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Eccl.2:1. I said in my heart: “Let me test you with joy, and enjoy good things”; but even this is vanity! I said in my heart: come now, I will test you in joy and see you in goodness: and behold, this is vanity. Having learned that in the abundance of wisdom and the application of knowledge there is labor and sorrow, and that this is nothing more than a vain and endless struggle, I turned to joy in order to wallow in luxury, collect estates, live in ordinary wealth, and, before I die, snatch fleeting pleasures. But even in this I myself saw my vanity, since the pleasure of the past does not satisfy my passion in the present, and the exhausted does not satiate; and not only bodily joy, but also spiritual joy is an attempt on the one who possesses it, so I need a admonishing rod and an angel of Satan who would oppress me so that I do not become arrogant (2 Cor. 12:7). That’s why Solomon says: “Give me neither wealth nor poverty,” and immediately after that he adds: “Let no one see me be satisfied with lies or rivers.” ( Prov. 30:8–9 ). For the devil also takes possession of us through the abundance of goods. Therefore, the Apostle also wrote: “Let the devil not become proud and fall into judgment” (1 Tim. 3:6), that is, the same condemnation to which the devil also fell. But we can also say that spiritual joy, like everything else, is now declared to be vanity because we now see it in the mirror and fortune-telling, and when it is revealed face to face, then it will no longer be vanity, but truth. Eccl.2:2. About laughter I said: “stupidity!”, and about fun: “What does it do?” I said to laughter: madness, and to merriment: why are you doing this? Where we read “madness”, in Hebrew there is “molal”, which Aquila translated πλάνησιν, that is, error, and Symmachus θόροβον, that is, “noise”; Seventy and Theodotion, both in many places, and in this place, agreed on the translation of περιφοράν, which we, translating literally, can express with the word “exposure”. So, just as those who are carried about by every wind of doctrine are fickle and tossed to and fro (Eph. 4:14); so those who burst into laughter, about which the Lord said in the Gospel that it will change into weeping (Luke 6:25), are engulfed in error and the whirlwind of this age, not understanding the abyss of their sins and not mourning their former vices, but thinking that fleeting blessings are eternal, and rejoicing in what is more worthy of weeping. This can also be understood in relation to heretics, who, satisfied with false teachings, promise themselves joy and well-being. Eccl.2:3. I decided in my heart to delight my body with wine and, while my heart was guided by wisdom, to adhere to foolishness, until I saw what was good for the sons of men, what they should do under heaven in the few days of their lives. I thought in my heart: I will languish my flesh in wine; but my heart led me to wisdom, and to master stupidity, until I saw what good was done among the sons of men from what they did under the sun in the number of days of their lives. I wanted to give my life to pleasures, to free my flesh from all worries and to revel in pleasures like wine; but my reflection and the natural reason that God invested in sinners distracted me and led me to seek wisdom and trample upon stupidity in order to see what was good that people could do during their lives. He perfectly compared pleasures to intoxication. For they, like intoxication, destroy the strength of the spirit, and whoever can replace this intoxication with wisdom, and (as it stands in some lists) “receive spiritual joy,” will be able to achieve knowledge of what in this life one should strive for and what to avoid. Eccl.2:4–13. I undertook great things: I built myself houses, planted vineyards for myself, built myself gardens and groves and planted all kinds of fruitful trees in them; made himself reservoirs to irrigate groves of trees from them; I acquired servants and maidservants, and I had household members; I also had more large and small livestock than all those who were in Jerusalem before me; collected for himself silver and gold and jewelry from kings and regions; He brought in singers and singers and the delights of the sons of men - various musical instruments. And I became great and rich more than all those who were in Jerusalem before me; and my wisdom remained with me. Whatever my eyes desired, I did not refuse them, I did not forbid my heart any joy, because my heart rejoiced in all my labors, and this was my share from all my labors. And I looked back at all my works that my hands had done, and at the labor that I labored in doing them: and behold, everything is vanity and vexation of spirit, and there is no benefit from them under the sun! And I turned to look at wisdom and madness and stupidity: for what can a person do after a king beyond what has already been done? And I saw that the advantage of wisdom over stupidity is the same as the advantage of light over darkness: I increased my business, built myself houses, planted vineyards for myself, and so on, to the point where he says: “The eyes of a wise man are in his head, but a fool walks in darkness.” Before I talk about particulars, it seems to me useful to briefly summarize everything and the meaning of the entire passage, so to speak, to sum it up so that it is easier to understand what is being said. As a king and a powerful man, I had everything that is considered good in the world. I built myself high palaces, planted mountains and hills with vineyards, and so that there would be no shortage of anything for a luxurious life, I planted gardens and orchards for myself and grew various trees in them, which were irrigated from above with water collected in tanks, so that the greenery would be maintained longer from the constant moisture. I had a countless number of slaves, both purchased and my own; There were also many herds of domestic animals, that is, oxen and sheep - there were as many as no king in Jerusalem had before me. I also kept innumerable treasures of silver and gold, collected from gifts from various kings and from taxes from various nations. As a result, excessive wealth carried me towards greater and greater luxury; I had orchestras of musicians playing flutes and lyres, there were choirs of singers, and men and women served at feasts. But the more this luxury increased, the more wisdom became scarce. For whatever pleasure lust carried me towards, I strove for it uncontrollably and unbridled, and thought that this was the good fruit of my labors, if I myself was exhausted in pleasures and luxury. Finally, having come to my senses and as if awakening from a heavy sleep, I looked at my hands and saw that my deeds were full of vanity, full of uncleanness, filled with the spirit of error. For I could not recognize as good anything that was considered good in the world. Therefore, having considered what are the benefits of wisdom and what are the evils of stupidity, I began to praise that person who, having curbed himself after a vicious life, could be a follower of virtue. For the distance between wisdom and stupidity is great, and as much as day differs from night, virtues differ from vices. It seems to me, therefore, that the one who follows wisdom constantly turns his eyes to heaven, that his face is turned to grief, and that he contemplates the highest; and one who is devoted to stupidity and vices is in darkness and wanders in ignorance of things. Eccl.2:4. I undertook great things: I built myself houses, I planted vineyards for myself, I have increased my works, etc. He increases his works who, in the image of the Creator, ascends to things above and builds houses, so that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit may come and dwell in them, and plants vineyards to which Jesus would tie his donkey. Eccl.2:5. built himself gardens and groves and planted all kinds of fruitful trees in them; He made gardens and vegetable gardens for himself: he planted every fruitful tree in them. In the house of a rich man there are vessels not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay. For some who are not entirely healthy and weak, vegetable gardens are also made, for whoever is unhealthy eats vegetables (Rom. 14:2); trees are planted - not all “fruitful”, as it is in the Latin lists, but all “fruits”, that is, trees of different fruits and varieties, since in the church the gifts of grace are different, and one is an eye, another is a hand, another is a foot, and we give greater care to the less perfect members (1 Cor. 12:24). Among these fruitful trees, the first place, I think, is occupied by the tree of life, which is wisdom. For if it is not planted in the middle, the other trees will also wither. Eccl.2:6. made himself reservoirs to irrigate groves of trees from them He built reservoirs for himself to irrigate groves and growing trees from them. The trees of the groves, the trees of the forests, which are barren, do not bear fruit, feed not on heavenly rain, not on waters falling from above, but on those that gather in reservoirs from streams. For plain and lowland Egypt, like a vegetable garden, is irrigated by the waters of the earth and coming from Ethiopia, and the Promised Land, like a mountainous and elevated country, awaits the early and late rain from heaven. Eccl.2:7. I acquired servants and maidservants, and I had household members; I also had more large and small livestock than all those who were in Jerusalem before me; He bought servants and maids; and I had household members, and I had a lot of beasts of burden and sheep. If now, as above, in Ecclesiastes we want to see the image of Christ, then by slaves we can understand those who have a spirit of fear in slavery and desire the spiritual more than they possess it; By maidservants we can mean those souls that are still devoted to the body and the earth; and under the households of those who, although they are in the church and superior to the indicated slaves and maidservants, have not yet been endowed by the Lord with freedom and nobility. In the estate of Ecclesiastes there are other members, whose activity and simplicity are likened to oxen and sheep: they, having no understanding and knowledge of the Scriptures, although they work in the church, have not yet reached the point of earning human dignity and rising to the image of the Creator. Please note carefully that regarding servants, maidservants and household members it is not added that there were many of them, but about oxen and sheep it is said: “I had a lot of pack animals and sheep.” For in the church there are more cattle than people, more sheep than servants, maidservants and household members. And at the end it says: “more than all those who were in Jerusalem before me.” It does not serve the great glory of Solomon that he was richer than one king, his father, because under Saul Jerusalem was not yet the capital, but was in the possession of the Jebusites, who lived in the city itself. Therefore, it should be explained in a higher sense what kind of Jerusalem it is and how Ecclesiastes was richer than all the kings who preceded him in Jerusalem. Eccl.2:8. collected for himself silver and gold and jewelry from kings and regions; He brought in singers and singers and the delights of the sons of men - various musical instruments. I collected silver and gold and jewelry from kings and regions. He brought in singers and singers and the entertainment of the sons of men, ministers and servants. Divine Scripture uses silver and gold in relation to the letter and spiritual meaning: thus, in the sixty-seventh psalm, the spiritually understood dove has its more visible and outer wings silvered, and covers the more hidden meaning inside with the shine of gold. Christ gathered into the church of believers the estates of kings and regions, or countries: those kings about whom the Psalmist sings: “the kings of the earth appeared and the princes gathered together” (Ps. 2:2), and those regions to which the Savior commands the head to be raised, for they are already turning white for the harvest (John 4:35). By the estates of kings one can understand both the teachings of philosophers and secular sciences; Having carefully studied them, the man of the church denounces the wise men for their false thinking, destroys the wisdom of the wise and rejects the understanding of the prudent (1 Cor. 1). Singers are those men or women who sing with the spirit and also sing with the mind. The singer, like a husband, like a strong and spiritual man, sings from the region of the highest; and the singer still rotates in the region of the substance that the Greeks call όλην and cannot raise her voice high. Thus, wherever Scripture speaks of woman and the weaker sex, there we should see an indication of the material. Therefore, Pharaoh wants children to remain not male, but only female, as close to substance (Ex. 10:10-11), and on the contrary, not a single saint is said, or it is said very rarely, that he gave birth to female children. And only Salphaaf, who died in sins, had only daughters (Num. 22), and the patriarch Jacob, having twelve sons, had only one daughter, and from her he suffered troubles (Gen. 30:21). The pleasures of the sons of men should be understood in relation to wisdom, which, like paradise, has various fruits and gives various pleasures and about which it is said: “delight” in the Lord, “and he will give you the petitions of your heart” (Ps. 36:4), and in another place: “I will give you a stream of your sweetness to drink” (Ps. 35:9). What was said about cupbearers and cupbearers (in order to distinguish between men and women here, which is inconvenient in Latin, I put the feminine name) Aquila translates much differently than as it appears in the text - he specifically indicates here not people, men and women, but the types of vessels, putting χολίκιον and χολίκια where in Hebrew there are sadda and saddoth, and Symmachus, although he did not translate it literally in exactly the same way, was not far from this idea, having included: types of tables and cutlery. So the meaning is that Solomon used glasses, cups and bowls at the table, decorated with gold and precious stones, and that from one κολίκί ῳ, that is, a bowl, they drew from other κυλιχίοις, that is, smaller vessels, which all who drank wine received from the hands of the servants. Therefore, since we see in Ecclesiastes the image of Christ and in Proverbs wisdom calls to itself those who pass by to the dissolved cup: then by the large cup we must understand the body of Christ, in which is not given pure deity, as it was in heaven, but for our sake dissolved in union with humanity, and through the apostles, as through the smaller κολί x ι a, - small cups and glasses, wisdom is poured out to believers all over the world. Eccl.2:9. And I became great and rich more than all those who were in Jerusalem before me; and my wisdom remained with me. And I became magnified and added wisdom more than all those who were in Jerusalem before me: and my wisdom remained with me. The exalted Ecclesiastes, apparently, is the least consistent with the Lord, unless we apply to Him the following: “he abounded in wisdom and stature and grace” (Luke 2:52) and: for this reason, “God has highly exalted Him” (Phil. 2:9). And in the words: “those who were before me in Jerusalem” he speaks of those who, before His coming, ruled the assembly of saints and the church. If we understand Scripture spiritually, then the richest of all is Christ; if only bodily, then it is better to understand this in relation to the synagogue than to the church. So, He removed the veil that was placed on the face of Moses (Ex. 34) and allowed us to see His face in full light (2 Cor. 3:14-18). Further, the fact that wisdom remained with Him, the meaning is that wisdom remained with Him during His stay in the flesh. Whoever succeeds in wisdom, his wisdom does not remain in one position, and whoever does not accept success and does not gradually grow in wisdom, but constantly possesses it in fullness, he can say: “and wisdom remained with me.” Eccl.2:10. Whatever my eyes desired, I did not refuse them, I did not forbid my heart any joy, because my heart rejoiced in all my labors, and this was my share from all my labors. And whatever my eyes asked for, I did not take away from them, and I did not forbid my heart any joy, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor. And this was my share from all my labor. The eyes of the soul and the impulses of the mind strive for spiritual contemplation, but the sinner, not knowing this contemplation, forbids true pleasure to his heart. Ecclesiastes devoted himself entirely to this contemplation and compensated for the minor sorrows in the world with eternal glory. This glory is our share and eternal reward if we strive here for the sake of virtue. Eccl.2:11. And I looked back at all my works that my hands had done, and at the labor that I labored in doing them: and behold, everything is vanity and vexation of spirit, and there is no benefit from them under the sun! And I looked back at all my works that my hands had done, and at the labor that I labored in doing. He who does everything carefully and with caution can say this: “And this is all vanity and vexation of spirit. And there is no abundance under the sun." Everything that is under the sun, He again, as in other cases, recognized as insignificant and, due to the difference in human aspirations, contradictory. And there is no abundance under the sun. Christ set His settlement in the sun (Ps. 18:5). Consequently, whoever has not yet reached the light, order and constancy of the sun, Christ can neither dwell nor abound in him. Eccl.2:12. And I turned to look at wisdom and madness and stupidity: for what can a person do after a king beyond what has already been done? And I looked around to see wisdom, and error, and stupidity: for which of the people can follow the king and his creator? since above, to the place where Scripture says: “the eyes of a wise man are in his head,” I summarized everything in one thought, in order to briefly indicate the meaning, and therefore in the future I touched only on a little, clarifying the mysterious meaning of it: then now I must conduct my presentation in accordance with how I began. The meaning of this passage is largely evaded by the translation of the Seventy. Ecclesiastes says that he, having condemned pleasures and pleasures, returned to the search for wisdom, in which he found more errors and stupidity than true and solid knowledge. For man cannot understand the wisdom of his Creator and King as clearly and purely as He Himself, the Creator, understands. Therefore, what we know is more conjecture than solid truth, and more conjecture than real knowledge. Eccl.2:13. And I saw that the advantage of wisdom over stupidity is the same as the advantage of light over darkness: And I saw that wisdom prevails over foolishness, just as light prevails over darkness. Although, he says, I saw that human wisdom itself is combined with error and cannot penetrate our minds as purely as it exists in our King and Creator; However, I became convinced that even in our world there is a great difference between wisdom and stupidity, the same as between day and night, light and darkness. Eccl.2:14. a wise man's eyes are in his head, but a fool walks in darkness; but I learned that one fate befalls them all. The eyes of a wise man are in his head, but a fool walks in darkness. But I learned that the same fate befalls them all. Whoever becomes a perfect man and is worthy to have Christ as his head will always turn his eyes to Christ and, raising them to things above, will never think about things below. But, if this is so, and if there is such a difference between the wise and the foolish that one can be compared to day, and the other to darkness, that one raises his eyes to Him, and the other lowers them: then the question involuntarily arises in my mind: why do the wise and the foolish perish in the same way, why do both suffer the same calamities, the same outcome, the same death, the same misfortunes? Eccl.2:15–16. And I said in my heart: “And the same fate will befall me as a fool: why have I become very wise?” And I said in my heart that this too is vanity; because the wise will not be remembered forever, nor will the fool; in the days to come everything will be forgotten, and alas! the wise man dies equally with the foolish man. And I said in my heart: As is the end of a fool, the same will befall me: and why then have I become wise? And I said in my heart that this too is vanity. For the wise man, together with the fool, will have no memory forever; because in the days to come everything will be covered by oblivion. But how will the wise die with the fool? I said: the wise and the foolish, the righteous and the wicked will die with the same fate, and with an equal share they will suffer all kinds of disasters in this world: what benefit is it to me that I followed wisdom and worked more than others? Thinking it over again and carefully examining it with my mind, I found this opinion of mine to be in vain. For the wise and the foolish will have different memories in the future, when the end of everything comes, and their outcome will be different, since one will go to rewards, and the other to punishment. In this place, the Seventy Interpreters translated the Hebrew meaning more clearly, although they could not keep their thoughts: “And why did I become wise? Then I unnecessarily said in my heart - for the fool speaks unnecessarily - that this too is vanity, because there is no remembrance for the wise with the fool forever,” etc. That is, denouncing that his previous opinion was unreasonable, he testified that he spoke unfairly and was mistaken when he previously thought so. Eccl.2:17. And I hated life, because the things that were done under the sun became disgusting to me; for all is vanity and vexation of spirit! And I hated life, for the deed done under the sun is evil for me, for all is vanity and the grazing of the wind. If the world lies in evil and in this dwelling the apostle sighs, saying: “Wretched is the man who will deliver me from the body of this death” (Rom. 7:24): then rightly he hates everything that has been done under the sun. For in comparison with the paradise and bliss of that life, in which we enjoyed spiritual fruits and the joys of virtues, we are now, as it were, in exile and prison, in a vale of tears, eating bread by the sweat of our brow. Eccl.2:18–19. And I hated all my labor with which I worked under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows: will he be wise or foolish? And he will dispose of all my labor, with which I labored and with which I showed myself wise under the sun. And this is vanity! And I hated all my labor with which I toil under the sun, because I leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be wise or foolish. And he will be in charge of all my labor, in which I have labored, and in which I have become wise under the sun: but this too is vanity. Apparently, he again speaks of wealth and estates - that, being comprehended, according to the Gospel, by unexpected death, we do not know what kind of person will be after our death who will benefit from our labor. A similar fate befell Solomon, since in Rehoboam he did not have a son like himself. From this we see that a son is also unworthy of his father’s inheritance if he is unreasonable. But, in more sublime contemplation, it seems to me that Solomon is speaking here about spiritual work - that a wise man works day and night in the study of the Scriptures and composes books in order to leave a memory of himself for posterity, but his labors fall into the hands of the foolish, who often, due to the depravity of their hearts, borrow from them the seeds of heresies and dishonor the works of others. For if in this place Ecclesiastes is talking about bodily wealth, then why did he need to talk about work and estates: “and he will dispose of all my labor with which I labored and in which I became wise under the sun.” Because what wisdom is there to collect earthly wealth? Eccl.2:20–23. And I turned to inspire my heart to renounce all the labor that I have worked under the sun, because another person works wisely, with knowledge and success, and must give everything to a person who has not worked in that, as it were, a part of him. And this is vanity and great evil! For what will a man have from all his labor and the care of his heart, that he labors under the sun? Because all his days are sorrows, and his labors are anxiety; even at night his heart does not know peace. And this is vanity! And I turned to deny to my heart all my labor, in which I labored under the sun, because a man labors in wisdom, and knowledge, and virtue, and to the man who has not labored, he will give his share. And this is vanity and much evil. For what happens to a man in all his labor and in the striving of his heart, with which he labors under the sun? For all his days are days of vexation and worries, and even at night his heart does not sleep. But this is also vanity." Above he speaks of an unknown heir - that it is unknown whether a foolish or a wise one will dispose of the works of another. Now, although he repeats the same thing, the meaning is different in the sense that even if a person leaves his labors to his son, relative or someone known, then nevertheless the matter comes down to the same thing, that another uses the labor of a person and what is acquired later by the deceased serves for the enjoyment of the living. Let everyone ask himself, and he will find out with what difficulty he compiles books, how Often the style must be inverted to make it worth reading (Ex Horat. Sat. p. 1 sat. 10). and meanwhile he gives his part to the man who did not work. For how can wisdom and knowledge and virtue, in which man, according to Ecclesiastes, labored, relate to earthly possessions, when wisdom, knowledge and virtue despise earthly things? Eccl.2:24–26. It is not in man’s power to eat and drink and to delight his soul from his labor. I saw that this too was from the hand of God; for who can eat and who can enjoy without Him? For to the man who is good before Him, He gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; and gives the sinner the trouble of collecting and hoarding, so that later he can give it to the good before the face of God. And this is vanity and languor of spirit! There is no good for a person except to eat and drink, and to bring good to his soul in his work. I also saw that this too was from the hand of God. For who will eat and who will save without Him? Because He gave wisdom and knowledge and joy to the good man before Him, and He gave care to the sinner, so that he would collect and save for the transfer of good things before the face of God. But this is also vanity and languor of spirit. After I thought about everything and saw that there is nothing more unjust than to use the labor of another, it seemed to me that in the course of affairs it is most fair and is, as it were, a gift of God, when someone himself uses his own labor, drinks, eats and from time to time saves the wealth he collects. It is also a gift of God that a righteous husband is given the opportunity to use for his own benefit what he has acquired through care and labor; and vice versa, it is the work of God’s wrath towards the sinner that he accumulates wealth day and night and does not use it at all, but leaves it to those who are righteous before the face of God. But, he adds, having carefully discussed this and seeing that everything ends in death, I considered this too vain. However, this is a literal interpretation, so that it does not seem that I am completely omitting the simple meaning, and having in mind the spiritual richness, I neglect the poverty of the historical meaning. For what good is there or what gift of God is it, either to enjoy our wealth and, as it were, to chase after fleeting pleasures, or to turn the labor of others into our own benefit and consider that it is a gift of God, if we take advantage of other people’s cares and labors? Therefore, it is good to receive the true drink of the flesh and blood of the Lamb of whom the divine Scriptures speak. For who can either eat it or, when necessary, save it, without God, who commands not to throw the holy to the dogs (Matthew 7:6) and teaches how to give food to servants on time (Matthew 24:45) and, as they say elsewhere, he eats the honey he finds as much as he should (Proverbs 25:16). And he says beautifully that God gives wisdom, knowledge and joy to a good person: for if he is not good and does not first correct his morals by his own will, then he does not deserve wisdom, knowledge and joy, according to what was said elsewhere: “sow righteousness for yourself, gather the fruit of life, enlighten yourself with the light of knowledge” (Hos. 10:12). First we must sow the truth and reap the fruit of the belly, and then the light of knowledge can be revealed to us. While God gives wisdom and so on to the good before Him, He leaves the sinner to his own will and allows him to gather wealth and sew together a lining of false teachings from here and there. Having become acquainted with these teachings, a holy and godly man understands that they are vain and arose from languor of spirit. And one should not be surprised that he said: “he gave to the sinner” and so on. This should be understood in the same sense that I have often spoken about: he was given torment or entertainment because he is a sinner, and the reason for this torment is not in God, but in him, who previously sinned by his own will.