete their beauty or
utility, as e.g. a
leaf to refresh the eye, or
a well at which to quench the thirst;
or forms of life that never
attain to maturity, as e.g. buds that drop
before ripening into flowers or fruit.
o
In the intellectual
sphere, ignorance, limited knowledge,
defective
education, bigotry,
arrogance, one-sided apprehension of truth,
narrow and imperfect views.
o
In the moral domain, actions that, without being wholly wrong,
yet fall short of being
fully right, as e.g. where one tells a half-truth,
or does less in particular
circumstances than duty demands of him.
(Sins of omission – CY –
2013)
POWER OF MAN TO REMOVE OR REMEDY. This, at least, is the
doctrine of the above two
proverbial sayings.
Ø
The doctrine, however,
is not absolutely and universally true.
In the physical, mental, and moral worlds, man can do
something
to straighten what is crooked and supply what is lacking. For
instance, by skill and foresight he can guard himself to some extent
against the virulence of disease, the violence of storms and tempests,
the destructiveness of unexpected calamities; by
education he can
protect himself and others against the perils arising from
defective
knowledge and erroneous judgments; by personal cultivation of
virtue he can at least diminish the quantity of its
opposite,
vice, in the world.
If he cannot straighten out all the crooks, he
can even some; if he cannot
remedy every defect, he can
remove a few.
Ø
Yet the doctrine is
true in the sense intended by the Preacher.
This is, that after man has
done his utmost there will remain anomalies
that baffle him to explain,
a sense of incompleteness which nothing he
can attempt will remove.
Let him prosecute his investigations ever so
widely and vigorously,
there always will be “more things in heaven
and earth than are dreamt
of in his philosophy” — enigmas he
cannot
solve,
antinomies he cannot reconcile, defects he cannot fill up.
SUGGESTS SOME IMPORTANT LESSONS. AS:
Ø
That the present system of things is not final. Nothing that is
imperfect can be final. The crooked things that
want straightening
and the lacking things
that need supplying contain a dim prophecy
of a future and better
order, in which THE CROOKED THINGS
WILL BE
STRAIGHTENED AND THE DEFECTIVE
THINGS SUPPLIED!
Ø
That man’s
power of apprehending things is incomplete. From this
probably arises not a little
of that sense of disorder and incompleteness in
the outer world of which he
complains.
Ø
That things impossible to man IS
POSSIBLE WITH GOD!
Though man’s faculties are limited, it does not follow that God’s
power is
limited. The crooked things that man cannot straighten,
GOD CAN
STRAIGHTEN if it seem good to His
wisdom.
Ø
That man’s duty
meanwhile is to submit and wait.
Instead of
fretting at what he cannot
rectify, he should aim at extracting from it
that moral discipline which,
doubtless, it is intended to impart; and
instead of rushing to hasty
conclusions from what he only imperfectly
apprehends, he ought in a spirit of hopefulness to PATIENTLY
WAIT FOR FURTHER
LIGHT!.
16 “I
communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great
estate, and have gotten more wisdom than
all they that have been
before me in
wisdom and knowledge.” Koheleth now
arrives at his first conclusion, that wisdom
is vanity. I communed
with mine own heart. The
expression suggests, as it
were, an internal dialogue, (compare ch.2:1, 15). Lo, I am come to
great estate. If this be taken by
itself, it makes Koheleth speak of his
power and majesty first, and of his progress in wisdom afterwards;
but it is
best to connect it with what follows, and to confine the
clause to one idea;
thus: “I have obtained
great and ever greater wisdom” — I have
continually added to my stores of knowledge and
experience. Than all
they (above all) that
have been before me in (over)
the rulers alluded to? Solomon himself was only the second
of the Israelite
kings who reigned there; of the Canaanite princes who may
have made that
their capital, we have no knowledge, nor is it likely that
Solomon would
compare himself with them. The Targum has altered the
approved reading,
and gives, “Above all the wise men that were in
reading, “in [instead of ‘over’]
authority, and is confirmed by the Septuagint, Vulgate, and
Syriac, but it is
evidently a correction of the text by critics who saw the
difficulty of the
authorized wording. Motais and others assert that the
preposition in the
Masoretic text, עַל
(all, often means “in,” as well as “over,”
when the
reference is to an elevated spot; e.g. Isaiah
38:20; Hosea 11:11. But
even granting this, we are still uncertain who are the
persons meant.
Commentators point to Melchizedek, Adonizedek, and Araunah
among
rulers, and to Ethan, Heman, Chalcol, and Darda (I Kings
4:31) among
sages. But we know nothing of the wisdom of the former, and
there is no
tangible reason why the latter should be designated “before me in
reigned in
assumed character, in relying an excusable anachronism,
while giving to the
personated monarch a position which could not belong to the
historical
Solomon. Yea, my
heart had great experience of (hath seen abundantly,
κατὰ
πολύ - kata polu - Venetian) wisdom
and knowledge, הַרְבֵה used
adverbially qualifies the word before it, “hath seen.” The heart, as we have
observed (v. 13), is considered the seat of the intellectual
life. In saying that the
heart hath seen wisdom, the writer means that his mind has
taken it in,
apprehended and appropriated it (compare ch.8:16; Job 4:8).
Wisdom and
knowledge; chokmah and
daath; σοφίαν
καὶ γνῶσιν – sophian kai gnosin -
(Septuagint), the former regarding the ethical and
practical side, the latter the
speculative, which leads to the other (compare Isaiah 33:6;
Romans 11:33).
17 “And I
gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and
folly: I perceived that this also is
vexation of spirit.” And I gave my heart.
He reiterates the expression in order to emphasize
his earnestness and energy
in the pursuit of wisdom. And knowing, he studies the opposite of wisdom, and
learns the truth by contrasting it with error. And to know madness and folly
(ch.2:12). The
former word, holeloth (intensive plural),
by its etymology points
to a confusion of thought, i.e. an unwisdom which
deranges all ideas of order
and propriety; and folly (here sikluth), throughout
the sapiential books (books
of wisdom), is identified with vice
and wickedness, the contradictory of
practical godliness. The Septuagint has παραβολὰς
καὶ ἐπιστήμην –
parabolas kai epistaemaen - parables and endued with knowledge -
and some editors have altered the Hebrew text in accordance
with this version, which they consider more suitable to the
context. But
Koheleth’s standpoint is quite consistent. Den-Sirs gives a much-needed
warning against touching pitch (Eccleiasticus 13:1), and
argues expressly
that “the knowledge of wickedness is not wisdom” (Ibid. ch.
19:22).
The moralist had no need to travel beyond his own
experience in order to
learn that sin was the acme of unwisdom, a declension from
reason which
might well be called madness.. Thus far we have had
Koheleth’s secret thoughts —
what he communed with his own heart (v. 16). The result of
his studies was
most unsatisfying.
I
perceived that this also is vexation of
spirit;
or,
a striving after wind,
as v. 14 Though the word is somewhat
different. As
such labor is wasted,
for man cannot control issues.
18 “For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth
knowledge increaseth
sorrow.” For in much wisdom
is much grief.
The more one knows of men’s lives,
the deeper insight one obtains of their
actions and circumstances,
the greater is the cause of grief at the incomplete and
unsatisfactory nature of all human affairs. He that increaseth knowledge
increaseth sorrow;
not in others, but in himself. With
added experience
and more minute examination, the
wise man becomes more conscious of
his own ignorance and
impotence, of the unsympathizing and
uncontrollable course of nature, of the gigantic evils
which he is powerless
to remedy; this causes his sorrowful confession “I
perceived that this
also
is vexation of spirit.” (v. 17b). St.
Gregory, taking the religious view
of the passage, comments, “The more a man begins to know what he has
lost the more he begins to bewail the sentence of his corruption, which he
has met with” (‘Moral.,’ 18:65); and, “He that already knows the high state
which he does not as yet enjoy is the more grieved for the low condition in
which he is yet held” (ibid., 1:34). The statement in our text is paralleled in
Ecclesiasticus. 21:12, “There is a wisdom which multiplieth bitterness,” and
contrasted in Wisdom of Solomon 8:16 with the
comfort and pleasure
which true wisdom brings.
The Vanity of Human Wisdom (vs. 12-18)
Solomon was one of the great, magnificent, and famous kings
of the East,
and was eminent both for possessions and abilities. The
splendor of his
court and capital may have impressed the popular mind more
profoundly
than anything else attaching to him. But his wisdom was his
most
distinctive and honorable peculiarity. At the beginning of
his reign he had
sought this from God as His supreme gift, and the gift had
been bestowed
upon him and continued to him. Its evidences were striking
and universally
acknowledged. As a king, a judge, an administrator, a
writer, a religious
teacher, Solomon was pre-eminently wise. It must be
admitted that he did
not always make the best use of the marvelous talents
entrusted to him.
But he was well able to speak from his own experience of
the gift of
wisdom; and none was ever better able to speak of its
vanity.
·
THE POSSESSION AND EXERCISE OF WISDOM.
1. This implies natural ability, as a foundation; and, if this
be absent,
eminence is impossible.
2. It implies also good opportunities. There are doubtless many
endowed
with native powers, to whom are denied the
means of calling forth and
training those powers, which accordingly
lie dormant throughout the
whole of life.
3. It implies the diligent cultivation of natural powers, and
the diligent use
of precious opportunities. (Diligent meaning to exercise yourself - CY -
2021)
4. It implies prolonged experience — “years that bring the
philosophic
mind.”
·
THE LIMITATION OF HUMAN WISDOM. To the view of the
uncultivated and inexperienced,
the knowledge of the accomplished student
seems boundless, and the wisdom
of the sage almost Divine. But the wise
man knows himself too well to be
thus deluded. The wisest man is aware
that there are:
Ø
problems he cannot
solve;
Ø
errors he cannot
correct;
Ø
evils he cannot
remedy.
On every side he is reminded how
limited are his speculative and his
practical powers. He is often
all but helpless in the presence of questions
that baffle his ingenuity, of
difficulties that defy his endeavors and his
patience.
·
THE DISAPPOINTMENT AND DISTRESS OF WISDOM.
1. One erroneous inference from the considerations adduced
must be
carefully guarded against, viz. the
inference that folly is better than
wisdom. The wise man may not always come to
a just conclusion as to
belief and practice, but the fool will usually be misled by his folly.
2. The wise man is gradually disillusioned regarding himself.
He may start
in life with the persuasion of his power
and commanding superiority; but
his confidence is perhaps by slow degrees
undermined, and he may end by
forming a habit of self-distrust.
3. At the same time, the wise man becomes painfully conscious
that he
does not deserve the reputation which he
enjoys among his fellowmen.
4. But, above all, he feels that his wisdom is folly in the
presence of the
All-Wise God, to
whose omniscience all things are clear, and from whose
judgment there is no appeal.
5. Hence the wise man acquires the most valuable lesson of
modesty and
humility — qualities which give
a crowning grace to true wisdom. The
wise man assuredly would not exchange with
the fool, but he would fain be
wiser than he is; and he cherishes the
conviction that whatever light
illumines him is
but a ray from the central and eternal Father.
Speculative
Study of the World (vs. 12-18)
Solomon has made serious allegations concerning human life,
and he now
proceeds to substantiate them. He has declared that it
yields no permanent
results, that it is tedious beyond expression, and that it
is soon overtaken
by oblivion. “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity!”
The monotony of things in
the natural world — the permanence of the earth in contrast
with the
changes in human life, the mechanical routine of sunrise and
sunset, the
ceaseless agitation of the atmosphere, the constant course
of rivers to the
sea, and so on — had not been the sole ground for his
conclusions. He had
considered also “all the works that are done under the sun,”
the whole
range of human action,
and found in them evidence justifying his
allegations. Both in natural phenomena and in human efforts
and
attainments he found that all was vanity and vexation of
spirit. He had, he
tells us (v. 12), all the resources of a great monarch at
his command —
riches, authority, capacity, and leisure; and he applied
himself, — he gave
his heart to discover, by the aid of wisdom, the nature of
earthly pursuits,
and found that they were fruitless. He concentrated all his
mental energy
upon the course of investigation, and continued in it until
the conclusion
was forced upon him that “in much wisdom is much grief,
and he that
increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.” So different is the estimate of
wisdom and knowledge formed by the Jewish king from that
held by other
great philosophers and sages, that it is worth while to
inquire into the cause
of the difference. The explanation is to be found in v. 15,
“That
which is
crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting
cannot be
numbered.” It was
a practical end that Solomon had in view — to remedy
evils and to supply deficiencies. He did not engage in the
pursuit of wisdom
and knowledge for the sake of the pleasure yielded by
intellectual activity.
In the case of ordinary philosophers and scientists the aim
is a different
one. “A truth, once known, falls into comparative
insignificance. It is now
prized, less on its own account than as opening up new ways
to new
activity, new suspense, new hopes, new discoveries,
new self-gratulation
— it is not knowledge, it is not truth, that the votary of
science principally
seeks; he seeks the exercise of his faculties and feelings.
Absolute certainty
and absolute completion would be the paralysis of any
study; and the last
worst calamity that could befall man, as he is at present
constituted, would
be that full and final possession of speculative truth
which he now vainly
anticipates as the consummation of his intellectual
happiness. And what is
true of science is true, indeed, of all human activity. It
is ever the contest
that pleases us, and not the victory. Thus it is in play;
thus it is in hunting;
thus it is in the search of truth; thus it is in life. The past does
not interest,
the present does not satisfy; the future alone is the
object which engages
us. ‘It is not the goal, but the course, that makes us happy,’
says Richter”
(
pleasure afforded by intellectual activity is not regarded
by the Preacher as
an end sufficient in itself to engage his energies. It is a
practical end he has
in view; and when he finds that earthly pursuits cannot
alter destinies,
cannot change the conditions under which we live, cannot
set right that
which is wrong, or supply that which is wanting for human
happiness, he
loathes them altogether. The very wisdom and knowledge
which he had
acquired in his investigations seem to him useless lumber.
He wanted to
find in life an adequate aim and end, something in which
man could find
repose. He found it not. “The light which the wisdom he had
learned cast
on human destiny only exhibited to him the illusions of
life, but did not
show him one perfect object on which he might rest as a
final aim of
existence. And therefore he says that ‘he that increaseth knowledge
increaseth sorrow,’
since he only thus perceives more and more illusions,
whilst nothing is the result, and nihilism is only sorrow
of heart” (vide
Martensen, ‘Christian Ethics’). The Preacher then says
about the pursuit of
wisdom, that though it is implanted by God in the heart of
man (v. 13), it is;
(1) a severe and laborious task, and
(2) the results it yields are grief and sorrow.
·
In the first place,
then, HE DESCRIBES THE PURSUIT OF WISDOM
AS A SEVERE AND LABORIOUS TASK. He looks back upon the
course of inquiry he had
followed, and declares that it has been a rugged,
thorny road. “This
sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be
exercised
therewith.” And it is quite in harmony
with the spirit of the book
that the name of God, which
occurs here for the first time, should be
coupled with the thought of His
laying heavy burdens upon men, since it
was by Him that this profitless
search had been appointed. He remembers
all the labors of the way by
which he had come — the weariness of brain,
the laborious days, the
sleepless nights, the frustrated hopes, the
disappointments he had
experienced; and he counts the pursuit of wisdom
but another of the vanities of
life. The common run of men, who have no
high aims, no desires after a
wisdom more than that needed for procuring a
livelihood, who are undisturbed
by the great problems of life, are spared
this painful discipline. It is
those who rise above their fellows, that are
called to spend their strength
and resources, to deny themselves pleasures,
and to separate themselves from
much of that in which mankind delight and
find solace, only to find keener
sorrows than those known to their fellows.
They do indeed hear and obey the
voice of God, but it calls them to
suffering and to self-sacrifice.
In these days, when the sciences open up
before men vast fields for
research, there must be many who can verify
from their own experience what
Solomon says about the laboriousness of
the methods used. The infinite
patience needed, the observation and
cataloguing of multitudinous
facts, the inventing of fresh mechanical
appliances for facilitating
research, the varied experiments, the careful
examination of evidence, and the
construction and testing of new theories
and hypotheses, are the “sore
travail” here spoken of.
·
In the second place, THE WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE SO
LABORIOUSLY GAINED ONLY MEAN INCREASE OF GRIEF AND
SORROW. (v. 18.) There
is abundant evidence of the truth of this
statement in the experience of
those who have made great attainments in
intellectual wisdom. For
progress in knowledge only convinces man of the
little he knows, as compared
with the vast universe of being that lies
undiscovered. He is convinced of
Ø
the weakness of his
powers,
Ø
the shortness of the time at his disposal, and
Ø
the infinite extent of
the field,
which he desires, but can never
hope to take possession of. This thought is
expressed in the well-known
words of Sir Isaac Newton: “I seem to have
been only like a boy playing on
the seashore, and diverting myself now and
then with a smoother pebble or a
prettier shell than ordinary, while the
ocean of truth lay undiscovered before me.”
With increase of intellectual
knowledge, with enlarged
acquaintance with the thoughts of men, and the
various theories of the universe
that have been held, and the various
solutions of difficulties that
have been given, there often comes, too,
unwillingess or inability to
rest content with any theory or any solution.
Doubts, which frequently settle
down into definite agnosticism, beset the
man who is given to great
intellectual activity. And then, too, the fact
remains that we cannot by sheer
reasoning come to any definite
conclusions as to any of the
great questions which most concern our
happiness. No one can by
searching find out God — reach definite
knowledge concerning Him, His existence, nature, and
character; or be
assured of the fact of there being an overruling
of prayer, of a life beyond the grave, or of the
immortality of the soul.
Probable or plausible opinions
may be formed, but CERTAINTY COMES
ONLY BY REVELATION AND FAITH! Hence it is that
some of the fallen angels as
wandering hopelessly through these labyrinths of
thought and conjecture, and
finding in so doing intellectual occupation, but
neither SOLACE nor REST.
“Others
apart sat on a hill retired,
In
thoughts more elevate, and reason’d high
Of
providence, foreknowledge, will, and late;
Fix’d fate,
free-will, foreknowledge absolute,
And found
no end, in wandering mazes lost.
Of good
and evil much they argued then,
Of
happiness and final misery,
Passion
and apathy, and glory and shame,
Vain
wisdom all, and false philosophy.”
And it has been said that one of
the attractions which this Book of
Ecclesiastes has for the present
age is in its skeptical questioning, and
restless, fluctuating
uncertainty. The age can adopt as its own its somber
declarations. “Science beasts
vaingloriously of her progress, yet mocks us
with her grand discovery of
progress through pain, telling of small
advantages for the few purchased
by enormous waste of life, by destructive
conflict and competition, and by
a deadly struggle with Nature herself, ‘red
in tooth and claw with ravin,’
greedy to feed on the offspring of her own
redundant fertility. The revelations
of geology and astronomy deepen our
depression. The
littleness of our lives and the insignificance of our
concerns become more conspicuous
in comparison with the long and slow
procession of the aeons which
have gone before, and with the vast ocean
of being around us, driven and
tossed by enormous, complicated, and
unresting forces. A new
significance is thus given to the words, ‘In much
wisdom is much
grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth
sorrow’” (
has with wonderful skill
depicted this mood of intellectual depression. He
represents a winged figure, that
of a woman seated by the seashore and
looking intently into the
distance, with bent brows and proud, pensive
demeanor. Her thoughts are
absorbed in somber meditation, and her wings
are folded. A closed book is in
her lap. Near her stands a dial-plate, and
above it a bell, that strikes
the hours as they pass. The sun is rapidly
nearing the horizon-line, and
darkness will soon enshroud the earth. In her
right hand she holds a compass
and a circle, emblematic of that infinity of
time and space upon which she is
meditating. Around her are scattered the
various implements of art, and
the numerous appliances of science. They
have served her purpose, and she
now casts them aside, and listlessly
ponders on the
vanity of all human calculations. Above
her is an hourglass,
in which the sands are running
low, emblematic of the shortness of
the time yet left for fresh
schemes and efforts. In like manner the Preacher
found that on the moral side
increase of knowledge meant increase of
sorrow. Knowledge of the true
ideal only made him the more conscious of
the distance we are from it, and
of the hopelessness of our efforts to reach
it. The further the research is carried, the more abundant is
the evidence
discoverable of our moral
nature being in a condition of disorder. We find
that conscience too often reigns
without governing, that natural appetites
and desires refuse to submit to
her rule, that often motives and feelings
which she distinctly condemns,
such as pride, envy, selfishness, and cruelty,
direct and animate our conduct. All schools of philosophy have recognized
the fact of moral disorder in
our nature. It is, indeed, unfortunately too
evident to be denied or
explained away. Aristotle says, “We are more
naturally disposed towards those
things which are wrong, and more easily
carried away to excess than to
propriety of conduct.” And Hume, “We
naturally desire what is
forbidden, and often take a pleasure in performing
actions merely because they are
unlawful. The notion of duty when
opposite to the passions is not
always able to overcome them; and when it
fails of that effect, is apt
rather to increase and irritate them, by producing
an opposition in our motives and
principles.” But it is not necessary to
multiply Testimony to a fact so
generally acknowledged. How this moral
disorder originated in human nature is A PROBLEM WHICH
PHILOSOPHY IS
UNABLE TO SOLVE JUST AS IT IS
LACKING IN
ABILITY TO CORRECT IT!
It can discern the symptoms and
character of
the disease, and describe the
course it takes, but cannot cure it. And so the
existence of disturbing and
lawless forces in our moral nature, the power of
evil habit, the social
inequalities and disorders which result from the perversity
of the individuals of whom society is made up, and the varying codes of
morals which exist in the world, are all calculated to distress and perplex him
who seeks to make that straight which is crooked, and to supplement that
which is defective. Increase
of knowledge brings increase of sorrow.
Increase of Knowledge, Increase of Sorrow
(v. 18)
PROTRACTED AND ACUTE, CAN KNOWLEDGE OF ANY KIND BE
INCREASED. No royal
road to wisdom any more than to wealth. He who
would acquire knowledge
must dig for it as for hidden treasures
(Proverbs 2:4). Those who
have attained to greatest distinction, as
philosophers, poets,
astronomers, etc., have all been hard workers. The
information that renders
them so wise and their society so agreeable has
been slowly and painfully
collected by diligent and unremitting effort,
sustained through years,
often amid hardships, and by means of self-denials
which would have caused
them to abandon their enterprises had they been
common men, sometimes at
the expense of restless days and sleepless
nights, and in the midst of
bodily infirmities not soothed but aggravated by
close and severe study. No
doubt, to one inspired with a love of
knowledge, such labors and
anxieties are more than compensated by the
knowledge so acquired; but
the proposition of the Preacher is that the
largest amount of wisdom
one may gather is an insufficient requital for all
this toil and anxiety, if the knowledge be only earthly and secular — i.e.
has no connection
with God, duty, or immortality — one
cannot help
asking if the Preacher is
not right.
SPHERE OF IGNORANCE APPEARS TO ENLARGE. One is prone to
imagine that, as the circle
of information widens, that of ignorance
contracts — which it does
in the sense that, the more one knows, the sum
of what remains to be known
diminishes; but in another and important
sense the amount of what
remains to be known increases. As in mountain
climbing, the higher one
ascends he sometimes discovers heights beyond of
which previously he had no
suspicion, so in footing it up the steep and
difficult slopes of
extensive the boundaries of
this knowledge become, the vaster grow the
regions beyond into which he
has not yet penetrated. A child, for instance,
looking up for the first
time into the evening sky, imagines he has
understood it all at a
glance; but afterwards, when he has learned the
elementary truths of
astronomy, there rushes on him the conviction that
what he knows is but a
small part of a very large whole; and as he
prosecutes his search into
the wonders of star-land, he realizes that the
more he knows of it the
more there remains to be known, till he feels that
with respect to this, at
least,” “he that increases knowledge increases
sorrow.” Nor is this experience confined to one department of
knowledge,
but in every department it
is the same; the larger and clearer one’s
acquaintance becomes with
it, it only seems to open up untrodden realms
beyond, the bare
contemplation of which exercises on the mind a strangely
depressing influence.
DIFFICULTIES SEEM TO MULTIPLY. Especially in dealing with the
problem of existence.
Contrast the states of childhood and manhood, of
ignorance and learning, of
savage peoples and of civilized nations. The
child is unconscious of anxieties that oppress the
parental bosom. The
peasant, innocent of
geology, biology, astronomy, and history, is not
troubled with mental,
moral, and religious difficulties such as perplex those
acquainted with these
themes. The heathen, with crude and ill-defined ideas
of God, duty, and
immortality, are incapable of appreciating those
questionings concerning the
future life that proceed in Christian minds. Not
that it is not better to
increase in knowledge, even should such increase
awaken and foster doubts;
only to increase in knowledge does not
necessarily bring peace to
the heart or happiness to the soul. It enables one
to discern dark problems where
none were discerned before; it pushes one
on to inquire after
solutions for those problems which, nevertheless,
constantly elude the grasp.
In the region of morals and religion especially it
burdens one with a sense of
weariness and pain, because of the endless
questionins it raises and
cannot answer. One who has never been launched
upon this sea of doubt can
hardly appreciate the wretchedness of those
who have been tossed by its
raging billows. Those who can
hold on by
ideas of God,
duty, and immortality for the most part escape these
perplexities; the man who tries to solve the problem of the universe
without these fundamental
and regulative conceptions does not, but
becomes entangled in a
labyrinth of difficulties, and commonly ends by
finding himself “in
wandering mazes lost.”
EXTENDS AT THE SAME TIME HIS ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE
WORLD’S SORROW. Often
said, “One half of the world knows not how
the other half lives.” How
much, e.g., does the civilized Briton know of the
degradation of “darkest
maiden of the sin that runs
rampant in modern society; or the well-fed,
well-clothed, and
well-housed citizen of the aching hearts and miserable
lives of the houseless and
breadless poor who herd in great cities? Because
these things are not known,
the Christians are often comparatively indifferent
to the sad and sorrowful
condition of the poor and criminal classes at home,
and of the heathen abroad. Did
they properly consider these things, they
would be filled with
sorrow. Should this be adduced as a reason why one
should not trouble himself
with such disagreeable subjects, the answer
is that if God, duty, and
immortality are fictions, it is perhaps better to
let the world stew in its
own wretchedness and profligacy, and to guard
one’s felicity from being
invaded by such disquieting influences; but if
God, duty, and immortality
are realities, it may be perilous to exhibit such
indifference towards the
world’s wretchedness and sin.
POWER BOTH OF CAUSING AND OF FEELING SORROW.
Knowledge is power. Insight
into nature’s laws enables one to apply these
to mechanical uses which,
in the absence of such insight, would be
impossible. A person of
large intelligence and mature experience can do
things transcending the
capacity of youth. Yet this increased efficiency,
which springs from
increased knowledge, does not always augment the
sum of happiness. If it
helps man to multiply instruments for good, it also
enlarges his ability to
perpetrate evil. It was once believed that crime and
misery would disappear from
society with the general diffusion of
education. No one believes
that now. Mere knowledge has no tendency to
make men good. (
good to means and
opportunities for doing good; but just as certainly it
will aid the wicked in
their wickedness, and add to their power of causing
misery. Then, in so far as
knowledge or education has a tendency to refine
the nature, intensify the
feelings, quicken the susceptibilities, to that extent
it augments the sum of
human sorrow.
1. Not to glorify ignorance or despise knowledge, but to seek
first that
wisdom which cometh from above (James 1:5;
3:17).
2. To seek other knowledge, not so much for their own sakes,
as for the
purpose of using them in God’s service and
for His glory.
Knowledge
and Sorrow (v. 18)
This is one of those utterances which contain much truth
and leave much to
be supplied. “In much wisdom is much grief,” but there is much beside
grief to be found in it. So we look at:
·
THE TRUTH WHICH IT CONTAINS. Of the wisdom or the
knowledge which brings sadness
to the heart we have to reckon the
following.
Ø
Our deeper insight into ourselves. As we go on we find ourselves
capable of worse things than we
once supposed we were — selfish aims,
evil thoughts, unhallowed
passions, etc. Neither David nor Peter
supposed himself capable of
doing the deed to which he fell.
Ø
Childhood’s corrected estimate of the good. We begin by thinking all
good men and women perfect;
then, as experience enlarges, we have
reluctantly and sorrowfully to
acknowledge to ourselves that there are
flaws even in the life and
character of the best. And disillusion is a very
painful process.
Ø
Maturity’s acquaintance with evil. We may go some way into life
before we know one-half of the
evil which is in the world? Indeed, it is
the wisdom and the duty of many
— of even a large proportion of the
race — not to know
much that might be revealed. But
as a widening
knowledge unveils the
magnitude and heinousness of moral evil,
there is sorrow
indeed to the pure and sympathetic soul. The more
we know of the sins and the
sorrows of our race — of its cruelties
on the one hand and its
sufferings on the other, of its enormities and
its privations, of its toils and
troubles, of its degradation and its
death in life — the more we are
distressed in spirit; “in much
wisdom is much
grief.”
·
ITS LARGE QUALIFICATIONS. There is much truth belonging to
the subject which lies outside
this statement, qualifying though not
contradicting it.
Ø
There is much pleasure
in the act of acquisition. The study of one of the
sciences, the reading of
history, the careful observation of nature and
mastery of its secrets, the
investigation of the nature of man, etc., —
there is a pure and invigorating
delight in all this.
Ø
Knowledge is power;
and it is power to acquire that which will
surround
us with comfort, with freedom, with friendship, with
intellectual enlargement.
Ø
The knowledge which is heavenly wisdom is, in itself, a
source of
elevation and of deep spiritual thankfulness and
happiness.
Ø
The knowledge of God, as He is known to us in Jesus
Christ, is
THE ONE UNFAILING
SOURCE OF UNFADING JOY!
The fuller revelation with which we have been favored enlightens us with respect to
the intentions of Eternal Wisdom and Love. Our Savior has
founded upon earth a kingdom which cannot be moved. And the figures
which He Himself has employed to set forth its progress are an assurance
that
it is not bounded by time or space; that it shall
grow until its
dimensions and beneficence exceed all human expectations,
and satisfy the
heart of the Divine Redeemer Himself. (This will be the remedy of the problem
set
forth in ch. 3:11, mentioned above.
Also, “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will
perform this” (Isaiah 9:7). Each faithful Christian, however
feeble and however lowly, may work in his Master’s cause with the
assurance that his service shall be not only acceptable, but effective. Better
shall be the end than the beginning. The seed shall give rise to a tree of
whose fruit all nations shall taste, and beneath whose shadow humanity
itself
shall find both shelter and repose.
(Matthew 13:31-32)
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