Ecclesiastes — Chapter 3

Omnia tempus habent, et suis spatiis transeunt universa sub caelo

Lapide provides an extensive treatment of time as the framework of universal vanity. He discusses the etymology of \"tempus,\" gives four reasons Solomon treats time at length, describes ancient hieroglyphics of time (stars, the poplar tree, Saturn's sickle, the serpent eating its own tail), and draws the tropological lesson about the preciousness of time that must not be wasted, since all things under heaven pass through their appointed seasons.

Tempus nascendi, et tempus moriendi; tempus plantandi, et tempus evellendi quod plantatum est

Lapide treats the first pair of antitheses: birth and death, planting and uprooting. He provides both literal and tropological interpretations, noting that the time of birth is linked to the time of death as its inevitable consequence, and that planting and uprooting symbolize the establishment and destruction of peoples, institutions, and spiritual states, including the planting of the Hebrew Synagogue and its eventual supersession.

Tempus occidendi, et tempus sanandi; tempus destruendi, et tempus aedificandi

Lapide explains the times of killing and healing, destroying and building, both literally (in war and peace, surgery and medicine, demolition and construction) and morally (mortifying vices and healing souls, tearing down structures of sin and building virtue). Each pair demonstrates God's sovereign ordering of contrary seasons.

Tempus flendi, et tempus ridendi; tempus plangendi, et tempus saltandi

Lapide treats weeping and laughing, mourning and dancing. He discusses the appropriateness of each in its season, notes the distinction between licit and illicit dances, and draws from patristic sources on the spiritual value of weeping (which purifies) over laughter (which dissipates), while acknowledging that legitimate joy has its appointed time.

Tempus spargendi lapides, et tempus colligendi; tempus amplexandi, et tempus longe fieri ab amplexibus

Lapide provides four interpretations of scattering and gathering stones: demolition and construction, scattering and collecting precious gems, casting and retrieving weights, and dispersing and assembling virtues. For embracing and refraining, he discusses conjugal relations, friendship, and the contemplative life, showing that even the most intimate human bonds are subject to temporal vicissitude.

Tempus acquirendi, et tempus perdendi; tempus custodiendi, et tempus abiciendi

Lapide treats gaining and losing, keeping and casting away, applying these to mercantile activity, the acquisition and loss of goods, and the spiritual life. The wise person must know when to acquire and when to relinquish, when to preserve and when to discard, recognizing that attachment to temporal possessions is itself a form of vanity.

Tempus scindendi, et tempus consuendi; tempus tacendi, et tempus loquendi

Lapide treats rending and sewing (garments of mourning, excommunication and reconciliation, the tearing and mending of nature by grace) and provides an extensive discourse on silence and speech. He cites the Pythagorean discipline of five years' silence, Jerome's teaching that one must learn before teaching, and discusses the proper order: silence precedes speech, as learning precedes instruction. The preeminence of silence as the mother of wisdom is strongly emphasized.

Tempus dilectionis, et tempus odii; tempus belli, et tempus pacis

Lapide treats the times for love and hatred, war and peace. He explains that the proper object of love is virtue and of hatred is sin, discusses the etymology of \"bellum\" (war, possibly from \"belua\" meaning beast, or from Belus who first waged war), and teaches that war is to be undertaken only for the sake of peace. Peace is God's special gift (Philip. 4:7), and true peace flourishes with justice and virtue.

Quid habet amplius homo de labore suo?

Lapide explains this as the concluding epiphonema (summary exclamation) of the entire catalogue of antitheses. After recounting the ceaseless vicissitude of contrary times and actions, Solomon returns to the theme stated at the book's opening: what lasting profit does man gain from all his labor? The answer is none, since all things succeed one another, torment the soul, and vanish with time.

Vidi afflictionem quam dedit Deus filiis hominum, ut distendantur in ea

Lapide explains that God gave this affliction -- the ceaseless occupation with temporal things and their investigation -- to humble humanity. He connects this to Chapter 1, verse 13, where the same idea appears, and argues that God's purpose is to make humans recognize the limits of their knowledge and turn from vain curiosity about creation to reverence for the Creator.

Cuncta fecit bona in tempore suo, et mundum tradidit disputationi eorum

Lapide provides a rich and multilayered exegesis. God made everything beautiful in its time: the beauty of the world consists in the apt succession and proportion of its parts through the seasons. The Hebrew \"olam\" (world/eternity/hidden thing) generates five major interpretations of what God placed in human hearts: hidden knowledge of death's hour, desire for perpetuity, the world itself for dominion, free choice, and the drive for intellectual investigation. Humans cannot fully comprehend God's works from beginning to end, which compels perpetual wonder and drives the soul toward God.

Et cognovi quod non esset melius nisi laetari et facere bene in vita sua

Lapide interprets \"facere bene\" in three senses: to live joyfully and treat oneself well (frugal enjoyment), to practice beneficence toward others (almsgiving and charity), and most fully, to do what is morally good and virtuous (fulfilling God's law). True joy comes only from good works; the conjunction of rejoicing and doing good shows that authentic happiness and virtuous action are inseparable.

Omnis enim homo qui comedit et bibit, et videt bonum de labore suo, hoc donum Dei est

Lapide emphasizes that moderate enjoyment of one's labor is a specific gift of God's providence (donum Elohim). He distinguishes this from Epicurean indulgence: it is God who grants the ability to eat, drink, and find satisfaction in honest labor, and this gift is not universal but given according to divine disposition. Augustine allegorically refers this to the Eucharist, though Lapide notes the literal sense concerns temperate use of temporal goods.

Didici quod omnia opera quae fecit Deus perseverent in perpetuum

Lapide explains that God's works endure forever, in contrast to the transient works of man. Nothing can be added to or subtracted from God's designs. He discusses the double antithesis between human and divine operations: human works do not endure and are constantly modified; God's works persist in perpetual species-succession even when individuals perish. God does this so that humans will fear Him (timere Elohim), which comprehends reverence, love, obedience, and worship.

Quod factum est, ipsum permanet; quae futura sunt, iam fuerunt

Lapide explains that what has been will be again, and God \"restores\" (Hebrew nirdaph) what has passed away. He discusses how the past is figuratively \"pursued\" and \"driven away\" by the present, as water in a river is pushed forward by what follows. God ensures the perpetual succession and restoration of natural cycles, so that while individuals perish, the species and the order of creation endure.

Vidi sub sole in loco iudicii impietatem, et in loco iustitiae iniquitatem

Lapide treats the corruption of justice as a supreme vanity and affliction. He provides six interpretations of how this verse connects to the chapter's theme, ultimately arguing it presents a second, moral form of affliction alongside the natural affliction of temporal instability: in the very seat of judgment, where justice should reign, wickedness presides. He cites Cyprian's graphic depiction of judicial corruption and the Psalmist's denunciation of unjust judges, showing this ethical vanity is worse than the physical vanity of temporal change.

Et dixi in corde meo: Iustum et impium iudicabit Deus, et tempus omnis rei tunc erit

Lapide explains Solomon's consolation: God will judge both the righteous and the wicked, and there will be a time for every matter. He discusses the eschatological \"tunc\" (then) as referring to the Last Judgment, when all deeds, words, thoughts, and hidden intentions will be revealed and justly recompensed. This divine judgment counterbalances the earthly corruption of justice described in the previous verse, and demonstrates that even judicial vanity is subject to God's sovereign time.

Dixi in corde meo de filiis hominum, ut probaret eos Deus, et ostenderet similes esse bestiis

Lapide explains that God made humans outwardly similar to beasts in order to test their faith and hope regarding the soul's immortality. He provides five interpretations of this resemblance: humans are literally beast-like in bodily functions; they behave as beasts toward one another (homo homini lupus); beasts prey on humans as humans prey on beasts; humans in their own estimation become bestial through ignorance of their dignity; and humans are \"political beasts\" imitating various animals' vices -- the fox's cunning, the wolf's voracity, the lion's pride, the pig's gluttony, and the goat's lust.

Idcirco unus interitus est hominis et iumentorum, et aequa utriusque conditio

Lapide explains that the same death befalls humans and beasts: both die, both breathe the same air, and outwardly humans have no advantage over animals. He carefully distinguishes the literal sense (pertaining to the body only) from erroneous conclusions: Jerome, Thomas Aquinas, and other Fathers insist this refers solely to corporeal death, not to the soul. The human soul is immortal and created directly by God, unlike animal souls which are generated through natural processes and perish with the body.

Et omnia pergunt ad unum locum; de terra facta sunt, et in terram pariter revertuntur

Lapide explains that all bodies -- human and animal alike -- return to the dust from which they came, citing Genesis 3:19. He discusses the earth as \"mother of all\" and provides classical parallels (Brutus kissing the earth, Caesar's dream). This universal return to dust is the visible evidence of vanity that leads many to doubt the soul's immortality, which Solomon addresses in the next verse.

Quis novit si spiritus filiorum Adam ascendat sursum, et si spiritus iumentorum descendat deorsum?

Lapide provides extensive commentary on this verse, which he interprets not as Solomon's personal doubt but as his observation that few people truly know and internalize the truth of the soul's immortality. He discusses multiple interpretations: Gregory, Olympiodorus, and Cajetan take it as spoken from the perspective of the worldly or Epicurean; others see Solomon acknowledging the philosophical difficulty of demonstrating immortality by reason alone. Lapide cites Augustine's story of the physician Gennadius taught about immortality through an angelic dream, and Marsilio Ficino's deathbed apparition to Michael Mercatus confirming the soul's survival.

Et deprehendi nihil esse melius, quam laetari hominem in opere suo, et hanc esse partem illius

Lapide explains Solomon's practical conclusion: given the outward similarity between human and animal death and the difficulty of demonstrating immortality to the masses, the wisest course is to rejoice in one's good works and make this one's portion. The closing question \"Who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?\" addresses the vanity of anxious concern about unknown heirs and future events, counseling trust in God's providence rather than fruitless speculation about predestination or future contingencies.