Charles Ellicott Commentary Ecclesiastes 3

A season. —The word is only found in later Hebrew (Nehemiah 2:6; Esther 9:27; Esther 9:31), and in the Aramaic of Daniel and Ezra.

Purpose. —The use of the word here and in Ecclesiastes 3:17; Ecclesiastes 5:8; Ecclesiastes 8:6, in the general sense of “a matter,” belongs to later Hebrew. The primary meaning of the word is “pleasure” or “desire,” and it is so used in this book (Ecclesiastes 5:4; Ecclesiastes 12:1; Ecclesiastes 12:10).

The list of times and seasons is arranged in Hebrew manuscripts and printed books in two parallel columns.

A time to die.—Job 14:5.

Mourn. —This is the ordinary word used for noisy funeral lamentations (Jeremiah 4:8; 1 Samuel 25:1).

Gather stones.— As the collecting of stones for building purposes is included in Ecclesiastes 3:4, it is thought that what is here referred to is the clearing or marring of land (Isaiah 5:2; Isaiah 62:10; 2 Kings 3:19; 2 Kings 3:25).

To lose.— Elsewhere this word means to destroy, but in later Hebrew it comes to mean to lose, like the Latin “perdere.”