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John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 2:10

And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them ,.... Though this sense is only mentioned, all are designed; he denied himself of nothing that was agreeable to him, that was pleasing to the eye, to the ear, to the taste, or any other sense; he indulged himself in everything, observing a proper decorum, and keeping himself within the due bounds of sobriety and good sense; I withheld not my heart from any joy : the Targum says, "from all joy of the law"; but it is to be understood of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 2:11

Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do ,.... He had looked at them, and on them, over and over again, and had taken pleasure therein; but now he sits down and enters into a serious consideration of them, what prodigious expenses he had been at; what care and thought, what toil and labour of mind, he had taken in contriving, designing, and bringing these works to perfection; what pleasure and delight he had found in them, and what... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 2:12

And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly ,.... Being disappointed in his pursuit of pleasure, and not finding satisfaction and happiness in that, he turns from it, and reassumes his study of natural wisdom and knowledge, to make a fresh trial, and see whether there might be some things he had overlooked in his former inquiries; and whether upon a revise of what he had looked into he might not find more satisfaction than before; being convinced however that the pursuit of... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 2:2

I said of laughter, It is mad - Literally "To laughter I said, O mad one! and to mirth, What is this one doing?" Solomon does not speak here of a sober enjoyment of the things of this world, but of intemperate pleasure, whose two attendants, laughter and mirth are introduced by a beautiful prosopopoeia as two persons; and the contemptuous manner wherewith he treats them has something remarkably striking. He tells the former to her face that she is mad; but as to the latter, he thinks her... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 2:3

To give myself unto wine, (yet acquainting [ נהג noheg , "guiding"] mine heart with wisdom) - I did not run into extremes, as when I gave up myself to mirth and pleasure. There, I threw off all restraint; here, I took the middle course, to see whether a moderate enjoyment of the things of the world might not produce that happiness which I supposed man was created to enjoy here below. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 2:4

I builded me houses - Palace after palace; the house of the forest of Lebanon, 1 Kings 7:1 , etc.; a house for the queen; the temple, etc., 2 Chronicles 8:1 , etc.; 1 Kings 9:10 , etc., besides many other buildings of various kinds. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 2:5

I made one gardens and orchards - פרדסים pardesim , "paradises." I doubt much whether this be an original Hebrew word. ferdoos , is found in the Persian and Arabic; and signifies a pleasant garden, a vineyard. Hence our word paradise, a place full of delights. How well Solomon was qualified to form gardens, orchards, vineyards, conservatories, etc., may be at once conceived when we recollect his knowledge of natural history; and that he wrote treatises on vegetables and their... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 2:6

Pools of waters - Tanks and reservoirs. To water therewith the wood - Aqueducts to lead the water from the tanks to different parts. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 2:7

Servants and maidens - For my works, fields, folds, and various domestic labors. Servants born in any house - Besides those hired from without, he had married couples in the precincts of his grounds, palaces, etc., who, when their children grew up, got them employment with themselves. Great and small cattle - Oxen, neat, horses, asses, mules, camels, and such like; with sheep and goats. And multitudes of most of these he needed, when we are told that his household consumed daily ten... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 2:8

The peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces - The tares levied off his subjects. read more

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