Ecclesiastes 3

1. To every thing there is a season. According to the view given in note on ii. 24, the proverbial sayings in vers. 1-9 refer not to the purposes of man, but to the counsels and designs of God (see 2), who allots to all men a season for all that He has appointed for them.

purpose. Or, “undertaking.”

2. A time to be born, etc. “This catalogue appears to be given as an enumeration of the various particulars which make up human life from its commencement to its close, or, so to speak, as a kind of syllabus of human life” (Tyler).

3. A time to kill. In ver. 2, natural death was spoken of; here, that which comes by violence or accident.

5. A time to cast away stones. Or, “to cast stones abroad.” Stones are thus thrown when land is to be made unfit for cultivation (see 2 Kings iii. 19, 25), as they are “gathered,” or collected, when the land is to be restored to use.

7. A time to rend. A time of “rending clothes” would be equivalent, in Oriental phraseology to a time of affliction.

9. What profit hath he that worketh, etc.? Since things are thus ordered unalterably by God, of what use is this labour? The writer, in his disappointment, seems to have carried this sentiment to the verge of fatalism; but he corrects this in the 11th verse.

11 beautiful in his (its) time (or, season). “Beautiful” here seems to mean “appropriate” or “harmonious.” Whatever takes place by Divine appointment is in beautiful accord with the universal system, however unable man may be to discern that it is so.

He hath set the world in their heart. A preferable rendering seems to be (as R.V. marg.), “He hath put eternity in their heart, only that man doth not find out,” or “comprehend,” etc., referring to man’s consciousness of eternity joined to his inability to discern the whole scheme of things. “Eternity is like a sea without a shore, so that man’s vision cannot stretch to its horizon and scan God’s works from the beginning to the end” (Wordsworth).

12. I know that there is no good, etc. Rather, as R.V., “I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice, and to do good as long as they live,” i.e., to do good makes “life worth living.”

14. God doeth it, that men should fear before Him. The perpetual recurrence of similar events (see also v. 15) proves the permanence and consistency of the Divine purpose.

16 wickedness was there. As the impartial administration of justice is one of the highest blessings that a country can enjoy, so its opposite is one of the heaviest curses; a source of numerous, extensive, and aggravated miseries.

17 for every purpose and for every work. And therefore for retribution, which must be an essential part of God’s arrangements: see note on ver. 1. It would seem, from what follows, that the writer expected some retribution in the present world.

18. I said in mine heart, etc. Disappointed of any adequate present retribution, he is tempted to think that God designs to prove man to be altogether like the brutes (18-20), even questioning whether there is any difference in their ultimate destiny (21); and thus he nearly sinks into Epicurean self-indulgence (22).

That God might manifest them. Rather, that this state of prevailing injustice was permitted, “for God to prove them, that they might see for themselves that they are beasts”: see the preceding note.

19 one breath. Or, “one spirit” (Heb. ruch).

no pre-eminence. That is, in respect of death, which befalls them both.

21. Who knoweth the spirit of man, etc.? Or, “Who knoweth whether the spirit of man goeth upward?” etc. (R.V.). This question implies that he had held the belief that there is a difference after death; and that, whilst a beast has no other than a lower earthly life, man has a life which, at death, “goeth upward.” But this belief of his is now sorely shaken.

2. I will rise now. That is, “I said, Come, let me rise”; speaking to herself.

4 my mother’s house. The fitting residence for the daughter.

5 nor awake my love. See note on ii. 7.

6. Who is this, etc.? The Hebrew words rendered “this,” and “perfumed,” are in the feminine gender, referring to the bride.

the wilderness. From the country, in contrast with the city.

pillars of smoke. From the incense which was burnt before the marriage procession.

powders. That is, costly aromatic powders.

7 bed. Or, “couch”; a litter or palanquin. It was Solomon’s, i.e., provided by the king himself for his bride’s comfort and dignity. So by the guard of warriors, “all of them armed with a sword,” he secured her safely against night attacks on the journey.

9 a chariot. Palanquin (R.V.).

10 covering, etc. Rather, seat (R.V.), of purple cushions.

The midst thereof being paved with love, etc. Perhaps, “its interior decorated, [a work of] love from daughters of Jerusalem.” Moffatt and others render “inlaid with ebony.”

11. With the crown. Or, “garland.”