Ecclesiastes 1:12

12. I the Preacher was king All scholars agree that was implies am not now, and to fit this word to the historic Solomon many an ingenious fiction has been devised. The Chaldee exposition says, that he was dethroned by Ashmodai, king of the demons. Others think that he wrote in old age, and here referred to his previous lifetime. But in Hebrew, the “was” is emphatic, and no man would use it in speaking of what still continued, and in speaking also to his contemporaries. [But, says Bullock, (Speaker’s Commentary): “This tense does not imply that Solomon had ceased to be king when the word was written. ‘The preterite is frequently used in describing a past which reaches forward into the present.’” Hengstenberg. ] 13. I gave my heart The heart is often used to express the sum of thought and feeling, and this phrase is equal to, “I devoted myself wholly.” Seek and search out are intensive of each other, and mean “seek diligently.”

By wisdom Hebrew, into wisdom. which here means a philosophical view just, acute, and comprehensive. A complete expression for the guidance of life.

Sore travail Plainer, sad task; that of wide observation of human conduct and fortune. One sees much that is painful to see, and one’s inferences must be so often gloomy! Koheleth sets himself to the task as moved by a call from God. Not all “children of men” have taste or faculty for philosophic research. He alludes to himself as belonging to a class to whom this special work is assigned. He feels his calling to be real though peculiar.