28 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Ecclesiastes 2 Solomon, having made trial of natural wisdom and knowledge in its utmost extent, and found it to be vanity, proceeds to the experiment of pleasure, and tries whether any happiness was in that, Ecclesiastes 2:1. As for that which at first sight was vain, frothy, and frolicsome, he dispatches at once, and condemns it...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I said in mine heart,.... He communed with his heart, he thought and reasoned within himself, and came to this resolution in his own mind; that since he could not find happiness in natural wisdom and knowledge, he would seek for it elsewhere, even in pleasure; in which, he observed, some men placed their happiness; or, however, sought for it...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
Solomon having pronounced all vanity, and particularly knowledge and learning, which he was so far from giving himself joy of that he found the increase of it did but increase his sorrow, in this chapter he goes on to show what reason he has to be tired of this world, and with what little reason most men are fond of it. I. He shows that there is...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I said of laughter, [it is] mad,.... The risible faculty in man is given him for some usefulness; and when used in a moderate way, and kept within due bounds, is of service to him, and conduces to the health of his body, and the pleasure of his mind; but when used on every trivial occasion, and at every foolish thing that is said or done, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine,.... Not in an immoderate way, so as to intoxicate himself with it, in which there can be no pleasure, nor any show of happiness; but in a moderate, yet liberal way, so as to be innocently cheerful and pleasant, and hereby try what good and happiness were to be possessed in this way. By "wine" is...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I made me great works,.... He did not spend his time in trifling things, as Domitian (a), in catching and killing flies; but in devising, designing, directing, and superintending great works of art and skill, becoming the grandeur of his state, and the greatness of his mind: the Midrash restrains it to his great throne of ivory, overlaid with...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I made me gardens and orchards,.... Of the king's garden, we read Jeremiah 39:4. Adrichomius (b) makes mention of a royal garden in the suburbs of Jerusalem, fenced with walls; and was a paradise of fruit trees, herbs, spices, and flowers; abounded with all kind of fruit, exceeding pleasant and delightful to the senses: and, as Solomon was so...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I made me pools of water,.... For cascades and water works to play in, as well as to keep and produce fish of all kinds: mention is made of the king's pools, Ne 2:14; the fish pools at Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim, perhaps belonged to Solomon, So 7:4; Little more than a league from Bethlehem are pools of water, which at this day are called...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I got [me] servants and maidens,.... Menservants, and maidservants; the Targum adds, "of the children of Ham, and of the rest of the strange people;'' these were such as he hired, or bought with his money; and had servants born in my house; and these were all employed by him; either as his retinue and equipage, his attendants and bodyguards; or to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I gathered me also silver and gold,.... In great quantities: the weight of gold which came to him in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents; see 1 Kings 9:14; and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces; whatsoever was valuable and precious, such as is laid up in the cabinets of kings, as jewels and precious stones; and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So I was great,.... Became famous for the great works wrought by him before mentioned; and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem; the Targum adds, "in riches"; but it seems rather to respect his fame and glory among men; though in general it may include his increase of wealth, power, and honour, and everything that contributed...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do,.... He had looked at them, and on them, over and over again, and had taken pleasure therein; but now he sits down and enters into a serious consideration of them, what prodigious expenses he had been at; what care and thought, what toil and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly,.... Being disappointed in his pursuit of pleasure, and not finding satisfaction and happiness in that, he turns from it, and reassumes his study of natural wisdom and knowledge, to make a fresh trial, and see whether there might be some things he had overlooked in his former inquiries;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then I sat that wisdom excelleth folly,.... However, this upon a review of things he could not but own, that natural wisdom and knowledge, though there was no true happiness and satisfaction in them, yet they greatly exceeded folly and madness; as far as light excelleth darkness; as the light of the day the darkness of the night; the one is...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The wise man's eyes [are] in his head,.... And so are the eyes of every man; but the sense is, he makes use of them, he looks about him, and walks circumspectly; he takes heed to his goings, he foresees the evil, and avoids it; or the danger he is exposed unto, and guards against it. Some understand it, in a more spiritual and evangelical sense,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then said I in my heart, as it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me,.... The wisest of kings, and the wisest of men; that is, he looked over things in his mind, and considered what had befallen him, or what were his present circumstances, or what would be his case, especially at death; and said within himself, the same things happen...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For [there is] no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever,.... The Targum interprets it, in the world to come; but even in this world the remembrance of a wise man, any more than of a fool, does not always last; a wise man may not only be caressed in life, but may be remembered after death for a while; the fame of him may continue...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore I hated life,.... Not strictly and simply understood, since life is the gift of God; and a great blessing it is, more than raiment, and so dear to a man, that he will give all he has for it: but comparatively, in comparison of the lovingkindness of God, which is better than life; or in comparison of eternal life, which a good man desires...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun,.... The great works he made, the houses he built; the vineyards, gardens, and orchards he planted, c. what he got by his labour, his riches and wealth and what he also got, not by the labour of his hands, but of his mind. Some understand this of the books he wrote; which were a weariness...