Ecclesiastes 2:10

Ecc 2:10 And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.

Ver. 10. And whatsoever mine eyes desired, &c.] I fed them with pleasant pictures, shows, sights, and other objects of delight, which yet have plus deceptionis quam delectationis, {a} able to entice and ready to kill the entangled. How many are there that have died of the wound in the eye; David, knowing the danger, prayeth, "Turn away mine eyes from beholding of vanity." {Psa 119:37} Job steps one degree further, from a prayer to a vow, {Job 31:1} yea, from a vow to an imprecation. {Ecc 2:7} If our first parents fell by following the sight of their eyes and lust of their hearts, what can Solomon or any of us promise of ourselves, qui animas etiam incarnavimus, who have made our very spirit a lump of flesh, prone to entertain vice, yea, to solicit it?

For my heart rejoiced in all my labour.] This is not every worldling’s happiness. For some live not to enjoy what they have raked together, as that rich fool in the gospel; others live indeed, but live beside what they have gotten, as not daring to diminish ought, but defrauding their own genius, and denying themselves necessaries. So did not Solomon, and yet he found not the good he sought for either, as he tells us in the next words. Nor is it want of variety in these pleasures, but inward weakness, an emptiness and insufficiency in the creature. In heaven the objects of our delight and blessedness shall be, though uniform, yet everlastingly pleasing.

{a} Lactant.

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.

2:10 I even found great pleasure in hard work: The Teacher introduces a significant, repetitive theme: Joy comes from wise and rigorous work (5:12, 18-20).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

This was the fruit of all my labor, a certain pleasure mixed with care, which he calleth vanity in the next verse.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

my labour--in procuring pleasures.

this--evanescent "joy" was my only "portion out of all my labor" (Ecc 3:22; Ecc 5:18; Ecc 9:9; Kg1 10:5).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 10. I withheld not my heart from any joy] He had every means of gratification; he could desire nothing that was not within his reach; and whatever he wished, he took care to possess.

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

10. whatsoever mine eyes desired] From such a life the idea of self-denial, even of self-control, was absolutely excluded. Money and power were but means to the end, and the end proposed was the gratification of the “desire of the eyes,” not identified with the “lust of the flesh,” but closely allied to it (1Jn_2:16), in all its restless cravings. It was not altogether a fruitless effort. Such joy as these things could bring he had in abundant measure. It was for a time his “portion.” Like the rich man in the parable of Luk_16:25 he had his “good things,” and could not complain that the experiment failed as through imperfect apparatus. He also was tasting of the “tree of knowledge of good and evil,” and found that it was “good for food, and pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise” (Gen_3:6).

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.

And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them,.... Though this sense is only mentioned, all are designed; he denied himself of nothing that was agreeable to him, that was pleasing to the eye, to the ear, to the taste, or any other sense; he indulged himself in everything, observing a proper decorum, and keeping himself within the due bounds of sobriety and good sense;

I withheld not my heart from any joy: the Targum says, "from all joy of the law"; but it is to be understood of natural pleasure, and of the gratifications of the senses in a wise and moderate manner;

for my heart rejoiced in all my labours; he took all the pleasure that could be taken in the works he wrought for that purpose before enumerated;

and this was my portion of all my labour; pleasure was what he aimed at, and that he enjoyed; this was the fruit and issue of all his laborious works; the part allotted him, the inheritance he possessed, and the thing he sought after.

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

Portion - A word of frequent occurrence. By it Solomon describes the pleasure found in the act of working and also perhaps the pleasure felt in the process of acquiring wisdom; this pleasure is admitted to be good, if received from God (Ecc 2:26; Ecc 5:18; compare 1Ti 4:4); but being transitory it is subject to vanity, and therefore does not afford a sufficient answer to the repeated question, “What profit etc.?” Ecc 1:3.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Labour. Hebrew, "and this was my portion of all my labour." I perceived that I could not thus obtain content. (Calmet) --- "Thou (O God) hast made us for thyself, and our hearts are restless till they repose in thee." (St. Augustine, Confessions i. 1.) (Menochius) --- Aurelius makes the same confession as Solomon, respecting the insatiable nature of his own heart, and the emptiness of pleasure, &c.

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).

Whatsoever mine eyes desired; whatsoever was grateful to my senses, or my heart desired. He ascribes desire to the eyes, because the sight of the eyes is the usual and powerful incentive of desires; of which see Jos 7:21; Job 31:1; Mat 5:28.

I kept not from them; I denied myself nothing, at least of lawful delights, but went to the very utmost bounds of them; which was the occasion of his falling afterward into sinful pleasures. I withheld not my heart from any joy; as my heart was vehemently set upon pleasure, so I did not resist or curb it therein, but made all possible provisions to gratify it.

My heart rejoiced in all my labour; I had the comfort of all my labours, and was not hindered from the free and full enjoyment of them by sickness or war, or any other calamities occurrent.

This was my portion of all my labour; this present and temporary enjoyment of them was all the benefit which I could expect or receive from all my labours, so that I made the best of them. I had a heart to use them, which many men through covetousness have not; and I tasted the sweetness of them, which many others cannot do; and therefore if any man could arrive at happiness by this means, I had done it.

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

10. Mine eyes desired — This experiment, so broad and full, was not the reckless conduct of a debauchee, but there was method and discretion in it.

My heart rejoiced — Hebrew, (an unusual form.) was in the way to get joy from all my labour.

And this was — Hebrew, and this would be.

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

Whatsoever mine eyes desired. The lust of the eyes, (1Jn_2:16) all that he saw and desired, he took measures to obtain. He denied himself no gratification, however foolish (ver. 3). For my heart rejoiced in all my labor; i.e. found joy in what my labor procured for it. (Pro_5:18) This was the reason why he withheld not his heart from any joy; kept it, as it were, ready to taste any pleasure which his exertions might obtain. This was my portion of all my labor. Such joy was that which he won from his labor, he had his reward, such as it was (Mat_6:2; Luk_16:25) This term "portion" (cheleq) recurs often (e.g. ver. 21; Ecc_3:22 Ecc_5:18, etc.; so RAPC Wis 2:9) in the sense of the result obtained by labor or con-duet. And what a meagre and unsatisfying result it was which he gained! Contrast the apostle"s teaching, "All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the vain-glory of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever". (1Jn_2:16, 1Jn_2:17)

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

And - Whatsoever was grateful to my senses. Rejoiced - I had the comfort of all my labours, and was not hindered from the full enjoyment of them by sickness or war, or any other calamity. My portion - This present enjoyment of them, was all the benefit which I could expect from all my labours. So that I made the best of them.

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

I did not deprive I did not distance them to separate from them, and so (Num. 11:25): “and He held back (וַיָאצֶל) some of the spirit...and placed [it] on...the elders,” like a candelabrum from which many candles are kindled, and its light is not at all diminished.

and this was my portion And after doing all these, I have nothing [left] of all of them but this. Rav and Shmuel [differ]: One says, his staff, and one says, his cup. קִידוֹ is an earthenware cup, from which [people] drink (Gittin 68b). Others in the Midrash Aggadah (Ecc. Zuta 2:8) interpret the entire section as referring to study halls, students, and synagogues [as follows]:

[6] a forest sprouting with trees the ignorant people, for the work of fields and vineyards.

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.