Ecclesiastes 3:20

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 3:16-22

16-22 Without the fear of the Lord, man is but vanity; set that aside, and judges will not use their power well. And there is another Judge that stands before the door. With God there is a time for the redressing of grievances, though as yet we see it not. Solomon seems to express his wish that men might perceive, that by choosing this world as their portion, they brought themselves to a level with the beasts, without being free, as they are, from present vexations and a future account. Both... read more

Paul E. Kretzmann

The Popular Commentary by Paul E. Kretzmann - Ecclesiastes 3:12-22

The Nature of Human Happiness v. 12. I know that there is no good in them, in the works of God given to men, but for a man to rejoice, in a cheerful use of the blessings of the Lord, and to do good In his life, to himself and to others in the proper use of God's gifts, for this is one essential part of true human happiness. v. 13. And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labor, it is the gift of God, and should be acknowledged as such with the proper... read more

Johann Peter Lange

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Critical, Doctrinal and Homiletical - Ecclesiastes 3:1-22

SECOND DISCOURSEOf Earthly Happiness, its Impediments and Means of AdvancementChap. 3–5.A. The substance of earthly happiness or success consists in grateful joy of this life, and a righteous use of it.Ecclesiastes 3:1-22.1. The reasons for the temporal restriction of human happiness (consisting in the entire dependence of all human action and effort on an unchangeable, higher system of things)(Ecclesiastes 3:1-11.)1To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:... read more

G. Campbell Morgan

G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible - Ecclesiastes 3:1-22

The vanity of life under the sun is evidenced not merely in the experience of the preacher himself, but in the wider outlook which he has been able to take. He now gives us some of the results of that learning in the process of which he had found no personal satisfaction. And first he speaks in greater detail of that mechanism of the universe to which he had referred at the opening of his discourse. There is everywhere a ceaseless routine. Though we have often read some parts of his... read more

Peter Pett

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 3:18-22

Death Is The Great Leveller (Ecclesiastes 3:18-22 ). Now we discover the conflict taking place within him. He has had a concept of everlastingness and of the necessity for future judgement. How then does this tie in with the fact that all die, both man and beast? Ecclesiastes 3:18-19 ‘I said in my heart, “Because of the sons of men, that God may put them to the test, and that they may see that they themselves are but as beasts, for that which befalls the sons of men, befalls beasts, even one... read more

Arthur Peake

Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 3:16-22

Ecclesiastes 3:16-Song of Solomon : . Man no Better than the Beasts. Ecclesiastes 3:16 . Both in the administration of the law and the observances of religion, wickedness is prevalent; “ righteousness” is here equivalent to “ piety.” Ecclesiastes 3:17 is the insertion of the orthodox glossator; Qoheleth does not regard God as vindicating the godly. Ecclesiastes 3:18 links on to Ecclesiastes 3:16; the corruption already alluded to is God’ s way of showing that man, despite his vaunt of... read more

Matthew Poole

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible - Ecclesiastes 3:20

All go unto one place; to the earth, as it is expressed, Ecclesiastes 3:21, out of which they were both taken. All turn to dust again; which is meant only of their bodies, as it is explained, Ecclesiastes 12:7. read more

Joseph Exell

Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary - Ecclesiastes 3:19-22

CRITICAL NOTES.—Ecclesiastes 3:22. For who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?] Man cannot tell what God will do in the future with all his earthly circumstances—how far, in the great future, they will be modified or destroyed. Hence riches, &c., must have many elements of uncertainty. Therefore enjoy the present.MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Ecclesiastes 3:19-22THE DOUBT OF IMMORTALITYThere are times when the most assured truths are questioned. The Royal Preacher assumes... read more

William Nicoll

Sermon Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 3:1-22

Ecclesiastes 3:1-5:20 A profound gloom rests on the second act or section of this drama. It teaches us that we are helpless in the iron grip of laws which we had no voice in making; that we often lie at the mercy of men whose mercy is but a caprice; that in our origin and end, in body and spirit, in faculty and prospect, in our lives and pleasures, we are no better than the beasts that perish; that the avocations into which we plunge, amid which we seek to forget our sad estate, spring from our... read more

William Nicoll

Sermon Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 3:19-21

Ecclesiastes 3:19-21 Has man, then, no real pre-eminence over the beast? Apparently, if we grant the assumption of the Epicurean, this is the conclusion to which we must come. If man have merely an animal existence, if he have no relations to a spiritual world, if when he dies he perishes, then in what respects is he better than the beasts? I. To this it may be replied by pointing to man's intellectual and moral endowments as conferring upon him an undeniable superiority over the brutes. There... read more

Group of Brands