Ecclesiastes 7:29

7:23-29 Solomon, in his search into the nature and reason of things, had been miserably deluded. But he here speaks with godly sorrow. He alone who constantly aims to please God, can expect to escape; the careless sinner probably will fall to rise no more. He now discovered more than ever the evil of the great sin of which he had been guilty, the loving many strange women,

The first man Adam, as the Targum and Jarchi interpret it; and not Adam only, but Eve also with him; for these were both made by the Lord, and on the same day, and in the same image, and had the same common name of Adam given them, Genesis 1:27 ; And they were both made "upright"; which is to be understood, not of the erectness of their bodies, but of the disposition of their minds; they were "right and innocent before him,'' or in the sight of God, as the Targum; which is best explained by their being made in the image and likeness of God, Genesis 1:26; and which, according to the apostle, lay in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, Ephesians 4:24; agreeably to which Plato (o) make likeness to God to be righteous and holy, with prudence: for this likeness of Adam and Eve to God; lay not in the shape of their bodies, for God is a spirit, and not a corporeal being, as the Anthropomorphites imagined, and so fancied men to be made like unto him in this respect; but in their souls, and it consisted of knowledge; of the knowledge of the creatures, their nature, use, and ends for which they were made, and put under their government; and of God, and his perfections, as made known in the creatures; and of his mind and will, and manner of worshipping him, he revealed unto them; and they might know the trinity of Persons in the Godhead, who were concerned in the making of them, though they seem not to have known Christ, as Mediator and Saviour, which was not necessary previous to th

Ecclesiastes 7:29 . Lo, this only have I found — Though I could not find out all the streams of wickedness, and their infinite windings and turnings, yet I have discovered the fountain of it, original sin, and the corruption of nature, which is both in men and women; that God made our first parents, Adam and Eve, upright — Hebrew, right: without any imperfection or corruption, conformable to his nature and will, after his own likeness: but they — Our first parents, and after them their posterity; have sought out many inventions — Were not contented with their present state, but studied new ways of making themselves more wise and happy than God had made them. And we, their wretched children, are still prone to forsake the certain rule of God’s word, and the true way to happiness, and to seek new methods of attaining it.

29. The "only" way of accounting for the scarcity of even comparatively upright men and women is that, whereas God made man upright, they (men) have, &c. The only account to be "found" of the origin of evil, the great mystery of theology, is that given in Holy Writ (Ge 2:1-3:24). Among man's "inventions" was the one especially referred to in Ec 7:26, the bitter fruits of which Solomon experienced, the breaking of God's primeval marriage law, joining one man to "one" woman (Mt 19:4, 5, 6). "Man" is singular, namely, Adam; "they," plural, Adam, Eve, and their posterity.

This only have I found; though I could not find out all the streams of wickedness, and their infinite windings and turnings in the world, yet I have discovered the fountain of it, to wit, original sin, and the corruption of nature, which is both in men and women. God hath made man, God made our first parents, Adam and Eve, upright , Heb. right , without any imperfection or corruption, conformable to his nature and will, which is the rule of right, after his own likeness, understanding, and holy, and every way good. They, our first parents, and after them their posterity treading in their steps, have sought out many inventions; were not contented with their present state, but aimed at higher things, and studied new ways of making themselves more wise and happy than God had made them, and readily hearkened to the suggestions of the devil to that end. And we their sinful and wretched children, after their example, are still prone to forsake the certain rule of God’s word, and the true way to happiness, and to seek new methods and inventions of attaining to it, even such as Solomon hath discoursed of in this book.

29 . They have sought out many inventions ] The Hebrew word implies an ingenuity exercised mainly for evil but takes within its range, as in 2 Chronicles 26:15 , the varied acts of life which are in themselves neither good nor evil. This inventive faculty, non-moral at the best, often absolutely immoral, was what struck the thinker as characterising mankind at large. In this thought again we have an unmistakable echo of the language of Greek thinkers. Of this the most memorable example is, perhaps, the well-known chorus in the Antigone 332–5 πολλὰ τὰ δεινὰ κοὐδὲν ἀνθρώπου δεινοτέρον πέλει . σοφόν τι τὸ μηχανόεν τέχνας ὑπὲρ ἐλπίδ ʼ ἔχων , ποτὲ μὲν κακόν , ἀλλοτ ʼ ἐπ ʼ ἐσθλὸν ἕρπει . “Many the things that strange and wondrous are, None stranger and more wonderful than man. And lo, with all this skill, Wise and inventive still Beyond hope’s dream, He now to good inclines And now to ill.” Looking to the relation in which the poem of Lucretius stands to the system of Epicurus it is probable that the history of human inventions in the De Rerum Natura , v. 1281–1435 had its fore-runner in some of the Greek writings with which the author of Ecclesiastes appears to have been acquainted. The student will find another parallel in the narrative of the progress of mankind in the Prometheus Bound of Æschylus (450–514). Both these passages are somewhat too long to quote.

Verse 29. - Lo, this only (or, only see! this ) have I found . Universal corruption was that which met his wide investigations, but of one thing he was sure, which he proceeds to specify - he has learned to trace the degradation to its source, not in God's agency, but in man's perverse will. That God hath made man upright. Koheleth believes that man's original constitution was yasbar , "straight," "right," "morally good," and possessed of ability to choose and follow what was just and right ( Genesis 1:26 , etc.). Thus in the Book of Wisdom (2:23) we read, "God created man to be immortal, and made him an imago of his own nature ( ἰιότητος ). Nevertheless, through envy of the devil, came death into the world, and they that are his portion tempt it." But they (men) h ave sought out many inventions ( chishshebonoth ); 2 Chronicles 26:15 , where the term implies works of invention, and is translated "engines," i . e . devices, ways of going astray and deviating from original righteousness. Man has thus abased his free-will, and employed the inventive faculty with which he was endowed in excoriating evil ( Genesis 6:5 ). How this state of things came about, how the originally good man became thus wicked, the writer does not tell. He knows from revelation that God made him upright; he knows from experience that he is now evil; and he leaves the matter there.

Plumptre quotes, as illustrating our text, a passage from the 'Antigone' of Sophocles, vers. 332, 365, 366, which he renders- "Many the things that strange and wondrous are,None stranger and mere wonderful than man....And lo, with all this skill,Wise and inventive still,Beyond hope's dream,He now to good inclines,And now to ill." We may add AEschylus, 'Choeph.,' vers. 585, etc. - Πολλὰ μέν γᾶ τρέφει δεινὰ δειμάτων ἄχη ... ἀλλ ὑπέρτολμον ἀνδρὸς φόνημα τίς λέγοι ; "Many fearful plaguesEarth nourishes...But man's audacious spiritWho can tell?" Horace, 'Carm.,' 1:3. 25 - "Audax omnia perpetiGens humans ruit per vetitum nefas." "The race of man, bold all things to endure,Hurries undaunted to forbidden crime." Vulgate, Et ipse se infinitis miscuerit quaestionibus , "And he entangled himself in multitudinous questions." This refers to unhallowed curiosity and speculation; but, as we have seen, the passage is concerned with man's moral declension, declaring how his "devices" lead him away from "uprightness." Ecclesiastes 7:29