1Řekl jsem si ve svém srdci: Pojď přece, ať tě vyzkouším s radovánkami, užívej si dobrých věcí. Hle, také to je marnost. 2O zábavě jsem řekl: Jsi šílená, o radovánkách: Co to provádíte? 3Zkoumal jsem ve svém srdci, jak rozjařit své tělo vínem, zatímco mé srdce vede k moudrosti, abych se udržoval v pomatenosti, jen dokud nezjistím, co z toho, co vykonají pod nebem ve vyměřených dnech svých životů, je dobré pro lidské syny. 4Zvětšil jsem svůj statek: Vystavěl jsem si domy, vysadil jsem si vinice. 5Založil jsem si zahrady a parky a vysadil jsem v nich stromoví s kdejakým ovocem. 6Zřídil jsem si jezírka s vodou, abych z nich napájel les, v němž vyrážely stromy. 7Koupil jsem si otroky a otrokyně a měl jsem i doma narozené; také dobytka, skotu i bravu jsem měl více než všichni, kdo byli v Jeruzalémě přede mnou. 8Nashromáždil jsem si také stříbro a zlato i vlastnictví králů a provincií. Získal jsem pro sebe zpěváky a zpěvačky i potěšení lidských synů, mnoho konkubín. 9Tak jsem se vzmáhal a pokračoval jsem v tom více než všichni, kteří byli v Jeruzalémě přede mnou. Nadto při mně stála má moudrost. 10Nic, o co žádaly mé oči, jsem od nich nevzdaloval. Neodpíral jsem svému srdci žádnou radost, vždyť mé srdce se radovalo ze vší mé námahy, a to byl můj podíl ze vší mé námahy. 11Pak jsem se ohlédl na všechny své skutky, které vykonaly mé ruce, a na námahu, kterou jsem se namáhal, abych to vykonal. A hle, to všechno je marnost a honba za větrem a není z toho pod sluncem žádný užitek. 12Ohlédl jsem se, abych se podíval na moudrost i ztřeštěnosti a pomatenost; vždyť jaký to bude člověk, který přijde po králi, jehož si dříve ustanovili? 13Já jsem tehdy viděl, že z moudrosti je větší užitek než z pomatenosti, stejně jako je větší užitek ze světla než ze tmy. 14Moudrý má na hlavě oči, zatímco hlupák chodí ve tmě. Také jsem však poznal, že je oba postihne stejný úděl. 15Tu jsem si v duchu řekl: I mě postihne tentýž úděl jako toho hlupáka. Proč jsem potom já nadmíru zmoudřel? A v duchu jsem prohlásil, že také toto je marnost. 16Vždyť památka na moudrého stejně jako na hlupáka nezůstává navěky. To všechno bude dávno zapomenuto v přicházejících dnech. Jak to, že moudrý zemře stejně jako hlupák? 17Tu jsem začal nenávidět život, protože je pro mě špatné to dílo, které se koná pod sluncem. Je to všechno totiž jen marnost a honba za větrem. 18Začal jsem nenávidět všechnu svou námahu, kterou se namáhám pod sluncem, protože ji zanechám člověku, jenž bude po mně. 19A kdo ví, zdali bude moudrý nebo blázen; bude však panovat nade vší mou námahou, kterou jsem se namáhal a při níž jsem pod sluncem zmoudřel. Také toto je marnost. 20A já jsem se odvrátil, abych si v srdci zoufal nad vší tou námahou, kterou jsem se pod sluncem namáhal. 21Neboť je člověk, který sám usiloval o moudrost, o poznání a o prospěch, ale odevzdá to jako svůj podíl člověku, který o to neusiloval. Také toto je marnost a velké zlo. 22Vždyť co člověk má ze vší své námahy a z honičky svého srdce, když se pod sluncem namáhá? 23Všechny jeho dny totiž přinášejí bolesti a jeho plahočení mrzutost; jeho mysl neutichne ani v noci. Také toto je marnost. 24Není pro člověka dobré, když bude jíst a pít a užije si ze své námahy blaho pro svou duši? I to jsem zjistil, že je z Boží ruky. 25Vždyť kdo jí a kdo si užívá víc než já? 26Neboť člověku, který se mu líbí, dal moudrost, poznání a radost. Hříšníkovi však dal plahočení, aby sbíral a hromadil, aby to pak předal tomu, kdo se Bohu líbí. Také toto je marnost a honba za větrem.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 (Ecc. 2:1-26)
I said . . . heart-- (
Luke 12:19).
thee--my heart, I will test whether thou canst find that solid good in pleasure which was not in "worldly wisdom." But this also proves to be "vanity" (
Isa 50:11).
2 laughter--including prosperity, and joy in general (
Job 8:21).
mad--that is, when made the chief good; it is harmless in its proper place.
What doeth it?--Of what avail is it in giving solid good? (
Eccl 7:6;
Pro 14:13).
3 Illustration more at large of
Eccl 2:1-
Eccl 2:2.
I sought--I resolved, after search into many plans.
give myself unto wine--literally, "to draw my flesh," or "body to wine" (including all banquetings). Image from a captive drawn after a chariot in triumph (
Rom 6:16,
Rom 6:19;
1Cor 12:2); or, one "allured" (
2Pet 2:18-19).
yet acquainting . . . wisdom--literally, "and my heart (still) was behaving, or guiding itself," with wisdom [GESENIUS]. MAURER translates: "was weary of (worldly) wisdom." But the end of
Eccl 2:9 confirms English Version.
folly--namely, pleasures of the flesh, termed "mad,"
Eccl 2:2.
all the days, &c.--(See Margin and
Eccl 6:12;
Job 15:20).
4 (
1Kgs 7:1-8;
1Kgs 9:1,
1Kgs 9:19;
1Kgs 10:18, &c.).
vineyards-- (
Song 8:11).
5 gardens--Hebrew, "paradises," a foreign word; Sanskrit, "a place enclosed with a wall"; Armenian and Arabic, "a pleasure ground with flowers and shrubs near the king's house, or castle." An earthly paradise can never make up for the want of the heavenly (
Rev 2:7).
6 pools--artificial, for irrigating the soil (
Gen 2:10;
Neh 2:14;
Isa 1:30). Three such reservoirs are still found, called Solomon's cisterns, a mile and a half from Jerusalem.
wood that bringeth forth--rather, "the grove that flourisheth with trees" [LOWTH].
7 born in my house--These were esteemed more trustworthy servants than those bought (
Gen 14:14;
Gen 15:2-
Gen 15:3;
Gen 17:12-
Gen 17:13,
Gen 17:27;
Jer 2:14), called "songs of one's handmaid" (
Exod 23:12; compare
Gen 12:16;
Job 1:3).
8 (
1Kgs 10:27;
2Chr 1:15;
2Chr 9:20).
peculiar treasure of kings and . . . provinces--contributed by them, as tributary to him (
1Kgs 4:21,
1Kgs 4:24); a poor substitute for the wisdom whose "gain is better than fine gold" (
Pro 3:14-
Pro 3:15).
singers--so David (
2Sam 19:35).
musical instruments . . . of all sorts--introduced at banquets (
Isa 5:12;
Amos 6:5-
Amos 6:6); rather, "a princess and princesses," from an Arabic root. One regular wife, or queen (
Esth 1:9); Pharaoh's daughter (
1Kgs 3:1); other secondary wives, "princesses," distinct from the "concubines" (
1Kgs 11:3;
Ps 45:10;
Song 6:8) [WEISS, GESENIUS]. Had these been omitted, the enumeration would be incomplete.
9 great--opulent (
Gen 24:35;
Job 1:3; see
1Kgs 10:23).
remained-- (
Eccl 2:3).
10 my labour--in procuring pleasures.
this--evanescent "joy" was my only "portion out of all my labor" (
Eccl 3:22;
Eccl 5:18;
Eccl 9:9;
1Kgs 10:5).
11 But all these I felt were only "vanity," and of "no profit" as to the chief good. "Wisdom" (worldly common sense, sagacity), which still "remained with me" (
Eccl 2:9), showed me that these could not give solid happiness.
12 He had tried (worldly) wisdom (
Eccl 1:12-
Eccl 1:18) and folly (foolish pleasure) (
Eccl 2:1-
Eccl 2:11); he now compares them (
Eccl 2:12) and finds that while (worldly)
wisdom excelleth folly (
Eccl 2:13-
Eccl 2:14), yet the one event, death, befalls both (
Eccl 2:14-
Eccl 2:16), and that thus the wealth acquired by the wise man's "labor" may descend to a "fool" that hath not labored (
Eccl 2:18-
Eccl 2:19,
Eccl 2:21); therefore all his labor is vanity (
Eccl 2:22-
Eccl 2:23).
what can the man do . . . already done-- (
Eccl 1:9). Parenthetical. A future investigator can strike nothing out "new," so as to draw a different conclusion from what I draw by comparing "wisdom and madness." HOLDEN, with less ellipsis, translates, "What, O man, shall come after the king?" &c. Better, GROTIUS, "What man can come after (compete with) the king in the things which are done?" None ever can have the same means of testing what all earthly things can do towards satisfying the soul; namely, worldly wisdom, science, riches, power, longevity, all combined.
13 (
Pro 17:24). The worldly "wise" man has good sense in managing his affairs, skill and taste in building and planting, and keeps within safe and respectable bounds in pleasure, while the "fool" is wanting in these respects ("darkness," equivalent to fatal error, blind infatuation), yet one event, death, happens to both (
Job 21:26).
15 why was I--so anxious to become, &c. (
2Chr 1:10).
Then--Since such is the case.
this--namely, pursuit of (worldly) wisdom; it can never fill the place of the true wisdom (
Job 28:28;
Jer 8:9).
16 remembrance--a great aim of the worldly (
Gen 11:4). The righteous alone attain it (
Ps 112:6;
Pro 10:7).
for ever--no perpetual memorial.
that which now is--MAURER, "In the days to come all things shall be now long ago forgotten."
17 Disappointed in one experiment after another, he is weary of life. The backslider ought to have rather reasoned as the prodigal (
Hos 2:6-
Hos 2:7;
Luke 15:17-
Luke 15:18).
grievous unto me-- (
Job 10:1).
18 One hope alone was left to the disappointed worldling, the perpetuation of his name and riches, laboriously gathered, through his successor. For selfishness is mostly at the root of worldly parents' alleged providence for their children. But now the remembrance of how he himself, the piously reared child of David, had disregarded his father's dying charge (
1Chr 28:9), suggested the sad misgivings as to what Rehoboam, his son by an idolatrous Ammonitess, Naamah, should prove to be; a foreboding too fully realized (1Ki. 12:1-18;
1Kgs 14:21-31).
20 I gave up as desperate all hope of solid fruit from my labor.
21 Suppose "there is a man," &c.
equity--rather "with success," as the Hebrew is rendered (
Eccl 11:6), "prosper," though Margin gives "right" [HOLDEN and MAURER].
evil--not in itself, for this is the ordinary course of things, but "evil," as regards the chief good, that one should have toiled so fruitlessly.
22 Same sentiment as in
Eccl 2:21, interrogatively.
23 The only fruit he has is, not only sorrows in his days, but all his days are sorrows, and his travail (not only has griefs connected with it, but is itself), grief.
24 English Version gives a seemingly Epicurean sense, contrary to the general scope. The Hebrew, literally is, "It is not good for man that he should eat," &c., "and should make his soul see good" (or "show his soul, that is, himself, happy"), &c. [WEISS]. According to HOLDEN and WEISS,
Eccl 3:12,
Eccl 3:22 differ from this verse in the text and meaning; here he means, "It is not good that a man should feast himself, and falsely make as though his soul were happy"; he thus refers to a false pretending of happiness acquired by and for one's self; in
Eccl 3:12,
Eccl 3:22;
Eccl 5:18-
Eccl 5:19, to real seeing, or finding pleasure when God gives it. There it is said to be good for a man to enjoy with satisfaction and thankfulness the blessings which God gives; here it is said not to be good to take an unreal pleasure to one's self by feasting, &c.
This also I saw--I perceived by experience that good (real pleasure) is not to be taken at will, but comes only from the hand of God [WEISS] (
Ps 4:6;
Isa 57:19-
Isa 57:21). Or as HOLDEN, "It is the appointment from the hand of God, that the sensualist has no solid satisfaction" (good).
25 hasten--after indulgences (
Pro 7:23;
Pro 19:2), eagerly pursue such enjoyments. None can compete with me in this. If I, then, with all my opportunities of enjoyment, failed utterly to obtain solid pleasure of my own making, apart from God, who else can? God mercifully spares His children the sad experiment which Solomon made, by denying them the goods which they often desire. He gives them the fruits of Solomon's experience, without their paying the dear price at which Solomon bought it.
26 True, literally, in the Jewish theocracy; and in some measure in all ages (
Job 27:16-
Job 27:17;
Pro 13:22;
Pro 28:8). Though the retribution be not so visible and immediate now as then, it is no less real. Happiness even here is more truly the portion of the godly (
Ps 84:11;
Matt 5:5;
Mark 10:29-
Mark 10:30;
Rom 8:28;
1Tim 4:8).
that he--the sinner
may give--that is, unconsciously and in spite of himself. The godly Solomon had satisfaction in his riches and wisdom, when God gave them (
2Chr 1:11-12). The backsliding Solomon had no happiness when he sought it in them apart from God; and the riches which he heaped up became the prey of Shishak (
2Chr 12:9).
Earthly pursuits are no doubt lawful in their proper time and order (
Eccl 3:1-
Eccl 3:8), but unprofitable when out of time and place; as for instance, when pursued as the solid and chief good (
Eccl 3:9-
Eccl 3:10); whereas God makes everything beautiful in its season, which man obscurely comprehends (
Eccl 3:11). God allows man to enjoy moderately and virtuously His earthly gifts (
Eccl 3:12-
Eccl 3:13). What consoles us amidst the instability of earthly blessings is, God's counsels are immutable (
Eccl 3:14).