Ecclesiastes 2

1. Go to now. Rather, “Come now.” This was his next experiment.

2. I said of laughter, etc. The pleasures of sense may intoxicate for a time, but what can they do to satisfy?

3. Yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom. Rather, “And my heart guiding me with wisdom.”

In the midst of self-indulgence he kept in view his inquiries.

6 pools of water. There still remain near Bethlehem three large pools, supplied with fine fresh water, which are attributed to Solomon. From “the Pools of Solomon” the British troops on the way to Jerusalem and in it were supplied with water during the Great War (1914-1919).

7. I got. That is, “I bought,” in addition to those “born in my house.”

great and small cattle. Or, as R.V., “herds [of oxen] and flocks” [of sheep].

musical instruments, and that of all sorts. Rather, “a wife, and wives”: see 1 Kings xi. 1-3.

9 my wisdom remaineth with me. In the midst of sensual delights he analysed his own pleasure, and calmly judged its value.

10 this was my portion. That is, I certainly did get some pleasure from my labour; but (he adds, ver. 11) that was all, and it was soon over.

12 what [can] the man [do] that cometh after the king? No one can put this great question to the proof with greater advantages than I have had; the utmost he can hope to do is to repeat my experiments; and if he does, it will be with the same sad result.

13 wisdom excelieth folly, etc. Here is part of the truth—to be sadly neutralised to the student of life, by the melancholy fact mentioned in the close of the next verse.

14. The wise man’s eyes are in his head. That is, where they should be, in order that he may guard against danger, or foresee advantages. And yet, for all this, “one event happeneth to them all.”

16. Seeing that which now is, etc. Or, “Inasmuch as in the days to come all (i.e., both wise and fool) will have been long ago forgotten.”

how. The word “how” here is an interjection of grief and astonishment, as in Psa. lxxiii. 19. “How doth the wise man die even as the fool!” R.V.: cp. i. 11.

19 over all my labour, etc. That is, all that my toil and wisdom have acquired.

21 whose labour is in wisdom, etc. That is, who has laboured “with sagacity and skill.” The word “equity” implies more of the moral element than was in the writer’s mind.

24. There is nothing better, etc. The meaning is that the unsatisfactoriness attending earthly toil should lead a man cheerfully to accept God’s gifts, and enjoy them in a spirit of devout submission to all His unalterable arrangements (24-iii. 15), without the travail and care which cause the sinner vexation (26).

25 who else can hasten [hereunto]? Rather, as R.V., “who can have enjoyment?”

more than I. The Hebrew really means “apart from Him” or “without Him,” i.e., apart from God’s gift; so introducing the thought in ver. 26.

26. He giveth travail. God in His providence allows the sinner to enrich those for whom he himself never meant to work.

This also is vanity. i.e., this travail of the sinner.

1 the rose. Rather, “a rose.” The bride in her humility compares herself to the wild flowers among the grass. This “rose” is a bulbous plant—probably the white narcissus or the autumn crocus (R.V. marg.).

Sharon. The low-lying wooded and pasture land north of Joppa, well described by Thomson, The Land and the Book (xxxiii., xxxiv.).

the lily. Rather, “a lily.” Our “lily of the valley” does not grow in Palestine. The lily here mentioned is probably the iris. To this wild flower our Lord refers (Matt. vi. 28).

2. As the lily among thorns. Rather, “As a lily,” etc. The bridegroom turns the bride’s modest self-depreciation into a beautiful compliment, which the bride reciprocates in the next verse.

3 the apple tree. A tree uniting delicious fruit with refreshing shade.

5 flagons. Rather, “raisin-cakes”: see 2 Sam. vi. 19.

7 roes. Or, “gazelles.” These elegant creatures are mentioned here as emblems of female beauty, as well as of shyness and timidity.

That ye stir not up, nor awake my love. The sense is, “nor awaken love,” i.e., the passion of love, which she begs her attendants not to say or do anything to excite.

until it please. Love awakens spontaneously. This verse is repeated at the end of the bride’s soliloquy (iii. 5), and again at the close of the Fifth part of the Song (viii. 4).

9. He looketh forth at the windows, etc. Rather, “He looketh through the windows, glanceth through the lattices.”

13. The fig tree putteth forth, etc. Or, “The fig tree is sweetening her green figs, i.e., the late figs, which continue to grow through the winter, and ripen in the spring; the vines in blossom send forth their fragrance.”

14 the secret places of the stairs. Rather, “the hiding-places of the cliff.” He complains that, like a dove on a high cliff, she is inaccessible, behind the lattice, in her chamber on the wall.

15. Take us the foxes, the little foxes. The bride is detained by her duties in the vineyard. She quotes the charge addressed to her as the reason why she cannot yet have the companionship of her beloved. Foxes abound in Judea, and do much injury to vineyards and gardens. Another interpretation of the verse is that the bride, whom the bridegroom had begged to let him hear her voice, sings to him this couplet of a vineyard song.

16. He feedeth. This means, “He feedeth his flock”; see i. 7.

17. Until the day break, etc. Rather, “Until the day becomes cool, and the shadows flee away” (i.e., stretch away, or lengthen); meaning the evening. And so in iv. 6.

the mountains of Bether. Or, “of division”; meaning either “mountains which separate us,” or perhaps, as Conder thinks, a range of that name, where the village of Bittir stands, south-west of Jerusalem.