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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
on the Whole Bible
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Matthew Henry |
E C C L E S I A S T E S
CHAP. I.
In this chapter we have,
I. The inscription, or title of the book,
II. The general doctrine of the vanity of the creature laid down
(ver. 2)
and explained,
III. The proof of this doctrine, taken,
1. From the shortness of human life and the multitude of births and
burials in this life,
2. From the inconstant nature, and constant revolutions, of all the
creatures, and the perpetual flux and reflux they are in, the sun,
wind, and water,
3. From the abundant toil man has about them and the little
satisfaction he has in them,
4. From the return of the same things again, which shows the end of all
perfection, and that the stock is exhausted,
5. From the oblivion to which all things are condemned,
IV. The first instance of the vanity of man’s knowledge, and all the
parts of learning, especially natural philosophy and politics. Observe,
1. The trial Solomon made of these,
2. His judgment of them, that all is vanity,
For,
(1.) There is labour in getting knowledge,
(2.) There is little good to be done with it,
(3.) There is no satisfaction in it,
And, if this is vanity and vexation, all other things in this world,
being much inferior to it in dignity and worth, must needs be so too. A
great scholar cannot be happy unless he be a true saint.
| The Vanity of the World. | |
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1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in
Jerusalem.
2 Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities;
all is vanity.
3 What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh
under the sun?
Here is,
I. An account of the penman of this book; it was Solomon, for no other
son of David was king of Jerusalem; but he conceals his name
Solomon, peaceable, because by his sin he had brought trouble
upon himself and his kingdom, had broken his peace with God and lost
the peace of his conscience, and therefore was no more worthy of that
name. Call me not Solomon, call me Marah, for, behold,
for peace I had great bitterness. But he calls himself,
1. The preacher, which intimates his present character. He is
Koheleth, which comes from a word which signifies to
gather; but it is of a feminine termination, by which perhaps
Solomon intends to upbraid himself with his effeminacy, which
contributed more than any thing to his apostasy; for it was to please
his wives that he set up idols,
Or the word soul must be understood, and so Koheleth
is,
(1.) A penitent soul, or one gathered, one that had
rambled and gone astray like a lost sheep, but was now reduced,
gathered in from his wanderings, gathered home to his duty, and come at
length to himself. The spirit that was dissipated after a thousand
vanities is now collected and made to centre in God. Divine grace can
make great sinners great converts, and renew even those to repentance
who, after they had known the way of righteousness, turned aside
from it, and heal their backslidings, though it is a
difficult case. It is only the penitent soul that God will accept, the
heart that is broken, not the head that is bowed down like a bulrush
only for a day, David’s repentance, not Ahab’s. And it is only the
gathered soul that is the penitent soul, that comes back from its
by-paths, that no longer scatters its way to the strangers
(Jer. iii. 13),
but is united to fear God’s name. Out of the abundance of the heart
the mouth will speak, and therefore we have here the words of the
penitent, and those published. If eminent professors of religion fall
into gross sin, they are concerned, for the honour of God and the
repairing of the damage they have done to his kingdom, openly to
testify their repentance, that the antidote may be administered as
extensively as the poison.
(2.) A preaching soul, or one gathering. Being himself
gathered to the congregation of saints, out of which he had by
his sin thrown himself, and being reconciled to the church, he
endeavours to gather others to it that had gone astray like him, and
perhaps were led astray by his example. He that has done any thing to
seduce his brother ought to do all he can to restore him. Perhaps
Solomon called together a congregation of his people, as he had done at
the dedication of the temple
so now at the rededicating of himself. In that assembly he presided as
the people’s mouth to God in prayer
(v. 12);
in this as God’s mouth to them in preaching. God by his Spirit made him
a preacher, in token of his being reconciled to him; a commission is a
tacit pardon. Christ sufficiently testifies his forgiving Peter by
committing his lambs and sheep to his trust. Observe, Penitents should
be preachers; those that have taken warning themselves to turn and live
should give warning to others not to go on and die. When thou art
converted strengthen thy brethren. Preachers must be preaching
souls, for that only is likely to reach to the heart that comes
from the heart. Paul served God with his spirit in the gospel of his
Son,
Rom. i. 9.
2. The son of David. His taking this title intimates,
(1.) That he looked upon it as a great honour to be the son of so good
a man, and valued himself very much upon it.
(2.) That he also looked upon it as a great aggravation of his sin that
he had such a father, who had given him a good education and put up
many a good prayer for him; it cuts him to the heart to think that he
should be a blemish and disgrace to the name and family of such a one
as David. It aggravated the sin of Jehoiakim that he was the son of
Josiah,
(3.) That his being the son of David encouraged him to repent and hope
for mercy, for David had fallen into sin, by which he should have been
warned not to sin, but was not; but David repented, and therein he took
example from him and found mercy as he did. Yet this was not all; he
was that son of David concerning whom God had said that though he would
chasten his transgression with the rod, yet he would not
break his covenant with him,
Christ, the great preacher, was the Son of David.
3. King of Jerusalem. This he mentions,
(1.) As that which was a very great aggravation of his sin. He was a
king. God had done much for him, in raising him to the throne, and yet
he had so ill requited him; his dignity made the bad example and
influence of his sin the more dangerous, and many would follow his
pernicious ways; especially as he was king of Jerusalem, the holy city,
where God’s temple was, and of his own building too, where the priests,
the Lord’s ministers, were, and his prophets who had taught him better
things.
(2.) As that which might give some advantage to what he wrote, for
where the word of a king is there is power. He thought it no
disparagement to him, as a king, to be a preacher; but the people would
regard him the more as a preacher because he was a king. If men of
honour would lay out themselves to do good, what a great deal of good
might they do! Solomon looked as great in the pulpit, preaching the
vanity of the world, as in his throne of ivory, judging.
The Chaldee-paraphrase (which, in this book, makes very large additions
to the text, or comments upon it, all along) gives this account of
Solomon’s writing this book, That by the spirit of prophecy he foresaw
the revolt of the ten tribes from his son, and, in process of time, the
destruction of Jerusalem and the house of the sanctuary, and the
captivity of the people, in the foresight of which he said, Vanity
of vanities, all is vanity; and to that he applies many passages in
this book.
II. The general scope and design of the book. What is it that this
royal preacher has to say? That which he aims at is, for the making of
us truly religious, to take down our esteem of and expectation from the
things of this world. In order to this, he shows,
1. That they are all vanity,
v. 2.
This is the proposition he lays down and undertakes to prove: Vanity
of vanities, all is vanity. It was no new text; his father David
had more than once spoken to the same purport. The truth itself here
asserted is, that all is vanity, all besides God and considered
as abstract from him, the all of this world, all worldly
employments and enjoyments, the all that is in the world
all that which is agreeable to our senses and to our fancies in this
present state, which gains pleasure to ourselves or reputation with
others. It is all vanity, not only in the abuse of it, when it
is perverted by the sin of man, but even in the use of it. Man,
considered with reference to these things, is vanity
and, if there were not another life after this, were made in vain
and those things, considered in reference to man (whatever they are in
themselves), are vanity. They are impertinent to the soul,
foreign, and add nothing to it; they do not answer the end, nor yield
any true satisfaction; they are uncertain in their continuance, are
fading, and perishing, and passing away, and will certainly deceive and
disappoint those that put a confidence in them. Let us not therefore
love vanity
(Ps. iv. 2),
nor lift up our souls to it
(Ps. xxiv. 4),
for we shall but weary ourselves for it,
It is expressed here very emphatically; not only, All is vain,
but in the abstract, All is vanity; as if vanity were the
proprium quarto modo–property in the fourth mode, of the things
of this world, that which enters into the nature of them. The are not
only vanity, but vanity of vanities, the vainest vanity,
vanity in the highest degree, nothing but vanity, such a vanity as is
the cause of a great deal of vanity. And this is redoubled, because the
thing is certain and past dispute, it is vanity of vanities.
This intimates that the wise man had his own heart fully convinced of
and much affected with this truth, and that he was very desirous that
others should be convinced of it and affected with it, as he was, but
that he found the generality of men very loth to believe it and
consider it
it intimates likewise that we cannot comprehend and express the vanity
of this world. But who is it that speaks thus slightly of the world? Is
it one that will stand to what he says? Yes, he puts his name to
it–saith the preacher. Is it one that was a competent judge?
Yes, as much as ever any man was. Many speak contemptuously of the
world because they are hermits, and know it not, or beggars, and have
it not; but Solomon knew it. He had dived into nature’s depths
and he had it, more of it perhaps than ever any man had, his head
filled with its notions and his belly with its hidden
treasures
(Ps. xvii. 14),
and he passes this judgment on it. But did he speak as one having
authority? Yes, not only that of a king, but that of a prophet, a
preacher; he spoke in God’s name, and was divinely inspired to say it.
But did he not say it in his haste, or in a passion, upon occasion of
some particular disappointment? No; he said it deliberately, said it
and proved it, laid it down as a fundamental principle, on which he
grounded the necessity of being religious. And, as some think, one main
thing he designed was to show that the everlasting throne and kingdom
which God had by Nathan promised to David and his seed must be of
another world; for all things in this world are subject to vanity, and
therefore have not in them sufficient to answer the extent of that
promise. If Solomon find all to be vanity, then the kingdom of the
Messiah must come, in which we shall inherit substance.
2. That they are insufficient to make us happy. And for this he appeals
to men’s consciences: What profit has a man of all the pains he
takes?
v. 3.
Observe here,
(1.) The business of this world described. It is labour; the
word signifies both care and toil. It is work that wearies men. There
is a constant fatigue in worldly business. It is labour under the
sun; that is a phrase peculiar to this book, where we meet with it
twenty-eight times. There is a world above the sun, a world which needs
not the sun, for the glory of God is its light, where there is work
without labour and with great profit, the work of angels; but he speaks
of the work under the sun, the pains of which are great and the
gains little. It is under the sun, under the influence of the
sun, by its light and in its heat; as we have the benefit of the light
of the day, so we have sometimes the burden and heat of the day
(Matt. xx. 12),
and therefore in the sweat of our face we eat bread. In the dark
and cold grave the weary are at rest.
(2.) The benefit of that business enquired into: What profit has a
man of all that labour? Solomon says
In all labour there is profit; and yet here he denies that there
is any profit. As to our present condition in the world, it is true
that by labour we get that which we call profit; we eat the
labour of our hands; but as the wealth of the world is commonly
called substance, and yet it is that which is not
so it is called profit, but the question is whether it be really
so or no. And here he determines that it is not, that it is not a real
benefit, that it is not a remaining benefit. In short, the wealth and
pleasure of this world, if we had ever so much of them, are not
sufficient to make us happy, nor will they be a portion for us.
[1.] As to the body, and the life that now is, What profit has a man
of all his labour? A man’s life consists not in an abundance,
Luke xii. 15.
As goods are increased care about them is increased, and those are
increased that eat of them, and a little thing will embitter all
the comfort of them; and then what profit has a man of all his
labour? Early up, and never the nearer.
[2.] As to the soul, and the life that is to come, we may much more
truly say, What profit has a man of all his labour? All he gets
by it will not supply the wants of the soul, nor satisfy its desires,
will not atone for the sin of the soul, nor cure its diseases, nor
contervail the loss of it; what profit will they be of to the soul in
death, in judgment, or in the everlasting state? The fruit of our
labour in heavenly things is meat that endures to eternal life,
but the fruit of our labour for the world is only meat that
perishes.
| The Vanity of the World. | |
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4 One generation passeth away, and another generation
cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.
5 The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to
his place where he arose.
6 The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the
north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth
again according to his circuits.
7 All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full;
unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return
again.
8 All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the
eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with
hearing.
To prove the vanity of all things under the sun, and their
insufficiency to make us happy, Solomon here shows,
1. That the time of our enjoyment of these things is very short, and
only while we accomplish as a hireling his day. We continue in
the world but for one generation, which is continually passing away to
make room for another, and we are passing with it. Our worldly
possessions we very lately had from others, and must very shortly leave
to others, and therefore to us they are vanity; they can be no more
substantial than that life which is the substratum of them, and
that is but a vapour, which appears for a little while and then
vanishes away. While the stream of mankind is continually flowing,
how little enjoyment has one drop of that stream of the pleasant banks
between which it glides! We may give God the glory of that constant
succession of generations, in which the world has hitherto had its
existence, and will have to the end of time, admitting his patience in
continuing that sinful species and his power in continuing that dying
species. We may be also quickened to do the work of our generation
diligently, and serve it faithfully, because it will be over shortly;
and, in concern for mankind in general, we should consult the welfare
of succeeding generations; but as to our own happiness, let us not
expect it within such narrow limits, but in an eternal rest and
consistency.
2. That when we leave this world we leave the earth behind us, that
abides for ever where it is, and therefore the things of the
earth can stand us in no stead in the future state. It is well for
mankind in general that the earth endures to the end of time, when it
and all the works in it shall be burnt up; but what is that to
particular persons, when they remove to the world of spirits?
3. That the condition of man is, in this respect, worse than that even
of the inferior creatures: The earth abides for ever, but man
abides upon the earth but a little while. The sun sets indeed every
night, yet it rises again in the morning, as bright and fresh as ever;
the winds, though they shift their point, yet in some point or other
still they are; the waters that go to the sea above ground come from it
again under ground. But man lies down and rises not,
Job xiv. 7, 12.
4. That all things in this world are movable and mutable, and subject
to a continual toil and agitation, constant in nothing but inconstancy,
still going, never resting; it was but once that the sun stood still;
when it is risen it is hastening to set, and, when it is set, hastening
to rise again
(v. 5);
the winds are ever and anon shifting
(v. 6),
and the waters in a continual circulation
(v. 7),
it would be of as bad consequence for them to stagnate as for the blood
in the body to do so. And can we expect rest in a world where all
things are thus full of labour
(v. 8),
on a sea that is always ebbing and flowing, and her waves continually
working and rolling?
5. That though all things are still in motion, yet they are still where
they were; The sun parts (as it is in the margin), but it is to
the same place; the wind turns till it comes to the same place, and so
the waters return to the place whence they came. Thus man, after all
the pains he takes to find satisfaction and happiness in the creature,
is but where he was, still as far to seek as ever. Man’s mind is as
restless in its pursuits as the sun, and wind, and rivers, but never
satisfied, never contented; the more it has of the world the more it
would have; and it would be no sooner filled with the streams of
outward prosperity, the brooks of honey and butter
(Job xx. 17),
than the sea is with all the rivers that run into it; it is
still as it was, a troubled sea that cannot rest.
6. That all things continue as they were from the beginning of the
creation,
2 Pet. iii. 4.
The earth is where it was; the sun, and winds, and rivers, keep the
same course that ever they did; and therefore, if they have never yet
been sufficient to make a happiness for man, they are never likely to
be so, for they can but yield the same comfort that they have yielded.
We must therefore look above the sun for satisfaction, and for a new
world.
7. That this world is, at the best, a weary land: All is vanity,
for all is full of labour. The whole creation is made subject to
this vanity ever since man was sentenced to eat bread in the sweat
of his brows. If we survey the whole creation, we shall see all
busy; all have enough to do to mind their own business; none will be a
portion or happiness for man; all labour to serve him, but none prove a
help-meet for him. Man cannot express how full of labour all
things are, can neither number the laborious nor measure the labours.
8. That our senses are unsatisfied, and the objects of them
unsatisfying. He specifies those senses that perform their office with
least toil, and are most capable of being pleased: The eye is not
satisfied with seeing, but is weary of seeing always the same
sight, and covets novelty and variety. The ear is fond, at
first, of a pleasant song or tune, but soon nauseates it, and must have
another; both are surfeited, but neither satiated, and what was most
grateful becomes ungrateful. Curiosity is still inquisitive, because
still unsatisfied, and the more it is humoured the more nice and
peevish it grows, crying, Give, give.
| Change without Novelty. | |
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9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and
that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is
no new thing under the sun.
10 Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is
new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.
11 There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall
there be any remembrance of things that are to come with
those that shall come after.
Two things we are apt to take a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction
in, and value ourselves upon, with reference to our business and
enjoyments in the world, as if they helped to save them from vanity.
Solomon shows us our mistake in both.
1. The novelty of the invention, that it is such as was never known
before. How grateful is it to think that none ever made such advances
in knowledge, and such discoveries by it, as we, that none ever made
such improvements of an estate or trade, and had the art of enjoying
the gains of it, as we have. Their contrivances and compositions are
all despised and run down, and we boast of new fashions, new
hypotheses, new methods, new expressions, which jostle out the old, and
put them down. But this is all a mistake: The thing that is, and
shall be, is the same with that which has been, and that
which shall be done will be but the same with that which is
done, for there is no new thing under the sun,
v. 9.
It is repeated
(v. 10)
by way of question, is there any thing of which it may be
said, with wonder, See, this is new; there never was the
like? It is an appeal to observing men, and a challenge to those that
cry up modern learning above that of the ancients. Let them name any
thing which they take to be new, and though perhaps we cannot make it
to appear, for want of the records of former times, yet we have reason
to conclude that it has been already of old time, which was before
us. What is there in the kingdom of nature of which we may say,
This is new? The works were finished from the foundation of the
world
(Heb. iv. 3);
things which appear new to us, as they do to children, are not so in
themselves. The heavens were of old; the earth abides for ever;
the powers of nature and the links of natural causes are still the same
that ever they were. In the kingdom of Providence, though the course
and method of it have not such known and certain rules as that of
nature, nor does it go always in the same track, yet, in the general,
it is still the same thing over and over again. Men’s hearts, and the
corruptions of them, are still the same; their desires, and pursuits,
and complaints, are still the same; and what God does in his dealings
with men is according to the scripture, according to the manner, so
that it is all repetition. What is surprising to us needs not be so,
for there has been the like, the like strange advancements and
disappointments, the like strange revolutions and sudden turns, sudden
turns of affairs; the miseries of human life have always been much the
same, and mankind tread a perpetual round, and, as the sun and wind,
are but where they were. Now the design of this is,
(1.) To show the folly of the children of men in affecting things that
are new, in imagining that they have discovered such things, and in
pleasing and priding themselves in them. We are apt to nauseate old
things, and to grow weary of what we have been long used to, as Israel
of the manna, and covet, with the Athenians, still to tell and hear of
some new thing, and admire this and the other as new, whereas it is all
what has been. Tatianus the Assyrian, showing the Grecians how all the
arts which they valued themselves upon owed their original to those
nations which they counted barbarous, thus reasons with them: “For
shame, do not call those things
eureseis—inventions, which are but
mimeseis—imitations.”
(2.) To take us off from expecting happiness or satisfaction in the
creature. Why should we look for it there, where never any yet have
found it? What reason have we to think that the world should be any
kinder to us than it has been to those that have gone before us, since
there is nothing in it that is new, and our predecessors have made as
much of it as could be made? Your fathers did eat manna, and
yet they are dead. See
(3.) To quicken us to secure spiritual and eternal blessings. If we
would be entertained with new things, we must acquaint ourselves with
the things of God, get a new nature; then old things pass away, and
all things become new,
2 Cor. v. 17.
The gospel puts a new song into our mouths. In heaven all is
new
(Rev. xxi. 5),
all new at first, wholly unlike the present state of things, a new
world indeed
(Luke xx. 35),
and all new to eternity, always fresh, always flourishing. This
consideration should make us willing to die, That in this world there
is nothing but the same over and over again, and we can expect nothing
from it more or better than we have had.
2. The memorableness of the achievement, that it is such as will be
known and talked of hereafter. Many think they have found satisfaction
enough in this, that their names shall be perpetuated, that posterity
will celebrate the actions they have performed, the honours they have
won, and the estates they have raised, that their houses shall
continue for ever
(Ps. xlix. 11);
but herein they deceive themselves. How many former things and
persons were there, which in their day looked very great and made a
mighty figure, and yet there is no remembrance of them; they are
buried in oblivion. Here and there one person or action that was
remarkable met with a kind historian, and had the good hap to be
recorded, when at the same time there were others, no less remarkable,
that were dropped: and therefore we may conclude that neither shall
there be any remembrance of things to come, but that which we hope
to be remembered by will be either lost or slighted.
| Vanity of Human Wisdom. | |
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12 I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
13 And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom
concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore
travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised
therewith.
14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and,
behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
15 That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that
which is wanting cannot be numbered.
16 I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to
great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that
have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great
experience of wisdom and knowledge.
17 And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and
folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.
18 For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth
knowledge increaseth sorrow.
Solomon, having asserted in general that all is vanity, and
having given some general proofs of it, now takes the most effectual
method to evince the truth of it,
1. By his own experience; he tried them all, and found them vanity.
2. By an induction of particulars; and here he begins with that which
bids fairest of all to be the happiness of a reasonable creature, and
that is knowledge and learning; if this be vanity, every thing else
must needs be so. Now as to this,
I. Solomon tells us here what trial he had made of it, and that with
such advantages that, if true satisfaction could have been found in it,
he would have found it.
1. His high station gave him an opportunity of improving himself in all
parts of learning, and particularly in politics and the conduct of
human affairs,
He that is the preacher of this doctrine was king over
Israel, whom all their neighbours admired as a wise and
understanding people,
Deut. iv. 6.
He had his royal seat in Jerusalem, which then deserved, better
than Athens ever did, to be called the eye of the world. The
heart of a king is unsearchable; he has reaches of his own, and a
divine sentence is often in his lips. It is his honour, it is his
business, to search out every matter. Solomon’s great wealth and honour
put him into a capacity of making his court the centre of learning and
the rendezvous of learned men, of furnishing himself with the best of
books, and either conversing or corresponding with all the wise and
knowing part of mankind then in being, who made application to him to
learn of him, by which he could not but improve himself; for it is in
knowledge as it is in trade, all the profit is by barter and exchange;
if we have that to say which will instruct others, they will have that
to say which will instruct us. Some observe how slightly Solomon speaks
of his dignity and honour. He does not say, I the preacher am
king, but I was king, no matter what I am. He speaks of it as a
thing past, because worldly honours are transitory.
2. He applied himself to the improvement of these advantages, and the
opportunities he had of getting wisdom, which, though ever so great,
will not make a man wise unless he give his mind to it. Solomon gave
his heart to seek and search out all things to be known by
wisdom,
v. 13.
He made it his business to acquaint himself with all the things that
are done under the sun, that are done by the providence of God or
by the art and prudence of man. He set himself to get all the insight
he could into philosophy and mathematics, into husbandry and trade,
merchandise and mechanics, into the history of former ages and the
present state of other kingdoms, their laws, customs, and policies,
into men’s different tempers, capacities, and projects, and the methods
of managing them; he set himself not only to seek, but to search, to
pry into, that which is most intricate, and which requires the closes
application of mind and the most vigorous and constant prosecution.
Though he was a prince, he made himself a drudge to learning, was not
discouraged by its knots, nor took up short of its depths. And this he
did, not merely to gratify his own genius, but to qualify himself for
the service of God, and his generation, and to make an experiment how
far the enlargement of the knowledge would go towards the settlement
and repose of the mind.
3. He made a very great progress in his studies, wonderfully improved
all the parts of learning, and carried his discoveries much further
than any that had been before him. He did not condemn learning, as
many do, because they cannot conquer it and will not be at the pains to
make themselves masters of it; no, what he aimed at he compassed; he
saw all the works that were done under the sun
(v. 14),
works of nature in the upper and lower world, all within this vortex
(to use the modern gibberish) which has the sun for its centre, works
of art, the product of men’s wit, in a personal or social capacity. He
had as much satisfaction in the success of his searches as ever any man
had; he communed with his own heart concerning his attainments
in knowledge, with as much pleasure as ever any rich merchant had in
taking account of his stock. He could say, “Lo, I have magnified
and increased wisdom, have not only gotten more of it myself,
but have done more to propagate it and bring it into reputation, than
any, than all that have been before me in Jerusalem.” Note, It
becomes great men to be studious, and delight themselves most in
intellectual pleasures. Where God gives great advantages of getting
knowledge he expects improvements accordingly. It is happy with a
people when their princes and noblemen study to excel others as much in
wisdom and useful knowledge as they do in honour and estate; and they
may do that service to the commonwealth of learning by applying
themselves to the studies that are proper for them which meaner persons
cannot do. Solomon must be acknowledged as competent judge of this
matter, for he had not only got his head full of notions, but his
heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge, of the power
and benefit of knowledge, as well as the amusement and entertainment of
it; what he knew he had digested, and knew how to make use of.
Wisdom entered into his heart, and so became pleasant to his
soul,
Prov. ii. 10, 11; xxii. 18.
4. He applied his studies especially to that part of learning which is
most serviceable to the conduct of human life, and consequently is the
most valuable
(v. 17):
“I gave my heart to know the rules and dictates of
wisdom, and how I might obtain it; and to know madness and
folly, how I might prevent and cure it, to know the snares and
insinuations of it, that I might avoid them, and guard against them,
and discover its fallacies.” So industrious was Solomon to improve
himself in knowledge that he gained instruction both by the wisdom of
prudent men and by the madness of foolish men, by the field of the
slothful, as well as of the diligent.
II. He tells us what was the result of this trial, to confirm what he
had said, that all is vanity.
1. He found that his searches after knowledge were very toilsome, and a
weariness not only to the flesh, but to the mind
(v. 13):
This sore travail, this difficulty that there is in searching
after truth and finding it, God has given to the sons of men to
be afflicted therewith, as a punishment for our first
parents’ coveting forbidden knowledge. As bread for the body, so that
for the soul, must be got and eaten in the sweat of our face,
whereas both would have been had with out labour if Adam had not
sinned.
2. He found that the more he saw of the works done under the sun
the more he saw of their vanity; nay, and the sight often occasioned
him vexation of spirit
(v. 14):
“I have seen all the works of a world full of business, have
observed what the children of men are doing; and behold,
whatever men think of their own works, I see all is vanity and
vexation of spirit.” He had before pronounced all vanity
(v. 2),
needless and unprofitable, and that which does us no good; here he
adds, It is all vexation of spirit, troublesome and prejudicial,
and that which does us hurt. It is feeding upon wind; so some
read it,
(1.) The works themselves which we see done are vanity and
vexation to those that are employed in them. There is so much care
in the contrivance of our worldly business, so much toil in the
prosecution of it, and so much trouble in the disappointments we meet
with in it, that we may well say, It is vexation of spirit.
(2.) The sight of them is vanity and vexation of spirit to the
wise observer of them. The more we see of the world the more we see to
make us uneasy, and, with Heraclitus, to look upon all with weeping
eyes. Solomon especially perceived that the knowledge of wisdom and
folly was vexation of spirit,
v. 17.
It vexed him to see many that had wisdom not use it, and many that had
folly not strive against it. It vexed him when he knew wisdom to see
how far off it stood from the children of men, and, when he saw folly,
to see how fast it was bound in their hearts.
3. He found that when he had got some knowledge he could neither gain
that satisfaction to himself nor do that good to others with it which
he expected,
It would not avail,
(1.) To redress the many grievances of human life: “After all, I find
that that which is crooked will be crooked still and cannot
be made straight.” Our knowledge is itself intricate and perplexed;
we must go far about and fetch a great compass to come at it. Solomon
thought to find out a nearer way to it, but he could not. The paths of
learning are as much a labyrinth as ever they were. The minds and
manners of men are crooked and perverse. Solomon thought, with his
wisdom and power together, thoroughly to reform his kingdom, and make
that straight which he found crooked; but he was disappointed. All the
philosophy and politics in the world will not restore the corrupt
nature of man to its primitive rectitude; we find the insufficiency of
them both in others and in ourselves. Learning will not alter men’s
natural tempers, nor cure them of their sinful distempers; nor will it
change the constitution of things in this world; a vale of tears it is
and so it will be when all is done.
(2.) To make up the many deficiencies in the comfort of human life:
That which is wanting there cannot be numbered, or
counted out to us from the treasures of human learning, but what is
wanting will still be so. All our enjoyments here, when we have
done our utmost to bring them to perfection, are still lame and
defective, and it cannot be helped; as they are, so they are likely to
be. That which is wanting in our knowledge is so much that it
cannot be numbered. The more we know the more we see of our own
ignorance. Who can understand his errors, his defects?
4. Upon the whole, therefore, he concluded that great scholars do but
make themselves great mourners; for in much wisdom is much
grief,
v. 18.
There must be a great deal of pains taken to get it, and a great deal
of care not to forget it; the more we know the more we see there is to
be known, and consequently we perceive with greater clearness that our
work is without end, and the more we see of our former mistakes and
blunders, which occasions much grief. The more we see of men’s
different sentiments and opinions (and it is that which a great deal of
our learning is conversant about) the more at a loss we are, it may be,
which is in the right. Those that increase knowledge have so
much the more quick and sensible perception of the calamities of this
world, and for one discovery they make that is pleasing, perhaps, they
make ten that are displeasing, and so they increase sorrow. Let
us not therefore be driven off from the pursuit of any useful
knowledge, but put on patience to break through the sorrow of it; but
let us despair of finding true happiness in this knowledge, and expect
it only in the knowledge of God and the careful discharge of our duty
to him. He that increases in heavenly wisdom, and in an
experimental acquaintance with the principles, powers, and pleasures of
the spiritual and divine life, increases joy, such as will
shortly be consummated in everlasting joy.
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