Ecclesiastes 2:12

He therefore teaches what human wisdom is, that to follow the real wisdom—which he also calls counsel, which brings about what truly is and has substance, and is not thought of as among futile things—to follow that is the sum of human wisdom. But real wisdom and counsel, on my reckoning, is none other than the Wisdom that is conceived of as before the universe. It is that wisdom by which God made all things, as the prophet says, "by wisdom you made all things" and "Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God," by which all things came to be and were set in order.… When I saw these things, he says, and weighed, as in a balance, what is against what is not, I found that the difference between wisdom and folly was the same as one would find if light wer.e measured ag.ainst the dark. I think it is appropriate that he uses the analogy of light in the discernment of the good. Since darkness is in its own nature unreal (for if there were nothing to obstruct the sun's rays, there would be no darkness), whereas light is of itself, perceived in its own essence, he shows by this analogy that evil does not exist by itself. [Instead evil] arises from deprivation of the good, whereas good is always as it is, stable and steadfast, and does not arise from the deprivation of anything which is prior to it. What is perceived as essentially opposed to good, is not; for what in itself is not, does not exist at all; for evil is the deprivation of being, and not something that exists. Thus the difference is the same between light and darkness and between wisdom and folly.

He teaches human wisdom, namely, the following of true wisdom and presents those things which have substance and are not subject to vanity. Indeed, this is the summit of human wisdom. In my opinion true wisdom and counsel are simply another kind of wisdom which provides for creation by which God makes all things. As the prophet says, "You have made all things in wisdom." However, Christ is the power wisdom of God in whom all things are made and ordained. … "After I have seen these things," Ecclesiastes says, "and judged in a scale being with non-being, I discovered the difference between wisdom and foolishness as when I had compared light with darkness. It seems to me that this example is a favorable judgment for that which is beautiful." Because darkness has no substance while light does (if nothing obstructs the sun's rays, we have no darkness), this example shows that evil does not exist by itself but is a deprivation of the good, while the good always remains fully itself and is not preceded by deprivation. However, anything contrary to the good lacks substance; it cannot exist by itself nor be complete because evil is a deprivation, not a substance. Therefore the difference between light and darkness, wisdom and foolishness, is similar.

" Then I turned my attention to appraising wisdom with madness and folly - for what can man who comes after the king do?" This seems to discuss heavenly matters until the place where he says, "the eyes of a wise man are in his head".

He indicates the diligence of his consideration in treating those things in which he had studied. For this reason he says: "I passed over to contemplate wisdom," as regards things to be chosen: "and errors and folly," as regards things to be avoided. "I passed …

He enquires how far the business and wealth of this world will go towards making men happy, and concludes, from his own experience, that, to those who set their hearts upon it, "it is vanity and vexation of spirit," (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens