The Pulpit Commentary — Ecclesiastes — Section 160

Vers. 10-12.-Four aspects of human life. L MAN AB A OREATUllE OF DESTINY. "Whatsoever ha.th been, the name thereof was given long a.go, and it is known that it is man" (ver. 10); or, "Whatsoever he be, his name was given him long a.go, and it is known that be is man" (Revised Version margin); or, "That which hath been, its name bath long ago been named; and it is determined what a man shall be" (Delitzscb, Wright). These different readings suggest three thoughts. 1. That man's appearance upon the earth had been long ago foreseen. The sentiment holds good of man collectively or individually, i.e. of the race, or of the unit in the race. Neither did "man" originally spring into being by a happy accident, without the direct or indirect cognizance of God, nor does the "individual" so arrive upon the scene of time; but both the hour and the manner of man's arrival upon the globe, and of each individual's birth, were prearranged from eternity by him who "ma.de the earth, and created man upon it" (Isa.. xlv. 12), and who "giveth to all life and breath and all things" (Acts xvii. 25). 2. That man's character as a creature had been long ago foreknown. In this respect, indeed, he had in no way differed from other creatures. Known unto God had been all his works from the beginning of the world (Acts xv.18). Human character is not in any instance an accidental product of blind forces, but is determined by fixed laws, moral and spiritual, which have been prea.nanged and instituted by the supreme moral Governor. Hence, within limits, it is possible for man to predict what himself or another shall become. "He that doeth righteousness" not only "is righteous" in the sense of already possessing the fundamental and essential principle of righteousness, viz. faith in, love of, and submission to God, but his righteousne~s shall eventually become within him the all-pervading and permanent quality of his being; and similarly "he tha..t doeth unrighteousness" not only is potentially, but shall become permanently, unrighteous. Moral character in all men tends to fixity, whether of good or evil. Hence the greater possibility, amounting to certainty, that the Divine Mind, whose creation the laws are under which these results are wrought out, can, ab initio, foresee the issue to which, in every separate instance, they lead. 3. That man's destiny as an individual had been long ago determined. The doctrine of Divine predestination, however hard to harmonize with that of human freedom, is clearly revealed in Scripture (Exod. ix. 16; 2 Chron. vi. 6; Ps. cxxxv. 4; Isa.. xliv. 1-7; Jer. i. 5: Matt. :xi. 25, 26; John vi. 37; Rom. viii. 29; ix. 11), and is supported by the plain testimony of experience, which shows that "There's a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will," (' Hamlet.') Or, in the words of Cresar, that nothing "Can be a.voided Whose ecid is purposed by the mighty gods." ('Jnlius Ca,sar.') II. MAN AB THE POSSESSOR OF FREE-WILL. "Neither may [or, 'can'] he contend with him that is mightier t.han he" (ver. 10); in which are contained the following OU, VI, 1-12.] ECCLESIASTES; OR, THE PREACHER.