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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 9
God's providence ruleth over all—Time and chance happen to all
men—Wisdom is better than strength—One sinner destroyeth much
good.
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1 FOR all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them.
2 All things come alike to all: there is one
aevent to the brighteous, and to the wicked; to the good and
to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as
is the good, so is the sinner; and he that csweareth, as
he that dfeareth an oath.
3 This is an evil among all things that are done under the
sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of
evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to
the adead.
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2a
eccl. 2:14
b
Alma 12:8
c
IE makes a covenant
d
IE avoids committing himself
3a
Alma 40:11-12
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4 ¶ For to him that is joined to all the living there is
ahope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
5 For the living know that they shall die: but the
adead know not any
thinga, neither have they any more a reward; for
the memory of them is forgotten.
6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.
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5a the dead know not any thing Solomon, despite
his great wisdom, has reached a position of 'blind darkness' perhaps due to his having fallen
into sin. He displays here that he does not know the state of the 'dead' and has pesumed of
himself as to their state being NOT. And Solomon goes on a thought deduction that if there is
nothing after death then what mattereth anything of life? This seems to be Solomon's protected
self deduction which allows him to persue his sinful ways without having to worry or be concerned
with any consequences. Many mortals have taken up the same human philosophy that there is nothing
after death and so they preach like the preacher does here the 'eat drink and be merry' philosophy
for tomorrow we all die and that is it. Solomon's mind has been led by that which is Satan's
darkness rather than the light of truth.
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4a
TG
Hope
5a
Alma 40:11-14
Alma Knew-Solomon Presumed
What Alma was given to know by an angel, King Solomon must have only presumed
according to that which left him worry free about his wicked ongoings. Other prohets and
men of God, such as Job, had a better understanding and we may presume that such is given
of God according to one's faith and deligence in coming to understand the gospel plan. But
certainly Solomon's deduction here would have been made in conjunction to his state of
suffering for his sins if there had been a life post death known to him from the 'light
of truth'.
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7 ¶ Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a
amerry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.
8 Let thy garments be always awhite; and let thy head
lack no ointment.
9 Live ajoyfully with the bwife whom
thou clovest all the days of the life of thy dvanity, which
he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy
eportion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the
sun.
10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy
amight; for there is no work, nor device, nor
bknowledge, nor wisdom, in the cgrave, whither thou
goest.
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7a
TG
Cheerfulness
8a
Alma 5:21, 24, 27
9a
TG
Joy
b
TG
Marriage, Husbands;
TG
Mariage, Wives
c
TG
Family, Love Within
d
TG
Vanity
e
Eccl. 2:10
10a
TG
Industry
b
2 Ne. 9:13-14;
D&C 130:18
c
Alma 34:35
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11 ¶ I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to
the aswift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor
yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance
happeneth to them alla.
12 For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in
an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men
asnared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.
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11a time and chance happeneth to them
all Though righteousness and wickedness may have their consequence
here in this mortality, it also my not, being left to the world to come. And
there is no great correlation between fame and fortune and well being to
such righteousness or wickedness. All are subject to happenstance, that of
time, chance and circumstance which may tend to favor one over another or
disadvantage one to another without any respecter of persons. The very
Jewish perspective of one's misfortunes and afflictions being caused by
one's wickedness is not a true perspective as seen here according to the
wisdom of Solomon.
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11a
Amos 2:14-15;
Mosiah 4:27
12a
Prov. 7:23 (21-23)
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13 ¶ This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me:
14 There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it:
15 Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man.
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16 Then said I, aWisdom is better than strength:
nevertheless the poor man's bwisdom is despised, and his words are not
heard.
17 The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools.
18 aWisdom is better than weapons of war: but
one bsinner destroyeth much good.
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16a
Eccl. 7:19
b
Mark 6:2-3
18a
D&C 6:7
b
Josh. 7:11 (1, 11-12);
Eccl. 10:1
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