Approaching God with Fear 1 Keep your foot when you go to the house of God, and to draw near to hear is better than the giving of a sacrifice by fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.
Gregory of Neocaesarea · AD 270 Moreover, it is a good thing to use the tongue sparingly, and to keep a calm and rightly balanced heart in the exercise of speech.
Jerome · AD 420 "Be not rash with your mouth, and let not your heart be hasty to utter a word before God; for God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 Since the vanity of fault is deadly and pestilential, therefore here the remedy against that vanity is treated. And because a threefold vanity preceded, namely of malice, avarice, and imprudence, therefore here he sets forth three remedies.
2 Do not be hasty with your mouth, and let not your heart hurry to bring out a word before God; for God is in the heavens and you are on the earth. Therefore let your words be few.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 The passage in Ecclesiastes "Be not in haste to utter speech before God, because God is in heaven above and you on earth below" is intended to show the gap which separates those who are in the "body of humiliation" from him who is with the angels exalted by the help of the Word and from the holy powers with Christ himself.
Gregory of Nyssa · AD 395 Listen to the Preacher exhorting not to be hasty to utter anything before God, "for God," (says he), "is in heaven above, and you upon earth beneath."He shows, I think, by the relation of these elements to each other, or rather by their distance, how far the divine nature is above the speculations of human reason.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 Second, a remedy is given against foolish speech, which occurs in a threefold manner. "Do not rashly speak anything." Here he gives a remedy against foolish or disordered speech.
3 For the dream comes with much business, and the voice of a fool with many words.
Jerome · AD 420 "When you make a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for He has no liking for fools; what you vow, pay. Better that you not vow at all, than that you vow and not pay. "A simple man does not need understanding by interpretation. It is better not to promise than not to keep promises, since they displease God and are numbered among fools, who do not fulfil their vows.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 And it can scarcely be that he who speaks much does not displease God. Whence he makes this clear by example and similitude, saying: "Dreams follow many cares," and therefore it is foolish to attend to them; Sirach 34: "Dreams have led many astray." "And in many words folly is found"; Sirach 20: "He who uses many words injures his own soul"; and Proverbs 10: "In much speaking s…
4 When you vow a vow to God, do not delay to pay it, for there is no delight in fools. What you vow, pay.
John Cassian · AD 435 This will be fulfilled in this way by each one of us. We pray when we renounce this world and promise that being dead to all worldly actions and the life of this world we will serve the Lord with full purpose of heart. We pray when we promise that despising secular honors and scorning earthly riches we will cling to the Lord in all sorrow of heart and humility of spirit.
Caesarius of Arles · AD 542 It does a person no good to say that he possesses faith if he neglects to fulfill in deed what he promises in word. As the Scriptures say, "If you have vowed anything to God, defer not to pay it. For an unfaithful and foolish promise displeases him.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 The second mode of taking the name of God in vain is through breaking of a vow made. And here there is likewise a threefold degree. The first is through irrational delay, as when I promise to go to Saint James by an oath and do not assign myself a fixed term, and thus always procrastinate.
5 Better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.
Apostolic Constitutions · AD 380 Concerning virginity we have received no commandment; but we leave it to the power of those that are willing, as a vow: exhorting them so far in this matter that they do not promise anything rashly; since Solomon says, "It is better not to vow, than to vow and not pay." [Ecclesiastes 5:5] Let such a virgin, therefore, be holy in body and soul, as the temple of God, [1 Corinthia…
John Cassian · AD 435 For as unbounded glory hereafter is promised to those who faithfully serve God and cleave to him according to the rule of this system, so the severest penalties are in store for those who have carried it out carelessly and coldly and have failed to show to him fruits of holiness corresponding to what they professed or what they were believed by people to be.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 Otherwise it would have been better not to vow: therefore he says: "And it is much better not to vow," that is, it is less evil, because without fault: "than after a vow not to render what was promised:" Second Peter two: "It would have been better for them not to have known the way of truth than after knowing it to turn back"; because Luke nine: "No one putting his hand to the…
6 Do not let your mouth make your flesh sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and ruin the deed of your hands?
Jerome · AD 420 "In spite of all dreams, futility and idle chatter, rather: Fear God! "The Hebrews explain this passage in great detail, and in the following way: and you should not do the things detailed above, about which he has already spoken, lest you believe too readily in dreams.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 "Do not give your mouth" etc. Here thirdly he prohibits erroneous speech: and he dissuades from error of speech, and then adds the reason, and afterward reveals the root of the error. He dissuades from error of speech, saying: "Do not give your mouth to cause your flesh to sin," that is, do not speak erroneous speech by which you may be cast headlong into sins.
7 For in a multitude of dreams and breaths and many words — but fear God.
Jerome · AD 420 "If you see oppression of the poor, and the suppression of justice and right of the State, do not be astonished at the fact, for there is One higher than the high Who watches and there are high ones above them.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 And the origin of this speech is added: because it does not arise from right reason, but from the illusion of dreams; on account of which he says: "Where there are many dreams, there are very many vanities," because a dream is vanity: Isaiah twenty-nine: "The hungry man dreams and eats, and afterwards, when he has awakened, his soul is empty." "And innumerable words," which fol…
The Futility of Wealth 8 If you see the oppression of the poor and the robbing of judgment and righteousness in the province, do not be astonished at the delight; for one high one watches over a high one, and there are high ones over them.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 Third, a remedy is given against erroneous thinking. "If you see the oppressions," etc. Here thirdly he draws back from erroneous thinking, namely so that from seeing the malice of men one should not believe that providence is lacking: whence he says: "If you see the oppressions of the needy:" above in chapter four: "I saw the oppressions that are carried on under the sun, and…
9 And the profit of a land is in everything: a king for a field that is worked.
Didymus the Blind · AD 398 Regarding the literal interpretation: No one is lord, owner and ruler over a field that lies fallow where thorns and thistles grow; but the field that is well tilled has a king.
Jerome · AD 420 "A lover of money will never be satisfied with money; a lover of abundance has no wheat. This too, is futility! As goods increase, so do those who consume them; what advantage, then, has the owner except what hi eyes see?" Wherever we read 'silver', according to the ambiguity of the Greek term, it can be translated as 'money', since each has the meaning of the Greek "argurion.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 "And moreover the king of all the earth commands one who serves him:" although therefore they do not serve one another and are not ordered through themselves, they are nevertheless ordered by God, who knows how to use evils well: in Genesis forty-one it is signified: "I am Pharaoh; without your command no one shall move hand or foot in all the land of Egypt." Whence it is said…
10 One who loves silver is not satisfied with silver, and whoever loves abundance has no produce. This also is breath.
Evagrius Ponticus · AD 399 If, he says, you see among people those on the one hand who are oppressed and those on the other who do wrong in judgment, and still others who practice justice, do not be amazed that this occurs as if there were no divine foresight.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 When they are intent on increasing money, let them hear what is written: "The covetous man is not filled with money, and he that loves riches shall not reap fruit thereof." For indeed he would reap fruit of them, were he minded, not loving them, to disperse them well. But whoever in his affection for them retains them shall surely leave them behind here without fruit.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 "The covetous man shall not be filled with money." Above he set forth the remedy against the vanity of malice; here he adds secondly the remedy against the vanity of avarice. Now the remedy against avarice is contempt of earthly goods; therefore here he urges contempt of riches.
11 When good increases, those who eat it increase; and what skill is there for its owner except the seeing of his eyes?
Jerome · AD 420 "Sweet is the sleep of the labourer, whether he eats little or much; the satiety of the rich does not let him sleep." So far the discourse has treated of riches and greed, and it is compared to a man who works and one who sleeps without worry, or eats little or a great deal. Because he eats any food obtained from the toil of work and from his sweat, he enjoys peaceful sleep.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 And he shows that riches profit the possessor nothing: because they are consumed, and the master has nothing more than the servant: therefore he says: "Where there are great riches, many also are those who consume them:" thus all things are consumed.
12 Sweet is the sleep of the worker, whether he eats little or much; but the fullness of the rich man does not let him sleep.
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 Ecclesiastes sees that riches are kept for ill by one who possesses them, for their loss causes a very great anxiety and disquiet. Indeed they are lost, for they are left here and can be of no advantage to one who is dead.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 The same thing happens as every one may perceive with regard to sleep. For not a soft couch, nor a bedstead overlaid with silver, nor the quietness that exists throughout the house, nor anything else of this kind, are so generally wont to make sleep sweet and pleasant, as labour and fatigue, and the need of sleep, and drowsiness when one lies down.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 Here thirdly he shows that riches are to be spurned, because they afflict and do not permit a man to rest: whence they take away the sleep of quiet.
13 There is a sickening evil I have seen under the sun: riches kept by their owner to his own harm.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 Second, riches are to be despised because they are frequently not transmitted to posterity. "There is also another infirmity," etc. Above he showed that riches do not enrich their possessors; here he adds secondly that they are to be despised because they are frequently not transmitted to posterity; and indeed he does this in the following order.
14 And those riches perish in an evil business; and he begets a son and there is nothing in his hand.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 "These, I say, perish in the worst affliction," because it is necessary that he relinquish them with sorrow: Job twenty-seven: "The rich man, when he shall sleep, shall take nothing with him." Nor are they only left behind by their owner, but they are also lost by the son, whence he adds: "He has begotten a son, who shall be in the utmost destitution." There is an utmost destit…
15 As he came out of his mother’s belly, naked he will return to go as he came, and he will carry nothing from his labor that will go in his hand.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 And thus riches that are preserved are not left to the heir, nor can they be carried away by the possessor: whence he adds: "As he came forth naked from his mother's womb, so shall he return," not into the womb, but into the earth. "And he shall take nothing with him of his labor:" Job one: "Naked I came forth from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither."
16 And this also is a sickening evil: exactly as he came, so he will go. And what profit is there for him who labors for the wind?
Bonaventure · AD 1257 And this is greatly to be lamented: whence he adds: "A most miserable infirmity indeed: as he came, so shall he return:" whence 1 Timothy last chapter: "We brought nothing into this world, and there is no doubt that neither can we carry anything away." Here secondly he reproves the solicitude of increasing money by consideration of the destitution that is to come: whence he inf…
17 Also all his days he eats in darkness, with much vexation and his sickness and rage.
Jerome · AD 420 "So what I have seen to be good is that it is suitable to eat and drink and enjoy pleasure with all one's labour that he toils beneath the sun during the brief span of his life that God has given him, for that is his lot.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 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.
18 See what I have seen, I myself: it is good, it is beautiful, to eat and to drink and to see good in all his labor that he labors at under the sun the number of the days of his life that God has given him, for that is his portion.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 "This therefore seemed good to me." Here thirdly he commends the enjoyment of gladness in detestation of the affliction of avarice.
19 Also every man to whom God has given riches and possessions, and has given him power to eat of it and to carry his portion and to be glad in his labor — this is the gift of God.
Didymus the Blind · AD 398 This is the literal interpretation. If someone has much money, if he has lots of good food and many wines, he still cannot eat and drink all of it. But he doubtless has a gift: whatever he can consume, if he has enough food to satisfy him and enough drink, this is a gift from God.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 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 th…
20 For he will not much remember the days of his life, because God answers him in the gladness of his heart.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 "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 si…