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man do that cometh after the king?" (This is to say, he had as many advantages, if not
more than, as any successor was likely to have), "even that which hath been already
done" (2: 12).
This is a continual refrain:--
"Is there anything whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old
time, which was before us. There is no remembrance" (1: 10, 11).
"For there is no remembrance of the wise than the fool for the age: seeing that which
is already, in the days to come shall be forgotten" (2: 16). So again 3: 15.
There is something baffling which Koheleth experiences, and which he clearly
records, as we shall see. Here he refers to it. Concerning his consideration of wisdom
and folly, he saw clearly that wisdom excelled folly as light darkness, yet at the end was
that ONE EVENT which wrote its dread Ichabod. "Then said I in my heart, that this also
is vanity." In verses 18 and 19 another phase of this same thought appears. Koheleth
was to leave all his labours to another. But said he:--
"Who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet shall he rule over all my
labour wherein I have laboured, and where I have showed myself wise under the sun.
This is also vanity."
The theme is restated in verse 21 with the more positive thought that the result of all
his labours will go to one who has not given one moment's thought to its production. Yet
once more:--
"What hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart.....all his days are
sorrows, and his travail grief: Yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This also is
vanity" (2: 22, 23).
How completely in harmony is this with Psa. 127:, a song of degrees BY
SOLOMON (see Companion Bible):--
"Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord
keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
It is vain for you to rise up early, and to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so
He giveth His beloved IN (their) SLEEP."
We must note verses 24-26 and remember that the word "than" is not in the original.
The Vulgate and Luther make the sentence interrogative. In verse 25 the weight of MS
evidence is in favour of reading "apart from Him" instead of "more than I". Hence the
passage reads:--
"Is it not good for man that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul
enjoy good in his labour? This also I saw, that it (i.e. enjoyment of good) was from the
hand of God."
Man himself cannot accomplish it. "For who can eat, or who else can hasten hereunto
apart from Him." Here Koheleth sees the truth of Rom. 2: 5-10:--
"For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom and knowledge and joy: but
to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather in (as the fruits, Lev. 23: 32) and heap up (same