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gives us, and remember that ever parallel Psalm 73:
Speaking of the seemingly
prosperous wicked, Asaph says:--
"I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.......they have
more than heart could wish.......they increase in riches."
Need Asaph have envied such? Ask him as he leaves the sanctuary of God:--
"Surely Thou didst set their feet in slippery places.......Whom have I in heaven but
Thee, and there is none upon earth I desire beside thee.......God is.......my PORTION
for ever."
#10. A time for every purpose both of God and man. (3: 1-17).
pp. 152 - 155
The remaining verses of chapter 2: (12-26) are divided up into a series of quests and
conclusions, arriving at length at the same result as we were outlining in our last paper
when referring to 2: 10. While Koheleth quite appreciated the superiority of wisdom
over folly, yet the maddening thing was that
"One event happeneth to them all. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool.
Therefore I hated life; because the work that is done under the sun is grievous unto me:
for all is vanity and vexation of spirit" (2: 14-17).
This must be the conclusion if we look for results in this life. Koheleth, however, has
something better to tell us of wisdom later on; he says it is "good like an inheritance",
and this does give true "profit". "Wisdom giveth life", that is, the life to come.
At the end of chapter 3: Koheleth again considers the "one event". Here, instead of
looking at two classes of men, the wise and the fools, he sees all men comparable with
beasts in respect to their end:--"One thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the
other.......all go unto one place......." (19, 20). He no longer hates life however, but
perceives what is the true "portion", and is content (3: 18-22). See also pages 113-116.
Death, if viewed as the destroyer of all our works, must fill us with despair, and raise
sceptic plaint as to the reason of things, but if death simply ends out term of schooling,
then we may look forward to true accomplishment in the life to come and rejoice in the
opportunities of this fleeting life while we may.
Another reason why Koheleth hated not only life but all his labour was that he would
have to leave it to the man (who may prove the veriest fool) that should be after him.
This made his heart despair. Here have I, he says in effect in 2: 21, laboured with
wisdom, knowledge, and equity, yet now that my labour is accomplished I am faced with
the spectre of human frailty. A few short years, and all my toil will pass to another--
what then has been the good of all the planning, the labour, the care, the skill? Then he
emerges into the sunlight of his previous conviction:--