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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Ecclesiastes, Introduction].</TITLE>
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"This site is for those friends and family members who may or may not know Our Lord Jesus Christ, and if not, they may come to know Our Lord through His Prophets."> <meta name="author" content="Brian Duncalfe">
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"Prophecy, Rapture,hope,bible map,bible maps, God, tribulation,Second Coming,Christ,large print bible,commentary,complete">
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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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<h3><a href="http://www.biblesnet.com" target="_blank">Back to Biblesnet.com Home Page</a>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Previous</A>]
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[<A HREF="MHC21001.HTM">Next</A>]<BR>
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<TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP">
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR>
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<P><FONT SIZE=+3>Ecclesiastes</FONT></P>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="4%">
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</TD>
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<TD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="15%">
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<LI><A HREF="MHC21001.HTM">Chapter 1</A>
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<LI><A HREF="MHC21002.HTM">Chapter 2</A>
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<LI><A HREF="MHC21003.HTM">Chapter 3</A>
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</TD>
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<TD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="15%">
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<LI><A HREF="MHC21004.HTM">Chapter 4</A>
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<LI><A HREF="MHC21005.HTM">Chapter 5</A>
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<LI><A HREF="MHC21006.HTM">Chapter 6</A>
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</TD>
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<TD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="15%">
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<LI><A HREF="MHC21007.HTM">Chapter 7</A>
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<LI><A HREF="MHC21008.HTM">Chapter 8</A>
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<LI><A HREF="MHC21009.HTM">Chapter 9</A>
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</TD>
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<TD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="15%">
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<LI><A HREF="MHC21010.HTM">Chapter 10</A>
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<LI><A HREF="MHC21011.HTM">Chapter 11</A>
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<LI><A HREF="MHC21012.HTM">Chapter 12</A>
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</TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<A NAME="Page979"> </A>
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<CENTER>
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<P><B>AN</B></P>
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<P><FONT SIZE=+2>EXPOSITION,</FONT></P>
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<P><FONT SIZE=+1>W I T H P R A C T I C A L O B S E R V A T I O N S,</FONT></P>
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<P><FONT SIZE=-1>OF THE BOOK OF</FONT></P>
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<P><FONT SIZE=+3><B>E C C L E S I A S T E S.</B></FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=150>
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</P></CENTER>
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<P>
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We are still among Solomon's happy men, his happy servants, that
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<I>stood continually before him to hear his wisdom;</I> and they are
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the choicest of all the dictates of his wisdom, such as were more
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immediately given by divine inspiration, that are here transmitted to
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us, not to be heard, as by them, but once, and then liable to be
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mistaken or forgotten, and by repetition to lose their beauty, but to
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be read, reviewed, revolved, and had in everlasting remembrance. The
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account we have of Solomon's apostasy from God, in the latter end of
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his reign
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ki+11:1">1 Kings xi. 1</A>),
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is the tragical part of his story; we may suppose that he spoke his
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<I>Proverbs</I> in the prime of his time, while he kept his integrity,
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but delivered his <I>Ecclesiastes</I> when he had grown old (for of the
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burdens and decays of age he speaks feelingly
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+12:1-14"><I>ch.</I> xii.</A>),
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and was, by the grace of God, recovered from his backslidings. There he
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dictated his observations; here he wrote his own experiences; this is
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what days speak, and wisdom which the multitude of years teaches. The
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title of the book and the penman we shall meet with in the
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<A HREF="MHC21001.HTM#Ec1_1">first verse</A>,
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and therefore shall here only observe,</P>
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<P>
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I. That it is a sermon, a sermon in print; the text is
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+1:2"><I>ch.</I> i. 2</A>),
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<I>Vanity of vanities, all is vanity;</I> that is the doctrine too; it
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is proved at large by many arguments and an induction of particulars,
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and divers objections are answered, and in the close we have the use
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and application of all, by way of exhortation, to <I>remember our
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Creator,</I> to <I>fear him,</I> and to <I>keep his commandments.</I>
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There are indeed many things in this book which are dark and hard to be
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understood, and some things which men of corrupt minds <I>wrest to
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their own destruction,</I> for want of distinguishing between Solomon's
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arguments and the objections of atheists and epicures; but there is
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enough easy and plain to convince us (if we will admit the conviction)
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of the vanity of the world, and its utter insufficiency to make us
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happy, the vileness of sin, and its certain tendency to make us
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miserable, and of the wisdom of being religious, and the solid comfort
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and satisfaction that are to be had in doing our duty both to God and
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man. This should be intended in every sermon, and that is a good sermon
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by which these points are in any measure gained.
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II. That it is a penitential sermon, as some of David's psalms are
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penitential psalms; it is a recantation-sermon, in which the preacher
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sadly laments his own folly and mistake, in promising himself
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satisfaction in the things of this world, and even in the forbidden
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pleasures of sense, which now he finds more bitter than death. His fall
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is a proof of the weakness of man's nature: <I>Let not the wise man
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glory in his wisdom,</I> nor say, "I shall never be such a fool as to
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do so and so," when Solomon himself, the wisest of men, played the fool
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so egregiously; nor <I>let the rich man glory in his riches,</I> since
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Solomon's wealth was so great a snare to him, and did him a great deal
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more hurt than Job's poverty did him. His recovery is a proof of the
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power of God's grace, in bringing one back to God that has gone so far
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from him; it is a proof too of the riches of God's mercy in accepting
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him notwithstanding the many aggravations of his sin, pursuant to the
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promise made to David, that if his children should commit iniquity they
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should be corrected, but not abandoned and disinherited,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Sa+7:14,15">2 Sam. vii. 14, 15</A>.
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Let him therefore that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall; and let
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him that has fallen make haste to get up again, and not despair either
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of assistance or acceptance therein.
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III. That it is a practical profitable sermon. Solomon, being brought
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to repentance, resolves, like his father, to teach transgressors God's
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way
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+51:13">Ps. li. 13</A>)
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and to give warning to all to take heed of splitting upon those rocks
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which had been fatal to him; and these were fruits meet for repentance.
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The fundamental error of the children of men, and that which is at the
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bottom of all their departures from God, is the same with that of our
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first parents, hoping to be as gods by entertaining themselves with
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that which seems good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and desirable to
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make one wise. Now the scope of this book is to show that this is a
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great mistake, that our happiness consists not in being as gods to
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ourselves, to have what we will and do what we will, but in having him
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that made us to be a God to us. The moral philosophers disputed much
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about man's felicity, or chief good. Various opinions they had about
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it; but Solomon, in this book, determines the question, and assures us
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that to fear God and to keep his commandments is the whole of man. He
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tried what satisfaction might be found in the wealth of the world and
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the pleasures of sense, and at last pronounced all vanity and vexation;
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yet multitudes will not take his word, but will make the same dangerous
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experiment, and it proves fatal to them. He,
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1. Shows the vanity of those things in which men commonly look for
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happiness, as human learning and policy, sensual delight, honour and
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power, riches and great possessions. And then,
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2. He prescribes remedies against the vexation of spirit that attends
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them. Though we cannot cure them of their vanity, we may prevent the
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trouble they give us, by sitting loose to them, enjoying them
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comfortable, but laying our expectations low from them, and acquiescing
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in the will of God concerning us in every event, especially by
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remembering God in the days of our youth, and continuing in his fear
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and service all our days, with an eye to the judgment to come.</P>
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<!-- (End Body) -->
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Previous</A>]
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[<A HREF="MHC21001.HTM">Next</A>]<BR>
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<TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP">
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
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