Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ecclesiastes 7:9
Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.
9. Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry ] From sins of speech in general, the teacher passes on to that which is the source from which they most often flow. Anger, alike from the Stoic and Epicurean stand-point (and the writer, as we have seen, had points of contact with each of them), was the note of unwisdom. If it be right at all, it is when it is calm and deliberate, an indignation against moral evil. The hasty anger of wounded self-love is, as in the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount (Mat 5:22), destructive of the tranquillity of true wisdom, and, transient and impulsive as it seems at first, may harden “in the bosom of the fool” into a settled antipathy or malignant scorn.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 9. Anger resteth in the bosom of fools.] A wise man, off his guard, may feel it for a moment: but in him it cannot rest: it is a fire which he immediately casts out of his breast. But the fool – the man who is under the dominion of his own tempers, harbours and fosters it, till it takes the form of malice, and then excites him to seek full revenge on those whom he deems enemies. Hence that class of dangerous and empty fools called duellists.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Be not angry with any man without due consideration, and just and necessary cause; for otherwise anger is sometimes lawful, and sometimes a duty.
Resteth; hath its settled and quiet abode, is their constant companion, ever at hand upon all occasions, whereas wise men resist, and mortify, and banish it.
In the bosom; in the heart, the proper seat of the passions.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. angryimpatient atadversity befalling thee, as Job was (Ecc 5:2;Pro 12:16).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry,…. With men, for every word that is said, or action done, that is not agreeable; encourage not, but repress, sudden angry emotions of the mind; be not quick of resentment, and at once express anger and displeasure; but be slow to wrath, for such a man is better than the mighty, Jas 1:19
Pr 16:32; or with God, for his corrections and chastisements; so the Targum,
“in the time that correction from heaven comes upon thee, do not hasten in thy soul to be hot (or angry) to say words of rebellion (or stubbornness) against heaven;”
that advice is good,
“do nothing in anger l;”
for anger resteth in the bosom of fools; where it riseth quick, and continues long; here it soon betrays itself, and finds easy admittance, and a resting dwelling place; it easily gets in, but it is difficult to get it out of the heart of a fool; both which are proofs of his folly,
Pr 12:16; see Eph 4:26; the bosom, or breast, is commonly represented as the seat of anger by other writers m.
l Isocrates ad Nicoclem, p. 36. m “In pectoribus ira considit”, Petronius; “iram sanguinei regio sub pectore cordis”, Claudian. de 4. Consul. Honor. Panegyr. v. 241.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In this verse the author warns against this pride which, when everything does not go according to its mind, falls into passionate excitement, and thoughtlessly judges, or with a violent rude hand anticipates the end. : do not overturn, hasten not, rush not, as at Ecc 5:1. Why the word , and not or , is used, vid., Psychol. pp. 197-199: passionate excitements overcome a man according to the biblical representation of his spirit, Pro 25:28, and in the proving of the spirit that which is in the heart comes forth in the mood and disposition, Pro 15:13. is an infin., like , Ecc 5:11. The warning has its reason in this, that anger or ( , taken more potentially than actually) fretfulness rests in the bosom of fools, i.e., is cherished and nourished, and thus is at home, and, as it were (thought of personally, as if it were a wicked demon), feels itself at home ( , as at Pro 14:33). The haughty impetuous person, and one speaking out rashly, thus acts like a fool. In fact, it is folly to let oneself be impelled by contradictions to anger, which disturbs the brightness of the soul, takes away the considerateness of judgment, and undermines the health, instead of maintaining oneself with equanimity, i.e., without stormy excitement, and losing the equilibrium of the soul under every opposition to our wish.
From this point the proverb loses the form “better than,” but tov still remains the catchword of the following proverbs. The proverb here first following is so far cogn., as it is directed against a particular kind of ka’as (anger), viz., discontentment with the present.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(9) Resteth.Pro. 14:33.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. Be not hasty angry This exhortation comes as an inference from the foregoing remarks. Even an enemy may tell us some things good for us to know, much more, then, should we welcome the “faithful wounds” the honest rebukes of a friend. Only a fool would be angry at wholesome reproof. But how natural it is to be in this more or less foolish!
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Ecc 7:9. To be angry;for anger To grieve; for grief, &c.] So our translators have rendered the original word, chap. Ecc 2:23. See also chap. Ecc 5:17 and Ecc 11:10; and, thus rendered, it answers Solomon’s purpose much better than anger.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Ecc 7:9 Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.
Ver. 9. Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry. ] The hasty man, we say, never wants woe. For wrath is an evil counsellor, and enwrappeth a man in manifold troubles, mischiefs, and miseries. It makes man like the bee, that vindictive creature, which, to be revenged, loseth her sting, and becomes a drone; or, like Tamar, who, to be even with her father-in-law, defiled him and herself with incest. “Cease, therefore, from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in anywise to do evil.” Psa 37:8 Athenodorus counselled Augustus to determine nothing rashly, when he was angry, till he had repeated the Greek alphabet. Ambrose taught Theodosius, in that case, to repeat the Lord’s Prayer. What a shame it is to see a Christian act like Hercules furens, or like Solomon’s fool, that casts firebrands, or as that demoniac, Mar 2:3 out of measure fierce! That demoniac was “among the tombs,” but these are among the living, and molest those most that are nearest to them.
For anger resteth in the bosom of fools.
a Aug., epist. 87.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
hasty: 1Sa 25:21, 1Sa 25:22, 2Sa 19:43, Est 3:5, Est 3:6, Pro 14:17, Pro 16:32, Jon 4:9, Eph 4:26, Eph 4:27, Jam 1:19
anger: Gen 4:5, Gen 4:6, Gen 4:8, Gen 34:7, Gen 34:8, Gen 34:25, Gen 34:26, Gen 34:30, Gen 34:31, 2Sa 13:22, 2Sa 13:28, 2Sa 13:32, Pro 26:23-26, Mar 6:19, Mar 6:24
Reciprocal: Gen 27:41 – then 1Sa 20:32 – what hath 1Ki 21:4 – And he laid him Est 5:10 – refrained Job 5:2 – the foolish Job 20:2 – and for Pro 14:29 – but Pro 17:14 – leave Pro 19:2 – and Pro 21:24 – haughty Amo 1:11 – kept 1Co 13:4 – vaunteth not itself Eph 4:31 – wrath Tit 1:7 – not soon