John Gill Commentary Ecclesiastes 1

The words of the preacher Or the preacher's sermon. The whole book is one continued discourse, and an excellent one it is; consisting not of mere words, but of solid matter; of things of the greatest importance, clothed with words apt and acceptable, which the preacher sought out, (Ecclesiastes 12:10) . The Targum is,

``the words of the prophecy, which the preacher, who is Solomon, prophesied.'' According to which this book is prophetic; and so it interprets it, and owns it to be Solomon's. The word "Koheleth", rendered "preacher", is by some taken to be a proper name of Solomon; who, besides the name of Solomon, his parents gave him, and Jedidiah, as the Lord called him, had the name of Koheleth; nay, the Jews say ^F9 , he had seven names, and to these three add four more, Agur, Jake, Ithiel, and Lemuel; the word by many is left untranslated ^F11 ; but it seems rather to be an appellative, and is by some rendered "gathered", or the "soul gathered" {l}.

Solomon had apostatized from the church and people of God, and has followed idols; but now was brought back by repentance, and was gathered into the fold, from which he had strayed as a lost sheep; and therefore chooses to call himself by this name, when he preached his recantation sermon, as this book may be said to be.

Others rather render it, "the gatherer" ^F13 ; and was so called, as the Jewish writers say ^F14 , either because he gathered and got much wisdom, as it is certain he did; or because he gathered much people from all parts, to hear his wisdom, (1 Kings 4:34) (10:1) ; in which he was a type of Christ, (Genesis 49:10) (John 3:26) (Matthew 23:37) ; or this discourse of his was delivered in a large congregation, got together for that purpose; as he gathered and assembled together the heads and chief of the people, at the dedication of the temple, (1 Kings 8:1) ; so he might call them together to hear the retraction he made of his sins and errors, and repentance for them: and this might justly entitle him to the character of a "preacher", as we render it, an office of great honour, as well as of great importance to the souls of men; which Solomon, though a king, did not disdain to appear in; as David his father before him, and Noah before him, the father, king, and governor of the new world, (Psalms 34:11) (2 Peter 2:5) .

The word used is in the feminine gender, as ministers of the Gospel are sometimes expressed by a word of the like kind; and are called maidens, (Psalms 68:11) (Proverbs 9:3) ; to denote their virgin purity, and uncorruptness in doctrine and conversation: and here some respect may be had to Wisdom, or Christ, frequently spoken of by Solomon, as a woman, and who now spoke by him; which is a much better reason for the use of the word than his effeminacy, which his sin or his old age had brought him to. The word "soul" may be supplied, as by some, and be rendered, "the preaching soul" ^F15 ; since, no doubt, he performed his work as such with all his heart and soul.

He further describes himself by his descent, the son of David ; which he mentions either as an honour to him, that he was the son of so great, so wise, so holy, and good a man; or as an aggravation of his fall, that being the descendant of such a person, and having had so religious an education, and so good an example before him, and yet should sin so foully as he had done; and it might also encourage him, that he had interest in the sure mercies of David, and in the promises made to him, that when his children sinned, they should be chastised, yet his lovingkindness and covenant should not depart from them.

King of Jerusalem ; not of Jerusalem only, but of all Israel, for as yet no division was made; see (Ecclesiastes 1:12) . In Jerusalem, the city of Wisdom, as Jarchi observes, where many wise and good men dwelt, as well as it was the metropolis of the nation; and, which was more, it was the city where the temple stood, and where the worship of God was performed, and his priests ministered, and his people served him; and yet he, their king, that should have set them a better example, fell into idolatry!

FOOTNOTES:

• F9: Shirhashirim Rabba, fol. 2. 3. Midrash Kohelet, fol. 60. 3.
• F11: (tlhq) "Koheleth", Broughton, Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius. Rambachius.
• F13: "Collector", Arabic version; "congregator, q. d. sapientia congregatrix", Amama, Rambachius; "the gathering soul, either recollecting itself, or by admonitions gathering others", Lightfoot, vol. 2. p. 76.
• F14: Shirhashirim Rabba, fol. 2. 3. & Jarchi, Aben Ezra, & Baruch in loc. Pesikta Rabbati apud Yalkut, ut supra. (in Kohelet, l. 1.)
• F15: "Concionatrix anima", Vatablus, Piscator.

Vanity of vanities, says the preacher
This is the preacher's text; the theme and subject he later enlarges upon, and proves by an induction of particulars; it is the sum of the whole book; vanity of vanities, all [is] vanity; most extremely vain, exceedingly so, the height of vanity:

This is repeated, both for the confirmation of it, men being hard of belief of it; and to show how much the preacher was affected with it himself, and to affect others with the same.

The Targum reads, "vanity of vanities [in] this world"; which is right as to the sense of the passage; for though the world, and all things in it, were made by God, and are very good; yet, in comparison of him, are less than nothing, and vanity; and especially as it has become subject to it through sin, a curse being brought upon the earth by it; and all the creatures made for the use of men are liable to be abused, and are abused, through luxury, intemperance, and cruelty; and the whole world usurped by Satan, as the god of it.

Nor is there anything in it, and put it all together, that can give satisfaction and contentment; and all is fickle, fluid, transitory, and vanishing, and in a short time will come to an end:

The riches of the world afford no real happiness, having no substance in them, and being of no long continuance; nor can a man procure happiness for himself or others, or avert wrath to come, and secure from it; and especially these are vanity, when compared with the true riches, the riches of grace and glory, which are solid, substantial, satisfying, and are for ever:

The honours of this world are empty things, last a very short time; and are nothing in comparison of the honour that comes from God, and all the saints have, in the enjoyment of grace here, and glory hereafter:

The sinful pleasures of life are imaginary things, short-lived ones; and not to be mentioned with spiritual pleasures, enjoyed in the house of God, under the word and ordinances; and especially with those pleasures which are for evermore at the right hand of God.

Natural wisdom and knowledge, the best thing in the world; yet much of it is only in opinion; a great deal of it false; and none saving, and of any worth in comparison of the knowledge of Christ, and of God in Christ; all the forms of religion and external righteousness, where there is not the true fear and grace of God, are all vain and empty things.

Man, the principal creature in the world, is "vain man"; that is his proper character in nature and religion, destitute of grace: every man is vain, nay, vanity itself; high and low, rich and poor, learned or unlearned; nay, man at his best estate, as worldly and natural, is so; as even Adam was in his state of innocence, being fickle and mutable, and hence he fell, (^{Psalms 39:5 Psalms 39:11}) (^62:9); and especially his fallen posterity, whose bodies are tenements of clay; their beauty vain and deceitful; their circumstances changeable; their minds empty of all that is good; their thoughts and imaginations vain; their words, and works, and actions, and their whole life and conversation; they are not at all to be trusted in for help, by themselves or others.

The Targum is, "when Solomon, king of Israel, saw, by the spirit of prophecy, that the kingdom of Rehoboam his son would be divided with Jeroboam, the son of Nebat; and that Jerusalem, and the house of the sanctuary, would be destroyed, and the people of the children of Israel would be carried captive; he said, by his word, Vanity of vanities in this world, vanity of vanities; all that I and my father David have laboured for, all is vanity!"

What profit has a man of all his labour which he takes under the sun?

This is a general proof of the vanity of all things, since there is no profit arises to a man of all his labour; for, though it is put by way of question, it carries in it a strong negative. All things a man enjoys he gets by labour; for man, through sin, is doomed and born unto it (Job 5:7); he gets his bread by the sweat of his brow, which is a part of the curse for sin; and the wealth and riches got by a diligent hand, with a divine blessing, are got by labour; and so all knowledge of natural and civil things is acquired through much labour and weariness of the flesh; and these are things a man labours for "under the sun", which measures out the time of his labour.

When the sun rises, man goes forth to his labour; and, by the light and comfortable warmth of it, he performs his work with more exactness and cheerfulness; in some climates, and in some seasons, its heat, especially at noon, makes labour burdensome, which is called, bearing "the heat and burden of the day" (Matthew 20:12); and, when it sets, it closes the time of service and labour, and therefore the servant earnestly desires the evening shadow (Job 7:2).

But now, of what profit and advantage is all this labour man takes under the sun, towards his happiness in the world above the sun? that glory and felicity, which lies in super celestial places in Christ Jesus? none at all. Or, "what remains of all his labour?" ^F16 as it may be rendered; that is, after death: so the Targum, "what is there remains to a man after he is dead, of all his labour which he laboured under the sun in this world?"

Nothing at all. He goes naked out of the world as he came into it; he can carry nothing away with him of all his wealth and substance he has acquired; nor any of his worldly glory, and grandeur, and titles of honour; these all die with him, his glory does not descend after him; wherefore it is a clear case that all these things are vanity of vanities; see (Job 1:21) (1 Timothy 6:7) (Psalms 49:16Psalms 49:17) (Ecclesiastes 5:15).

And, indeed, works of righteousness done by men, and trusted in, and by which they labour to establish a justifying righteousness, are of no profit and advantage to them in the business of justification and salvation; indeed, when these are done from right principles, and with right views, the labour in them shall not be in vain; God will not forget it; it shall have a reward of grace, though not of debt.

FOOTNOTES:

• F16: (wlme lkb Nwdty hm) "quid habet amplius homo?" V. L. "quid residui?" Vatablus, Piscator, Mercerus, Gejerus, Rambachius; "quantum enim homini reliquum est, post omnem saum laborem?" Tigurine version.

[One] generation passeth away, and [another] generation
cometh
This shows that a man can have no profit of all his labour under the sun, because of his short continuance; as soon almost as he has got anything by his labour, he must leave it: not only particular persons, but families, nations, and kingdoms; even all the inhabitants of the world, that are contemporaries, live together in the same age, in a certain period of time; these gradually go off by death, till the whole generation is consumed, as the generation of the Israelites in the wilderness were. Death is meant by passing away; it is a going out of time into eternity; a departure out of this world to another; a quitting of the earthly house of this tabernacle for the grave, the house appointed for all living; it is man's going to his long home: and this is going the way of all the earth; in a short time a whole race or generation of men go off the stage of the world, and then another succeeds ^F17 ;

they come in by birth; and men are described from their birth by such as "come into the world"; for which there is a set time, as well as for going out, (John 1:9) (Ecclesiastes 3:2) ; and these having been a while in the world, go off to make room for another generation; and so things have been from the beginning of the world, and will be to the end of it. Homer ^F18 illustrates this by the succession of leaves of trees; as is the generation of trees, he says, such is that of men; some leaves, the wind sheds them on the ground; others the budding forest puts forth, and they grow in their room in the springtime; so is the generation of men; one is born, and another ceases. Now death puts an end to all a man's enjoyments got by labour, his riches, honour, and natural knowledge; these all cease with him, and therefore he has no profit of all his labour under the sun;

but the earth abides for ever ;
for a long time, until the dissolution of all things; and then, though that and all in it will be burnt up, yet it will rather be changed than destroyed; the form of it will be altered, when the substance of it will continue; it will not be annihilated, but renewed and refined. This is mentioned to show that the earth, which was made for man, of which he is the inhabitant and proprietor, is more stable than he himself; he soon passes off from it, but that continues; he returns to the earth, from which he came, but that remains as it did; he dies, and leaves the earth behind him, and all his acquisitions in it; and therefore what profit has he of all his labours on it? Besides, that remains to have the same things transacted on it, over and over again, as has been already; God, that made it for men to dwell in, has determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of men's habitations in it; he has appointed who shall dwell on it, and where, in successive generations; and till all these men are born and gone off, age after age, the earth shall continue, and then pass through its last change.

The Targum is, ``the earth stands for ever, to bear the vengeance that is to come upon the world for the sins of the children of men.'' The Midrash Tanchuma, as Jarchi observes, interprets it of all the righteous of Israel, called the earth; and he himself, of the meek that shall inherit the earth: says R. Isaac <sup>F19</sup> , ``one kingdom comes, and another goes, but Israel abideth for ever.''

FOOTNOTES:

• F17: "Nihil enim semper floret, aetas succedit aetati", Cicero. Orat. Philip. 11.
• F18: Iliad. 6. v. 146 So Musaeus apud Clement. Stromat. l. 6. p 649. "Ut silvae foliis" Horat. de Arte Poctica, v. 60.
• F19: Apud R. Joseph. Titatzak in loc.

The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to
his place where he arose .
] The sun rises in the morning and sets at evening in our hemisphere, according to the appearance of things; and then it makes haste to go round the other hemisphere in the night: it "pants", as the word ^F20 signifies; the same figure is used by other writers ^F21 ; like a man out of breath with running; so this glorious body, which rejoices as a strong man to run his race, and whose circuit is from one end of the heavens to the other, (Psalms 19:5Psalms 19:6) ; is in haste to get to the place where he arose in the morning, and there he makes no stop, but pursues his course in the same track again.

This instance exemplifies the succession of the generations of men one after another, as the rising and setting of the sun continually follows each other; and also sets forth the restless state of things in the world, which, like the sun, are never at a stand, but always moving, and swiftly taking their course; and likewise the changeable state of man, who, like the rising sun, and when at noonday, is in flourishing circumstances, and in the height of prosperity, but as this declines and sets, so he has his declining times and days of adversity.

Moreover, like the rising sun, he comes into this world and appears for a while, and then, like the setting sun, he dies; only with this difference, in which the sun has the preference to him, as the earth before had; the sun hastens and comes to its place from which it arose, but man lies down and rises not again till the heavens be no more, and never returns to his place in this world, that knows him no more, (Job 7:10) (14:12) .

The Jews ^F23 say, before the sun of one righteous, man sets, the sun of another righteous man rises.

FOOTNOTES:

• F20: (pawv) "anhelus", Montanus, Tigurine version; "anhelat", Drusius, Piscator, Cocceius, Amama; "anhelaus est", Rambachius; "doth he breathe", Broughton.
• F21: "Placebits anhelat", Claudian. Epigrarm. "Equis oriens afflavit anhelis", Virgil. Georgic. l. 1. v. 250. Aeneid, l. 5.
• F23: Apud R. Joseph. Titatzak in loc. Midrash Kohelet in loc.