27 Behold, this have I found, saith the preacher, counting one by one, to find out the account:
27 Behold, this is what I found, says the Preacher, while adding one thing to another to find the scheme of things--
27 At least this is my experience - what I, the Quester, have pieced together as I've tried to make sense of life.
27 "Here is what I have found," says the Preacher, "Adding one thing to the other to find out the reason,
27 "This is my conclusion," says the Teacher. "I discovered this after looking at the matter from every possible angle.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Ecclesiastes 7:27
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 7:23-29
(Read Ecclesiastes 7:23-29)
Solomon, in his search into the nature and reason of things, had been miserably deluded. But he here speaks with godly sorrow. He alone who constantly aims to please God, can expect to escape; the careless sinner probably will fall to rise no more. He now discovered more than ever the evil of the great sin of which he had been guilty, the loving many strange women, 1 Kings 11:1. A woman thoroughly upright and godly, he had not found. How was he likely to find such a one among those he had collected? If any of them had been well disposed, their situation would tend to render them all nearly of the same character. He here warns others against the sins into which he had been betrayed. Many a godly man can with thankfulness acknowledge that he has found a prudent, virtuous woman in the wife of his bosom; but those men who have gone in Solomon's track, cannot expect to find one. He traces up all the streams of actual transgression to the fountain. It is clear that man is corrupted and revolted, and not as he was made. It is lamentable that man, whom God made upright, has found out so many ways to render himself wicked and miserable. Let us bless Him for Jesus Christ, and seek his grace, that we may be numbered with his chosen people.