3 . gain . the word is used nine times in the book and belongs to the world of commerce , meaning surplus or credit balance . life , says Qoheleth , pays no dividends . 4 . all the toil at which he toils . the word for toil is also used of sorrow and vexation . the emphasis here is not on the physical labour but on the frustrating nature of it when the end purpose is not known . this is the problem of communication in the modern industrial world . 3 . under the sun . the phrase is used some twenty-nine times in this book but not elsewhere in the old testament . it is parallel to under heaven ( cf Ex 17.14 ; Deut 9.14 ) and upon the earth ( cf Gen 8.17 ) . it means simply alive . 5 . hastens to the place where it rises . Qoheleth notes that the progress of the sun is an illusion . the end of the hastening is to be back where it started . the original for hastens means to gasp or pant , and is used of childbirth pangs ( Isa 42.14 ) and the psalmist &apos;s longing for the commandments of the law ( Ps 119.131 ) . the figure of the sun as a participant in a race is familiar , and even before the exile a passage in 2 Kings 23.11 suggests a knowledge of it . the thought fits Qoheleth &apos;s position precisely . the finishing line is continually found to be but the prelude to the starting post - the sun gets nowhere ! 6 . the wind blows &amp;hellip; the wind returns . this verse contains the same Hebrew word four times and is translated blows , goes round , goes round and round , returns on its circuits . the sheer monotony of repetition is conveyed more strongly in the use of the same root and expresses admirably the futility that haunts Qoheleth . 7 . the sea is not full . this represents work and activity that can not hope to be completed since the sea will never be too full ! 8 . the place where the streams flow . the references is to the underworld , which was thought to be the source both of the fresh-water springs and of the salt-water oceans . 9 . the eye is not satisfied &amp;hellip; nor the ear filled . there is no lack of sensations for these organs to be occupied with but there is no significance in what they experience . the word for satisfied is used of hunger and appetite . there is food enough but the hunger never grows less . 10 . there is nothing new under the sun . the complaint is deeper than a demand for novelty . it is the lack of an advance in natural phenomena that appals . the verse may be compared with Pss 8 and 104 to bring out the gulf between viewing the physical world as a soulless process and viewing it sacramentally . 11 . there is no remembrance . the full force of this verse is only to be seen when the significance of the act of remembering in the Hebrew mind is recognized . the act means more than the recalling of past events . the very personality of a man continues into the present through his being remembered . there is an element of present reality in remembering - the past is re-presented . to say there is no remembrance would mean spiritual annihilation . hence the frequency of the biblical injunction to look at the past and remember . ( Cf Ex 13.3 ; 20.8 ; Deut 5.15 ; Isa 51.1-3 ; also 1 Cor 11.25 . ) the search for the supreme good . 1 . 12-2 . 26 under the pseudonym of Solomon , Qoheleth outlines a number of quests or even experiments he has made in the search for an ultimate purpose , a supreme good in human life ; but all have led him to the same moral impasse . the quest for wisdom . 1 . 12-18 12 . I the preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem . the author clearly intends to be taken as Solomon . the use of this literary device was really a means of expressing Qoheleth &apos;s conviction that neither wealth nor wisdom provided the clue to the final meaning of life . he uses here Solomon &apos;s reputation for precisely these two features , his renowned wisdom and his ostentatious flaunting of wealth . his attitude is not that of an admirer , but rather he pillories these characteristics , and indirectly Solomon himself . 13 . I applied my mind . Lit my heart . the Hebrew word l&amp;emacr;b , frequently translated heart , is more concerned with thought and the will than with the emotions in Hebrew thinking . search out in wisdom . the original for search out is used as a technical term for consulting the priest or the prophet and is what is meant by enquiring of the Lord . the root is d&amp;amacr;rash and the term Midrash - commentary on scripture - comes from it . with by wisdom compare Job 28.12 , where the quest for wisdom is considered beyond man &apos;s capacity . see the introduction , pp 274 f , for the need to distinguish between human wisdom and the divine wisdom . there are two levels of discussion , and the wisdom derived from the practical experience of daily living offers no key to the great ultimate mysteries of the divine wisdom . 14 . a striving after wind . this is a favourite phrase of the writer and it is used some seven times in this book . the literal meaning is a feeding on the wind . the word is used of shepherds feeding their flocks . the thought is that for all the satisfaction obtained all his quests for meaning are like trying to make a meal on food that is no more substantial than the wind ! some scholars derive the word from a root meaning to desire . then the phrase would mean to desire the unsubstantial or illusory . the same note of bitterness is apparent in either case . all human activity , as far as its final significance is concerned , is like feeding on the wind or desiring the shadowy insubstantial air . 15 . what is crooked . the root meaning of crooked is to twist or pervert . this is a key for human sin . we find our colloquial term twister near the mark . we note the preoccupation of wisdom in its profounder aspect with the problem of sin and suffering . 16 . I said to myself . Lit I , personally , spoke with my heart . all who were over Jerusalem before me . this completely gives away the case for Solomonic authorship - there is only one candidate for this , David . wisdom and knowledge . these two terms are frequently found in close association . in the old testament , says Vriezen , knowledge is living in a close relationship with something or somebody , such a relationship as to cause what may be called communion . that a man has knowledge of God would mean that he had knowledge of God &apos;s revelation of himself . 17 . to know wisdom &amp;hellip; to know madness and folly . we note again the use of to know denoting experience within a relationship that is immediate , rather than second-hand knowing about from another source . wisdom and folly are moral rather than intellectual categories and are equivalent to good and evil . we must applaud Qoheleth on the thoroughness of his research when he includes madness and folly . the verse has also been translated to know that wisdom and knowledge are madness and folly . the word translated madness means mad revelry and wickedness . the quest for pleasure and material satisfaction . 2 . 1-11 1 . I will make a test of pleasure . AV , I will prove thee with mirth . the connotation of pleasure is wider than that of mirth and is to be preferred . the Hebrew word is used of the ordinary pleasures of life , including goodness and joy and the rejoicing associated with religious festivals . the word for test is used of God testing Abraham ( Gen 22.1 ) and frequently of such trials . enjoy yourself . Lit look upon good . this phrase contains the characteristic Hebrew idiom which uses to see meaning to experience , to participate in . it is used of experiences of life and death , happiness and sorrow ( cf Job 9.25 ; Ps 16.10 ; Isa 44.16 ; Luke 2.26 ; John 3.36 ; 8.51 ) . the force of the phrase is not so much enjoy all that is good as share in the experience of all that is good and then give a verdict upon it . the verb is parallel to test and must be taken in this sense of trying and experimenting . the typical Hebrew view of life is not a denial of pleasure but the reverse . we need to remember the particular quest that Qoheleth had in mind . he is seeking for an ultimate goal to the merriment and happiness that life does contain in some of its separate experiences . 2 . it is mad . the Hebrew participle means acting like madmen . cf 1 Sam 21.14 ; Jer 25.16 ; 46.9 ; 50.38 ; 51.7 . 3 . to cheer my body with wine . Lit to draw my flesh with wine . the phrase is difficult . the word translated cheer can mean to draw or drag , which in later Hebrew has a meaning of to attract in a figurative sense , that is , to stimulate and so to refresh . my mind still guiding me with wisdom . AV , acquainting my heart with wisdom . the word for guiding comes from a root that is used to describe the herding of sheep or the conducting of prisoners . Qoheleth is still keeping his mind on his job . he is not blindly setting out on debauchery or dissolution as an escapist activity . to lay hold on folly . the word used is a strong one , meaning to seize , and it indicates the urgency of Qoheleth &apos;s quest . here is no armchair doctrinaire dilettante . 4 . I made great works . Lit I made great my works . this is a reference to the large-scale building operations which Solomon included in the construction of his palaces and the palace of Pharaoh &apos;s daughter ( cf 1 Kings 7.1 ff ; 9.15 ff ; 2 Chron 8.4-6 ) . close to the building projects would be the vineyards ( 1 Kings 4.25 ; S of Sol 8.11 ) . 5 . parks . the word is a Persian loan-word , pairi-deaza , from which our word paradise is derived . Qoheleth has a second paradise at his disposal but he is no happier than Adam was ! the word is used in the singular in Neh 2.8 and S of Sol 4.13 . 6 . pools from which to water . a natural transition from gardens and orchards to the vital question of water supply . the pools are probably natural springs enlarged to become reservoirs or cisterns in the rock . King Mesha of Moab boasts of their construction in lines 9 , 23-25 of the Moabite stone , which read : and I built Baal-meon and made in it the reservoir &amp;hellip; and I made both the reservoirs for water inside the town . and there was no cistern inside the town at Qrchh , so I said to all the people , make yourselves each one a cistern in his house . cf also Neh 2.14 ; 3.15 ; Isa 1.30 ; 58.11 ; S of Sol 7.4 ; 2 Sam 4.12 . 7 . I bought male and female slaves . the acquisition of slaves would be the necessary presupposition of the scale of his building operations . behind these practices is the mas or forced labour system which Solomon takes from Egyptian practices ( cf the use of such labour by the Egyptians in Ex 1.11-14 ) . 8 . any who had been before me in Jerusalem . again the mask slips . this rules out Solomonic authorship . see introduction , pp 257 f . 9 . my wisdom remained with me . Lit stood to ( or for ) me . Qoheleth retains his objectivity . this reinforces v 3 . his experiencing of folly as well as wisdom still leaves him able to tell the difference . 10 . my eyes desired . Lit asked . we may compare 1 John 2.16 for the lust ( desire ) of the eyes , and also 1 Kings 20.6 ; Ps 145.15 ; Prov 27.20 for the eyes as the seat of desire . there is no necessary suggestion of evil desire . the previous verse suggests that his wisdom safeguards him from this temptation . this was my reward . this is a favourite word with Qoheleth ( cf 2.21 ; 3.22 ; 5.18 ff ; 9.6 , 9 ; 11.2 ) . it carries the idea of reward or profit . Qoheleth is suggesting that there is a gain from human experience . he has found a good , but the next verse indicates that it is a relative one and the supreme good is still to be sought . 