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| 1 But all this I have laid unto my heart, so as to clear up the whole of this, that the righteous and the wise, and their works, [are] in the hand of God, neither love nor hatred doth man know, the whole [is] before them. |
No man knoweth – He could not tell certainly from the book of nature whether God loved or hated them. R1532:6
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| 2 The whole [is] as to the whole; one event is to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good, and to the clean, and to the unclean, and to him who is sacrificing, and to him who is not sacrificing; as [is] the good, so [is] the sinner, he who is swearing as he who is fearing an oath. |
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| 3 This [is] an evil among all that hath been done under the sun, that one event [is] to all, and also the heart of the sons of man is full of evil, and madness [is] in their heart during their life, and after it unto the dead. |
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| 4 But [to] him who is joined unto all the living there is confidence, for to a living dog it [is] better than to the dead lion. |
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| 5 For the living know that they die, and the dead know not anything, and there is no more to them a reward, for their remembrance hath been forgotten. |
For the living – Even the least intelligent. E347
But the dead – When man dies his personality, the result of his heredity and pre-natal influences combined with his experiences, perishes; for it cannot exist without a body. R5166:2
Death is an actual extinction of being but not the annihilation of matter, which is indestructible. R1377:6
Know not any thing – Thus neither Dorcas, nor Lazarus, nor the widow of Nain, nor Jairus' daughter had any wonderful experiences or mysterious visions to relate. R1450:5
Thus Jesus could do no preaching while dead, nor the antediluvians any listening. R1679:1, R4176:6; HG727:5
Whoever knows this is fortified against all the deceptions of the evil spirits. SM197:T
All, good and bad, go down to the tomb, to sheol, hades, called in our Bibles, hell. They are experiencing neither joy nor sorrow, pleasure nor suffering awaiting the resurrection. OV362:3; R4551:5, R5131:3,6; SM115:1, SM197:T, CR21:1
The resurrection of the dead is an absolute necessity to any future life or hope or blessing. R5579:2, R5673:6,3; SM99:2
Contrary to the teachings of Spiritism. R2170:2, R3741:3, R3387:2, R4521:2, R5378:2
The various manifestations of Spiritism come not from dead men. R4521:2
Only the Bible teaches that the dead are dead--all other religions teach that death is a deception. R4410:3
During the Jewish age God guarded his typical people against delusions and lying spirits of devils. R1642:6
Is Forgotten – Is very generally forgotten. E347
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| 6 Their love also, their hatred also, their envy also, hath already perished, and they have no more a portion to the age in all that hath been done under the sun. |
Is now perished – "In that very day his thoughts perish." (Psa. 146:4) R5166:2[R5166]
A condition of peaceful unconsciousness. R2172:3[R2172]
Any more a portion – An interest. E347[E347]
Forever – Olam, for a long, indefinite period. E347[E347]
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| 7 Go, eat with joy thy bread, and drink with a glad heart thy wine, for already hath God been pleased with thy works. |
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| 8 At all times let thy garments be white, and let not perfume be lacking on thy head. |
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| 9 See life with the wife whom thou hast loved, all the days of the life of thy vanity, that He hath given to thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity, for it [is] thy portion in life, even of thy labour that thou art labouring at under the sun. |
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| 10 All that thy hand findeth to do, with thy power do, for there is no work, and device, and knowledge, and wisdom in Sheol whither thou art going. |
With thy might – We should be actively engaged in doing some good according to our talents and opportunities because we are all hastening to sheol, to the tomb. SM28:T
Solomon shows in this verse that the absence of natural wisdom, knowledge, understanding, counsel and might, brings physical death; the same is true applied spiritually. See comments on Ex. 30:23, 24. R4093:5*
Act quickly therefore; the time is short. R5127:5
There is no work – Good or bad, praising or cursing. E368
"The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence." (Psa. 115:17) R2599:2
The condition of the dead is one of total unconsciousness. R4794:1,4, R4792:1, R4551:5, R5303:1
The world in general, including infants, will be raised just as they went down, excepting infirmity and disease. R631:5
Therefore the dead will not be required to aid or co-operate in their awakening from the graves, for the can neither assent to nor oppose their awakening. R1509:5
Opportunities now afforded should be exercised to the fullest, for to each one will come a night time when these will pass, as one passes into death. R4149:3
In the literal grave. This does not apply to those merely reckoned dead, but alive as New Creatures in Christ. Q760:1
Nor device – Planning good, or thinking ill. E368
These four--wisdom, knowledge, device (understanding) and works (results of workmanship) relate to the same four elements in Exo. 31:3 and Isa. 11:2, and to the four ingredients of the holy anointing oil. R4093:5, 2*
Nor knowledge – Holy knowledge or unholy knowledge. E368
"His sons come to honor and he knoweth it not." (Job 14:21) A210
The suggestion that the moment of death is the moment of greater life is of the Adversary. OV215:T
As mankind goes into death, so shall they come out of it; for in it they shall have learned nothing. R721:6, R5167:2
In the grave – Sheol, oblivion, death, not torment. E348, E368, R4551:6, R4162:5, R2599:2; SM115:1, SM525:2
Since God will "have all men to come to the knowledge of the truth" (I Tim. 2:4); and since mankind have didead. A106
Since the state of death is an entire suspension of being, man's probation or trial must occur, not in death, but before death or after it has ended--in the resurrection. R902:3*, R2612:2
Whither thou – The soul, the sentient being. E348
Goest – Whether wicked or righteous before death. E368; OV362:3
God has prepared for the awakening of the dead in order to knowledge, faith and salvation. OV177:3, OV226:T, A106
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| 11 I have turned so as to see under the sun, that not to the swift [is] the race, nor to the mighty the battle, nor even to the wise bread, nor even to the intelligent wealth, nor even to the skilful grace, for time and chance happen with them all. |
Not to the...strong – The Lord may grant his blessing with the feebly spoken word if the life be in harmony with the message given out. R4968:5
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| 12 For even man knoweth not his time; as fish that are taken hold of by an evil net, and as birds that are taken hold of by a snare, like these [are] the sons of man snared at an evil time, when it falleth upon them suddenly. |
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| 13 This also I have seen: wisdom under the sun, and it is great to me. |
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| 14 A little city, and few men in it, and a great king hath come unto it, and hath surrounded it, and hath built against it great bulwarks; |
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| 15 and there hath been found in it a poor wise man, and he hath delivered the city by his wisdom, and men have not remembered that poor man! |
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| 16 And I said, 'Better [is] wisdom than might, and the wisdom of the poor is despised, and his words are not heard.' |
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| 17 The words of the wise in quiet are heard, More than the cry of a ruler over fools. |
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| 18 Better [is] wisdom than weapons of conflict, And one sinner destroyeth much good! |
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