Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/4_600.lzh/4_604.TXT

Text File | 1994-09-23 | 7KB | 129 lines

commits it, and instead of taking shame for it, or re-
penting of it, glories in it; stretches out his hand
against God, and bids defiance to him, and desires not
the. knowledge of him, and refuses to obey him. The
Targum of the whole is, "and it shall not be well
"with the wicked, and he shall have no space in the
"world to come; and in this world his days shall be
"cut off, and they shall flee and pass away as a shadow,
"because he fiears riot God."
Ver. 14. There is a vanit!! which is done upon the
earth, &c.] Transacted in this lower world under the
sun, through the permission and direction of divine
Providence; not that it is a vanity on the part of God,
who. has wise ends to answer by it, for the good of his
people, the trial of their graces, &c. or to bring sinners
to repentance, or harden them in sin; but this shews
the vanity and uncertainty of all worldly things, and
that there is no happiness to be had in them. That
there be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to
the work of the wicked: to whom evil comes, as the
Targum and Jarchi; who are treated as if they were
wicked men, and dealt with in providence as
sinners would be, if they had the just desert of their
wicked works; being artended with poverty, sickness,
and disgrace, and other calamities of life, as Job,
Asaph, Lazarus, and others, and yet truly righteous
and good men. Again, there be wiclced men to whom
it happeneth according to the work of the righteous ; to
whom good things come, as the Targum and Jarchi;
who have an affluence of good things, all the outward
blessings of life, as health, wealth, honour, long life,
&c. as if they had lived the best 0f lives, and were the
most righteous persons upon earth; see Job xxi. 7--13.
Psal. lxxiii. 4, 5, 7. Luke xvi. 19. I said, that this
also is vanity; this is said, as some think, according to
the judgment of corrupt nature;or as it is apprehended
by such who do not righfiy consider thejudgments of
God and the wisdom of Providence in the ordering of
things to answer good purposes; or rather the sense is,
this is one of the miseries and infelicitics of this life,
and which demonstrates the emptiness of all thin-s
here below, and that the chief good and supreme hap-
piness is not to be had here; but there is and must be
a future state, when all things will be set right, and
every one will have and enjoy his proper portion.
Ver. '!5. Then I comr, ertdcd mirth, &c.] Innocent
mirth, a cheerfulness of spirit in whatsoever state
condition men are; serenity and tranquillily of mind,
thankfulness for what they have, and a free and coin-
forta. ble use of it; this the wise man praised and re-
commended to goed men, as being much better than
to fret. at the prosperity or' the wicked, and the seem-
ingly unequal distribution of things in this world, and
because they had not so much of them: as others; who
yet had reason to be thankful tbr what they had, and
to lift up their heads and be cheerful, and rejoice
in hope of the glory of God in another world. The
Targum interprets it of the joy of the law. Because a
man hath no better thing under the sun than to cat, and to
drink,c and to be merry; of earthly things there is nothing
better than for a man freely and cheerfully, with mo-
deration and thankfulness, to enjoy what God has given
him; this is what had been observed before, oh. ii. 24. and
iii.22. andv. 18. and is not the language of an epicure, era
carnal man, who obse__rving that no difference is made
between the righteous and the wicked, that it is as
well or better with the wicked than the righteous, de-
termines to give up himself to sensual lusts and plea-
sures; but it is the good and wholesomeadvice of the
wise man, for men to be easy Under every providence,
satisfied with their present condition and circumstances,.
and be cheerful and pleasant, and not distress them-.
selves about things they cannot alter. For that shall
abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which
God giveth him under the sun; man's present life is
under the sun, and is continued as long as it pleases.
God; though it is but short, rather to be counted by
days than years, and is a laborious one; and all that
he gets by his labour, enjoyed by him, is to eat and
drink cheerfully; and this he may expect to have and
continue with him as long as he lives, even food and
raiment, and with this he should be content.
Ver. 16. IVhen I applied mine heart to i, now wisdom,
&c.] The nature and causes ofthings; the wisdom
of God in his providence, and the grounds and reasons-
of his various dispensations towards the children of
men: the Targum interprets it, the wisdom of the
law. And to see the business that is done upon the
earth; either the business of Providence, in dealing so
unequally with the righteous and the wicked, before
observed; and which is a business very afflictive and
distressing for curious persons to look into, not being
able to account for it: or the labour and toil of' men to
get wealth and riches, and to find happiness in them.
(For also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep
with his eyes;) or has any sleep in Iris eyes, through
his eager pursuit after worldly things, or, however, has
but little; he rises early and sits up late at his business,
so close and diligent is he at it, so industrious to obtain
riches, imagininn a happiness in them there is not:
or else this describes persons curious and inquisitive
into the affairs of Providence, and the reasons of them;
who give thcmselves no rest, day nor night, being so
intcnt upon their studies of this kind; and perhaps
the wise man may design himself.
Ver. 17. Then I beheld all the worlc qf God, &c.] Not
of creation, but of Providence; took trotice of it, con-
templated on it, considered it, and weighed it well;.
viewed the various steps and methods of it, to find
.out, if possible, at least, some general rule by which.
it proceeded: but all so various and uncertain, that a
man cannot find out the work that is done under
the sun: he can find out that it is done, but not the
reason why it is done: the ways of God are in the
deep, and not to be traced; they are unsearchable and
past tinding out; there is a \~bayov\~, a depth of wisdom and
knowledge, in tl}em, inscrutable by the wisest of men,
Psal. ixxvii. 19. Rom. xi. 33. Because, though a man
labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; ]Noldius and
others render it although; not only a man that, in a.
slight and negligent manner, seeks after the knowledge
of the works of divine Providence, and the reasons of
thetn; but even one that is dili.,2,yent and laborious at it
is not able to find them out; they being purposely con-
cealed by the Lord, to answer some ends of his. Yea,
furthcr, though a wise man think to know it, ?/ct shall he
not be able to fi:ul it; a man of a great natural capa-
city, such an one as Solomon himself, though he pro-