Eccles. 9 All things in the hand of God: his love or hatred not visible in them; but the like happeneth to good and bad in this life, and in death they know nothing hereof, and are themselves forgotten, Eccles. 9:1–6.

For; or, therefore, as the seventy interpreters render it. All this; all that I have said concerning the methods of Divine Providence towards good and bad men. To declare all this; to make this evident, first to myself, and then to others, as occasion required.

All things come alike to all; the good and evil things of this world do equally happen to good and bad men. The clean; either, 1. Morally clean or holy men. Or, 2.

An evil; a great trouble and temptation to a considerate and good man. The heart of the sons of men, of wicked men, such as the generality of mankind are, is full of evil; either, 1. Of grief upon this occasion. Or rather, 2.

That is joined to all the living; that continueth in the land and society of living men. Or, according to the reading of the Hebrew text, that is chosen or allotted to life, whom God hath appointed yet to live in the world, when he hath appointed that many others shall die; or who are written among…

The living know that they shall die; whereby they are taught to improve life, whilst they have it, to their greatest comfort and advantage. The dead know not anything, to wit, of the actions and events in this world, as this is limited in the end of the next verse. Compare Job 14:21, Isa. 13:16.

They neither love, nor hate, nor envy any person or thing in this world, but are now altogether unconcerned in all things done under the sun. In any thing that is done under the sun; in any worldly thing; by which limitation he sufficiently insinuates his belief of their portion in the other world.

Go thy way, make this use of what I have said, eat thy bread; thine own, the fruit of thy own labours, not what thou takest unjustly from others. Bread; necessary and convenient food; by which he excludes excess.

Always; in all convenient times and circumstances; for there are times of mourning, Eccles. 3:4, Eccles. 7:2, Prov. 5:19. White; decent, and splendid, as far as is suitable to the condition. The Eastern people of the best sort used white garments, especially in times of rejoicing, as Est.

Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest; so he limits him to lawful delights; whereby it is evident that Solomon doth not speak this in the person of an epicure, as some understand it.

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, what thou hast opportunity and ability to do in the duties of thy calling, and in order to thy comfort and benefit, do it with thy might; with unwearied diligence, and vigour, and expedition; whereby he again discovers that he doth not persuade men to an idle and…

I returned, and saw: this may have some respect to the foregoing verse; for having pressed men to labour with all their might, he now adds, by way of caution, that yet they must not be confident of their own strength, as if they were sure of success by it, but in all, above all, to look up to God…

His time, to wit, the time of his death, or of some other sore distress which God is bringing upon him; which is opposed to the time of success mentioned in the foregoing verse, and man is said to be ignorant both of the one and of the other.

This wisdom have I seen; I have observed this among many other instances and effects of wisdom; which he seems to add for the commendation of wisdom, notwithstanding its insufficiency for man’s safety and happiness without God’s blessing.

It matters not whether this was a real history, or only a parable to represent the common practices of men in such cases.

He was soon neglected, and his great service so far from being recompensed according to its merit, that both it and he were quite forgotten; which may be noted as another great vanity.

Wisdom is better than strength, as was manifest in the foregoing instance. The poor man’s wisdom is despised, because men are generally vain and foolish, and have a greater value for outward ornaments than for true worth.

Wise men, though poor, as may be gathered both from the foregoing relation, and because he is opposed to the ruling fool in the next clause, are heard, to wit, by wise men; or should be heard, as such words are oft taken, as Mal.

Than weapons of war; than armed power. Sinner; a wicked fool; by which expression and opposition of a sinner to a wise man he gives us a key to understand his meaning in divers places of his books, that by wisdom he means true piety, and by folly wickedness; and withal, showeth that sin, as it is…