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For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:
Verse 1. Heaven, in this world, where alone things change. Saint Jerome—Nothing is here perpetual, but to be used in a proper manner. Worthington.—The heart must not be attached to any thing created. Calmet.—Pleasure had been condemned and approved. Calmet. 2. He shews that all must have its time. Menochius.
a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
Verse 5. Stones, with a sling, or to render a field useless. 4 Kennicott. 3:25. Isaiah 5:2.—Embraces. Countenance was sometimes prescribed for married people. Leviticus 20:18 and 1 Corinthians 7. Saint Jerome Saint Augustine Ench. 78. Calmet.—Hatred often succeeds love. verse 8 and 2 Kennicott. 13:14. Bible.
a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.
What profit has he who works in that in which he labors?
Verse 9. Labour? What advantage does he derive from any of these things? Calmet. 1:3. Calmet.
I have seen the burden which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in their hearts, yet so that man can’t find out the work that God has done from the beginning even to the end.
Verse 11. Consideration. Lit. “dispute.” Hebrew and Septuagint “heart.” Bible.—Pagn. “He has implanted the desire of immortality in their hearts.”—End. If we could discover the properties of each thing, we should be in raptures; ( Calmet.) but as we cannot, this increases our vexation. Menochius.
I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice, and to do good as long as they live.
Verse 12. Well; virtuously: or, perhaps, as literally, to enjoy himself. verse 13. Calmet.—Thus thinks the man of pleasure. Isaiah 22:13. Saint Jerome
Also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy good in all his labor, is the gift of God.
Verse 13. God. He gives peace and plenty; and still more, the grace to use these things, so as to obtain heaven. Calmet.
I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; and God has done it, that men should fear before him.
Verse 14. Feared. The order of the seasons, and so forth teaches men to adore Providence. Saint Jerome—He has arranged every thing, how mutable soever. Saint Augustine Conf. i. 6.
That which is has been long ago, and that which is to be has been long ago. God seeks again that which is passed away.
Verse 15. Past. He causes plants to spring forth afresh. Hebrew Septuagint and so forth “But will God seek after the oppressed?” Here commences another objection. Calmet.
Moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there.
I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.”
Verse 17. And then. Prot. “for there is a time there (verse 1) for every purpose, and for every work.” At the day of judgment all will receive their due. Bible.
I said in my heart, “As for the sons of men, God tests them, so that they may see that they themselves are like animals.
Verse 18. Beasts. Another doubt; or suggestion of infidels. Saint Gregory Dial. iv. 4.
For that which happens to the sons of men happens to animals. Even one thing happens to them. As the one dies, so the other dies. Yes, they have all one breath; and man has no advantage over the animals, for all is vanity.
Verse 19. Man hath nothing more, and so forth that is as to the life of the body. Challoner.
All go to one place. All are from the dust, and all turn to dust again.
Who knows the spirit of man, whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, whether it goes downward to the earth?”
Verse 21. Who knoweth, and so forth that is experimentally; since no one in this life can see a spirit. But as to the spirits of the beasts, which is merely animal, and becomes extinct by the death of the beast, who can tell the manner it acts so as to give life and motion, and by death to descend downward, that is, to be no more? Challoner.—Few are able to prove that the soul of man is immortal rather that that of beasts, since the bodies of both are subject to the like inconveniences. The objection is answered Calmet. 12:7. Calmet.—The difficulty of answering is intimated by “Who?” and so forth Psalms 14:1. Menochius.
Therefore I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his works, for that is his portion; for who can bring him to see what will be after him?
Verse 22. After him. He knows not who shall be his heir, or how soon he may die. None returns from the other world to inform him of what is there transacted. Thus the libertine encourages himself. Calmet.