translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: ECC

label: NET study note

text: The phrase “to see what is good” ( רָאָה , ra ’ ah , “to see” + טוֹב , tov , “good”) is repeated twice in 2:1-3 . This is the key phrase in this section of Ecclesiastes. Qoheleth sought to discover ( רָאָה ) whether merry-making offered any value ( טוֹב ) to mankind.


text: The expression for myself is repeated eight times in 2:4-8 to emphasize that Qoheleth did not deny himself any acquisition. He indulged himself in acquiring everything he desired. His vast resources as king allowed him the unlimited opportunity to indulge himself. He could have anything his heart desired, and he did.


text: See 1:17 for the same expression. Throughout 2:1-11 , Qoheleth evaluated the merits of merrymaking ( 2:1-3 ), accomplishing grand things ( 2:4-6 ), amassing great wealth ( 2:7-8 ), and secular acquisitions and accomplishments ( 2:9-10 ). Now, he reflects on the benefit in life in living wisely and not giving oneself over to frivolous self-indulgence.


text: The common fate to which Qoheleth refers is death.


text: The phrase the task of amassing wealth ( Heb “the task of gathering and heaping up”) implicitly compares the work of the farmer reaping his crops and storing them up in a barn, to the work of the laborer amassing wealth as the fruit of his labor. However, rather than his storehouse being safe for the future, the sinner is deprived of it.


text: The three-fold repetition of the Hebrew word translated “give” in the first part of this verse creates irony: God “gives” the righteous the ability to prosper and to find enjoyment in his work; but to the wicked He “gives” the task of “giving” his wealth to the righteous.