Ecclesiastes 7:26

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ecclesiastes 7:23-29

Solomon had hitherto been proving the vanity of the world and its utter insufficiency to make men happy; now here he comes to show the vileness of sin, and its certain tendency to make men miserable; and this, as the former, he proves from his own experience, and it was a dear-bought experience. He is here, more than any where in all this book, putting on the habit of a penitent. He reviews what he had been discoursing of already, and tells us that what he had said was what he knew and was... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 7:26

And I find more bitter than death the woman ,.... This was the issue of his diligent studies and researches, and the observations he had made; this was what he found by sad and woeful experience, and which he chose to take particular notice of; that he might not only expose this vanity among others, and caution men against it, even the love of women, which at best is a bitter sweet, as the poet F11 Musaeus, v. 166. Vid. Barthii ad Claudian. de Nupt. Honor. v. 70. calls it, though here... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 7:26

And I find more bitter than death the woman - After all his investigation of the wickedness of folly, and the foolishness of madness, he found nothing equally dangerous and ruinous with the blandishments of cunning women. When once the affections are entangled, escape without ruin is almost impossible. Whoso pleaseth God - The man who walks with God, and he alone, shall escape this sore evil: and even he that fears God, if he get with an artful woman, may be soon robbed of his strength,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 7:23-29

Section 4. Further in sight into essential wisdom was not obtain able; but Koheleth learned some other practical lessons, viz. that wickedness was folly and madness ; that woman was the most evil thing in the world ; that man had perverted his nature , which was made originally good . read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 7:26

One practical result of his quest Koheleth cannot avoid mentioning, though it comes with a suddenness which is somewhat startling. And I find more bitter than death the woman . Tracing men's folly and madness to their source, he finds that they arise generally from the seductions of the female sex. Beginning with Adam, woman has continued to work mischief in the world. "Of the woman came the beginning of sin," says Siracides, "and through her we all die" (Ecclesiasticus 25:24); it was owing... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Ecclesiastes 7:26

Compare the account of Solomon’s wives 1 Kings 11:1-8 : see also Proverbs 2:16-19; Proverbs 5:3... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Ecclesiastes 7:26

Ecclesiastes 7:26. And I find By my own sad experience, which Solomon here records as a testimony of his true repentance for his foul miscarriages, for which he was willing to take shame to himself, not only from the present, but from all succeeding generations; more bitter than death is the woman The strange woman, of whom he speaks so much in the Proverbs; more vexatious and pernicious, as producing those horrors of conscience, those reproaches, diseases, and other plagues, both... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 7:15-29

Avoid extremes (7:15-29)One of the puzzles of life is that bad people often have long and prosperous lives, but good people suffer and sometimes die before they have had a chance to enjoy life. The writer suggests that people follow a middle course through life, where they do not ruin their lives through being either over-zealous for goodness and wisdom or over-tolerant towards sin and foolishness. Those who fear God will be successful in avoiding both extremes (15-18).Certainly, wisdom is... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 7:26

WHAT SOLOMON CLAIMED THAT HE LEARNED"And I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets and whose hands are bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her. Behold, this have I found, saith the Preacher, laying one thing to another, to find out the account; which my soul still seeketh, but I have not found: one man among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found. Behold, this only have I found: that God... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Ecclesiastes 7:26

Ecclesiastes 7:26. Whose heart is snares and nets— Who herself is a company of hunters; nay, her heart is nets; her hands are bands. He who is good in the presence of God shall escape from her, &c. The simile is here taken from hunting; and there is a distinction plainly marked in the original, and well observed by the ancients, between the woman herself on the one hand, and her heart and hands on the other; which I have endeavoured to preserve in the version that I have given. See... read more

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