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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Ecclesiastes, Introduction].</TITLE>
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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
on the Whole Bible</h1>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
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<P><FONT SIZE=+3>Ecclesiastes</FONT></P>
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<TR><TD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="4%">&nbsp;
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<LI><A HREF="MHC21001.HTM">Chapter 1</A>
<LI><A HREF="MHC21002.HTM">Chapter 2</A>
<LI><A HREF="MHC21003.HTM">Chapter 3</A>
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<TD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="15%">
<LI><A HREF="MHC21004.HTM">Chapter 4</A>
<LI><A HREF="MHC21005.HTM">Chapter 5</A>
<LI><A HREF="MHC21006.HTM">Chapter 6</A>
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<TD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="15%">
<LI><A HREF="MHC21007.HTM">Chapter 7</A>
<LI><A HREF="MHC21008.HTM">Chapter 8</A>
<LI><A HREF="MHC21009.HTM">Chapter 9</A>
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<LI><A HREF="MHC21010.HTM">Chapter 10</A>
<LI><A HREF="MHC21011.HTM">Chapter 11</A>
<LI><A HREF="MHC21012.HTM">Chapter 12</A>
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<P><B>AN</B></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=+2>EXPOSITION,</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=+1>W I T H &nbsp; P R A C T I C A L &nbsp; O B S E R V A T I O N S,</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=-1>OF THE BOOK OF</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=+3><B>E C C L E S I A S T E S.</B></FONT>
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<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
We are still among Solomon's happy men, his happy servants, that
<I>stood continually before him to hear his wisdom;</I> and they are
the choicest of all the dictates of his wisdom, such as were more
immediately given by divine inspiration, that are here transmitted to
us, not to be heard, as by them, but once, and then liable to be
mistaken or forgotten, and by repetition to lose their beauty, but to
be read, reviewed, revolved, and had in everlasting remembrance. The
account we have of Solomon's apostasy from God, in the latter end of
his reign
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ki+11:1">1 Kings xi. 1</A>),
is the tragical part of his story; we may suppose that he spoke his
<I>Proverbs</I> in the prime of his time, while he kept his integrity,
but delivered his <I>Ecclesiastes</I> when he had grown old (for of the
burdens and decays of age he speaks feelingly
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+12:1-14"><I>ch.</I> xii.</A>),
and was, by the grace of God, recovered from his backslidings. There he
dictated his observations; here he wrote his own experiences; this is
what days speak, and wisdom which the multitude of years teaches. The
title of the book and the penman we shall meet with in the
<A HREF="MHC21001.HTM#Ec1_1">first verse</A>,
and therefore shall here only observe,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. That it is a sermon, a sermon in print; the text is
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+1:2"><I>ch.</I> i. 2</A>),
<I>Vanity of vanities, all is vanity;</I> that is the doctrine too; it
is proved at large by many arguments and an induction of particulars,
and divers objections are answered, and in the close we have the use
and application of all, by way of exhortation, to <I>remember our
Creator,</I> to <I>fear him,</I> and to <I>keep his commandments.</I>
There are indeed many things in this book which are dark and hard to be
understood, and some things which men of corrupt minds <I>wrest to
their own destruction,</I> for want of distinguishing between Solomon's
arguments and the objections of atheists and epicures; but there is
enough easy and plain to convince us (if we will admit the conviction)
of the vanity of the world, and its utter insufficiency to make us
happy, the vileness of sin, and its certain tendency to make us
miserable, and of the wisdom of being religious, and the solid comfort
and satisfaction that are to be had in doing our duty both to God and
man. This should be intended in every sermon, and that is a good sermon
by which these points are in any measure gained.
II. That it is a penitential sermon, as some of David's psalms are
penitential psalms; it is a recantation-sermon, in which the preacher
sadly laments his own folly and mistake, in promising himself
satisfaction in the things of this world, and even in the forbidden
pleasures of sense, which now he finds more bitter than death. His fall
is a proof of the weakness of man's nature: <I>Let not the wise man
glory in his wisdom,</I> nor say, "I shall never be such a fool as to
do so and so," when Solomon himself, the wisest of men, played the fool
so egregiously; nor <I>let the rich man glory in his riches,</I> since
Solomon's wealth was so great a snare to him, and did him a great deal
more hurt than Job's poverty did him. His recovery is a proof of the
power of God's grace, in bringing one back to God that has gone so far
from him; it is a proof too of the riches of God's mercy in accepting
him notwithstanding the many aggravations of his sin, pursuant to the
promise made to David, that if his children should commit iniquity they
should be corrected, but not abandoned and disinherited,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Sa+7:14,15">2 Sam. vii. 14, 15</A>.
Let him therefore that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall; and let
him that has fallen make haste to get up again, and not despair either
of assistance or acceptance therein.
III. That it is a practical profitable sermon. Solomon, being brought
to repentance, resolves, like his father, to teach transgressors God's
way
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+51:13">Ps. li. 13</A>)
and to give warning to all to take heed of splitting upon those rocks
which had been fatal to him; and these were fruits meet for repentance.
The fundamental error of the children of men, and that which is at the
bottom of all their departures from God, is the same with that of our
first parents, hoping to be as gods by entertaining themselves with
that which seems good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and desirable to
make one wise. Now the scope of this book is to show that this is a
great mistake, that our happiness consists not in being as gods to
ourselves, to have what we will and do what we will, but in having him
that made us to be a God to us. The moral philosophers disputed much
about man's felicity, or chief good. Various opinions they had about
it; but Solomon, in this book, determines the question, and assures us
that to fear God and to keep his commandments is the whole of man. He
tried what satisfaction might be found in the wealth of the world and
the pleasures of sense, and at last pronounced all vanity and vexation;
yet multitudes will not take his word, but will make the same dangerous
experiment, and it proves fatal to them. He,
1. Shows the vanity of those things in which men commonly look for
happiness, as human learning and policy, sensual delight, honour and
power, riches and great possessions. And then,
2. He prescribes remedies against the vexation of spirit that attends
them. Though we cannot cure them of their vanity, we may prevent the
trouble they give us, by sitting loose to them, enjoying them
comfortable, but laying our expectations low from them, and acquiescing
in the will of God concerning us in every event, especially by
remembering God in the days of our youth, and continuing in his fear
and service all our days, with an eye to the judgment to come.</P>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
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