Ecclesiastes 12:10

Ecc 12:10 The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and [that which was] written [was] upright, [even] words of truth.

Ver. 10. The Preacher sought, &c.] He sought and sought, by pains and prayer. He knew the rule, Bene orasse, est bene studuisse, {a} To have prayed well is to have studied well. By prayer and tears St John got the book opened. {Rev 5:4} Luther got much of his insight into God’s matters by the same means.

To find out acceptable words.] Verba desiderata; so Cajetan renders it. Verba delectabilia; so Tremellius. Verba expetibilia; so Vatablus. Delectable and desirable words, dainty expressions, that might both please and profit, tickle the ear, and with it take the heart. Such a master of speech was Paul, {Act 14:12} who thundered and lightened {b} in his discourses like another Pericles. Such a one was Apollos, that eloquent preacher, "mighty in the Scriptures," ειπειν δεινοτατος, like another Phocion, a weighty speaker; such were many of the Greek and Latin fathers. Ambrose for one, whom when Augustine heard preach, Veniebant, saith he, in animum meum simul cum verbis quae deligebam, etiam res quas negligebam, There came into my mind, together with the words which I chiefly looked after, the matter which till then I made no reckoning of. Et res et verba. Both deeds and words. Philip Melanchthon could dress his doctrine in dainty terms, and so slide insensibly into the hearts of his hearers. Egit vir eloquens ut intelligenter ut obedienter audiretur, as Augustine {c} hath it; This eloquent man took pains that he might be heard with understanding, with obedience. The like might be said of Calvin, famous for the purity of his style and the holiness of his matter. Viret, in whose sermons singularem eloquentiam et in commovendis affectibus efficacitatem admirabar, saith Zanchy, {d} greatly admired at his singular eloquence and skill to work upon the affections by his elaborate discourses.

And that which was written was upright.] A corde ad cor, void of all insincerity and falsehood. {Pro 8:8} Seducers come for the most part with pithanology - " by good words and fair speeches they deceive the hearts of the simple." {Rom 16:18} But our Preacher’s words are of another alloy, not more delicious and toothsome, than sound and wholesome, {2Ti 3:16} proceeding from a right heart, and tending to make men upright, transforming them into the same image, and transfusing them into the divine nature.

{a} Luther.

{b} Intonabat. fulgurabat Cicero. - Plutarch.

{c} De Doct. Christ., lib. iv. cap. 14.

{d} Zanch. Miscell., Ep. Dedic.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 10. He sought to find out acceptable words] דברי חפץ dibrey chephets, words of desire, words of will; the best, the most suitable words; those which the people could best understand. But these words were not such as might merely please the people; they were words of truth; such as came from God, and might lead them to him.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words] Literally, words of delight, or pleasure, as in chs. Ecc_5:4, Ecc_12:1. The phrase reminds us of “the words of grace” (Luk_4:22) which came from the lips of Him, who, as the Incarnate Wisdom of God, was, in very deed, greater than Solomon. The fact is stated as by way of apologia for the character of the book. The object of the teacher was to attract men by meeting, or seeming to meet, their inclinations, by falling in with the results of their own experience. We are reminded so far of the words of Lucretius:

“Nam veluti pueris absinthia tetra medentes,

Cum dare conantur, prius oras pocula circum

Contingunt mellis dulci, flavoque liquore,

Ut puerorum ætas improvida ludificetur

Labrorum tenus, interea perpotet amarum

Absinthî laticem, deceptaque non capiatur,

Sed potius tali pacto recreata valescat.”

“As those who heal the body, when they seek

To give to children wormwood’s nauseous juice,

First smear the cup’s rim with sweet golden honey,

That infant’s thoughtless age may be beguiled

Just to the margin’s edge, and so may drink

The wormwood’s bitter draught, beguiled, not tricked,

But rather gain thereby in strength and health.”

De Rer. Nat. iv. 11–17.

and that which was written was upright] The italics shew that the sentence is somewhat elliptical, and it is better to take the two sets of phrases in apposition with the “acceptable words” that precede them, even a writing of uprightness (i.e. of subjective sincerity), words of truth (in its objective sense). The words are, thus understood, a full testimony to the character of the book thus commended to the reader’s attention.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The preacher sought to find out acceptable words,.... Not mere words, fine and florid ones, the words which man's wisdom teacheth, an elegant style, or eloquent language; not but that it is proper for a preacher to seek out and use words suitable and apt to convey right ideas to the minds of men of what he says; but doctrines are rather here meant, "words of desire", "delight", and "pleasure" (d), as the phrase may be rendered; even of God's good will and pleasure, so Alshech; for the same word is sometimes used of God in this book and elsewhere: see Ecc 3:1; and so may take in the doctrine of God's everlasting love to his people, and his delight and pleasure in them; of his good will towards them in sending Christ to suffer and die for them, and save them; in pardoning their sins through his blood, in which he delights; in regenerating and calling them by his grace, and revealing the things of the Gospel to them, when he hides them from others, which is all of his own will and pleasure, and as it seems good in his sight: or words and doctrines, which are desirable, pleasing, and acceptable unto men; not that Solomon did, or preachers should, seek to please men, or seek to say things merely for the sake of pleasing men, for then they would not be the servants of Christ; nor are the doctrines of the Gospel pleasing to carnal men, but the reverse: they gnash their teeth at them, as Christ's hearers did at him; the preaching of a crucified Christ is foolishness, and the things of the Spirit of God are insipid things, to natural men; they are enemies to the Gospel: but to sensible sinners they are very delightful, such as peace, pardon, righteousness, and salvation, by Christ, Ti1 1:15; for the worth of them, they are more desirable to them than gold and silver, and are more delightful to the ear than the best of music, and more acceptable to the taste than honey or the honeycomb, Psa 19:10;

and that which was written was upright; meaning what was written in this book, or in any other parts of Scripture, which the preacher sought out and inculcated; it was according to the mind and will of God, and to the rest of the sacred word; it was sincere, unmixed, and unadulterated with the doctrines and inventions of men; it showed that man had lost his uprightness, had none of himself, and where it was to be had, even in Christ; and was a means of making men sound, sincere, and upright at heart; and of directing them to walk uprightly, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in the world;

even words of truth; which come from the God of truth, that cannot lie, as all Scripture does; of which Christ, who is the truth, is the sum and substance; and which are inspired by the Spirit of truth, and led into by him, and made effectual to saving purposes; and which holds good of the whole Scripture, called the Scripture of truth, Dan 10:1; and of the Gospel, which is the word of truth, and of every doctrine of it, Joh 17:17.

(d) "verba complacentiae vel beneplaciti", Vatablus; "verba desiderii", Amama, Rambachius; "verba delectabilia", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius, Mercerus, Gejerus; so Broughton; "verba voluptatis", Cocceius.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

CHAPTER XII.

Profitable. Hebrew, "pleasing." Utile dulci. (Haydock) --- Perhaps he condemns his attempt to know all things, chap. i. 13. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Acceptable words, Heb. desirable or delightful, worthy of all acceptation, such as would minister comfort and profit so the hearers or readers.

Written by the preacher in this and his other books.

Upright, Heb. right or straight, agreeable to the mind or will of God, which is the rule of right, not crooked or perverse.

Words of truth; not fables cunningly devised to deceive the simple, but true and certain doctrines, which commend themselves to men’s own consciences or reasons; wholesome and edifying counsels.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. Acceptable words — Hebrew, Words of consolation. Feeling deeply for the sorrows of his kind, he found that the words that gave them relief were the frank utterances of sincerity and truth. Such are the words of this essay, which states with fearless accuracy, like that of Shakspeare, the aspects of life as actually seen from many and various positions.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words; literally, words of delight; logouv qelhmatov (Septuagint); verba utilia (Vulgate); so Aquila, logouv creiav. The word chephets, "pleasure," occurs in Ecc_5:4 Ecc_12:1. Thus we have "stones of pleasure". (Isa_54:12) He added the grace of refined diction to the solid sense of his utterances. Plumptre reminds us of the "gracious words", (logoiv thv caritov Luk_4:22) which proceeded from the mouth of him who, being the Incarnate Wisdom of God, was indeed greater than Solomon. On the necessity of a work being attractive as well as conforming to literary rules, Horace long ago wrote ("Ars Poet.," 99)

Non satis est pulchra esse poemata; dulcia sunto, Et quoeunque volent animum auditoris agunto.

"Tis not enough that poems faultless be, And fair; let them be tender too, and draw The hearer by the cord of sympathy.

St. Augustine is copious on this subject in his treatise, "De Doctr. Christ.;" thus (4:26): "Proinde ilia tria, ut intelligant qui audiunt, ut delectentur, ut obediant, etiam in hoc genere agendum est, ubi tenet delectatio principatum .... Sed quis movetur, si nescit quod dicitur? Ant quis tenetur ut audiat, si non delectatur?" And that which was written was upright, even words of truth. The Authorized Version, with its interpolations, does not accurately convey the sense of the original. The sentence is to be regarded as containing phrases in apposition to the "acceptable words" of the first clause; thus: "Koheleth sought to discover words of pleasure, and a writing in sincerity, words of truth. "The Septuagint has, kainon eujquthtov, "a writing of uprightness;" Vulgate, et conscripsit sermones rectissimos. The meaning is that what he wrote had two characteristics it was sincere, that which he really thought and believed, and it was true objectively. If any reader was disposed to cavil, and to depreciate the worth of the treatise because it was not the genuine work of the celebrated Solomon, the writer claims attention to his production on the ground of its intrinsic qualities, as inspired by the same wisdom which animated his great predecessor.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Acceptable - Such as would comfort and profit the readers.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

It is further said of Koheleth, that he put forth efforts not only to find words of a pleasant form, but, above all, of exact truth: "Koheleth strove to find words of pleasantness, and, written in sincerity, words of truth." The unconnected beginning biqqesh Koheleth is like dibbarti ani, Ecc 1:16, etc., in the book itself. Three objects follow limtso. But Hitz. reads the inf. absol. וכתוב instead of וכתוּב, and translates: to find pleasing words, and correctly to write words of truth. Such a continuance of the inf. const. by the inf. absol. is possible; Sa1 25:26, Sa1 25:31. But why should וכתוב not be the continuance of the finite (Aq., Syr.), as e.g., at Ecc 8:9, and that in the nearest adverbial sense: et scribendo quidem sincere verba veritatis, i.e., he strove, according to his best knowledge and conscience, to write true words, at the same time also to find out pleasing words; thus sought to connect truth as to the matter with beauty as to the manner? Vechathuv needs no modification in its form. But it is not to be translated: and that which was right was written by him; for the ellipsis is inadmissible, and כתוב מן is not correct Heb. Rightly the lxx, καὶ γεγραμμένον εὐθύτητος. כּתוּב signifies "written," and may also, as the name of the Hagiographa כּתוּבים shows, signify "a writing;" kakathuvah, Ch2 30:5, is = "in accordance with the writing;" and belo kǎkathuv, Ch2 30:18, "contrary to the writing;" in the post-bibl. the phrase אמר הכּתוּב = ἡ γραφὴ λέγει, is used. The objection made by Ginsburg, that kathuv never means, as kethav does, "a writing," is thus nugatory. However, we do not at all here need this subst. meaning, וכתוב is neut. particip., and ישׁר certainly not the genit., as the lxx renders (reading וּכתוּב), but also not the nom. of the subj. (Hoelem.), but, since ישׁר is the designation of a mode of thought and of a relation, the accus. of manner, like veyashar, Psa 119:18; emeth, Psa 132:11; emunah, Psa 119:75. Regarding the common use of such an accus. of the nearer definition in the passive part., vid., Ewald, 284c. The asyndeton vechathuv yosher divre emeth is like that at Ecc 10:1, mehhochmah michvod. That which follows limtso we interpret as its threefold object. Thus it is said that Koheleth directed his effort towards an attractive form (cf. avne-hephets, Isa 54:12); but, before all, towards the truth, both subjectively (ישׁר) and objectively (אמת), of that which was formulated and expressed in writing.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

using vivid ... words

The Teacher wanted the words to be pleasurable to the listener. They bring pleasure because they are well written, not because they are comforting.

The words of wise people ... taught by one shepherd

The writer speaks of the teacher who uses his words to instruct people as if the teacher were a shepherd who uses his tools to lead his flock. (See: Metaphor)

The words of wise people are like goads

This is a simile. AT: "Wise people encourage people to act, like a sharp stick encourages an animal to move" (See: Simile)

Like nails driven deeply are the words of the masters in collections of their proverbs

This is a simile. AT: "Like you can depend on a nail that a person drives firmly into a piece of wood, so you can depend on the words of the masters in collections of their proverbs" (See: Simile)

the words of the masters in collections of their proverbs

"the wise words collected in their proverbs" or "the sayings of the wise"

which are taught by one shepherd

This can be stated in active form. AT: "which one shepherd teaches" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

righteous

word

true

lord

proverb

shepherd

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Koheleth sought He set his heart and sought the matter and found it.

words of delight the halachah for Moses from Sinai.

and properly recorded This refers to the Written Torah and the Prophets.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.