power--Maurer, not so well, "violence."
no comforter--twice said to express continued suffering without any to give comfort ([Is 53:7]).
2. A profane sentiment if severed from its connection; but just in its bearing on Solomon's scope. If religion were not taken into account ([Ec 3:17], ), to die as soon as possible would be desirable, so as not to suffer or witness "oppressions"; and still more so, not to be born at all ([Ec 7:1]). Job ([Job 3:12]; ), David ([Psa 73:3], &c.), Jeremiah ([Jr 12:1]), Habakkuk ([Ha 1:13]), all passed through the same perplexity, until they went into the sanctuary, and looked beyond the present to the "judgment" ([Psa 73:17]; [Ha 2:20]; , ). Then they saw the need of delay, before completely punishing the wicked, to give space for repentance, or else for accumulation of wrath ([Ro 2:15]); and before completely rewarding the godly, to give room for faith and perseverance in tribulation ([Psa 92:7-12]). Earnests, however, are often even now given, by partial judgments of the future, to assure us, in spite of difficulties, that God governs the earth.
3. not seen--nor experienced.
4. right--rather, "prosperous" (see on [Ec 2:21]). Prosperity, which men so much covet, is the very source of provoking oppression ([Ec 4:1]) and "envy," so far is it from constituting the chief good.
5. Still the
fool (the wicked oppressor) is not to be envied even in this life, who "folds his hands together" in idleness ([Pr 6:10]; ), living on the means he wrongfully wrests from others; for such a one
eateth his own flesh--that is, is a self-tormentor, never satisfied, his spirit preying on itself ([Is 9:20]; ).
6. Hebrew; "One open hand (palm) full of quietness, than both closed hands full of travail." "Quietness" (mental tranquillity flowing from honest labor), opposed to "eating one's own flesh" ([Ec 4:5]), also opposed to anxious labor to gain ([Ec 4:8]; [Pr 15:16], ; ).
7. A vanity described in [Ec 4:8].
8. not a second--no partner.
child--"son or brother," put for any heir ([De 25:5-10]).
eye--([Ec 1:8]). The miser would not be able to give an account of his infatuation.
9. Two--opposed to "one" ([Ec 4:8]). Ties of union, marriage, friendship, religious communion, are better than the selfish solitariness of the miser ([Ge 2:18]).
reward--Advantage accrues from their efforts being conjoined. The Talmud says, "A man without a companion is like a left hand without the right.
10. if they fall--if the one or other fall, as may happen to both, namely, into any distress of body, mind, or soul.
11. (See on [1Ki 1:1]). The image is taken from man and wife, but applies universally to the warm sympathy derived from social ties. So Christian ties ([Lu 24:32]; [Ac 28:15]).
12. one--enemy.
threefold cord--proverbial for a combination of many--for example, husband, wife, and children ([Pr 11:14]); so Christians ([Lu 10:1]; [Col 2:2], 19). Untwist the cord, and the separate threads are easily "broken."
13. The "threefold cord" [Ec 4:12] of social ties suggests the subject of civil government. In this case too, he concludes that kingly power confers no lasting happiness. The "wise" child, though a supposed case of Solomon, answers, in the event foreseen by the Holy Ghost, to Jeroboam, then a poor but valiant youth, once a "servant" of Solomon, and ([1Ki 11:26-40]) appointed by God through the prophet Ahijah to be heir of the kingdom of the ten tribes about to be rent from Rehoboam. The "old and foolish king" answers to Solomon himself, who had lost his wisdom, when, in defiance of two warnings of God ([1Ki 3:14]; [9:2-9]), he forsook God.
will no more be admonished--knows not yet how to take warning (see Margin) God had by Ahijah already intimated the judgment coming on Solomon ([1Ki 11:11-13]).
14. out of prison--Solomon uses this phrase of a supposed case; for example, Joseph raised from a dungeon to be lord of Egypt. His words are at the same time so framed by the Holy Ghost that they answer virtually to Jeroboam, who fled to escape a "prison" and death from Solomon, to Shishak of Egypt ([1Ki 11:40]). This unconscious presaging of his own doom, and that of Rehoboam, constitutes the irony. David's elevation from poverty and exile, under Saul (which may have been before Solomon's mind), had so far their counterpart in that of Jeroboam.
whereas ... becometh poor--rather, "though he (the youth) was born poor in his kingdom" (in the land where afterwards he was to reign).
15. "I considered all the living," the present generation, in relation to ("with") the "second youth" (the "legitimate successor" of the "old king," as opposed to the "poor youth," the one first spoken of, about to be raised from poverty to a throne), that is, Rehoboam.
in his stead--the old king's.
16. Notwithstanding their now worshipping the rising sun, the heir-apparent, I reflected that "there were no bounds, no stability ([2Sa 15:6]; ), no check on the love of innovation, of all that have been before them," that is, the past generation; so
also they that come after--that is, the next generation,
shall not rejoice in him--namely, Rehoboam. The parallel, "shall not rejoice," fixes the sense of "no bounds," no permanent adherence, though now men rejoice in him.
Chapter 5
[Ec 5:1-20].
1. From vanity connected with kings, he passes to vanities ([Ec 5:7]) which may be fallen into in serving the King of kings, even by those who, convinced of the vanity of the creature, wish to worship the Creator.
Keep thy foot--In going to worship, go with considerate, circumspect, reverent feeling. The allusion is to the taking off the shoes, or sandals, in entering a temple ([Ex 3:5]; [Jos 5:15], which passages perhaps gave rise to the custom). Weiss needlessly reads, "Keep thy feast days" ([Ex 23:14], ; the three great feasts).
hear--rather, "To be ready (to draw nigh with the desire) to hear (obey) is a better sacrifice than the offering of fools" [Holden]. (Vulgate; Syriac). ([Psa 51:16], ; [Pr 21:3]; [Jr 6:20]; [7:21-23]; ; [Am 5:21-24]). The warning is against mere ceremonial self-righteousness, as in [Ec 7:12]. Obedience is the spirit of the law's requirements ([De 10:12]). Solomon sorrowfully looks back on his own neglect of this (compare [1Ki 8:63] with [Ec 11:4], ). Positive precepts of God must be kept, but will not stand instead of obedience to His moral precepts. The last provided no sacrifice for wilful sin ([Nu 15:30], ; [He 10:26-29]).
2. rash--opposed to the considerate reverence ("keep thy foot," [Ec 5:1]). This verse illustrates [Ec 5:1], as to prayer in the house of God ("before God," [Is 1:12]); so [Ec 5:4-6] as to vows. The remedy to such vanities is stated ([Ec 5:6]). "Fear thou God."
God is in heaven--Therefore He ought to be approached with carefully weighed words, by thee, a frail creature of earth.
3. As much "business," engrossing the mind, gives birth to incoherent "dreams," so many words, uttered inconsiderately in prayer, give birth to and betray "a fool's speech" ([Ec 10:14]), [Holden and Weiss]. But [Ec 5:7] implies that the "dream" is not a comparison, but the vain thoughts of the fool (sinner, [Psa 73:20]), arising from multiplicity of (worldly) "business." His "dream" is that God hears him for his much speaking ([Mt 6:7]), independently of the frame of mind [English Version and Maurer].
fool's voice--answers to "dream" in the parallel; it comes by the many "words" flowing from the fool's "dream."
4. When thou vowest a vow unto God--Hasty words in prayer ([Ec 5:2], ) suggest the subject of hasty vows. A vow should not be hastily made ([Jud 11:35]; [1Sa 14:24]). When made, it must be kept ([Psa 76:11]), even as God keeps His word to us ([Ex 12:41], ; [Jos 21:45]).
5. ([De 23:21], ).
6. thy flesh--Vow not with "thy mouth" a vow (for example, fasting), which the lusts of the flesh ("body," [Ec 2:3], Margin) may tempt thee to break ([Pr 20:25]).
angel--the "messenger" of God ([Job 33:23]); minister ([Re 1:20]); that is, the priest (Mal 2:7) "before" whom a breach of a vow was to be confessed ([Le 5:4], ). We, Christians, in our vows (for example, at baptism, the Lord's Supper, &c.) vow in the presence of Jesus Christ, "the angel of the covenant" (Mal 3:1), and of ministering angels as witnesses ([1Co 11:10]; [1Ti 5:21]). Extenuate not any breach of them as a slight error.
7. (See on [Ec 5:3]). God's service, which ought to be our chief good, becomes by "dreams" (foolish fancies as of God's requirements of us in worship), and random "words," positive "vanity." The remedy is, whatever fools may do, "Fear thou God" ([Ec 12:13]).
8. As in [Ec 3:16], so here the difficulty suggests itself. If God is so exact in even punishing hasty words ([Ec 5:1-6]), why does He allow gross injustice? In the remote "provinces," the "poor" often had to put themselves for protection from the inroads of Philistines, &c., under chieftains, who oppressed them even in Solomon's reign ([1Ki 12:4]).
the matter--literally, "the pleasure," or purpose ([Is 53:10]). Marvel not at this dispensation of God's will, as if He had abandoned the world. Nay, there is coming a capital judgment at last, and an earnest of it in partial punishments of sinners meanwhile.
higher than the highest--([Da 7:18]).