Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ecclesiastes 2:26
For [God] giveth to a man that [is] good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to [him that is] good before God. This also [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.
26. For God giveth ] The word for God, as the italics shew, is not in the Hebrew, but it is obviously implied, and its non-appearance justifies the change in the text of the previous verse, which preserves the sequence of thought unbroken. What we get here is the recognition of what we have learnt to call the moral government of God in the distribution of happiness. It is found to depend not on outward but inward condition, and the chief inward condition is the character that God approves. The Debater practically confesses that the life of the pleasure-seeker, or the ambitious, or the philosopher seeking wisdom as an end, was not good before God, and therefore failed to bring contentment.
wisdom, and knowledge, and joy ] The combination forms an emphatic contrast with ch. Ecc 1:18, and marks a step onward in the seeker’s progress. There is a wisdom which is not grief, an increase of knowledge which is not an increase of sorrow. We are reminded of the parallel thought which belongs to a higher region of the spiritual life, “The Kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost” (Rom 14:17). Here the lesson is that the man who seeks great things fails to find them, that he who is content with a little with God’s blessing on it, finds in that little much. He becomes (= self-sufficing) and has enough.
but to the sinner he giveth travail ] The words point to a further perception of a moral order in the midst of the seeming disorders of the world. The fruitless labour of the sinner in heaping up his often ill-gotten gains is not altogether wasted. His treasure passes into hands that make a better use of it than he has done. So we find a like thought in Pro 28:8, “He that by usury and unjust gains increaseth his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor,” and in Job 27:16-17, “Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay; he may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver” (comp. Pro 13:22).
This also is vanity ] The question which we have to answer is whether this sentence is passed only on the travail of the sinner, as in Ecc 2:11, or whether it includes also the measure of joy attainable by him who is “good” in the sight of God. From one point of view the former interpretation gives a preferable meaning, as more in harmony with what immediately precedes. On the other hand, it is characteristic of the cynical pessimism into which the Preacher has, by his own confession, fallen, that he should fall back into his despondency even after a momentary glimpse of a truth that might have raised him from it. The “Two Voices” utter themselves, as in Tennyson’s poem, (see Appendix II.) in a melancholy alternation and there comes a time when the simple joys which God gives to the contented labourer, no less than the satiety of the voluptuous and the rich, seem to him but as “vanity and feeding upon wind. ”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ecc 2:26
For God giveth to a man that is good in His sight.
True goodness
I. He who is good before God is good.
1. A man may be good in his own esteem, and yet not be really so. The way in which we sometimes mistake ourselves is altogether pitiable.
2. A man may be good in the estimate of society, and yet not be really so. Dr. Bushnell relates how he was much struck by the remark of an elderly gentleman touching hero-worship: From the moment of my leaving college to this present hour I have been gradually losing my respect for great names.
3. A man may be accepted as good by the Church, and yet not be really so. The diamond fields of South Africa produce large numbers of diamonds whose yellow colour lessens immensely the value of the gem, and rogues have hit on an ingenious method for the falsification of these jewels; they are put into some chemical solution, and for a while after the bath the yellow diamond appears perfectly white, deceiving the very elect. Character also is capable of falsification; we may appear to ourselves and to others brighter and costlier than we intrinsically are.
4. But they who are good before God are good. He who has the testimony that he pleases God needs no more.
II. Who is thus good before God? Who is this man, this woman, this child? The goodness that is good before God is the goodness that God inspires, and that He maintains in our heart and life by His Holy Spirit. Whatever is truly good is made so by its motive, its principle, its aim; and he who is truly good acts from the purest motive, obeys the loftiest rule, aspires to the supremest end. Well then, the purest motive is the love of God; the loftiest rule is the will of God; the supremest end is the glory of God. In a word, the essence of goodness is godliness; and where there is no godliness there is no goodness in the deep scriptural signification of that word. But the goodness that comes from God, that lives through Him, that gives, acts, suffers, hopes for His names sake–that is goodness indeed. (W. L. Watkinson.)
Wisdom, and knowledge, and joy.—
Joy in religion
I wish to call your attention to the last gift here mentioned–joy. To have goodness is by many supposed to inherit grief in proportion. The bestowment of wisdom and knowledge is considered to carry with it the addition of many troubles. The text tells us that God gives to those who have found favour in His sight wisdom and knowledge–joy, or the sense of enjoyment, the pleasant appreciation of the delights of true wisdom and knowledge, is added to counteract and enliven the weariness and depression which ever accompany the possession of great learning. Joy comes after, not before, wisdom and knowledge–as we have it in the text. It is the rapturous outcome of acquired wisdom–the balance given, the beauty bestowed, the relish awarded to dissipate the despondent gloom which is too often the result of mental activity. Now, what is true in secular things is clearly and even more true in spiritual matters. When Christ is made to us wisdom and true knowledge He gives the soul joy–His joy; and the real Christian not only rejoices in the Lord, but he will rejoice in every good thing which the Lord his God hath given unto him. He will have a joyous, buoyant, glad nature, exulting in Gods favour, and opening his mouth to sing and laugh and be merry; and in this and other ways he will strive to show forth his Lords praises before the world. There are some who are wont to urge that the Christian believer must necessarily, from the condition of things, be a shrinking, grave, and even melancholy being; that in bearing, and cast of countenance, and conduct he must be the very reverse of a joyous, light-hearted, laughter-loving creature of the world. With his own sins, past and present, to mourn over, the ever-recurring shortcomings of duty, the never-ending slips of temper, the coldness of feeling and the too slow approach of the new life to the fixed standard of that perfection which is the Fathers in heaven, how can that man, it is often asked, be otherwise than tearful in word and look? Truly this is all wrong, producing results of a most painful kind, and life runs with slow, unvaried, saddening sound, till all presented to the eye or ear fills the lone soul with misery, and grief, and fear. I believe that this is a true picture of some who, being morbidly and ghastly grief-struck by some deep and immedieable wound, are ever looking with melancholy eyes upon the night side of things until the sense of present evils never ceases to annoy them. Fretful, feverish, gloomy, excusing nothing and accusing every one, the tired brain never gets relief from the heavy heart. Now this ought not so to be in the Christian character, and when they exist the most strenuous exertions ought to be made, the most determined efforts of the will, to get rid of them. He who made us made us capable of joy. It is a holy necessity of mans nature. If God had meant us to be always grave, and serious, and down-looking, lie might have constituted us so that we could have been nothing else: lie would not have chosen as the emblem and image of His chiefest blessing, even the blessing of redeeming love, the glad symbol of the festive scene, that His Son would give us beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. The truly Christian mind, filled with the love of the Saviour, will sanctify everything lawful by the presence of a holy, kindly feeling, and will derive benefit from such allowance, consciously or unconsciously. But the indulgence of our susceptibilities to pleasurable impressions is itself an end which, in due mode and measure, Christian men may seek and the happy God of love not disapprove. God giveth joy. He not only re-bestows the gift in Christ, but He made us originally susceptible of the keenest enjoyment. The gift is to be cherished; the susceptibility is to be encouraged and strengthened; but it is most important that a cheerful and chastened exercise of the gift should vindicate the joyfulness of saints, and present a safe and suitable example to the world. One of the strongest prejudices felt against religion is because of its supposed gloomy character. Those who are destitute of a religious spirit can find little or no enjoyment in religious occupation, and are naturally disposed to think that others must be like themselves. It has been too often the fault or the misfortune of Christians to confirm this erroneous impression; and it behoves them, by every lawful method, to endeavour to remove it. If we are Christs, let us pray and strive that our religion may be one of sunshine–a religion of happiness, a rejoicing religion. (G. H. Conner, M. A.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 26. Giveth – wisdom, and knowledge, and joy]
1. God gives wisdom – the knowledge of himself, light to direct in the way of salvation.
2. Knowledge – understanding to discern the operation of his hand; experimental acquaintance with himself, in the dispensing of his grace and the gifts of his Spirit.
3. Joy; a hundred days of ease for one day of pain; one thousand enjoyments for one privation; and to them that believe, peace of conscience, and JOY in the Holy Ghost.
But to the sinner he giveth travail] He has a life of labour, disappointment, and distress; for because he is an enemy to God, he travails in pain all his days; and, as the wise man says elsewhere, the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the just. So he loseth earthly good, because he would not take a heavenly portion with it.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
That is good in his sight; who not only seems to be good to men, as many bad men do, but is really and sincerely good. Or, who pleaseth him, as this phrase is rendered, Ecc 7:26, and oft elsewhere; whereby he seems to intimate the reason why he found no more comfort in his labours, because his ways had been very displeasing to God, and therefore God justly denied him that gift. Wisdom and knowledge, to direct him how to use his comforts aright, that so they may be blessings, and not snares and curses to him.
Joy; a thankful and contented mind with his portion.
He giveth travail, to gather and to heap up; he giveth him up to insatiable desires, and wearisome labours, to little or no purpose.
That he may give to him that is good before God; that he may have no comfort in them, but leave them to others, yea, to such as he least expected or desired, to good and virtuous men, into whose hands his estate falls by the wise and all-disposing providence of God.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
26. True, literally, in theJewish theocracy; and in some measure in all ages (Job 27:16;Job 27:17; Pro 13:22;Pro 28:8). Though the retributionbe not so visible and immediate now as then, it is no less real.Happiness even here is more truly the portion of the godly (Psa 84:11;Mat 5:5; Mar 10:29;Mar 10:30; Rom 8:28;1Ti 4:8).
that hethe sinner
may givethat is,unconsciously and in spite of himself. The godly Solomon hadsatisfaction in his riches and wisdom, when God gave them (2Ch 1:11;2Ch 1:12). The backslidingSolomon had no happiness when he sought it in them apart from God;and the riches which he heaped up became the prey of Shishak (2Ch12:9).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For [God] giveth to a man that [is] good in his sight,…. No man is of himself good, or naturally so, but evil, very evil, as all the descendants of Adam are; there are some that are good in their own eyes, and in the sight of others, and yet not truly good; they are only really good, who are so in the sight of God, who sees the heart, and knows what is in man; they are such who are made good by his efficacious grace; who are inwardly, and not merely outwardly so; who are good at heart, or who have good hearts, clean hearts, new and right spirits created in them; who have a good work of grace upon their hearts, and the several graces of the Spirit implanted there; who have the good Spirit of God in them, in whose heart Christ dwells by faith; and who have the good word of Christ dwelling in them, and have a good treasure of rich experience of the grace of God; and who, in one word, are born again, renewed in the spirit of their minds, and live by faith on Jesus Christ. The phrase is rendered, “whoso pleaseth God”, Ec 7:26; and he is one that is accepted with God in Christ, his beloved Son, in whom he is well pleased; who is clothed with his righteousness, made comely through his comeliness, and so is irreprovable in his sight; and who by faith looks to and lays hold on this righteousness, and does all he does in the exercise of faith, without which it is impossible to please God. To such a man God gives
wisdom, and knowledge, and joy; wisdom to acquire knowledge, to keep, use, and improve it; and joy, to be cheerful and thankful for the good things of life: or rather this may design, not natural wisdom, but spiritual wisdom, wisdom in the hidden part, so as to be wise unto salvation, and to walk wisely and circumspectly, a good man’s steps being ordered by the Lord; and knowledge of God in Christ, and of Christ, and of the things of the Gospel, and which relate to eternal life; and so spiritual joy, joy and peace in believing, in the presence of God, and communion with him; joy in Christ, and in hope of the glory of God, even joy unspeakable, and full of glory; all which, more or less, at one time or another, God gives to those who are truly good; and which is not to be found in worldly wisdom, pleasure, riches, power, and authority: the Targum is,
“to the man, whose works are right before God, he gives wisdom and knowledge in this world, and joy with the righteous in the world to come;”
but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up; to gather mammon, and to heap up a large possession, as the Targum; to gather together a great deal of riches, but without wisdom and knowledge to use them, without any proper enjoyment of them, or pleasure in them; all he has is a deal of trouble and care to get riches, without any comfort in them, and he has them not for his own use: the Midrash illustrates this of the good man and sinner, by the instances of Abraham and Nimrod, of Isaac and Abimelech, of Jacob and Laban, of the Israelites and Canaanites, of Hezekiah and Sennacherib, and of Mordecai and Haman. But
that he may give to [him that is] good before God; so it is ordered by divine Providence sometimes, that all that a wicked man has been labouring for all his days should come into the hands of such who are truly good men, and will make a right use of what is communicated to them.
This also [is] vanity, and vexation of spirit; not to the good man, but to the wicked man: so the Targum,
“it is vanity to the sinner, a breaking of spirit;”
it grieves him that such a man should have what he has been labouring for; or it would, if he knew it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“For to a man who appears to Him as good, He gave wisdom, and knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner He gave the work of gathering and heaping up, in order to give it to him who appears to Him as good: this also is vain, and grasping after the wind;” viz., this striving after enjoyment in and of the labour – it is “vain,” for the purpose and the issue lie far apart; and “striving after the wind,” because that which is striven for, when one thinks that he has it, only too often cannot be grasped, but vanishes into nothing. If we refer this sentence to a collecting and heaping up (Hengst., Grtz, and others), then the author would here come back to what has already been said, and that too in the foregoing section; the reference also to the arbitrary distribution of the good things of life on the part of God (Knobel) is inadmissible, because “this, although it might be called , could not also be called “ (Hitz.); and perfectly inadmissible the reference to the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, and joy (Bullock), for referred to these the sentence gains a meaning only by introducing all kinds of things into the text which here lie out of the connection.
Besides, what is here said has indeed a deterministic character, and , especially if it is thought of in connection with ,
(Note: Written with segol under in P, Biblia Rabb., and elsewhere. Thus correctly after the Masora, according to which this form of the word has throughout the book segol under , with the single exception of Ecc 7:26. Cf. Michol 124 b, 140 b.)
sounds as if to the good and the bad their objective worth and distinction should be adjudicated; but this is not the meaning of the author; the unreasonable thought that good or bad is what God’s arbitrary ordinance and judgment stamp it to be, is wholly foreign to him. The “good before Him” is he who appears as good before God, and thus pleases Him, because he is truly good; and the , placed in contrast, as at Ecc 7:26, is the sinner, not merely such before God, but really such; here has a different signification than when joined with : one who sins in the sight of God, i.e., without regarding Him (Luk 15:18, ), serves sin. Regarding , vid., under 23 a: it denotes a business, negotium ; but here such as one fatigues himself with, quod negotium facessit . Among the three charismata , joy stands last, because it is the turning-point of the series of thoughts: joy connected with wise, intelligent activity, is, like wisdom and intelligence themselves, a gift of God. The obj. of (that He may give it) is the store gathered together by the sinner; the thought is the same as that at Pro 13:22; Pro 28:8; Job 27:16. The perfect we have so translated, for that which is constantly repeating itself is here designated by the general expression of a thing thus once for all ordained, and thus always continued.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(26) On the doctrine that the wicked amass wealth for the righteous, see marginal references.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
26. God giveth A final comparison to the advantage of obedience to God, is now drawn. No solid, satisfying good is obtained from worldly pursuits, as thus far tried. But Koheleth affirms from his experience that God gives to the obedient much gratification as they pass through life, and the sinner seems often as a servant working for the happiness of better men than himself. Yet even this the experience of a brief and transient life cannot satisfy the craving of a human soul.
Leaving now the experiments of wisdom and pleasure, which are so entwined with each other by comparison and contrast that we have to treat them as one, Koheleth proceeds to investigate concerning industry, or, as we would be more likely to say, business, to see what it can do to relieve a dejected mind.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
DISCOURSE: 831
THE DIFFERENT PORTIONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS AND WICKED
Ecc 2:26. God giveth to a man that is good in his sight, wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail.
IN relation to earthly things, men run into two opposite extremes: some seeking their happiness altogether in the enjoyment of them; and others denying themselves the proper and legitimate use of them, in order that they may amass wealth for some future possessor. But both of these classes are unwise: the former, in that they look for that in the creature which is not to be found in it; and the latter, in that, without any adequate reason, they deprive themselves of comforts which God has designed them to enjoy. A temperate use of the good things of this life is no where forbidden: on the contrary, there is, as Solomon informs us, nothing better for a man. than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. Doubtless this concession must be taken with certain restrictions; for we are not to spend all our substance on ourselves, but to be doing good with it to others: nor are we to suppose that our life consists in the abundance of the things that we possess, but to be seeking our happiness in God. That which alone will impart solid happiness, is religion: for to the good man God giveth what shall render him truly blessed; namely, wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail.
From these words I shall take occasion to shew you,
I.
The different portions of the righteous and the wicked
The world may be divided into two denominations; the righteous, and the wicked.
To the righteous, God gives wisdom, and knowledge, and joy
[As to carnal wisdom, I am not sure that the wicked have not in general the advantage; as it is said, The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light [Note: Luk 16:18.]. But the godly have a discernment of earthly things, or, as my text expresses it, a wisdom and knowledge in relation to them, which no ungodly man has ever attained. The godly see the true use of worldly things; and how they may be rendered conducive to the honour of God, and the good of the soul. As instruments for advancing the welfare of mankind, they may be desired and employed to good effect: and in this mode of using them God will confer real and abiding joy. Even the portion of them which is consumed upon ourselves will be relished with a richer zest; for God has given us all things richly to enjoy: but the thought of honouring God with them, and benefiting mankind, will give to them a kind of sanctified enjoyment, of such as was received from the harvest of which the first-fruits had been duly consecrated to the Lord [Note: Luk 11:41.]. The good man does not merely enjoy the things themselves: he enjoys God in them; and, in so doing, has the testimony of his own conscience that he pleases God. Nor is he unconscious that he is laying up treasure in heaven, even bags which wax not old, and a treasure which never faileth [Note: Luk 12:33-34, 1Ti 6:19.].]
To the sinner, on the other hand, he giveth travail
[A man who neglects his God, can find no happiness in earthly things: in his pursuit of them, he is filled with care, which robs him of all real comfort [Note: See ver. 22, 23.]: in his enjoyment of them, they prove empty and cloying, his very laughter being only as the crackling of thorns under a pot: and, his mind being alienated from God, he has no source of peace from religion. Truly the way of transgressors is hard [Note: Pro 13:15.]; or rather I must say, as the Scripture does, Destruction and misery are in their ways [Note: Rom 3:16-17.]. Remarkable is that declaration of Zophar, In the midst of their sufficiency they are in straits [Note: Job 20:22.]. And if this be their state in the midst of life and health, what must it be in a time of sickness and death? Most true is that declaration of Solomon: What profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind? All his days he eateth in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness [Note: Ecc 5:16-17.].
Thus, whilst the blessing of the Lord is upon the righteous, seeing that, whatever he bestow, he addeth no sorrow with it [Note: Pro 10:22.]; he mixes gall and wormwood with the sinners cup, and infuses a curse into his choicest blessings,]
Let us now notice,
II.
The hand of God, as displayed in them
It is said in relation to both the righteous and the wicked, that God giveth to them their respective portions: both the one and the other are from the hand of God [Note: ver. 24.]. In them we see,
1.
The true nature of his moral government
[Even now is there far more of equity in the dispensations of God than a superficial observer would imagine. Doubtless there is a great difference in the states of different men; but the rich and great have troubles of which the poor and destitute have very little conception. The very state of mind fostered by their distinctions is by no means favourable to their happiness; and the habits of the poor so inure them to privations, that they feel much less trouble from them than one would imagine. But let piety enter into any soul; and we hesitate not to declare, that though he were a Lazarus at the Rich Mans gate, he were happier far than the man of opulence by whose crumbs he was fed. Peace of mind, arising from a sense of reconciliation with God, and a hope of final acceptance with him, is sufficient to weigh down all that an ungodly man ever did. or could, possess. And the poorest man, if rich in faith and an heir of Gods kingdom, is more to be envied than the greatest monarch upon earth, who possesses not real piety.
But with equity, goodness also is observable in all the dispensations of Providence. That God is good to the great and opulent, will be readily acknowledged: but he is so to the sinner, whom he leaves to experience the most painful disappointments. If a mother embitter to her child the breast on which he would fondly live, it is that he may learn to affect a more substantial diet: and if God, after all the labour which men put forth to render the creature a source of comfort, cause it to become to them only as a broken cistern that can hold no water, it is only that they may the more readily turn to him, and seek him, as the fountain of living waters.]
2.
The certain issue of his future judgment
[Is there, even in this world, a difference put between him who serveth God, and him who serveth him not? Much more shall that be found in the day which is especially set apart for the display of Gods righteous judgments. The Prophet Isaiah, as Gods herald, received this awful commission: Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. But woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his deeds shall be given him [Note: Isa 3:10-11.]. And this do we also proclaim. For the righteous is reserved a state of unutterable joy; but for the wicked, a state of utter exclusion from the realms of bliss, in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, where is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. If the present inequalities of his dispensations lead us to expect this, much more does that previous distribution of good and evil which is even now accorded to men in correspondence with their moral habits. What is at this moment felt in the minds of the different characters, may well teach us what to expect in the day of judgment; even a separation of the righteous and the wicked; the one to everlasting fire; and the other to everlasting life, and blessedness, and glory.]
Let me now, from this subject, Recommend,
1.
Religion in general
[It is this which makes the chief difference between different men. The prince on his throne, and the beggar on the dunghill, are but little apart in comparison of the good and the sinner. Piety sets men asunder, as far as light from darkness, heaven from hell. Let those then amongst you, who would he happy either here or hereafter, give yourselves up to God, and approve yourselves to him. Only be good in his sight, and happiness will be yours, both in time and in eternity.]
2.
A due improvement of all that you possess
[To squander it away in self-indulgence, or to hoard it for some future possessor, will be alike foolish and vain. Neither of these modes of employing wealth can ever make you happy. The serving of God, and the benefiting of your fellow-creatures, will, on the contrary, bring peace and joy into the soul: for the work of righteousness is peace, and the effect of righteousness is quietness and assurance for ever. Not that any liberality of yours can ever form a ground of hope before God in a way of merit: all that you have is the Lords and it is only of his own that you give him: but if you are seeking righteousness and salvation by Christ alone, then will your works be accepted for Christs sake: and whatever you dispose of for the advancement of his glory, he will acknowledge it as lent to him, and he will pay you again. The talents that are improved for him, shall receive, in due proportion, a recompence at his hands.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
REFLECTIONS
READER! I charge it upon you to take with you the evidences which arise out of this Chapter, in favour of Jesus and his salvation. Surely the Preacher intended, by this way of preaching, in showing negatively what human pleasures and human learning are not, to proclaim most loudly what Christ and his graces are. For if all short of Christ be vanity; and Christ himself be the chief, the only, the substantial good; what happier method amid the wise man have adopted, in thus appealing to the experience of mankind, under the different characters of it, that it is Jesus only who can cause them that love him to inherit substance, and to fill their measures.
My soul! pause thou over the account. Look at the world as it now is, as well as in Solomon’s days what it then was. What is the generality, nay, the vast majority of the world, pursuing? How are men everywhere around thee engaged. Be their case what it may; yet are not all, under whatever form their different pursuits are directed, engaged in making provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof? Mark them leisurely. Behold each and every one. And figure to thyself, what indeed is no figure, but reality. Behold what is continually going forth in awful fulfillment; one here, and another there, by whom that voice is heard, Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee!
Precious Jesus! from such views, oh grant my soul to turn to thee! Give me betimes to see, and know, thy value; and day by day to be leaving all these hollow, and deceitful pleasures, for the enjoyment of the Supreme Good. Oh! let me so know thee, as to live upon thee, to live to thee, and to rejoice in thee, as my portion. And do thou, dearest Lord, so manifest thyself to my soul, in all the fulness, sweetness, and suitableness, of thy love and favor, that the love of all creature excellencies may die away in my esteem. Let the language of my soul be, Whom have I in heaven but thee: and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but thou art the strength of my heart, and thou art my portion forever.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Ecc 2:26 For [God] giveth to a man that [is] good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to [him that is] good before God. This also [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.
Ver. 26. Wisdom and knowledge. ] To get these things rightly, and to use them comfortably.
To gather and to heap up.
That he may give.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
sinner. Hebrew. chata’. App-44. Occurs again in Ecclesiastes six times. (Ecc 5:6; Ecc 7:20, Ecc 7:26; Ecc 8:12; Ecc 9:2, Ecc 9:18).
gather = gather in. Not the same word as Ecc 2:8.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
in his sight: Heb. before him, Gen 7:1, Luk 1:6
wisdom: 2Ch 31:20, 2Ch 31:21, Pro 3:13-18, Isa 3:10, Isa 3:11, Joh 16:24, Rom 14:17, Rom 14:18, 1Co 1:30, 1Co 1:31, Gal 5:22, Gal 5:23, Col 1:9-12, Col 3:16, Col 3:17, Jam 3:17
to the sinner: Job 27:16, Job 27:17, Pro 13:22, Pro 28:8
Reciprocal: Gen 42:38 – bring Deu 12:25 – when 1Ki 4:29 – God 2Ch 19:11 – the good Job 32:8 – the inspiration Job 38:36 – Who hath put Psa 37:16 – General Psa 39:6 – he heapeth Psa 49:10 – leave Ecc 1:2 – General Ecc 1:8 – full Ecc 1:14 – General Ecc 2:18 – I should Ecc 3:10 – General Ecc 4:4 – This is Ecc 4:16 – this Ecc 5:10 – this Ecc 5:14 – those Ecc 7:26 – whoso pleaseth God Ecc 9:2 – as is Ecc 11:8 – All that Isa 23:18 – for them Jer 2:13 – broken cisterns Dan 1:17 – God Mat 6:19 – General 1Th 1:3 – in the 2Pe 3:15 – according
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Ecc 2:26. For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight Who not only seems to men to be good, as many bad men do, but is really and sincerely good; or, who pleaseth him, as the same phrase, , is rendered, Ecc 7:26, and often elsewhere: whereby he seems to intimate the reason why he found no more comfort in his labours, namely, because his ways had been very displeasing to God, and therefore God justly denied him that gift; wisdom and knowledge To direct him how to use his comforts right, that so they may be blessings, and not snares and curses to him; and joy A mind thankful for, and contented with, his portion. This is a blessing, says Bishop Patrick, which God reserves for him whom he loves; whose sincere piety he rewards with wisdom to judge when, and with knowledge to understand how, he should enjoy and take the comfort of all he hath; especially with inward joy, satisfaction of heart, and tranquillity of mind in this favour of God to him; whereby the troublesome affairs of this life are tempered and seasoned. But to the sinner he giveth travail He giveth him up to insatiable desires, and wearisome labours, to little or no purpose, that he may have no comfort in the riches he gains, but leave them to others, yea, to such as he least expected or desired, to good and virtuous men, into whose hands his estate falls, by the wise and all-disposing providence of God.