The righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God. Ecclesiastes 9:1 In the hand of God J. M. Gibson, D. D. This is the sober second thought of a wise man who has been sorely troubled in his mind by dwelling on the mysteries of Providence. But the darkness begins to disappear as soon as he allows his mind to rest on the thought of God and of His work in eternity, the end of which no man can see. The first thought suggested is the negative one that "the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hands of God," and, therefore, withdrawn from the sight of men. It is of great importance for our peace of mind firmly to grasp the thought that we cannot at all infer what God thinks or intends concerning any person or his works from the outward circumstances we observe. Is this man prosperous in the world? It does not by any means follow from this that God regards him with special favour ( Luke 13:1-5 ). But there is a positive truth also in the words of the text — "The righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God" — not only in the sense that they are withdrawn from the sight of men, but in this far better sense, that they are safe. Being in the hand of God they are in the best hand. It is not with the onlookers here that the righteous and the wise have to do. It is with Him who looks on from the side of eternity, and who makes all things work together for good to them that love Him. Are you and your works in the hand of God? First, and most important, are you yourselves in His hand? Are you dwelling in the secret place of the Most High, abiding under the shadow of the Almighty? And you, who yourselves are in the hand of God, see that your works are there also. We know on the best authority that a man may belong to the righteous and not to the wise; he may himself be saved and yet his work be lost. Our work, as well as ourselves, must be built on Christ. ( J. M. Gibson, D. D. ) All things come alike to all Ecclesiastes 9:2 The impartiality of Providence Homilies. Of what service is a religious life to man since Providence treats all alike? This statement is — I. PHENOMENALLY TRUE. To all outward appearance the good and the bad are treated alike. All are subject to the same diseases, bereavements, disappointments, all go down to the grave alike. 1. This a perplexing fact. Antecedently one might have supposed that the God of holiness and rectitude would, in His providence, have treated men according to their moral character, that happiness and misery would be measured out according to the merits and demerits of mankind. 2. This fact is significant. It shows — (1) The unalterableness of God's laws. They pay no deference to moral character. (2) The high probability of a future state. II. SPIRITUALLY FALSE. "All things" do not "come alike to all." 1. They do not come in the same character.(1) To the wicked the trials of earth are either blind casualties or penal inflictions. But to the godly they are chastisements of fatherly love.(2) To the wicked the prosperity and enjoyment appear as the results of their own skill, industry, and merit. To the godly they appear as the unmerited favours of a merciful God. 2. They do not come with the same influence. Trials irritate the spirit of the wicked; they purify the godly. Prosperity feeds the vanity and ambition of the wicked; but inspires the godly with devout humility and holy gratitude. The same soils, dews, and sunbeams that fill the hemlock with poison, fill the wheat with food for nations. And the same events which transform some men into devils, transform others into seraphs. ( Homilies. ) Providence Z. Cradock, D. D. I. FOR THE SAME THINGS UNCERTAINLY AND INDIFFERENTLY TO BEFALL THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED IN THIS LIFE IS UNAVOIDABLY NECESSARY. 1. Because men have the dominion over their own actions, and do that which themselves choose to do. 2. Because a great deal of prosperity and affliction befalls men, not as the reward or the effect of anything done by themselves, but by descent from their parents, whose virtues and vices have great influence upon the persons and fortunes of their children by the providence of God, and by the laws of men, and by the course of nature. 3. Because they are so mixed together in their persons, interests, employments, and places of abode, that they cannot be distinguished in the events that befall them. 4. For the more evident and certain distinguishing of them one from another. II. THEY WHO MAKE THIS OBJECTION AGAINST PROVIDENCE ARE NO COMPETENT JUDGES IN THE CASE, AND SUPPOSE IN THEIR OBJECTION THAT WHICH IS FALSE. It is supposed in this objection that the righteous endure so much grief, and the wicked enjoy so much pleasure, as cannot consist with God's love to the righteous and anger at the wicked, if He take notice and be concerned in that which happens. The better to judge of this supposition, let two things be considered. 1. That by the outward estate of men we know very little of their present grief or pleasure. 2. If we did know their present grief or pleasure, we cannot infer from thence which is the good, and which is the bad condition. III. HOWEVER, THE DAY OF JUDGMENT IS A SUFFICIENT ANSWER TO THE OBJECTION. St. Paul, when he felt the smart of his present afflictions, called them light afflictions, for a moment, not worthy to be compared with the glory to be revealed. ( Z. Cradock, D. D. ) The sufferings of good men R. Fiddes. 1. God permits the sufferings of good men for the advancement of the honour and interest of religion. A passive state is the proper sphere of action for the noblest virtues of Christianity; and for this reason the Son of God, when He took our nature upon Him, chose to appear in such a state that His example might be of more powerful and general influence to mankind. And indeed, next to the miracles, whereby the truth of the Christian religion was established, nothing contributed more to the propagation of it than the invincible patience and constancy of its possessors. 2. God has this further wise and religious end in the sufferings of good men: that we may learn by them to moderate our affections to this deceitful world; and to cast our views forward upon a more durable state of happiness, and better suited to the noble faculties and inclinations of human nature. 3. The sufferings of good men are designed to remind us both of our duty and our danger; when it is observed that the righteous fall and no man layeth it to heart, it is implied that this is a proper season of inquiring into the occasions of God's public judgments, and reforming those sins which provoked them; and this is the more incumbent upon us in proportion to the dignity of the person and the character he sustains. 4. There is no man so good but he is conscious to himself he deserves what he suffers. The world perhaps cannot charge him with any visible or notorious escapes; yet he need only put the question to his own heart concerning the reasons of his sufferings, and it will acquit the justice of heaven in them. ( R. Fiddes. ) The heart of the sons of men is full of evil. Ecclesiastes 9:3 Scriptural statement of the doctrines of human corruption E. Cooper. I. MAN'S NATURAL CORRUPTION. 1. One prevailing misconception on the subject of human corruption respects the seat of the disorder. What is the daily language of numbers? "Our lives, it is true, are not exempt from blame. We are guilty of many indiscretions. But our heart is good." In opposition to this language, the text asserts that the origin of all the evil is within. "The heart of the sons of men is full of evil." Not the streams alone are filthy and defiled; but the fountain is polluted ( Genesis 8:21 ; Jeremiah 7:24 ; Jeremiah 17:9 ; James 4:1 ; Matthew 12:34 ; Matthew 15:19 ). 2. Another ground of misconception on the subject of human corruption respects the degree and extent of the disorder. The text says that this corruption is not only radical but total. Generosity, gratitude, fidelity, and the exercise of many other pleasing qualities between man and man; the spontaneous applause of virtue; the decided condemnation of immorality may all exist, without any tendency in man to what is truly good ( Isaiah 1:5, 6 ; Romans 7:18 ; Romans 8:7 ; Genesis 6:5 ). 3. The declaration in the text is also absolute. No exception is stated or implied on account of any difference of outward dispensation under which mankind may be placed. The Gospel uniformly proceeds on the supposition that man is born in sin; that his corruption is not accidental, but innate; not acquired, but hereditary. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh." II. THE RENEWAL OF THE HEART TO HOLINESS. If, as the Scriptures teach, "without holiness no man shall see the Lord," then every text which points out the nature and extent of human corruption, points out by implication the nature and extent of that moral change which man must undergo. 1. Let us thankfully receive the information vouchsafed. 2. Let us also profitably use the information vouchsafed.While the text sets before us the picture of mankind in general, let us remember that it sets before us our picture in particular. Let us seek to acquire a deep, an experimental conviction of the truth. Let our experience of the inveteracy of the malady lead us earnestly to seek for help from Him who alone can heal our disordered souls. ( E. Cooper. ) The unconverted world A. Robertson, M. A. I. THEIR GUILT. "The heart — full of evil" ( Mark 7:21 ). It applies to all. The most peaceable man alive has often probably committed murder in his heart. The man of purity and chastity may often, in the heart, have been guilty of adultery. Passions, vile and loathsome as the pit from which they spring, only wait their opportunity. Is the man provoked? He is enraged. Is he admired? He is proud and puffed up. Does God afflict him? He is rebellious. Does God cross him? He is discontented and impatient. II. THEIR MADNESS. 1. It is a well-known symptom of natural madness that the poor creature who is thus afflicted is apt to entertain most extravagant notions of his own greatness and importance. Whilst the chains are on his hands, whilst he is confined within the narrow limits of his gloomy cell, he often struts about, and thinks himself a king. Is this acknowledged to be madness? and is there none, then, in the conduct of those men Who, being spiritually "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked," are saying of themselves, "I am rich and increased with goods, and I have need of nothing"? 2. Men who are mad, in the ordinary sense of the expression, are, for the most part, utterly insensible of danger, and incapable of fleeing from it. They walk on unconcerned, where men possessed of reason and of foresight would be shifting for their safety. Are those men, then, to be set down for sober who show an equal unconcern when the danger is eternal? 3. But mark another painful symptom of the man who labours under a natural derangement, he knows not his best friend. Those whom, were he in his senses, he would hasten to embrace, he looks on with a cold, unfeeling eye. Nay, perhaps he turns away from them, he counts them enemies. It is also the worst symptom of that spiritual derangement with which the men of this world are afflicted. They also know not their best Friend. They "turn away from Him who speaketh to them from heaven." III. THEIR MISERABLE END. "After that, they go to the dead." After what? After all the evil and the madness of their earthly course — after having wasted all their years in worldliness and folly — then, "they go to the dead." Their souls are gathered to the place where all who lived and died like them are gone before. And what place? Can we doubt that hell is meant? Where else do they go "who forget God"? What other wages hath sin, the worldly man's master, to bestow upon its servants? ( A. Robertson, M. A. ) Madness is in their heart while they live Moral madness Homiliest. There is a worse madness than mental. Many men intellectually sane are moral maniacs. Wherein does the madness of the unregenerate appear? I. In practically ignoring the greatest BEING. II. In ignoring the greatest INTERESTS. III. In ignoring the greatest DIGNITIES. The dignity of a pure character, moral conquests, and self-sacrificing deeds. These they never recognize. ( Homiliest. ) Moral insanity This affirmation is not made of one or two men, nor of some men merely; but of "the sons of men," as if of them all. 1. The insanity spoken of in the text is moral, that of the heart. By the heart here is meant the will — the voluntary power. 2. Who are the morally insane? Those who, not being intellectually insane, yet act as if they were. The conduct of impenitent men is the perfection of irrationality. You see this in the ends to which they devote themselves, and in the means which they employ to secure them. An end madly chosen — sought by means madly devised; this is the life-history of the masses who reject God. 3. This moral insanity is a state of unmingled wickedness. (1) It is voluntary — not from the loss but from the abuse of reason. (2) It is often deliberate. (3) It is a total rejection of both God's law and Gospel.The law he will not obey; the Gospel of pardon he will not accept. He seems determined to brave the Omnipotence of Jehovah. Is he not mad upon his idols? Is it saying too much when the Bible affirms — "Madness is in their heart while they live"? Remarks: — 1. Sinners strangely accuse saints of being mad and crazy. Yet those very sinners admit the Bible to be true, and admit those things which Christians believe as true to be really so. 2. If intellectual insanity be a shocking fact, how much more so is moral? Suppose the case of a Webster. His brain becomes softened; he is an idler I There is not a man in all the land but would feel solemn. What! Daniel Webster — that great man, an idiot I How have the mighty fallen! What a horrible slight! But how much more horrible to see him become a moral idiot — to see a selfish heart run riot with the clear decisions of his gigantic intellect — to see his moral principles fading away before the demands of selfish ambition — to see such a man become a drunkard, a debauchee, a loafer. Intellectual idiocy is not to be named in the comparison! 3. Although some sinners may be externally fair, and may seem to be amiable in temper and character, yet every real sinner is actually insane. Eternity so vast, and its issues so dreadful, yet this sinner drives furiously to hell as if he were on the high-road to heaven! And all this only because he is infatuated with the pleasures of sin for a season. ( C. G. Finney , D. D. ) A living dog is better than a dead lion. Ecclesiastes 9:4 Sinners, living and dead Homilist. I. Some sinners ARE MORE CONTEMPTIBLE THAN OTHERS. There is as much difference between some and others as there is between the "dog" and the "lion." 1. Some sinners are baser in nature than others. There are some who are constitutionally low, and mean, and sordid — like the dog. 2. Some sinners are in baser circumstances than others. Some tenant the hovels of pauperism, others dwell in palaces. Some wear the wretched appearance of starving curs, others the majestic bearing of lions. II. The least contemptible of sinners MUST DIE. There is the "dead lion." The sinner, however noble in nature or circumstances, must die. Death to the sinner is a terrible thing. 1. It detaches him from all good. 2. It connects him with all evil. III. The most contemptible sinner, whilst living, HAS AN ADVANTAGE over the least contemptible who is dead. Why? 1. He is living in a world fitted for happiness. Everything in the natural world is intended and suited to minister pleasure to man. 2. He is living in the sphere of redemptive mercy. ( Homilist. ) The delusion of common lily rebuked and corrected J. Hughes. Life is an immense advancement over death. Organization is greatly in advance of inorganized matter; life is an advancement over organization, for one may exist without the other. But a rational life is as superior to simple life in itself, as life is in advance of simple lifeless organization. Reason cannot exist without life, for it is its first and essential condition; but it is different from it, and superior to it; it is an addition to it, an adornment and completion of it, it makes life great, grand, powerful, and Divine-like. The distance and difference between life and death are the difference and extreme distance between principles, viewed in their moral character, relation, and result. As life is superior to death in the power of consciousness, action, and advancement, so are true principles and good character to the false and the bad. On this ground, "a living dog is better than a dead lion." I. SOME OF THE PRINCIPLES THE WORDS OF THE TEXT SUGGEST. 1. Life is the period within which all is possible that is requisite and required. A dead lion is helpless and hopeless, a living dog is able and hopeful. 2. Little real goodness is better than much nominal and fanciful. A small living spark will produce a flame, which cannot be done by a large dead charcoal; a small mustard-seed will grow into a beautiful and useful tree, whereas a forest of dead roots cannot produce such results. 3. The small used rightly is better than the great unused. A small candle that gives light is better than a sun covered with darkness. A little water that can be used by the dying or thirsty is better than a river which cannot be so used. We constantly hear complaints and excuses of small possessions, of small means, of small opportunities, and of small powers, and these are made the causes of neglect and misery in the lips of those who make them. What we need, first of all, is not greater quantity, but the power of using faithfully what we have. 4. The past of life will not satisfy and meet the present demands of human need and Divine requirements. Every day creates its duties — every day brings its wants; the provision of the day covers the need of a day, as the work of the day covers the obligation of a day. The present will not cover the future, no more than the future can cover the present — every day must provide for itself; if it does not, it is a day of want, for the blessings of yesterday and to-morrow are partly dead things to us to-day. 5. The small, with evidence and security, is better than much with groundless hope and uncertainty. A little goodness done is better than much in vows and promises; a small portion of solid and real happiness is better than great superficial and uncertain pleasure; a little producing power is better than much that is unproductive; a little of actual reality possessed of truth, virtue, and religion is of far higher worth than much in boastful fancy. 6. The small with contentment is better than the great without. The value and importance of a thing to us is in the fitness of it to satisfy our heart and mind; it may be small and insufficient in its outward form or in the estimate of people relative to it, but it is better than the possession which people call, in outward appearance, grand and glorious. With contentment, which comprehends peace of conscience and tranquillity of mind, a humble position and a small possession are better than a lofty station and magnificent possession. II. THE APPLICATION AND THE REBUKE OF THE TEXT TO COMMON LIFE. 1. It rebukes that class who trust in fortuitous chances more than in the right conduct of life. It may indeed be, in many instances, that true conduct is often slow in bringing success and happiness, and that the contrary, in many cases in this life, leads to what many call success sooner and with greater certainty; because wrong, in a world of falsehood, has more means and ways at its disposal than truth and law have, for the means and ways of truth must be all true, or else it is no longer true itself. But the success and happiness got any way apart from a right conduct or the order of law, are neither true nor real, they are but things of wrong and misconception, and are neither to be desired nor enjoyed by the true, nor held long by the deluded wrong. 2. It rebukes another class in society, namely, those who trust more in appearance than in high principles of real life. When appearance is sought and loved for its own sake as an end, it is vanity; when it is made to conceal and deceive others, it is hypocrisy. These feelings are found everywhere in society, deforming its beauty and eating up its life and reality; they are the dead lions of society, beginning in vain appearance and ending in death. 3. It rebukes those who will not do the little they can, because they have no means or opportunities to do the great and illustrious. To bury the one talent because we are not possessors of five, or not to use the one until the other four will be possessed, is a vain delusion; and better is the man who uses his little faithfully, than he who thus vainly hopes until he possesses more: one is conscious of life and gives expression to it; the other is dead in heart and action, and notwithstanding his plans and promises, a living dog is better than his dead lion. 4. There is a rebuke here to those who neglect present duties until future time. The thing which should be done to-day, but left until the morrow, is undone, and is virtually never done. The probability is that it will never be actually done; but if it will, it will have lost some of its virtue and beauty, because it ought to have been done before. But everything in the form of a present duty, thus neglected until a future time, is virtually dead, for the future is uncertain; and if the time ever comes, our views and feelings instead of being more inclined to do the thing which thus was neglected in the past, will be more disinclined to do it, and will probably be inclined to throw it to a greater future still. 5. The words rebuke human folly that trusts in shadowy unreality rather than in reality. It is not seldom that people give away their present position and happiness because they fancy something greater and far better, and thus give up the real for the vain, and the certain for the things which too often prove unattainable. This is exemplified religiously in different forms, but is the same thing in character and result. One tries to make a good show to gain approval arid applause, or conceal some purpose which is not made known, which is hypocrisy. In such a case, inward principle is not sought, conscious enjoyment is not known; all is outward appearance, which is not life and reality, but a formal and hard affectation. There is another class, again, who make feeling all their aim. With these, knowledge is of no value, principle of truth and integrity is of no importance; unless a state of vague and excited moral intoxication absorbs all, everything is worthless. Others there are who make all their religious reality dependent upon some few points of belief, which may be nothing better than opinion, and when it comes to the test, there is neither life nor reality in them. There are others, again, who depend upon some secret purpose in God's mind for all their salvation and heaven, exclusive of all goodness by and in themselves. 6. There is here a rebuke to those who desire their possession to consist in form and magnitude rather than in quality. How feeble and foolish are we! We allow sense to control our reason, and not reason our sense; we too frequently allow fancy to govern conscience rather than conscience fancy; we submit our best judgment to sentimental delusion, rather than be governed according to the laws of truth and equity. How long shall we and others be guilty of pursuing the dead lions of vain ambition and delusive blindness, and be rebuked and punished by justice for the folly of our conduct? III. THE LESSONS OF INSTRUCTIONS INTENDED TO COMMON LIFE. 1. One important lesson here intended is not to trust in the helpless. The earthly and material are helpless, for they are unfit for our moral and spiritual nature. The perishable cannot help us, for they die behind us, and are insufficient from their nature to satisfy our immortal hope and aspiration. The sinful, whatever it is, is helpless; for instead of improving, it deteriorates, and instead of adding to resources and happiness, it diminishes and destroys. The thing which is not in unity with God's will and order, with the advancement; of truth and happiness, cannot help us, and must not be trusted in. No finite thing must have all the confidence of our soul, for everything and everybody are in-sufficient to meet the wants of the soul and all its relations and conditions. We must have a living God, a living Saviour, a living Comforter, a living faith, a living hope, a living love — these will comfort and be sufficient when everything else fails and dies. 2. Another lesson intended to teach us, is not to judge things from their forms, but from their character. If we judge from appearance, we go wrong in the most common matters of life. In childhood we should put the penny above the sovereign because it is larger; and judging from outward strength and swiftness we should put the horse above man. Outward appearance, when natural and true, is an index of the inward character and meaning of things; but we must not take it alone as a final test, for it may not be genuine, and moreover, we may by something not right in us misinterpret it; it must be taken in connection with other things more safe and true as tests of quality and character. 3. We are taught to use faithfully the means and powers we possess, and not excuse our virtue upon the chance of things. What we need is not so much more power, but the use of what we possess more faithfully. In this God has given us useful lessons in the ant, the bee, and the bird; they use what they have, and they answer successfully the purpose of life. 4. There is another lesson of sacred importance taught us, namely, that God looks at the vitality of things in their nature, and not on their outward form of grandeur and greatness. God accepts of a humble publican, with his unassuming manner and confession, rather than the boastful prayer of the Pharisee. He looks at the vitality of the heart, and .not at the gorgeous outward manifestation. He accepts the attitude of the inward spirit. He is a Spirit, and must be worshipped in spirit and in truth. What a comfort and encouragement is this to us all I What God thinks of us is the great thing belonging to us all alike. He demands a living thought, a living love, a living faith, and a living devotion; they are suitable in themselves, and accepted by God from all alike. 5. Another lesson of importance given us here is, that the secret of happiness is to enjoy the little we have. However small our blessings, we have more than we use to our own advancement and happiness; the reason of our misery is the non-application rightly of what we possess, and not deficiency in the quality and degree of our possession. This is often beautifully illustrated in life, you often see more happiness in the cottage than in the palace, in poverty than in wealth, in pain and affliction than in ease and health. How is this? It is because one applies and enjoys his little better than the other his greater and richer blessings. 6. I mention one more lesson taught us in the text, namely, that our goodness should be an active,, growing thing; our goodness must live to be active, and active to live. A little living seed is better than all the dead flowers in the country; so a little progressive goodness is more hopeful than all past life of virtue and religion. Growth is a preparation for the future, arising from present life and deep-rootedness. It is not the majesty and largeness of the lion that makes it undesirable, but its dead condition; as such, it is a condition of inactivity and decay rather than one of action and strength. It is not the smallness of the dog that makes it an object of desire, but its life. Under this condition it is competent of useful service, and of growth and activity. The lesson intended to be conveyed to us is, that life, action, and growth are united; and that it is needful to have life before the others can exist. The teaching of truth is, Grow in grace; let us go hence; let us not be weary in well-doing; and these things are incompatible with inactivity, stultification, and death. IV. THE ENCOURAGEMENT AND COMFORT INTENDED TO COMMON LIFE. Most things contain in them an element of comfort, if we are able to find it, and in a fit state to receive and apply it. All comforts are not of the same kind; they vary in form and diversity, in common with other things. When you assist a man in distress with your material means, it is a comfort, or soothe his bodily pain, or restore him from the verge of death into health and vigour, it is a high comfort. When you tell a friend the way to success, or restore a wanderer from a path of danger and wrong, and put and direct him on in safety, it is comforting. When you solve any difficult problem, or dissipate some doubt and fear, or soothe a heart depressed and cast down, it is no small comfort you impart to their subjects. When you show new light upon any dark picture, or give new means to conquer difficulties, or discover new hope to vanquish the common foes of life, these are no small comforts to those who need them. These are some of the various form of comforts, and they are all valuable and needed, and accepted with gratitude by those who are in such conditions. We have in the text an encouraging comfort for the true and humble ones who are depressed and dejected by reason of their state and condition, or from the smallness of their sacrifice, or the little they can do. They look at the lofty station, splendour, power, and great gifts of others, and are discouraged and ready to flag in the path of duty, and think they have neither a plea nor a hope to be accepted of God, and be among the successful competitors of religion and heaven. But He looks not as man looks, He accepts the small and unadorned sincerity before dead splendour and outward dignified grandeur. You humble dejected ones, be then comforted, that the Lofty One looks on the humble and true ones, and accepts the mean in outward appearance, if it be true, before the most illustrious grandeur and the greatest outward ornament which a combined universe could offer Him. ( J. Hughes. ) Reality versus Show A. J. Bray. In the estimation of an Oriental, the lion was the symbol of all that was brave and kingly — the dog, of all that was base and contemptible. Between the living dog and the living lion there could be no comparison, any more than you could compare a Christian philosopher with an African slave — there was only a contrast; but the lion dead changes the whole aspect of the thing. Its regal bearing, its voice of thunder, its courage, are gone, and nothing but the appearance is left behind. Than that, the wise man says, the living dog is better. It seems to me that the writer of Ecclesiastes has set before himself the purpose of scourging the people for their vain, pretentious, and foolish display. The great outstanding sin of the nation was a love of mere show. They set little store on the reality of the thing if they were only feasted with the appearance. There must be pomp, pageantry, glare, dazzle, grand outward show — never mind how hollow, never mind how unreal. Artificiality was ruining the nation. They had set up the dead lion, and spurned the living dog. A very foolish nation, certainly, that nation of Jews; and it does seem astonishing that grown-up men and women could have been so childish. But wait; let us ask if there is not something of this here, and now, among ourselves. Here in this Western world, among a people not poetic, not dreamy — now in an age that claims to be intensely practical — it seems to me that we are given over to appearances, and sham is lord of the ascendant. Is it difficult to prove that? I think net. Look at dress. Simple garments with simple lines, simple ornaments, plain but real; nature's grand simplicity — where will you find it? Only here and there. It is built up with fold upon fold, gaudy extravagance, glaring tinsel, diamonds of pure carbon, or diamonds of cut-glass; ornaments of gold, or ornaments of aluminum; flowers from the garden, if not, then flowers from the toy shop; anything and everything for show. Rich and poor alike are rushing into this foolish extravagance of dress. Simplicity is gone — banished to the wilds of Siberia or elsewhere, and we are given over to the gaudy and the unreal. Then, aga

Benson Commentary Ecclesiastes 9:1 For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them. Ecclesiastes 9:1 . For, or therefore, as the LXX. render it, all this I considered in my heart — All that I have said concerning the methods of divine providence, toward good and bad men; to declare all this — To make this evident, first to myself, and then to others; that the righteous — Whom he mentions, not exclusively, as if wicked men were not also in God’s hand, for the next clause relates both to the good and bad; but eminently, because, by the course of God’s providence toward them, they might seem to be quite neglected by God; and their works are in the hand of God — All their actions and employments; all events which befall them are governed by his providence, and therefore, although we cannot fully understand the reasons of all, yet we may be assured they are done righteously. No man knoweth either love or hatred — No man can judge by their present outward condition, whether God loves or hates them; for whom he loves he chastens, and permits those whom he hates to prosper in the world. Ecclesiastes 9:2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath. Ecclesiastes 9:2-3 . All things come alike to all — The good and evil things of this world equally happen to good and bad men; as is the good, so is the sinner — As to all outward things. This is an evil, &c. — A great trouble and temptation to a considerate and good man; yea, also the heart of the sons of men — Of wicked men, such as the generality of mankind are; is full of evil — Of wickedness; and madness is in their heart — Upon this account they go on madly and desperately in evil courses, without any fear of an after reckoning; and after that they go to the dead — And after all they appear to die in the same manner as the best men do. So hitherto there is no difference. For Solomon here forbears to take into consideration the future life: he intimates, however, that as the madness, so the happiness of the wicked, is ended by death: which is more fully expressed in the following words. Ecclesiastes 9:3 This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead. Ecclesiastes 9:4 For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. Ecclesiastes 9:4-6 . For to him that is joined to all the living — That continues with living men; there is hope — He hath not only some comfort for the present, but also hopes of further and greater happiness in this world, which men are very prone to entertain and cherish in themselves. Yea, he may have the hopes of a better life, if he improve his opportunities. For a living dog is better than a dead lion — Much happier as to the comforts of this world. “The meanest and most contemptible person here, in this world, hath the advantage of the greatest king, when he is gone out of it.” For the living know that they shall die — Whereby they are taught to improve life while they have it. But the dead know not any thing — Of the actions and events of this world, as this is limited in the next verse. Neither have they any more a reward — In this world. The reward or fruit of their labours is utterly lost to them, and enjoyed by others. See Ecclesiastes 2:21 . For otherwise, that there are future rewards after death, is asserted by Solomon elsewhere, as we have seen, and shall hereafter see. For the memory of them is forgotten — Namely, among living men, and even in those places where they had lived in great power and glory. Also their love and hatred, &c ., is now perished — They neither love, nor hate, nor envy any thing in this world, but are unconcerned in what is done under the sun. Ecclesiastes 9:5 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Ecclesiastes 9:6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun. Ecclesiastes 9:7 Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works. Ecclesiastes 9:7-9 . Go thy way — Make this use of what I have said. Eat thy bread — Thy necessary and convenient food; with joy, &c. — Cheerfully enjoy thy comforts, avoiding all distracting care and grief for the occurrences of this world. For God now accepteth thy works — Whosoever thou art, that art truly pious and upright before him, he is gracious unto thee, accepts thy services for his honour, and allows thee a comfortable enjoyment of his blessings. Let thy garments be always white — In all convenient times and circumstances; for there are times of mourning. The eastern people of the best sort used white garments, especially in times of rejoicing. But by this whiteness of garments he seems to intend a pleasant and cheerful conversation. And let thy head lack no ointment — Which, upon joyful occasions, was poured upon men’s heads. Live joyfully with thy wife — The one wife, whom thou lovest. Love her, and keep thyself only to her, avoiding all improper intercourse and familiarity with all other women, and thou wilt live comfortably with her; all the days of thy vanity — Of this vain and frail life: which expression he uses to moderate men’s affections even toward lawful pleasures, and to admonish them of their duty and interest in making sure of a better life, and more solid comforts. For that is thy portion — Allowed thee by God; and the best part of worldly enjoyments; in this life — By which addition he again reminds him of the duty of seeking another and better portion in a future life. Ecclesiastes 9:8 Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment. Ecclesiastes 9:9 Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun. Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. Ecclesiastes 9:10 . Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, &c. — Whatever thou hast opportunity and ability to, in the duties of thy calling, or for the glory of God and the good of thy fellow creatures; do it with all thy might — With unwearied diligence, vigour, and expedition. Hereby again Solomon shows, that he does not persuade men to an idle and sensual life, but only to a sober enjoyment of their comforts in God’s fear, and with an industrious prosecution of the business of their vocations. For there is no work, &c., in the grave — Thou canst neither design nor act any thing tending to the glory of God, or to thine own comfort or advantage there. Therefore neglect not thine only season. Ecclesiastes 9:11 I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. Ecclesiastes 9:11 . I returned and saw — This may have some respect to the foregoing verse: for having urged men to labour with all their might, he now adds, by way of caution, that yet they must not be confident of their own strength, as if they were sure of success by it, but must look up to God for his blessing, without which all their endeavours would be in vain. But it seems chiefly to be added, either, as another instance of the liberty and power of God’s providence, in the disposing of human affairs, of which he spake Ecclesiastes 9:1-2 ; or as another of the vanities of this present life; that the race is not to the swift — Either ability to run, or success and victory in running; nor the battle to the strong — The victory in battle; nor riches to men of understanding — Who yet are most likely to get and keep riches; nor yet favour — Acceptance and love from men; to men of skill — Who know how to conduct themselves and all affairs, and therefore are most likely to find favour, at least, in the eyes of such as need their services; but time and chance happeneth to them all — There are times or seasons, casual to men, but known by God, in which alone he will give men success. Ecclesiastes 9:12 For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them. Ecclesiastes 9:12 . For man also knoweth not his time — Namely, the time of his death, or of some other sore distress, which God is bringing upon him; as fishes are taken in an evil net — While they are sporting and feeding themselves, are suddenly and unexpectedly ensnared to their ruin; so are the sons of men snared — When they are most careless and secure. Ecclesiastes 9:13 This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me: Ecclesiastes 9:13-16 . This wisdom have I seen — I have observed this among many other instances and effects of wisdom. Which he adds for the commendation of wisdom, notwithstanding its insufficiency for man’s safety and happiness without God’s blessing. And it seemed great unto me — I judged it very praiseworthy, though others despised it, as it follows. There was a little city, &c. — It is doubtful whether Solomon be here relating a certain fact which had occurred in some neighbouring country, or delivering a parable to represent the value of wisdom, and the ingratitude and neglect with which those who have greatly benefited others by it, are often treated by them. St. Jerome, as appears by the following paraphrase, considers him as alluding to several facts of the same or a similar kind, “It hath often been seen that a small city and few inhabitants, being beset by an army of innumerable enemies, and besieged so straitly that they were in danger, if not other ways, of perishing by famine; were, on a sudden, contrary to all men’s expectation, delivered by a mean person, who, having more wisdom than all the great and powerful citizens, thought of a way to save them, when they gave themselves up for lost, and effected that of which they utterly despaired. And yet, O the ungratefulness of mankind! after the siege was raised, no one thought of this poor man;” namely, to give him thanks, much less to reward him for their safety. “It sets forth,” says Lord Bacon, “the depraved and malignant nature of mankind; who, in extremities and straits commonly flee to men of wisdom and courage, whom before they despised; but, so soon as the storm is over, they become unthankful wretches to their preservers.” Ecclesiastes 9:14 There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it: Ecclesiastes 9:15 Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man. Ecclesiastes 9:16 Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard. Ecclesiastes 9:17 The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools. Ecclesiastes 9:17 . The words of wise men — Though poor; are heard in quiet — Are uttered with a modest and low voice, and are, or should be, heard by wise men; more than the cry — The clamorous and senseless discourses; of him that ruleth among fools — Of a rich and potent, but foolish man, who has some influence on fools like himself, but is justly neglected, and his words disregarded by wise men. Or, as Aben Ezra interprets the verse, connecting it with the preceding, “The words of the wise are despised by the people when they are in prosperity, but when they are in distress, and silenced by fear and grief, then they listen eagerly and diligently.” Ecclesiastes 9:18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Ecclesiastes 9:1 For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them. 17 The Chief Good not to be found in Wisdom : Ecclesiastes 8:16-17 ; Ecclesiastes 9:1-6 1. The Preacher commences this section by carefully defining his position and equipment as he starts on his final course. As yet he carries no lamp of revelation in his hand, although he will not venture beyond a certain point without it. For the present he will trust to reason and experience, and mark the conclusions to which these conduct when unaided by any direct light from Heaven. His first conclusion is that wisdom, which of all temporal goods still stands foremost with him, is incapable of yielding a true content. Much as it can do for man, it cannot solve the moral problems which task and afflict his heart, the problems which he must solve before he can be at peace. He may be so bent on solving these by wisdom as to see "no sleep in his eyes by day or night"; he may rely on wisdom with a confidence so genuine as to suppose at times that by its help he has "found out all the work of God"-really solved all the mysteries of the Divine Providence; but nevertheless "he has not found it out"; the illusion will soon pass, and the unsolved mysteries reappear dark and sombre as of old. { Ecclesiastes 8:16-17 } And the proof that he has failed is, first, that he is as incompetent to foresee the future as those who are not so wise as he. With all his sagacity, he cannot tell whether he shall meet "the love or the hatred" of his fellows. His lot is as closely hidden in "the hand of God" as theirs, although he may be as much better as he is wiser than they Ecclesiastes 9:1 . A second proof is that "the same fate" overtakes both the wise and the foolish, the righteous and the wicked, and he is as unable to escape it as any of his neighbours. All die; and to men ignorant of the heavenly hope of the gospel the indiscrimination of death seems the most cruel and hopeless of wrongs. The Preacher, indeed, is not ignorant of that bright hope; but as yet he has not taken the lamp of revelation into his hand: he is simply speaking the thought of those who have no higher guide than reason, no brighter light than reflection. And to these, their wisdom having taught them that to do right is infinitely better than to do wrong, no fact was so monstrous and inscrutable as that their lives should run to the same disastrous close with the lives of evil and violent men, that all alike should fall into the hands of "that churl, Death." As they revolved this fact, their hearts grew hot with a fierce resentment as natural as it was impotent, a resentment all the hotter because they knew how impotent it was. Therefore the Preacher dwells on this fact, lingers over his description of it adding touch to touch. "One fate comes to all," he says, "to the righteous and to the wicked, to the pure and to the impure, to the religious and to the irreligious, to the profane and to the reverent." If death be a good, the maddest fool and the vilest reprobate share it with the sage and the saint." If death be an evil, it is inflicted on the good as well as on the bad. None is exempt. Of all wrongs this is the greatest; of all problems this is the most insoluble. Nor is there any doubt as to the nature of death. To him for whom there shines no light of hope behind the darkness of the grave, death is the supreme evil. For to the living, however deject and wretched, there is still some hope that times may mend: even though in outward condition despicable as that unclean outcast, a dog-the homeless and masterless scavenger of Eastern cities-he had some advantage over the royal lion who, once couched on a throne, now lies in the dust rotting to dust. The living know at least that they must die; but the dead know not anything. The living can recall the past, and their memory harps fondly on notes which were once most sweet; but the very memory of the dead has perished, no music of the happy past can revive on their dulled sense, nor will any recall their names. The heavens are fair; the earth is beautiful and generous; the works of men are many and diverse and great; but they have "no more any portion forever in aught that is done under the sun" ( Ecclesiastes 9:2-6 ). This is the Preacher’s description of the hapless estate of the dead. His words would go straight home to the hearts of the men for whom he wrote, with a force even beyond that which they would have for heathen races. In their captivity, they had renounced the worship of idols. They had renewed their covenant with Jehovah. Many of them were devoutly attached to the ordinances and commandments which they and their fathers had neglected in happier and more prosperous years. Yet their lives were made bitter to them with cruel bondage, and they had as little hope in their death as the Persians who embittered their lives, and probably even less. It was in this sore strait, and under the strong compulsions of the dreadful extremity, that the more studious and pious of their rabbis, like the Preacher himself, drew into an expressive context the passages scattered through their Sacred Books which hinted at a retributive life beyond the tomb, and settled into that firm persuasion of the immortality of the soul which, as a rule, they never henceforth altogether let go. But when the Preacher wrote, this settled and general conviction had not been reached. There were many among them who, as their thoughts circled round the mystery of death, could only cry, "Is this the end? is this the end?" To the great majority of them it seemed the end. And even the few, who sought an answer to the question by blending the Greek and Oriental with the Hebrew wisdom, attained no clear answer to it. To mere human wisdom, life remained a mystery, and death a mystery still more cruel and impenetrable. Only those who listened to the Preachers and Prophets taught of God beheld the dawn which already began to glimmer on the darkness in which men sat. 7 FOURTH SECTION The Quest Achieved. The Chief Good Is To Be Found, Not In Wisdom, Nor In Pleasure, Nor In Devotion To Affairs And Its Rewards; But In A Wise Use And A Wise Enjoyment Of The Present Life, Combined With A Steadfast Faith In The Life To Come Ecclesiastes 8:16 - Ecclesiastes 12:7 AT last we approach the end of our Quest. The Preacher has found the Chief Good, and will show us where to find it. But are we even yet prepared to welcome it and to lay hold of it? Apparently he thinks we are not. For, though he has already warned us that it is not to be found in Wealth or Industry, in Pleasure or Wisdom, he repeats his warning in this last Section of his Book, as if he still suspected us of hankering after our old errors. Not till he has again assured us that we shall miss our mark if we seek the supreme Good in any of the directions in which it is commonly sought, does he direct us to the sole path in which we shall not seek in vain. Once more, therefore, we must gird up the loins of our mind to follow him along his several lines of thought, encouraged by the assurance that the end of our journey is not far off. Ecclesiastes 9:7 Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works. Nor in Pleasure: Ecclesiastes 9:7-12 Imagine, then, a Jew brought to the bitter pass which Coheleth has described. He has acquainted himself with wisdom, native and foreign; and wisdom has led him to conclusions of virtue. Nor is he of those who love virtue as they love music-without practicing it. Believing that a righteous and religious carriage of himself will ensure happiness and equip him to encounter the problems of life, he has striven to be good and pure, to offer his sacrifices and pay his vows. But he has found that, despite his best endeavours, his life is not tranquil, that the very calamities which overtake the wicked overtake him, that that wise carriage of himself by which he thought to win love has provoked hatred, that death remains a frowning and inhospitable mystery. He hates death, and has no great love for the life which has brought him only labour and disappointment. Where is he likely to turn next? Wisdom having failed him, to what will he apply? At what conclusion will he arrive? Will not his conclusion be that standing conclusion of the baffled and the hapless, "Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die"? Will he not say, "Why should I weary myself any more with studies which yield no certain science, and self-denials which meet with no reward? If a wise and pure conduct cannot secure me from the evils I dread, let me at least try to forget them and to grasp such poor delights as are still within my reach"? This, at all events, is the conclusion in which the Preacher lands him; and hence he takes occasion to review the pretensions of pleasure or mirth. To the baffled and hopeless devotee of wisdom he says, "Go, then, eat thy bread with gladness, and drink thy wine with a merry heart. Cease to trouble yourself about God and His judgments. He, as you have seen, does not mete out rewards and punishments according to our merit or demerit; and as He does not punish the wicked after their deserts, you may be sure that He has long since accepted your wise virtuous endeavours, and will keep no score against you. Deck yourself in white festive garments; let no perfume be lacking to your head; add to your harem any woman who charms your eye: and, as the day of your life is brief at the best, let no hour of it slip by unenjoyed. As you have chosen mirth for your portion, be as merry as you may. Whatever you can get, get; whatever you can do, do. You are on the road to the dark dismal grave where there is no work nor device; there is, therefore, the more reason why your journey should be a merry one" ( Ecclesiastes 9:7-10 ). Thus the Preacher describes the Man of Pleasure, and the maxims by which he rules his life. How true the description is I need not tarry to prove; ‘tis a point every man can judge for himself. Judge also whether the warning which the Preacher subjoins be not equally true to experience ( Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 ). For, after having depicted, or personated, the man who trusts in wisdom, and the man who devotes himself to pleasure, he proceeds to show that even the man who blends mirth with study, whose wisdom preserves him from the disgusts of satiety and vulgar lust, is nevertheless-to say nothing of the Chief Good-very far from having reached a certain good. Then, at least, "the race was not (always) to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; neither was bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favour to the learned." Those who had the fairest chances had not always the happiest success; nor did those who bent themselves most strongly to their ends always reach their ends. Those who were wanton as birds, or heedless as fish, were often taken in the snare of calamity or swept up by the net of misfortune. At any moment a killing frost might blight all the growths of Wisdom and destroy all the sweet fruits of pleasure; and if they had only these, what could they do but starve when these were gone? The good which was at the mercy of accident, which might vanish before the instant touch of disease or loss or pain, was not worthy to be, or to be compared with, the Chief Good, which is a good for all times, in all accidents and conditions, and renders him who has it equal to all events. Ecclesiastes 9:13 This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me: Nor in Devotion to Affairs and its Rewards. Ecclesiastes 9:13-18 ; Ecclesiastes 10:1-20 So far, then, Coheleth has been occupied in retracing the argument of the first Section of the Book. Now he returns upon the second and third Sections: he deals with the man who plunges into public affairs, who turns his wisdom to practical account and seeks to attain a competence, if not a fortune. He lingers over this stage of his argument, probably because the Jews, then as always, even in exile and under the most cruel oppression, were a remarkably energetic, practical, money-getting race, with a singular faculty of dealing with political issues or handling the market; and, as he slowly pursues it, he drops many hints of the social and political conditions of the time. Two features of it he takes much to heart: first, that wisdom, even of the most practical and sagacious sort, did not win its fair recognition and reward-a very natural complaint in so wise a man; and, secondly, that his people were under tyrants so gross, self-indulgent, indolent, and unstatesman-like as the Persians of his day-also a natural complaint in a man of so wise and patriotic spirit. He opens with an anecdote in proof of the slight regard in which the most valuable and remunerative sagacity was held. He tells us of a poor man-and I have sometimes thought that this poor man may have been the author himself; for the military leaders of the Jews, though among the most expert strategists of that era, were often very learned and studious men-who lived in a little city, with only a few inhabitants. A great king came up against the city, besieged it, threw up the lofty military causeway, as high as the walls, from which it was the fashion of the time to deliver the assault. By his Archimedian wit the poor man hit on a stratagem which saved the city; but though his service was so signal, and the city so little that the "few men in it" must have seen him every day, "yet no one remembered that same poor man," or lent a hand to lift him from his poverty. Wise as he was, his wisdom did not bring him bread, nor riches, nor favour ( Ecclesiastes 9:13-15 ). Therefore, concludes the Preacher, wisdom, great gift though it is, and better, as in this instance, than "an army to a beleaguered city," { Ecclesiastes 7:19 } is not of itself sufficient to secure success. A poor man’s wisdom-as many an inventor has found-is despised even by those who profit by it. Although his counsel, in the day of extremity, is infinitely more valuable than the loud bluster of fools, or of a ruler among fools, nevertheless the ruler, because he is foolish, may be affronted to find one of the poorest men in the place wiser than himself; he may easily cast his "merit in the eye of scorn," and so rob him both of the honour and the reward of his achievement ( Ecclesiastes 9:16-17 )-an ancient saw not without modern instances. For the fool is a great power in the world, especially the fool who is wise in his own conceit. Insignificant in himself, he may nevertheless do great harm and "destroy much good." Just as a tiny fly, when it is dead, may make the sweetest ointment offensive by infusing its own evil savour, so a man, when his wit is gone, may with his little folly cause many sensible men to distrust the wisdom they should honour: { Ecclesiastes 10:1 }-who has not met such a hot-headed want-wit in, for example, the lobbies of the House of Commons? To a wise man, such as Coheleth, the fool, the presumptuous conceited fool, is "rank and smells to heaven," infecting sweeter natures than his own with a most pestilent corruption. He paints us a picture of him-paints it with a keen graphic scorn which, if the eyes of the fool were in his head, { Ecclesiastes 2:14 } and "what he is pleased to call his mind" could for a moment shift from his left hand to his right ( Ecclesiastes 10:2 ), might make him nearly as contemptible to himself as he is to others. As we read Ecclesiastes 10:3 , the unhappy wretch stands before us. We see him coming out of his house; he goes dawdling down the street, forever wandering from the path, attracted by the merest trifle, staring at familiar objects with eyes that have no recognition in them. knowing neither himself nor others; and, with pointed finger, chuckles after every sober citizen he meets, "There goes a fool!" Yet a fool quite as foolish and malignant as this, quite as indecent even in outward behaviour, may be lifted to high place, and has ere now sat on an imperial throne. The Preacher had seen many of them suddenly raised to power, while nobles were degraded, and high functionaries of State reduced to an abject servitude. Now if the poor wise man have to attend the durbar, or sit in the divan, of a foolish capricious despot, how should he bear himself? The Preacher counsels meekness and submission. He is to sit unruffled even though the ruler should rate him, lest by resentment he should provoke some graver outrage ( Ecclesiastes 10:4-7 : compare Ecclesiastes 8:3 ). To strengthen him in his submission, the Preacher hints at cautions and consolations which, because free and open speech was very dangerous under the Persian despotism, he wraps up in obscure maxims capable of a double sense-nay, as the commentators have shown, capable of a good many more senses than two-to the true sense of which "a foolish ruler" was by no means likely to penetrate, even if they fell into his hands. The first of these maxims is, "He who diggeth a pit shall fall into it" ( Ecclesiastes 10:8 ). And the allusion is, of course, to an Eastern mode of trapping wild beasts and game. The huntsman dug a pit, covered it with twigs and sods, and strewed the surface with bait; but as he dug many such pits, and some of them were long without a tenant, he might at any inadvertent moment fall into one of them himself. The proverb is capable of at least two interpretations. It may mean that the foolish despot, plotting the ruin of his wise servant, might in his anger go too far; and, betraying his intention, provoke a retaliative anger before which he himself would fall. Or it may mean that, should the wise servant seek to undermine the throne of the despot, he might be taken in his treachery and bring on himself the whole weight of the tyrant’s wrath. The second maxim is "Whoso breaketh down a wall, a serpent shall bite him" ( Ecclesiastes 10:8 ); and here, of course, the allusion is to the fact that snakes infect the crannies of old walls. {compare Amos 5:19 } To set about dethroning a tyrant was like pulling down such a wall; you would break up the nest of many a reptile, many a venomous hanger-on, and might only get bit or stung for your pains. Or, again, in pulling out the stones of an old wall, you might let one of them fall on your foot; and in hacking out its timbers, you might cut yourself: that is to say, even if your conspiracy did not involve you in absolute ruin, it would be only too likely to do you serious and lasting injury ( Ecclesiastes 10:9 ). The next adage runs ( Ecclesiastes 10:10 ), "if the axe be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, he must put on more strength, but wisdom should teach him to sharpen it," and is, perhaps, the most difficult passage in the book. The Hebrew is read in a different way by almost every translator. As I read it, it means, in general, that it is not well to work with blunt tools when by a little labour and delay you may whet them to a keener edge. Read thus, the political rule implied in it is, "Do not attempt any great enterprise, any revolution or reform, till you have a well-considered scheme to go upon, and suitable instruments to carry it out with." But the special political import of it may be, "Your strength is nothing to that of the tyrant; do not therefore lift a blunt axe against the trunk of despotism: wait till you have put a sharp edge upon it." Or, the tyrant himself may be the blunt axe, and then the warning is, "Sharpen him up, repair him, use him and his caprices to serve your end; get your way by giving way to him, and by skilfully availing yourself of his varying moods." Which of these may be the true meaning of this obscure disputed passage, I do not undertake to say; but the latter of the two seems to be sustained by the adage which follows: "If the serpent bite because it is not charmed, there is no advantage to the charmer." For here, I think, there can be little doubt that the foolish angry ruler is the serpent, and the wise functionary the charmer who is to extract the venom of his anger. Let the foolish ruler be never so furious, the poor wise man. who is able "to cull the plots of best advantages," and to save a city, can surely devise a charm of soft submissive words which will turn away his wrath; just as the serpent charmer of the East, by song and incantation, is at least reputed to draw serpents from their lurk, that he may pluck the venom from their teeth ( Ecclesiastes 10:11 ). For, as we are told in the very next verse, "the words of the wise man’s mouth win him grace, while the lips of the fool destroy him." And on this hint, on this casual mention of his name, the Preacher-who all this while, remember, is personating the sagacious man of the world, bent on rising to wealth, power, distinction-once more "comes down" on the fool. He speaks of him with a burning heat and contempt, as men versed in public affairs are wont to do, since they best know how much harm a voluble, impudent, self-conceited fool may do, how much good he may prevent. Here, then, is the fool of public life. He is a man always prating and predicting, although his words, only foolish at the first, swell and fret into a malignant madness before he has done, and although he of all men is least able to give good counsel, to seize occasions as they rise, or to foresee what is about to come to pass. Puffed up by the conceit of wisdom or of his own importance, he is forever intermeddling with great affairs, though he has no notion how to handle them, and is incapable of even finding his way along the beaten road which leads to the capital city, of taking and keeping the plain and obvious path which the exigencies of the time require; while ( Ecclesiastes 10:3 ) he is forward to cry, "There goes a fool," of every man who is wiser than himself ( Ecclesiastes 10:12-15 ). If he would only hold his tongue, he might pass muster; beguiled by his gravity and silence, men might give him credit for sagacity, and fit his foolish deeds with profound motives; but he will speak, and his words betray and "swallow him up." Of course we have no such fools, "full of words," to rise in their high place and wag their tongues to their own hurt-they are peculiar to antiquity or to the East. But then there were so many of them, and their influence in the state was so disastrous that, as the Preacher thinks of them, he breaks into an almost dithyrambic fervour, and cries, "Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes feast in the morning! Happy art thou, O land, when thy king is noble, and thy princes eat at due hours, for strength and not for revelry!" Through the sloth and riot of these foolish rulers, the whole fabric of the state was fast fading into decay-the roof rotting and the rain leaking in. To support their inopportune and profligate revelry, they imposed crushing taxes on the people, which inspired in some a revolutionary discontent, and in some the apathy of despair. The wise exile foresaw that the end of a despotism so unjust and luxurious could not be far off; that when the storm rose and the wind blew, the ancient house, unrepaired in its decay, would topple on the heads of those who sat in its halls, revelling in a wicked mirth ( Ecclesiastes 10:16-19 ). Meantime, the sagacious servant of the state, perchance too of foreign extraction, unable to arrest the progress of decay, or not caring how soon it was consummated, would make his "market of the time"; he would carry himself warily: and, because the whole land was infested with the spies bred by despotism, he would give them no hold on him, nor so much as speak the simple truth of his foolish debauched rulers in the privacy of his own bed chamber, or mutter his thoughts on the roof, lest some "bird of the air should carry the report" ( Ecclesiastes 10:20 ). But if this were the condition of the time, if to rise in public life involved so many mean crafts and submissions, so many deadly imminent risks from spies and from fools clad in a little brief authority, how could any man hope to find the Chief Good in it? Wisdom did not always win promotion; virtue was inimical to success. The anger of an incapable idiot, or the whisper of an envious rival, or the caprice of a merciless despot, might at any moment undo the work of years, and expose the most upright and sagacious of men to the worst extremities of misfortune. There was no tranquillity, no freedom, no security, no dignity in such a life as this. Till this were resigned and some nobler, loftier aim found, there was no chance of reaching that great satisfying Good which lifts man above all accidents, and fixes him in a happy security from which no blow of circumstance can dislodge him. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.