3 .sx gain .sx The word is used nine times in the book and belongs to the world of commerce , meaning surplus or credit balance .sx Life , says Qoheleth , pays no dividends .sx 4 .sx all the toil at which he toils .sx The word for toil is also used of sorrow and vexation .sx The emphasis here is not on the physical labour but on the frustrating nature of it when the end purpose is not known .sx This is the problem of communication in the modern industrial world .sx 3 .sx under the sun .sx The phrase is used some twenty-nine times in this book but not elsewhere in the Old Testament .sx It is parallel to 'under heaven' ( cf .sx Ex .sx 17.14 ; Deut .sx 9.14 ) and 'upon the earth' ( cf .sx Gen .sx ) .sx It means simply 'alive' .sx 5 .sx hastens to the place where it rises .sx Qoheleth notes that the progress of the sun is an illusion .sx The end of the hastening is to be back where it started .sx The original for HASTENS means to gasp or pant , and is used of childbirth pangs ( Isa .sx 42.14 ) and the Psalmist's longing for the commandments of the Law ( Ps .sx ) .sx The figure of the sun as a participant in a race is familiar , and even before the Exile a passage in =2 Kings 23.11 suggests a knowledge of it .sx The thought fits Qoheleth's position precisely .sx The finishing line is continually found to be but the prelude to the starting post- the sun gets nowhere !sx 6 .sx The wind blows .sx . the wind returns .sx This verse contains the same Hebrew word four times and is translated BLOWS , GOES ROUND , GOES ROUND AND ROUND , RETURNS ON ITS CIRCUITS .sx The sheer monotony of repetition is conveyed more strongly in the use of the same root and expresses admirably the futility that haunts Qoheleth .sx 7 .sx the sea is not full .sx This represents work and activity that cannot hope to be completed since the sea will never be too full !sx 8 .sx the place where the streams flow .sx The references is [SIC] to 'the underworld , which was thought to be the source both of the fresh-water springs and of the salt-water oceans' .sx 9 .sx the eye is not satisfied .sx . nor the ear filled .sx There is no lack of sensations for these organs to be occupied with but there is no significance in what they experience .sx The word for SATISFIED is used of hunger and appetite .sx There is food enough but the hunger never grows less .sx 10 .sx there is nothing new under the sun .sx The complaint is deeper than a demand for novelty .sx It is the lack of an advance in natural phenomena that appals .sx The verse may be compared with Pss .sx 8 and 104 to bring out the gulf between viewing the physical world as a soulless process and viewing it sacramentally .sx 11 .sx there is no remembrance .sx The full force of this verse is only to be seen when the significance of the act of remembering in the Hebrew mind is recognized .sx The act means more than the recalling of past events .sx The very personality of a man continues into the present through his being remembered .sx There is an element of present reality in remembering- the past is re-presented .sx To say there is no remembrance would mean spiritual annihilation .sx Hence the frequency of the biblical injunction to look at the past and remember .sx ( Cf .sx Ex .sx 13.3 ; 20.8 ; Deut .sx 5.15 ; Isa .sx 51.1-3 ; also =1 Cor .sx 11.25. ) THE SEARCH FOR THE SUPREME GOOD .sx 1.12-2.26 .sx Under the pseudonym of Solomon , Qoheleth outlines a number of quests or even experiments he has made in the search for an ultimate purpose , a supreme good in human life ; but all have led him to the same moral impasse .sx THE QUEST FOR WISDOM .sx 1.12-18 .sx 12 .sx I the preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem .sx The author clearly intends to be taken as Solomon .sx The use of this literary device was really a means of expressing Qoheleth's conviction that neither wealth nor wisdom provided the clue to the final meaning of life .sx He uses here Solomon's reputation for precisely these two features , his renowned wisdom and his ostentatious flaunting of wealth .sx His attitude is not that of an admirer , but rather he pillories these characteristics , and indirectly Solomon himself .sx 13 .sx I applied my mind .sx Lit .sx 'my heart' .sx The Hebrew word le@1b , frequently translated 'heart' , is more concerned with thought and the will than with the emotions in Hebrew thinking .sx search out in wisdom .sx The original for SEARCH OUT is used as a technical term for consulting the priest or the prophet and is what is meant by 'enquiring of the Lord' .sx The root is da@1rash and the term Midrash- commentary on Scripture- comes from it .sx With BY WISDOM compare Job 28.12 , where the quest for wisdom is considered beyond man's capacity .sx See the Introduction , pp .sx 274 f. , for the need to distinguish between human wisdom and the Divine Wisdom .sx There are two levels of discussion , and the wisdom derived from the practical experience of daily living offers no key to the great ultimate mysteries of the Divine Wisdom .sx 14 .sx a striving after wind .sx This is a favourite phrase of the writer and it is used some seven times in this book .sx The literal meaning is 'a feeding on the wind' .sx The word is used of shepherds feeding their flocks .sx The thought is that for all the satisfaction obtained all his quests for meaning are like trying to make a meal on food that is no more substantial than the wind !sx Some scholars derive the word from a root meaning 'to desire' .sx Then the phrase would mean 'to desire the unsubstantial or illusory' .sx The same note of bitterness is apparent in either case .sx All human activity , as far as its final significance is concerned , is like feeding on the wind or desiring the shadowy insubstantial air .sx 15 .sx What is crooked .sx The root meaning of CROOKED is 'to twist or pervert' .sx This is a key for human sin .sx We find our colloquial term 'twister' near the mark .sx We note the preoccupation of Wisdom in its profounder aspect with the problem of sin and suffering .sx 16 .sx I said to myself .sx Lit .sx 'I , personally , spoke with my heart .sx ' all who were over Jerusalem before me .sx This completely gives away the case for Solomonic authorship- there is only one candidate for this , David .sx wisdom and knowledge .sx These two terms are frequently found in close association .sx 'In the Old Testament,' says Vriezen , 'knowledge is living in a close relationship with something or somebody , such a relationship as to cause what may be called communion .sx ' That a man has knowledge of God would mean that he had knowledge of God's revelation of himself .sx 17 .sx to know wisdom .sx . to know madness and folly .sx We note again the use of TO KNOW denoting experience within a relationship that is immediate , rather than second-hand 'knowing about' from another source .sx Wisdom and folly are moral rather than intellectual categories and are equivalent to good and evil .sx We must applaud Qoheleth on the thoroughness of his research when he includes MADNESS AND FOLLY .sx The verse has also been translated 'to know that wisdom and knowledge are madness and folly' .sx The word translated MADNESS means 'mad revelry and wickedness' .sx THE QUEST FOR PLEASURE AND MATERIAL SATISFACTION .sx 2.1-11 .sx 1 .sx I will make a test of pleasure .sx AV , 1I will prove thee with mirth .sx The connotation of pleasure is wider than that of mirth and is to be preferred .sx The Hebrew word is used of the ordinary pleasures of life , including goodness and joy and the rejoicing associated with religious festivals .sx The word for 'TEST' is used of God testing Abraham ( Gen .sx 22.1 ) and frequently of such trials .sx enjoy yourself .sx Lit .sx 'look upon good' .sx This phrase contains the characteristic Hebrew idiom which uses 'to see' meaning 'to experience , to participate in' .sx It is used of experiences of life and death , happiness and sorrow ( cf .sx Job 9.25 ; Ps .sx 16.10 ; Isa .sx 44.16 ; Luke 2.26 ; John 3.36 ; ) .sx The force of the phrase is not so much ~'Enjoy all that is good' as ~'Share in the experience of all that is good' and then give a verdict upon it .sx The verb is parallel to TEST and must be taken in this sense of trying and experimenting .sx The typical Hebrew view of life is not a denial of pleasure but the reverse .sx We need to remember the particular quest that Qoheleth had in mind .sx He is seeking for an ultimate goal to the merriment and happiness that life does contain in some of its separate experiences .sx 2 .sx It is mad .sx The Hebrew participle means 'acting like madmen' .sx Cf .sx =1 Sam .sx 21.14 ; Jer .sx 25.16 ; 46.9 ; 50.38 ; 51.7. 3 .sx To cheer my body with wine .sx Lit .sx 'to draw my flesh with wine' .sx The phrase is difficult .sx The word translated CHEER can mean 'to draw or drag' , which in later Hebrew has a meaning of 'to attract' in a figurative sense , that is , to stimulate and so to refresh .sx my mind still guiding me with wisdom .sx AV , 'acquainting my heart with wisdom' .sx The word for GUIDING comes from a root that is used to describe the herding of sheep or the conducting of prisoners .sx Qoheleth is still keeping his mind on his job .sx He is not blindly setting out on debauchery or dissolution as an escapist activity .sx to lay hold on folly .sx The word used is a strong one , meaning 'to seize' , and it indicates the urgency of Qoheleth's quest .sx Here is no armchair doctrinaire dilettante .sx 4 .sx I made great works .sx Lit .sx 'I made great my works' .sx This is a reference to the large-scale building operations which Solomon included in the construction of his palaces and the palace of Pharaoh's daughter ( cf .sx =1 Kings 7.1 ff .sx ; 9.15 ff .sx ; =2 Chron .sx ) .sx Close to the building projects would be the VINEYARDS ( =1 Kings 4.25 ; S. of Sol .sx ) .sx 5 .sx parks .sx The word is a Persian loan-word , pairi-deaza , from which our word paradise is derived .sx Qoheleth has a second paradise at his disposal but he is no happier than Adam was !sx The word is used in the singular in Neh .sx 2.8 and S. of Sol .sx 4.13. 6 .sx pools from which to water .sx A natural transition from gardens and orchards to the vital question of water supply .sx The pools are probably natural springs enlarged to become reservoirs or cisterns in the rock .sx King Mesha of Moab boasts of their construction in lines 9 , 23-25 of the Moabite Stone , which read :sx And I built Baal-meon and made in it the reservoir .sx . and I made both the reservoirs for water inside the town .sx And there was no cistern inside the town at Qrchh , so I said to all the people , 'Make yourselves each one a cistern in his house .sx ' Cf .sx also Neh .sx 2.14 ; 3.15 ; Isa .sx 1.30 ; 58.11 ; S. of Sol .sx 7.4 ; =2 Sam .sx 4.12. 7 .sx I bought male and female slaves .sx The acquisition of slaves would be the necessary presupposition of the scale of his building operations .sx Behind these practices is the mas or forced labour system which Solomon takes from Egyptian practices ( cf .sx the use of such labour by the Egyptians in Ex .sx ) .sx 8 .sx any who had been before me in Jerusalem .sx Again the mask slips .sx This rules out Solomonic authorship .sx See Introduction , pp .sx 257 f. 9 .sx my wisdom remained with me .sx Lit .sx 'stood to [or for] me' .sx Qoheleth retains his objectivity .sx This reinforces v. 3 .sx His experiencing of folly as well as wisdom still leaves him able to tell the difference .sx 10 .sx my eyes desired .sx Lit .sx 'asked' .sx We may compare =1 John 2.16 for the 'lust' ( desire ) of the eyes , and also =1 Kings 20.6 ; Ps .sx 145.15 ; Prov .sx 27.20 for the eyes as the seat of desire .sx There is no necessary suggestion of evil desire .sx The previous verse suggests that his wisdom safeguards him from this temptation .sx this was my reward .sx This is a favourite word with Qoheleth ( cf .sx 2.21 ; 3.22 ; 5.18 ff .sx ; 9.6 , 9 ; ) .sx It carries the idea of reward or profit .sx Qoheleth is suggesting that there is a gain from human experience .sx He has found a good , but the next verse indicates that it is a relative one and the supreme good is still to be sought .sx