And he adds the magnitude of the toil: All the days of his life he eats in darkness, on account of loneliness; and in many cares, on account of anxiety; and in distress, on account of the scantiness of expenditures; and sadness, on account of the necessity of expenditures. For he is saddened because he must eat something: Ecclesiasticus 14: "The wicked and envious eye will not be satisfied with bread, and the needy one will be in sadness at his own table." Riches cause a man to be in cares and distresses, because Matthew 13: "The anxiety of this world and the deceitfulness of riches chokes the word."
(Vers. 17. 18. 19.). This therefore seemed good to me. Here thirdly he commends the enjoyment of gladness in detestation of the affliction of avarice. For since the miser afflicts himself, and nothing profits him, therefore it seemed good to him to eat; and for this reason he says: This therefore seemed good to me, that one should eat and drink, as regards exterior pleasantness; and enjoy gladness from his toil, with which he has toiled under the sun: gladness, as regards interior pleasantness; and this, while he can; whence he also adds: The number of the days of his life, which God has given him, as if he should not expect another time. And this is his portion. Concerning all these things, Isaiah 22: "Behold joy and gladness, slaying rams, eating flesh and drinking wine; let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die," as if that were one's portion.
And he approves this consideration, as though it pleases God; whence he also adds: And to every man to whom God has given substance and riches: for these things are from God; whence Ecclesiasticus 11: "Good things and evil, life and death, poverty and honor are from God." And has given him power to eat thereof, delighting outwardly; and to enjoy his portion, resting in these things; and to rejoice in his toil, joyfully expending what has been acquired. This is the gift of God, for this power is from God, because John 15: "Without me you can do nothing." And he shows that it is a great gift, because the torment of cares and anxieties, which are great punishments, are tempered through delights. Therefore he adds: rightly do I say that it is the gift of God, insofar as it frees from the torments of avarice.
For he will not much remember the days of his life, that is, he will not be much afflicted by cares that pertain to life, because God occupies his heart with delights, not spiritual ones, concerning which in Song of Songs 7: "How beautiful you are and how graceful, dearest, in delights!" but carnal ones, concerning which it was said above in chapter 2: "I made for myself singers, both men and women, and the delights of the sons of men."
QUESTIONS.
I. But here a question arises first concerning what he says: This seemed good to me, that one should eat.
Against: 1. Below in chapter 10: Woe to you, O land, whose king is a child, and whose princes eat in the morning: therefore he contradicts himself.
II. Furthermore, he says: And let him rejoice.
On the contrary: 1. Below in chapter seven: It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting, and again: The heart of the wise is where sorrow is.
2. Likewise, Truth itself says in Luke 6: Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall weep; therefore it is evil to rejoice, and all of Scripture condemns the joy of the flesh: what then does it mean that he commends it here?
To this one responds by means of the manner of proceeding in this book, which is singular among all the books of Sacred Scripture. For he speaks as a preacher weaving together his disputation, in which diverse opinions are brought forward according to diverse persons in whose character he speaks: whence he speaks one way in the person of the carnal man, as here, and another way in the person of the wise man, as below: It is better to go, etc. But afterward he speaks in his own person, where he says: Let us all hear together the end of the discourse, where he as it were renders judgment upon those whose case he had previously examined: Fear God, and that God will judge all things. Whence whatever is read in the book that opposes that judgment is annulled by that judgment; and such are all the things said in commendation of present pleasure; and thus by one solution all objections are answered.
Otherwise it can be said that Ecclesiastes himself, whatever he says, says in his own person; but nevertheless, to understand the things he says, two things must be attended to, namely the reason for speaking and the manner. The manner of speaking varies in two ways: for some things he says truly, and some ironically; truly, as that passage: Cast your bread upon the passing waters, below in chapter eleven; ironically, as that passage: Rejoice therefore, O young man, in your youth. And this is clear from what follows: And know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment, below in chapter eleven.
Another variation is noted in manner, because some things he says by way of approving: Do not rashly speak anything, etc.; and some things by way of recounting that he himself did thus, as he said above in chapter two: I did not restrain my heart from enjoying every pleasure, etc. This he does not approve, but recounts that he did thus, just as the Apostle also says of himself that he was a blasphemer. Similarly, some things he says by way of recounting that he thought thus, as when he said above in chapter two: Is it not better to eat and drink, etc. And he uses this kind of speech frequently in this little book, as though narrating his temptations; whence this book was as it were a certain meditation of Solomon. And just as a man falls from one meditation into another according to diverse considerations, as when someone thinks this to be good and afterward falls into another estimation, so Solomon narrates in this book as well.
As for the reason for speaking, it should be noted that some things he says simply for their own approval, but certain things he says not in approval, but in comparison with and detestation of other things, just as one who wished to censure avarice would praise prodigality: so also in this book he praised the dead in comparison with the living, and pleasure in respect to avarice, because in avarice there is both punishment and guilt. He did this, however, in order to call back from the one, not to attract to the other.
Furthermore, as for the reason for speaking, it should be noted that some things he says to all, and some to certain persons who presuppose something, and from their presupposition he argues against them, as he said above, that there is no memory of the wise man as of the fool. He said this to those wise men who placed their entire reward in the praises of men.
This rule, therefore, is to be generally observed in his words: that what he says truly and approvingly, he says by commending in itself, he says to all—that is, truly and assertively, universally and absolutely—and these things are indeed to be adduced as authoritative. But what he says ironically and what he says by way of recitation, he says for the detestation of other things, or from some presupposition, or toward the contrary. That statement, therefore, was spoken not assertorily, but by way of recitation: for he recites his own trial, which he intends to narrate.
Or it was said not absolutely, but for the detestation of avarice.
III. Likewise, there is a question about what he says, that it is a gift of God that one should enjoy riches: but this is sin: therefore, etc.
IV. Likewise, he says that God occupies the heart with delights in life: but this again is sin.
I respond: it must be said that the goods of fortune, of nature, and also of grace are all gifts of God: but those of fortune are the least, those of nature are intermediate, and those of grace are the best. Among the gifts of nature are counted health and strength; among the goods of fortune, prosperity and tranquility. For God gives riches to some, to whom he does not give health or tranquility, and these do not enjoy their goods; to some he adds in addition tranquility and health, and such persons have the power of enjoying them; and because those things are gifts of God, so also is the power; but furthermore, the evil misuse of that power—this is not from God.
III. As to the question that God is said to occupy his heart with delights: it must be answered that certain things God does mercifully, and certain things by just judgment in abandoning, just as he is said to hand over the wise of the world to a reprobate mind: so also he is said to occupy the heart with delights by permitting, through just judgment, it to be occupied and to forget eternal things.