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Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

As is customary in Ecclesiastes, the writer began this section by stating a thesis (Ecclesiastes 3:1). He then proceeded to illustrate and to prove it true (Ecclesiastes 3:2-8). "Event" (Ecclesiastes 3:1) means human activity that one engages in by deliberate choice. Each of these events has its proper time and duration."Qohelet now raises a subject characteristic of ancient Near Eastern wisdom literature-the proper time. After all, it is the wise person who knows the right time to say or to do... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 3:1-22

The Practical Ideal. Acceptance of the Universal Scheme1-15. God is a God of order. The problem which the writer has set himself is not yet solved. He has found that wisdom, culture, pleasure, are all good, though, even if we combine them, there is still something lacking, and they will not explain the mystery of existence. In continuing to seek for a rule of life that shall lead him to the highest good, he reminds himself that God is a God of order, and wisdom lies in adapting ourselves to... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Ecclesiastes 3:1

(1) A season.—The word is only found in later Hebrew (Nehemiah 2:6; Esther 9:27; Esther 9:31), and in the Chaldee of Daniel and Ezra.Purpose.—The use of the word here and in Ecclesiastes 3:17; Ecclesiastes 5:8; Ecclesiastes 8:6, in the general sense of “a matter,” belongs to later Hebrew. The primary meaning of the word is “pleasure” or “desire,” and it is so used in this book (Ecclesiastes 5:4; Ecclesiastes 12:1; Ecclesiastes 12:10). read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Ecclesiastes 3:2

(2) The list of times and seasons is ranged in Hebrew MSS. and printed books in two parallel columns.A time to die.—Job 14:5. read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Ecclesiastes 3:1-22

Ecclesiastes 3:1 How for everything there is a time and a season, and then how does the glory of a thing pass from it, even like the flower of the grass. This is a truism, but it is one of those which are continually forcing themselves upon the mind. Borrow's Lavengro, xxvi. He is a good time-server that finds out the fittest opportunity for every action. God hath made a time for everything under the sun, save only for that which we do at all times to wit, sin. Thomas Fuller. References. III.... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

And the Conviction that it is opposed to the Will of God as expressed in the Ordinances of his Providence, Ecclesiastes 3:1-8This is one help to a wise content with our lot; but he has many more at our service, and notably this, -that an undue devotion to the toils of business is contrary to the will, the design, the providence of God. God, he argues, has fixed a time for every undertaking under heaven, and has made each of them beautiful in its season, but only then. By his kindly ordinances... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

The Quest obstructed by Divine Ordinances. Ecclesiastes 3:1-15The time of birth, for instance, and the time of death, are ordained by a Power over which men have no control; they begin to be, and they cease to be, at hours whose stroke they can neither hasten nor retard. The season for sowing and the season for reaping are fixed with any reference to their wish; they must plant and gather in when the unchangeable laws of nature will permit (Ecclesiastes 3:2). Even those violent deaths, and... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 3:1-22

SECOND SECTIONThe Quest Of The Chief Good In Devotion To The Affairs Of BusinessEcclesiastes 3:1 - Ecclesiastes 5:20I. IF the true Good is not to be found in the School where Wisdom utters her voice, nor in the Garden in which Pleasure spreads her lures: may it not be found in the Market, in devotion to Business and Public Affairs? The Preacher will try this experiment also. He gives himself to study and consider it. But at the very outset he discovers that he is in the iron grip of immutable... read more

Arno Clemens Gaebelein

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Ecclesiastes 3:1-22

2. Further Results of the Search CHAPTER 3 1. The times of man under the sun (Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 ) 2. When then is the good? (Ecclesiastes 3:12-15 ) 3. Concerning judgment and the future (Ecclesiastes 3:16-22 ) Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 . There is a time for everything. Twenty-eight “times” are mentioned, beginning with the time of birth and ending with the time for peace. Everything has a fixed time: Life-death; seeding-harvesting; killing-healing; breaking-down building-up;... read more

John Calvin

Geneva Study Bible - Ecclesiastes 3:1

3:1 To every [thing there is] a {a} season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:(a) He speaks of this diversity of time for two causes first to declare that there is nothing in this world perpetual: next to teach us not to be grieved, if we have not all things at once according to our desires, neither enjoy them so long as we would wish. read more

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