Notes on Ecclesiastes

The Distorted Mind and the Divine Number§1

1The Church is the true knowledge of pure souls of ages and worlds and of the judgment and providence within them. The Preacher is Christ, the generator of this knowledge; or the Preacher is the one who, through ethical theorems, purifies souls and brings them to natural contemplation.

Regarding 'vanity of vanities' (Eccl 1:2), the Preacher says, 'vanity of vanities, all things are vanity.' To those entering the intelligible Church and marveling at the contemplation of the things that have come to be, the word says: do not think this is the ultimate end reserved for you by the promises; for all these things are vanity of vanities before the knowledge of God himself. Just as medicines are vain after the perfection of health, so the discourses of ages and worlds are vain after the knowledge of the Holy Trinity.

Regarding 'there is no remembrance of the former things' (Eccl 1:11): if there is no remembrance of the former things, how does David say, 'I remembered days of old' (Psalm 77:5) and 'I remembered eternal years' (Psalm 77:5)? Or will the total oblivion of all these things occur whenever the rational nature receives the Holy Trinity; for then God will be all in all (1 Cor 15:28). If the concepts of things occurring in the intellect lead the mind to a remembrance of things, the mind having beheld God is separated from all concepts; therefore, the mind receiving the Holy Trinity forgets all events.

Regarding 'God gave the sons of men a bad distraction' (Eccl 1:13): 'evil' refers to that which is superfluous, not that which is opposed to the good; for God gives nothing of that, for He is not the cause of evils, being a source of goodness, unless it is said He gives in the sense of forgiving according to the logic of abandonment.

Regarding 'being strayed, it will not be able to be adorned, and being lacking, it will not be able to be numbered' (Eccl 1:15).

Regarding the distorted, the impure mind, he says: 'for a distorted heart is made crooked by evil' (Prov 3:8). But he named wisdom as 'order' in the Proverbs, where he says: 'order is wisdom to youths' (Prov 3:21); 'therefore wisdom will not enter a craftily-evil soul' (Wisdom 1:4). Yet he did not say: it will not be able to be adorned, but: it will not be able to be adorned-upon; for life indeed adorns someone rightly, but the wisdom of God adorns-upon. Thus, indeed, a distorted mind is able to be adorned, but is not able to be adorned-upon, unless through the virtues it cleanses itself and makes itself a useful vessel to the Master.

The number of God, which counts the holy spirits as some kind and appointed order, declares: 'for of numbers, he says, multitudes of stars and names of good things for all of them' (Ps 147:4). By this number the Lord also commands Moses to count the sons of Israel (Num 1:2); but what does David say concerning the crawling men and those serving pleasures? 'There are crawlers of whom there is no number' (Psalm 104:25); and in the Proverbs Solomon says concerning evil: 'for having wounded many, it has cast down, and they are countless whom it has slain' (Proverbs 7:26). What is therefore said here is a deficiency, and the slain and the crawlers are of the same state, which does not fit the spiritual number.

And if David says also that the wisdom of God is not a number, he writes not as if its worthiness were not of the number, but as if it were not of the nature to be subjected to number because of being incomprehensible. For just as the invisible is said in two ways, and that which is not of the nature to be seen, as God, and that which is of the nature to be seen, but not being seen, as iron in the depths because of being covered by water, so also the countless is said in two ways, and that which is not of the nature to be counted, and that which is not being counted because of some cause.

'Make for me pools of waters to water a dry wood growing trees,' it is said in Hebrews (Ecclesiastes 2:6); and its straight reading is this:

The Purpose of Sensory Distraction§2

2To water with them the wood of the growing forest (Ecclesiastes 2:6). And all that my eyes desired, I did not withhold from them; I did not prevent my heart from all joy (Ecclesiastes 2:10). The soul does not seek knowledge by word, but by purity; 'for not everyone saying to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father' (Matt 7:21). For according to the proportion of the state, we receive knowledge, just as the measure by which we measure shall be measured to us. Therefore, a request is the noetic dispassion of a rational soul, drawing holy knowledge to itself. Thus, he who makes himself receptive, providing all knowledge, does not take anything away from the eyes; but I say, all knowledge that is natural, which happens to a soul bound by blood and flesh.

He who sins in nothing does not prevent his heart from all spiritual joy (Ecclesiastes 2:10). And behold, all is vanity and a choice of the spirit (Eccl 2:11). Spirit is what names the soul; for choice is a certain movement of the mind. And David: 'Into your hands I will commit my spirit' (Ps 31:5); and Stephen: 'Lord Jesus, says he, receive my spirit' (Acts 7:59); and in the Kingdoms: 'David did not grieve the spirit of Amnon his son' (2 Samuel 13:21).

Of the wise man, his eyes are in his head (Eccl 2:14). If 'Christ is the head of every man', and a man and the wise man are real, the head of the wise man is Christ; but our Christ is wisdom—'for wisdom was born to us from God' (1 Corinthians 1:30)—so the head of the wise man is therefore wisdom, in which the wise man has the eyes of the intellect, contemplating in it the words of things that have come to pass.

That it happens to a man in all his toil and in the choice of his heart, by which he toils under the sun (Eccl 2:22). From this it is shown that the choice of the spirit is a choice of the heart.

For who eats and who drinks besides him? (Eccl 2:25). For who without Christ will be able to eat his flesh or drink his blood, which are symbols of virtues and of knowledge (John 6:54)?

And to the one sinning, he gave a distraction to add and to gather and to give the good before the face of God (Eccl 2:26); for even this is vanity and a choice of the spirit. This is like the proverb which says: 'He who increases his wealth with interest and abundance, to him who gives alms...'

"He gathers the poor" (Proverbs 28:8) and "a foolish man hastens to be rich, not knowing that mercy will prevail over him" (Proverbs 28:22); therefore, let us be satisfied with the commentaries placed there. However, it must be understood that he defined the gathering of sins as vanity, not that it was by chance for him to have a good teacher from God.

He saw, along with the distraction which God gave to the sons of men to be distracted in it, all things which He made beautiful in His time (Ecclesiastes 3:11), and He also gave eternity in their hearts, so that man might not find the work which God made from the beginning until the end (Ecclesiastes 3:11). He knew that there is nothing good in them, except to be made glad and to do good in his life (Ecclesiastes 3:12); and indeed every man who eats and drinks and sees good in all his labor, this is the gift of God (Ecclesiastes 3:13).

He says, I saw the sensible things distracting the mind of man, which God gave before the purification to men so that they might be distracted in them. But he calls their beauty temporary and not eternal; for after purification, the pure one does not see sensible things as only distracting his mind, but as things dwelling within him for spiritual contemplation. For the mind is struck by the sensible through the senses, imposing itself sensorially, and in another way it prepares the meanings stored in the sensible things being seen; but this latter knowledge happens to the pure alone, while the comprehension of things through the senses happens to both the pure and the impure.

Therefore he also called the distraction temporary, given from God; for God, foreseeing the passionate soul, gave to it senses and sensible things, so that, being distracted and thinking through them, it might flee from those who are about to cast thoughts upon it from the opposing things. And He gave to them, he says, also eternity, that is, the meanings of the age; for this is the kingdom of heaven which the Lord said we should have within us (Luke 17:21), which, being covered by the passions, is not found by men. Therefore he says, he knew that the things themselves are not good, but the meanings of the things, upon which it is the nature of the rational to be glad and to do the good; for nothing feeds and gives drink to the mind like virtue and the knowledge of God.

The Vanity of Worldly Circumstances§3

3We make things good through the timely use of what God has given us; for in this way everything will be beautiful in its own time, and 'behold, all things are very beautiful' (Genesis 1:31). 17 He knew that all things which God has made shall be for ever; nothing can be added to them, and nothing can be taken from them, and God did this so that they might stand in awe of His face. If 'all things which God has made shall be for ever' (Eccl 3:14), then God did not make evil, and therefore evil shall not be for ever. 18 From the manifold wisdom nothing can be taken away, and to it nothing can be added. He made it, he says, so that men, being lovers of knowledge, might cease from evil; 'for all shall depart from evil by the fear of the Lord' (Proverbs 16:6). 19 That which has happened is already, and all things that are to happen have already happened, and God will seek the one who is being pursued. If 'blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven' (Matthew 5:10), and the kingdom of heaven consists of the words of the ages of things happened and things to happen, then blessed are the persecuted, because they themselves shall know the contemplation of the things that have come to be. For this is what God is said to seek: the one whom He enlightens with knowledge, and not to seek the one whom He does not enlighten with knowledge. 'I wandered, says David, like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I have not attended to your commandments' (Psalm 119:176); and he himself was being persecuted: 'many, he says, are the ones driving me out and distressing me; from your testimonies I have not departed' (Psalm 119:157). 20 There I said in my heart concerning the talk of the sons of men, that God judges them, and to show this that they are cattle (Eccl 3:18). He has now named the life of man as talk; for if we are to give accounts concerning every idle word on the day of judgment, in which both the pure and the impure are revealed. 21 Eccl 3:19 Both for them is an encounter with the sons of men and an encounter with the cattle; one encounter for them. As the death of this is, so the death of that is, and one spirit for all; and what did man exceed the cattle? Nothing, for all things are vanity. 3, 20 All things go to one place; all things came from the chaos, and all things return to the chaos. 3, 21 And who knows if the spirit of the sons of men ascends

Does it go up to the heavens, and a spirit of the beast descend down to the earth? 3:22 And I saw that there is nothing good except that which a man rejoices in regarding his works, because it is a part of him (Eccl 3:22); for who will lead him to see that in which he might become with it? He speaks of things commonly happening to all men, both the righteous and the unrighteous in this world, such as life, death, sickness, health, wealth, poverty, the loss of limbs, women, children, and possessions, from which it is not possible to distinguish the righteous from the impious before the judgment. He also says that it is common to them to be from the dust and to return again to the dust, and that they have one soul, not by number, but by nature; 'for spirit,' he says, 'is one for all' (Ecclesiastes 3:19). But now he has called the man who comes into honor and does not understand, but through irrational pleasures has been compared to the unthinking beasts and has become like them. But even through these things, the righteous and the unrighteous will not be clearly known before the judgment, because many unrighteous have turned to righteousness and been exalted, and many righteous have fallen from virtue and been humbled. So what excess did I find in these things? Now, nothing, he says. For all is vanity except for the spiritual joy, which is found to occur upon the works and the virtues of man; for the one who has fallen from this joy will not return again to do those things which contribute to its possession. 22 That even the irrational soul is called spirit. 23 4:1 And I turned back and saw with all the slanders that had happened under the sun; and behold, the tear of those being slandered, and there is no one to comfort them, and from the hand of those slandering them is strength, and there is no one to comfort them (Eccl 4:1). Slanders refers to those things set against us; 'for deliver your servant unto good,' he says, 'let them not slander me arrogantly' (Eccl 4:1); and again concerning the Savior Christ he says: 'and he will humble the slanderer and will stay with the sun.' But those being slandered before Christ were the men to whom there did not exist a comforter, who was the one saying these things: 'I urge you, I the prisoner, in the Lord, to walk worthily of the calling wherewith you were called, with all lowliness and...'

The text ends abruptly mid-clause.

Spiritual kinship and the victory over the evil one§4

4Gentleness, with patience, bearing one another in love (Ephesians 4:2). And I praised with the dead, those already dead, for the sake of the living, as many as they themselves live until now (Eccl 4:2); and a good one for these two, who has not yet become, who has not seen with the creation the evil thing made under the sun (Ecclesiastes 4:3). And I praised those already having died with Christ and having been released from those slandering them, for the sake of those living in malice and persisting in it until now. But he is good, neither being required of such a death separating him from malice, nor being born in malice, who did not know the evil toil being done by those slandering under the sun.

And I saw with all the toil and with all the courage of the creation (Eccl 4:4), that it is the zeal of a man from his companion; and even this is vanity and a choice of the spirit. I saw, he says, all malice and the one acting manfully in it; for him also he says, acting manfully in impieties, slandering the poor, and again the creation as 'made to be played with by the angels' (Job 40:19) of God. I saw also all his zeal which he has toward men, being vain and making his heart confident; for it is necessary for God in all things to become all things and for Christ to be fulfilled, the prayer saying: 'Give them that they also may be in us one, just as we are one, Father' (John 17:21).

The fool took his hands and ate his flesh (Ecclesiastes 4:5). If the hands of practical work are a symbol, everyone not working righteousness takes his hands; therefore such a one, he says, devours his flesh, being infused with evils growing out of the flesh.

A good fullness of a dragon of rest rather than the fullness of two dragons of toil and a choice of the spirit. The choice of the spirit seems to me to be a passionate psychological will; whence also the good dragon of virtue is preferred over the two dragons of malice and ignorance and the choice of the spirit. Such is also 'better is a little with the righteous than much wealth of sinners' (Psalm 37:16) and 'better is a little having with righteousness than many generations with injustice' (Psalm 37:16). Similar.

With these passages also come 'I would rather be cast out of the house of my God than dwell in the habitations of sinners' (Ps 4:7) and 'it is better to dwell on a corner of a roof than with a contentious woman in a shared house' (Ps 4:7), as someone said: it is better to learn one spiritual insight than a multitude of insights of foolish wisdom.

The man of Ps 4:8 is one and there is no second, and neither son nor brother is to him; and there is no end to all his toil, and indeed his eye is not filled by wealth (Ps 4:8). And for what do I toil and starve my soul from goodness? For this too is vanity and an evil distraction. If anyone does not have a brother, this one has not received the spirit of adoption, and if anyone is not a father, this one is evil; 'for he says, no offspring shall be born of the wicked' (Ecclesiastes 4:8). Appropriately, such a person is not filled by evil, starving his own soul from the knowledge of God.

But I say father and brother here according to the meaning of the Scripture; for I do not ignore that the propositions set forth are placed as if they were not true concerning sensible brothers and fathers. If anyone would also take the plain meaning of these sayings, he will be fully known as one of the childless rich and those striving to provide themselves a multitude of wealth, even if they were distant from friends; for these words spoken concerning men are entirely true.

And even if the two sleep, they are warm (Ecclesiastes 4:11); and how would one be warmed? Without the Lord, no one could become alive in the spirit; 'for the Lord is the spirit' (2 Cor 3:17). And if one is strengthened, the two will stand against him, and the third shoot will not quickly break through (Ecclesiastes 4:12). I think the one being strengthened is the evil one, against whom the two stand, both the man and the angel of God, so that the man, having conquered the devil, might be made worthy of the knowledge of God and become a third shoot not quickly being broken. This is to be clearly learned also from the patriarch Jacob, who is said to bless the children of Joseph: 'my angel, who delivers me from all evils, shall bless... (Gen 48:16)'.

The Dangers of Spiritual Slumber§5

5These children. Similar to this is what lies with David: 'An angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and rescues them' (Ps 34:7).

A dispassionate mind, being filled with spiritual knowledge, or a wise mind having an angel of God beside it, is a sharp thorn. And it is also good that it does not say 'he will not be torn away,' but 'he will not be torn away quickly'; for the logical nature is changeable.

A good child is poor and wise, better than a king who is older and foolish, who did not know to pay attention (Ec 4:13). A child is the one who has preserved the teaching from youth, but the older one is the one who has abandoned the teaching from youth and is forgetting the covenant and has grown old in wickedness; and the former is of Christ, but the latter is of the evil one.

Because he will come out from the house of prisoners to reign, because he was even born poor in his kingdom (Ec 4:14); the sensible world is a house of prisoners, in which 'each one is bound by the chains of his own sins.'

Guard your foot wherever you walk into the house of God, and be near to listening (Ec 4:17); your sacrifice is better than the gift of the foolish, because they are not knowing how to do evil; 'they do not know how they stumble,' nor even knowing this, that they transgress.

Do not hasten upon your mouth, and let not your heart be quick to bring forth a word before the face of God (Ec 5:1); for God is in heaven, and you are upon the earth; because of this, let your words be few.

Because a dream occurs in a multitude of temptation and the voice of a fool in a multitude of words: 'For what we ought to pray for, we do not know' (Ec 5:2). Or perhaps now he does not intend to say this, but he sets forward not to theologize without reflection; for it is not possible for one being in sensible things and receiving from them the thoughts about God who is in the intelligible, to have been discussed touchlessly, fleeing all sensation. Because of this he says: 'And let your words be few,' that is, true and...

Having been stripped of vigilance; for the little amount seems to me to signify something like this: both 'better is a little with the righteous than much wealth of sinners' (Psalm 37:16) and 'better is a little gain with righteousness' (Proverbs 16:8). For to those not guarding this, he says: 'a dream comes in a multitude of temptations and a voice of a fool in a multitude of words,' saying that a dream approaches the sleeping souls with a multitude of demons and unsettling the soul, about which also Job says to the Lord: 'You terrify me with dreams and strike me with visions' (Job 7:14); and David, turning away this enemy, entreats the Lord saying: 'Enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep unto death, lest my enemy say: I have prevailed against him' (Psalm 138:3, 40:14); and in the Proverbs: 'Give not sleep to your eyes, nor let your eyelids slumber, that you may save yourself like a dove from the snare and like a bird from the trapper' (Proverbs 6:5). And he also says of it a voice of a fool, coming with a multitude of false words and deceiving the soul; and this is the 'from the voice of one reproaching and speaking against one.' And it is also possible to apply to the voice of the fool that which says 'from much talk sin shall not escape.'

And the Savior also in the Gospels commands the man to be watchful and to pray, so that he might not fall into temptation (Matthew 26:41); for sleep is ignorance and wickedness of the rational soul; therefore also Paul awakens those sleeping thus, saying: 'Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine upon you' (Ephesians 5:14). As for whatever prayer you might offer to God, do not delay in fulfilling it; for there is no will in foolishness, so whatever you might vow, fulfill it. It is good not to have vowed, or to have vowed and not to fulfill. The good gifts are offered to God from the soul, and from the body, and from the surroundings of the body. And from the soul we offer to Him right faith and true doctrines, righteousness and courage and temperance; and from the...

Providence and the Knowledge of God§6

The Vanity of Material Life§7

7An admonition to the son: for he neither received the utterances of God's commandments, nor did he hide them in his heart. And that wealth will be lost in an evil distraction; and he fathered a son, and there is nothing in his hand.

An evil distraction is ignorance which, through punishment, separates the unclean from spiritual contemplation. Just as he went out from his mother's womb naked (Ecclesiastes 5:15), he will return to go his way as he has come, and he will take nothing from his labor, so that he may go with nothing in his hand (Eccl 5:15). And this too is an evil sickness; for just as it came to be, so it will depart.

And Job says: 'Naked I came out from the womb of my mother, and naked I will depart there' (Job 1:21); but the one here says 'just as he went out from his mother's womb naked, he will return to go his way as he has come' (Ecclesiastes 5:15). But Job, as a righteous man, goes naked, free from malice and wickedness; but this one, with that ignorance by which he came into this world, with this also he will depart there.

Behold, what I saw was good, which is beautiful: to eat and to drink and to see goodness in all his labor (Ecclesiastes 5:18), by which he labors under the sun, a number of the days of his life which God gave to him (Eccl 5:18); for it is a portion of Him. And indeed every man to whom God gave wealth and possessions, and empowered him to eat from it and to take his portion and to be joyful in his labor (Eccl 5:18), this is a gift of God (Eccl 5:19). For he will not remember many of the days of his life; for God distracts him with the joy of his heart.

The knowledge of God is called by the intellect food and drink and goodness and portion and wealth and possessions and joy and distraction of God and light and life and gift; and the Holy Spirit sets many other names upon knowledge, which it is not possible now to recount, unless the rule of the scholia permits.

To contrast those who indeed received wealth of wisdom and knowledge, but did not indeed preserve it, it is said, 'and empowered him' (Ecclesiastes 5:19). For even the traitor Judas received intellectual wealth and spiritual possessions, but he was not empowered by them, having given away wisdom and the truth of God for the sake of gain. When a man receives from God...

Regarding spiritual knowledge, few remember this kind of life and the sensory life, since his heart is always occupied with contemplation. A true knowledge, which separates the purified soul from sensible things, is a distraction from God.

There is an evil that I saw under the sun, and it is great upon man (Ecclesiastes 6:1); a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and glory, and his soul is not lacking in anything he desires, yet God does not allow him to enjoy it, because a stranger eats it; and this too is vanity and a wicked sickness (Ecclesiastes 6:2). If a man begets a hundred and lives many years, and his years are many, yet his soul is not filled with goodness, and even a grave does not become him, I say: the abortion is better for him (Ecclesiastes 6:3); because he came in vanity and walks in darkness, and in darkness his name shall be covered (Ecclesiastes 6:4); and he has not seen the sun and has not known it; let this be rest for him above that (Ecclesiastes 6:5). And if he lived a thousand years and saw not goodness, does he not go to one place for all things (Ecclesiastes 6:6)? In this chapter he speaks about those deemed worthy of dispassion and knowledge who again fell through the envy of the devil. The second chapter contains the life of an unclean and much-toiling man, long-lived and not having known God, for whom the abortion is preferred to be, and for him after death a place of the same.

He who destroys the wealth enriched in all knowledge and all wisdom is evil, whom he also calls stranger and alien regarding the knowledge of God. The 'eating' is also said regarding food and regarding destruction: 'If you wish and listen to me, he says, eat the good things of the earth; but if you do not wish and do not listen to me, a sword shall strike you'—instead of 'destroys'. For the mouth of the Lord spoke these things. And this stranger, having also come to David, was persuaded to sacrifice the lamb of the poor; for Nathan the prophet called him a stranger then. All the labor of man is into his mouth (Ecclesiastes 6:7), and his soul shall not be satisfied. All the evil of man remains in his heart, and he will not say from the...

Names, Vanity, and the Good Death§8

8"We all received of his fullness" (John 1:16). Regarding 6:8, what surplus is there for the wise man over the fool? Because the poor man knows how to go toward the life that is coming: "I am the life" (John 1:16).

Regarding 6:9, a good vision of the eyes is better than one passing by with the soul, and this too is vanity and the choice of the spirit. The good one follows the knowledge of God rather than the one following the desires of the soul; or rather, the knowledge of God is better than perishable pleasure. According to Symmachus: it is better to look toward what is coming than to rejoice in what is present.

However, vanity, the evil distraction, and the choice of the spirit do not apply to all those in the chapter; they apply to trivial things, but not to praiseworthy things. I say this because vanity, distraction, and the choice of the spirit do not apply to every instance in the chapter, in which some praiseworthy things are also contained; for the poor man's vanity is not the one going toward the life, but rather the one who has lived a thousand years' descent and has not seen goodness. Nor is the good vision of the eyes vanity again, but the one passing by with the soul.

Regarding 6:10, if something has become, its name has already been called, and it has been known that it is a man, and he will not be able to be judged with the strong against himself. Regarding 6:11, for these are many words multiplying vanity. What is extra for man? Regarding 6:12, for who knows what is good for man in life, the number of days of his life of vanity, and he made them in shadows? For who will announce to man what will be behind him under the sun, and how it will be, and who will announce it to him?

Of the names, some are of the bodily nature, and others are of the incorporeal; and the names of the bodily nature signify the quality of each thing, which consists of size, color, and shape; but the names of the incorporeal declare the logical state of each, whether being praiseworthy or trivial. But the former names are simply assigned to things, while the latter are not simply so; for they depend on choice. For it is within one's own power to flow toward virtue and to be deemed worthy of the knowledge that leads to it.

Whether an angel or archangel or throne or dominion, or to rush toward evil and be filled with the ignorance which makes him a demon or Satan or some other ruler of this darkness. If anything, he says, has happened according to the time of the creator, the name received a sign of his state, and the man also received the name of the dwelling of his state.

Let the man not say, he says: 'For whose sake am I joined to such a body, and why have I not become an angel, unless indeed there is favoritism with God or we have not become masters of ourselves?' For such words multiply vanity. And how does the creature say to the Creator: 'Why did you make me thus?' Or how does he answer God? But let him cease from these words, and let him do those things contributing to virtue and knowledge, as much as is in this shadowy age, regarding all these things as vain and a shadow, and as if the things of this life will be covered after the departure.

A good name is better than fine oil, and the day of death is better than the day of birth (Eccl 7:1). Names are not good or bad by their own nature; for they are composed of various letters, and no single letter is good or bad; but being applied to good things they are called good, and to evil things, evil. There, therefore, the good name signifies a good thing; yet Solomon says that nothing of the things that happen is good, except virtue and the knowledge of God.

But the oil now signifies luxury, which to those who live in luxury seems to be good. For that which is good by nature is called good, such as virtue, but to some, such as gold and silver. Thus also the rich man received his good things in his life, 'and Lazarus likewise the bad things' (Luke 16:25). But that oil is taken instead of luxury, David shows, saying concerning men that 'from the fruit of their grain and wine and oil they were filled' (Psalm 4:7).

If the praiseworthy death, through which the righteous die with Christ, is fit to dissolve the soul from evil and ignorance, so again the birth opposed to this death joins the soul to evil and ignorance; therefore such a death is preferable to such a birth. To go in a good way to the house of mourning.

The End of Man and the Nature of Mourning§9

Commentary on Ecclesiastes§10

10It should be noted that here 'bosom' is used as a synonym for the soul; for no one would say that anger rests in the sensible bosom. Regarding Ecclesiastes 7:10, do not say: 'What happened that the days that were before were better than these?' because you did not inquire about this in wisdom. If 'the fear of the Lord adds days' (Proverbs 10:27), it is for us to enjoy the good or better days of holy knowledge.

To think that things are given to the elders according to time and the first things of knowledge is not wise; for even if something is ancient, it is not necessarily worthy of honor, since even evil is ancient, but it is not worthy of being honored because of time, if 'not the long-lived are wise, nor do the elders understand judgment' (Job 32:9).

Regarding 'good wisdom with inheritance, and abundance to those who behold the sun' (Eccl 7:11), and 'for wisdom is like the shadow of silver, and an abundance of knowledge will vivify the one beside it' (Eccl 7:12): just as those who behold the sun possess something more than those who have beheld it but no longer behold it, so those who happen to have wisdom and have authority over it have possessed something more—this is what is meant by 'with inheritance'—than those who received it and fell from it through their own lawlessness. For everyone who has acquired wisdom and lost it first acquired a shadow of wisdom and not wisdom, and later it seems as if a man had acquired a shadow of silver but had not acquired silver; for wisdom is by nature not something merely received, but it vivifies the one who possesses it through knowledge.

Regarding 'there is a righteous man perishing in his righteousness, and there is a godless man living in his wickedness' (Eccl 7:15-16), destruction is called so, as is the abandonment through testing, as in the case of Job: 'I have perished, for he says, and I have become a stranger' (Job 3:23). 'But from me a little,' says the...

The Peril of Immoderate Piety and the Timing of Death§11

11David says, 'My feet have slipped; a little while my steps were poured out,' because I sought peace among those who work iniquity, seeing sinners (Psalm 73:2).

Do not become too righteous, and do not philosophize excessively, lest you be struck with amazement (Eccl 7:16). Do not be impiously excessive and do not become harsh, so that you do not die at an inopportune time (Eccl 7:17). It is good that you hold fast to this, and indeed do not withdraw your hand from this, for he who fears God will emerge from all things (Eccl 7:18). Do not let an impious thought be lodged in your heart, lest your soul, having been impious, die in ignorance. The Sodomites and the Gomorrites died at their inopportune time (Gen 19). And if this time is a time of uprightness, those dying in this time and being separated from the life that is to come—'I am the life' (John 14:6)—do not die at an inopportune time.

It is good that you hold fast to not being too righteous, and indeed do not withdraw your heart from impiety, for fearing God, he will emerge from every evil. Guard the mouth of a king (Ecclesiastes 8:2). Now 'mouth' refers to the word or the commandment. For even I know that it will be good for those fearing God, so that they may fear from his face (Eccl 8:12); and it will not be good for the impious, and he who does not fear from the face of God will not prolong his days in the shadow (Eccl 8:13). Now 'good' refers to the knowledge, the knowledge of God. It is vanity which has been made upon the earth (Ecclesiastes 8:14), that if they are righteous, it comes to them as a work of the impious, and if they are impious, it comes to them as a work of the righteous; I said that even this is vanity. It is vanity, he says, which happens upon the earth, that they are righteous and as...

The Unjust and the Heart's Inquiry§12

12The impious fall into misfortunes, and they are impious and yet enjoy good things as if they were righteous. For concerning these things the prophet says to the Lord: 'But I will speak judgments to you: why is the way of the impious prosperous?' (Jeremiah 12:1) and David: 'A little while, he says, my steps were poured out; for I sought peace among the lawless, seeing the sinners' (Psalm 73:2-3).

That with all this I gave into my heart, and my heart with all saw this. The man approaches things to the heart, turning them aside for their investigation, and after these things the heart knows the things; and this is the 'I encircled, and my heart to know.' For the thing circles, and the one approaching it to the heart through examination, and the heart again knowing it. But this must be known, that not all things which the man circles and the heart knows; for we examine many things, but we know few.

That there is no making and thought and knowledge and wisdom in Hades, where you go. If there is no thought in Hades, how does the rich man entreat Abraham to send Lazarus to him? (Luke 16:24)

And the man did not know his time. The man did not know that time is the season of uprightness; for time signifies the opportune moment.

And walk in the ways of your heart, blameless, and in the vision of your eyes, in practice and in contemplation (Ecclesiastes 11:9-10). And turn away anger from your heart and lead away evil from your flesh. From here we know that the passionate part is joined to the heart, and the lustful part to the flesh. Now he says evil: the fornication and the gluttony.