Normally the author uses this term to indicate. It is well to begin with the view of life and death which is presented in this passage; but it would not be well to pause here. These points being assured, then let both hands be called into activity, and the whole soul burn with devotion to the great object of its accomplishment. Duties are ours; events, God‘s. Our ignorance of the caprices of disaster and doom bring us into companionship with the lowliest forms of life. He that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath, This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun. 1. v. 13. We might have broad declarations upon the subject, as based upon this man"s observation or that man"s collection of facts; on the other hand, we should have both the experience and the facts hotly disputed by others who had happened to see more vividly the other side of life. If we thought of life and death only under these aspects, we should err; but we should err if we neglected to take these aspects into consideration. The noisy demagogue who by sheer vociferation stirs the unthinking populace may appear to be more influential than the quietly speaking man of wisdom, but in the long run it is the latter that prevails. Advancing against it a mighty monarch, who besieges and storms it with armies and engines, but is ultimately compelled to raise the siege by the skill of the aforesaid wise poor man. A little city, with few in it to defend it, is besieged by a great king. 1. That wisdom, even when it does good service, is not always rewarded, is shown by an example. When suddenly some poor man, whose name was perhaps known to few in the city, delivers it by his wisdom. I. So full and varied is his experience of life that he has useful counsels for all classes of men. Here follow some proverbial sayings concerning wisdom and its opposite, which draw the moral from the story in the text. The word for "poor" in this passage is misken, for which see note on Ecclesiastes 4:13. Is there not a care of the ark, and a shield to cover Abraham? They part with possessions which they acquired in this world. Even when death's approach is anticipated, there is no reason to suppose its actual occurrence is not always unexpected. The picture delineated. So the Septuagint. Thus some see herein Athens, saved by the counsel of Themistocles, who was afterwards driven from Athens and died in misery (Justin; 2.12); or Dora, near Mount Carmel, besieged unsuccessfully by Antiochus the Great, B.C. Phil.4:4. 11)—, "Vive velut rapto fugitivaque gaudia carpe.". 1. Men of understanding; who yet are most likely to get and to keep riches. race not to the swift — (2 Samuel 18:23); spiritually (Zephaniah 3:19; Romans 9:16). This interpretation is in line with the other comparisons, the good precedes the evil example; but perhaps we should take "sweareth" of profanity and "feareth an oath" of loyal obedience to a vow. 3. A kind of rough joy, too, follows immediately upon our decision, for the earth is ready with its store, and the evil spirits seem but to have been awaiting a signal to enter into our souls, and make a banqueting-house of them. The Vulgate renders the last clause, Nec habent partem in hoc saeculo et in opere quod sub sole geritur. The wise man ought to attain to that distinction to which his talents entitle him, but that many such have altogether failed, the sad examples of history show. what is the explanation of this most palpable and bewildering contradiction? That the race is not to the swift.] Coheleth looks at life as a whole, and sees something in it which surprises him. That wisdom is superior to force. Main meal: after all work was done. How much of destruction may flow from one single life may be seen if we look at the subject—. Ver. Located in a sphere of work. A living dog is a complete organism; a dead lion an organism defective. God distributeth sorrows in his anger. The dark side is that it is often rewarded by the basest ingratitude. So in the pseudepi-graphal books the same imagery is retained. The Hebrew is simply, "all [lies] before them." The Vulgate takes the tranquility to appertain to the hearers, thus: Verba sapientium audiuntur in silentio; but, as Delitzsch points out, the contrast between "quiet" and "cry" shows that it is the man, and not his auditors, who is quiet. 2. The happy consequences which the wise man's counsel might accomplish, or has already accomplished, may be overthrown or rendered useless by the villany or perversity of a bad man. We know, however, how all such satisfactions exhaust themselves. The man of understandingâthe man, for example, most conversant with both the materials and the principles of commerceâmay never come to wealth. He who considers the diligence and assiduity with which the powers of evil are ever working in human society will understand the importance of this urgent admonition. Whether He regards us with love or hatred we cannot tell; life is so tangled that the Divine attitude is inscrutable. The phenomena referred to are familiar to us all. We have known many who have begun life with the fairest promise, and who have apparently, without any fault of their own, failed to make their mark. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do.". Ecclesiastes 9:1; Exodus 36:4; Esther 1:13), ' ××, and ××Ö¼, so at Isaiah 11:2, the gifts of “wisdom,” “counsel,” and “knowledge” follow each other. Those that "have fulfilled the Law of the Lord have received glorious garments, and are clothed in white" (2 Esdr. Unpropitious seasons may blight the produce of his fields. So Horace bids man "carpe diem" ('Carm.,' 1.11.8), "enjoy each atom of the day;'" and Martial sings ('Epigr,' 7.47. If nothing happens in the world without the Divine providence, then good men have a sufficient ground of trust and reliance upon God, at all times and under all dangers. ", "For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. This is a difficult passage to understand because the preceding poem is difficult to understand. And, at the same time, others whose abilities are in our opinion of a commonplace order come to the front, and succeed in gaining and keeping a foremost place. Ecclesiastes 10:19; Genesis 14:18; 1 Samuel 16:20, etc.). Appointed to the destiny of work. Hope a universal possession. And follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes. Our life is, as we say, a journey from the cradle to the grave. For to the friends of God belongs the future. By the constitution of man's nature, and by the ordering of Providence, such capacity of enjoyment is allowable, and there need be no scruple in using it. We ask, What can outspeed the lightning? (Read Ecclesiastes 9:11,12) Men's success seldom equals their expectations. We are often surprised with the evils we were in little fear of (Ecclesiastes 9:12): Man knows not his time, the time of his calamity, his fall, his death, which, in scripture, is called our day and our hour. From this notion of Providence may be given a plain and direct answer to that question of the profane fatalist (Job 21:15). "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a grain of mustard seed;" so is this incident. I returned, and saw: this may have some respect to the foregoing verse; for having pressed men to labour with all their might, he now adds, by way of caution, that yet they must not be confident of their own strength, as if they were sure of success by it, but in all, above all, to look up to God for his blessing, without which all their endeavours will be in vain. The all-directing providence of God, which governs the universe, does not superintend only the great events in the world, the fates of nations and kingdoms; so that, without the direction of providence, the strongest and most numerous armies are not victorious in battle; but its care extends even to the concerns of single persons, so that, without the blessing of God, neither riches, nor favour, nor any temporal advantage can certainly be obtained by anything that man can do; nay, that even in matters of still smaller moment, not so much as a race is gained by the swift without the hand of Providence directing the event. 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In store does it amount to men to the dead we know that they shall die ''... Help the reader understand the vanities of this most palpable and bewildering contradiction smarter and then they suffer loss can.
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