seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Ecclesiastes 7:1 A good name is better than fine perfume,
and the day of death better than the day of birth.
2 It is better to go to a house of mourning
than to go to a house of feasting,
for death is the destiny of everyone;
the living should take this to heart.
3 Frustration is better than laughter,
because a sad face is good for the heart.
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.
5 It is better to heed the rebuke of a wise person
than to listen to the song of fools.
6 Like the crackling of thorns under the pot,
so is the laughter of fools.
This too is meaningless.
and the day of death better than the day of birth.
2 It is better to go to a house of mourning
than to go to a house of feasting,
for death is the destiny of everyone;
the living should take this to heart.
3 Frustration is better than laughter,
because a sad face is good for the heart.
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.
5 It is better to heed the rebuke of a wise person
than to listen to the song of fools.
6 Like the crackling of thorns under the pot,
so is the laughter of fools.
This too is meaningless.
7 Extortion turns a wise person into a fool,
and a bribe corrupts the heart.
and a bribe corrupts the heart.
8 The end of a matter is better than its beginning,
and patience is better than pride.
9 Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit,
for anger resides in the lap of fools.
and patience is better than pride.
9 Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit,
for anger resides in the lap of fools.
10 Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?”
For it is not wise to ask such questions.
For it is not wise to ask such questions.
11 Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing
and benefits those who see the sun.
12 Wisdom is a shelter
as money is a shelter,
but the advantage of knowledge is this:
Wisdom preserves those who have it.
and benefits those who see the sun.
12 Wisdom is a shelter
as money is a shelter,
but the advantage of knowledge is this:
Wisdom preserves those who have it.
13 Consider what God has done:
Who can straighten
what he has made crooked?
14 When times are good, be happy;
but when times are bad, consider this:
God has made the one
as well as the other.
Therefore, no one can discover
anything about their future.
what he has made crooked?
14 When times are good, be happy;
but when times are bad, consider this:
God has made the one
as well as the other.
Therefore, no one can discover
anything about their future.
15 In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these:
the righteous perishing in their righteousness,
and the wicked living long in their wickedness.
16 Do not be overrighteous,
neither be overwise—
why destroy yourself?
17 Do not be overwicked,
and do not be a fool—
why die before your time?
18 It is good to grasp the one
and not let go of the other.
Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes.[a]
and the wicked living long in their wickedness.
16 Do not be overrighteous,
neither be overwise—
why destroy yourself?
17 Do not be overwicked,
and do not be a fool—
why die before your time?
18 It is good to grasp the one
and not let go of the other.
Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes.[a]
19 Wisdom makes one wise person more powerful
than ten rulers in a city.
than ten rulers in a city.
20 Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous,
no one who does what is right and never sins.
no one who does what is right and never sins.
21 Do not pay attention to every word people say,
or you may hear your servant cursing you—
22 for you know in your heart
that many times you yourself have cursed others.
or you may hear your servant cursing you—
22 for you know in your heart
that many times you yourself have cursed others.
23 All this I tested by wisdom and I said,
“I am determined to be wise”—
but this was beyond me.
but this was beyond me.
24 Whatever exists is far off and most profound—
who can discover it?
25 So I turned my mind to understand,
to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things
and to understand the stupidity of wickedness
and the madness of folly.
26 I find more bitter than death
the woman who is a snare,
whose heart is a trap
and whose hands are chains.
The man who pleases God will escape her,
but the sinner she will ensnare.
the woman who is a snare,
whose heart is a trap
and whose hands are chains.
The man who pleases God will escape her,
but the sinner she will ensnare.
27 “Look,” says the Teacher,[b] “this is what I have discovered:
“Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things—
28 while I was still searching
but not finding—
I found one upright man among a thousand,
but not one upright woman among them all.
29 This only have I found:
God created mankind upright,
but they have gone in search of many schemes.”
28 while I was still searching
but not finding—
I found one upright man among a thousand,
but not one upright woman among them all.
29 This only have I found:
God created mankind upright,
but they have gone in search of many schemes.”
a. Ecclesiastes 7:18 Or will follow them both
b. Ecclesiastes 7:27 Or the leader of the assembly
The commentary starts with bible-studys.org.
These sayings are much like those in the Book of Proverbs and demonstrate that Ecclesiastes also supports the wise approach to life. Mourning and sorrow are better than feasting and laughter, because they cause a man to reflect wisely on the brevity of life. The laughter of the fool is compared to the crackling of thorns, since both were characterized by noise, volatility and transience. To talk about the former days, or the "good old days," is not wise. Both good and bad days are the work of God and are used, apart from our ability to understand them, in God's sovereign plan.
These thoughts are from enduringword.com.Better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting: Solomon knew our tendency to simply ignore or wish away death. It is better to be squarely confronted with the reality of death, and the house of mourning is a fine place to take it to heart.
Sorrow is better than laughter: The Preacher goes against all intuition; who among us would say this? Yet he is determined to sweep away our illusions and wishes about the nature of life in his under the sun premise.
Rejecting Solomon’s general premise, we do not believe that sorrow isalwaysbetter than laughter. We do not reject it because we prefer an illusion or a wish; we do it out of firm confidence in a God to whom we answer in eternity, and who has promised to reward good and punish evil there. Even so – there is often more wisdom in the house of mourning than in the house of mirth.
I have seen everything in my days of vanity: Solomon complained that in his meaningless life he has seen the good suffer (a just man who perishes in his righteousness) and the wicked prosper (prolongs his life in his wickedness). Solomon mourns, it isn’t fair.
Do not take to heart everything people say… even you have cursed others: Wisely, the Preacher knew that we tend to take the words of others about us too seriously. People often say unguarded things that are not deeply felt; we say such things about others and would not want them to take to heart what we said.
I cannot find: One man among a thousand I have found. But a woman among all these I have not found: Solomon could find a rare man in a thousand with wisdom; but not even one woman. This speaks more about Solomon’s choice of female companionship than it does about the relative wisdom of men and women.
That last comment.... the one in verses 26-28..... that one is explained quite well [IMHO] by the easy English commentary.
The Teacher has thought in a serious way about people’s characters. He thought in the end that some women want to catch men. They are like a hunter with a trap. These women want to see men do wrong things. This kind of woman will prevent people who want to escape from her. It was as if she tied up people with chains. This kind of woman may be someone who is attracting men to herself. She may want to have sex with them. But perhaps this ‘woman’ is a way to describe foolish ideas. These ideas cause people to do wrong things. The Book of Proverbs, in chapters 5 and 7, talks about foolish men. They agree when a woman suggests wrong things to them. Instead, we must be wise. We must not allow false ideas to attract us. If we respect God, then we will avoid the wrong thoughts. We know that these thoughts are like a trap. And bad women will try to persuade foolish men. In the New Testament, the Christians who lived in the town called Colossae were in danger. That was because they were willing to believe false ideas. They needed to trust Christ only. Paul warned them not to become prisoners of those foolish ideas (Colossians 2:8).
The Teacher searched, but he did not find a good result. He found only a few good men. Perhaps he remembered Joseph from a long time ago. Joseph gave wise advice to the king in Egypt during a time when the crops did not grow. The king listened, and that advice saved the people (Genesis 41:33-40). The Teacher could not find a woman who was completely good. He thought that it would be very difficult. Perhaps that was because of Solomon’s own experiences with his many wives. But there were wise women in the Bible who were good, like Naomi (Ruth chapters 1 - 3) and Abigail (1 Samuel 25:2-25).
God created people who were honest and ‘fair’. The Hebrew word for ‘fair’ also means ‘straight’. But this whole section is about people who do bad things. So this verse may refer to people who were not content to have good ‘straight’ characters. Instead, people used their clever thoughts to discover things for themselves. Then their minds became ‘bent’. This means that they were not fair or honest. They plotted wicked schemes.
Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines and he just wrote that he could not find one completely good woman..... take heart though.... he only found one good man in 1,000. I'm not so sure it was a good man.... but an "upright" man. My dad was in the Navy... and when I was a teen, Daddy got stationed in San Juan, PR. One of my friends in San Patricio..... used to say "get bent" a lot. I never understood what it meant. I, after all, thought that a boobie was a little green man how climbed up a tree and looked in a hive and said "boo bee".
So... getting back to the verses.... the commentary says that "their minds became 'bent'". That's a good way to put it. Later I found out that my friend was being sexually assaulted by her stepfather..... we were 12 at the time..... what she saw and experienced was indeed mind bending.
