Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Ecclesiastes 11:7 - 11:10
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Rejoicing with Trembling
v. 7. Truly, the light is sweet, life is most agreeable and beautiful if spent in the manner urged by the author in the first part of this chapter, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun, if one is engaged in godly pursuits;
v. 8. but if a man live many years and rejoice in them all, in the manner set forth in Holy Writ, Php_4:4, yet let him remember the days of darkness, the long night of death; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity, this world, with all it offers, is empty and futile in comparison with the eternal realities which await the true believers.
v. 9. Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, the general admonition of the preceding verses being addressed to young people in particular, as living in that period of life which is especially favorable to cheerful enjoyment, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, with the proper happiness in the midst of the turmoil and troubles of this present world, and walk in the ways of thine heart, in seeking enjoyment of the right kind, such as is acceptable to the Lord, and in the sight of thine eyes, in innocent pleasures and pastimes, the eyes being trained for proper observance of God's rules of conduct; but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into Judgment, wherefore a most careful and circumspect conduct, a most godly caution, is required at all times. It is necessary to serve the Lord with fear and to rejoice with trembling, Psa_2:11; Php_2:12.
v. 10. Therefore remove sorrow, a false sorrow, a gloomy sanctimoniousness, from thy heart and put away evil from thy flesh, namely, in the form of a melancholy asceticism which is not in agreement with the cheerfulness required by the Christian religion; for childhood and youth are vanity, both early infancy and the dawn of the days, that is, adolescence, are in themselves futile and empty without the cheering presence of the Word of God.