Ecclesiastes 3

Ec 3:1-22.

Earthly pursuits are no doubt lawful in their proper time and order

(Ec 3:1-8),

but unprofitable when out of time and place; as for instance, when

pursued as the solid and chief good

(Ec 3:9, 10);

whereas God makes everything beautiful in its season, which man

obscurely comprehends

(Ec 3:11).

God allows man to enjoy moderately and virtuously His earthly gifts

(Ec 3:12, 13).

What consoles us amidst the instability of earthly blessings is, God's

counsels are immutable

(Ec 3:14).

1. Man has his appointed cycle of seasons and vicissitudes, as the

sun, wind, and water

(Ec 1:5-7).

purpose--as there is a fixed "season" in God's "purposes" (for

example, He has fixed the "time" when man is "to be born," and "to die,"

Ec 3:2),

so there is a lawful "time" for man to carry out his "purposes" and

inclinations. God does not condemn, but approves of, the use of

earthly blessings

(Ec 3:12);

it is the abuse that He condemns, the making them the chief end

(1Co 7:31).

The earth, without human desires, love, taste, joy, sorrow, would be a

dreary waste, without water; but, on the other hand, the misplacing and

excess of them, as of a flood, need control. Reason and revelation are

given to control them.

2. time to die--

(Ps 31:15;

Heb 9:27).

plant--A man can no more reverse the times and order of "planting,"

and of "digging up," and transplanting, than he can alter the times

fixed for his "birth" and "death." To try to "plant" out of season is vanity, however good in season; so to make earthly things

the chief end is vanity, however good they be in order and season.

GILL

takes it, not so well, figuratively

(Jer 18:7, 9;

Am 9:15;

Mt 15:13).

3. time to kill--namely, judicially, criminals; or, in wars of

self-defense; not in malice. Out of this time and order, killing is

murder.

to heal--God has His times for "healing" (literally,

Isa 38:5, 21;

figuratively,

De 32:39;

Ho 6:1;

spiritually,

Ps 147:3;

Isa 57:19).

To heal spiritually, before the sinner feels his wound,

would be "out of time," and so injurious.

time to break down--cities, as Jerusalem, by Nebuchadnezzar.

build up--as Jerusalem, in the time of Zerubbabel; spiritually

(Am 9:11),

"the set time"

(Ps 102:13-16).

4. mourn--namely, for the dead

(Ge 23:2).

dance--as David before the ark

(2Sa 6:12-14;

Ps 30:11);

spiritually

(Mt 9:15;

Lu 6:21; 15:25).

The Pharisees, by requiring sadness out of time, erred

seriously.

5. cast away stones--as out of a garden or vineyard

(Isa 5:2).

gather--for building; figuratively, the Gentiles, once castaway

stones, were in due time made parts of the spiritual building

(Eph 2:19, 20),

and children of Abraham

(Mt 3:9);

so the restored Jews hereafter

(Ps 102:13, 14;

Zec 9:16).

refrain . . . embracing--

(Joe 2:16;

1Co 7:5, 6).

6. time to get--for example, to gain honestly a livelihood

(Eph 4:23).

lose--When God wills losses to us, then is our time to be content.

keep--not to give to the idle beggar

(2Th 3:10).

cast away--in charity

(Pr 11:24);

or to part with the dearest object, rather than the soul

(Mr 9:43).

To be careful is right in its place, but not when it comes between us

and Jesus Christ

(Lu 10:40-42).

7. rend--garments, in mourning

(Joe 2:13);

figuratively, nations, as Israel from Judah, already foretold, in

Solomon's time

(1Ki 11:30, 31),

to be "sewed" together hereafter

(Eze 37:15, 22).

silence--

(Am 5:13),

in a national calamity, or that of a friend

(Job 2:13);

also not to murmur under God's visitation

(Le 10:3;

Ps 39:1, 2, 9).

8. hate--for example, sin, lusts

(Lu 14:26);

that is, to love God so much more as to seem in comparison to

hate "father or mother," when coming between us and God.

a time of war . . . peace--

(Lu 14:31).

9. But these earthly pursuits, while lawful in their season, are

"unprofitable" when made by man, what God never intended them to be, the

chief good. Solomon had tried to create an artificial forced joy, at

times when he ought rather to have been serious; the result, therefore,

of his labor to be happy, out of God's order, was disappointment. "A

time to plant"

(Ec 3:2)

refers to his planting

(Ec 2:5);

"laugh"

(Ec 3:4),

to

Ec 2:1, 2;

"his mirth," "laughter"; "build up," "gather stones"

(Ec 3:3, 5),

to his "building"

(Ec 2:4);

"embrace," "love," to his "princess"

(see on

Ec 2:8);

"get" (perhaps also "gather,"

Ec 3:5, 6),

to his "gathering"

(Ec 2:8).

All these were of "no profit," because not in God's time and order of

bestowing happiness.

10. (See on

Ec 1:13).

11. his time--that is, in its proper season

(Ps 1:3),

opposed to worldlings putting earthly pursuits out of their proper

time and place (see on

Ec 3:9).

set the world in their heart--given them capacities to understand

the world of nature as reflecting God's wisdom in its beautiful order

and times

(Ro 1:19, 20).

"Everything" answers to "world," in the parallelism.

so that--that is, but in such a manner that man only sees a portion,

not the whole "from beginning to end"

(Ec 8:17;

Job 26:14;

Ro 11:33;

Re 15:4).

PARKHURST, for "world," translates: "Yet He hath

put obscurity in the midst of them," literally, "a secret," so

man's mental dimness of sight as to the full mystery of God's

works. So HOLDEN and WEISS.

This incapacity for "finding out" (comprehending) God's work is chiefly

the fruit of the fall. The worldling ever since, not knowing God's time

and order, labors in vain, because out of time and place.

12. in them--in God's works

(Ec 3:11),

as far as relates to man's duty. Man cannot fully comprehend them, but

he ought joyfully to receive ("rejoice in") God's gifts, and "do good"

with them to himself and to others. This is never out of season

(Ga 6:9, 10).

Not sensual joy and self-indulgence

(Php 4:4;

Jas 4:16, 17).

13. Literally, "And also as to every man who eats . . . this is the

gift of God"

(Ec 3:22; 5:18).

When received as God's gifts, and to God's glory, the good things of

life are enjoyed in their due time and order

(Ac 2:46;

1Co 10:31;

1Ti 4:3, 4).

14.

(1Sa 3:12;

2Sa 23:5;

Ps 89:34;

Mt 24:35;

Jas 1:17).

for ever--as opposed to man's perishing labors

(Ec 2:15-18).

any thing taken from it--opposed to man's "crooked and wanting" works

(Ec 1:15; 7:13).

The event of man's labors depends wholly on God's immutable purpose.

Man's part, therefore, is to do and enjoy every earthly thing in its

proper season

(Ec 3:12, 13),

not setting aside God's order, but observing deep reverence towards

God; for the mysteriousness and unchangeableness of God's purposes are

designed to lead "man to fear before Him." Man knows not the event of

each act: otherwise he would think himself independent of God.

15. Resumption of

Ec 1:9.

Whatever changes there be, the succession of events is ordered by God's

"everlasting" laws

(Ec 3:14),

and returns in a fixed cycle.

requireth that . . . past--After many changes, God's law requires the return of the same cycle of events, as in the past, literally,

"that which is driven on." The Septuagint and Syriac translate:

"God requireth (that is, avengeth) the persecuted man"; a transition

to

Ec 3:16, 17.

The parallel clauses of the verse support English Version.

16. Here a difficulty is suggested. If God "requires" events to move

in their perpetual cycle, why are the wicked allowed to deal

unrighteously in the place where injustice ought least of all to be;

namely, "the place of judgment"

(Jer 12:1)?

17. Solution of it. There is a coming judgment in which God will

vindicate His righteous ways. The sinner's "time" of his unrighteous

"work" is short. God also has His "time" and "work" of judgment; and,

meanwhile, is overruling, for good at last, what seems now dark. Man

cannot now "find out" the plan of God's ways

(Ec 3:11;

Ps 97:2).

If judgment instantly followed every sin, there would be no scope for

free will, faith, and perseverance of saints in spite of difficulties.

The previous darkness will make the light at last the more glorious.

there--

(Job 3:17-19)

in eternity, in the presence of the Divine Judge, opposed to the

"there," in the human place of judgment

(Ec 3:16):

so "from thence"

(Ge 49:24).

18. estate--The estate of fallen man is so ordered (these wrongs are

permitted), that God might "manifest," that is, thereby prove them,

and that they might themselves see their mortal frailty, like that of

the beasts.

sons of men--rather, "sons of Adam," a phrase used for "fallen men."

The toleration of injustice until the judgment is designed to "manifest"

men's characters in their fallen state, to see whether the oppressed

will bear themselves aright amidst their wrongs, knowing that the time

is short, and there is a coming judgment. The oppressed share in death,

but the comparison to "beasts" applies especially to

the ungodly oppressors

(Ps 49:12, 20).

They too need to be "manifested" ("proved"), whether, considering that

they must soon die as the "beasts," and fearing the judgment to come,

they will repent

(Da 4:27).

19. Literally, "For the sons of men (Adam) are a mere chance, as

also the beast is a mere chance." These words can only be the sentiments

of the skeptical oppressors. God's delay in judgment gives scope for the

"manifestation" of their infidelity

(Ec 8:11;

Ps 55:19;

2Pe 3:3,4).

They are "brute beasts," morally

(Ec 3:18;

Jude 10);

and they end by maintaining that man, physically, has no pre-eminence

over the beast, both alike being "fortuities." Probably this was the

language of Solomon himself in his apostasy. He answers it in

Ec 3:21.

If

Ec 3:19, 20

be his words, they express only that as regards liability to

death, excluding the future judgment, as the skeptic oppressors do,

man is on a level with the beast. Life is "vanity," if regarded

independently of religion. But

Ec 3:21

points out the vast difference between them in respect to the future

destiny; also

(Ec 3:17)

beasts have no "judgment" to come.

breath--vitality.

21. Who knoweth--Not doubt of the destination of man's spirit

(Ec 12:7);

but "how few, by reason of the outward mortality to which man is

as liable as the beast and which is the ground of the skeptic's

argument, comprehend the wide difference between man and the beast"

(Isa 53:1).

The Hebrew expresses the difference strongly, "The spirit of man

that ascends, it belongeth to on high; but the spirit of the beast that

descends, it belongeth to below, even to the earth." Their destinations

and proper element differ utterly [WEISS].

22. (Compare

Ec 3:12; 5:18).

Inculcating a thankful enjoyment of God's gifts, and a cheerful

discharge of man's duties, founded on fear of God; not as the

sensualist

(Ec 11:9);

not as the anxious money-seeker

(Ec 2:23; 5:10-17).

his portion--in the present life. If it were made his main portion,

it would be "vanity"

(Ec 2:1;

Lu 16:25).

for who, &c.--Our ignorance as to the future, which is God's "time"

(Ec 3:11),

should lead us to use the present time in the best sense and leave the

future to His infinite wisdom

(Mt 6:20, 25, 31-34).