V. 1 I said in my heart, "Well, I will live well and have good days. But behold, that was also vain.
In the previous chapter, he showed that the worries and troubles and suggestions of men, especially those with which we want to help men, are vain and nothing, and taught that we should be content with the word and work of God, so that we do not presume on anything unless the word of God prescribes it or his work compels it, which often seems to be contrary to the word, as when he oppresses us with some calamity, even if we have acted rightly according to his word. In this, faith and patience are necessary, so that we do not carry out our advice and try to escape those sufferings, but command ourselves to him and suffer the hand of God in his work. Now he turns to the other side:
I said in my heart, Well, I will live well etc.
As if he wanted to say: Since it is of no use to be anxious and to have one's own plans, I will renounce them and turn to the right and choose a calmer life. I want to get myself a room and a quiet life, I want to enjoy good things, I want to let everything go as it goes and as I want. I want to live a life of pleasure. But even this was vain and did not go out better than before the counsel of wisdom and human care, for God resists even here. For a tranquil life is not granted in any other way than from the words and works of God, and experience itself teaches this. In the East, banquets are arranged to bring joy, special foods and games are devised to cheer up the guests, but mostly the opposite happens, "and it seldom becomes a good collation. For either there are quite a few sad and serious faces, or something disturbs everything, especially where there are so many discussions and precautions.
meets for the future joy. Often, however, it happens that someone comes by chance, that is, that God gives it so, to an exceedingly joyful banquet. This is also the case in other things.
Some people seek pleasure in amore, but soon they taste bitterness, about which St. Augustine complains in the books of his Confessions that he was miserably afflicted in the midst of amore. Thus, when we have good days, they are soon filled with bitterness. There is nothing better, therefore, than to be in the word and work of God, and to send the heart so that it may be calm and content with the present things. If the Lord has given a wife, you should keep her (habenda est in praesenti) and enjoy her; but if you want to go beyond these limits and increase this present gift, instead of joy you will be given sadness and grief. Therefore, we should simply keep to what the Lord wills and gives. If you want to be happy and enjoy yourself, expect it from him. Therefore, as he offers it to you, take it and be joyful with the joyful, and do not let it happen to you that you want to be wise and serious among the joyful, as the wretched saints (sanctuli) do, who disturb the joy of others, which God gives. Only realize that all this is given to you by God, and that you receive it from His hand and use it as His gift.
In short, we are not to enjoy our happiness, goods, counsel, or any other thing, but as God has given it, so shall we use it. "Mau let God rule." It is not for us to prescribe place, person and manner, otherwise we will be deceived. Therefore, cheerfulness is not condemned as evil or vain, but human effort and human advice are rejected if we want to prepare cheerfulness for ourselves or make an effort to do so, without taking into account the will of God.
but as both come from God, so we should use them. Just as it is a sin if we cause ourselves distress and sadness through our advice, so it is also a sin if we do not want to suffer it when God gives it to us. So it is also reprehensible if we want to flee happiness and not accept it when God gives it, as those miserable false saints do, who see sour, 1) that is, seek a place, time and person for sadness and prescribe strict rules, which is found among hypocrites and is vain. They want us to weep with those who weep, but they themselves do not want to rejoice with the joyful. Sadness, gladness, and all these things, whether they be outward or inward, need not be measured by place, time etc., but as they come from the GOtte wholly free, so let them be used wholly free. Hence he says:
I said in my heart, Well, I will live well etc.
That is, I wanted to measure the thing according to measure and rule, but that was nothing but vanity. Here again it must be remembered that we do not stray with Jerome from the actual subject (themate), who foolishly boasts that he learned from this book to despise the world and all things. These were followed by the monks and the sophists, who do not know what it means to flee the world, indeed, do not know what the world is. For that is, in truth, to teach that one despises the good creatures of God, and to forbid their use, contrary to the revealed words of sacred Scripture.
Therefore, it is not called fleeing the world, if one keeps away from things, but if one abstains from one's own attempts. Thus Jerome would have taught his Blesilla rightly: "Do not despise things, but despise your pretensions, your attachments, your inclinations and your worries, by which you try to bring about everything by your own strength (tuo Marte). Honor and desire for things is not evil, but anxious care for things and your counsels must be despised. Also that
face expression.
is not to despise the world, to clothe oneself with filth, to wear out one's flesh by watching, to hurt oneself by fasting etc., but to use these things as they come. If the Lord gives you food, eat; if he gives you fasting, suffer it; if he gives you positions of honor, accept them; if he gives you harm, suffer it; if he throws you into prison, endure it; if he wants you to be king, follow the one who calls you; if he pushes you off the throne, do not worry about it, just as David ruled the kingdom with equanimity and bore the banishment as a right despiser of the world. So these are the right despisers of the world, who receive everything "as God sends it to them," and use all things with thanksgiving when they are there, and gladly lack them when the Lord takes them away.
V. 2. I said to the laughter: You are great; and to joy: What are you doing?
Understand all of the advice. He wants to say: 2) I wanted to seek good things deliberately (arte), to strive for pleasure and happiness, but this thought was nothing but nonsense, which plagued me in a twofold way, firstly because the effort of thinking and seeking tortures the heart. Afterwards, when I hope that I have reached it, some twist or difficulty soon intervenes, so that I lose both the effort and the joy. This is it that he says: The laughter, namely, which I seek, and the joy, which I strive to put into effect, of what use is it to me? For it is never granted to me; there is always something difficult. The best joy and comfort, therefore, is not that which one seeks, but that which is offered unawares by God, without your care and counsel. Thus, outward happiness is good, but only for those who make good use of it. The wicked, however, even though they revel in good living, are not truly pleased, because they do not realize that these are gifts from God, and they soon grow weary and seek other things, and are not satisfied with anything that is available.
2) Erlanger: ,,0. ü." instead of: "V. ä.], da- is, vult. üiesrs.
V.3 Then thought I in mine heart to draw my body from wine, and to draw my heart unto wisdom, that I might lay hold on that which is foolishness, until I should learn what is good for men to do, as long as they live under heaven.
Here, for the third time, he sets up another one in order to try whether this might succeed. Since I, who live in the world and among men, neither the anxious worries with which I toil in order to advise others, nor even the good days succeed, but are void, I want to begin a hard and strict life, so that I want to completely abstain [from the good life] and lead a hard life etc. But I must wonder that those false despisers of the world and the creatures have not paid attention to this saying of Solomon, in which he calls a hard way of life and relentless severity vanity. Here he condemns the strictest rules (observationes) of the monks, especially of the Carthusians, about whom the world is astonished and considers them godly and holy beings. And this saying is, as it were, a thunderclap against all the rules and all the false spirituality of the monks, by which they subject things that are not their own to themselves and their counsels. [I say this not as if abstinence were evil, but that one seeks it on one's own counsel, and that one commits oneself to such things as if they were necessary. For time, things, place etc. are divine gifts, which they nevertheless want to capture by their rules and regulations. For the rest, they have nothing from it but pain and sorrow, in that they torment the flesh and torture themselves in vain. For the Carthusians make such a rule: one may not eat meat even if one would die of hunger. And this is the very worst, that they seek holiness in such things, as if the devil himself could not also be holy in such a way, because he also does not drink wine, nor does he clothe himself with purple etc.
Therefore he says, "It would be good for me to abstain, or to eat and drink, but it will be exceedingly bad if I do my counsel. God has no
He has made regulations about place, time, food and fasting (abstinentiam), and we fools prescribe: now I may eat meat food, now I may not eat it. But he himself says: if you have, eat; if you have not, fast. Therefore, if you want to abstain, wait for the Lord's counsel; for he can have you thrown into prison, into famine, into sickness, etc. then abstain, then you have a rule prescribed for you, not by yourself, but by God Himself. But now you invent a way of abstaining from God out of your own advice. And these excellent despisers of the world abstain from things in such a way that they do not lack anything: they do it in such a way that they do not have to fast. Summa, as they exalt themselves above God by their own righteousness, so they exalt themselves above the creatures by their statutes.
And to draw my heart to wisdom.
That is: I wanted to govern myself wisely according to my advice, and to be wise in abstinence, so that I would grasp what wisdom (or foolishness) is. For the Hebrew expression is ambiguous, sometimes denoting wisdom, sometimes foolishness, but generally meaning foolishness, so that the sense is, "that I might grasp what is foolishness," namely, that I might know how to remind others of what is foolish or what is wise. "That I may take hold," I say, so that it may be avoided, because this is a part of wisdom, that one may not only know what is good, but also avoid what is evil.
But he counts almost the whole register of his works, which he has undertaken to teach others: I have begun to try very many things. While I was busy with it, I abstained from wine and from good living; by working and building I sought experience and wisdom etc. in order to teach others, so that others might live rightly after my example and abstain (abstain) wisely, and rule their households rightly. For he speaks of human and worldly wisdom, not of divine or spiritual, by which we discern things that are against (erga) God. Therefore, I began to build, to plant vineyards, lacking no effort and diligence etc.
But I have gained nothing but vanity from all this work, because I wanted to govern myself according to my advice.
But to want to govern oneself according to his advice is vain; indeed, he who wants to govern himself according to his advice troubles himself with a twofold adversity: first, he torments himself with his advice; second, he accomplishes nothing, or if he achieves something, suffering intervenes and destroys it. Thus Nero builds a splendid and royal house, but does not enjoy it. For this is how it generally happens that one builds, but another comes into possession and enjoys what has been built, and as it is said in the parable of the Gospel [John 4:37]: "This one sows, the other cuts." Thus our blessed Prince Frederick built many things, but now others own them. He had the future in mind, was not satisfied with the present; when one thing was built, he soon sought another. The prince who is now here 1) does not enjoy what has been built, but builds other things, fortifies cities, and does it quite differently. The successor of this one will also again enjoy a completely different way.
This is, therefore, in truth, a great vanity and misery, that one is troubled with sorrow and distress at the work itself until it is completed, but when it is completed, dies or falls ill, or is deprived of its use and benefit by some other hindrance; but also that he who succeeds often does not use what has been completed, or even destroys it. Such is the nature of the whole louse of human life. God always argues against human suggestions, and again, we against the counsel of God. But it is easy for Him to destroy all that we have begun; indeed, so great is the vanity of the heart that it never remains the same, nor can it be so constant that it stops at what is present and finds rest in it. After a person has undertaken and accomplished something, the desire to do something remains; there is weariness with what has been accomplished, and something else is sought, as he also said above.
1) Marginal gloss: Elector John.
[Cap. 1, 9.] "What is it that has happened?" etc. Thus the human heart is of the same nature after a thing is made as it was before the thing was made; everywhere inconstant and full of restlessness. If a man has one florin, he looks out for ten and desires the same; if he has ten, he desires a hundred; if he has a hundred, he desires a thousand etc. If a prince has one castle, which is well built, he wants to have two; he who has one kingdom also strives for a second. Summa: Alexander desires many worlds.
It is the same in the home, in marriage and in the upbringing of children. You intend to take a wife who is well-behaved, chaste, pleasing, a good housemother, but it can happen that you are given a wife who has completely contrary morals and is very bad, or that you find a lot wrong with her, even if she is very good. You are anxious to raise your children in such a way that they become righteous and useful to the community, but, contrary to expectation, they may become murderers or otherwise bad boys and a useless burden for the earth. Shall one then give up the house and the care for the household? For I see that nothing succeeds to my diligence nor any success corresponds to my efforts? No. What should one do then? One should rule the house, keep the servants in order, educate the children, rule the wife, but in such a way that this is done without your measure and rule, that you do not trust in your wisdom. If your son is fit for the study of science, let him study it; if he is fit for a trade, let him learn it. Only do not go beyond your limits, but consider all success and achievement, otherwise you will have the two difficulties mentioned above [Col. 1408]. Now from this it will be easily understood what follows:
I did great things; I built houses, planted vineyards; I made me gardens and pleasure gardens, and planted in them all kinds of fruitful trees; I made me pools to water the forest of green trees. I had menservants and maidservants, and servants: I had a greater substance of cattle and flocks, than
I also gathered me silver and gold, and treasure of kings and countries; I made me singers, and singers, and pleasers of men, and all manner of music; and I increased above all that were before me at Jerusalem; wisdom also abode with me; and all that mine eyes desired I left them, and withheld no joy from my heart, that it should rejoice in all my labor; and this I counted my portion of all my labor. But when I looked at all my works that my hand had done, and the toil that I had taken, behold, it was all vain and pitiful, and there was nothing more under the sun.
Here, as I have said, Solomon enumerates the register of his works that he had done to obtain joy and prosperity and to rule his household rightly. But this is easy from what has been said before.
I that great things.
What our Latin interpreter expressed by magnificavi is, I have done glorious and great works, of which you read 1 Kings 3 and 7 etc. But what fruit have I had from them? None; nothing but trouble, others have had the fruit and the benefit.
Paradisos or gardens of pleasure. The Hebrew word means "pleasure gardens, as one makes beautiful spice gardens of flowers and the noblest spices". Vernaculos ["servants"], meaning. Servants born in the house. For the children of servants born in the house 1) were called vernaculi 2) and were forever servants to the lord whose servant was their father, whether he had come into servitude by purchase or by any other cause.
I had servants and maids.
That is, I was an excellent steward and family man, I wanted to rule my household according to my advice. I have collected money and goods (substantiam) or treasure (gazam). Everything (he says) that is always found in other regions in the form of jewels and precious things.
1) Erlanger: ctominMi instead of: äonii nati.
2) Thus the Wittenbergers. The Jenaers and the Erlangers: vornac^ula.
I have brought together all these things for the splendor of the kingdom, as great and rich kings are wont to do.
I created for myself singers and singers, and well-wishers of the people etc.
Here the grammarians argue about what is shidda and shiddoth. I have rendered it by: "dancer and dancer", but I do not like that. In the meantime, I follow those who think that they are musical instruments, because of the preceding, where he writes thus: "I created for myself singers and singers and pleasures or pleasures of the children of men", namely musical instruments. But he doubles the word XXXXX XXX, because perhaps he wants the unison
of the same with each other and the alternation in the music has wanted to indicate.
I took to etc.
That is, all this was made and set up in the most suitable way. Further:
Wisdom also stayed with me.
He understands by wisdom not the speculative wisdom, but the one that serves to govern life and all affairs, where also the divine wisdom is included. For he confesses that he not only had an abundance of all things, but at the same time he also had the wisdom to manage, direct and govern all this, which is an exceedingly great gift of God. But he did not succeed, because he wanted everything to go out according to his advice, which he had wisely ordered etc., while all men on earth have this word in their mouth: "It does not go right", because they see that many things are wisely decided and ordered, and yet have no progress etc. It is therefore a great piece of wisdom that one should know this, that success does not follow otherwise than in its time, and that things are governed neither by the counsel of the wise nor by the foolishness of fools.
Everything my eyes desired, I let them have etc.
That is to say: I have stooped even further, and wanted to give all of the goods that I be-
I wanted to enjoy the pleasures I had ridden, but I was not allowed to. I wanted this to be my part in life, but God does not suffer me to govern these pleasures by my counsel; He has always resisted me with more obstacles. When I wanted to enjoy my pleasures, my gardens, the affairs of the realm drew me away from them; I had to administer justice, settle and arbitrate disputes etc. Thus I have not been able to govern the pleasure according to my advice. The same happens to our princes that when they intend to enjoy themselves, a sad matter intervenes, 1) which disturbs the joy, and fills it with grief. This is how God always acts, preventing our counsels and prescribed rules. He gives enough for custom and joy, but at the same time He wants us to have His goods pure and clean and to preserve them in their freedom.
Behold, it was all vain and wretched.
Is it not an exceedingly great vanity that a king, who has so many riches and so great an abundance of all things, cannot enjoy even one thing out of so innumerable according to his advice? And if he enjoys some, he enjoys them in flight (raptim). So completely we cannot govern and direct or seize things according to our advice. So let each one enjoy freely the present things as God has given them; let them be given or taken away, let them come and go according to God's will. "If it is good," he thinks, "it may well become evil," and again; only that he does not surrender to lusts and let himself be immersed in them, as the wicked do etc.
And nothing more under the sun.
From his advice he has nothing but grief and sorrow. Things are good, but our presumption is vain, since we prescribe rules for them or the way to use them, while they cannot be put into rules by us.
V.12-14. Then I turned to see wisdom, and prudence, and foolishness. For
1) Erlanger: indioat statbc ineidat.
Who knows what kind of man he will become after the king they have already made ready? Then I saw that wisdom surpassed foolishness as light surpasses darkness, that the wise man's eyes are in his head, but fools walk in darkness, and yet I realized that one is like the other.
Another experience proves that everything is vain, namely human efforts and advice. As (he says) it happened to me, so, I have seen, it happens to other people. My advice and even my wisdom was vain and futile, and did not have the success I wanted. I have seen the same thing in other people. I looked at other people's wisdom and foolishness and compared them with each other. I saw that some behaved very wisely and undertook many clever things. I have also seen bold fools who acted without good counsel, whose boldness and foolishness nevertheless sometimes went out happily and succeeded, while the counsel of the wise was entirely in vain, and the wise people themselves were exceedingly unfortunate, so that this bold action has brought about the proverb: Fortune helps the bold.
Cicero and Demosthenes were very wise people, who ordered the commonwealths excellently, prescribed laws and also thought that it would happen that success and success would correspond to their doing, but it turned out quite differently, so much so that one of them [Cicero] exclaims about himself: O miserable man, who was never wise, and yet without reason was once taken for what I was not; how much, O Roman people, has your opinion of me deceived you! etc. The other, however, bent by old age and broken by hardships, said that he would rather die than take up the office of government again, for he too had experienced that things are not guided by the advice of wise people, even if they are good. In contrast, the emperors Julius and Octavius, who did not always follow wisdom but often boldly followed their advice, were much happier.
st Instead of ernt in the issues is read. Cf.
6X6A. oxp- XX, p. 68.) Walch, St. Louis AuSg., vol. I V, 1933.
being. Philip of Macedonia acted against the advice of Demosthenes and also had more luck than sense.
The advice was certainly good, but to insist on it in such a way that one derives a certain success from it is vain. For things do not want to be grasped by human advice. Summa, a thing is not accomplished by the wisdom of the wise, nor by the presumption of the foolish, so that the counsel of the wise is made foolishness, lest we boast on our own account. Thus, even in war, victory is not immediately achieved, no matter how well the army is equipped and everything is wisely thought out, as in earlier years the Frenchman hoped for a certain victory over the emperor, but the opposite happened. 1)
So he says: You see that the foolish succeed as well as the wise, so that there seems to be no difference between a wise man and a foolish man as far as success is concerned, yes, that it seems as if there is no God, since he lets things be done so by chance (temere). But Solomon answers: No; but wisdom exceeds foolishness exceedingly. It is true that human wisdom cannot direct things, but God Himself directs them. God can direct what He wills through His wisdom, but man does not direct it. For God not only has the wisdom, but also the power to direct, so that what He has commanded may succeed; this man cannot do. In short, God's counsel does not fail, but the counsels of men or wise men fail. Therefore, he rightly says:
Then I saw that wisdom surpassed foolishness, as light surpassed darkness.
Wisdom is good, but still, because it lacks the powers, it cannot carry out things and the outcome is not in its power.
The wise man's eyes are in his head, but the fools etc.
1) King Francis of France was defeated and captured by Emperor Carl V at the Battle of Pavia in 1525.
I see that the same thing happens to both. Wisdom is missing, and presumption is missing; nevertheless, wisdom surpasses foolishness. To have eyes in the head is a Hebrew way of speaking; we express this in German and in Proverbs thus: "He who wants to play at chess should not put his eyes in bags," by which we indicate that he must not only be knowledgeable about this game, but also a careful and diligent player. Thus he also says here: "The wise man's eyes are in his head," that is, they are not only prudent managers of affairs, but also prudent, careful, and mindful of things. And they see how things must be governed, but they cannot bring about success. The fool, however, has no eyes in his head, because he lets himself be led by presumption and audacity. Incidentally, on both sides the matter is governed by chance and luck (that is, by God directing how it goes out), and neither by our counsel nor by our presumption. At times both fall, at times they succeed, but God does not want rules to be made of them. For the creatures are not in our hands, but in the hands of God, who indeed gives us their use and does through us what he wills; but that we add to this, and want to govern this use by our counsel and our undertakings, is in vain. He thus instructs us not to trust in our wisdom and counsel, but to do what comes before the hand; if it does not turn out well, we should command God.
For what man can imitate the king who made him before? (Quis enim homo potest imitari regem, qui eum ante fecit? ) 2)
2) Here the interpretation goes back again to the words in the 12th verse, which Luther translated later in our Bible like this: "For who knows what kind of man he will become after your king, whom they have already made ready", which have not been explained above. Luther follows here still inr whole the version of the Vulgate. In the same v. 12. these words are in parenthesis: <zuiü ^st, inouam, vomo, ut sky ni possit rogenn 1'notorLM suum? swhat is, I say, man, that he could follow the king, his creator?^
Here he describes GOtt in a beautiful and appropriate paraphrase, as if to say: God is our King. He not only made us, but also governs us constantly, so that everything will turn out for us according to His will. He alone reaches from the beginning to the end and his counsel and will cannot be hindered by anyone. Therefore, Solomon preferred to call him "the king" rather than God. Some have wisdom, others boldness, but no one can imitate his king, no one can do what he does. For what he prescribes comes to pass; his will and counsel prosper.
And: "He made us before", namely before we were. A similar expression is in Paul [Rom. 11, 35.]: "Who hath given him aught before, that it should be recompensed him?" Therefore, as this king commands and rules, so all things go forth. By this he therefore indicates that our counsels are nothing, because we are made; we are not the king. God does not want us and His creatures to be ruled by us, but on the contrary, God wants to rule, otherwise we would be kings of God. Nothing is accomplished by our wisdom or boldness without many falling into misfortune by their presumption, but even more by their wisdom, as also some of the very wisest, Diou, Cicero, Brutus, Demosthenes etc. For God nullifies the counsel and nobility of men and mocks them, so that He may inspire us everywhere to fear Him, that we may learn to leave it to Him to lay down the laws for the government, and not to dictate to Him.
And yet realized that one is like the other.
That is to say: I have seen that both had the same fate, that as the wise man achieves nothing, so also the presumptuous man achieves nothing, that a thing can be accomplished neither by audacity nor by wisdom, even if God allows it to happen in both ways; but it does not become a rule from it. For if our counsel were to apply, it would always go out well; if audacity were to hinder, it would never have to succeed. Marius, Antony and other people of this kind have achieved more by their audacity.
than Cicero would have done by his wisdom. And nowhere can one see the examples of human presumption and wisdom better than among the Romans and the pagans. For among the Jews, the wars were mostly waged by the command of the prophets and according to the word of God.
V. 15 Then I thought in my heart, "Because the fool is like me, why did I stand for wisdom? Then I thought in my heart that such things are also vain.
This, too, is intended to make us refrain from relying on our advice. I, he says, have governed my kingdom most wisely, and yet I have not succeeded as I wished. On the other hand, I had a governor (praefectum) who did not rule wisely, but who nevertheless managed everything well. Since I now see that the fools generally have just as good or better success, why have I stood by wisdom? That is, why do I trust in my advice and wisdom by adding heartache to my work?
Then I thought in my heart that this was also vain.
Through experience I have learned that one must trust neither in counsel nor in boldness. For it is shown above [v. 13] that wisdom surpasses foolishness, even though things are not done either by foolishness or by wisdom. Therefore we must take the middle road and command things to the King who made us. If he offers an opportunity, we should use it; if he gives, we should accept it; if he takes, we should suffer it etc. What thou canst do, do; what thou canst not, leave. "What thou canst not lift, leave." Thus wisdom avails, if I do that which I know pleases God, and command him what he will have done by you. If we do this, only then would we be truly wise.
V. 16 For the wise are not remembered for ever, no more than the fool; and the days to come forget all.
1) SUN is missing in the Erlanger.
Both what the wise man has done and ordered according to his advice, and what the fool has done in his presumption, may it be well or badly, will be consigned to oblivion. For neither they themselves, nor others, will be bettered by the fact that they have given everything to God, but their descendants will follow their advice and will not be satisfied with the orders (ordinationibus) of their ancestors, but will seek something new. What they have, they are tired of, what they do not have, they seek. In such a way we dream: If it succeeded before, it will succeed again; if it did not succeed, it will succeed now. We want to do it more wisely than those etc.
Look at the Roman state, how the consuls and the emperors have always revoked what the former had done; they were tired of the present and the past and looked forward to the future. What is the use of worrying with many worries, as if the descendants would approve of yours or be of the same mind? It will not happen, because what you have is spurned as useless etc. Therefore it is impossible that things or orders should be held in the same esteem by the descendants as by the ancestors.
Lycurgus thought that he had given the Lacedemonians laws to keep until he returned, that is, forever. With this intention he left, never to return, hoping that in this way his laws would become perpetual. But he did not accomplish anything.
Augustus said that he had laid such foundations for the state that he hoped it would last forever; but his descendants soon overthrew everything. The Roman people wished for the death of Nero and thought that they would get a better government, but after that the state was not much better. Solomon ruled the kingdom in such a way that one could hope it would remain stable, but immediately after his death it was divided. For Rehoboam, who succeeded Solomon, was not satisfied with the wise government of his father, ruined everything and the kingdom was divided into two parts.
And this does not happen merely in external
But also in religion and the word of God, where the descendants, neglecting the purity of the teaching handed down to them by the fathers, always seek something new, just as those do who, now that the gospel has come to light again, are not satisfied with the purity of the faith or with the teaching of the gospel, make new disputations about the sacraments. When this false teaching has taken root, new sects will arise without end. For the flesh cannot be satisfied with the one, simple and true doctrine.
But understand that Solomon does not speak of the persons, but of what the people do, whether they are wise men or fools, that this is neglected. The memory of the people remains in the books, but not in the institution of the community, and their deeds are recorded in the history books, but no one pays attention to them and cares about them; and the descendants are not moved by the examples of the ancestors, but always take up something new. What is there, one does not like; what is not there, one seeks, and yet it is nothing new. For if it is there, it is already old, it does not please; another is sought. In short, to be satisfied with the present is a gift of the Holy Spirit, but it is impossible for the flesh, which is always inclined from present things to future ones, and while it pursues these, it loses them, and deprives itself of the use of both. The miser lacks both what he has and what he does not have. But what happens to the miser in the case of money, happens to the whole human race in the case of pleasures and counsels etc., that is, they have nothing, although they have everything. Alexander the Great can serve as an example of this, for his heart was not satisfied after he had conquered all of Asia. If this is true in external things, what wonder is it that this happens with the gospel? What we already have, we do not have, because we are not moved in heart by it, but something
Want something else. Christians, on the other hand, have everything, even if they have nothing.
And as the wise man dies, so does the fool.
A similar saying is Ps. 49:11: "For it is seen that the wise die, as well as fools and fools perish, and must leave their goods to others." But this is also to be understood of what they do. The wise man dies with what he has accomplished, as does the fool. One does not take into account what good they have done. And even if you have done everything to the best of your ability, you will receive the reward of being disgusted with all that you have done, or you will even be punished with banishment, with death etc. Yes, many also despise you and destroy you.
V. 17. Therefore I was displeased to live, because I was displeased with what is done under the sun, that it is so vain and troublesome.
That is, I disliked everything that happened under the sun, because it was nothing but vain work and caused vain trouble. Not as if Solomon wishes for death, but because he considers it a misery and a pity that he has to deal with these things. He wants to say, "I was tired and weary of it." For who can suffer that he should have nothing but trouble in the doing of a thing, and nothing but contempt of that which he has wrought or done? "To live," or life, according to the idiom of Scripture, means to live well, "to live in ease." Ps. 22:30: "And they that let not their souls live," 1) that is, whose souls were not in well-doing, "who live evil and hard-suffering," as the poor, oppressed, and otherwise destined to death and miserable. Of these it is said in Scripture that they do not live. Therefore, he does not say that he desires death, but dislikes the way of life, which by human counsel causes trouble and distress.
So Solomon wants us to remain constantly ready for death and for life, and seeks to bring us back to the use of the present things, that we may live with the-
1) tÄ kniirtLM kuarn Hori viviüeLkLnt,. This is also how Luther translates the quoted passage in the first translation of the Psalms.
We are to be satisfied with the same, without worrying about the future, and command everything to God, who indeed wants to work through us, but in such a way that we ourselves do not know, as it were, like an ox that threshes and gathers, does not know what it is doing, nor is it worried about its food or the success of its work. So we also shall do what the Lord puts before us, shall suffer what He wills. But let all these things be as a morsel of bread, which we have on earth, lest we strive here for such a life as is set up according to our own endeavors, or there will be a continual unrest, as follows:
V. 18. 19. And all my labor that I had under the sun grieved me, that I should leave the same to a man that should be after me. For who knows whether he will be wise or foolish? And yet shall reign in all my work which I have wisely done under the sun. That is also vain].
It is quite the same opinion as in the preceding. For Solomon is very verbose and treats this piece at great length. Thus he says: "It grieves me to live; for though I have ordered and managed all my affairs in the best way, yet I do not know whether I shall have a wise or a foolish heir. If he is wise, he will be weary of what is mine and seek another, as I myself am weary of what is mine and seek sort and sort new things; if he is a foolish man, he will destroy it and have the same trouble in destroying it as I had in building it up, as the proverb says: The one builds up, the other tears down etc. Thus the emperor Octavius decorated the city, Nero devastated it. Pompey had collected an immense amount of money in the public treasury to serve the state with it; afterwards Caesar plundered it, and this money was more to the ruin of the state than to its salvation. Therefore, whether the heir be wise or foolish, I have labored in vain and lost my life in vain labor, because I wanted to make provision for the future and did not use the present. Therefore, he adds:
V. 20-23 Therefore I turned away, that my heart might depart from all the work that I have done under the sun. For a man who has done his work with wisdom, reason and skill must leave it as an inheritance to another who has not worked at it. This is also vain and a great misfortune. For what does a man get from all his labor and toil of heart, which he has under the sun, but all his days of life pain, with sorrow and grief, that even his heart does not rest at night? That is also vain.
I have ceased, he says, so that I may abstain from all concern for the affairs that are going on under the sun. This is the word of a wise man who turns his heart from worry to peace. I will be content with the present and will work for the present, and suffer what God wills, not even worrying about tomorrow. This is the resolution that he confirms afterwards with a great abundance of words, saying:
For it must be a man who has done his work with wisdom, reason and skill etc.
Here you see what he understands by "wisdom," namely, not that which has to do only with thoughts (speculatricem), but with the administration of affairs; by industria, or congruentia "skill," that everything is ordered in the right order and at the right time, as he himself [1 Kings 4:7] appointed twelve officers in the land, appointed the feeding [v. 22. f.], the horses [v. 26.] etc. This, I say, he calls working with right wisdom. But this work or inheritance he must leave to a man who has not cooperated in this work 1) nay, what is still more unfortunate, to a man who does not respect it and consigns it to oblivion. He says: Even if I work a lot, I leave it to a man who either despises it or dissipates it, which is certainly quite vain.
For what does man get out of all his work etc.
This is rich oratorical decoration
1) Erlanger: tempore instead of: opere.
That even his heart does not rest at night.
His heart has no rest even at night when he works in this way, so that he does not only accomplish and fortify the thing well by day, but also by night, when he has completed it, he takes care how he keeps it and increases it.
V. 24. Is it not better for a man to eat and drink, and for his soul to be in good health in his work? But I also saw this, that it comes from God's hand.
This is the main conclusion, indeed, the purpose of the whole book, which he will often repeat. Ultd this is the main passage, which interprets everything preceding and following. However, it agrees with the preceding in this way: The good days (voluptates) are reprehensible, which we want to prepare for ourselves in the future according to our advice; likewise the works are reprehensible, which we strive to carry out according to our advice. But the good life and work that God gives are good, and we should use them in the present without anxious concern for the future, whether it brings tribulation or good life. But who can do this? We have ears and do not hear, we have eyes and do not see, and no one follows; we are all so engrossed in our plans and worries to put our things into action and to carry them out. The heart is averse to counsel, and is daily more and more irritated and troubled. Those who are godly abstain from worrying; all the rest of men have a restless life until they die. That is why he says:
But such I also saw that comes from God's hand.
A saying that is well to be remembered, and a glorious teaching, but this one he emphasizes less than the previous one. This is because an affirmative sentence (affirmativa,) does not make such an impression as a negative one (negativa,) such as this affirmative saying: "I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt." This is soon said, but it does not move us. In the ver-
But there is much greater power in the negative statement: "Thou shalt not have other gods beside me. So here, too, he treats this affirmative sentence, "It is good for a man to eat," with few words, but in the negative he uses many words to convict us and to show us our folly, namely, that we accomplish nothing with all our counsels and labors, since we are tormented by worries and have no use for the present. So he must speak to these rough people with rough and many words and examples; for to the wise the whole thing could be said in one word: The Lord Himself is your God etc.
V. 25 For who has eaten and rejoiced more joyfully than I? 1)
Here he cites his experience: For if I, who have arranged many things and have had abundance of all goods, still have not obtained what I wanted, how much 2) less others, if God does not give happiness!
V. 26. For to the man that pleaseth him he giveth wisdom, and understanding, and joy; but to the sinner he giveth calamity, that he may gather and heap, and yet be given to him that pleaseth God. Therefore this is also vain misery.
He proves that this is a gift of God, that one can be content with the
1) The Latin text, to which the interpretation refers, reads: ^aru <juis plus eorukclit et plura toris Asssü quanu ego? For who has eaten more and done more outwardly than I?
2) Erlanger: rzuaudo instead of: yuauto.
Present. For it is given to the man who pleases him, without any merit beforehand. He divides the world into the godly and the godless. To the godly he gives, besides the gifts they have in common with others, especially wisdom and prudence; joy is also added, because they are satisfied with what is present, and are not tormented by thoughts and desires, as the godless are. That they have knowledge and are wise in the government of affairs etc., this knowledge they have in joy and peace. But the wicked have tribulation, that they add and gather more and more, and are never satisfied. Then, though they have wisdom and skill, yet this is so mixed with trouble that it is more of a punishment to them, that they do not enjoy their labors; that they plow, build, but others enjoy it and get pleasure from it. What the wicked work and build, no one uses rightly but only the godly. So that which sinners accumulate 3) belongs to the godly, because they alone enjoy it with thanksgiving and joy, even though they have very little. The wicked, however, have theirs with great care and difficulty, but do not use it. Summa: The godly have the earth in truth, because they enjoy it with joy and peace. But the wicked have not, though they have. This is the vanity that the wicked have.
3) In the editions: prineipes, for which we have assumed, according to the Bible text, peeeatores.