Ecclesiastes 3:16-4:6

The People's Bible by Joseph Parker - Ecclesiastes 3:1-22

The Works of the Lord Ecclesiastes 3:0 Coheleth saw that, notwithstanding the confusion which so broadly marked all human life, there was a partially-discovered method underlying everything. Things that seemed to come by chance really came by arrangement, and all the topsyturvy was only on the outside: "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven" ( Ecc 3:1 ). It is very marvellous, too, how little control man has over the coming and going of things, though... read more

Robert Hawker

Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary - Ecclesiastes 3:16-22

And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there. (17) I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work. (18) I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. (19) For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts;... read more

Matthew Henry

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 3:16-17

Injustice Is A Blot on God’s Creation (Ecclesiastes 3:16-17 ). The consequence of his awareness of everlastingness, and of his subsequent recognition that justice is not being achieved, is that he becomes aware that God is the final judge. Ecclesiastes 3:16 ‘And moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of judgment, that wickedness was there. And in the place of righteousness that wickedness was there.’ The Hebrew is graphic. ‘In the place of judgment, wickedness there!’ Where justice and... 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 3:16

This is mentioned, either, 1. As another vanity, to wit, the vanity of honour and power, which is so oft an instrument of injustice and oppression. Or rather, 2. As another argument of the vanity of worldly things, or a hinderance of that comfort which men expect in this life, because they are oppressed by their rulers. I saw; I perceived it by information from others, and by my own observation. The place of judgment; in the thrones of princes and tribunals of magistrates, where judgment should... read more

Joseph Exell

Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary - Ecclesiastes 3:16-18

CRITICAL NOTES.—Ecclesiastes 3:18. That God might manifest them.] The disorders of the present are permitted to the end that God might test, or prove, men. That they themselves are beasts. Not in regard to moral character, but to the common fate of dissolution, awaiting alike both men and beasts. They themselves—i.e., apart from Him who alone hath immortality, and in whose sole right is the gift of it—men, like the beasts, are all included in one sad fate. This thought is expanded in the next... read more

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