Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ecclesiastes 1:13
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.
13. I gave my heart ] The phrase, so expressive of the spirit of an earnest seeker, is eminently characteristic of this book and meets us again in Ecc 1:17, chaps. Ecc 7:25, Ecc 8:9; Ecc 8:16. Like forms are found in Isai. 41:42; Psa 48:14. “Heart” with the Hebrews, it may be noticed, is the seat of the intellect as well as the affections, and “to give the heart” is therefore specially expressive of an act of concentrated mental energy. The all that is done under heaven (we note the variation of phrase from the “under the sun” of Ecc 1:9) takes in the whole range of human action as distinct from the cosmical phenomena of Ecc 1:5-7. The enquiry of the seeker was throughout one of ethical rather than physical investigation.
this sore travail ] The words express the feeling with which the writer looked back on his inquiry. It had led to no satisfying result, and the first occurrence of the name of God in the book is coupled with the thought that this profitless search was His appointment. He gave the desire but, so the preacher murmurs in his real or seeming pessimism, not the full Truth in which only the desire can rest. The word for “travail” is peculiar to this book. That for “exercised” is formed from the same root.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Wisdom – As including both the powers of observation and judgment, and the knowledge acquired thereby (1Ki 3:28; 1Ki 4:29; 1Ki 10:8, …). It increases by exercise. Here is noted its application to people and their actions.
Travail – In the sense of toil; the word is here applied to all human occupations.
God – God is named as ‘elohym thirty-nine times in this book; a name common to the true God and to false gods, and used by believers and by idolators: but the name Yahweh, by which He is known especially to the people who are in covenant with Him, is never once used.
Perhaps the chief reason for this is that the evil which is the object of inquiry in this book is not at all unique to the chosen people. All creation Rom. 8 groans under it. The Preacher does not write of (or, to) the Hebrew race exclusively. There is no express and obvious reference to their national expectations, the events of their national history, or even to the divine oracles which were deposited with them. Hence, it was natural for the wisest and largest-hearted man of his race to take a wider range of observation than any other Hebrew writer before or after him. It became the sovereign of many peoples whose religions diverged more or less remotely from the true religion, to address himself to a more extensive sphere than that which was occupied by the twelve tribes, and to adapt his language accordingly. See the Ecc 5:1 note.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Ecc 1:13-14
I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven.
The mysteries of human life
Now, there has never been any book which can be compared to this marvellous book of Ecclesiastes. It is the laboratory in which the penitent gathers bitter herbs, the garden in which the wise man gathers sweet flowers. It is the laboratory to which the greatest sage of old times deliberately puts his hand and his head to try experiments, in order to get a little acquaintance with the mysteries of human life. The scale upon which he experimented is as vast as the power of man; as we may see when we consider the discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton, the speculations of Priestley, the anatomists among the bones, and the geologists among the stones, as also that most sublime of men, full of animal life, sensual desire, and full of wisdom, who obtained a knowledge of all times. What was the object of his experiments? They were deliberately entered upon to try what life could do for his soul, and he tried it in the most philosophical way. How splendid to read his experiment. I builded me a house. How many men thus see if they can satisfy the desires of their souls. I know of one man who built one of the greatest houses of modern times, and when he had finished it he said, If I could find as much pleasure in pulling it down as I have done in rearing, I would begin to pull it down. The charm was in the experiment, and not in the thing which was got. So Solomon tried houses; and we know the style in which he built. The very cedars of Lebanon trembled, for there was to be an axe among them; the far-off stones were to be brought, for there was a king building. He tried gardening also–the loveliest of all human pleasures, the sweetest and most innocent, the most lasting, and one from which men get more pure pleasure than anything else. Then he tried society. I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces. And then he came to the result of all his experiments: It is all vanity and vexation of spirit. Now, it is a subject worth pondering upon, what is meant by this endless search; whether there be a remedy for this perpetual discontent, and where it is to be found. We never do meet with a contented people. The more cultivated they are, the more real will be the discontent. In which country of Europe do you suppose are there the most suicides–the stupidest or the most cultivated? You will say in the former, of course; but you are entirely wrong. The most elevated districts are more disturbed than others. Solomon also tried whether books and study would give him what he sought; and he came down with a great library and among his parchments, but eventually comes to the conclusion that much study is a weariness to the flesh. Now, it will be found that there are more suicides in Prussia than in Spain; for these reasons, that in one country, they think, and in the other they drink; in one country they lead, and in the other they are driven. Wherever there is but a little looking into its problems, according to the ability they have for making experiments, there is the same result. I envy the souls that never are weary. Is there anything much more touching than this great desire which is upon me, this impatience of the dull routine of things, this great clement of weariness, of always seeing the same things over and over again I It is so wonderful! Solomon had seen all the wonderful things that were-to be seen, and come to the conclusion that there is nothing new under the sun. Ask a man who is perpetually reading and studying, and he will tell you he gets fearfully weary: he finds the same stereotyped state of things. We toil and fever after wealth, and leave it to somebody, we know not what sort of person he may be–whether a fool or not. We put by a little, and know not what manner of person will have it. We rejoice in building up something beautiful and commanding, and know not what kind of creature will inhabit it. We erect a house, perhaps, to be occupied by beggars; we leave an orchard to be used by fools, gather books to be scattered over the world: or, perhaps, we collect a magnificent gallery of pictures, and leave them to a progeny who cannot understand them. Looking at his own work, and of the labour which his hand had wrought, Solomon said, as he walked through his palaces, This is a weariness to the flesh. He was conscious of understanding the infinite forms of human weariness; such was the result of his analysis of the experiments he made in Jerusalem, and he ends by showing that nothing would satisfy him. In the effort to get quit of this fearful discontent, men are always trying to get something new, to get something that will satisfy them. One man says he will retire, and fancies for himself some little island in the sweet Mediterranean Sea, where the scene is ever fair, the sky ever blue–where the women are beautiful and never commonplace, and the men classical in contour, and the children sweet little cherubs, never growing vulgar. He dreams of some sweet paradise, and he goes to find it. But he finds that black care, all haunting care, in the saddle behind the horseman. The man carries himself wheresoever he goes. How touching to read of the humble experiment of poor Charles Lamb, longing for the day when he should have nothing to do, no longer confined to the hateful India House, sitting and working sadly and wearyingly at those ledgers, The thing that has been will be, when I have stood at the banks and other places and seen the marble-like figures who have toiled there: such fearful repetition, the manner in which they spend their lives, in adding up the day-books, counting up the figures, with a view to the dividends! What would poor Lamb have given to get out of this condition? What a tragedy that was when he went down to Brighton to enjoy himself, and lay down the burden of his daily routine for a little while; when the coach got half-way and met the one coming in the opposite direction, he got out of the one he was in and stepped into the other! That was vanity and vexation of spirit. What was the secret of Byron, of the strange opinions of that spoiled child of fashion? Now, all this weariness comes very much out of the impatience of the condition by which we are surrounded. Then the majority of people are so fond of the proprieties of life, asking the ordinary questions and receiving the eternal answers. Where have you been? Where are you going? What has happened? So that everything even in friendship gets tiresome. (G. Dawson.)
The pursuit of wisdom and knowledge
1. This wisdom and knowledge, if a man is determined to go far beyond his fellows in the acquisition of it, must be discovered, and examined, and appropriated, by much study: and this, as Solomon observes, is a weariness of the flesh. The incessant stretch of the minds faculties, frequent harassing and anxious perplexity, studious days and sleepless nights, must be his portion, who sets his heart on the attainment of unusual eminence, in science in general, or in any of its various departments.
2. In this pursuit, as in others, there are many disappointments to be expected, to fret, and mortify, and irritate the spirit:–such as, experiments failing, some of them perhaps long-continued, promising, and costly;–facts turning out contradictory, and unsettling or overturning favourite theories;–the means of prosecuting a train of discovery falling short, at the very moment, it may be, when they are most desirable;–trifling and worthless results arising, after much labour, long-tried patience, and sanguine expectation;–the anticipated honour and pleasure of introducing a new and important invention or discovery, the product of the experiments and investigations of years, lost on the very eve of arrival, by the priority of an unknown competitor.
3. There are some parts of knowledge which are, in their very nature, painful and distressing. In a world where sin reigns, many must be the scenes of misery, many the afflicting occurrences and facts, which present themselves to the observant and investigating mind, that is in quest of general and extensive information. They abound both in the past and present history of mankind. They are fitted to fill the heart with grief and sorrow: and the more a mans knowledge extends,–the more he reads, and hears, and observes, the more copious will this source of bitterness become.
4. There is to be taken into account the mortification of pride that must be experienced, in consequence of the limited nature o! the human faculties.
5. There is a similar feeling of mortification, arising from the very circumstance, that, with all the knowledge and wisdom that are acquired, there is still a blank,–still a consciousness of want and deficiency, in regard to true happiness.
6. The man of much wisdom and increased knowledge, generally, if not universally, becomes the marked object of the scorn of some, and the envy of others. Some depreciate his studies and all their results, laugh at them, and hold them up to contempt and ridicule. Others are stung with secret jealousy; which is the odious parent of all the hidden arts of detraction and calumny, and of injurious and unworthy attempts to deprive him of his well-earned honours, and to cast him down from his excellency.
7. The man who occupies his powers in the pursuit and acquisition of human wisdom alone, careless of God, and uninfluenced by regard to His authority and to His glory, is leaving eternity a wretched blank; has no solid and satisfactory support in the anticipation of it, when the thought intrudes itself upon his mind; and is treasuring up grief and sorrow for the close of his career. (R. Wardlaw, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 13. And I gave my heart to seek and search] While Solomon was faithful to his God, he diligently cultivated his mind. His giving himself to the study of natural history, philosophy, poetry, c., are sufficient proofs of it. He had not intuitive knowledge from God but he had a capacity to obtain every kind of knowledge useful to man.
This sore travail] This is the way in which knowledge is to be acquired; and in order to investigate the operations of nature, the most laborious discussions and perplexing experiments must be instituted, and conducted to their proper results. It is God’s determination that knowledge shall be acquired in no other way.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I gave my heart, which phrase notes his serious and fixed purpose, his great industry and alacrity in it,
to seek and search out, to seek diligently and accurately, by wisdom, wisely, or by the help of that wisdom wherewith God had endowed me, concerning all things that are done under heaven; concerning all the works of God and men in this lower world; the works of nature, and their causes, effects, properties, and operations; the works of Divine providence, and Gods counsels and ends in them; the work and depths of human policy in the conduct of personal, and domestical, and public affairs.
This sore travail, this difficult and toilsome work of searching out these things,
hath God given to the sons of man; God hath inflicted this as a just punishment upon man for his eating of the tree of knowledge, that instead of that sweet and perfect knowledge which God had freely infused into man at his first creation, he should now grope after some small parcels or fragments of it, and those too not to be gotten without the sweat of his brows and brains.
To be exercised therewith; to employ themselves in the painful study of these things, which now is both their duty and their punishment. Or, as it is rendered in the margin, and by many others, to afflict them in or by it, to chastise their former curiosity, and to give them matter of continual humiliation and vexation. And therefore knowledge is so far from making men happy, that it exposeth them to trouble and infelicity.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. this sore travailnamely,that of “searching out all things done under heaven.” Nothuman wisdom in general, which comes afterwards (Ec2:12, c.), but laborious enquiries into, and speculations about,the works of men for example, political science. As man is doomed toget his bread, so his knowledge, by the sweat of his brow (Ge3:19) [GILL].
exercisedthat is,disciplined; literally, “that they may thereby chastise,or humble themselves.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom,…. As he had all advantages and opportunities, so he did not want for industry and application to obtain knowledge; he gave his mind to it; he took up a resolution not to be discouraged by any difficulties, but to break through them, if possible; he set about the work with great readiness and cheerfulness; he had a price in his hand to get wisdom, and he had a heart unto it; see Pr 17:16; and he pursued it with all diligence, with all his might and main: nor did he content himself with a superficial knowledge of things; but “searched” after the most recondite and abstruse learning, and penetrated into the utmost recesses of it, to find out all that was to be known; and this he did “by” using all the “wisdom” and sagacity, the light and strength of reason, and all those bright natural parts, which God had given him in a very extraordinary manner. And his inquiry was very extensive; it was
concerning all [things] that are done under heaven; into the nature of all things, animate and inanimate; trees, herbs, plants, fossils, minerals, and metals; beasts, birds, fish, and all creeping things; see 1Ki 4:33; with everything else in nature: he sought to make himself master of all arts and sciences; to get knowledge of all trades and manufactures; to understand everything in politics, relating to kingdoms and states, and the government of them; to observe all the actions of men, wise and foolish, that he might know the difference, and be a judge of what was right and wrong. And his observation upon the whole is,
this sore travail hath God given to the sons of men, to be exercised therewith: he found by experience it was a heavy task, which God had put upon the children of men, to get wisdom and knowledge in the way it was to be gotten; which was very burdensome and wearisome to the flesh; nay, he found it was an l “evil business”, as it may be rendered; or there was something sinful and criminal, which God suffered men in their pursuit after knowledge to fall into, and which their studies exposed them to; as to indulge a vain and sinful curiosity, to pry into things unlawful, and to be wise above what is written; or to be too anxious in attaining natural knowledge, to the neglect of things of great importance; or to abuse or trust in knowledge attained unto, or be vainly elated and puffed up with it. Or this may be understood of the evil of punishment, which God inflicts on men for the sin of eating of the tree of knowledge; and that as he is doomed to get his bread, so his knowledge, with the sweat of his brow, that is, with great pains and labour; which otherwise would have been more easily obtained: but this God has done to “afflict” or “humble” m men, as the word may be rendered; to afflict or punish them for sin; and to humble them by showing them how weak are the powers and faculties of their minds, that so much pains must be taken to get a small share of knowledge. The Targum is,
“and I saw all the works of the children of men obnoxious to an evil business; the Lord gave to the children of men, to be afflicted with it.”
l “occupationem malam”, Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius, Amama, Gejerus. m “ad affligendum”, Montanus, Gejerus “ut affligent se in ea”, Vatablus, Rambachius; “ut ea humlies redderet”, Tigurine version.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“And I gave my heart to seek and to hold survey with wisdom over all that is done under the sun: a sore trouble it is which God has given to the children of men to be exercised therewith.” The synonyms (to seek) and (to hold survey over) do not represent a lower and a higher degree of search (Zck.), but two kinds of searching: one penetrating in depth, the other going out in extent; for the former of these verbs (from the root-idea of grinding, testing) signifies to investigate an object which one already has in hand, to penetrate into it, to search into it thoroughly; and the latter verb (from the root-idea of moving round about)
(Note: Vid., the investigation of these roots (Assyr. utir , he brought back) in Eth’s Schlafgemach der Phantasie, pp. 86-89.)
signifies to hold a survey, – look round in order to bring that which is unknown, or not comprehensively known, within the sphere of knowledge, and thus has the meaning of bakkesh , one going the rounds. It is the usual word for the exploring of a country, i.e., the acquiring personal knowledge of its as yet unknown condition; the passing over to an intellectual search is peculiar to the Book of Koheleth, as it has the phrase , animum advertere , or applicare ad aliquid , in common only with Dan 10:12. The beth of bahhochemah is that of the instrument; wisdom must be the means ( organon) of knowledge in this searching and inquiry. With is introduced the sphere into which it extends. Grotius paraphrases: Historiam animalium et satorum diligentissime inquisivi . But does not refer to the world of nature, but to the world of men; only within this can anything be said of actions, only this has a proper history. But that which offers itself for research and observation there, brings neither joy nor contentment. Hitzig refers to human activity; but it relates to the research which has this activity as its object, and is here, on that account, called “a sore trouble,” because the attainment and result gained by the laborious effort are of so unsatisfactory a nature. Regarding , which here goes back to , to fatigue oneself, to trouble oneself with anything, and then to be engaged with it. The words would mean trouble of an evil nature ( vid., at Psa 78:49; Pro 6:24); but better attested is the reading “a sore trouble.” is the subj., as at Ecc 2:1 and elsewhere; the author uses it also in expressions where it is pred. And as frequently as he uses asher and , so also, when form and matter commend it, he uses the scheme of the attributive clause (elliptical relative clause), as here (cf. Ecc 3:16), where certainly, in conformity with the old style, was to be used.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
b. Wisdom is used exploring all that is done under heaven. Ecc. 1:13-18
TEXT 1:1318
13
And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven. It is a grievous task which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.
14
I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind.
15
What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted.
16
I said to myself, Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.
17
And I set my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly; I realized that this also is striving after wind.
18
Because in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS 1:1318
19.
What is Solomon now determined to do?
21.
What tool will he use with which to explore?
23.
What is it that he wishes to explore?
24.
What does he call the task?
25.
Who gives such a task to men?
26.
Once he had explored all the works, what conclusion did he reach?
27.
Mention some things in life which are crooked.
28.
What are some things which are lacking?
29.
Who could be compared to Solomon in regards to his increased wisdom?
30.
In addition to observing wisdom, what other two things did he study?
31.
Upon examining these things, what conclusion did he reach?
32.
When one increases wisdom and knowledge under the sun what will he receive in return?
PARAPHRASE 1:1318
I was determined, assessing all my resources, employing all my energies, and guided by my mind, to ferret out and examine the roots, turning everything from side to side, until through wisdom I had explored all that has been done within the limits of the world. To examine and explore all things is a longing placed in mans heart by God Himself. However, it is a grievous, unrewarding task because what is discovered does not bring satisfaction or reward to mans mind. Everything the sun shines upon, I have seen. The conclusion I have reached is the same: nothing discovered upon the earth will fully satisfy mans longings; everything is as filling as feasting on the wind! Let me illustrate what I have just said: man tries to bring harmony to the overwhelming chaos of past and present events, but he despairs because it is a futile effort. Also, there are so many things lacking among the pieces of life that one cannot even count them, let alone find them! Speaking to myself I said, Your effort was successful in that you expanded your wisdom far beyond that possessed by any who have ever ruled in Jerusalem. Your unlimited resources made it possible that you could examine heretofore unexplored areas of wisdom and knowledge. Certainly it is no secret to myself that I explored every facet of life. I was determined to learn about the disorder of proper thoughts and subsequent consequences. I was determined to learn about evil and wickedness as they are entreated by others. Once again, I concluded that such knowledge is as satisfying as feasting on the wind! As I expanded my understanding of the various aspects of wisdom and knowledge, I discovered that my capacity to suffer grief and pain had also been increased. Not only is this true, but the increased information actually increased my sorrow.
COMMENT 1:1318
Ecc. 1:13-18 Solomons purpose is clearly defined. He wants to explore all that is done under heaven. He will do it with his mind guided by wisdom. He sees it as a grievous task, vain and futile.
The term mind in Ecc. 1:3 is a much better translation than heart which appears in the King James Version. Almost without exception the use of heart in the Old Testament should be thought of as the mental faculties. The idea here is to convey the fact that it is to be a mental procedure. He restates his determination to study and to know in Ecc. 1:17 when he says, I set my mind. He does not bring a bias to his work. Neither is he interested in simply accumulating facts. He desires to see the nature of why and how things work.
Seek and explore are not synonymous. Seek carries the idea of studying that which is near at hand while explore suggests taking a comprehensive overview of something at a greater distance. Or, as Barton has stated it: Search means to investigate the roots of a matter; explore to explore the subject on all sides.[9] He does not leave a stone unturned in his quest to discover all that has been done under heaven. He is dealing, however, with that which has felt the blow of Adams fall. He explores everything that comes within his power to see or hear. He is faced with endless observations but his conclusion is that all of it is afflicted with the mark of the vanity of this world. He calls it a grievous task and striving after wind.
[9] Leupold, op. cit., p. 52.
Since the task is grievous and drives one to despair, why say that God has given this task to man?
That is just the point! God has not given it to other than man. Nothing in all of Gods creation, except man, concerns itself with the why of the activities of our world. Man, however, is restless until he discovers the why. Augustines admission to God was that men are restless until they find their rest in Him. This quest for God in all the things around us is a futile pursuit. The reason it is unfulfilling is that it is directed toward Gods creation, and not toward the mind of God which interprets Gods creation. In Jesus day the mind of God was revealed to man in the fullest sense. It was under these circumstances that Jesus said, privately to his disciples, Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see, for I say to you, that many prophets and kings wished to see the things which you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them (Luk. 10:23-24).
False gods are worshipped throughout the world. False idols are established in every land. Why? Because these are expressions of mans frustrations and despair. He is searching in harmony with the grievous task in his mind, yet his results are inconsistent and unrewarding. His ultimate frustration is depicted by the Athenians in their erecting an altar to an unknown god! We hear Solomon say that God has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end (Ecc. 3:11). It is an affliction because man is honest enough to admit that God is only longed for, not discovered. He must also admit, as Solomon does, that the mark of sin is so heavy upon both man and his world that nothing can really be changed, and that which is lacking in man and nature is still lacking. Man is not capable of remaking his world or himself. Cracks can be plastered, and cosmetically treated, but not healed. On our own, we can be pretenders and mask wearers, but we really cant make the crooked straight or add to mans account in order to make him acceptable before God.
Man is crooked and lacking, but God is not responsible for this. It was man who violated Gods order, and thus suffers the consequences of sin. He and his world stand out of joint and in debt before God. God placed the curse upon both man and the world because of sin. In a sense it can be said that God bends things and people out of shape. But it is only in the sense that God made the righteous rules which were violated by men, and God placed the subsequent punishments upon that which violates the rules. It is in the light of this truth that Solomon admonishes us, consider the work of God. Who is able to straighten what he has bent? (Ecc. 7:13). Man is in debt to God. Solomon in all his wisdom cannot help. Paul goes a step further and declares that even the world cannot help. Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through wisdom did not come to know God, God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe . . . we preach Christ crucified . . . because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men (1Co. 1:20-25).
Another reason why the task is grievous has to do with the accomplishment of the very thing he started out to do. He wanted to explore all that had been done on the earth. He wanted to increase his wisdom and knowledge. He states that he accomplished this task to the degree that he (1) magnified and increased his wisdom more than any who had ruled over Jerusalem before him, and (2) his mind had observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge. It is grievous because he admits that the more he learns, the greater his pain and grief. The deeper one penetrates the true nature of man, and the more knowledge one has concerning the inequities of lifes struggle, the more disappointed he is with what he learns. His grief is actually compounded when he discovers that although he is a wise man, in this case greater than any who have lived before him, that he is still helpless and unable to bring justice to his own affairs. In addition, he is unable to correct the anomalies in the affairs of those about him.
In Ecc. 1:17, he decides that he will also observe all he can concerning madness and folly. These words are usually associated with wickedness and improprieties. He contrasts these with wisdom which he actually employs in his pursuit. One example of Solomons observation of madness and folly is found in Ecc. 10:12-13 where it is stated, the lips of the fool consume him; the beginning of his talking is folly, and the end of it is wicked madness. He associates folly and madness with the fool not the wise man. It is one thing to share in something, and something else to know of it through observation. It appears that Solomon is observing it rather than experiencing it. We read Ecc. 7:25, I directed my mind to know . . . the evil of folly and the foolishness of madness. Cf. Ecc. 2:12.
Solomons experiment was a success. That is, if he wanted merely to seek and explore by wisdom all that has been done under heaven. It was not successful if its objective was to bring him peace and satisfaction. His observations concerning it are (1) it is grievous, (2) it is an affliction, (3) it is vanity and striving after wind, (4) it increased my grief and my pain.
FACT QUESTIONS 1:1318
38.
What is the goal of Solomons first experiment?
39.
Why is mind a better translation than heart (Ecc. 1:13)?
40.
What evidence is there that Solomon was determined?
41.
What is the difference between seek and explore?
42.
What happened in the world that makes the study of it a grievous task?
43.
Why say that God gave this grievous task to man?
44.
Idols and gods are evidence of what within man?
45.
Give evidence from Ecclesiastes that God does not intend for man to find out His work from observations under the sun.
46.
What does crooked and lacking mean?
47.
In what sense is God responsible for it?
48.
Why was Solomons increased wisdom also a matter of grief?
49.
Why was his grief compounded?
50.
What words are associated with madness and folly?
51.
In what way was Solomons first experiment a success?
52.
In what way was it a failure?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(13) Gave my heart.The phrase occurs again in this book (Ecc. 1:17; Ecc. 7:25; Ecc. 8:9; Ecc. 8:16) and often elsewhere. (See Dan. 10:12; 2Ch. 11:16, &c) The heart among the Hebrews is regarded as the seat, not merely of the feelings, but of the intellectual faculties, and so the word is constantly used in what follows. I gave my heart is the same as I applied my mind.
To seek.Deu. 13:14; Lev. 10:16.
Search out.Num. 14:36; Num. 14:38; Ecc. 7:25.
Travail.The word occurs again in this book (Ecc. 2:23; Ecc. 2:26; Ecc. 3:10; Ecc. 4:8; Ecc. 5:3; Ecc. 5:14; Ecc. 8:16) but no-where else in the Old Testament, though kindred forms are common. The word itself is common in Rabbinical Hebrew, in the sense of business.
To afflict them (margin). This is too strong a translation; better, to travail therein.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Ecc 1:13. This sore travail hath God given That is to say, the fatiguing employment which God gave to the sons of men, to give evidence of himself. See the paraphrase on the 15th verse.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Ecc 1:13 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.
Ver. 13. And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom. ] God had given Solomon a large heart, and great store of wisdom; and this made him not more idle, but more industrious, more sedulous and serious in seeking and
Searching out by wisdom,
a 1Ki 4:32-33 .
b Rolloc., De Vocatione, p. 130.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Ecclesiastes
TWO VIEWS OF LIFE
Ecc 1:13
These two texts set before us human life as it looks to two observers. The former admits that God shapes it; but to him it seems sore travail, the expenditure of much trouble and efforts; the results of which seem to be nothing beyond profitless exercise. There is an immense activity and nothing to show for it at the end but wearied limbs. The other observer sees, at least, as much of sorrow and trouble as the former, but he believes in the ‘Father of spirits,’ and in a hereafter; and these, of course, bring a meaning and a wider purpose into the ‘sore travail,’ and make it, not futile but, profitable to our highest good.
I. Note first the Preacher’s gloomy half-truth.
If he knew it at all, it was very imperfectly and dimly; and whatever may be thought of teaching on that subject which appears in the formal conclusion of the book, the belief in a future state certainly exercises no influence on its earlier portions. These represent phases through which the writer passes on his way to his conclusion. He does believe in ‘God,’ but, very significantly, he never uses the sacred name ‘Lord.’ He has shaken himself free, or he wishes to represent a character who has shaken himself free from Revelation, and is fighting the problem of life, its meaning and worth, without any help from Law, or Prophet, or Psalm. He does retain belief in what he calls ‘God,’ but his pure Theism, with little, if any, faith in a future life, is a creed which has no power of unravelling the perplexed mysteries of life, and of answering the question, ‘What does it all mean?’ With keen and cynical vision he looks out not only over men, as in this first chapter, but over nature; and what mainly strikes him is the enormous amount of work that is being done, and the tragical poverty of its results. The question with which he begins his book is, ‘What profit hath a man of all his labour wherein he laboureth under the sun?’ And for answer he looks at the sun rising and going down, and being in the same place after its journey through the heavens; and he hears the wind continually howling and yet returning again to its circuits; and the waters now running as rivers into the sea and again drawn up in vapours, and once more falling in rain and running as waters. This wearisome monotony of intense activity in nature is paralleled by all that is done by man under heaven, and the net result of all is ‘Vanity and a strife after wind.’
The writer proceeds to confirm his dreary conclusion by a piece of autobiography put into the mouth of Solomon. He is represented as flinging himself into mirth and pleasure, into luxury and debauchery, and as satisfying every hunger for any joy, and as being pulled up short in the midst of his rioting by the conviction, like a funeral bell, tolling in his mind that all was vanity. ‘He gave himself to wisdom, and madness, and folly’; and in all he found but one result-enormous effort and no profit. There seemed to be a time for everything, and a kind of demonic power in men compelling them to toil as with equal energy, now at building up, and now at destroying. But to every purpose he saw that there was ‘time and judgment,’ and therefore, ‘the misery of man was great upon him.’ To his jaundiced eye the effort of life appeared like the play of the wind in the desert, always busy, but sometime busy in heaping the sands in hillocks, and sometimes as busy in levelling them to a plain.
We may regard such a view of humanity as grotesquely pessimistic; but there is no doubt that many of us do make of life little more than what the Preacher thought it. It is not only the victims of civilisation who are forced to wearisome monotony of toil which barely yields daily bread; but we see all around us men and women wearing out their lives in the race after a false happiness, gaining nothing by the race but weariness. What shall we say of the man who, in the desire to win wealth, or reputation, lives laborious days of cramping effort in one direction, and allows all the better part of his nature to be atrophied, and die, and passes, untasted, brooks by the way, the modest joys and delights that run through the dustiest lives. What is the difference between a squirrel in the cage who only makes his prison go round the faster by his swift race, and the man who lives toilsome days for transitory objects which he may never attain? In the old days every prison was furnished with a tread-mill, on which the prisoner being set was bound to step up on each tread of the revolving wheel, not in order to rise, but in order to prevent him from breaking his legs. How many men around us are on such a mill, and how many of them have fastened themselves on it, and by their own misreading and misuse of life have turned it into a dreary monotony of resultless toil. The Preacher may be more ingenious than sound in his pessimism, but let us not forget that every godless man does make of life ‘Vanity and strife after wind.’
II. The higher truth which completes the Preacher’ s.
But the recognition of the hand that ministers the discipline is needed to complete the peacefulness of faith. It would be a dreary world if we could only think of some inscrutable or impersonal power that inflicted the discipline; but if in its sharpest pangs we give ‘reverence to the Father of spirits,’ we shall ‘live.’ Of course, a loving father sees to his children’s education, and a loving child cannot but believe that the father’s single purpose in all his discipline is his good. The good that is sought to be attained by the sharpest chastisement is better than the good that is given by weak indulgence. When the father’s hand wields the rod, and a loving child receives the strokes, they may sting, but they do not wound. The ‘fathers of our flesh chasten us after their own pleasure,’ and there may be error and arbitrariness in their action; and the child may sometimes nourish a right sense of injustice, but ‘the Father of spirits’ makes no mistakes, and never strikes too hard. ‘He for our profit’ carries with it the declaration that the deep heart of God doth not willingly afflict, and seeks in afflicting for nothing but His children’s good.
Nor are these all the truths by which the New Testament completes and supersedes the Preacher’s pessimism, for our text closes by unveiling the highest profit which discipline is meant to secure to us as being that we should be ‘partakers of His holiness.’ The Biblical conception of holiness in God is that of separation from and elevation above the creature. Man’s holiness is separation from the world and dedication to God. He is separated from the world by moral perfection yet more than by His other attributes, and men who have yielded themselves to Him will share in that characteristic. This assimilation to His nature is the highest ‘profit’ to which we can attain, and all the purpose of His chastening is to make us more completely like Himself. ‘The fathers of our flesh’ chasten with a view to the brief earthly life, but His chastening looks onwards beyond the days of ‘strife and vanity’ to a calm eternity.
Thus, then, the immortality which glimmered doubtfully in the end of his book before the eyes of the Preacher is the natural inference for the Christian thought of moral discipline as the great purpose of life. No doubt it might be possible for a man to believe in the supreme importance of character, and in all the discipline of life as subsidiary to its development, and yet not believe in another world, where all that was tendency, often thwarted, should be accomplished result, and the schooling ended the rod should be broken. But such a position will be very rare and very absurd. To recognise moral discipline as the greatest purpose of life, gives quite overwhelming probability to a future. Surely God does not take such pains with us in order to make no more of us than He makes of us in this world. Surely human life becomes ‘confusion worse confounded’ if it is carefully, sedulously, continuously tended, checked, inspired, developed by all the various experiences of sorrow and joy, and then, at death, broken short off, as a man might break a stick across his knee, and the fragments tossed aside and forgotten. If we can say, ‘He for our profit that we might be partakers of His holiness,’ we have the right to say ‘We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
wisdom. Hebrew. chokmah. See note on Pro 1:2.
under heaven = under the heavens. Some codices, with one early printed edition, Aramaean, Syriac, and Vulgate, read “under the sun”.
God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4. The title “Jehovah” is not used in Ecclesiastes, as this book refers to man in relation to his Creator only; not to man in covenant with Him as “Jehovah”. Hence the frequent use of Hebrew. ‘adam for “man” in this book.
exercised = humbled.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
I gave: Ecc 1:17, Ecc 7:25, Ecc 8:9, Ecc 8:16, Ecc 8:17, Psa 111:2, Pro 2:2-4, Pro 4:7, Pro 18:1, Pro 18:15, Pro 23:26, 1Ti 4:15
this sore: Ecc 3:10, Ecc 4:4, Ecc 12:12, Gen 3:19
to be exercised: or, to afflict them
Reciprocal: Gen 3:17 – cursed Jdg 19:16 – his work 1Ki 3:12 – I have given Job 28:3 – searcheth Psa 78:33 – years Psa 119:45 – for I seek Ecc 2:18 – I hated Ecc 4:8 – it is
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Ecc 1:13. I gave my heart Which phrase denotes his serious and fixed purpose, and his great industry in it. To search out by wisdom To seek diligently and accurately, by the help of that wisdom wherewith God had endowed me. Concerning all things, &c. Concerning all the works of God and men in this lower world; the works of nature; the works of divine providence; and the works and depths of human policy. This sore travail This difficult and toilsome work of searching out these things, God hath inflicted as a just punishment upon man for his eating of the tree of knowledge. To be exercised therewith To employ themselves in the painful study of these things.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1:13 And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all [things] that are done under heaven: this grievous labour hath God given to the sons of man {i} to be exercised with it.
(i) Man by nature has a desire to know, and yet is not able to come to the perfection of knowledge, which is the punishment of sin, to humble man, and to teach him to depend only on God.