Ecclesiastes 1:18

“For in much wisdom [is] much grief, etc.] In getting it, and losing it when it is gotten: or “indignation”f45, at himself and others; being more sensible of the follies and weakness of human nature; and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow: for, the more he knows, the more he would know, and is more eager after it, and puts himself to more pains and trouble to acquire it; and hereby becomes more and more sensible of his own ignorance; and of the difficulty of attaining the knowledge he would come at; and of the insufficiency of it to make him easy and happy: and besides, the more knowledge he has, the more envy it draws upon him from others, who set themselves to oppose him, and…”

“wisdom . . . knowledge--not in general, for wisdom, &c., are most excellent in their place; but speculative knowledge of man's ways (Ecc 1:13, Ecc 1:17), which, the farther it goes, gives one the more pain to find how "crooked" and "wanting" they are (Ecc 1:15; Ecc 12:12). He next tries pleasure and luxury, retaining however, his worldly "wisdom" (Ecc 3:9), but all proves "vanity" in respect to the chief good. Next: Ecclesiastes Chapter 2”

“We become more sensible of our ignorance and impotence, and therefore sorrowful, in proportion as we discover more of the constitution of nature and the scheme of Providence in the government of the world; every discovery serving to convince us that more remains concealed of which we had no suspicion before. return to 'Top of Page' Footnotes: Copyright Statement These files are public domain. Bibliographical Information Barnes, Albert. "Commentary on Ecclesiastes 1". "Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/bnb/ecclesiastes-1.html. 1870. StudyLight.org © 2001-2026 Powered by Lightspeed Technology”

“Grief - Or, displeasure within himself, and against his present condition. Sorrow - Which he does many ways, because he gets his knowledge with hard and wearisome labour, both of mind and body, with the consumption of his spirits, and shortening of his life; because he is often deceived with knowledge falsely so called, and often mistakes error for truth, and is perplexed with manifold doubts, from which ignorant men are wholly free; because he hath the clearer prospect into, and quicker sense of his own ignorance, and infirmities, and disorders, and withal how vain and ineffectual all his knowledge is for the prevention or removal of them; and because his knowledge is very imperfect and…”

“For in: Ecc 2:15, Ecc 7:16, Ecc 12:12, Ecc 12:13; Job 28:28; Co1 3:18-20; Jam 3:13-17 Next: Ecclesiastes Chapter 2”