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Tag Archives: patience

The two sorts of trouble in this world

12 Tuesday Sep 2017

Posted by memoirandremains in affliction, Hope, trial, Uncategorized

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Affliction, Hope, patience, Pilgrim's Progress, Suffering, Trial

In Pilgrim’s Progress, Apollyon stops Christian and seeks to turn him aside from the way. One argument which Apollyon presses is the sheer difficulty of seeking to follow after Christ in this world,

Consider again, when thou art in cool blood, what thou art like to meet with in the way that thou goest. Thou knowest that for the most part his servants come to an ill end, because they are transgressors against me and my ways. How many of them have been put to shameful deaths! And besides, thou countest his service better than mine; whereas he never yet came from the place where he is, to deliver any that served him out of their enemies’ hands: but as for me, how many times, as all the world very well knows, have I delivered, either by power or fraud, those that have faithfully served me, from him and his, though taken by them! And so will I deliver thee.

John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress: From This World to That Which Is to Come. As Jesus says, “In the world you will have tribulation.” John 16:33.

The Beatitudes which begin the Sermon on the Mount list out poor of spirit, mourning, meekness, hungering and thirsting (after righteousness), showing mercy and making peace, capped with two promises of persecution: first to the first persecuted, then he shifts and says “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.”

The Church is sent out as lambs among wolves. And, this side of the age to come, there is little promise of respite.However, there is a comfort in all of this.

There are two evils which come from trouble: first there is the trouble itself, second there is the response to the trouble. We can do very little with the first trouble: the world is cursed and a grave stands at the end of every life. For those who seek to follow Christ, there is often an extra measure of trouble. These troubles are largely unavoidable.

But the second trouble comes from how we think about the first.

We have many difficulties which we undertake willingly to bring about a better end. A joint replacement surgery is quite painful (from what is reported), but the end result is worth the pain. Therefore, the pain is not experienced as an unmitigated tragedy, but as a moment to be endured for a better end. We encourage children with school by pointing to the good of an education. Athletes undergo great privation to compete.

This evil which comes from the response to the unavoidable trials of life brings the greatest pain and sorrow. When we look through the first trial to see the end, we can persevere and endure. We are commend to look “to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross”. Jesus lived through the cross for the good that would result.

It is hope which makes helps us to endure sorrow. We can afford to mourn, for we shall be comforted. We can afford the cost of showing mercy and making peace, because we shall receive mercy and be brought into God’s family. This will require hope and expectation and patience. But our hope and patience will be well rewarded.

Edward Polhill, Patience Endures and Even Conquers in Suffering and Affliction

29 Thursday Jun 2017

Posted by memoirandremains in affliction, Edward Polhill, Uncategorized

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1 Corinthians 10:13, A Preparation for Suffering, A Preparation for Suffering in an Evil Day, Endurance, James 1:4, patience, Suffering

The previous post in this series may be found here

The tenth thing needed to bear “an evil day” is patience.  Patience has a peculiar bearing to the evil day:

We are not only to do other commands by obedience, but, when providence calls us to it, we are to do that of taking up the cross by patience. Other graces may help to bear the cross, but patience takes it up upon his back. It is its proper peculiar office ὑπομἐνειν, to make a man abide piously under the cross.

Polhill first considers what patience is to the patient Christian, himself. (It must be noted that the word “patience” as used by Polehill in the 17th Century is similar in many respects to the word “endurance.”)

First, in patience “makes a christian possess his soul, (Luke 21:19)”. The Christian’s trouble is not truly in the outward world — that is in the Lord’s control. The Christian in patience must bear and still himself.  “All the powers in earth and hell cannot put him out of the possession of himself, or hinder his graces from coming forth into act—he will be like himself in his suffering.”

Second, in patience the Christian conquers the world. Even death cannot conquer the Christian (Rom. 9:35-37). But the Christian by patience conquers the world, because the world cannot over come the patient Christan whose hope is set upon Christ.

Third, patience takes its contentment from God — therefore, present sufferings cannot take away from the best part. Moreover, in that very patience there is a sweetness from God. James says that such patience leave one “perfect and entire”. James 1:4

Considered Godward, Polehill makes three observations about patienc.

First, patience is submission to the will of God: God is God and therefore, who am I to rebel?

Patience subjects the soul to the will of God; when the cross comes, the patient Christian’s will, with Aaron, hold their peace; or if they speak, they will do it in some such language as that of Eli, “It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good.” Patience will instruct them to lie in the lowest posture of humility, and to argue the matter with themselves in this manner: Is God the rector of the world, and shall we not subject to him? His presence is in all, his power is over all, his wisdom and righteousness orders all. Who can stay his hand, or say to him, what dost thou? or call him to give account of any of his matters? To strive with him is folly; to murmur at any piece of his government is rebellion; to think that things might have been better, is to blaspheme his wise and just providence; and is he the Father of spirits, and shall we not be under him? We give reverence to the fathers of our flesh, and now much rather should we be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?

Second, patience knows that the strength to endure comes from God. Patience is a very faithful activity:

Patience waits upon God for strength to bear the cross, and for a good issue out of it: we have both these promised in that of the apostle,” God will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation make a way to escape,” (1 Cor. 10:13). In the first clause we have a promise of strength proportionable to the temptation; in the last, we have a promise of a good issue out of it. First, patience waits upon God for strength to bear the cross; this is the right method of obtaining strength: “Wait on the Lord, and he shall strengthen thy heard,” (Psa. 27:14). Strength comes in a way of dependance upon God.

And then patience looks to God for the best outcome:

True patience waits upon God for strength; but this is not all, it also waits upon God for a good issue out of the suffering; salvation belongs unto the Lord, and he gives many good issues to his suffering people: if they have an increase of graces and comforts, that is one good issue: if they hold out and persevere to the end, that is another good issue: if by death they pass from the cross to the crown, from a temporal life to an eternal one, that is the best issue of all: for such issues as these do patient souls wait, till the Lord put an end to all their troubles.

Finally, patience for the Christian is not a bear stoicism. Christian patience is one of joy and praise:

 “Count it all joy, when ye fall into divers temptations,” (Jam. 1:2); that is, when ye fall into afflictions for the gospel. All joy? how can poor afflicted souls reckon thus? In the trial their graces appear in their pure beauty; strength is made perfect in weakness; consolations abound as much, nay, more than afflictions; the beams of divine love irradiate the heart, and fill it with a sweet serenity; hope enters heaven, and fixes upon the crown of life, and heaven comes down in a spirit of glory upon the heart. Here is joy, all joy indeed; the total sum of it in this life is made up in these things. It was the saying of the martyr, Mr. Philpot, “That to die for Christ is the greatest promotion that God can bring any unto in this vale of misery; yea, so great a honour as the greatest angel in heaven is not permitted to have.” It was the prayer of Mr. Bradford, the martyr: “God forgive me my unthankfulness for this exceeding great mercy, that among so many thousands, he chooseth me to be one in whom he will suffer. It was the observation of one of the ancients, “That it was peculiar to christians to give thanks in adversity.” Jews and Gentiles can praise God for benefits, but the patient christian can thank him for afflictions. O! let us labour after patience, that we may not only suffer for Christ, but do it with joy. Thus our Saviour directs his persecuted ones; “Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven,” (Matt. 5:12). Inward and outward joys are very proper in suffering saints, because then they are arrived at the highest pitch of Christianity, and ready to enter into the blessed heaven, there to enjoy God for ever and ever.

 

Edward Polhill, The Works of Edward Polhill (London: Thomas Ward and Co., 1844), 354–356.

The Spiritual Chymist: Meditation 16

25 Friday Sep 2015

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling, Discipleship, Eschatology, Meditaiton

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Eschatology, patience, Prayer, Puritan, The Spiritual Chy, William Spurstowe

Upon a Lamp and a Star

(From William Spurstowe’s Spiritual Chymist, 1666

 

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Such is the disparity between a Lamp and a Star, as that happily it may not a little be wondered at, why I should make a joint meditation of them which are so greatly distant in respect of place, and far more in respect of quality: the one being an earthly, and the other a heavenly body?

What is a lamp or a star in regard of influence, duration or beauty? Haw it any quickening rays flowing from it? Or is its light immortal,s o as not become despised by expiring? Can it dazzle the beholder with its serene luster and leave such impressions of itself upon the eye, as may render it for a time blind to any other objects?

Alas! These are too high and noble effects for such a feeble and uncertain light to produce, and property only to those glorious bodies that sine in the firmament.

But yet this great inequality between the one and the other serves to make them both more meet emblems of the offering estate of believes in this and the other life, who is Scripture — while they are on this side of heaven — are compared to wise virgins with lamps burning; and when they come to heaven, to start shining, which endure for ever and ever.

Grace in the best of saints is not perfect, but must, like a lamp, be fed with new supplies that it go not out; and be often trimmed that it be not dim. Ordinances are as necessary to Christians in this life as manna to the Israelites in the wilderness (though in Canaan it ceased). And therefore, God appointed his Word and Sacraments to drop continually upon the hearts of his children, as the two olive trees upon the golden candlestick.

What mean then those fond conceits of perfectists, who dream of living above all subsidiary helps and judge ordinances as useless to them, as oil for a star or snuffing of the sun to make it shine more brightly [treating the stars and sun like oil burning lamps]?

It is true, when we come to heaven such things will be of no more use to our souls, than meat or drink will be to our bodies; but yet while we are earth, the body cannot live without the one, nor the soul without the other.

Do thou therefore, Holy God,
Preserve in me a due sense of my impotency and wants
Whose light is fading,
As well as borrowed;
That so I may daily suck supplies from thee
And acknowledge that I live not only by grace received
But by grace renewed
And while I am in this life
Have light only as a lamp in the Temple
Which must be fed and trimmed
And not as a star in Heaven

Falling Round About You

03 Friday Jul 2015

Posted by memoirandremains in affliction, James, Submission, temptation, Thomas Goodwin

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James, James 1, patience, Thomas Goodwin, Trials

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When you fall into [trials], as into a pit and snare, and so they falling round about you; so as you have nothing to stand or lean upon, but all about you fails with you and under you, so as in all outward appearance ye are sunk and overwhelmed with the ruins. In this case to ‘count it all joy,’ to shout as men in harvest, or that have gotten great spoils; when their miseries are so great that they cannot be endured, that yet their joy must be so great as more cannot be expressed; this is the hardest duty that ever was required of the distressed hearts of men. And yet God would not require it if it were not attainable; and it is attainable by no other principles but of Christianity. And argues that our Christian religion, which is the only true wisdom, ver. 5, hath so spiritful and sovereign a virtue in it that it is able to raise spirits up unto thus high and glorious a pitch and perfection in this life.

Thomas Goodwin, Patience and Its Perfect Work

Shepherds Conference 2015, Session 2

04 Wednesday Mar 2015

Posted by memoirandremains in 2 Timothy, Preaching

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2 Timothy 4, Alister Begg, Inerrancy, patience, Preaching, Scripture, Shepherds Conference 2015

Alister Begg

All of you out their are thinking: Oh, I wish I were him … so that I could follow MacArthur and proceed Sproul.

2 Timothy 4:1 et seq.

Title is borrowed from Spurgeon’s sermon, “Christ and his co-workers.” The lion out of his cage. Let the lion and see who will dare approach him.

“Let the Lion Out”

The absolute priority of preaching. For what Timothy believes about the Scriptures will become apparent in his preaching.

Paul is not telling Timothy something new about the Scripture. Rather, Paul was reminding Timothy of a truth that he dare not forget.

The Scriptures are inspired, reliable, sufficient.

Paul writes that he was deserted and they will/may desert you. There was nothing from a human perspective that would give one to know that the church would survive to the second generation.

Timothy was working a context of confusion: moral and doctrinal, what to do and what to believe.

His charge
His challenge
Display of character

Continue reading →

The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment.5 Contentment is the frame of the heart.

07 Thursday Nov 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling, Contentment, Jeremiah Burroughs, Psalms

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Contentment, Heart Work, Jeremiah Burroughs, patience, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment

The previous post in this series may be found here: https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2013/11/05/the-rare-jewel-of-christian-contentment-4/

Contentment is a gracious frame of spirit. “Contentment is a soul business.” By “frame of spirit”, Burroughs means that contentment suffuses throughout the soul and touches every aspect. It is not merely a contentment in this place or this time, it is a frame of the spirit which upholds the whole, just as a frame upholds a house:

That it is a grace that spreads itself through the whole soul. It is in the judgment, that is, the judgment of the soul of a man or woman tends to quiet the heart-in my judgment I am satisfied. It is one thing to be satisfied in one’s judgment and understanding, so as to be able to say, ‘This is the hand of God, and is what is suitable to my condition or best for me.

Although I do not see the reason for the thing, yet I am satisfied in my judgment about it.’ Then it is in the thoughts of a man or woman. As my judgment is satisfied, so my thoughts are kept in order, so that it goes through the whole soul.

Note how Burroughs understands and explains the process of learning contentment. It is often the case that we think contentment should just happen to us—a thunderbolt from a blue sky, like “falling in love”. However, Burroughs explains that the state of contentment does not just come about from no apparent source. Contentment flows from our understanding, our judgment about a  circumstance.

Contentment is thus the result of theology: We rightly understand God, God’s goodness and sovereignty, and thus experience contentment as a result of that judgment.

Since contentment is a learned status, it is often partial. We face a trial and know we should experience contentment , but the corruption and chaos of sin still stirs and disturbs the heart:

Many a man may be satisfied in his judgment about a thing who cannot for his life rule his affections, nor his thoughts, nor his will. I do not doubt that many of you know this in your own experience, if you observe the workings of your own hearts.

To prove the point, Burroughs gives the example of Psalm 42, David contests with his soul,

O my soul, why art though disquieted?

Burroughs explains the status thus:

Sometimes, a great deal of disturbance is involved in getting contentment into people’s judgments, that is, to satisfy their judgment about their condition. If you come to many, whom the hand of God is upon perhaps in a grievous manner, and seek to satisfy them and tell them they have no cause to be so disquieted, ‘Oh, no cause?’ says the troubled spirit, ‘then there is no cause for anyone to be disquieted. There has never been such an affliction as I have.’ And they have a hundred things with which to evade the force of what is said to them, so that you cannot so much as get at their judgments to satisfy them. But there is a great deal of hope of attaining contentment, if once your judgments are satisfied, if you can sit down and say in your judgment, ‘I see good reason to be contented.’ Yet even when you have got so far, you may still have much to do with your hearts afterwards. There is such unruliness in our thoughts and affections that our judgments are not always able to rule our thoughts and affections. That is what makes me say that contentment is an inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit-the whole soul, judgment, thoughts, will, affections and all are satisfied and quiet. I suppose that merely in opening this subject you begin to see that it is a lesson that you need to learn, and that if contentment is like this then it is not easily obtained.

We must understand the difficulty of becoming content, learning contentment, seeking contentment.  If we do not understand that contentment results from effort, we will suffer greater harm for our lack of contentment. A poor disturbed soul may be troubled  by some problem and then think, I am greatly distressed by this thing and should be content! He then become even more troubled and feels guilt for a lack of contentment.

But if we remember contentment is learned, we will be patient as we seek contentment.

The thing we seek is not a contentment which we put on, like clothing; but a contentment which arises from the heart, from the frame of our soul.  The contentment becomes part of what we are as a human being:

It is the thing you bring that quiets them, not the disposition of their own spirits, not any good temper in their own hearts, but the external thing you bring them. But when a Christian is content in the right way, the quiet comes more from the temper and disposition of his own heart than from any external argument or from the possession of anything in the world.

Rather than being a fire which warms us when we are cold, it is our natural warmth which keeps us whole despite the cold.

We can also think of this contentment as a habit of the soul:

Contentment is not merely one act, just a flash in a good mood. You find many men and women who, if they are in a good mood, will be very quiet. But this will not hold. It is not a constant course. It is not the constant tenor of their spirits to be holy and gracious under affliction.

 

Contentment is “the frame of the heart.”

The Crook in the Lot (Revised).2

27 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling, Discipleship, Obedience, Preaching, Thomas Boston

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2 Corinthians 13:5-9, 2 Kings 10:12, 2 Samuel 11:1-2, 2 Samuel 12:9–10, Affliction, Amos 1:3–5, Biblical Counseling, Crook, Discipleship, Ecclesiastes 2:11–12, Endurance, Faith, faith, Jeremiah 2:19, Jeremiah 3:12–13, Job 33:17, Laziness, Luke 15:17, Luke 4:13, Mark 10:17–22, Obedience, patience, Patience, Preaching, Proverbs 10:1–7, Proverbs 1:17–19, Psalm 119:67, Psalm 32:3–5, Self-denial, temptation, The Crook in the Lot, Thomas Boston, Thomas Brooks, Trial, tribulation

The first entry can be found here:

https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/the-crook-in-the-lot-revised-1/

Why Does God Make Crooks?

            First, to test our state to see whether we are in the faith or not?

5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! 6 I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. 7 But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. 8 For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. 9 For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for. 2 Corinthians 13:5–9 (ESV)

An example of such a trial of faith may be seen in Job’s life. Satan denies that Job is what he seems. Job’s friends then accuse Job of hypocrisy. Or in the matter of the Israelites in the wilderness: God left in need and want to try their faith – at which they grumbled. But Joshua and Caleb persevered in trial.

The rich young ruler came to Jesus and sought the key to eternal life, at which point Jesus uncovered the hypocrisy of his life:

17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ ” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Mark 10:17–22 (ESV)

The young man would not submit to the crook of God at that point. He was his own master in the end. Would not agree to God’s determination but rather sought his desires.

            Second, to wean us from this world and seek the happiness of the age to come. 

            When Hamlet realizes that he must revenge his father’s death and thus bring his own life into jeopardy, Hamlet turns on his love Ophelia to send her away. He brings pain into her life to drive her to a better life.

            In the same way, God will lay crooks across our lot to drive us off from a sinful love of this world. Our hearts are so prone to make idols of comforts and seek an endless life in a land of death, that God will lay crooks upon that we may see the foolishness of our grasping.  Pain in this life can wake us to the reality of this age and force us to seek a true and lasting happiness.

            This is the great theme of the first six chapters of Ecclesiastes: there is nothing truly satisfying to be had here. Even when Solomon had gained the whole world he had realized he had nothing:

11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun. 12 So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done. Ecclesiastes 2:11–12 (ESV)

Thus, the pain of the crook contains its blessing.

The Prodigal Son, when he could drink deeply of the pleasures he could buy had no thoughts of home. Only when pain began to invade his life did he “come to himself” (Luke 15:17).

            We are built to seek rest and happiness, yet in foolishness and sloth we easily seek permanent rest in temporary things. God lays a crook across rest and the straight path of comfort we sought becomes twisted and painful. Like a thorn in our pillow, it pricks us to consciousness and we seek a better rest. Thus, God uses the crook to set us off on the errand of seeking him.

            The pain of the crook is one of the great mercies God shows those who are his.

            Third, the crook brings us to see our sin: the sting awakes us to conviction.  This is a great theme of the prophet:

12 Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, “ ‘Return, faithless Israel, declares the LORD. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the LORD; I will not be angry forever. 13 Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the LORD your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, declares the LORD. Jeremiah 3:12–13 (ESV)

It is the realization of the Psalmist:

Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. Psalm 119:67 (ESV)

Sin contains its own poison, and often as we continue in unrepentant sin we feel the sting and corruption of sin:

3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah 5 I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah Psalm 32:3–5 (ESV)

There is a point here which must be made clear: Sin is of such great evil that any suffering is better than any sin. Our Lord in love remained obedient to the Father’s will and suffered death – but the Lord would not in the least instance sin. This is not to say that sorrow, suffering, trial and tribulation are small things – rather the comparison magnifies the evil of sin. 

            Fourth, God may bring the crook as the punishment for sin.

            This is of two sorts. God may simply bring a judgment upon a sin. For example, David sinned in the matter of Uriah and Uriah’s wife. Although God forgave David’s sin – that is, David was not damned for his fault – correction came:

9 Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ 2 Samuel 12:9–10 (ESV)

God sent punishment upon nations:

3 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. 4 So I will send a fire upon the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad. 5 I will break the gate-bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from Beth-eden; and the people of Syria shall go into exile to Kir,” says the LORD.Amos 1:3–5 (ESV)

            A second way in which sin brings punishment is that consequence is often inherent in sin:

17 For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird, 18 but these men lie in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives. 19 Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors. Proverbs 1:17–19 (ESV)

This principle of sowing and reaping, sowing sin and reaping the consequneces of sin run throughout Proverbs:

1 The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother. 2 Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death. 3 The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked. 4 A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. 5 He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame. 6 Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. 7 The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot. Proverbs 10:1–7 (ESV)

As the Lord warns through the prophet Jeremiah:

Your evil will chastise you, and your apostasy will reprove you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the LORD your God; the fear of me is not in you, declares the Lord GOD of hosts. Jeremiah 2:19 (ESV)

            Fifth, God lays crooks across our lot to bar us from sin.  It is the sorry fact that people have been ruined by wealth.  Access to money leaves us free to our own devices; while a tighter budget may keep us from indulging in some sin.  There are many people who can thank the crook in their lot for keeping them from sin. Sin always seeks opportunity. It was the devil who left Jesus until an opportune time (Luke 4:13). The Lord may act to keep a man from evil, “that he may turn aside from his deed” (Job 33:17). Such preventing grace is a great good to the Christian – though crossing flesh may be painful for the moment.

            Hazael could not kill until he was king (2 Kings 10:12). David did not lust after Uriah’s wife until he gained ease and was at rest as king (2 Samuel 11:1-2).  Ease and comfort make way for sin.  We make think our crook of labor all of trouble – but it may very well protect us from sin:

It was the speech of Mr Greenham, sometimes a famous and painful preacher of this nation, that when the devil tempted a poor soul, she came to him for advice how she might resist the temptation, and he gave her this answer: ‘Never be idle, but be always well employed, for in my own experience I have found it. When the devil came to tempt me, I told him that I was not at leisure to hearken to his temptations, and by this means I resisted all his assaults.’ Idleness is the hour of temptation, and an idle person is the devil’s tennis-ball, tossed by him at his pleasure.

‘He that labours,’ said the old hermit, ‘is tempted but by one devil, but he that is idle is assaulted by all.’

 

 

Thomas Brooks, The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks, Volume 2, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; G. Herbert, 1866), 278.

            Sixth, a crook may expose the sin which lay hidden in our heart.  A temptation does not put sin into the heart; rather a temptation or trial merely draws sin out of the heart.  A temptation punctures the heart and lets the corruption within pour out. Thus, a crook may expose the sin we harbor:

1 “The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. Deuteronomy 8:1–2 (ESV)

We do not know impatience, until our desire is delayed. We do not know our anger until our will is denied. 

            Consider Moses: the meekest man on earth (Numbers 12:3), also harbored a strike of pride and anger which was only exposed when the people again demanded water from him (Numbers 20:13; Psalm 106:32-33).

            Now such crossing is a positive good to the believer, for sin being exposed can be repented of. David complains, “Who can know his errors? Declare me innocent of hidden faults”(Psalm 19:12).  Often pride covers a mass of sin which cowers unexposed until a suitable season. Such a mass of sin poisons our heart, though we do not see it distinctly. Therefore, exposure of such sin does us much good – if only in the humility which it brings to us.

            Seventh, the crook in our lot gives us grounds to exercise the grace of God.  There are many graces which we cannot exercise until faced with trials. We cannot exercise our faith until we must wait upon the Lord. We cannot exercise patience, until we do not receive that for which we hope. We cannot bear with one another until live with those who fail.

            This was a thing true of our Lord:

For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. Hebrews 2:10 (ESV)

Now if this is true of our Lord, it must be true of us:

16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. Romans 8:16–17 (ESV)

The crook in our lot, the suffering we face does us good. Not for the suffering itself, but for the end it obtains:

3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5:3–5 (ESV)

In fact, such trials will not merely do us good for the present, but eternal good:

6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ., 1 Peter 1:6–7 (ESV)

More On Patience

22 Friday Feb 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in George Muller, Ministry, Prayer, Study

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Arthur Pierson, Christian Ministry, George Muller, George Muller of Bristol, Ministry, patience, Patience, Prayer, Study, Wisdom

“The one thing needful was therefore to have sought through much prayer and Bible study to get first of all a deeper knowledge and a deeper experience of divine things. Impatience to settle a matter so important was itself seen to be a positive disqualification for true service, revealing unfitness to endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. There is a constant strain and drain on patient waiting which is a necessary feature of missionary trial and particularly the trial of deferred harvests. One who, at the outset, could not brook delay in making his first decision, and wait for God to make known His will in His own way and time, would not on the field have had long patience as a husbandman, waiting for the precious fruit of his toil, or have met with quietness of spirit the thousand perplexing problems of work among the heathen!”

Excerpt From: Arthur Tappan Pierson. “George Müller of Bristol.”

Patience and Minisry

22 Friday Feb 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in Church History, George Muller, Ministry, Prayer

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Abraham, Arthur Pierson, Church History, Decision Making, faith, George Muller, George Muller of Bristol, God's Timing, Luke 24, Ministry, Moses, patience, Patience, Paul, Prayer, Wisdom

Pierson’s biography of Muller is wonderful — not only for the charm with which he relates Muller’s life, but also for the lessons which he continually draws from God’s working with Muller. Here is a lesson drawn from the difficulty of decision making. Muller was in a hurry to get busy with some missionary and so resorted to a lottery ticket to determine his future plans! Pierson writes:

“he who would work with God must first wait on Him and wait for Him, and that all undue haste in such a matter is worse than waste. He who kept Moses waiting forty years before He sent him to lead out captive Israel, who withdrew Saul of Tarsus three years into Arabia before he sent him as an apostle to the nations, and who left even His own Son thirty years in obscurity before His manifestation as Messiah—this God is in no hurry to put other servants at work. He says to all impatient souls : “My time is not yet full come, but your time is always ready.”

When one looks at God’s dealings with his people, it seems that God has a habit of coming too late: Abraham must wait too long for Isaac. Joseph must wait too long for God to restore his family. The Israelites must wait too long for Moses — and Moses must wait 40 years in the desert. The Israelites must wait too long on the shore of the Red Sea. God is never rushed, never in a hurry, never in need of human action.

Consider the work of Christ. The followers of Jesus thought God had waited so long that the ministry of Jesus had actually failed:

13 That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem,
14 and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened.
15 While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.
16 But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
17 And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad.
18 Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
19 And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,
20 and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him.
21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.

Luke 24:13-21.

And so, Pierson notes this proposition illustrated in Muller’s life. The Christian, when faced with a decision must pray and wait and not fret that God will take too long. Patience with God’s timing is a necessary mark of faith. And thus, the faithful Christian must pray and exercise patience:

“He learned two lessons, which new dealings of God more and more deeply impressed:
First, that the safe guide in every crisis is believing prayer in connection with the word of God;
Secondly, that continued uncertainty as to one’s course is a reason for continued waiting.
These lessons should not be lightly passed over, for they are too valuable. The flesh is impatient of all delay, both in decision and action; hence all carnal choices are immature and premature, and all carnal courses are mistaken and unspiritual. God is often moved to delay that we may be led to pray, and even the answers to prayer are deferred that the natural and carnal spirit may be kept in check and self-will may bow before the will of God.”

Excerpt From: Arthur Tappan Pierson. “George Müller of Bristol.” James Nisbet. iBooks.
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Translation and Notes Ecclesiastes 7:7-14

30 Wednesday Jan 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in 1 Peter, 1 Timothy, Biblical Counseling, Discipleship, Ecclesiastes, Hebrew, Obedience, Submission

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1 Peter, 1 Timothy, Affliction, anger, Biblical Counseling, bribery, corruption, Discipleship, Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes 7, Hebrew, Hebrew Translation, nostalgia, Obedience, Oppression, patience, Resignation, Self-denial, Submission, Thankfulness, vexation

Ecclesiastes 7:7–14 (BHS/WHM 4.2)

7כִּ֥י הָעֹ֖שֶׁק יְהוֹלֵ֣ל חָכָ֑ם וִֽיאַבֵּ֥ד אֶת־לֵ֖ב מַתָּנָֽה׃8ט֛וֹב אַחֲרִ֥ית דָּבָ֖ר מֵֽרֵאשִׁית֑וֹ ט֥וֹב אֶֽרֶךְ־ר֖וּחַ מִגְּבַהּ־רֽוּחַ׃9אַל־תְּבַהֵ֥ל בְּרֽוּחֲךָ֖ לִכְע֑וֹס כִּ֣י כַ֔עַס בְּחֵ֥יק כְּסִילִ֖ים יָנֽוּחַ׃10אַל־תֹּאמַר֙ מֶ֣ה הָיָ֔ה שֶׁ֤הַיָּמִים֙ הָרִ֣אשֹׁנִ֔ים הָי֥וּ טוֹבִ֖ים מֵאֵ֑לֶּה כִּ֛י לֹ֥א מֵחָכְמָ֖ה שָׁאַ֥לְתָּ עַל־זֶֽה׃11טוֹבָ֥ה חָכְמָ֖ה עִֽם־נַחֲלָ֑ה וְיֹתֵ֖ר לְרֹאֵ֥י הַשָּֽׁמֶשׁ׃12כִּ֛י בְּצֵ֥ל הַֽחָכְמָ֖ה בְּצֵ֣ל הַכָּ֑סֶף וְיִתְר֣וֹן דַּ֔עַת הַֽחָכְמָ֖ה תְּחַיֶּ֥ה בְעָלֶֽיהָ׃13רְאֵ֖ה אֶת־מַעֲשֵׂ֣ה הָאֱלֹהִ֑ים כִּ֣י מִ֤י יוּכַל֙ לְתַקֵּ֔ן אֵ֖ת אֲשֶׁ֥ר עִוְּתֽוֹ׃14בְּי֤וֹם טוֹבָה֙ הֱיֵ֣ה בְט֔וֹב וּבְי֥וֹם רָעָ֖ה רְאֵ֑ה גַּ֣ם אֶת־זֶ֤ה לְעֻמַּת־זֶה֙ עָשָׂ֣ה הָֽאֱלֹהִ֔ים עַל־דִּבְרַ֗ת שֶׁלֹּ֨א יִמְצָ֧א הָֽאָדָ֛ם אַחֲרָ֖יו מְאֽוּמָה׃

 

One great source of unhappiness in the world, a copious and perennial spring of bitter waters, is discontent,—dissatisfaction with the situation, as to time, place, and circumstances, in which Divine providence has placed us.

Ralph Wardlaw, Lectures on the Book of Ecclesiastes, Volume 1 (London; Glasgow: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; Wardlaw and Cunninghame, 1821), 344.

This entire section seems to tie together by examining one’s response to the brokenness of the world in light of the sovereignty of God. In effect,   Qoheleth turns the argument from harm on its head. While the skeptic argues how can God permit evil? Qoheleth presumes harm because we are on this side of the Fall – which brought on death. We are always unhappy where God has placed us, because God has placed us on this side of the Fall.

The overarching move of the book is to force out of any false comfort, any belief that the creature can make us happy or that death can be avoided. Thus, having told us to solemnly acknowledge our status, Qoheleth next rules out any complaint or avoidance of the implications. We may and should enjoy kindness which God has provided to alleviate our sorrow; but, we must not think God can be avoided. We must humbly receive what he has given:

6 But godliness with contentment is great gain, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. 1 Timothy 6:6–10 (ESV)

 

 

VERSE 7:

 

7כִּ֥י הָעֹ֖שֶׁק יְהוֹלֵ֣ל חָכָ֑ם וִֽיאַבֵּ֥ד אֶת־לֵ֖ב מַתָּנָֽה׃

For oppression/brutality/extortion makes foolish a wise man,

And it destroys his heart, a gift/bribe.

134. כִּי Surely (Eng. Vers.), or But (M. Stuart). הָעשֶׁק, see 5:7: Gesenius and Lee say it is here put by meton. for unjust gain, conf. Levit. 5:23; Ps. 62:11: the Eng. Vers. oppression may mean either that practised by the wise man, or of which he is the object, and sees others to suffer. יְהוֹלֵל makes foolish, or mad,a Poel Imperf. (§ 55, Rem. 1), conf. 1:17, LXX., περιφέρει. Desvœux and Holden render it, “gives lustre to,” and suppose allusion to be made to the beneficial effects of affliction when rightly borne, and that these are contrasted in the next clause with the injurious effect of prosperity, the gift of fortune: but rather the term refers here to the injurious effect of power on a wise man, who is tempted to its abuse;b see, e.g., the contrast between the character of Tiberius before, and after, his accession to power, Tacit. Annal. vi. 51. וִיאַבֵּד contrac. for וִיְאַבֵּד conf. ver. 3, Piel Imperf. “destroys,” i.e., corrupts (Gesen. Lex.), lit., causes to go astray, from אָבַד to be lost, to wander, 3:6; though mas. it has here a fem. subj., as is often the case when the verb precedes (§ 147, a). מַתָּנָה a gift, here a bribe, i.q., שֹׁחַד, Ex. 23:8. M. Stuart remarks that in Arabic Hakem (= חָכָם) means magistrate, and that not improbably it does so in this passage, for it is the corruption of a judge to which the gift (bribery) refers. Bribery was expressly forbidden by the Mosaic Law, Ex. 23:8; Deut. 16:19.c

J. Lloyd, An Analysis of the Book of Ecclesiastes: With Reference to the Hebrew Grammar of Gesenius, and With Notes Critical and Explanatory (London: Samuel Bagster and Sons, 1874), 89.

This is an interesting but confusing proverb – how does abusing a wiseman make him foolish? Fredricks writes:

I surmise that the wise is not the victim here but instead is the one guilty of extortion. Even the wise can sin (7:20) and stoop to intimidating another person physically, emotionally, legally or even ecclesiastically. This could include requesting or implying that a bribe be made by another to receive a favorable action, as well as offering a bribe oneself to derail someone else from justice. But the result is the shattered heart of the wise person whose conscience is still not calloused enough to remain unaffected by the abuse of any leverage.

Fredricks, Ecclesiastes, 169. The mere act of sin has a destructive effect upon the one who engages in it – this makes much more sense both theologically and psychologically. Similarly:

The reason is here assigned why the happiness of fools is so short. They work their own ruin. Sin deprives them of their understanding, and when that has vanished destruction cannot be far off. First the mens sana is lost, and then follows ruin. First the soul dies out, and afterwards the body is cast on the flaying ground. Parallel is Proverbs 15:27, “he that is greedy of gain destroyeth his own house, and he that hateth gifts shall live.” For oppression maketh the wise man mad. עשק, “oppression,” as exercised by the Persian tyrants (Psalm 62:10). Oppression befools, makes mad: every tyranny has a demoralizing influence on him who wields it; it deadens all higher intelligence, and takes away consequently the preservative against destruction. “The wise man” here is not one who is still such, but who ought to be, and might be, and has in part been such. “The wise man”—so might the Persian still be designated at the time of Cyrus. And a gift destroyeth the heart. Under oriental tyrannies everything was to be had for presents. According to the parallel, “befools, makes mad,” the heart is brought under consideration as the seat of the understanding: compare Jeremiah 4:9, “and it shall come to pass at that day that the heart of the king shall perish and the heart of the princes,” that is, they shall lose their prudence, their power of reflection.

 

E. W. Hengstenberg, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, trans. D. W. Simon (Philadelphia; New York; Boston: Smith, English, & Co.; Sheldon and Company; Gould and Lincoln, 1860), 164-65.

 

Favors and gifts blind the eyes of the wise; like a muzzle on the mouth they stop reproofs. Sirach 20:29 (NRSV)

 

Whoever is greedy for unjust gain troubles his own household, but he who hates bribes will live. Prov 15:27

 

A bribe is like a magic stone in the eyes of the one who gives it; wherever he turns he prospers. Prov 17:8

 

The wicked accepts a bribe in secret to pervert the ways of justice. Prov 17:23

 

A gift in secret averts anger, and a concealed bribe, strong wrath. Prov 21:14

 

15 He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil, 16 he will dwell on the heights; his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks; his bread will be given him; his water will be sure. Isaiah 33:15–16 (ESV)

And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right. Exodus 23:8 (ESV)

 

But the evil falls back upon the oppressor himself. One selfish principle naturally begets another. The act of oppression is often traced to the gift tendered as the price of the oppression—destroying his heart—blotting out every principle of moral integrity, rendering him callous to suffering, and deaf to the claims of justice. (Prov. 17:23.) Good reason was there for the Mosaic veto, restraining the influence of gifts. (Exod. 23:8; Deut. 16:19.) There is indeed peril on both sides. Tyranny forces to irrational conduct; bribery to lack of feeling. The standard of the Bible is the only security. “He that ruleth over men must be just—ruling in the fear of God.” (2 Sam. 23:3.) When the Bible is reverenced as the Book of God—the sole rule of faith and practice, “a man’s wisdom will make his face to shine” (Chap. 8:1); and godliness will enrich the land with the precious fruit of “whatsoever things are honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report.” (Philip. 4:8.)

Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Ecclesiastes (New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1860), 182.

IT is evident, that what is said, in the first of these verses, of the tendency of oppression to “make a wise man mad,” may be understood either of the suffering or of the exercise of oppression.—The former, it is needless to prove, serves to fret, and harass, and exasperate the spirit; so that there are not wanting instances, in which men, even eminent in reputation for wisdom, have, by its long continuance, by their being the constant victims of injustice, privation, insult, and violence, been worked up to a pitch of absolute phrenzy; have given way, after long and difficult restraint, to the burst of ungovernable indignation, and have acted the part of madness, rather than of considerate sobriety.—Moses, describing the unrighteous oppression which, amongst other curses, should befall the Israelites under the Divine visitation for their sins, concludes in these words:—“Thy sons and thy daughters (shall be) given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look and fail for them all the day long; and (there shall be) no might in thy hand. The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway: so that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.”*

I am disposed, however, to understand the expression in the passage before us, as relating to the oppressor, rather than to the oppressed. The possession of power carries in it a strong temptation to its abuse; a temptation before which even men who had borne a previous character for wisdom, have not seldom fallen. And when a man, even a wise man, exalted to power, once gives way before the tempting inducements to its corrupt employment, the very exercise of oppression tends to infatuate and bewilder him. It blinds his judgment, it perverts his principles, it hardens his heart, it changes his character. A contention arises in his bosom between the love of power, with the profit of its abuse, on the one hand, and the remonstrances and upbraidings of conscience, on the other. The reluctance too, so mighty in human nature, to own an error, produces a passionate impatience of reproof and counsel, which is proportionally the more vehement, as he is inwardly sensible he is wrong. This state of mind drives him forward to measures of new violence; the very opposition of conscience, reacting, as an irritating stimulus, in the contrary direction, the anger at its torturing remonstrances producing a desperate effort to silence and to banish them; as when a man, to show his indignant scorn of rebuke, repeats his fault more offensively than before. One step leads on to another; till his conduct, losing all the characteristics of wisdom, becomes like that of a man bereft of reason, and swayed by the derangement of passion.

One of the reasons for preferring this interpretation of the former part of the verse, is its affording so clear a connection with the latter:—“and a gift destroyeth the heart.”—“A gift” is a bribe to oppression. The taking of gifts was prohibited by the law of Moses, on account of the same corrupting tendency that is here ascribed to them. The man, indeed, who consents to receive a gift, known to be bestowed with such an intention, is already corrupted. “Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment. Thou shalt not wrest judgment: thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous. That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”*—“A gift destroyeth the heart.” It operates as a temptation. It undermines the principles of impartial equity, and deadens the feelings of humanity and mercy. It perverts the moral sentiments, and leads to the wo denounced on the man who “calls evil good, and good evil, who puts darkness for light, and light for darkness.”

 

Ralph Wardlaw, Lectures on the Book of Ecclesiastes, Volume 1 (London; Glasgow: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; Wardlaw and Cunninghame, 1821), 335-38.

 

 

VERSE 8a:

ט֛וֹב אַחֲרִ֥ית דָּבָ֖ר מֵֽרֵאשִׁית֑וֹ

Better is the end of a thing, than its beginning[1]

The construction is a standard better than construction (tob +mem + noun).

Interestingly, the words “end” and “beginning” are both plural, which the word “thing” (dabar, word, thing, matter) & the personal pronoun “its” are singular. Seow writes that it is possible that the original reading was a plural “matters” (the m which would mark matters as plural was dropped by the proximity to m which begins the next word). However, he rejects that possibility on two grounds: (1) the pronominal suffix at the end of “beginning” is singular (its); and (2) the LXX also has a singular pronoun, autou. Since the possessive pronoun refers back to “thing/matter”, the noun must have been singular also.

Dabar, thing may mean “word”. The LXX has logos (word) at the translation.  Lloyd

135. This verse is connected with the foregoing, and recommends to wait patiently, and see how oppression turns out in the end, rather than haughtily to resent it. דָּבָר a business, or a thing (Eng. Vers.), i.e., the oppression just spoken of. This rendering suits the context better than the λόγων of the LXX., orationis, Vulg., which Le Clerc, Grotius, and Gousset explain of strife and contention. As a general truth the saying is applicable to every affliction which is sanctified to us; see Heb. 12:11; 1 Pet. 1:6, 7, and conf. Job 1. with Job 42:12.

 

J. Lloyd, An Analysis of the Book of Ecclesiastes: With Reference to the Hebrew Grammar of Gesenius, and With Notes Critical and Explanatory (London: Samuel Bagster and Sons, 1874), 90. Similarly, Stuart:

What he means is, that the end of this matter of oppressing will show at last the true state of the thing; and that it is better to wait—to exercise forbearance of mind, than haughtily to resent the injuries received. We might expect קֹצְררוּחַ, hastiness of spirit, in contrast with אֶרֶךְרוּחַ. But haughtiness is the passion which most and quickest of all resents oppression, being very sensitive to indignity. The caution is, not to move too hastily in such a matter, but to wait, and see how it will turn out in the sequel.

 

Moses Stuart, A Commentary on Ecclesiastes (New York: George P. Putnam, 1851), 211.

 

 

VERSE 8b:

ט֥וֹב אֶֽרֶךְ־ר֖וּחַ מִגְּבַהּ־רֽוּחַ׃

Better is (one) long in spirit than one high (proud) of spirit.

Long of spirit is an idiom which means patient. Compare Exodus 9:6, “shortness of spirit” means impatience. Longmen suggests, “Better long patience than soaring pride” (187).

Discussing the connection the two halves of the verse, Longmen writes, “R.N. Whybray has suggested a plausible connection between the two parts of the verse: ‘self-control is needed to carry though any project.’ I would go on tot add that on one can know the outcome of anything until it is completed, patience not pride is called for, the latter presuming to control the future or outcome. Crenshaw quoted the proverb in 2 Kings 20:11: ‘Let not the person putting on armor brag like the one taking it off.”” (188).

To wait calmly for the result of an action, not to be hasty in arraigning Providence, is the part of a patient man; while the proud, inflated, conceited man, who thinks all must be arranged according to his notions, is never resigned or content, but rebels against the ordained course of events. “In your patience ye shall win your souls,” said Christ (Luke 21:19);

Ecclesiastes, ed. H. D. M. Spence-Jones, The Pulpit Commentary (London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1909), 158.

1 The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD. 2 All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirit. 3 Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established. 4 The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble. Proverbs 16:1–4 (ESV)

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:6–7 (ESV)

 

 

VERSE 9a:

אַל־תְּבַהֵ֥ל בְּרֽוּחֲךָ֖ לִכְע֑וֹס

Do not be quick/terrified in your spirit to be vexed

 

VERSE 9b:

כִּ֣י כַ֔עַס בְּחֵ֥יק כְּסִילִ֖ים יָנֽוּחַ׃

For  vexation in the fold of fools it rests/settles down.

On the subject of anger St. Gregory writes, “As often as we restrain the turbulent motions of the mind under the virtue of mildness, we are essaying to return to the likeness of our Creator. For when the peace of mind is lashed with anger, torn and rent, as it were, it is thrown into confusion, so that it is not in harmony with itself, and loses the force of the inward likeness. By anger wisdom is parted with, so that we are left wholly in ignorance what to do; as it is written, ‘Anger resteth in the bosom of a fool,’ in this way, that it withdraws the light of understanding, while by agitating it troubles the mind” (‘Moral.,’ v. 78).

Ecclesiastes, ed. H. D. M. Spence-Jones, The Pulpit Commentary (London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1909), 158.

As noted in the previous section’s notes, כַ֔עַס   denotes the response to foolishness or vexation. The fool responds too quickly, too easily:

8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8 (ESV)

Fredricks:

These two (vs. 8-9) ‘better than’ phrase interpret each other and imply that if one patiently waits until the end of certain matters, withholding judgment, one’s patience will prove wiser than jumping to self-centered conclusions at the start. Thus the verse supports the earlier contention that there is a season for everything ….. (170).

Ver. 9. Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry. The anger or wrath is to be conceived as directed against God and the evil doers favoured by Him, that is, in this present case, against the heathen; compare Psalm 37:1, 2, 8. For anger resteth in the bosom of fools, who only look at the present and at once fall into error with regard to God and his providence if things go otherwise than in their view they ought to do. It is folly to fix the attention only on that which lies directly before our eyes, to speak wisdom in presence of the good fortune of the wicked: “as grass shall they be cut down, and as the green herb shall they wither,” and, “evil doers shall be rooted out, but they that wait on the Lord shall possess the land.” If we only do not make haste to be angry, the Lord will in his own good time remove all occasions to wrath out of the way. As the Berleburger Bible says: “blessed, on the contrary, is he who in all the events of life maintains a calm patience, equips himself with a spirit of humble submissiveness and magnanimous contentment, accommodates himself to good and evil times alike, and ever derives strength and quickening from the petition,—“thy will be done.”

E. W. Hengstenberg, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, trans. D. W. Simon (Philadelphia; New York; Boston: Smith, English, & Co.; Sheldon and Company; Gould and Lincoln, 1860), 166.

 

VERSE 10:

אַל־תֹּאמַר֙ מֶ֣ה הָיָ֔ה שֶׁ֤הַיָּמִים֙ הָרִ֣אשֹׁנִ֔ים הָי֥וּ טוֹבִ֖ים מֵאֵ֑לֶּה

 Do not say why were the days, the first ones, they were best (better than) these

כִּ֛י לֹ֥א מֵחָכְמָ֖ה שָׁאַ֥לְתָּ עַל־זֶֽה׃

For (it is) not from wisdom that you ask unto this.

שָׁאַלְתָּ has here a subjunctive signification, thou wouldst not ask, as is evident from the context, which alone must decide it, since the indicative form of the verb is used to express the different moods. The construction of שָׁאַל with עַל־ only occurs once more in later Hebrew (Nehem. 1:2), in the earlier stages of the language it is construed with לְ (Gen. 43:7). זֶה, these, refers to הַיָּמִיםהָרִאשֹׁנִים, as is evident from the preposition עַל, concerning, after. The paraphrastic rendering of the Vulgate, (STULTA ENIM EST HUJUSCEMODI INTERROGATION), which is followed by Luther (denn du fragst solches nicht weislich), Coverdale and the Bishops’ Bible (“for that were no wise question”), the Geneva Version and the Authorised Version (“for thou doest not enquire wisely of this thing or concerning this”), and most commentators, refers שָׁאַלְתָּעַל־זֶה to the question מֶההָיָח, and thereby confounds it with שָׁאַלְתָּ־זֶה.

Christian D. Ginsburg, Coheleth, Commonly Called the Book of Ecclesiastes: Translated from the Original Hebrew, With a Commentary, Historical and Critical (London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1861), 375.

 

 

The same impatience leads a man to disparage the present in comparison with a past age.

Ecclesiastes, ed. H. D. M. Spence-Jones, The Pulpit Commentary (London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1909), 158.

 

מֵחָכְמָ֖ה

“With verbs of speaking and looking, min often means ‘out of’” (Seow, 239).

 

VERSE 11:

11טוֹבָ֥ה חָכְמָ֖ה עִֽם־נַחֲלָ֑ה וְיֹתֵ֖ר לְרֹאֵ֥י הַשָּֽׁמֶשׁ׃

Good is wisdom with an inheritance, and an advantage to those who see the sun.

The difficulty here is the word ‘im’ which may mean either “with” or “as” (Wisdom is as good as an inheritance).  The “im” is translated “as” in Ecclesiastes 2:16 (For of the wise as of the fool). Seow cites Job 9:26 & 1 Chronicles 25:8  as examples of ki/im parallel mean like/the same as.  The ESV/NASB95/KJV take the ‘im’ as “with”. The NIV/NRSV/NET take is as a comparative.

Verse 11a should be translated, “Wisdom, with an inheritance, is good.”165 Even the wise prefer prosperity to poverty. Those who possess both money and wisdom are under the protection of both.166 The superiority of wisdom, however, is that it guides one through difficult times and thus preserves life. Money, to the contrary, often vanishes in hard times.

Duane A. Garrett, vol. 14, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1993), 321.

 

 

VERSE 12:

12כִּ֛י בְּצֵ֥ל הַֽחָכְמָ֖ה בְּצֵ֣ל הַכָּ֑סֶף

For in a shade/shadow of wisdom, in a shade/shadow of silver

Gordis suggests reading the בּ  as  כִּ  “the protection of wisdom is like the protection of silver” (Gordis, 274); or as wisdom & wealth are a “double” protection (ibid).

literally, in the shade is wisdom, in the shade is money; Septuagint, Ὅτι ἐν σκιᾷ αὐτῆς ἡ σοφία ὡς σκιὰ ἀργυρίου, “For in its shadow wisdom is as the shadow of money.” Symmachus has, Σκέπει σοφία ὡς σκέπει τὸ ἀργύριον, “Wisdom shelters as money shelters.” The Vulgate explains the obscure text by paraphrasing, Sicut enim protegit sapientia, sic protegit pecunia. Shadow, in Oriental phrase, is equivalent to protection (see Numb. 14:9; Ps. 17:8; Lam. 4:20). Wisdom as well as money is a shield and defence to men. As it is said in one passage (Prov. 13:8) that riches are the ransom of a man’s life, so in another (Ch. 9:15) we are told how wisdom delivered a city from destruction. The literal translation given above implies that he who has wisdom and he who has money rest under a safe protection, are secure from material evil. In this respect they are alike, and have analogous claims to man’s regard. But the excellency—profit, or advantage—of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it. “Knowledge” (daath) and “wisdom” (chokmah) are practically here identical, the terms being varied for the sake of poetic parallelism.

Ecclesiastes, ed. H. D. M. Spence-Jones, The Pulpit Commentary (London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1909), 159.

Fredricks takes the beths as “beth essentia” and translate the line, “wisdom is a shadow – money is a shadow.” Similarly Lloyd:

The sentence is regarded as proverbial, and is expressed, like most proverbs, briefly. Others, as Hitzig and M. Stuart, consider בְּ before צֵל to be בְּ essentiœ, or pleonastic, and not translateable, which serves to introduce the predicate, see Gesen. Lex. (D) p. 99, and Gram. § 154, 3, 2nd par. γ, conf. ver. 14; thus Symm., σκέπει σοφία ὡς σκέπει τὸ ἀργύριον, so the Syr. and Luther; Vulg., “sicut enim protegit sapientia, sic protegit pecunia;” Eng. Vers., “For wisdom (is) a defence, (and) money (is) a defence.”

 

J. Lloyd, An Analysis of the Book of Ecclesiastes: With Reference to the Hebrew Grammar of Gesenius, and With Notes Critical and Explanatory (London: Samuel Bagster and Sons, 1874), 92. Ginsburg rejects that reading:

Symmachus (σκέπεἷ σοφία ὡς σκέπει τὸ ἀργύριον, wisdom protects just as money protects), and the Vulgate (SICUT ENIM PROTEGIT SAPIENTIA, SIC PROTEGIT PECUNIA), who are followed by Luther (benn die Weisheit befchirmet, fo befchirmet Geld auch), Coverdale and the Bishops’ Bible (“for wisdom defendeth as well as money”), and the Authorised Version (“for wisdom is a defence and money is a defence”), ignoring the בְּ, have made some modern commentators to to regard it here as the so-called בְּ essentiæ. But this, to say the least, is an unnecessary deviation from the natural signification of this preposition, and necessitates us to supply the בְּ comparison. The explanation of Rashi (כלמישישנובצלהחכמהישנובצלהכסףשהחכמהגורמתלעשרשיבא, whoso is under the protection of wisdom is under the protection of money, because it is wisdom that brings riches), and Ibn Ezra (אזיהיההחכםחוסהבצלהחכמהובצלהכסף, then—i.e., when he has riches with wisdom, according to Ibn Ezra’s view of the preceding verse—will the wise man be protected both by the shelter of wisdom and the shelter of money), are as far-fetched as they are at variance with the scope of the passage. וְיִתְרוֹןדַּעַת, and, moreover, an advantage of wisdom is, takes up וְיוֹתֵר of the preceding verse, and hence shews that the latter is a noun, and that דּעַת is the same as חָכְמָה, wisdom, of which וְיוֹתֵר, and there is an advantage, is the predicate. The Septuagint’s rendering of וְיִתְרוֹןדַּעַתהַחָכְמָהוְנוֹ״ by καὶ περίσσεια γνώσεως τὴς σοφίας, and the advantage of the knowledge of wisdom, &c, which is that of the Chaldee וּמוֹתַרמַנְדְּעָאחוּמְתָאדְאוֹרַיְיתָא, taking דַּעַת as the construct with חָכְמָה, is contrary to the accents, and, if admitted, would yield the same sense which we have given to the passage.

 

Christian D. Ginsburg, Coheleth, Commonly Called the Book of Ecclesiastes: Translated from the Original Hebrew, With a Commentary, Historical and Critical (London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1861), 376-77.

וְיִתְר֣וֹן דַּ֔עַת הַֽחָכְמָ֖ה תְּחַיֶּ֥ה בְעָלֶֽיהָ׃

And a profit/advantage (is) knowledge; wisdom preserves the owner/master of it.

בְעָלֶֽיהָ

The noun is plural. Longmen writes, “Here, the plural is honorific” (181).

תְּחַיֶּ֥ה

Wisdom giveth life to them that have it; lit., “it animates him” (תְּחַיֶה). חִיָה is not “to keep in life” (HITZIG), but “to grant life,” i.e., to bestow a genuine happy life. Comp. Job 36:6; Ps. 16:11; 38:9; Prov. 3:18; especially the last passage, which may be quoted as most decisive for our meaning. HENGSTENBERG lays too much stress on תְּחַיֶה in claiming for it the sense of reanimating, of the resurrection of that which was spiritually dead (according to Hosea 6:2; Luke 15:32, etc.); and KNOBEL too little, when he declares: “wisdom affords a calm and contented spirit.”

 

John Peter Lange, Philip Schaff, Otto Zöckler et al., A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Ecclesiastes (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2008), 107.

Preserves the life of him who has it is in Hebrew “it gives life to the one who masters it.” The causative form of the Hebrew verb for “live” describes giving life to something, bringing it to life; it is a dynamic action whereby life is given, restored, or “preserved.” Thus TEV “keeps you safe” seems rather weak by comparison. The translation can be “gives life,” “makes alive,” or possibly (as FRCL) “prolongs the life.” The person who is revived or given life is expressed as him who has it, literally “its masters” or “those who master it.” The Hebrew term denotes mastery or lordship and has been used in this manner in 5:11, 13 (“owner”).

 

Graham S. Ogden and Lynell Zogbo, A Handbook on Ecclesiastes, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 1998), 239.

 

VERSE 13:

13רְאֵ֖ה אֶת־מַעֲשֵׂ֣ה הָאֱלֹהִ֑ים

Look unto the works of God

It is not the work of creation, but the work of Providence which we are commanded to consider. God is over all; we can not, by our wishes and strivings, alter the course of things which be ordains. The man who is under the influence of this doctrine of religion has a better protection against disappointment and misery, than if he had an inheritance alone, or had to contend with the ills of life, by the aid which can be derived from a cold and speculative philosophy.

 

James M. MacDonald, The Book of Ecclesiastes Explained (New York: M. W. Dodd, 1856), 347.

 

VERSE 13b:

כִּ֣י מִ֤י יוּכַל֙ לְתַקֵּ֔ן אֵ֖ת אֲשֶׁ֥ר עִוְּתֽוֹ

For who is able to make straight that which he bent.

13. If the depravity of the times be so great, and injuries and corruptions so prevalent, that neither wealth nor wisdom can prove a defence against them; we are here directed to another act of wisdom, to look above the creatures, and all second causes, to the righteous hand and irresistible providence of God in them all; and where wisdom cannot improve our condition, nor render the times, or our neighbours, or our own affairs, so perfect as we could wish them, let us endeavour to manifest contentment, silence, and a humble acquiescence in the good pleasure of the Lord. There are many things which no human wisdom can rectify. In a public famine or pestilence, no ability of man can purge the air, or open the windows of heaven to supply us. In a shipwreck no wisdom of man can rebuke the winds and seas, and command a calm. But in all such cases wisdom must teach us to submit to God, and to wait upon him.—“See,” i. e. diligently view and take notice in the course of the world of God’s overruling providence. The Scripture commonly uses words applicable to the external senses to express the inward actions of the soul, ch. 2:24. and 3:10.—“The work of God;” namely, his righteous government of the world: when thou art apt to complain of the times, and the oppressions of the wicked, then remember, that how crooked soever things may appear, God orders and appoints all events; and it is vain to suppose thou canst rectify every evil of which thou art tempted to complain: for the divine decrees are unalterable, like mountains of brass, which cannot be moved, Zech. 6:1; ch. 1:15; therefore in patience possess thy soul.—“For who can make that straight which he hath made crooked?” This shews the unalterableness of God’s order, in which by his providence be has placed all things. It may be understood, first, in reference to the course of nature. Be not angry nor fretful against the Almighty in unreasonableness of winds or weather, in losses by sea or land, in sickness, infirmities, or deformities, which he suffers to befal thee or thy relatives; nor murmur at the unsuccessfulness of any means, or weakness of any endeavours, thou mayest adopt to rectify these casualties. This was the sin of Israel in the wilderness, Exod. 17:2, 3; Numb. 11:4, 5, 6; 2 Kings 6:33; Jon. 4:8, 9. Secondly, as to civil policy and the management of human societies. If thou seest great concussions of states, depopulation of countries, translation of kingdoms, plucking down, and rooting up, the sword devouring as it pleaseth; neither wonder nor murmur, but seriously consider, that an overruling providence regulates all these changes, which calls for silence and contentment under his administrations, Job 9:5–13. and 12:14–24; Ps. 75:6, 7; Isai. 2:10–19; Dan. 2:11; Jer. 18:6, 10. and 47:6, 7; Ezek. 14:17. Thirdly, in relation to the sins and miscarriages of mankind. When thou seest men incorrigible in wickedness, and so perverse that no means will reclaim or reform them, consider the work of God’s most righteous judgment in hardening whom he will; and remember, that God is so holy, that he would not suffer sin to prevail, if he were not also equally wise and powerful to order it so as to secure his own glory: hence no wickedness shall proceed further than to execute his predeterminate counsel; and the remainder of it he will restrain, Rom. 9:18; 1 Sam. 2:25; Gen. 50:20; Exod. 7:3, 4; 2 Thes. 2:11, 12; Acts 4:28; Rom. 11:8; Ps. 76:10.

Edward Reynolds, A Commentary on the Book of Ecclesiastes, ed. Daniel Washbourn (London: Mathews and Leigh, 1811), 223-25.

Another reason for obeying the injunction given in verse 10. Complaining is vain; God has ordained it so, and, however crooked it may appear to us, no man can rectify it. רְאֵה, see, consider, bear in mind, remember. The expression moreover, which is often omitted in Hebrew, must be supplied in the translation, מַעֲשֶׂה, work, i.e., of providence, appointment, ordaining; so also לְתַקֵּן, to rectify, and עִוֵּת, to make crooked, are used in a spiritual sense. The interrogative, in which the last clause is expressed, is tantamount to an emphatic denial, i.e., no one can, &c. (vide supra, 1:3). For the pleonastic suffix in עִוְּתוֹ, see 2:12. The Septuagint’s rendering of כִּימִייוּכַללְתַקֵּןאֵתאֲשֶׁרעִוְּתוֹ by ὅτι τίς δυνήσεται τοῦ κοσμῆσαι ὅν ἄν ὁ φεὸς διαστρέψη αὐτόν; for who is able to make him straight, if God has distorted him? which is followed by the Vulgate, QUOD NEMO POSSIT CORRIGERE, QUEM ILLE DESPEXERIT, that no man can correct him whom He has despised, has evidently originated from the traditional explanation,

Christian D. Ginsburg, Coheleth, Commonly Called the Book of Ecclesiastes: Translated from the Original Hebrew, With a Commentary, Historical and Critical (London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1861), 377.

VERSE 14a:

4בְּי֤וֹם טוֹבָה֙ הֱיֵ֣ה בְט֔וֹב וּבְי֥וֹם רָעָ֖ה רְאֵ֑ה

In the good day let it be in good, but in an evil day see/consider

VERSE 14b:

גַּ֣ם אֶת־זֶ֤ה לְעֻמַּת־זֶה֙ עָשָׂ֣ה הָֽאֱלֹהִ֔ים

Also this, corresponding to that God made

VERSE 14c:

עַל־דִּבְרַ֗ת שֶׁלֹּ֨א יִמְצָ֧א הָֽאָדָ֛ם אַחֲרָ֖יו מְאֽוּמָה

On/onto the word/matter this not to search/find the Adam after him from something/nothing. 

For לְעֻמַּת, in connection with, like, see 5:15, and for עַלדִּבְרַת giving the motive or occasion of the action, see 3:18.

Christian D. Ginsburg, Coheleth, Commonly Called the Book of Ecclesiastes: Translated from the Original Hebrew, With a Commentary, Historical and Critical (London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1861), 378. Thus, the thing not to search out is the dbrth.

 

With the sentiment conf. 8:15; 9:7–9, and mark the reason given, Deut. 28:47, for the curses which should come upon Israel, “Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things.” The next clause is rendered by the Arab. Vers. “look upon the day of adversity,” i.e., keep it in view, be prepared for it; malam diem prœcave, Vulg.; but this rendering does not preserve the evident sameness of construction between בְּיוֹםטוֹבָה and בְּיוֹםרָעָה, hence rightly the Eng. Vers., “in the day of adversity consider.” What we should consider is, that affliction comes from God, and therefore calls for submission (Micah 6:9), that it is sent for our good, to show us the vanity of the world, to bring us to repentance for sin, and to earnest preparation for a better life. “Let no man flatter himself that any thing external will make him wise or virtuous, without his taking pains to learn wisdom or virtue from it.” (Archbp. Whately’s Notes on Essay V. of Lord Bacon, p. 59.) Observe the paronomasia or alliteration between טוֹבָה and טוֹב; רָעָה and רְאֵה. לְעֻמַּת over against, Eng. Vers., or equally with, even as, Gesen. Lex., see עֻמַּת, 5:15. עָשָׂה hath ordered, or hath arranged. עַל־דִּבִרַתשֶ to the end that, Gesen. Lex., conf. 3:18. אַחֲרָיו after him; if the suff. is used as a reflex pron. (§ 124, 1, b), referring to הָאָדָם, as in 3:22, 6:12, the meaning is that God has so ordered the vicissitudes of good and evil that man may never find out what shall be after himself, i.e., be able to foresee with certainty the future; but if the suff. refers to Elohim, that man may not after God find out any thing, i.e., any thing wiser or more suitable than the arrangements of God’s Providence, nor be able to follow in God’s track, and trace His footsteps, God’s ways being inscrutable, conf. 8:17; Rom. 11:33.

J. Lloyd, An Analysis of the Book of Ecclesiastes: With Reference to the Hebrew Grammar of Gesenius, and With Notes Critical and Explanatory (London: Samuel Bagster and Sons, 1874), 93-94.

Doct. Whatsoever the estate of times be, it is our part to consider the work of God as so disposing the times, and in setting good and evil times one against another; and accordingly in good times to be in goodness, and in ill times to look at God’s hand as only able to amend therein. As who should say, Look not at the creature as the chief agent in the estate of the times, but consider his hand in all estates, and make use of them, as his hand leadeth unto, Job 1:21.

1 It is God’s work, first, To send. 1. Good times, 2 Chron. 2:11; 2. Evil times, Prov. 28:2. Secondly, To set good and evil times in a vicissitude or interchange, one contrary over against another, Jer. 18:7, 9. In good times, first, God maketh men’s, or at least some chief men’s, hearts and ways right before him, 1 Sam. 13:14; secondly, God giveth them a right course, and good success in their proceedings, Jer. 22:15, 16; 2 Chron. 17:3–5. In evil times, first, God giveth men up to the crookedness of their own hearts and ways, Ps. 125:5, and 81:11, 12; 2 Chron. 28:1; secondly, God sendeth them cross and crooked issues of their ways, 2 Chron. 28:1–6, 16–20; Jer. 22:17–19; Ps. 18:26.

2. God setteth these good and evil times interchangeably one against another. Saul’s times were, bad; the times of David and Solomon good. Reho—boam and Abijam bad; Asa and Jehoshaphat good.Joram and Joash bad; Uzziah and Jotham good. Ahaz bad; Hezekiah good. Manasseh and Amonbad; Josias good; his successors, to the captivity bad, after the captivity good.

Reason 1. From God’s people’s abuse of prosperity into self—confidence. Ps. 30:6, 7, and luxury, Deut. 32:15; hence followeth calamity and adversity.

Reason 2. From the humiliation and reformation of God’s people in adversity. Hosea 5:15, with 6:1, 2.

Reason 3. To the end we should find nothing after God. as in the text—to wit, first. No stability in the creature, but unsettled vicissitudes; secondly, No fault in God and his administrations. So the phrase and word is taken, John 14:30 Job 31:7.

John Cotton, A Brief Exposition With Practical Observations Upon the Whole Book of Ecclesiastes, Nichol’s Series of Commentaries (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet & Co.; G. Herbert, 1868), 67-68.

God has set prosperity and adversity over against each other in men’s history. Why? “To the end that man should find (find out) nothing after him.” The meanings somewhat obscure at the first glance. But the sentiment corresponds with 9:1, where it says, “No man knoweth either love or hatred (whether God loves or hates him) by all that is before them.” God’s outward dealings furnish no clue as to God’s love to us. They are various, that we may not know what is to be our future lot. “Man can find out nothing after him;” i. e., no satisfactory explanation after all his inquiries, if this life is man’s entire existence. And the next verse corroborates this view.

Loyal Young, A Commentary on the Book of Ecclesiastes (Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1865), 168.


[1] Ironically, it is the end of sin which reveals its nature:

1 My son, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding, 2 that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge. 3 For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, 4 but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. 5 Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol; Proverbs 5:1–5 (ESV)

29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? 30 Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine. 31 Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. 32 In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. Proverbs 23:29–32 (ESV)

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