to be (causatively make) large (in various senses · verb, hiphil perfect, 1st person common singular
works
מַעֲשָׂ֑יma.'a.Sai
H4639
an action (good or bad) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
builded
בָּנִ֤יתִיba.Ni.ti
H1129
to build (literally and figuratively) · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
houses
בָּתִּ֔יםba.Tim
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine plural absolute
planted
נָטַ֥עְתִּיna.Ta'.ti
H5193
properly · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
vineyards
כְּרָמִֽיםke.ra.Mim
H3754
a garden or vineyard · noun, common masculine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Kings 7:1-12 But Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house.
Genesis 11:4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered a…
Deuteronomy 8:12-14 Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;
2 Samuel 18:18 Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king’s dale: for he said, I have no son to keep my…
1 Kings 9:1 And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which h…
1 Kings 10:19-20 The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round behind: and there were stays on either side on the place of the seat, and two…
1 Kings 15:19 There is a league between me and thee, and between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent unto thee a present of silver and gold; com…
1 Chronicles 27:27 And over the vineyards was Shimei the Ramathite: over the increase of the vineyards for the wine cellars was Zabdi the Shiphmite:
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 2:1-11
Solomon here, in pursuit of the summum bonum - the felicity of man, adjourns out of his study, his library, his elaboratory, his council-chamber, where he had in vain sought for it, into the park and the playhouse, his garden and his summer-house; he exchanges the company of the philosophers and grave senators for that of the wits and gallants, and the beaux-esprits, of his court, to try if he could find true satisfaction and happiness among them. Here he takes a great step downward, from the noble pleasures of the intellect to the brutal ones of sense; yet, if he resolve to make a thorough trial, he must knock at this door, because here a great part of mankind imagine they have found that w…
I made me great works,.... He did not spend his time in trifling things, as Domitian (a), in catching and killing flies; but in devising, designing, directing, and superintending great works of art and skill, becoming the grandeur of his state, and the greatness of his mind: the Midrash restrains it to his great throne of ivory, overlaid with gold, 1 Kings 10:18, but it is a general expression, including all the great things he did, of which the following is a particular enumeration;
I builded me houses; among which must not be reckoned the house of God, though that was built by him, and in the first place; yet this was built, not for his own pleasure and grandeur, but for the worship and g…
"I undertook great works, built me houses, planted me vineyards. I made me gardens and parks, and planted therein all kinds of fruit-trees. I made me water-pools to water therewith a forest bringing forth trees." The expression, "I made great my works," is like Ecc 1:16; the verb contains the adj. as its obj. The love of wisdom, a sense of the beautiful in nature and art, a striving after splendour and dignity, are fundamental traits in Solomon's character. His reign was a period of undisturbed and assured peace. The nations far and near stood in manifold friendly relations with him. Solomon was "the man of rest," Ch1 22:9; his whole appearance was as it were the embodied glory itself that h…
The Church Fathers
If one wants to understand houses as good deeds, then every good deed is the house of its owner. Those who "hear the words of Jesus and do them" … build their foundation on a rock. Since virtue as a whole is one, one who strives after it builds one house, establishing it upon the rock, upon God's unbreakable Word, that is, upon Christ.
But if from personal experience Ecclesiastes condemns the apparent existence [of vanity] to make us avoid a similar situation, or if he freely rejects the enjoyment coming from pleasure in order to diligently train his senses through unpleasant experiences, let us willingly pay attention to his words and draw our own conclusions. We will now respond to anyone who claims that Ecclesiastes' experience results in pleasure. Persons who traverse the sea and explore its depths in the hope of finding pearls exert themselves in profitable labor, not in pleasure. If Solomon resembles these men and devotes himself to fishing, he becomes submerged in pleasure; he is not filled with sea salt which to me represents pleasure but seeks that which is profitable for his mind in these depths.
Whether [Solomon] really did these things or made the story up for our benefit, so that the argument might reach its logical conclusion, I cannot say precisely. Nevertheless he does speak of things with which nobody who was aiming at virtue would willingly be associated. However, whether it is by benevolent design that he discusses things that had not happened as if they had, and condemns them as though he had experienced them, in order that we might turn away from desire for what is condemned before the experience, or whether he deliberately lowered himself to the enjoyment of such things, so as to train his senses rigorously by using alien things, it is for each to decide freely for himself, whichever conjecture he likes to pursue. If however anyone were to say that Solomon really was involved in the practical experience of pleasures, I would agree.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Solomon — Peaceful, (Heb. Shelomoh), David’s second son by Bathsheba, i.e., the first after their legal marriage (2 Sam. 12). He was probably born about B.C. 1035 (1 Chr. 22:5; 29:1). He succeeded his father…
Agriculture · Practiced by — Practiced by
Epicureans · Doctrines propagated by, familiar to — Doctrines propagated by, familiar to
Investigation · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Pleasure · WORLDLY — WORLDLY
Solomon · Builds his palace — Builds his palace
Vanity · Worldly possessions are — Worldly possessions are
Vineyard · Pools in — Pools in
Zechariah (Zecharias) · . — .
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Solomon’s building achievements were as small as porches and gates and as large as entire cities (see 1 Kgs 9:15-19). These projects, meant primarily for his own pleasure, included the palace and its accompanying buildings (see 1 Kgs 7:1-12).
2:4 Solomon’s vineyards are mentioned in Song 8:11-12.
