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Eccl.3:1. For everything there is a time, and a time for every purpose under heaven: There is a time for everything, and a time for every purpose under heaven. Above, Solomon taught about the fragility and precariousness of the conditions of human life: now he wants to show that everything in the world contradicts one another and nothing remains permanently - nothing of course that exists under the sun and within the limits of time, for other spiritual beings are not embraced by the limits of either the visible sky or time. Eccl.3:2. a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck out what was planted. There is no doubt that the birth and death of people are known and predetermined by God, and that giving birth is the same as planting, dying is the same as uprooting what has been planted. But, since we read in Isaiah: “from Thy fear, O Lord, we conceived and were sick and gave birth,” then it must be said that in a perfect man this fruit, which was born out of fear, dies when he begins to love God. For “if love is perfect, it casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). Everything that is written here about the difference of times up to the point where it is said: “a time of war and a time of peace,” Jews understand in relation to Israel. Since there is no need to imagine how they interpret and understand each verse in particular, I will only briefly outline their interpretation, leaving a more extensive reflection on this to the reader himself. There was a time for Israel to be born and planted, and a time for Israel to die and be led into slavery; the time of the killing of the Jews in Egypt, and the time of liberation from Egypt; the time of the destruction of the church under Nebuchadnezzar, and the time of construction under Darius; a time of mourning over the destruction of the city, and a time of joy and rejoicing under Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah; the time of the scattering of Israel, and the time of gathering into one, the time, as it were, of God investing the people of Judah with a girdle and a belt (read about the girdle in Jer. 13:1 et seq.), and the time of taking them into captivity in Babylon and rotting them there beyond the Euphrates. A time to find Jews and save, and a time to lose and abandon. A time to tear Israel apart, and a time to sew it together again; there is a time for the prophets to be silent - now under the dominion of the Romans - and a time to speak to them - then, when even in the land of the enemy they were not deprived of the consolation and words of God. A time of love with which God first loved them under their fathers, and a time of hatred, since they raised their hand to Christ. A time of war, when they did not repent, and a time of peace in the future, when, upon the entry of the fullness of the pagans, all Israel will be saved. Eccl.3:3. a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to destroy, and a time to build; A time to kill and a time to heal. There is a time to kill and a time to heal, as he says: “I will kill and I will bring to life” (Deut. 32:39). He heals by calling for repentance; kills in the sense of what was said: “in the morning all the sinners of the earth were beaten” (Ps. 100:8). "A time to destroy, and a time to build". We can create good only by first destroying evil. Therefore, Jeremiah was given a word from God so that he would first uproot and destroy and waste, and then build and plant (Jer. 1). Eccl.3:4. a time to cry, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cry, and a time to laugh. Now is the time to cry, and in the future - to laugh; for “blessed are those who mourn, for they will laugh” (Luke 6:21). “A time to mourn, and a time to dance.” Therefore, in the Gospel those to whom the Lord says: “You squeaked and did not dance; you wept and did not weep” (Luke 7:32). You need to cry now so that later you can dance in the same joy in which David danced before the Ark of the Covenant, and, not pleasing Saul’s daughter, he pleased God more (2 Samuel 6:14-16). Eccl.3:5. a time to scatter stones, and a time to gather stones; a time to hug, and a time to avoid hugs; A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather stones. I’m surprised how a scientist said something funny about this place, saying that here we are talking about the destruction and construction of Solomon’s houses, that people either destroy or build; some collect stones to build a building, while others destroy what has been built, according to Horace’s saying: Destroys, builds, replaces the square with the round, He is very worried, and he is dissatisfied with the order of life. Whether he expressed this opinion justly or in vain, I leave it to the reader to judge. And we will follow the method of our previous interpretation, believing that the time of scattering and gathering stones should be understood in relation to what was said: “God is able to raise up children for Abraham from this stone” (Matthew 3:9) - that there was a time of scattering of the pagan people, and a time of their new gathering into the church. In one book I read (in relation, however, to the Seventy Interpreters, who stated: “a time to throw stones and a time to gather”) that these words contain the meaning that the severity of the old law is softened by the grace of the Gospel: for the strict, merciless and merciless Law kills the sinner, and the grace of the Gospel has mercy on him and calls him to repentance, and that the words: “a time to throw stones or gather” mean that stones are thrown in the Law, but gathered together in the Gospel. Whether this is true or not, let the author be responsible for that. “A time to hug, and a time to move away from hugs.” In accordance with the literal interpretation, the meaning is clear when the apostle, in agreement with this, says: “Do not deprive yourself of one another, but by agreement for a time, but continue in prayer” (1 Cor. 7:5) - that it is necessary to both take care of children and abstain. Or, - that there was a time to embrace, when the definition was in force, “grow and multiply and fill the earth” (Gen. 1:28), and that it was time to move away from embraces, when then another definition followed: “the time has ceased to eat other things, so that those who have have wives will be like those who have not” (1 Cor. 7:29). And if we want to ascend to something higher, we will see that wisdom embraces her beloved; for he says: “Almost you, that he may embrace you” (Prov. 4:8), and in his bosom and bowels he will hold you in the strongest embrace. Further, since the human spirit cannot constantly strive for the heavenly and think about the divine and higher, and cannot incessantly remain in contemplation of heavenly objects, and from time to time must yield to the needs of the body: therefore, it is time to embrace wisdom and hold it tightly, and it is time to give relief to the mind from contemplation and embraces of wisdom, in order to serve the care of the body and that which, without sin, our life needs. Eccl.3:6. time to seek, and time to lose; a time to save, and a time to throw away; Time to search and time to lose. A time to save and a time to throw away. In various expressions, it still expresses the same idea that is above and below in the words: “a time to destroy and a time to build; a time to tear and a time to sew.” For just as the synagogue is destroyed so that the Church can be built, and there is a separation from the Law, so that the Gospels can be stitched together, which each of the evangelists fulfilled, sewing together from the Law and the Prophets testimonies about the coming of the Lord: so there was a time to seek and save Israel, and a time to abandon and lose it. Or: it is time to look for a people of the Gentiles, and it is time to lose the people of Judah; a time to preserve the believers from among the Gentiles, and a time to cast out the unbelievers from Israel. Eccl.3:7. a time to rend, and a time to sew together; a time to be silent and a time to speak; A time to be silent and a time to speak. I think that the Pythagoreans, whose discipline requires silence for five years, and then allows those who have already received an education to speak, borrowed their rule from here. Let us also learn not to speak at first, so that only later we can open our mouths to the word. Let us remain silent for a certain time and listen to the words of the teacher. Let it seem fair to us only what we are taught in order to make teachers from students after a long silence. And now, in our bad times, which are constantly tending towards an even greater decline, we teach in the churches what we do not know, and if with the tinsel of words or the induction of the devil, the patron of errors, we evoke the applause of the crowd, then, contrary to our own consciousness, we think that we know what we could convince others of. We do not learn any art without a teacher; This art alone is so cheap and easy that it does not require a teacher! Eccl.3:8. a time to love and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. A time to love and a time to hate. A time to love, after God, children, wife, relatives, and a time to hate them in the feat of martyrdom, when, for confessing Christ, their hostile disposition causes them to be cruel against us. Or: the time to love the Law and what was prescribed by the Law - circumcision, sacrifices, the Sabbath, the new moons, and the time to hate this, when the grace of the Gospel came. We can also say that since we now see “through a mirror in divination” (1 Cor. 13:12): then the time to love the present; and in the future the time will come when, seeing face to face and succeeding for the better, we will begin to hate and despise what we loved. "A time of war and a time of peace". While we are in the present age, it is a time of war; and when we are removed from this age, the time of peace will come. For God’s place is in the world, and our city Jerusalem received its name from the world (Ps. 75:3). So, now let no one consider himself safe: during battle you need to be girded and carry weapons, so that after victory there is no time to calm down in peace. Eccl.3:9–11. What benefit does the worker get from what he works on? I saw this care that God gave to the sons of men, so that they would exercise themselves in this. He made everything beautiful in its time, and put peace in their hearts, although man cannot comprehend the works that God does from beginning to end. What benefit does the worker get from what he works on? I saw this activity that God gave to the sons of men so that they could practice it. He did everything good in his time and, moreover, gave peace to their hearts, although man will not comprehend the work that God has done from beginning to end. It is not unknown to me what many have said regarding this place, namely, that in the present century God has allowed this activity to preachers of false teachings so that the human mind would not become numb in idleness; that this is a good thing that God did in His time, although nevertheless they cannot embrace the nature and knowledge of things. And the Jew who taught me the Scripture explained this passage like this. When everything is destroyed in due time, and there is time to destroy and create, to cry and laugh, to be silent and to speak, and everything else that is said about time: then why do we work and fuss in vain and consider the labors of this short life eternal? Why, according to the Gospel, are we not content with the troubles of the day and do not put off thinking about tomorrow? For what can we gain in this age from intense labors, when people are given from God only this, so that, striving for one thing, and another for another, everyone would have something to learn or practice? Because everything that God has done is good, but good in its own time. To be awake or to sleep is good; however, it is not good to be constantly awake or constantly asleep, since everything is good alternately, in accordance with God’s distribution, when one or the other is needed. God also gave the world for people to inhabit, so that they could take advantage of the changes of times, but would not ask about the causes of natural things, how everything was created, why from the beginning of the world to the end of it God determined for this or that to grow, to be, to change. Eccl.3:12–13. I learned that there is nothing better for them than to have fun and do good in their lives. And if a person eats and drinks and sees good in all his work, then this is a gift from God. I learned that there is no good except to rejoice and do good in your life. And besides, every person who eats and drinks and does good in all his work is from the gift of God. Man was made a settler and a stranger in the world so that he could take advantage of the short time of his life, and abandon the hope of living too long, looking at everything that he has, as if he had to go to another place; so that in his life he does as much good as he can and does not suffer in vain with worries about collecting wealth; so that he does not think that from his labor he can acquire for himself anything more than food and drink, but is convinced that only that one thing is a gift from God, if he uses something from his property for good deeds. By this we are encouraged not to luxury and pleasures, and not to despair, as some think, according to what is said in Isaiah: “Let us eat and drink, for in the morning we will die” (Is. 22:13), like animals, but so that, according to the Apostle, having food and clothing, we are content with this (1 Tim. 6:8) and use everything that we can have in addition to feeding the poor and for giving poor. Further, since the body of the Lord is true food and His blood is true drink: then, according to the mysterious interpretation, in the present age we have only that one good, if we feed on His flesh and drink His blood, not only in the sacrament (Eucharist), but also in the reading of the Scriptures. For true food and drink, which is received from the word of God, is knowledge of the Scriptures. And let no one think that what was predicted by Balaam: “there will be no labor in Jacob, nor will sickness be seen in Israel” (Num. 23:21) contradicts what was said that it is a gift of God if someone eats and drinks and shows goodness in all his labor. For many are the sorrows of the righteous. And the apostle complains about these sorrows, saying that he was exhausted in labor and sorrow (2 Cor. 2). But, when in the future the Lord delivers us from these sorrows, then “there will be no labor in Jacob, and illness will be seen in Israel.” And just as we read: “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh” (Luke 6:21), and how in this laughter of ours the prophesied words of Job will be fulfilled: “The lips of the righteous will be filled with joy” (Job 8:21): so now we use our labor for good deeds, we are burdened and embarrassed by it, in order to calm down from labor later. Eccl.3:14. I learned that everything that God does endures forever: there is nothing to add to it and nothing to take away from it, and God does it so that they will reverence before His face. I came to know that everything that God created will last forever; it cannot be added to and cannot be taken away from it: and God created that they should be feared on His behalf. There is nothing in the world that is new. The movement of the sun and the changes of the moon and earth, the withering or development of trees began and were determined with the beginning of the world itself. And God arranged everything in a certain order and determined for the elements of the world to serve human needs, so that people, seeing this, would understand that there is Providence and would fear on behalf of God, from the uniformity of movement, order and constancy of things, understanding the Creator. “For His invisible being has been understood by created things since the creation of the world; His essence and ever-present power and Godhead are visible” (Rom. 1:20). If we want, having separated the previous thought, to read, as if from the beginning of a new section: “And God created that they should be afraid from His presence,” then the meaning is this: God created everything so that people would be afraid to change in another direction what He once distributed. And he perfectly defined the thought, saying that they should be afraid on His behalf, for “the face of the Lord is on those who do evil” (Ps. 33:17) Eccl.3:15. What was, is now, and what will be, has already happened, and God will call upon the past. What is the former? The very thing that is and what will be has already happened: and God will seek the one who suffers persecution. Everything that we see, whether it is past, or present, or future, is the same and was, is, and will be. The sun, which is rising now, rose before our appearance in the world, and will rise after our death. We pointed to the sun so that we could see from this that everything else is also what was. But, although all this, apparently, ceases according to the law of death, it does not perish, because it comes to life again, and nothing perishes forever, but is reborn and comes to life, as if with some increment. This very thought is expressed in the words: “and God will seek the one who suffers persecution,” which is better translated in Greek: χαί 6 θεός ζητη᾿σει τον δίωκόμενον, - “God will seek the persecuted,” that is, what has passed, what has been expelled, what has ceased to exist. And if this is said about everything that exists in the world, then regarding man there is no doubt that after death he is reborn. And if anyone wants to read, as if as a separate thought: “and God will seek the one who suffers persecution,” he can use this testimony in relation to persecution by the pagans, to console the one who is in the feat of martyrdom. And since, according to the apostle, in this age everyone who wants to live godly suffers persecution: then let them have the consolation that God seeks the one who suffers persecution, just as He seeks the blood of the slain, that He came to seek what was lost and brought the lost sheep on His shoulders to the flock. Eccl.3:16–17. I also saw under the sun: a place of judgment, and there was lawlessness; there is a place of truth, but there is untruth. And I said in my heart: “God will judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time for every thing, and a judgment for every thing.” And I also saw under the sun a place of judgment: there is lawlessness; and the place of truth: there is untruth. I said in my heart: God will judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time for every will over every deed. The meaning is obvious; but it closes with a vague translation. I searched, to speak, under this sun of truth and judgment, and I saw that even between the benches of judges, it is not truth that has power, but gifts. Or in other words: I thought that in the present century there is some justice, and that now, just as the good receive retribution for his merit, so the wicked is punished for his crime; but I found the opposite of what I thought. For I saw that the righteous here suffers many calamities, and the wicked in glory for his transgression. But then, thinking in my heart and thinking about it again, I realized that now God does not judge in parts and everyone separately, but postpones judgment until the future, so that everyone there will be judged together and accepted according to their will and deeds. This very thought is expressed in the words: “and to every will over every deed there,” that is: at the court, when the Lord begins to judge, then there will be truth, but now untruth reigns in the world. We read something similar to this in Wisdom, inscribed with the name of the son of Sirach: “Do not say this or that: for everything will be required in its time.” Eccl.3:18–21. I spoke in my heart about the sons of men, so that God would test them, and so that they would see that they are animals in themselves; because the fate of the sons of men and the fate of animals is the same fate: as they die, so these die, and everyone has the same breath, and man has no advantage over cattle, because everything is vanity! Everything goes to one place: everything came from dust and everything will return to dust. Who knows whether the spirit of the sons of men ascends upward, and whether the spirit of animals descends down to the earth? I said in my heart about the gift of speech of the sons of men, that (by this) God distinguishes them; but to show that they are beasts in themselves, the fate of the sons of men and the fate of cattle is the same fate for them. As is the death of this, so is the death of this, and the spirit is one for all, and man has nothing more than cattle, for all is vanity. Everything goes to one place, everything is created from the earth, and everything will return to the earth. And who knows whether the spirit of the sons of men ascends to the mountain, and the spirit of cattle whether it descends down to the earth? One should not be surprised that in real life there is no difference between the righteous and the wicked, that virtues have no meaning, that everything revolves in a precarious position, when, due to the insignificance of the body, there is, apparently, no difference between animals and humans, when the conditions of their birth are the same and the fate of death is the same, when we are born in the same way and equally decompose into dust. If the difference appears that the spirit of man ascends to heaven, and the spirit of cattle descends to the earth: then from what reliable authority did we know this? Who can know whether that which is the subject of hope is true or false? But Ecclesiastes says this not because he thinks that the soul perishes along with the body, or that the same place is prepared for animals and man, but because before the coming of Christ everything was equally relegated to hell. Therefore, Jacob says that he will go to hell (Genesis 37 and Genesis 44), and Job complains that the righteous and the wicked are in hell (Job 7 and Job 17); but the Gospel testifies that there is a great abyss before hell, and that Abraham is with Lazarus, and the rich man is in torment. And truly, before Christ removed that flaming turning weapon and fiery sword and opened the doors of paradise with the thief, heavenly things were concluded, and the same insignificance weighed down on the spirit of cattle and man; and although apparently one was destroyed and the other remained, there was little difference whether to perish with the body or to be imprisoned in the darkness of hell. Let's move on to particulars and briefly consider each thought separately in order. “I said in my heart about the gift of speech of the sons of men, that God chose them.” God has determined, he says, only one difference between people and beasts, that we speak, and they are speechless, that we express our will in words, and they are shackled in silence. And since only by word we differ from animals, it is shown to us, however, that by the frailty of the flesh we are animals. Just as cattle die, so does man; we all have the same breath and the same air that we feed on. This is precisely what is said in the words: “everyone has one spirit, and man has nothing else compared to cattle.” But, so that we do not think that this is also said about the soul, he added: “everything was created from the earth, and will return to the earth”; but only the body was created from the earth, and it is about the body that it is said: “you are earth and you will go back to earth” (Gen. 3:19). And the words: “who knows the spirit of the sons of men, whether it ascends into the mountain, and the spirit of cattle, whether it descends into the earth,” seem blasphemous; but he does not assert here that there is no difference in the dignity of the soul between animals and humans, but by adding the word “who”, he wants to show the difficulty of the subject. For the pronoun “who” in the Holy Scriptures is always taken in the sense not of impossibility, but of difficulty, as, for example: “who shall confess his generation” (Is. 53:8), and in the fourteenth Psalm: “Lord, who dwells in Thy habitation”, “and in Thy holy mountain” (Ps. 14:1) and further, as well as in Jeremiah (although in Hebrew it is different): “And there is a man, and he who knows him” (Jer. 17:9) So, there is one difference between people and animals - that the spirit of man ascends to heaven, and the spirit of cattle descends to the earth and decays along with the body; and Ecclesiastes, as a certain man of the church and enlightened by heavenly teaching, is a true preacher of this truth, although this is, however, doubtful according to the literal interpretation. And the following serves for spiritual understanding. It is said: “You have saved men and beasts, O Lord” (Ps. 35:7) and in another place: “I am like cattle before You, and I am always with You” (Ps. 72:22). All the prophets say that in Jerusalem both people and cattle will be saved, and that the land of promise is filled with cattle and herds of animals. Who knows whether a saint worthy of the name of man ascends to heaven, or whether a sinner, who is called cattle, descends to the earth? For, given the fragile and slippery situation of this life, it can happen that the righteous falls and the sinner rises, and sometimes it happens that a more intelligent and enlightened person in the Scripture lives carelessly and unworthy of his knowledge and is relegated to hell, while someone simpler and uneducated, who can be called cattle in comparison with a person, lives better, is crowned with martyrdom and becomes a resident of paradise. Eccl.3:22. So I saw that there is nothing better than for a man to enjoy his deeds: because this is his portion; for who will bring him to see what will happen after him? And I saw that there is no good except if a person rejoices in his work, for this is his lot. For who will bring him so that he can see what will happen after him? Instead of what we said: “to see what will happen after him,” Symmachus translated more clearly: to “see what will happen after this.” So, there is nothing good in this life except that a person rejoices in his work, doing alms and preparing future treasures for himself in the kingdom of heaven. We have this one share, which neither a thief, nor a robber, nor a tyrant can take away, and which will follow us even after death. For, at the end of this life, we cannot again use our labors, or know what will happen in the world after. In other words: confused by the previous error, the fact that I believed that there was no difference between people and animals, I was led by the wrong direction of my mind to the thought that there is no good except enjoying the pleasures of this life, because once death has struck us, we can no longer enjoy what we left unsatisfied. The words: “for whoever brings him, so that he can see what will happen after him,” others explain this way: it is better for a person to enjoy his labors, because this is the only use he can make of his acquisitions, and when death comes, he does not know who will be his heir, whether worthy or unworthy will use his property.