17 So I hated life, because the work that is worked under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
Then I looked at all the works that my hands had worked, and at the labor that I had labored to do; and, behold, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.
Therefore I praised the dead who have been long dead more than the living who are yet alive.
But I am in a dilemma between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Yet, to remain in the flesh is more needful for your sake. Having this confidence, I know that I will remain, yes, and remain with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith,
Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perversity? For destruction and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention rises up.
It happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a sultry east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah's head, so that he fainted, and requested for himself that he might die, and said, "It is better for me to die than to live."
So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away; and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; and the hand of Yahweh was strong on me.
Cursed be the day in which I was born: don't let the day in which my mother bore me be blessed. Cursed be the man who brought news to my father, saying, A man-child is born to you; making him very glad. Let that man be as the cities which Yahweh overthrew, and didn't repent: and let him hear a cry in the morning, and shouting at noontime; because he didn't kill me from the womb; and so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great. Why came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?
If you deal thus with me, please kill me out of hand, if I have found favor in your sight; and let me not see my wretchedness.
Moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there.
I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
Remember how short my time is! For what vanity have you created all the children of men!
So that my soul chooses strangling, Death rather than my bones. I loathe my life. I don't want to live forever. Leave me alone; for my days are but a breath.
"Why is light given to him who is in misery, Life to the bitter in soul, Who long for death, but it doesn't come; Dig for it more than for hidden treasures, Who rejoice exceedingly, Are glad, when they can find the grave?
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ecclesiastes 2
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 2 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 2
Solomon having pronounced all vanity, and particularly knowledge and learning, which he was so far from giving himself joy of that he found the increase of it did but increase his sorrow, in this chapter he goes on to show what reason he has to be tired of this world, and with what little reason most men are fond of it.
Ecc 2:1-11
Solomon here, in pursuit of the summum bonum-the felicity of man, adjourns out of his study, his library, his elaboratory, his council-chamber, where he had in vain sought for it, into the park and the playhouse, his garden and his summer-house; he exchanges the company of the philosophers and grave senators for that of the wits and gallants, and the beaux-esprits, of his court, to try if he could find true satisfaction and happiness among them. Here he takes a great step downward, from the noble pleasures of the intellect to the brutal ones of sense; yet, if he resolve to make a thorough trial, he must knock at this door, because here a great part of mankind imagine they have found that which he was in quest of.
Ecc 2:12-16
Solomon having tried what satisfaction was to be had in learning first, and then in the pleasures of sense, and having also put both together, here compares them one with another and passes a judgment upon them.
Ecc 2:17-26
Business is a thing that wise men have pleasure in. They are in their element when they are in their business, and complain if they be out of business. They may sometimes be tired with their business, but they are not weary of it, nor willing to leave it off. Here therefore one would expect to have found the good that men should do, but Solomon tried this too; after a contemplative life and a voluptuous life, he betook himself to an active life, and found no more satisfaction in it than in the other; still it is all vanity and vexation of spirit, of which he gives an account in these verses, where observe,