Ecclesiastes 1

1 the Preacher. The Hebrew word (Koheleth) means “one who collects” or “assembles” people for the purpose of addressing them.

king in Jerusalem. Rather, “at Jerusalem.” Solomon’s name is not mentioned here or elsewhere in this book, as it is in Prov. i. 1; Song of Songs i. 1.

2. Vanity of vanities. A Hebraism for utter vanity. This is the great subject of the discourse: the utter insufficiency of all earthly things to make man happy.

5 where he arose. Rather, “where he ariseth (R.V.); i.e., on the new day. The idea is of a long and hurried journey. ‘Hasteth’ is rendered by Dr. Samuel Cox ‘panteth.’”

6 according to his (its) circuits. “Circuits (lit., ’turnings’) of the wind.” The words rendered “turneth,” “whirleth,” “returneth,” “circuits,” are all from the same root.

7 thither they return again. The waters return to their fountains and streams. The suggestion is that of filtration through the earth, rather than of evaporation; the laws of which were then imperfectly known.

8. All things are full of labour, etc. Or, “All [one’s] words are wearisome, so that one cannot utter [it; i.e., the wearisomeness].”

9 there is no new thing under the sun. It would be some compensation for this incessant change, if some new sources of human happiness were discovered; but towards this there is no progress. This is still more strikingly illustrated in the present day, in which the wonderful discoveries of science and inventions of art have greatly multiplied human comforts, but still have failed to secure true and lasting happiness.

11. There is no remembrance of former things, etc. Supply persons, not things.

13. I gave my heart. Or, as R.V., “I applied my heart.” “Heart,” in Scripture, represents the intellect as well as the affections.

14 vexation of spirit. Or, as R.V., “and a striving after wind,” i.e., fruitless effort. Some prefer the rendering, “feeding on wind” (R.V. marg.). Cp. Hos. xii. 1. So in ver. 17; ii. 11, 17, etc.

16. Lo, I am come to great estate, etc. Or, “I have increased and added wisdom above all that were before me over Jerusalem (i.e., as rulers), and my heart has seen very much wisdom and knowledge.”

17 to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly. Trying to learn more and more of “wisdom” by contrasting it with “folly.”

18 in much wisdom is much grief, etc. The “wisdom” and “knowledge” here spoken of must be understood as sought for the sake of personal gratification and satisfaction. Here they fail, because of their limitation, of the vexations encountered in their search, of their inability to meet the deeper needs of the soul. There is a more excellent wisdom, which is not a source of grief, but the fountain of pure and everlasting joy (John xvii. 3).

1. Let him, etc. This opening chorus, to ver. 4, is probably throughout the language of the virgin-choir, who alternate from the singular to the plural, speaking now in the character of the bride, now in their own. Some, however, prefer to regard it as a dialogue between the virgins and the bride.

4. We will remember, etc. Rather, “We will praise thy love above wine; rightly do they love thee.” The latter clause is a refrain corresponding to the end of ver 3.

5 the tents of Kedar. See Gen. xxv. 13; Psa. cxx. 5. The Arabs still use dark-coloured tents, covered with a coarse canvas, made from the hair of their black goats. The points of comparison are: “Black as the tents of Kedar . . . comely as the curtains of Solomon.”

6. Look not, etc. Or, “Look not upon me [i.e., in disdain], because I am swarthy, because the sun has glared upon me.” She had been subjected by her brothers to coarse and rustic toil, accounting for her dark complexion.

mine own vineyard. i.e., my personal beauty: see viii. 12. The words are often used in a spiritual sense as a warning against neglect of one’s own inner life, or one’s own family, while being engrossed in social or public duties.

7. Where thou feedest, etc. i.e., “Where thou feedest [thy flock], where thou makest it to rest at noon [when shepherds usually take their flocks to the shade], lest I should be as one straying among,” etc.; or, “as one veiled”; i.e., treated as a harlot (Gen. xxxviii. 14).

9. I have compared thee. Solomon now enters upon the scene, and accosts the bride with this simile. The “company of horses,” etc., should rather be “my mare in [one of] Pharaoh’s chariots”; i.e., in a chariot sent by Pharaoh: see 1 Kings x. 29.

10 rows . . . chains. The words “jewels” and “gold” have been supplied by our translators. The “rows” (“plaits,” R.V.) were probably of hair, braided over the cheeks; the “chains,” a necklace such as country maidens wear. Solomon promises to replace these simple ornaments by more costly ones. See next verse.

11 borders. The word rendered “rows,” in ver. 10, “plaits,” “Studs,” or beads, “of silver,” would be interspersed with wreathed gold.

spikenard. Or, “nard.” A costly perfume (see John xii. 3, 4), produced from an Indian plant. It is impossible not to think of the spikenard which filled the room with odour while the King reclined at His table.

13. He shall lie all night, etc. The Hebrew conveys no reference to night. The words should read, “It (the bag of myrrh) abideth between my breasts”; an allusion to the custom of wearing some precious perfume suspended from the neck. On “myrrh” see Exod. xxx. 23. Pleasant is my beloved to me as a bag of myrrh worn in my bosom.

14 camphire. Heb., “copher”; the henna shrub, the flowers of which are both beautiful and fragrant. Its leaves also yield a deep orange dye, with which Eastern women tinge their nails and part of their hands and feet.

En-gedi. See note on 1 Sam. xxiii. 29. En-gedi, from its tropical climate, was, and still is, a very fertile spot.

15. Thou hast doves’ eyes. Rather, as R.V., “thine eyes are [as] doves”; i.e., loving, gentle.

16 our bed is green. Rather, “our couch is verdant; the beams of our house are cedars, our fretted ceilings cypresses”: referring to the trees overhanging the grass. Cp. Paradise Lost, iv. 692, etc.