12 For wisdom `is' a defense, money `is' a defence, And the advantage of the knowledge of wisdom `is', She reviveth her possessors.
A tree of life she `is' to those laying hold on her, And whoso is retaining her `is' happy.
For whoso is finding me, hath found life, And bringeth out good-will from Jehovah.
yes, indeed, and I count all things to be loss, because of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, because of whom of the all things I suffered loss, and do count them to be refuse, that Christ I may gain, and be found in him,
and this is the life age-during, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and him whom Thou didst send -- Jesus Christ;
And hath been the stedfastness of thy times, The strength of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge, Fear of Jehovah -- it `is' His treasure.
And each hath been as a hiding-place `from' wind, And as a secret hiding-place `from' inundation, As rivulets of waters in a dry place, As a shadow of a heavy rock in a weary land.
A tower of strength `is' the name of Jehovah, Into it the righteous runneth, and is set on high. The wealth of the rich `is' the city of his strength, And as a wall set on high in his own imagination.
`I have caused to testify against you to-day the heavens and the earth; life and death I have set before thee, the blessing and the reviling; and thou hast fixed on life, so that thou dost live, thou and thy seed, to love Jehovah thy God, to hearken to His voice, and to cleave to Him (for He `is' thy life, and the length of thy days), to dwell on the ground which Jehovah hath sworn to thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them.'
For by me do thy days multiply, And added to thee are years of life.
Thoughtfulness doth watch over thee, Understanding doth keep thee,
To the Overseer. -- `Destroy not.' -- A secret treasure of David, in his fleeing from the face of Saul into a cave. Favour me, O God, favour me, For in Thee is my soul trusting, And in the shadow of Thy wings I trust, Until the calamities pass over.
Acquaint thyself, I pray thee, with Him, And be at peace, Thereby thine increase `is' good. Receive, I pray thee, from His mouth a law, And set His sayings in thy heart. If thou dost return unto the Mighty Thou art built up, Thou puttest iniquity far from thy tents. So as to set on the dust a defence, And on a rock of the valleys a covering. And the Mighty hath been thy defence, And silver `is' strength to thee.
And the bramble saith unto the trees, If in truth ye are anointing me for king over you, come, take refuge in my shadow; and if not -- fire cometh out from the bramble, and devoureth the cedars of Lebanon.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ecclesiastes 7
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 7 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 7
Solomon had given many proofs and instances of the vanity of this world and the things of it; now, in this chapter,
Ecc 7:1-6
In these verses Solomon lays down some great truths which seem paradoxes to the unthinking part, that is, the far greatest part, of mankind.
Ecc 7:7-10
Solomon had often complained before of the oppressions which he saw under the sun, which gave occasion for many melancholy speculations and were a great discouragement to virtue and piety. Now here,
Ecc 7:11-22
Solomon, in these verses, recommends wisdom to us as the best antidote against those distempers of mind which we are liable to, by reason of the vanity and vexation of spirit that there are in the things of this world. Here are some of the praises and the precepts of wisdom.
Ecc 7:23-29
Solomon had hitherto been proving the vanity of the world and its utter insufficiency to make men happy; now here he comes to show the vileness of sin, and its certain tendency to make men miserable; and this, as the former, he proves from his own experience, and it was a dear-bought experience. He is here, more than any where in all this book, putting on the habit of a penitent. He reviews what he had been discoursing of already, and tells us that what he had said was what he knew and was well assured of, and what he resolved to stand by: All this have I proved by wisdom, v. 23. Now here,