Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

3:11 Despite the repetitiveness of the natural world (1:4-11), the Preacher can see that God has made everything beautiful in its time. The problem is that God has also placed eternity (that is, a sense that life continues beyond this present existence) into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. The word "find," or "find out" (Hb. matsa’) has the sense of "figure out, comprehend by study" in this verse and other places in the book (7:14, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29; 8:17). The Preacher thus realizes that both his desire to understand all of life, as well as the limitations on his ability to do so, have been ordained by God.

3:12-13 Rather than becoming embittered by what God has not granted human beings (namely, the ability to comprehend all of reality), one should enjoy the gifts that God has given.

3:14 The short-lived "vanities" of this world reveal all the more clearly the enduring work of God, to which nothing can be added. The absolute sovereignty of God and his purposes is meant to bring human beings to a sense of humble reverence and awe of him: God has done it, so that people fear before him (cf. 5:7; 12:13; also note on Acts 9:31). See Introduction: Key Themes.