Bede

In his own words on Ecclesiastes

• Ecclesiastes 2:10

  They nourish their hearts in self-indulgence who, according to the word of Ecclesiastes, do not prevent their heart from enjoying every wish and from delighting itself in the things which they have prepared. And they count it their due if they themselves make use of their own labors, having no care for the support and solace of the poor.

  Commentary on the Catholic Epistles, James 5:5

• Ecclesiastes 3:7

  Let anyone who loves wisdom, therefore, first beg this from God, then let the humble hearer seek out a teacher of truth, and all the while let him not only most carefully restrain his tongue from idle conversations but also hold back from preaching the very truth which he has recently learned. Hence Solomon, writing about differences of times, says, "There is a time for keeping silence and a time for speaking." Hence the Pythagoreans, who were endowed with the capacity to teach natural knowledge, order their listeners to keep silence for five years and thus at last they allow them to preach. The truth is more safely heard than preached, for when it is heard humility is safeguarded, but when it is preached it is difficult for the preacher to escape some minimal boasting.

  Commentary on the Catholic Epistles, James 1:19

• Ecclesiastes 3:16

  "The shape of this world passes away," not its substance; just as with our bodies too, the shape will be changed. The substance does not perish when "what is sowed as a physical body rises as a spiritual body." But we read nothing of this sort about the fire and the water. Rather we have in the book of Revelation, "And the sea is now no longer," and in the prophets, "And the light of the lamp shall shine for you no more." "We wait for his promises," he says, "in which righteousness dwells." Righteousness dwells in the future age, because then the crown of righteousness will be given to each of the faithful in accord with the measure of their struggle. This is a thing that cannot at all happen in this life, according to the saying of Solomon, "I have seen beneath the sun wickedness in place of judgment and iniquity in place of righteousness and I said in my heart, 'God will judge the righteous and the wicked, and there will be a time for everything.' " And again he says, "I saw the deceit that goes on beneath the sun and the tears of the innocent and that there was no comforter, nor were those deprived of the help of all able to resist their power, and I praised the dead rather than the living."

  Commentary on the Catholic Epistles, 2 Peter 3:13

• Ecclesiastes 4:1

  He praised the innocent dead rather than the living because the latter were still engaged in the struggle but the former had been given their reward of everlasting happiness. He complained that he had seen deceit beneath the sun because he knew that above the sun there is a just judge "who dwells on high and looks down upon humble things." Above the sun there are dwelling places in which the righteous receive due rewards for their righteousness.

  Commentary on the Catholic Epistles, 2 Peter 3:13

• Ecclesiastes 7:20

  There are less serious sins about which it has been written that "there is not a righteous person on earth who does what is good and does not sin," and, "No living person will be made righteous in your sight."

  Commentary on the Catholic Epistles, 2 Peter 1:10

• Ecclesiastes 7:20

  The Lord himself gives us sure confidence of obtaining what we properly ask when he adds, "Therefore if you, although you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from heaven give his good Spirit to those who ask him?" His disciples were good, as far as human judgment can see. He calls them "evil" because there is surely no one in this life who is capable of being free from moral faults, as Solomon states when he says, "There is not a just person on earth, who does good and does not sin."

  Homilies on the Gospels 2:14

• Ecclesiastes 7:29

  Our struggle against the vices has not been naturally implanted in us by God our Father and Creator but is proved to have befallen us from our love of this world, which we preferred to our Creator. For God made human beings upright, and they have involved themselves in endless questions, as Solomon bears witness. Hence James also says, "Let no one, when he is tempted, say that he is tempted by God. For God is not the instigator of evil, for he himself tempts no one. Each one, in fact, is tempted, drawn on and lured by his own concupiscence."

  Commentary on the Catholic Epistles, 1 John 2:16

• Ecclesiastes 9:8

  Tropology (that is, a moral manner of speech) has regard to the establishment and correction of manners, pronounced in words that are either plain or figurative; in plain words, as when John admonishes, saying, "My little children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and in truth," or in figurative words, as when Solomon said: "Let your garments be always white and let not oil be lacking on your head," which is to say openly, "At all times let your works be pure and let not charity be lacking from your heart."

  On the Tabernacle 1

• Ecclesiastes 12:1

  "The wheel of our life": The ceaseless advance of our earthly life by which we are continuously moved from the day of our birth right up to death as if by the always turning wheel of a carriage. [Thus] Solomon, when he said well, "Remember your Creator in the days of your youth before the time of affliction comes," a little further on added, "And the wheel above the cistern is broken, and the dust returns to the earth it came from."

  Commentary on the Catholic Epistles, James 3:6

• Ecclesiastes 12:13

  Of those who are proud and at the same time treacherous it is said, "The foxes have dens and the birds of the air have nests." And of all people in general it is said, "And man, when he was held in esteem" (that is, made in the image of God), "did not understand; he was like foolish cattle." Solomon, however, shows humanity as it truly is, that is, uncorrupted, when he says, "Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is all there is to man."

  Commentary on Acts 10:12

• Ecclesiastes 12:13

  They have been appointed to this, that is, to this made human beings by nature, that they may believe God and obey his will, as Solomon attests when he says, "Fear God and obey his commandments, for this is [the duty of] every human being." That is, every human being has been naturally made for this purpose, that he may fear God and obey his commandments.

  Commentary on the Catholic Epistles, 1 Peter 2:8