2 A time for birth and a time for death; a time for planting and a time for uprooting;
And because by God's law death comes to men once, and after that they are judged;
If his days are ordered, and you have knowledge of the number of his months, having given him a fixed limit past which he may not go;
At which time Moses came to birth, and he was very beautiful; and he was kept for three months in his father's house:
See, this day I have put you over the nations and over the kingdoms, for uprooting and smashing down, for destruction and overturning, for building up and planting.
Whenever I say anything about uprooting a nation or a kingdom, and smashing it and sending destruction on it; If, in that very minute, that nation of which I was talking is turned away from its evil, my purpose of doing evil to them will be changed. And whenever I say anything about building up a nation or a kingdom, and planting it; If, in that very minute, it does evil in my eyes, going against my orders, then my good purpose, which I said I would do for them, will be changed.
This is what you are to say to him: The Lord has said, Truly, the building which I put up will be broken down, and that which was planted by me will be uprooted, and this through all the land;
The Son of man will send out his angels, and they will take out of his kingdom everything which is a cause of error, and all those who do wrong,
But he said in answer, Every plant which my Father in heaven has not put in the earth, will be taken up by the roots.
Now, see, you will be without voice or language till the day when these things come about, because you had not faith in my words, which will have effect at the right time.
Even now Elisabeth, who is of your family, is to be a mother, though she is old: and this is the sixth month with her who was without children.
When a woman is about to give birth she has sorrow, because her hour is come; but when she has given birth to the child, the pain is put out of her mind by the joy that a man has come into the world.
But when the time was near for putting into effect the undertaking which God had given to Abraham, the people were increasing in Egypt,
And the Lord came to Sarah as he had said and did to her as he had undertaken. And Sarah became with child, and gave Abraham a son when he was old, at the time named by God.
And the time of his death came near, and he sent for his son Joseph and said to him, If now I am dear to you, put your hand under my leg and take an oath that you will not put me to rest in Egypt;
Aaron will be put to rest with his people; he will not go into the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you went against my word at the waters of Meribah. So take Aaron and Eleazar, his son, up into Mount Hor; And take Aaron's robes off him and put them on Eleazar, his son: and death will come to Aaron there, and he will be put to rest with his people. So Moses did as the Lord had said, and before the eyes of all the people they went up Mount Hor. And Moses took off Aaron's robes, and put them on Eleazar, his son; and there on the top of the mountain death came to Aaron: then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.
And the Lord said to Moses, Go up into this mountain of Abarim so that you may see the land which I have given to the children of Israel. And when you have seen it, you will be put to rest with your people, as your brother Aaron was: Because in the waste land of Zin, when the people were angry, you and he went against my word and did not keep my name holy before their eyes, at the waters. (These are the waters of Meribah in Kadesh in the waste land of Zin.)
And at that time I made request to the Lord, saying, O Lord God, you have now for the first time let your servant see your great power and the strength of your hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth able to do such great works and such acts of power? Let me go over, O Lord, and see the good land on the other side of Jordan, and that fair mountain country, even Lebanon. But the Lord was angry with me because of you and would not give ear to my prayer; and the Lord said to me, Let it be enough, say no more about this thing.
Those who were full are offering themselves as servants for bread; those who were in need are at rest; truly, she who had no children has become the mother of seven; and she who had a family is wasted with sorrow.
And by the order of the Lord he made an outcry against the altar, saying, O altar, altar, the Lord has said, From the seed of David will come a child, named Josiah, and on you he will put to death the priests of the high places, who are burning offerings on you, and men's bones will be burned on you.
Has not man his ordered time of trouble on the earth? and are not his days like the days of a servant working for payment?
If death takes a man, will he come to life again? All the days of my trouble I would be waiting, till the time came for me to be free.
He gives the unfertile woman a family, making her a happy mother of children. Give praise to the Lord.
And after working the earth of it with a spade, he took away its stones, and put in it a very special vine; and he put up a watchtower in the middle of it, hollowing out in the rock a place for the grape-crushing; and he was hoping that it would give the best grapes, but it gave common grapes. And now, you people of Jerusalem and you men of Judah, be the judges between me and my vine-garden. Is there anything which might have been done for my vine-garden which I have not done? why then, when I was hoping for the best grapes did it give me common grapes? And now, this is what I will do to my vine-garden: I will take away the circle of thorns round it, and it will be burned up; its wall will be broken down and the beasts of the field will go through it;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ecclesiastes 3
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 3 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 3
Solomon having shown the vanity of studies, pleasures, and business, and made it to appear that happiness is not to be found in the schools of the learned, nor in the gardens of Epicurus, nor upon the exchange, he proceeds, in this chapter, further to prove his doctrine, and the inference he had drawn from it, That therefore we should cheerfully content ourselves with, and make use of, what God has given us, by showing,
Ecc 3:1-10
The scope of these verses is to show,
Ecc 3:11-15
We have seen what changes there are in the world, and must not expect to find the world more sure to us than it has been to others. Now here Solomon shows the hand of God in all those changes; it is he that has made every creature to be that to us which it is, and therefore we must have our eye always upon him.
Ecc 3:16-22
Solomon is still showing that every thing in this world, without piety and the fear of God, is vanity. Take away religion, and there is nothing valuable among men, nothing for the sake of which a wise man would think it worth while to live in this world. In these verses he shows that power (than which there is nothing men are more ambitious of) and life itself (than which there is nothing men are more fond, more jealous of) are nothing without the fear of God.