Clarke's Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 1:2
Verse 2. Vanity of vanities - As the words are an exclamation, it would be better to translate, O vanity of vanities! Emptiness of emptinesses. True, substantial good is not to be found in any thing liable to change and corruption.
The author referred to in the introduction begins his paraphrase thus: - "O vain deluding world! whose largest gifts Thine emptiness betray, like painted clouds, Or watery bubbles: as the vapor flies, Dispersed by lightest blast, so fleet thy joys, And leave no trace behind. This serious truth The royal preacher loud proclaims, convinced By sad experience; with a sigh repeats The mournful theme, that nothing here below Can solid comfort yield: 'tis all a scene. Of vanity, beyond the power of words To express, or thought conceive. Let every man Survey himself, then ask, what fruit remains Of all his fond pursuits? What has he gain'd, By toiling thus for more than nature's wants Require? Why thus with endlness projects rack'd His heated brain, and to the labouring mind, Repose denied? Why such expense of time, That steals away so fast, and ne'er looks back? Could man his wish obtain, how short the space For his enjoyment! No less transient here The time of his duration, than the things Thus anxiously pursued. For, as the mind, In search of bliss, fix'd on no solid point, For ever fluctuates; so our little frames, In which we glory, haste to their decline, Nor permanence can find. The human race Drop like autumnal leaves, by spring revived: One generation from the stage of life Withdraws, another comes, and thus makes room For that which follows. Mightiest realms decay, Sink by degrees; and lo! new form'd estates Rise from their ruins. Even the earth itself, Sole object of our hopes and fears, Shall have its period, though to man unknown."
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 2. Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher , etc.] This is the preacher’s text; the theme and subject he after enlarges upon, and proves by an induction of particulars; it is the sum of the whole book; vanity of vanities, all [is] vanity ; most extremely vain, exceedingly so, the height of vanity: this is repeated, both for the confirmation of it, men being hard of belief of it; and to show how much the preacher was affected with it himself, and to affect others with the same. The Targum reads, “vanity of vanities [in] this world”; which is right as to the sense of the passage; for though the world, and all things in it, were made by God, and are very good; yet, in comparison of him, are less than nothing, and vanity; and especially as become subject to it through sin, a curse being brought upon the earth by it; and all the creatures made for the use of men liable to be abused, and are abused, through luxury, intemperance, and cruelty; and the whole world usurped by Satan, as the god of it. Nor is there anything in it, and put it all together, that can give satisfaction and contentment; and all is fickle, fluid, transitory, and vanishing, and in a short time will come to an end: the riches of the world afford no real happiness, having no substance in them, and being of no long continuance; nor can a man procure happiness for himself or others, or avert wrath to come, and secure from it; and especially these are vanity, when compared with the true riches, the riches of grace and glory, which are solid, substantial, satisfying, and are for ever: the honours of this world are empty things, last a very short time; and are nothing in comparison of the honour that comes from God, and all the saints have, in the enjoyment of grace here, and glory hereafter: the sinful pleasures of life are imaginary things, short lived ones; and not to be mentioned with spiritual pleasures, enjoyed in the house of God, under the word and ordinances; and especially with those pleasures, for evermore, at the right hand of God. Natural wisdom and knowledge, the best thing in the world; yet much of it is only in opinion; a great deal of it false; and none saving, and of any worth, in comparison of the knowledge of Christ, and of God in Christ; all the forms of religion and external righteousness, where there is not the true fear and grace of God, are all vain and empty things. Man, the principal creature in the world, is “vain man”; that is his proper character in nature and religion, destitute of grace: every than is vain, nay, vanity itself; high and low, rich and poor, learned or unlearned; nay, man at his best estate, as worldly and natural, is so; as even Adam was in his state of innocence, being fickle and mutable, and hence he fell, ( Psalm 39:5,11 62:9); and especially his fallen posterity, whose bodies are tenements of clay; their beauty vain and deceitful; their circumstances changeable; their minds empty of all that is good; their thoughts and imaginations vain; their words, and works, and actions, and their whole life and conversation; they are not at all to be trusted in for help, by themselves or others. The Targum is, “when Solomon, king of Israel, saw, by the spirit of prophecy, that the kingdom of Rehoboam his son would be divided with Jeroboam, the son of Nebat; and that Jerusalem, and the house of the sanctuary, would be destroyed, and the people of the children of Israel would be carried captive; he said, by his word, Vanity of vanities in this world, vanity of vanities; all that I and my father David have laboured for, all is vanity!”
Matthew Henry Commentary
Solomon shows that all human things are vain. (Eccl. 1:1-3) Man's toi and want of satisfaction. (Eccl. 1:4-8) There is nothing new. (Eccl 1:9-11) The vexation in pursuit of knowledge. (Eccl. 1:12-18)
Eccl. 1:1-3 Much is to be learned by comparing one part of Scriptur with another. We here behold Solomon returning from the broken an empty cisterns of the world, to the Fountain of living water; recordin his own folly and shame, the bitterness of his disappointment, and the lessons he had learned. Those that have taken warning to turn and live should warn others not to go on and die. He does not merely say all things are vain, but that they are vanity. VANITY OF VANITIES, ALL I VANITY. This is the text of the preacher's sermon, of which in thi book he never loses sight. If this world, in its present state, wer all, it would not be worth living for; and the wealth and pleasure of this world, if we had ever so much, are not enough to make us happy What profit has a man of all his labour? All he gets by it will no supply the wants of the soul, nor satisfy its desires; will not aton for the sins of the soul, nor hinder the loss of it: what profit wil the wealth of the world be to the soul in death, in judgment, or in the everlasting state?
Eccl. 1:4-8 All things change, and never rest. Man, after all his labour, is no nearer finding rest than the sun, the wind, or the current of the river. His soul will find no rest, if he has it not from God. The senses are soon tired, yet still craving what is untried.
Eccl. 1:9-11 Men's hearts and their corruptions are the same now as in former times; their desires, and pursuits, and complaints, still the same. This should take us from expecting happiness in the creature, an quicken us to seek eternal blessings. How many things and persons i Solomon's day were thought very great, yet there is no remembrance of them now!
Eccl. 1:12-18 Solomon tried all things, and found them vanity. He foun his searches after knowledge weariness, not only to the flesh, but to the mind. The more he saw of the works done under the sun, the more he saw their vanity; and the sight often vexed his spirit. He coul neither gain that satisfaction to himself, nor do that good to others which he expected. Even the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom discovere man's wickedness and misery; so that the more he knew, the more he saw cause to lament and mourn. Let us learn to hate and fear sin, the caus of all this vanity and misery; to value Christ; to seek rest in the knowledge, love, and service of the Saviour __________________________________________________________________
Original Hebrew
הבל 1892 הבלים 1892 אמר 559 קהלת 6953 הבל 1892 הבלים 1892 הכל 3605 הבל׃ 1892
