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Selected Verse: Ecclesiates 11:7 - Updated King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Ec 11:7 |
Updated King James |
Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun: |
| |
King James |
Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun: |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
| light--of life (Ecc 7:11; Psa 49:19). Life is enjoyable, especially to the godly. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
The preceding exhortation to a life of labor in the sight of God is now addressed especially to the active and the young; and is enforced by another consideration, namely, the transitory character of all that sustains youth.
Ecc 11:7
The light ... the sun - Gifts of God which cheer man's toil, but which he almost ceases to appreciate in his old age.
Ecc 11:8
Days of darkness - The time of old age, and perhaps any time of sorrow or misfortune. Compare Ecc 12:2.
All that cometh - i. e., "The future," which must not be reckoned on by the active man, as if his present state of healthy energy were to continue.
Ecc 11:9
Rejoice ... cheer ... walk - The imperative mood is used to encourage one who possesses certain gifts from God to remember that they come from God and are to be used in accordance with His will.
In the ways ... - The words are probably used in an innocent sense Ecc 2:10; Pro 16:9.
Judgment - This includes a judgment beyond the grave; though the writer's view of it was dim and indefinite if compared with Christian's.
Ecc 11:10
The sense appears to be, "Let the timely recollection of God's judgment, and of the fleeting character of youth, so influence your conduct that you will refrain from acts which entail future remorse and pain." |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
"And sweet is the light, and pleasant it is for the eyes to see the sun; for if a man live through many years, he ought to rejoice in them all, and remember the days of darkness; that there will be many of them. All that cometh is vain." Dale translates the copula vav introducing Ecc 11:7 by "yes," and Bullock by "truly," both thus giving to it a false colouring. "Light," Zckler remarks, stands here for "life." But it means only what the word denotes, viz., the light of life in this world (Ps. 56:14; Job 33:30), to which the sun, as the source of it, is related, as מאור is to אור. Cf. Eurip. Hippol., ὧ λαμπρὸς αἰθὴρ κ.τ.λ, and Iphigen. in Aulis, 1218-19, μὴ μ ̓ ἀπολέσης κ.τ.λ: "Destroy not my youth; to see the light is sweet," etc. The ל in לע has the short vowel Pattach, here and at Sa1 16:7, after the Masora.
(Note: Cf. on the contrary, at Gen 3:6 and Pro 10:26, where it has the Kametz; cf. also Michlol 53b.)
The ki beginning Ecc 11:8 is translated by Knobel, Hitz., Ewald, and others by "ja" (yes); by Heiligstedt, as if a negative preceded by immo; but as the vav of Ecc 11:7 is copulative "and," so here the ki is causal "for." If it had been said: man must enjoy himself as long as he lives, for the light is sweet, etc., then the joy would have its reason in the opportunity given for it. Instead of this, the occasion given for joy has its reason in this, that a man ought to rejoice, viz., according to God's arrangement and ordinance: the light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun; for it ought thus to be, that a man, however long he may live, should continue to enjoy his fair life, especially in view of the night which awaits him. Ki im are not here, as at Ecc 3:12; Ecc 8:15, where a negative precedes, to be taken together; but ki assigns the reason, and im begins a hypothetical protasis, as at Exo 8:17, and frequently. Im, with the conclusion following, presents something impossible, as e.g., Psa 50:12, si esurirem, or also the extreme of that which is possible as actual, e.g., Isa 7:18, si peccata vestra sint instar coccini. In the latter case, the clause with the concessive particle may be changed into a sentence with a concessive conjunctive, as at Isa 10:22 : "for though thy people, O Israel, be as numerous as the sand of the sea;" and here: "though a man may live ever so many years." The second ki after ויז is the explicat. quod, as at Ecc 2:24; Ecc 4:4; Ecc 8:17, etc.: he must remember the days of darkness, that there shall be many of them, and, at all events, not fewer than the many years available for the happy enjoyment of life. In this connection kol-shebba' denotes all that will come after this life. If Hitz. remarks that the sentence: "All that is future is vanity," is a false thought, this may now also be said of his own sentence extracted from the words: "All that is, is transitory." For all that is done, in time may pass away; but it is not actually transitory (הבל). But the sentence also respects not all that is future, but all that comes after this life, which must appear as vain (hěvel) to him for whom, as for Koheleth, the future is not less veiled in the dark night of Hades, as it was for Horace, i. 4. 16 s.:
"Jam te premet nox fabulaeque
Manes Et domus exilis Plutonia."
Also, for Koheleth as for Horace, iv. 7. 16, man at last becomes pulvis et umbra, and that which thus awaits him is hevel. Tyler is right, that "the shadowy and unsubstantial condition of the dead and the darkness of Sheol" is thus referred to. הבּא signifies not that which is nascens, but futurum, e.g., Sanhedrin 27a, "from the present ולהבא and for the future" (for which, elsewhere, the expression לעתיד לבא is used). The Venet. construes falsely: All (the days) in which vanity will overtake (him); and Luther, referring בא as the 3rd pers. to the past, follows the misleading of Jerome. Rightly the lxx and Theod.: πᾶν τὸ ἐρξηόμενον. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Truly - It cannot be denied that life is in itself desirable. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| Truly the light is sweet - Life is dear to every man as the light of the sun is to the eye. A man would give all that he has for his life, and it is particularly dear to him when he is in ease and affluence: but let each remember that, |
19 He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.
11 Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see the sun.
10 Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.
9 A man's heart devises his way: but the LORD directs his steps.
10 And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.
9 Rejoice, O young man, in your youth; and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes: but know you, that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.
2 While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:
8 But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that comes is vanity.
7 Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun:
17 Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea farther; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.
4 Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit.
24 There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.
22 For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you: for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof.
17 And they did so; for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and stroke the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man, and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.
15 Then I commended delight, because a man has no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God gives him under the sun.
12 I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.
7 Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun:
8 But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that comes is vanity.
26 As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him.
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
7 But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.
30 To bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living.
7 Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun: