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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
E C C L E S I A S T E S
CHAP. II.
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 no true happiness and satisfaction to be had
in mirth and pleasure, and the delights of sense,
II. He reconsiders the pretensions of wisdom, and allows it to be
excellent and useful, and yet sees it clogged with such diminutions of
its worth that it proves insufficient to make a man happy,
III. He enquires how far the business and wealth of this world will go
towards making men happy, and concludes, from his own experience, that,
to those who set their hearts upon it, “it is vanity and vexation of
spirit,”
(ver. 17-23),
and that, if there be any good in it, it is only to those that sit
loose to it,
| Vanity of Worldly Pleasure. | |
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1 I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with
mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is
vanity.
2 I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?
3 I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet
acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly,
till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which
they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.
4 I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me
vineyards:
5 I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them
of all kind of fruits:
6 I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that
bringeth forth trees:
7 I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my
house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle
above all that were in Jerusalem before me:
8 I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure
of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women
singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical
instruments, and that of all sorts.
9 So I was great, and increased more than all that were before
me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.
10 And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I
withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all
my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.
11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought,
and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all
was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit
under the sun.
Solomon here, in pursuit of the summum bonum—the felicity
of man, adjourns out of his study, his library, his elaboratory, his
council-chamber, where he had in vain sought for it, into the park and
the playhouse, his garden and his summer-house; he exchanges the
company of the philosophers and grave senators for that of the wits and
gallants, and the beaux-esprits, of his court, to try if he could find
true satisfaction and happiness among them. Here he takes a great step
downward, from the noble pleasures of the intellect to the brutal ones
of sense; yet, if he resolve to make a thorough trial, he must knock at
this door, because here a great part of mankind imagine they have found
that which he was in quest of.
I. He resolved to try what mirth would do and the pleasures of wit,
whether he should be happy if he constantly entertained himself and
others with merry stories and jests, banter and drollery; if he should
furnish himself with all the pretty ingenious turns and repartees he
could invent or pick up, fit to be laughed over, and all the bulls, and
blunders, and foolish things, he could hear of, fit to be ridiculed and
laughed at, so that he might be always in a merry humour.
1. This experiment made
(v. 1):
“Finding that in much wisdom is much grief, and that those who
are serious are apt to be melancholy, I said in my heart” (to my
heart), “Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth; I will try if
that will give thee satisfaction.” Neither the temper of his mind nor
his outward condition had any thing in them to keep him from being
merry, but both agreed, as did all other advantages, to further it;
therefore he resolved to take a lease this way, and said,
“Enjoy pleasure, and take thy fill of it; cast away care, and
resolve to be merry.” So a man may be, and yet have none of these fine
things which he here got to entertain himself with; many that are poor
are very merry; beggars in a barn are so to a proverb. Mirth is the
entertainment of the fancy, and, though it comes short of the solid
delights of the rational powers, yet it is to be preferred before those
that are merely carnal and sensual. Some distinguish man from the
brutes, not only as animal rationale–a rational animal, but as
animal risibile–a laughing animal; therefore he that said to his
soul, Take thy ease, eat and drink, added, And be merry,
for it was in order to that that he would eat and drink. “Try
therefore,” says Solomon, “to laugh and be fat, to laugh and be happy.”
2. The judgment he passed upon this experiment: Behold, this also is
vanity, like all the rest; it yields no true satisfaction,
v. 2.
I said of laughter, It is mad, or, Thou art mad, and
therefore I will have nothing to do with thee; and of mirth (of
all sports and recreations, and whatever pretends to be diverting),
What doeth it? or, What doest thou? Innocent mirth,
soberly, seasonable, and moderately used, is a good thing, fits for
business, and helps to soften the toils and chagrins of human life;
but, when it is excessive and immoderate, it is foolish and fruitless.
(1.) It does no good: What doeth it? Cui bono–of what use is
it? It will not avail to quiet a guilty conscience; no, nor to ease
a sorrowful spirit; nothing is more ungrateful than singing songs to
a heavy heart. It will not satisfy the soul, nor ever yield it true
content. It is but a palliative cure to the grievances of this present
time. Great laughter commonly ends in a sigh.
(2.) It does a great deal of hurt: It is mad, that is, it makes
men mad, it transports men into many indecencies, which are a reproach
to their reason and religion. They are mad that indulge themselves in
it, for it estranges the heart from God and divine things, and
insensibly eats out the power of religion. Those that love to be merry
forget to be serious, and, while they take the timbrel and harp, they
say to the Almighty, Depart from us,
Job xxi. 12, 14.
We may, as Solomon, prove ourselves, with mirth, and
judge of the state of our souls by this: How do we stand affected to
it? Can we be merry and wise? Can we use it as sauce, and not as food?
But we need not try, as Solomon did, whether it will make a happiness
for us, for we may take his word for it, It is mad; and What
does it? Laughter and pleasure (says Sir William Temple) come from
very different affections of the mind; for, as men have no disposition
to laugh at things they are most pleased with, so they are very little
pleased with many things they laugh at.
II. Finding himself not happy in that which pleased his fancy, he
resolved next to try that which would please the palate,
v. 3.
Since the knowledge of the creature would not satisfy, he would see
what the liberal use of it would do: I sought in my heart to give
myself unto wine, that is, to good meat and good drink. Many give
themselves to these without consulting their hearts at all, not looking
any further than merely the gratification of the sensual appetite; but
Solomon applied himself to it rationally, and as a man, critically, and
only to make an experiment. Observe,
1. He did not allow himself any liberty in the use of the delights of
sense till he had tired himself with his severe studies. Till his
increase of sorrow, he never thought of giving himself
to wine. When we have spent ourselves in doing good we may then
most comfortably refresh ourselves with the gifts of God’s bounty.
Then the delights of sense are rightly used when they are used
as we use cordials, only when we need them; as Timothy drank wine for
his health’s sake,
I thought to draw my flesh with wine (so the margin reads it) or
to wine. Those that have addicted themselves to drinking did at
first put a force upon themselves; they drew their flesh to it, and
with it; but they should remember to what miseries they hereby draw
themselves.
2. He then looked upon it as folly, and it was with reluctance that he
gave himself to it; as St. Paul, when he commended himself, called it a
weakness, and desired to be borne with in his
foolishness,
2 Cor. xi. 1.
He sought to lay hold on folly, to see the utmost that that
folly would do towards making men happy; but he had like to have
carried the jest (as we say) too far. He resolved that the folly should
not take hold of him, not get the mastery of him, but he would lay hold
on it, and keep it at a distance; yet he found it too hard for him.
3. He took care at the same time to acquaint himself with
wisdom, to manage himself wisely in the use of his pleasures, so
that they should not do him any prejudice nor disfit him to be a
competent judge of them. When he drew his flesh with wine he
led his heart with wisdom (so the word is), kept up his pursuits
after knowledge, did not make a sot of himself, nor become a slave to
his pleasures, but his studies and his feasts were foils to each other,
and he tried whether both mixed together would give him that
satisfaction which he could not find in either separately. This Solomon
proposed to himself, but he found it vanity; for those that
think to give themselves to wine, and yet to acquaint their hearts with
wisdom, will perhaps deceive themselves as much as those do that think
to serve both God and mammon. Wine is a mocker; it is a great
cheat; and it will be impossible for any man to say that thus far he
will give himself to it and no further.
4. That which he aimed at was not to gratify his appetite, but to find
out man’s happiness, and this, because it pretended to be so, must be
tried among the rest. Observe the description he gives of man’s
happiness–it is that good for the sons of men which they should do
under the heaven all their days.
(1.) That which we are to enquire after is not so much the good we must
have (we may leave that to God), but the good we must do; that ought to
be our care. Good Master, what good thing shall I do? Our
happiness consists not in being idle, but in doing aright, in being
well employed. If we do that which is good, no doubt we shall
have comfort and praise of the same.
(2.) It is good to be done under the heaven, while we are here
in this world, while it is day, while our doing time lasts. This is our
state of work and service; it is in the other world that we must expect
the retribution. Thither our works will follow us.
(3.) It is to be done all the days of our life. The good we are
to do we must persevere in the doing of to the end, while our doing
time lasts, the number of the days of our life (so it is in the
margin); the days of our life are numbered to us by him in whose hand
our times are and they are all to be spent as he directs. But that any
man should give himself to wine, in hopes to find out in that the best
way of living in this world, was an absurdity which Solomon here, in
the reflection, condemns himself for. Is it possible that this should
be the good that men should do? No; it is plainly very bad.
III. Perceiving quickly that it was folly to give himself to wine, he
next tried the most costly entertainments and amusements of princes and
great men. He had a vast income; the revenue of his crown was very
great, and he laid it out so as might most please his own humour and
make him look great.
1. He gave himself much to building, both in the city and in the
country; and, having been at such vast expense in the beginning of his
reign to build a house for God, he was the more excusable if afterwards
he pleased his own fancy in building for himself; he began his work at
the right end
(Matt. vi. 33),
not as the people
(Hag. i. 4),
that ceiled their own houses while God’s lay waste, and
it prospered accordingly. In building, he had the pleasure of employing
the poor and doing good to posterity. We read of Solomon’s buildings
and they were all great works, such as became his purse, and
spirit, and great dignity. See his mistake; he enquired after the
good works he should do
(v. 3),
and, in pursuit of the enquiry, applied himself to great works.
Good works indeed are truly great, but many are reputed great
works which are far from being good, wondrous works which are not
gracious,
2. He took to love a garden, which is to some as bewitching as
building. He planted himself vineyards, which the soil and
climate of the land of Canaan favoured; he made himself fine
gardens and orchards
(v. 5),
and perhaps the art of gardening was no way inferior then to what it is
now. He had not only forests of timber-trees, but trees of all kinds
of fruit, which he himself had planted; and, if any worldly
business would yield a man happiness, surely it must be that which Adam
was employed in while he was in innocency.
3. He laid out a great deal of money in water-works, ponds, and canals,
not for sport and diversion, but for use, to water the wood that
brings forth trees
(v. 6);
he not only planted, but watered, and then left it to God to give the
increase. Springs of water are great blessings
(Josh. xv. 19);
but where nature has provided them art must direct them, to make them
serviceable,
4. He increased his family. When he proposed to himself to do great
works he must employ many hands, and therefore procured servants
and maidens, which were bought with his money, and of those he
had servants born in his house,
v. 7.
Thus his retinue was enlarged and his court appeared more magnificent.
See
5. He did not neglect country business, but both entertained and
enriched himself with that, and was not diverted from it either by his
studies or by his pleasures. He had large possessions of great and
small cattle, herds and flocks, as his father had before him
not forgetting that his father, in the beginning, was a keeper of
sheep. Let those that deal in cattle neither despise their employment
nor be weary of it, remembering that Solomon puts his having
possessions of cattle among his great works and his
pleasures.
6. He grew very rich, and was not at all impoverished by his building
and gardening, as many are, who, for that reason only, repent it, and
call it vanity and vexation. Solomon scattered and yet
increased. He filled his exchequer with silver and gold, which
yet did not stagnate there, but were made to circulate through his
kingdom, so that he made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones
nay, he had the segullah, the peculiar treasure of kings and of the
provinces, which was, for richness and rarity, more accounted of
than silver and gold. The neighbouring kings, and the distant
provinces of his own empire, sent him the richest presents they had, to
obtain his favour and the instructions of his wisdom.
7. He had every thing that was charming and diverting, all sorts of
melody and music, vocal and instrumental, men-singers and
women-singers, the best voices he could pick up, and all the wind
and band-instruments that were then in use. His father had a genius for
music, but it should seem he employed it more to serve his devotion
than the son, who made it more for his diversion. These are called
the delights of the sons of men; for the gratifications of sense
are the things that the generality of people set their affections upon
and take the greatest complacency in. The delights of the children of
God are of quite another nature, pure, spiritual, and heavenly, and the
delights of angels.
8. He enjoyed, more than ever any man did, a composition of rational
and sensitive pleasures at the same time. He was, in this respect,
great, and increased more than all that were before him, that he
was wise amidst a thousand earthly enjoyments. It was strange, and the
like was never met with,
(1.) That his pleasures did not debauch his judgment and conscience. In
the midst of these entertainments his wisdom remained with him,
v. 9.
In the midst of all these childish delights he preserved his spirit
manly, kept the possession of his own soul, and maintained the dominion
of reason over the appetites of sense; such a vast stock of wisdom had
he that it was not wasted and impaired, as any other man’s would have
been, by this course of life. But let none be emboldened hereby to lay
the reins on the neck of their appetites, presuming that they may do
that and yet retain their wisdom, for they have not such a strength of
wisdom as Solomon had; nay, and Solomon was deceived; for how did
his wisdom remain with him when he lost his religion so far as
to build altars to strange gods, for the humouring of his strange
wives? But thus far his wisdom remained with him that he was
master of his pleasures, and not a slave to them, and kept himself
capable of making a judgment of them. He went over into the enemies’
country, not as a deserter, but as a spy, to discover the nakedness
of their land.
(2.) Yet his judgment and conscience gave no check to his pleasures,
nor hindered him from exacting the very quintessence of the delights of
sense,
It might be objected against his judgment in this matter that if his
wisdom remained with him he could not take the liberty that was
necessary to a full experimental acquaintance with it: “Yea,” said he,
“I took as great a liberty as any man could take, for whatsoever my
eyes desired I kept not from them, if it could be compassed by
lawful means, though ever so difficult or costly; and as I withheld
not any joy from my heart that I had a mind to, so I withheld
not my heart from any joy, but, with a non-obstante–with the
full exercise of my wisdom, I had a high gust of my pleasures,
relished and enjoyed them as much as ever any Epicure did;” nor was
there any thing either in the circumstances of his condition or in the
temper of his spirit to sour or embitter them, or give them any alloy.
In short,
[1.] He had as much pleasure in his business as ever any man had: My
heart rejoiced in all my labour; so that the toil and fatigue of
that were no damp to his pleasures.
[2.] He had no less profit by his business. He met with no
disappointment in it to give him any disturbance: This was my
portion of all my labour; he had this added to all the rest of his
pleasures that in them he did not only see, but eat, the labour of his
hands; and this was all he had, for indeed it was all he could expect,
from his labours. It sweetened his business that he enjoyed the success
of it, and it sweetened his enjoyments that they were the product of
his business; so that, upon the whole, he was certainly as happy as the
world could make him.
9. We have, at length, the judgment he deliberately gave of all this,
When the Creator had made his great works he reviewed them, and
behold, all was very good; every thing pleased him. But when
Solomon reviewed all his works that his hands had wrought with
the utmost cost and care, and the labour that he had laboured to
do in order to make himself easy and happy, nothing answered his
expectation; behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit; he
had no satisfaction in it, no advantage by it; there was no profit
under the sun, neither by the employments nor by the enjoyments of
this world.
| Superiority of Wisdom to Folly. | |
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12 And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and
folly: for what can the man do that cometh after the king?
even that which hath been already done.
13 Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light
excelleth darkness.
14 The wise man’s eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh
in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth
to them all.
15 Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it
happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said
in my heart, that this also is vanity.
16 For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the
fool for ever; seeing that which now is in the days to come
shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the
fool.
Solomon having tried what satisfaction was to be had in learning first,
and then in the pleasures of sense, and having also put both together,
here compares them one with another and passes a judgment upon
them.
I. He sets himself to consider both wisdom and folly. He had considered
these before
(ch. i. 17);
but lest it should be thought he was then too quick in passing a
judgment upon them, he here turns himself again to behold them, to see
if, upon a second view and second thoughts, he could gain more
satisfaction in the search than he had done upon the first. He was sick
of his pleasures, and, as nauseating them, he turned from them, that he
might again apply himself to speculation; and if, upon this rehearing
of the cause, the verdict be still the same, the judgment will surely
be decisive; for what can the man do that comes after the king?
especially such a king, who had so much of this world to make the
experiment upon and so much wisdom to make it with. The baffled trial
needs not be repeated. No man can expect to find more satisfaction in
the world than Solomon did, nor to gain a greater insight into the
principles of morality; when a man has done what he can still it is
that which has been already done. Let us learn,
1. Not to indulge ourselves in a fond conceit that we can mend that
which has been well done before us. Let us esteem others better than
ourselves, and think how unfit we are to attempt the improvement of
the performances of better heads and hands than ours, and rather own
how much we are beholden to them,
2. To acquiesce in Solomon’s judgment of the things of this world, and
not to think of repeating the trial; for we can never think of having
such advantages as he had to make the experiment nor of being able to
make it with equal application of mind and so little danger to
ourselves.
II. He gives the preference to wisdom far before folly. Let none
mistake him, as if, when he speaks of the vanity of human literature,
he designed only to amuse men with a paradox, or were about to write
(as a great wit once did) Encomium moriæ–A panegyric in praise of
folly. No, he is maintaining sacred truths, and therefore is
careful to guard against being misunderstood. I soon saw (says
he) that there is an excellency in wisdom more than in folly, as
much as there is in light above darkness. The pleasures of wisdom,
though they suffice not to make men happy, yet vastly transcend the
pleasures of wine. Wisdom enlightens the soul with surprising
discoveries and necessary directions for the right government of
itself; but sensuality (for that seems to be especially the folly here
meant) clouds and eclipses the mind, and is as darkness to it; it puts
out men’s eyes, makes them to stumble in the way and wander out of it.
Or, though wisdom and knowledge will not make a man happy (St. Paul
shows a more excellent way than gifts, and that is grace), yet
it is much better to have them than to be without them, in respect of
our present safety, comfort, and usefulness; for the wise man’s eyes
are in his head
(v. 14),
where they should be, ready to discover both the dangers that are to be
avoided and the advantages that are to be improved; a wise man has not
his reason to seek when he should use it, but looks about him and is
quick-sighted, knows both where to step and where to stop; whereas
the fool walks in darkness, and is ever and anon either at a
loss, or at a plunge, either bewildered, that he knows not which way to
go, or embarrassed, that he cannot go forward. A man that is discreet
and considerate has the command of his business, and acts decently and
safely, as those that walk in the day; but he that is rash, and
ignorant, and sottish, is continually making blunders, running upon one
precipice or other; his projects, his bargains, are all foolish, and
ruin his affairs. Therefore get wisdom, get understanding.
III. Yet he maintains that, in respect of lasting happiness and
satisfaction, the wisdom of this world gives a man very little
advantage; for,
1. Wise men and fools fare alike. “It is true the wise man has very
much the advantage of the fool in respect of foresight and insight, and
yet the greatest probabilities do so often come short of success that
I myself perceived, by my own experience, that one event
happens to them all
(v. 14);
those that are most cautious of their health are as so on sick as those
that are most careless of it, and the most suspicious are imposed
upon.” David had observed that wise men die, and are involved in
the same common calamity with the fool and the brutish person,
See
Nay, it has of old been observed that Fortune favours fools, and
that half-witted men often thrive most, while the greatest projectors
forecast worst for themselves. The same sickness, the same sword,
devours wise men and fools. Solomon applies this mortifying observation
to himself
(v. 15),
that though he was a wise man, he might not glory in his wisdom; I
said to my heart, when it began to be proud or secure, As it
happens to the fool, so it happens to me, even to me; for thus
emphatically it is expressed in the original: “So, as for me, it
happens to me. Am I rich? So is many a Nabal that fares as sumptuously
as I do. Is a foolish man sick, does he get a fall? So do I, even
I; and neither my wealth nor my wisdom will be my security. And
why was I then more wise? Why should I take so much pains to get
wisdom, when, as to this life, it will stand me in so little stead?
Then I said in my heart that this also is vanity.” Some make
this a correction of what was said before, like that
(Ps. lxx. 10),
“I said, This is my infirmity; it is my folly to think that wise
men and fools are upon a level;” but really they seem to be so, in
respect of the event, and therefore it is rather a confirmation of what
he had before said, That a man may be a profound philosopher and
politician and yet not be a happy man.
2. Wise men and fools are forgotten alike
(v. 16):
There is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool. It is
promised to the righteous that they shall be had in everlasting
remembrance, and their memory shall be blessed, and they
shall shortly shine as the stars; but there is no such promise
made concerning the wisdom of this world, that that shall perpetuate
men’s names, for those names only are perpetuated that are written
in heaven, and otherwise the names of this world’s wise men are
written with those of its fools in the dust. That which now is in
the days to come shall all be forgotten. What was much talked of in
one generation is, in the next, as if it had never been. New persons
and new things jostle out the very remembrance of the old, which in a
little time are looked upon with contempt and at length quite buried in
oblivion. Where is the wise? Where is the disputer of this
world?
1 Cor. i. 20.
And it is upon this account that he asks, How dies the wise man? As
the fool. Between the death of a godly and a wicked man there is a
great difference, but not between the death of a wise man and a fool;
the fool is buried and forgotten
(ch. viii. 10),
and no one remembered the poor man that by his wisdom delivered the
city
(ch. ix. 15);
so that to both the grave is a land of forgetfulness; and wise
and learned men, when they have been awhile there out of sight, grow
out of mind, a new generation arises that knew them not.
| Sources of Dissatisfaction; The Cheerful Use of Abundance. | |
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17 Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought
under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and
vexation of spirit.
18 Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun:
because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.
19 And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool?
yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have
laboured, and wherein I have shewed myself wise under the sun.
This is also vanity.
20 Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all
the labour which I took under the sun.
21 For there is a man whose labour is in wisdom, and in
knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that hath not laboured
therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is
vanity and a great evil.
22 For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of
his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun?
23 For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea,
his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.
24 There is nothing better for a man, than that he should
eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in
his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.
25 For who can eat, or who else can hasten hereunto, more
than I?
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.
Business is a thing that wise men have pleasure in. They are in their
element when they are in their business, and complain if they be out of
business. They may sometimes be tired with their business, but they are
not weary of it, nor willing to leave it off. Here therefore one would
expect to have found the good that men should do, but Solomon tried
this too; after a contemplative life and a voluptuous life, he betook
himself to an active life, and found no more satisfaction in it than in
the other; still it is all vanity and vexation of spirit, of
which he gives an account in these verses, where observe,
I. What the business was which he made trial of; it was business
under the sun
(v. 17-20),
about the things of this world, sublunary things, the riches, honours,
and pleasures of this present time; it was the business of a king.
There is business above the sun, perpetual business, which is
perpetual blessedness; what we do in conformity to that business (doing
God’s will as it is done in heaven) and in pursuance of that
blessedness, will turn to a good account; we shall have no reason to
hate that labour, nor to despair of it. But it is labour under the
sun, labour for the meat that perishes
that Solomon here speaks of with so little satisfaction. It was the
better sort of business, not that of the hewers of wood and drawers
of water (it is not so strange if men hate all that labour), but it
was in wisdom, and knowledge, and equity,
v. 21.
It was rational business, which related to the government of his
kingdom and the advancement of its interests. It was labour managed by
the dictates of wisdom, of natural and acquired knowledge, and the
directions of justice. It was labour at the council-board and in the
courts of justice. It was labour wherein he showed himself wise
(v. 19),
which as much excels the labour wherein men only show themselves strong
as the endowments of the mind, by which we are allied to angels, do
those of the body, which we have in common with the brutes. That which
many people have in their eye more than any thing else, in the
prosecution of their worldly business, is to show themselves
wise, to get the reputation of ingenious men and men of sense and
application.
II. His falling out with this business. He soon grew weary of it.
1. He hated all his labour, because he did not meet with that
satisfaction in which he expected. After he had had his fine houses,
and gardens, and water-works, awhile, he began to nauseate them, and
look upon them with contempt, as children, who are eager for a toy and
fond of it at first, but, when they have played with it awhile, are
weary of it, and throw it away, and must have another. This expresses
not a gracious hatred of these things, which is our duty, to love them
less than God and religion
(Luke xiv. 26),
nor a sinful hatred of them, which is our folly, to be weary of the
place God has assigned us and the work of it, but a natural hatred of
them, arising from a surfeit upon them and a sense of disappointment in
them.
2. He caused his heart to despair of all his labour
(v. 20);
he took pains to possess himself with a deep sense of the vanity of
worldly business, that it would not bring in the advantage and
satisfaction he had formerly flattered himself with the hopes of. Our
hearts are very loth to quit their expectations of great things from
the creature; we must go about, must fetch a compass, in arguing with
them, to convince them that there is not that in the things of this
world which we are apt to promise ourselves from them. Have we so often
bored and sunk into this earth for some rich mine of satisfaction, and
found not the least sign or token of it, but been always frustrated in
the search, and shall we not at length set our hearts at rest and
despair of ever finding it?
3. He came to that, at length, that he hated life itself
(v. 17),
because it is subject to so many toils and troubles, and a constant
series of disappointments. God had given Solomon such largeness of
heart, and such vast capacities of mind, that he experienced more than
other men of the unsatisfying nature of all the things of this life and
their insufficiency to make him happy. Life itself, that is so precious
to a man, and such a blessing to a good man, may become a burden to a
man of business.
III. The reasons of this quarrel with his life and labours. Two things
made him weary of them:–
1. That his business was so great a toil to himself: The work that
he had wrought under the sun was grievous unto him,
v. 17.
His thoughts and cares about it, and that close and constant
application of mind which was requisite to it, were a burden and
fatigue to him, especially when he grew old. It is the effect of a
curse on that we are to work upon. Our business is said to be the
work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord had
cursed
and of the weakening of the faculties we are to work with, and of the
sentence pronounced on us, that in the sweat of our face we must eat
bread. Our labour is called the vexation of our heart
(v. 22);
it is to most a force upon themselves, so natural is it to us to love
our ease. A man of business is described to be uneasy both in his
going out and his coming in,
v. 23.
(1.) He is deprived of his pleasure by day, for all his days are
sorrow, not only sorrowful, but sorrow itself, nay, many sorrows
and various; his travail, or labour, all day, is grief. Men of business
ever and anon meet with that which vexes them, and is an occasion of
anger or sorrow to them. Those that are apt to fret find that the more
dealings they have in the world the oftener they are made to fret. The
world is a vale of tears, even to those that have much of it.
Those that labour are said to be heavy-laden, and are
therefore called to come to Christ for rest,
(2.) He is disturbed in his repose by night. When he is overcome
with the hurries of the day, and hopes to find relief when he lays his
head on his pillow, he is disappointed there; cares hold his eyes
waking, or, if he sleep, yet his heart wakes, and that takes no
rest in the night. See what fools those are that make themselves
drudges to the world, and do not make God their rest; night and day
they cannot but be uneasy. So that, upon the whole matter, it is all
vanity,
v. 17.
This is vanity in particular
(v. 19, 23),
nay, it is vanity and a great evil,
v. 21.
It is a great affront to God and a great injury to themselves,
therefore a great evil; it is a vain thing to rise up early
and sit up late in pursuit of this world’s goods, which were never
designed to be our chief good.
2. That the gains of his business must all be left to others. Prospect
of advantage is the spring of action and the spur of industry;
therefore men labour, because they hope to get by it; if the
hope fail, the labour flags; and therefore Solomon quarrelled
with all the works, the great works, he had made, because they would
not be of any lasting advantage to himself.
(1.) He must leave them. He could not at death take them away with him,
nor any share of them, nor should he return any more to them
(Job vii. 10),
nor would the remembrance of them do him any good,
But I must leave all to the man that shall be after me, to the
generation that comes up in the room of that which is passing away. As
there were many before us, who built the houses that we live in, and
into whose purchases and labours we have entered, so there shall be
many after us, who shall live in the houses that we build, and enjoy
the fruit of our purchases and labours. Never was land lost for want
of an heir. To a gracious soul this is no uneasiness at all; why should
we grudge others their turn in the enjoyments of this world, and not
rather be pleased that, when we are gone, those that come after us
shall fare the better for our wisdom and industry? But to a worldly
mind, that seeks for its own happiness in the creature, it is a great
vexation to think of leaving the beloved pelf behind, at this
uncertainty.
(2.) He must leave them to those that would never have taken so much
pains for them, and will there by excuse himself from taking any pains.
He that raised the estate did it by labouring in wisdom, and
knowledge, and equity; but he that enjoys it and spends it (it may
be) has not laboured therein
(v. 21),
and, more than that, never will. The bee toils to maintain the drone.
Nay, it proves a snare to him: it is left him for his portion,
which he rests in, and takes up with; and miserable he is in being put
off with it for a portion. Whereas, if an estate had not come to him
thus easily, who knows but he might have been both industrious and
religious? Yet we ought not to perplex ourselves about this, since it
may prove otherwise, that what is well got may come to one that will
use it well and do good with it.
(3.) He knows not whom he must leave it to (for God makes heirs), or at
least what he will prove to whom he leaves it, whether a wise
man or a fool, a wise man that will make it more or a fool that
will bring it to nothing; yet he shall have rule over all my
labour, and foolishly undo that which his father wisely did. It is
probable that Solomon wrote this very feelingly, being afraid what
Rehoboam would prove. St Jerome, in his commentary on this passage,
applies this to the good books which Solomon wrote, in which he had
shown himself wise, but he knew not into whose hands they would fall,
perhaps into the hands of a fool, who, according to the perverseness of
his heart, makes a bad use of what was well written. So that, upon the
whole matter, he asks
(v. 22),
What has man of all his labour? What has he to himself and to
his own use? What has he that will go with him into another world?
IV. The best use which is therefore to be made of the wealth of this
world, and that is to use it cheerfully, to take the comfort of it, and
do good with it. With this he concludes the chapter,
There is no true happiness to be found in these things. They are
vanity, and, if happiness be expected from them, the
disappointment will be vexation of spirit. But he will put us in
a way to make the best of them, and to avoid the inconveniences he had
observed. We must neither over-toil ourselves, so as, in pursuit of
more, to rob ourselves of the comfort of what we have, nor must we
over-hoard for hereafter, nor lose our own enjoyment of what we have to
lay it up for those that shall come after us, but serve ourselves out
of it first. Observe,
1. What that good is which is here recommended to us; and which is the
utmost pleasure and profit we can expect or extract from the business
and profit of this world, and the furthest we can go to rescue it from
its vanity and the vexation that is in it.
(1.) We must do our duty with them, and be more in care how to use an
estate well, for the ends for which we were entrusted with it, than how
to raise or increase an estate. This is intimated
where those only are said to have the comfort of this life who
are good in God’s sight, and again, good before God,
truly good, as Noah, whom God saw righteous before him. We must
set God always before us, and give diligence in every thing to approve
ourselves to him. The Chaldee-paraphrase says, A man should
make his soul to enjoy good by keeping the commandments of God and
walking in the ways that are right before him, and
(v. 25)
by studying the words of the law, and being in care about the day of
the great judgment that is to come.
(2.) We must take the comfort of them. These things will not make a
happiness for the soul; all the good we can have out of them is for the
body, and if we make use of them for the comfortable support of that,
so that it may be fit to serve the soul and able to keep pace with it
in the service of God, then they turn to a good account. There
is therefore nothing better for a man, as to these things,
than to allow himself a sober cheerful use of them, according as his
rank and condition are, to have meat and drink out of them for himself,
his family, his friends, and so delight his senses and make his soul
enjoy good, all the good that is to be had out of them; do not lose
that, in pursuit of that good which is not to be had out of them. But
observe, He would not have us to give up business, and take our ease,
that we may eat and drink; no, we must enjoy good in our
labour; we must use these things, not to excuse us from, but to
make us diligent and cheerful in, our worldly business.
(3.) We must herein acknowledge God; we must see that it is
from the hand of God, that is,
[1.] The good things themselves that we enjoy are so, not only
the products of his creating power, but the gifts of his providential
bounty to us. And then they are truly pleasant to us when we
take them from the hand of God as a Father, when we eye his wisdom
giving us that which is fittest for us, and acquiesce in it, and taste
his love and goodness, relish them, and are thankful for them.
[2.] A heart to enjoy them is so; this is the gift of God’s grace.
Unless he give us wisdom to make a right use of what he has, in his
providence, bestowed upon us, and withal peace of conscience, that we
may discern God’s favour in the world’s smiles, we cannot make our
souls enjoy any good in them.
2. Why we should have this in our eye, in the management of ourselves
as to this world, and look up to God for it.
(1.) Because Solomon himself, with all his possessions, could aim at no
more and desire no better
(v. 25):
“Who can hasten to this more than I? This is that which I was
ambitious of: I wished for no more; and those that have but little, in
comparison with what I have, may attain to this, to be content with
what they have and enjoy the good of it.” Yet Solomon could not obtain
it by his own wisdom, without the special grace of God, and therefore
directs us to expect it from the hand of God and pray to him for it.
(2.) Because riches are a blessing or a curse to a man according as he
has or has not a heart to make good use of them.
[1.] God makes them a reward to a good man, if with them he give him
wisdom, and knowledge, and joy, to enjoy them cheerfully himself
and to communicate them charitably to others. To those who are good
in God’s sight, who are of a good spirit, honest and sincere, pay a
deference to their God and have a tender concern for all mankind,
God will give wisdom and knowledge in this world, and joy with the
righteous in the world to come; so the Chaldee. Or he will give
that wisdom and knowledge in things natural, moral, political, and
divine, which will be a constant joy and pleasure to them.
[2.] He makes them a punishment to a bad man if he denies him a heart
to take the comfort of them, for they do but tantalize him and
tyrannize over him: To the sinner God gives by travail, by
leaving him to himself and his own foolish counsels, to gather and
to heap up that, which, as to himself, will not only burden him
like thick clay
(Hab. ii. 6),
but be a witness against him and eat his flesh as it were fire
(Jam. v. 3);
while God designs, by an overruling providence, to give it to him that
is good before him; for the wealth of the sinner is laid up
for the just, and gathered for him that will pity the poor.
Note, First, Godliness, with contentment, is great gain; and
those only have true joy that are good in God’s sight,
and that have it from him and in him. Secondly, Ungodliness is
commonly punished with discontent and an insatiable covetousness, which
are sins that are their own punishment. Thirdly, When God gives
abundance to wicked men it is with design to force them to a
resignation in favour of his own children, when they are of age and
ready for it, as the Canaanites kept possession of the good land till
the time appointed for Israel’s entering upon it.
[3.] The burden of the song is still the same: This is also vanity
and vexation of spirit. It is vanity, at the best, even to the good
man; when he has all that the sinner has scraped together it will not
make him happy without something else; but it is vexation of
spirit to the sinner to see what he had laid up enjoyed by him that
is good in God’s sight, and therefore evil in his. So that, take
it which way you will, the conclusion is firm, All is vanity and
vexation of spirit.
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