Advanced Commentary
Texts -- Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 (NET)
Pericope
NET
- Ecc 9:11-12 -- Wisdom Cannot Protect against Seemingly Chance Events
Bible Dictionary
-
CHANCE
[ebd] (Luke 10:31). "It was not by chance that the priest came down by that road at that time, but by a specific arrangement and in exact fulfilment of a plan; not the plan of the priest, nor the plan of the wounded traveller, but...
[isbe] CHANCE - chans: The idea of chance in the sense of something wholly fortuitous was utterly foreign to the Hebrew creed. Throughout the whole course of Israel's history, to the Hebrew mind, law, not chance, ruled the universe...
-
Instruction
[nave] INSTRUCTION From nature, Prov. 24:30-34; Eccl. 1:13-18; 3; 4:1; Matt. 6:25-30. See: Parables. From the study of human nature, Eccl. 3-12. By Object Lessons: The pot of maa, Ex. 16:32. The pillar of twelve stones at the f...
-
Net
[ebd] in use among the Hebrews for fishing, hunting, and fowling. The fishing-net was probably constructed after the form of that used by the Egyptians (Isa. 19:8). There were three kinds of nets. (1.) The drag-net or hauling-net ...
[nave] NET Of checker work, 1 Kin. 7:17. Hidden in a pit, Psa. 35:7, 8. Set for birds, Prov. 1:17; wild animals, Isa. 51:20. Fish caught in, Matt. 4:18-21; 13:47; Luke 5:4; John 21:6-11. See: Snare. Figurative Job 18:8; 19:6;...
-
Hunting
[isbe] HUNTING - hunt'-ing (tsayidh): The hunting of wild animals for sport, or for the defense of men and flocks, or for food, was common in Western Asia and Egypt, especially in early times. Some of the Egyptian and Assyrian king...
[nave] HUNTING Authorized in the Mosaic law, Lev. 17:13. By Nimrod, Gen. 10:9. By Esau, Gen. 27:3, 5, 30, 33. By Ishmael, Gen. 21:20. Of lion, Job 10:16. Fowling, 1 Sam. 26:20; Psa. 140:5; 141:9, 10; Prov. 1:17; Eccl. 9:12; La...
-
GAMES
[ebd] (1.) Of children (Zech. 8:5; Matt. 11:16). The Jewish youth were also apparently instructed in the use of the bow and the sling (Judg. 20:16; 1 Chr. 12:2). (2.) Public games, such as were common among the Greeks and Romans, ...
[isbe] GAMES - gamz: I. ISRAELITISH GAMES 1. Children's Games Mimicry 2. Sports 3. Games of Chance and Skill 4. Story-Telling 5. Dancing 6. Proverbs 7. Riddles II. THE GAMES OF GREECE AND ROME 1. Historical Introduction 2. General ...
-
Ignorance
[nave] IGNORANCE. Job 8:9; Job 11:7, 8, 12; Job 28:12, 13, 20, 21; Job 36:26, 29; Job 37:5, 15, 16, 19, 23 Job 38; 39. Psa. 139:6; Prov. 7:6-23; Prov. 8:5; Prov. 9:14-18; Prov. 19:2; Prov. 20:24; Prov. 22:3 Prov. 27:12. Prov. 27:1...
-
God
[nave] GOD. List of Sub-Topics Miscellany; Unclassified Scriptures Relating to; Access to; Compassion of; Creator; Creator of Mankind; Eternity of; Faithfulness of; Fatherhood of; Favor of; Foreknowledge of; Glory of; Goodness of...
-
Fowler
[ebd] the arts of, referred to Ps. 91:3; 124:7; Prov. 6:5; Jer. 5:26; Hos. 9:8; Ezek. 17:20; Eccl. 9:12. Birds of all kinds abound in Palestine, and the capture of these for the table and for other uses formed the employment of ma...
-
Race
[nave] RACE 1. Human. Unity of, Gen. 3:20; Mal. 2:10. 2. Foot race. Figurative: Psa. 19:5; Eccl. 9:11; 1 Cor. 9:24; Gal. 5:7; Phil. 2:16; Heb. 12:1, 2.
-
Fish
[nave] FISH Creation of, Gen. 1:20-22. Appointed for food, Gen. 9:2, 3. Clean and unclean, Lev. 11:9-12; Deut. 14:9, 10. Taken with nets, Eccl. 9:12; Hab. 1:14-17; Matt. 4:21; Luke 5:2-6; John 21:6-8; hooks, Isa. 19:8; Amos 4:2;...
-
SKILL; SKILFUL
[isbe] SKILL; SKILFUL - skil, skil'-fool (forms of yadha` (2 Ch 2:14, etc.), bin (1 Ch 15:22), sakhal (Dan 1:4, etc.), lamadh (1 Ch 5:18), chakham (1 Ch 28:21), charash (Ezek 21:31), yaTabh (Ps 33:3); in Apocrypha empeiria (The Wis...
-
FOOD
[isbe] FOOD - food: I. VEGETABLE FOODS 1. Primitive Habits 2. Cereals 3. Leguminous Plants 4. Food of Trees II. ANIMAL FOOD LITERATURE In a previous article (see BREAD) it has been shown that in the Bible "bread" usually stands for...
-
HAPPEN
[isbe] HAPPEN - hap'-'-n (qarah; sumbaino): "Happen" (from "hap"), "to fall out," "befall," etc., "come to anyone," is the translation of qarah, "to meet," etc. (1 Sam 28:10, "There shall no punishment happen to thee," the Revised ...
-
PROVIDENCE, 1
[isbe] PROVIDENCE, 1 - prov'-i-dens: I. PROVIDENCE DEFINED II. DIFFERENT SPHERES OF PROVIDENTIAL ACTIVITY DISTINGUISHED III. BIBLICAL PRESENTATION OF THE DOCTRINE OF PROVIDENCE 1. Divine Providence in the Old Testament Scriptures (...
-
ENTANGLE
[isbe] ENTANGLE - en-tan'-g'-l: Found but 5 times in the Scriptures (the King James Version), once in the Old Testament, yet most significant as illustrating the process of mental, moral and spiritual confusion and enslavement. (1)...
-
SNARE
[isbe] SNARE - snar (pach; pagis, but brochos, in 1 Cor 7:35): Over half a dozen Hebrew words are used to indicate different methods of taking birds and animals, of which the snare (pach) is mentioned oftener than any other. It was...
Arts
Questions
- You are not to take all the words of Ecclesiastes 9:11 as true and inspired because, as the writer shows, he found out that what he said at one time was disproved later on. He is relating his experience. He was seeking happin...
Resources/Books
Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)
-
I believe that the message of Ecclesiastes is essentially a positive one. This may seem strange since the vanity of various human endeavors is such a major theme of this book. Nevertheless the total statement that Solomon mad...
-
I. The introductory affirmation 1:1-11A. Title and theme 1:1-21. The title 1:12. The theme 1:2B. The futility of all human endeavor 1:3-111. The vanity of work 1:32. The illustrations from life 1:4-11II. The futility of work ...
-
Rather than saying, "All work is vanity,"Solomon made the same point by asking this rhetorical question that expects a negative response. He used this literary device often throughout the book (cf. 2:2; 3:9; 6:8, 11-12; et al...
-
Clues in the text indicate the value and purpose of 6:10-11:6. The phrases "does not know"and "cannot discover"occur frequently (6:12; 7:14, 24, 28; 8:17; 19:1, 12; 10:14; 11:2, 6). Also the recurrence of "it is good"(7:18) a...
-
The emphasis in this section (9:1-11:6) is on what man does not know because God has not revealed many things. Solomon also emphasized, however, that the remaining mystery in this subject (8:16-17) must not diminish human joy...
-
Solomon's emphasis in 9:2-10 was on the fact that a righteous person could not be more certain of his or her earthly future than the wicked. In 9:11-10:11 his point was that the wise cannot be more sure of his or her earthly ...
-
In 1:12-6:9, Solomon demonstrated that all work is ultimately futile for two reasons. It does not yield anything really permanent under the sun. Moreover we can never be sure we will enjoy the fruits of our labor before we di...
-
In conclusion Solomon repeated his original thesis (v. 8; cf. 1:2) and his counsel in view of life's realities (vv. 13-14). In between these statements he set forth his source of authority for writing what we have in Ecclesia...
