Ecclesiastes 2:8 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ecclesiastes 2:8
I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts.
to do or make · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
singers
שָׁרִ֣יםsha.Rim
H7891
to sing · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
singers
וְשָׁר֗וֹתve.sha.Rot
H7891
to sing · conjunction + verb, qal active participle, feminine plural absolute
delights
וְתַעֲנוּגֹ֛תve.ta.'a.nu.Got
H8588
luxury · conjunction + noun, common feminine plural construct
sons
בְּנֵ֥יbe.Nei
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
men
הָאָדָ֖םha.'a.Dam
H120
ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
instruments
שִׁדָּ֥הshi.Dah
H7705
a wife (as mistress of the house) · noun, common feminine singular 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 10:10 And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stones: there came no more such ab…
2 Samuel 19:35 I am this day fourscore years old: and can I discern between good and evil? can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink? can I hear any…
1 Kings 9:28 And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.
1 Kings 10:14 Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold,
1 Kings 9:14 And Hiram sent to the king sixscore talents of gold.
1 Kings 10:21 And all king Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were…
1 Kings 14:21-22 And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen year…
1 Kings 14:27 And king Rehoboam made in their stead brasen shields, and committed them unto the hands of the chief of the guard, which kept the door of th…
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…
(Kg1 10:27; Ch2 1:15; Ch2 9:20).
peculiar treasure of kings and . . . provinces--contributed by them, as tributary to him (Kg1 4:21, Kg1 4:24); a poor substitute for the wisdom whose "gain is better than fine gold" (Pro 3:14-15).
singers--so David (Sa2 19:35).
musical instruments . . . of all sorts--introduced at banquets (Isa 5:12; Amo 6:5-6); rather, "a princess and princesses," from an Arabic root. One regular wife, or queen (Est 1:9); Pharaoh's daughter (Kg1 3:1); other secondary wives, "princesses," distinct from the "concubines" (Kg1 11:3; Psa 45:10; Sol 6:8) [WEISS, GESENIUS]. Had these been omitted, the enumeration would be incomplete.
John Gill on Ecclesiastes 2:8
I gathered me also silver and gold,.... In great quantities: the weight of gold which came to him in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents; see 1 Kings 9:14;
and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces; whatsoever was valuable and precious, such as is laid up in the cabinets of kings, as jewels and precious stones; and everything rare and curious, to be found in all provinces of the earth, or which were brought from thence as presents to him; the Targum is,
"and the treasures of kings and provinces, given to me for tribute:''
wherefore, if any pleasure arises from these things, as do to the virtuosi, Solomon enjoyed it. Moreover, among the treasures of kings were…
As the choir directors assign a place and a pitch to each male and female member of the choir so that a harmony of sound emerges, so those who sing to God and do so in harmony have the Savior himself as choir director. Or the [choir director could also be the] wise man, who here is Solomon, if we understand him in his role as wise man.
In many places of the divine teaching the Spirit and spiritual things are expressed by the image of gold, the spoken word and its virtue by the image of silver. "The tongue of the righteous is choice silver," that is, his spoken word and everything which he teaches by this spoken word. In the same way the following saying is to be understood: "The promises of the Lord are promises that are pure, silver refined in a furnace on the ground." But the spirit is gold.
Is there any beautiful object worth pursuing which brings neither health to the body nor relief to pain? And what about deceived persons who cling to gold with their whole heart even though such possessions trouble their consciences? What do they promise themselves when they have something of so great a value? If they could change gold's substance, would they also desire to change their humanity into gold, a substance which lacks reason, intelligence and sensation as well as being pale in color, heavy, speechless and without soul and feeling? I do not think they would choose these things nor crave after gold. If people of sound mind curse the properties of inanimate nature, what insanity makes them commit murder and steal to possess such a useless object? Not only do they carry this out, but they fail to see how it differs from the fruit [tokos] of evil thoughts, robbery or murder. How does a burglar differ from other robbers when he establishes himself as lord by committing murder or when he possesses what does not belong to him through usury [tokos]?… Anyone who forcefully takes or steals provisions is a violent and rapacious person, but the person who reveals in public the injustice he committed in contracts and so bears bitter witness to the distress it caused and who acknowledges his transgression is loving, kind, a guardian and the like. Gain which results from stealing is called theft, a euphemism for the bitter deprivation of a debtor. Such miserable persons are indeed despicable: "I collected for myself both silver and gold," but a wise person learns from what Ecclesiastes has listed and enumerated. In this way we may learn from his experience of the need to guard against evil before its assault and not to be associated with thieves and harmful beasts by taking heed of such dangers before they occur.
Dictionary and topics
Music — Jubal was the inventor of musical instruments (Gen. 4:21). The Hebrews were much given to the cultivation of music. Their whole history and literature afford abundant evidence of this. After the…
Music, Instrumental — Among instruments of music used by the Hebrews a principal place is given to stringed instruments. These were, (1.) The kinnor, the “harp.” (2.) The nebel, “a skin bottle,” rendered “psaltery.” (3.)…
Amusements And Pleasures, Worldly · The wicked seek for happiness in — The wicked seek for happiness in
Amusements And Worldly Pleasures · The wicked seek for happiness in — The wicked seek for happiness in
Epicureans · Doctrines propagated by, familiar to — Doctrines propagated by, familiar to
Gold · Vanity of heaping up — Vanity of heaping up
Investigation · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Music · .Ma — .Ma
Pleasure · WORLDLY — WORLDLY
Silver · Abundance of — Abundance of
Vanity · Worldly possessions are — Worldly possessions are
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).
Keil & Delitzsch on Ecclesiastes 2:8
"I heaped up for myself also silver and gold, and the peculiar property of kings and of countries; I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the children of men: mistress and mistresses." The verb כּנשׁ כּנס, συνάγειν, is common to all Semitic dialects (also the to Assyr.), and especially peculiar to the more recent Heb., which forms from it the name of the religious community συναγωγή, כּנסת; it is used here of that which is brought together merely for the purpose of possession. Segūllah (from sagal, Targ., to make oneself possess), properly possession, and that something which specially and peculiarly belongs to one as his property; the word is here meant collect., as…
silver and gold . . . kings and provinces: Solomon ruled from the Fertile Crescent (north and east of Israel) to the border of Egypt in the south. His wealth in precious metals came from trade, gifts from admiring rulers of other nations, and taxes from lands he held within his empire (1 Kgs 4:21; 9:28; 10:14, 22-25; 1 Chr 29:4; 2 Chr 9:26-27). • many beautiful concubines: Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines by the end of his reign (1 Kgs 11:3).
Rashi on Ecclesiastes 2:8
And treasures of kings. The treasures of the kings, gold, silver and precious stones, which the kings collect in their treasure houses.
And provinces. The treasure of all merchants.
Singers and musical instruments. Various types of musical instruments.9See Maseches Gittin 68a. According to Rashi, שׁרים ושׁרות are various types of musical instruments. Alternatively, שׁרים ושׁרות are male singers and female singers respectively.
Chests and chests of them. Beautiful coaches, covered wagons, a term used in the Gemara, “a coach שִׁדָּה, a chest and a closet.”10Mishnayos Keilim 18:3. 11Alternatively, שׁדה ושׁדות refers to a harem, i.e., women taken forcefully [שדד=plunder]. (Ibn Ezra)
