Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ecclesiastes 2:10

And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labor: and this was my portion of all my labor.

10. whatsoever mine eyes desired ] From such a life the idea of self-denial, even of self-control, was absolutely excluded. Money and power were but means to the end, and the end proposed was the gratification of the “desire of the eyes,” not identified with the “lust of the flesh,” but closely allied to it (1Jn 2:16), in all its restless cravings. It was not altogether a fruitless effort. Such joy as these things could bring he had in abundant measure. It was for a time his “portion.” Like the rich man in the parable of Luk 16:25 he had his “good things,” and could not complain that the experiment failed as through imperfect apparatus. He also was tasting of the “tree of knowledge of good and evil,” and found that it was “good for food, and pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise” (Gen 3:6).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Portion – A word of frequent occurrence. By it Solomon describes the pleasure found in the act of working and also perhaps the pleasure felt in the process of acquiring wisdom; this pleasure is admitted to be good, if received from God (Ecc 2:26; Ecc 5:18; compare 1Ti 4:4); but being transitory it is subject to vanity, and therefore does not afford a sufficient answer to the repeated question, What profit etc.? Ecc 1:3.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 10. I withheld not my heart from any joy] He had every means of gratification; he could desire nothing that was not within his reach; and whatever he wished, he took care to possess.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Whatsoever mine eyes desired; whatsoever was grateful to my senses, or my heart desired. He ascribes desire to the eyes, because the sight of the eyes is the usual and powerful incentive of desires; of which see Jos 7:21; Job 31:1; Mat 5:28.

I kept not from them; I denied myself nothing, at least of lawful delights, but went to the very utmost bounds of them; which was the occasion of his falling afterward into sinful pleasures. I withheld not my heart from any joy; as my heart was vehemently set upon pleasure, so I did not resist or curb it therein, but made all possible provisions to gratify it.

My heart rejoiced in all my labour; I had the comfort of all my labours, and was not hindered from the free and full enjoyment of them by sickness or war, or any other calamities occurrent.

This was my portion of all my labour; this present and temporary enjoyment of them was all the benefit which I could expect or receive from all my labours, so that I made the best of them. I had a heart to use them, which many men through covetousness have not; and I tasted the sweetness of them, which many others cannot do; and therefore if any man could arrive at happiness by this means, I had done it.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

10. my labourin procuringpleasures.

thisevanescent “joy”was my only “portion out of all my labor” (Ecc 3:22;Ecc 5:18; Ecc 9:9;1Ki 10:5).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them,…. Though this sense is only mentioned, all are designed; he denied himself of nothing that was agreeable to him, that was pleasing to the eye, to the ear, to the taste, or any other sense; he indulged himself in everything, observing a proper decorum, and keeping himself within the due bounds of sobriety and good sense;

I withheld not my heart from any joy: the Targum says, “from all joy of the law”; but it is to be understood of natural pleasure, and of the gratifications of the senses in a wise and moderate manner;

for my heart rejoiced in all my labours; he took all the pleasure that could be taken in the works he wrought for that purpose before enumerated;

and this was my portion of all my labour; pleasure was what he aimed at, and that he enjoyed; this was the fruit and issue of all his laborious works; the part allotted him, the inheritance he possessed, and the thing he sought after.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

10. Mine eyes desired This experiment, so broad and full, was not the reckless conduct of a debauchee, but there was method and discretion in it.

My heart rejoiced Hebrew, (an unusual form.) was in the way to get joy from all my labour.

And this was Hebrew, and this would be.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments