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Scriptural Text [& Editorial]
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Commentary & Explanation
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Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
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CHAPTER 2
All the riches and wealth of the king were vanity and vexation of spirit—Wisdom
excelleth folly—God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to man.
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THE GLORY OF GOD IS INTELLIGENCE,
OR, IN OTHER WORDS,
LIGHT AND TRUTH
~ D&C 93:36 ~
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1 I SAID in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with
amirth, therefore enjoy bpleasure: and, behold, this also
is vanity.
2 I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?
3 I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.
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1a
Prov. 14:13;
D&C 88:121
b
TG
Pleasure;
TG
Selfishness
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4 I made me great works; I abuilded me houses; I
planted me vineyards:
5 I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits:
6 I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees:
7 I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me:
8 I gathered me also silver and agold, and the
peculiar treasure of kings and of the bprovinces: I gat me men singers and
women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of
all sorts.
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4a
1 Kings 7:1-12
8a
1 Kings 9:28;
1 Kings 10:10-14
b
1 Kings 20:14
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9 So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.
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
alabour.
11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.
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10a
Eccl. 3:22;
Eccl. 5:18;
Eccl. 9:9
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12 ¶ And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what can the man do that cometh after the king? even that which hath been already done.
13 Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth
adarkness.
14 The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in
adarkness: and I myself perceived also that one bevent
happeneth to them all.
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13a
TG
Darkness, Spiritual
13a
Prov. 17:24
b
Eccl. 9:2
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15 Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth
even to me; and why was I then more awise? Then I said in my heart, that this
also is vanity.
16 For there is no aremembrance of the
wisea more than of the fool for evera; seeing that
which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how bdieth
the wise man? as the fool.
17 Therefore I hated
lifea; because the work that is wrought under the
sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and avexation of
spirit.
SOLOMON'S FOLLY
For all of Solomon's Wisdom, he did not come to know God nor His Gospel Plan. He counted his
wisdom, that 'light of truth', as being but that of the vain temporal temporary things of the
earth. He did not know or consider that his knowledge, learning, wisdom and intelligence would
rise with him in the resurrection of man (130:18) and that the Glory of God Himself was intelligence
or the light of truth.
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16a there is no remembrance of the wise more than of
the fool for ever For all of Solomon's wisdom, he knew not neither did he
understand the Great Plan of God nor the true nature of man. For while earthly treasures do end
in death, it is not so with the things of the spirit and the soul of man which consists of and
includes a man's intelligence. The wisdom of truth, that intelligence does not die in death,
but rather it is joined unto that eternal Intelligence within us all (D&C 130:18). So even with
Solomon's wisdom he did not come to decern the truth for he did error in thinking that the
wise man's wisdom and understanding would be lost to him at death.
17a Therefore I hated life With the logic that
all is vanity in life and nothing comes but of naught, Solomon lost his prize of what was to
be gained by living. Solomon had not come to understand the fuller 'light' and 'truth' that
man's intelligence continues with him for ever. How could the great Solomon have lost track of
that knowledge and understanding? One can only conclude that it was due to that darkness that
enters back in when a man has gone the way of sin. For the light of truth withdraws from the
sinful man and if Solomon truly concluded that like all material earthly things that the wisdom
of the wise would also be lost in death, then certainly miserable Solomon would be.
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15a
Eccl. 6:11
16a
Eccl. 3:19
16a
D&C 130:18;
D&C 88:40;
D&C 93:36 (28-36)
b
Ps. 49:10
17a
Eccl. 1:14
Solomon Did Error
For all his wisdom Solomon the Preacher did not know the true gospel doctrine of the Eternal
Plan of Our Father in Heaven. He did not know beyond man's testing on earth there was the
eternal soul of Spirit and Intelligence that gained in experience and did learn and did increase
Intelligence by the attaining to principles of intelligence that would become a part of the
eternal, being unto it an advantage in the life to come. The Glory of God and of man is their
Intelligence (D&C 93:36 (28-36)). And in this attainment of such 'light and truth' we may become
even as God and Jesus Christ the Son, one in and with them together.
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18 ¶ Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.
19 And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have shewed myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity.
20 Therefore I went about to cause my heart to
adespair of all the labour which I took under the sun.
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20a
TG
Despair
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21 For there is a man whose labour is in wisdom, and in knowledge,
and in aequity; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave it
for his portion. This also is bvanity and a great evil.
22 For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun?
23 For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.
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21a
OR propriety, skill
b
TG
Vanity
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24 ¶ There is nothing better for a man, than that he
should eat and drink, and that he should make his asoul enjoy good in
his blabour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.
25 For who can eat, or who else can hasten hereunto, more than I?
26 For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight
wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up,
that he may give to him that is agood before God. This also is
vanity and vexation of spirit.
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24a
Luke 12:19-21
b
TG
Labor
26a
Prov. 13:22
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