Ecclesiasteschapter 7
29 verses · Solomon, by tradition · 10th century BC · Wisdom and poetry
For like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This too is futile.
Introduction
Solomon, by tradition, Wisdom and poetry, Ecclesiastes Overview.
This chapter comes from the book of wisdom that tradition gives to Solomon, and it is built largely from proverbs, many of them set as comparisons of better and worse. It was heard in small communities where the same people gathered for funerals and for feasts. The chapter praises things people avoid, such as mourning, rebuke and patience, and it warns against looking back to better days. Listen for the plays on words and the pictures from the kitchen and the court. Near its close the Teacher reports a search that ends in a plain statement about how God made mankind.
Context
- Who
- People who attended funerals and feasts in the same small community
- What
- A collection of proverbs on mourning, patience, wisdom and justice, followed by the Teacher's report of his search for understanding.
- Where
- A house of mourning, a feast, the city gate where judges sat, and the Teacher's own study.
- When
- Late in the reign of Solomon, about 940 BC, on the traditional reading; many date the book's Hebrew to the Persian period, so the date is held with less certainty than the setting.
- Why
- To teach the reader to weigh life soberly, to accept what God has made crooked, and to see where human wrongdoing began.
Historical context
"It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting." Mourning in Israel lasted about a week, and the house filled with relatives and neighbours. The mourner sat on the ground, wore torn clothing, and did not cook; food was brought in by others. You went, you sat, and you were confronted with what would one day be true of you. The writer says that room teaches more than a wedding does.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
"A good name is better than precious ointment" is a play on words in Hebrew, shem and shemen sound almost the same. Perfumed oil was a genuine luxury, imported and stored in sealed jars, poured on a guest's head at a feast. Reputation, says the proverb, outlasts the scent.
"As the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool." Ordinary cooking fuel in a treeless region was thornbush and dried dung. Thorns catch fast, roar, throw sparks, and are gone before the pot is warm.
"Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad; and a gift destroyeth the heart." Both halves describe pressure on a judge: intimidation from above and a bribe from the side.
Significance
"Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these?" landed on hearers already telling each other that the old days under David, or under the judges, had been purer.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The chapter's final verdict, "God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions", puts the blame exactly where Genesis puts it. The world is not broken because God built it crooked.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
This chapter is heard aloud once a year, when the whole book is read at Sukkot on the Sabbath that falls in the festival week. The site's own table in src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts records that reading and sources it to Tractate Soferim 14:3; it printed parashot total 0 and haftarah uses total 0 for this book.
The chapter's second verse sends the reader to the house of mourning, and Rashi gives the reason in the practice of that house. It is better to go there, where "the type of conduct serves both the living and the dead" (Rashi on Ecclesiastes 7:2:1). The corpus carries two locators on that verse, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Ketubot 7:2 and Ein Yaakov, Ketubbot 7:2.
How it is read
Rashi is the one commentator on this chapter whose English the corpus carries, quoted here from The Metsudah Five Megillot, Lakewood, N.J., 2001, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY. Every quotation is held to fifty words or fewer because the translation is modern, and the edition's own notes are never quoted as his.
The good name is better than oil, Rashi says, because of how oil behaves. Put water into oil and the oil rises and floats and stays distinct, while other liquids absorb the water (Rashi on Ecclesiastes 7:1:1). The vexation better than laughter he reads of God's dealings with men. It would have been better for the generation of the flood had God shown them an angry face "rather than the laughter that He laughed with them" (Rashi on Ecclesiastes 7:3:1). He makes the same point of Adonijah, whose father never grieved him for a sin.
The quarrel that makes the wise foolish is Moses provoked by Dathan and Abiram. They "confused him and caused his wisdom to depart", so that he spoke in anger against God and was punished for it (Rashi on Ecclesiastes 7:7:1). The former days a man should not praise are the generations of the wilderness, of Joshua and of David (Rashi on Ecclesiastes 7:10:1). The shade of wisdom is the shade of money, "for wisdom causes eventual wealth" (Rashi on Ecclesiastes 7:12:1). The work of God to consider is the ordering of reward: "the Garden of Eden for the righteous and Gehinnom for the wicked. Consider to which you should cling" (Rashi on Ecclesiastes 7:13:1).
The righteous man who perishes in his righteousness Rashi reads as steadfastness: "Although he is perishing, he is nonetheless steadfast in his righteousness" (Rashi on Ecclesiastes 7:15:1). The text the edition prints at this verse tells the account of Joseph son of Phinehas the priest. He asked to be told before the last hairbreadth of an amputation, so that his son, a priest, would be free of the father's severed limb.
The warnings against being over righteous and over wicked he reads of Saul. The over righteous man is Saul, "who tried to display his righteousness and [misdirected] his mercy on the wicked" (Rashi on Ecclesiastes 7:16:1). The over wicked counsel means that a man who has sinned a little should not go on (Rashi on Ecclesiastes 7:17:1). Wisdom gives the wise strength "because it leads him to repentance" (Rashi on Ecclesiastes 7:19:1). The words a man should not take to heart are the words of talebearers, as Saul took slander against Nob, the city of priests (Rashi on Ecclesiastes 7:21:1).
The corpus carries two further notes on this chapter without an English text, each marked linked because Sefaria holds no English version of the ref. They stand cited and unquoted at Ibn Ezra on Ecclesiastes 7:5:1 and 7:22:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty rabbinic locators on this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited and linked here rather than quoted. On the first verse, the good name, it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 13:14 and Berakhot 17a:6. On the second, the house of mourning, it holds Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Ketubot 7:2 and Ein Yaakov, Ketubbot 7:2. On the third it holds Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Shabbat 2:11 and Ein Yaakov, Shabbat 2:21. Kohelet Rabbah and Midrash Lekach Tov on Ecclesiastes stand together under the fourth, fifth and sixth verses, at 7:4:1, 7:5:1 and 7:6:1. On the seventh the corpus holds Kohelet Rabbah 7:7:1 and 7:7:2, and on the eighth Jerusalem Talmud Chagigah 2:1:10 and Kohelet Rabbah 7:8:1.
The middle of the chapter draws the Talmud. On the ninth verse, on anger, the corpus holds Devarim Rabbah 3:14 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Nedarim 3:4. On the tenth, the former days, it holds Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Rosh Hashanah 2:3 and Ein Yaakov, Rosh Hashanah 2:10. On the eleventh it holds Bekhorot 52b:14 and Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Bereshit 43. On the twelfth it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 2:10, on the thirteenth Kohelet Rabbah 7:13:1, and on the fourteenth Chagigah 15a:8. On the fifteenth, the righteous who perishes, it holds Jerusalem Talmud Nazir 7:1:4. On the sixteenth it holds Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Yoma 2:2, and on the seventeenth Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Shabbat 2:15.
One locator stands on each verse after that. On the eighteenth verse the corpus holds Kohelet Rabbah 7:18:1, on the nineteenth Bereshit Rabbah 34:5, and on the twentieth, no righteous man who never sins, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sanhedrin 11:66. Midrash Lekach Tov on Ecclesiastes stands at 7:21:1, 7:22:1, 7:24:1 and 7:25:1. On the twenty-third it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 19:3, on the twenty-sixth Avot DeRabbi Natan, Recension B, Addition IV 2, and on the twenty-seventh Bamidbar Rabbah 9:24. On the twenty-eighth it holds Aggadat Bereshit 50:1, and on the twenty-ninth Kohelet Rabbah 7:29:1. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Ecclesiastes 7:1:1 to 7:24:1, The Metsudah Five Megillot, Lakewood, N.J., 2001, reported CC-BY; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Ecclesiastes 7:5:1 and 7:22:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/ecclesiastes/7.json, the 40 Talmud and Midrash locators of this chapter; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, probed for this book and printing parashot total 0, haftarah uses total 0, and the festival reading at Sukkot on the Sabbath that falls in the festival week, sourced there to Tractate Soferim 14:3.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Better the House of Mourning Than the House of Feasting
Ecclesiastes 7:1-4
A good name is better than fine perfume: The better-than proverbs open: A good name is better than fine perfume, and one’s day of death is better than his day of birth. The house of mourning outranks the house of feasting, since death is the end of every man, and the living should take this to heart.
Ecclesiastes 7:1
“A good name is better than precious ointment,.... The word "good" is not in the text, but is rightly supplied, as it is by Jarchi; for of no other name can this be said; that which is not good cannot be better.”
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Ecclesiastes 7:1
“This alone is "good," while all else is "vanity" when made the chief end. ointment--used lavishly at costly banquets and peculiarly refreshing in the sultry East. The Hebrew for "name" and for "ointment," have a happy paronomasia, Sheem and Shemen. "Ointment" is fragrant only in the place where the person is whose head and garment are scented, and only for a time.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
a house of mourning: Gill describes the Jewish custom of mourning after a death, when friends came to comfort the living, as they came to Martha and Mary. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown add that Solomon had found much feasting a danger to his own heart. Mourning keeps the end of every man in view.
Ecclesiastes 7:2
“If anyone wants to ascend, let him seek not the joys of the world or the pleasant things or the delights but whatever is filled with pain and weeping; for it is better to go into a house of sorrow than into a house of rejoicing. Indeed, Adam would not have come down from paradise unless he had been beguiled by pleasure.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Flight from the World 1:3patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Ecclesiastes 7:2
“Proving that it is not a sensual enjoyment of earthly goods which is meant in Ec 3:13; A thankful use of these is right, but frequent feasting Solomon had found dangerous to piety in his own case.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Sorrow is better than laughter: Barnes renders sorrow as seriousness, and Gill as godly sorrow over sin that works repentance. Jerome's text reads anger in its place. He takes it as the anger that reproves and corrects the mind.
Ecclesiastes 7:3
“Sorrow is better than laughter,.... Sorrow, expressed in the house of mourning, is better, more useful and commendable, than that foolish laughter, and those airs of levity, expressed in the house of feasting; or sorrow on account of affliction and troubles, even adversity itself, is oftentimes much more profitable, and conduces more to the good of men, than prosperity; or sorrow for sin, a godly sorrow, a sorrow after a godly sort, which works repentance unto salvation, that needeth not to be repented of, is to be preferred to all carnal mirth and jollity.”
1 more voice on this verse
Ecclesiastes 7:3
“Sorrow - Rather, Seriousness. The heart is made better - i. e., is made bright and joyful (compare 2Co 6:10). The mind which bears itself equally in human concerns, whether they be pleasant or sorrowful, must always be glad, free, and at peace.”
The heart of the wise: Barnes notes the Eastern custom of keeping mourning and feasting for several days, as for Jacob in Genesis 50:10. Clarke pictures the wise man at the side of those in mourning, and the fool at his pleasure. Jerome joins the verse to the blessing on those who mourn.
Ecclesiastes 7:4
"The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of enjoyment. ""Blessed", says the Saviour, "are the mourning, since they will be consoled". [Matth. 5, 5.] And Samuel mourned King Saul all the days of his life [Cfr I Reg. 16.] and Paul said he had mourned over those who did not want to repent their many sins [Cfr II Cor. 12, 21.].
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary on Ecclesiastespatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Ecclesiastes 7:4
“The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning - A wise man loves those occasions from which he can derive spiritual advantage; and therefore prefers visiting the sick, and sympathizing with those who have suffered privations by death. But the fool - the gay, thoughtless, and giddy - prefers places and times of diversion and amusement. Here he is prevented from seriously considering either himself or his latter end. The grand fault and misfortune of youth.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ecclesiastes 7:5-7
It is better to heed a wise man’s rebuke: than to listen to the song of fools, hard words that do good against easy ones. Verse 7 warns the wise as well: extortion turns a wise man into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the heart.
Ecclesiastes 7:5
"It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. For as the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this too is vanity. "For it is better to be rebuked by a wise man, than to be deceived by flattering praise. Similar to this is the passage which says, "better are the wounds of a friend, than the free kisses of an enemy" [Prov. 27, 6.].
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary on Ecclesiastespatristic
the crackling of thorns: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown hear a wordplay in the Hebrew, sirim for thorns and sir for pot. Thorns make a crackling blaze and die quickly. Clarke and Barnes find the laughter of the fool the same, loud while it lasts and then gone.
Ecclesiastes 7:6
“For as the crackling of thorns - They make a great noise, a great blaze; and are extinguished in a few moments. Such indeed, comparatively, are the joys of life; they are noisy, flashy, and transitory.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
extortion turns a wise man: Henry reads the wise man as the victim, driven by long oppression to speak and act unlike himself. Barnes reads him as the one practicing extortion from a high position, who becomes a fool in the act. Wesley names both: suffering oppression or taking a bribe.
Ecclesiastes 7:7
“Rather, oppression (or extortions) maketh a wise man foolish; and a bribe etc. If a wise man, being in a high position, exercises oppression (see Psa 62:10), or practices extortion, he becomes a fool in so doing. This verse is a warning against impatience in the exercise of power or the acquisition of riches.”
2 more voices on this verse
Ecclesiastes 7:7
"Surely oppression makes a wise man mad; and a gift destroys the heart. "Now see the wise man as if regarding profit, according to that passage which says, "accuse the wise and he will love you" [Prov. 9, 8.]. Wise, or even having completed his training, he knows no accusation, and is perturbed by no disaster. We should use this verse if we see disaster befall a righteous and wise man, and he is perturbed by the unlawfulness of the judgement, and in that case when God does not come to his mind readily.
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary on Ecclesiastespatristic
Ecclesiastes 7:7
“Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad,.... Which is to be understood either passively, when he is oppressed by others, or sees others oppressed; it raises indignation in him, disturbs his mind, and he is ready to pass a wrong judgment on the dispensations of Providence, and to say rash and unadvised things concerning them, Psa 73:2; or actively, of oppression with which he oppresses others; when he gives into such measures, his wisdom departs from him, his mind is besotted, he acts the part of a madman, and pierces himself through with many sorrows.”
Ecclesiastes 7:8-10
The end of a matter is better than the beginning: , and a patient spirit is better than a proud one. The counsel against quick anger follows, for anger settles in the lap of a fool. The question Why were the old days better than these is called unwise.
Ecclesiastes 7:8
“The end - The good or evil of things is better known by their end, than by their beginning. The patient - Who quietly waits for the issue of things. The proud - Which he puts instead of hasty or impatient, because pride is the chief cause of impatience.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Ecclesiastes 7:8
“Better is the end - We can then judge of the whole, and especially if the matter relate to the conduct of Divine Providence. At the beginning we are often apt to make very rash conjectures, and often suppose that such and such things are against us; and that every thing is going wrong.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Do not be quickly provoked: Henry traces quick anger to impatience with delay. Clarke grants that anger may touch a wise man, and it settles only in a fool, who keeps it until it turns to malice. Gregory the Great and Cassian teach that anger drives wisdom out of the heart.
Ecclesiastes 7:9
"Be not hasty in your spirit to be angry: for anger rests in the lap of fools. "He does not grant here that anger should be tempered, therefore he now says, "Be not hasty in your spirit to be angry"; but that when anger is mad and new, it is more easily tempered because it is dispersed easily and can be removed.
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary on Ecclesiastespatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Ecclesiastes 7:9
“Anger resteth in the bosom of fools - A wise man, off his guard, may feel it for a moment: but in him it cannot rest: it is a fire which he immediately casts out of his breast. But the fool - the man who is under the dominion of his own tempers, harbors and fosters it, till it takes the form of malice, and then excites him to seek full revenge on those whom he deems enemies. Hence that class of dangerous and empty fools called duellists.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Connectionstopics/anger
Jerome answers that God made the old days and these alike, and virtue and wickedness make days good or bad. Clarke calls the saying as foolish as it is common. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown hear Job's longing for his former days in it.
Ecclesiastes 7:10
"Do not ask,' what is the cause that the former days were better than these?' For you do not enquire wisely about this. "Do not prefer the previous age to this one, since God created both one and the other. Virtues create good days for man, and vices make bad days. Do not say therefore that the days were better in the time of Moses and Christ, than now they are.
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary on Ecclesiastespatristic
2 more voices on this verse
Ecclesiastes 7:10
“The former days were better than these? - This is a common saying; and it is as foolish as it is common. There is no weight nor truth in it; but men use it to excuse their crimes, and the folly of their conduct. “In former times, say they, men might be more religious, use more self-denial, be more exemplary.” This is all false.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ecclesiastes 7:10
“Do not call in question God's ways in making thy former days better than thy present, as Job did (Job 29:2-5). The very putting of the question argues that heavenly "wisdom" (Margin) is not as much as it ought made the chief good with thee.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ecclesiastes 7:11-12
Wisdom, like an inheritance, is good: , and it benefits those who see the sun. Wisdom and money are a shelter, but knowledge holds an advantage: wisdom preserves the life of its owner. The book has called riches a gift of God at 5:19, and here it ranks wisdom above them.
Ecclesiastes 7:11
"Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see the sun. For wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence: but the advantage of knowledge is, that wisdom gives life to those that have it. "A wise man with riches has more glory than just a wise man alone. For some men need wisdom, some wealth, but he who is both wise and not rich is able to teach what is good, but meanwhile he can't show what is to be sought.
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary on Ecclesiastespatristic
2 more voices on this verse
Ecclesiastes 7:11
“Wisdom is good with an inheritance,.... It is good of itself. Or, "is as good as an inheritance" (n), as it may be rendered; it is a portion of itself, especially spiritual and divine wisdom.”
Ecclesiastes 7:11
“And by it there is profit ... - literally, And is profitable to the living. The same word as in Ecc 6:11, to the question in which it looks like an answer.”
wisdom, like money, is a shelter: Wisdom and money are both a shadow in the Hebrew, and Gill pictures the shade where a man sits in safety. Barnes renders the last clause as wisdom giving life to its owner. Money preserves the body, Clarke adds, and wisdom the soul.
Ecclesiastes 7:12
“Wisdom is a defense - To whom Solomon answers: All true wisdom is most undoubtedly a great advantage to men in all circumstances; and money is also of great use: but it cannot be compared to wisdom. Knowledge of Divine and human things is a great blessing. Money is the means of supporting our animal life: but wisdom - the religion of the true God - gives life to them that have it. Money cannot procure the favor of God, nor give life to the soul.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Ecclesiastes 7:12
“For wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence,.... Or, a "shadow" of refreshment and protection, under which men sit with pleasure and safety; a man by his wisdom, and so by his money, is able to defend himself against the injuries and oppressions of others, and especially when both meet in one and the same man.”
Ecclesiastes 7:13-14
Consider the work of God: The counsel Consider the work of God turns on a question, Who can straighten what He has bent. In the day of prosperity, be joyful, and in adversity consider that God has made one of these along with the other. The bent and the straight come from God's hand.
Ecclesiastes 7:13
“Consider - His wise, and just, and powerful government of all events, which is proposed as the last and best remedy against all murmurings. For who - No man can correct or alter any of God's works; and therefore all frettings at the injuries of men, or calamities of times, are not only sinful, but also vain and fruitless.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Ecclesiastes 7:13
“The work of God - The scheme of Divine Providence, the course of events which God orders and controls (compare Ecc 3:11). It comprises both events which are “straight,” i. e., in accordance with our expectation, and events which are “crooked,” i. e., which by their seeming inequality baffle our comprehension.”
In the day of prosperity: Henry calls the day of adversity the proper time to consider, when a man is most disposed to it. Barnes renders the second clause as God making the one as well as the other, and notes that Sirach seems to echo it. Clarke warns constant prosperity would take God's place.
Ecclesiastes 7:14
“In the day of prosperity be joyful - When ye receive these temporal gifts from God, enjoy them, and be thankful to the Giver: but remember, this sunshine will not always last. God has balanced prosperity and adversity against each other; and were it not so, how many would put the former in the place of God himself!”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Ecclesiastes 7:14
"When the world smiles, rejoice in God, and praise him, and let the joy of the Lord be thy strength. " [2.] In a day of adversity (and that is but a day too) consider. Times of affliction are proper times for consideration, then God calls to consider ( Hag. i. 5 ), then, if ever, we are disposed to it, and no good will be gotten by the affliction without it.
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Be Not Righteous Overmuch, Neither Overmuch Wicked
Ecclesiastes 7:15-18
In my futile life I have seen both of these: The Teacher reports two anomalies, A righteous man perishing and a wicked man living long. The counsel Do not be overly righteous has drawn two readings, a caution against censorious strictness, or the world's excuse for sin reported. For he who fears God will follow both warnings.
Ecclesiastes 7:15
"I have seen all things in the days of my vanity: there is a just man, that dies in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that remains alive in his wickedness. "Similar to this is what the Saviour says in the Gospel: "he who finds his soul will lose it, and he who loses it on account of me, will find it" [Matth. 10. 39.]. The Maccabees are seen to die on account of their justice by the law and justice of God, and martyrs too, who shed their blood for Christ.
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary on Ecclesiastespatristic
2 more voices on this verse
Ecclesiastes 7:15
“The days of my vanity - This does not imply that those days of vanity were ended (see Ecc 1:12 note). The meaning may be best explained by a paraphrase. Solomon states how the wise man should regard the “crooked Ecc 7:13 work of God” when it bears upon him. He says in effect, “Do not think that thou couldest alter the two instances (described in Ecc 7:15) of such crooked work so as to make it straight, that thou art more righteous or more wise than He is Who ordained these events.”
Ecclesiastes 7:15
“There is a judgment to come, which will rectify this seeming irregularity, to the glory of God and the full satisfaction of all his people, and we must wait with patience till then. Wisdom will be of use both for caution to saints in their way, and for a check to sinners in their way.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Do not be overly righteous: Wesley hears the voice of an ungodly man who uses the fate of the righteous to dissuade others from righteousness. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown take it as Solomon's own warning against a self-made righteousness of outward works. Henry applies it to fasting that ruins health.
Ecclesiastes 7:16
“Be not - This verse and the next have a manifest reference to ver. 15, being two inferences drawn from the two clauses of the observation. Solomon here speaks in the person of an ungodly man, who takes occasion to dissuade men from righteousness, because of the danger which attends it.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Do not be excessively wicked: Clarke renders the Hebrew as a warning against multiplying wickedness, since added sin provokes God to cut a man off before his time. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the verse as addressed to a sinner. Jerome answers it with Ezekiel's call to repent and live.
Ecclesiastes 7:17
"Do not be too wicked, and do not be foolish: why should you die before your time? "When God says, "I do not want the death of the dying, only let him return and live" [Ezek. 18, 32.], it suffices to have sinned only once. We ought to raise ourselves up after a catastrophe. For just like those who argue about worldly matters, the swallow knows how to protect its young from poppy seeds, and wounded roes seek wild marjoram to cure themselves. Then why are we ignorant that the cure of repentance is proposed for sinners?
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary on Ecclesiastespatristic
3 more voices on this verse
Ecclesiastes 7:17
“Be not overmuch wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time? - אל תרשע הרבה al tirsha harbeh. Do not multiply wickedness, do not add direct opposition to godliness to the rest of your crimes. Why should you provoke God to destroy you before your time? Perdition will come soon enough. If you will not turn from your sins, and avoid it finally, yet keep out of it as long as you can.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ecclesiastes 7:17
“He who endeavors to amend the faults of human weakness ought to bear this very weakness on his own shoulders, let it weigh upon himself, not cast it off. For we read that the Shepherd in the Gospel carried the weary sheep and did not cast it off. And Solomon says, "Be not overmuch righteous," for restraint should temper righteousness. For how shall he offer himself to you for healing whom you despise, who thinks that he will be an object of contempt, not of compassion, to his physician?”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Concerning Repentance 1.1.2patristic
Ecclesiastes 7:17
“Solomon says, therefore, Be not so foolish (answering antithetically to "over wise," Ec 7:16), as to run to such excess of riot, that God will be provoked to cut off prematurely thy day of grace (Ro 2:5). The precept is addressed to a sinner. Beware of aggravating thy sin, so as to make thy case desperate.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
grasp the one: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown take the one and the other as the two extremes of verses 16 and 17, self-wise righteousness and reckless wickedness. The fear of God carries a man past both. Jerome reads the verse as doing good to the righteous and to sinners alike.
Ecclesiastes 7:18
"It is good that you should take hold of this, and do not withdraw your hand; for he that fears God shall come forth of them all. "It is good to do good to righteous men, but also being kind to sinners is not wicked. It is good to keep slaves faithful to you, but it is advised to do this only with those who seek your employment. Even he who fears God and copies his maker, who causes rain to fall over both the righteous and the wicked, enjoys doing good to all without distinction.
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary on Ecclesiastespatristic
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Ecclesiastes 7:18
“It is good that thou shouldest take hold or this - Do not let such an observation slip: take hold of this; do not forget that. Get what you can in an honest way; but do not forget to get true religion; for he that fears God will be saved from all evil.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ecclesiastes 7:19-22
Wisdom makes the wise man stronger: than ten rulers in a city. The admission follows at once: there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. The counsel not to heed every word that is spoken guards against a servant's curse overheard.
Ecclesiastes 7:19
“Wisdom strengtheneth the wise - One wise, thoroughly learned, and scientific man, may be of more use in fortifying and defending a city, than ten princes. Witness the case of Syracuse, when attacked by the Romans both by sea and land. Archimedes, by his engines, burnt and dashed their fleet to pieces, and destroyed all that came near the walls. And had not the city been betrayed and he killed, all their force and skill could not have taken it.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
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Ecclesiastes 7:19
“Wisdom strengtheneth the wise,.... Against such extremes as before mentioned; it is a guard about him, as well as a guide unto him; it is a defence unto him, as before observed, Ecc 7:12; and is better than strength of body, or weapons of war, Ecc 9:16; and a wise man does greater things by it than a strong man with them, and is safer with it than he can be by them.”
there is no righteous man: Henry teaches that even the best of men, sanctified and doing good, still sin on this side of heaven. Augustine records Pelagius reading the verse as a report of what is on earth, leaving open whether a sinless man could exist. Origen names Jesus as the one exception.
Ecclesiastes 7:20
"Wisdom strengthens the wise more than ten mighty men which are in the city. For there is not a just man on the earth, that does good and does not sin. "Therefore wisdom strengthens the righteous, and not even the aid of all the citizens of the city can help him, for although someone may be righteous, yet while he is alive he is subject to vices and sins, and he therefore needs greater protection.
Jerome · written before 420 · Commentary on Ecclesiastespatristic
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Ecclesiastes 7:20
“There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not - לא יחטא lo yechta, that may not sin. There is not a man upon earth, however just he may be, and habituated to do good, but is peccable - liable to commit sin; and therefore should continually watch and pray, and depend upon the Lord.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
pay attention to every word: Gill ties the counsel to verse 20: even good men speak careless words, so a wise man lets them pass. Clarke renders the cursing as speaking evil of a master. Henry notes that the good name of the great lies at the mercy of the lowest servant.
Ecclesiastes 7:21
“Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken - This is good advice, and much for every man’s peace through life. Thy servant curse thee - מקללך mekallelecha, make light of thee, speak evil of thee.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
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Ecclesiastes 7:21
“Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken,.... Seeing so it is, that imperfection attends the best of men, no man is wise at all times, foolish words and unguarded expressions will sometimes drop from him, which it is better to take no notice of; they should not be strictly attended to, and closely examined, since they will not bear it.”
you know in your heart: Gill renders the heart as the conscience, following the Vulgate, and calls it a thousand witnesses to a man's own faults. Clarke reads the cursing as backbiting and slander. God may justly let such a man be slandered in turn, Clarke adds.
Ecclesiastes 7:22
“Thou thyself - hast cursed others - קללת kalalta, thou hast spoken evil; hast vilified others. O, who is free from evil speaking, from uncharitable speaking; from detailing their neighbor’s faults, from whispering, talebearing, and backbiting? Do not wonder if God, in his justice, permit thee to be calumniated, seeing thou hast so frequently calumniated others. See my discourse on Psa 15:1-5 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
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Ecclesiastes 7:22
“For oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth,.... Or "thy conscience", as the Vulgate Latin version, which is as a thousand witnesses; which, if a man attends to, he will be convinced of his own faults, failings, and infirmities, he is frequently in the commission of.”
God Made Man Upright; They Have Sought Out Many Inventions
Ecclesiastes 7:23-26
All this I tested by wisdom: The Teacher reports the limit of his search: What exists is out of reach and very deep. The search turned up one thing more bitter than death, the woman who is a snare. Gill and Henry set the line beside Solomon's wives in 1 Kings 11.
Ecclesiastes 7:23
“I will be - Or, I am. There was a time when Solomon thought himself wise enough to comprehend the work of God, and therefore needed for himself the self-humbling conviction declared in this verse. It - i. e. Wisdom. Compare Ecc 8:17.”
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Ecclesiastes 7:23
“He owns and laments the deficiencies of his wisdom. He had wisdom enough to see the vanity of the world and to experience that that would not make a portion for a soul. But, when he came to enquire further, he found himself at a loss; his eye was too dim, his line was too short, and, though he discovered this, there were many other things which he could not prove by wisdom.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Ecclesiastes 7:23
“All this--resuming the "all" in Ec 7:15; Ec 7:15-22 is therefore the fruit of his dearly bought experience in the days of his "vanity." I will be wise--I tried to "be wise," independently of God. But true wisdom was then "far from him," in spite of his human wisdom, which he retained by God's gift.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
out of reach and very deep: Bonaventure reads the deep as the depth of faith. Athanasius cites the verse for why he often meant to stop writing about God. Basil holds that wisdom seems out of reach most of all to those given the most knowledge by God's grace.
Ecclesiastes 7:24
“That which is far off - Though the wisdom that is essential to our salvation may be soon learned, through the teaching of the Spirit of wisdom, yet in wisdom itself there are extents and depths which none can reach or fathom.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
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Ecclesiastes 7:24
“Consider therefore how it is written in the book of Ecclesiastes, "I said, I will be wise, but it was far from me. That which is far off, and exceeding deep, who shall find it out?" [Consider] what is said in the Psalms, "The knowledge of you is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it." And Solomon says, "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing." [Therefore] I frequently designed to stop and to cease writing; believe me, I did.”
Athanasius of Alexandria · written before 373 · Letters to Monks 1:2patristic
to search out wisdom and explanations: Wesley reads the searching verbs as one unwearied effort. Barnes notes the word for explanations comes from a root meaning to count, the same word in verse 27 and the schemes of verse 29. Clarke pictures the mind directed around a full circuit of the ground.
Ecclesiastes 7:25
“2:12, where "folly" is put without "wickedness" prefixed. reason--rather, "the right estimation" of things. HOLDEN translates also "foolishness (that is, sinful folly, answering to 'wickedness' in the parallel) of madness" (that is, of man's mad pursuits).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
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Ecclesiastes 7:25
Reason - The same word is translated “account” Ecc 7:27, “invention” Ecc 7:29, and “device” Ecc 9:10: it is derived from a root signifying “to count.”
more bitter than death: Didymus reads the woman as a figure for a corrupt mindset, and Cyril of Alexandria as the face of heresy. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown cite Joseph as the man who pleases God and escapes. God's grace alone keeps him, they add.
Ecclesiastes 7:26
“And I find more bitter than death the woman - After all his investigation of the wickedness of folly, and the foolishness of madness, he found nothing equally dangerous and ruinous with the blandishments of cunning women. When once the affections are entangled, escape without ruin is almost impossible. Whoso pleaseth God - The man who walks with God, and he alone, shall escape this sore evil: and even he that fears God, if he get with an artful woman, may be soon robbed of his strength, and become like other men.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
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Ecclesiastes 7:26
"My heart took a circuit to know the joy of the impious man and to examine carefully and to seek wisdom and a mode of calculating and to know joy through the impious man and trouble and disquietude, and I find that it is bitterer than death"—not because death is bitter, but because it is bitter for the impious one. And yet life is bitterer than death.
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Death as a Good 7:28patristic
Ecclesiastes 7:27-29
The Teacher states his method, adding one thing to another, and reports one upright man among a thousand and no such woman. The chapter closes: God made men upright, but they have sought out many schemes. It is the book's Genesis 3, the corruption traced to man's own seeking.
Ecclesiastes 7:27
“Counting one by one - I have gone over every particular. I have compared one thing with another; man with woman, his wisdom with her wiles; his strength with her blandishments; his influence with her ascendancy; his powers of reason with her arts and cunning; and in a thousand men, I have found one thoroughly upright man; but among one thousand women I have not found one such. This is a lamentable account of the state of morals in Judea, in the days of the wise King Solomon.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
among a thousand: Barnes ties the thousand to Solomon's wives and concubines in 1 Kings 11:3. Bonaventure reads the numbers as hyperbole for how few men he found free of ruling desire. Wesley adds that his soul found the thing so and never discovered the reason.
Ecclesiastes 7:28
“One man - One whose good qualities quite satisfy our expectation. Compare the expression “one among a thousand” (marginal reference). A woman - The number of Solomon’s wives and concubines 1Ki 11:3 was a thousand.”
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Ecclesiastes 7:28
“I find not - That it was so, he found, but the reason of the thing he could not find out. One man - A wise and virtuous man. A woman - One worthy of that name; one who is not a dishonour to her sex.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Ecclesiastes 7:28
“Who can understand his errors? Who can tell how often he offends? He finds that if God enters into judgment with him, or he with himself, for all his thoughts, words, and actions, he is not able to answer for one of a thousand, Job ix.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
God made men upright: Barnes reads the verb as God made, pointing to man's original state, exempt from futility. Wesley finds here the fountain of all wickedness, original sin and the corruption of nature in men and women. Augustine adds that only God can make the bad good.
Ecclesiastes 7:29
“Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright - Whatever evil may be now found among men and women, it is not of God; for God made them all upright. This is a singular verse, and has been most variously translated: עשה האלהים את האדם ישר והמה בקשו חשבנות רבים asah haelohim eth haadam yashar vehemhah bikkeshu chishbonoth rabbim. “Elohim has made mankind upright, and they have sought many computations.” “He hath meddled with endless questions.” - Vulgate. “Many reasonings.” - Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic. “They seek dyverse sotylties.” Coverdale.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
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Ecclesiastes 7:29
“For [the soul] is made to see God and to be enlightened by him; but of its own accord in God's stead it has sought corruptible things and darkness, as the Spirit says somewhere in writing, "God made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions." Thus it has been then that people from the first discovered and contrived and imagined evil for themselves. But it is now time to say how they came down to the madness of idolatry, that you may know that the invention of idols is wholly due not to good but to evil.”
Athanasius of Alexandria · written before 373 · Against the Heathen 7:5-6patristic
Ecclesiastes 7:29
“Lo, this - Though I could not find out all the streams of wickedness, and their infinite windings and turnings, yet I have discovered the fountain of it, Original sin, and the corruption of nature, which is both in men and women.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Ecclesiastes 7:29
“Among man's "inventions" was the one especially referred to in Ec 7:26, the bitter fruits of which Solomon experienced, the breaking of God's primeval marriage law, joining one man to "one" woman (Mt 19:4, 5, 6). "Man" is singular, namely, Adam; "they," plural, Adam, Eve, and their posterity.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Keep studying
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Athanasius of Alexandria, LETTERS TO MONKS 1:2; Augustine of Hippo; Basil of Caesarea, CONCERNING FAITH; Bonaventure; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Ecclesiastes; Cyril of Alexandria, LETTER 31:3; Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES 227:7; Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book 5, Section 78; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ecclesiastes; John Cassian, INSTITUTES 8:1; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON LEVITICUS 12:3.2.