Sorrow is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the face the heart is made good.
Parallel Translations
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Sorrow is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the face the heart is made good.
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Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.
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Vexation is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the countenance the heart may be gladdened.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (19)
Passages linked to Ecclesiastes 7:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 2 Corinthians 7:9-11 I now rejoice, not that you were grieved, but that you were grieved to repentance. For you were grieved in a godly way, that you might suffer loss by us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation, which brings no regret. But the sorrow of the world produces death. For behold, this same thing, that you were grieved in a godly way, what earnest care it worked in you. Yes, what defense, indignation, fear, longing, zeal, and vengeance! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be pure in the matter.
- Romans 5:3-4 Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope:
- James 4:8-10 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you.
- Jeremiah 31:15-20 Yahweh says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children. She refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.” Yahweh says: “Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work will be rewarded,” says Yahweh. “They will come again from the land of the enemy. There is hope for your latter end,” says Yahweh. “Your children will come again to their own territory. “I have surely heard Ephraim grieving thus, ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf. Turn me, and I will be turned; for you are Yahweh my God. Surely after that I was turned. I repented. After that I was instructed. I struck my thigh. I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.’ Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I still earnestly remember him. therefore my heart yearns for him. I will surely have mercy on him,” says Yahweh.
- John 16:20-22 Most certainly I tell you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. A woman, when she gives birth, has sorrow because her time has come. But when she has delivered the child, she doesn’t remember the anguish any more, for the joy that a human being is born into the world. Therefore you now have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.
- 2 Corinthians 4:17 For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory,
- Hebrews 12:10-11 For they indeed, for a few days, punished us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
- James 1:2-4 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
- Psalms 119:67 Before I was afflicted, I went astray; but now I observe your word.
- Psalms 119:71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn your statutes.
- Jeremiah 31:8-9 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, along with the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her who travails with child together. They will return as a great company. They will come with weeping. I will lead them with petitions. I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they won’t stumble; for I am a father to Israel. Ephraim is my firstborn.
- Daniel 10:19 He said, “Greatly beloved man, don’t be afraid. Peace be to you. Be strong. Yes, be strong.” When he spoke to me, I was strengthened, and said, “Let my lord speak; for you have strengthened me.”
- Zechariah 12:10-14 I will pour on David’s house, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they will look to me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for his firstborn. In that day there will be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. The land will mourn, every family apart; the family of David’s house apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of the Shimeites apart, and their wives apart; all the families who remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.
- Luke 6:21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
- Luke 6:25 Woe to you, you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.
- Psalms 126:5-6 Those who sow in tears will reap in joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed for sowing, will certainly come again with joy, carrying his sheaves.
- Jeremiah 50:4-5 “In those days, and in that time,” says Yahweh, “the children of Israel will come, they and the children of Judah together; they will go on their way weeping, and will seek Yahweh their God. They will inquire concerning Zion with their faces turned toward it, saying, ‘Come, and join yourselves to Yahweh in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.’
- Daniel 9:3-19 I set my face to the Lord God, to seek by prayer and petitions, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to Yahweh my God, and made confession, and said, “Oh, Lord, the great and dreadful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from your precepts and from your ordinances. We haven’t listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. “Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us confusion of face, as it is today; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, who are near, and who are far off, through all the countries where you have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against you. Lord, to us belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness; for we have rebelled against him. We haven’t obeyed Yahweh our God’s voice, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. Yes, all Israel have transgressed your law, turning aside, that they should not obey your voice. “Therefore the curse and the oath written in the law of Moses the servant of God has been poured out on us; for we have sinned against him. He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us, and against our judges who judged us, by bringing on us a great evil; for under the whole sky, such has not been done as has been done to Jerusalem. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil has come on us. Yet we have not entreated the favor of Yahweh our God, that we should turn from our iniquities and have discernment in your truth. Therefore Yahweh has watched over the evil, and brought it on us; for Yahweh our God is righteous in all his works which he does, and we have not obeyed his voice. “Now, Lord our God, who has brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have gotten yourself renown, as it is today; we have sinned. We have done wickedly. Lord, according to all your righteousness, let your anger and please let your wrath be turned away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a reproach to all who are around us. “Now therefore, our God, listen to the prayer of your servant, and to his petitions, and cause your face to shine on your sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake. My God, turn your ear, and hear. Open your eyes, and see our desolations, and the city which is called by your name; for we do not present our petitions before you for our righteousness, but for your great mercies’ sake. Lord, hear. Lord, forgive. Lord, listen and do. Don’t defer, for your own sake, my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.”
- Daniel 10:2-3 In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three whole weeks. I ate no pleasant bread. No meat or wine came into my mouth. I didn’t anoint myself at all, until three whole weeks were fulfilled.
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Explain this verse (16 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain He speaketh thus after the judgment of the flesh,…
He speaketh thus after the judgment of the flesh, which thinketh death to be the end of all evils, or else, because that this corporal death is the entering into life everlasting.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Ecc 7:3 Sorrow [is] better than laughter: for by…
Ecc 7:3 Sorrow [is] better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.
Ver. 3. Sorrow is better than laughter.] Here, as likewise in the two former verses, is a collation and prelation; "Sorrow," or indignation conceived for sin, "is better than laughter," - i.e., carnal and profane mirth. This is παραδοξον αλλ ου παραλογον, as Nazianzen speaks in another case, a paradox to the world, but such as may sooner and better be proven than those paradoxes of the ancient Stoics. The world is a perfect stranger to the truth of this sacred position, as being all set upon the merry pin, and having so far banished sadness, as that they are no less enemies to seriousness, than the old Romans were to the name of the Tarquins. These Philistines cannot see how "out of this eater can come meat, and out of this strong, sweet"; how any man should reasonably persuade them to "turn their laughter into mourning, and joy into heaviness." {Jas 4:9} A pound of grief, say they, will not pay an ounce of debt; a little mirth is worth a great deal of sorrow; there is nothing better than for a man to eat and drink and laugh himself fat: spiritus Calvinianus, spiritus melancholicus - a Popish proverb - to be precise and godly is to bid adieu to all mirth and jollity, and to spend his days in heaviness and horror. This is the judgment of the mad world, ever beside itself in point of salvation. But what saith our Preacher, who had the experience of both, and could best tell? Sorrow is better, for it makes the heart better; it betters the better part, and is therefore compared to fire, that purgeth out the dross of sin, to water, that washeth out the dregs of sin, yea, to eye water, sharp, but sovereign. By washing in these troubled waters the conscience is cured, and God’s Naamans cleansed. By feeding upon this bitter sweet root, God’s penitentiaries are fenced against the temptations of Satan, the corruption of their own hearts, and the allurements of this present evil world. These tears drive away the devil much better than holy water, as they call it; they quench hell flames, and as April showers, they bring on in full force the May flowers both of grace {1Pe 5:5} and of glory. {Jer 4:14} What an ill match therefore make our mirthmongers, that purchase laughter many times with shame, loss, misery, beggary, rottenness of body, distress, damnation, that hunt after it to hell, and light a candle at the devil for lightsomeness of heart, by haunting ale houses, brothel houses, conventicles of good fellowship, sinful and unseasonable sports, and other vain fooleries, in the froth whereof is bred and fed that worm that never dies? A man is nearest danger when he is most merry, said Mr Greenham. And God cast not man out of paradise, saith another reverend man, that he might here build him another, but that, as that bird of paradise, he might always be upon the wing, and if at any time taken, never leave groaning and grieving till he be delivered. This will bring him a paradise of sweetest peace, and make much for the lengthening of his tranquillity and consolation. {Dan 4:27} Oh, how sweet a thing is it at the feet of Jesus to stand weeping, to water them with tears, to dry them with sighs, and to kiss them with our mouths! Only those that have made their eyes a fountain to wash Christ’s feet in, may look to have Christ’s heart a fountain to bathe their souls in.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Sorrow; either for sin, or any outward troubles.
Sorrow; either for sin, or any outward troubles.
The sadness of the countenance; which is seated in the heart, but manifested in the countenance.
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Made better; more weaned from the lusts and vanities of this world, by which most men are ensnared and destroyed, and more quickened to seek after and embrace that true and everlasting happiness which God offers to them in his word.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Sorrow is better than laughter,.... Sorrow, expressed in the…
Sorrow is better than laughter,.... Sorrow, expressed in the house of mourning, is better, more useful and commendable, than that foolish laughter, and those airs of levity, expressed in the house of feasting; or sorrow on account of affliction and troubles, even adversity itself, is oftentimes much more profitable, and conduces more to the good of men, than prosperity; or sorrow for sin, a godly sorrow, a sorrow after a godly sort, which works repentance unto salvation, that needeth not to be repented of, is to be preferred to all carnal mirth and jollity. It may be rendered, "anger is better than laughter" (h); which the Jews understand of the anger of God in correcting men for sin; which is much better than when he takes no notice of them, but suffers them to go on in sin, as if he was pleased with them; the Midrash gives instances of it in the generation of the flood and the Sodomites: and the Targum inclines to this sense,
"better is the anger, with which the Lord of that world is angry against the righteous in this world, than the laughter with which he derides the ungodly.''
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Though it may be better, with others, to understand it of anger in them expressed against sin, in faithful though sharp rebukes for it; which, in the issue, is more beneficial than the flattery of such who encourage in it; see Pro 27:5;
for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better: when the sadness is not hypocritical, as in the Scribes and Pharisees, but serious and real, arising from proper reflections on things in the mind; whereby the heart is drawn off from vain, carnal, and sensual things; and is engaged in the contemplation of spiritual and heavenly ones, which is of great advantage to it: or by the severity of the countenance of a faithful friend, in correcting for faults, the heart is made better, which receives those corrections in love, and confesses its fault, and amends.
(h) "melior est ira risu", Pagninus, Mercerus; "melior est indigatio risu", Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 3. Sorrow is better than laughter] The reason…
Verse 3. Sorrow is better than laughter] The reason is immediately given; for by the sorrow of the countenance - the grief of heart that shows itself in the countenance -
The heart is made better.] In such cases, most men try themselves at the tribunal of their own consciences, and resolve on amendment of life.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Ecc 7:3-4. Sorrow is better than laughter — Either…
Ecc 7:3-4. Sorrow is better than laughter — Either sorrow for sin, or even sorrow on other accounts; for by the sadness of the countenance — Sadness seated in the heart, but manifested in the countenance; the heart is made better — Is more weaned from the lusts and vanities of this world, by which most men are ensnared and destroyed; and more quickened to seek after and embrace that true and everlasting happiness which God offers to them in his word. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning — Even when their bodies are absent. They are constantly, or very frequently, meditating upon serious things, such as death and judgment, the vanity of this life, and the reality and eternity of the next; because they know that these thoughts, though they be not grateful to man’s carnal mind, yet are absolutely necessary and highly profitable, and productive of great comfort in the end, which every wise man most regards. But the heart of fools is in the house of mirth — Their minds and affections are wholly set upon feasting, jollity, and merriment, because, like fools and irrational animals, they regard only their present delight, and mind not how dearly they must pay for it.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Sorrow - Rather, Seriousness.
Sorrow - Rather, Seriousness.
The heart is made better - i. e., is made bright and joyful (compare 2Co 6:10). The mind which bears itself equally in human concerns, whether they be pleasant or sorrowful, must always be glad, free, and at peace.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Come. While at birth-day feasts (Genesis xl. 20., and…
Come. While at birth-day feasts (Genesis xl. 20., and Matthew xiv. 6.) people give themselves up to joy, and cherish the idea of living long. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Sorrow--such as arises from serious thoughts of eternity.
Sorrow--such as arises from serious thoughts of eternity.
laughter--reckless mirth (Ecc 2:2).
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by the sadness . . . better-- (Psa 126:5-6; Co2 4:17; Heb 12:10-11). MAURER translates: "In sadness of countenance there is (may be) a good (cheerful) heart." So Hebrew, for "good," equivalent to "cheerful" (Ecc 11:9); but the parallel clause supports English Version.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 3. Sorrow, simply, does not present the Hebrew as…
3. Sorrow, simply, does not present the Hebrew as well as sober reflection, that is, the laying to heart, as just mentioned. So, laughter means reckless mirth. Also, sadness of the countenance means a thoughtful aspect, indicative of serious consideration.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 3. Sorrow is better than laughter] The thought is…
3. Sorrow is better than laughter] The thought is essentially the same as that of the preceding verse, but is somewhat more generalized. We are reminded of the Greek axiom, παθεῖν, μαθεῖν (“Pain is gain”), of the teaching of Æschylus.
Ζῆνα …
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τὸν φρονεῖν βροτοὺς ὁδώ-
σαντα, τὸν πάθει μάθος
θέντα κυρίως ἔχειν.
“Yea, Zeus, who leadeth men in wisdom’s way
And fixeth fast the law
That pain is gain.”
Agam. 170.
There is a moral improvement rising out of sorrow which is not gained from enjoyment however blameless. The “Penseroso” is after all a character of nobler stamp than the “Allegro.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (3) Sadness of the countenance.—Gen_40:7; Neh_3:3. “Anger” (margin). This…
(3) Sadness of the countenance.—Gen_40:7; Neh_3:3. “Anger” (margin). This is the usual meaning of the word, and so in Ecc_7:9. It is accordingly adopted here by the older translators, but the rendering of our version is required by the context.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Sorrow is better than laughter. This is a further…
Sorrow is better than laughter. This is a further expansion of the previous maxim, sK (kaas), as contrasted with qwOhc, is rightly rendered "sorrow," "melancholy," or, as Ginsburg contends, "thoughtful sadness." The Septuagint has qumov, the Vulgate ira; but auger is not the feeling produced by a visit to the house of mourning. Such a scene produces saddening reflection, which is in itself a moral training, and is more wholesome and elevating than thoughtless mirth. For by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. The feeling which shows itself by the look of sadness (comp. Gen_40:7; Neh_2:2) has a purifying effect on the heart, gives a moral tone to the character. Professor Tayler Lewis renders the clause, "For in the sad. ness of the face the heart becometh fair;" i.e. sorrow beautifies the soul, producing, as it were, comeliness, spiritual beauty, and, in the end, serener happiness. The Vulgate translates the passage thus: Melter eat ira risu; quia per tristitiam vultus corrigitur animus deliquentis, "Better is anger than laughter, because through sadness of countenance the mind of the offender is corrected." The anger is that either of God or of good men which reproves sin; the laughter is that of sinners who thus show their connivance at or approval of evil. There can be no doubt that this is not the sense of the passage. For the general sentiment concerning the moral influence of grief and suffering, we may compare the Greek sayings, Tamata maqhmata, and Ti maqwn ti paqwn; which are almost equivalent in meaning (comp. Aeschyl., "Again.," 170; Herod., 1:207). The Latins would say, "Quaenocent, docent," and we, "Pain is gain."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Sorrow is better than laughter.
Ecc_7:3
Sorrow is better than laughter.
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Sorrow better than laughter
Sorrow is set over against laughter; the house of mourning over against the house of mirth; the rebuke of the wise over against the music of fools; the day of death over against the day of birth: all tending, however, to this, that trouble and grief have their bright side, and that giddy indulgence and merriment carry a sting.
I. Sorrow is better than laughter, because a great part of worldly merriment is no better than folly. Here we take no extreme or ascetic ground. It would be morose and unchristian to scowl at the gambols of infancy, or to hush the laugh of youth, on fit occasions. Cheerfulness is nowhere forbidden, even in adult life; and we perhaps offend God oftener by our frowns than by our smiles. But you all know that there is a merriment which admits no rule, confines itself by no limit, shocks every maxim even of sober reason, absorbs the whole powers, wastes the time, and debilitates the intellect, even if it do not lead to supreme love of pleasure, profligacy, and general intemperance and voluptuousness.
II. Sorrow is better than laughter, because much of worldly merriment tends to no intellectual or moral good. Worldly pleasures, and the expressions of these, do nothing for the immaterial part. The utmost that can be pretended is that they amuse and recreate. In their very notion they are exceptions, and should be sparing. But there are a thousand recreative processes connected with healthful exercise, with knowledge, with the study of beautiful nature, with the practice and contemplation of art, and with the fellowship of friends, which unbend the tense nerve and refresh the wasted spirits, while at the same time they instruct the mind and soften or tranquillize the heart. Not so with the unbridled joys which find vent in redoubled peals of mirth and obstreperous carousal, or in the lighter play of chattered nonsense end never-ending giggle.
III. Sorrow is better than laughter, because worldly mirth is short. In the Eastern countries, where fuel is very scarce, every combustible shrub, brush, and bramble is seized upon for culinary fires. Of these the blaze is bright, hot, and soon extinct. Such is worldly mirth. For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool. It is noisy--more noisy than if there were anything in it. But it soon ceases. Physical limits are put to gay pleasures. The loudest laughter cannot laugh for ever. Lungs and diaphragm forbid and rebel. There is a time of life when such pleasures become as difficult as they are ungraceful; and there is not in society a more ridiculous object, even in its own circle, than a tottering, antiquated, bedizened devotee of fashion. Grief comes in and shortens the amusement. Losses and reverses shorten it. And, if there were nothing else, pleasure must be short, because it cannot be extended to judgment and eternity.
IV. Worldly mirth is unsatisfying. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity, i.e. emptiness and disappointment. The man wonders why the toys and rattles which pleased him once please him now no more. They are vanity, and all is vanity; and every day that he lives longer will make it more formidable vanity. Now, pray observe, the case is directly the reverse with regard to sound intellectual and spiritual enjoyments; for which the capacity is perpetually increasing with its indulgence.
V. Sorrow is better than laughter, because sorrow breeds reflection. There can be no contemplation amidst the riot of self-indulgence; but the house of mourning is a meditative abode. Before they were afflicted, a large proportion of Gods people went astray; and, if they live long enough, they can all declare that the solemn pauses of their bereavement, illness, poverty, shame, and fear, have been better to them than the dainties of the house of feasting.
VI. Sorrow is better than laughter, because sorrow brings lessons of wisdom. Sufferers not only think but learn. Many sermons could not record all the lessons of affliction. It tells us wherein we have offended. It takes us away from the flattering crowd, and from seducing charmers, and keenly reaches, with its probe, the hidden iniquity. This is less pleasing than worldly joy, but it is more profitable. The Bible is the chief book in the house of mourning--read by some there who have never read it elsewhere, and revealing to its most assiduous students new truths, shining forth in affliction like stars which hays been hidden in daylight.
VII. Sorrow is better than laughter, because sorrow amends the heart and life. Not by any efficiency of good; of such efficiency, pain, whether of body or mind, knows nothing; but by becoming the vehicle of Divine influences. The ways of Providence are such, that troubled spirits, bathed in tears, are repeatedly made to cry with a joy which swallows up all foregoing griefs, Before we were afflicted we went astray, but now have we kept Thy law!
VIII. Sorrow is better than laughter, because sorrow likens us to Him whom we love. You know His name. He is the Man of Sorrows--the companion or brother of grief. His great work, even our salvation, was not more by power or holiness than by sorrows. He took our flesh that He might bear our sorrows. If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him.
IX. Sorrow is better than laughter, because sorrow ends in joy. The very resistance of a virtuous mind to adversity--the bracing of the frame--the breasting of the torrent--the patience, the resignation, the hope amidst the billows, the high resolve and courage that mount more boldly out of the surge of grief, the silent endurance of the timid and the frail, when out of weakness they are made strong--these, and such as these, increase the capacity for future holiness and heavenly bliss. These are they that have come out of great tribulation. (J. W. Alexander, D. D.)
The service of sorrow
I. Sorrow serves to promote individualism of soul.
1. A deep practical sense of self-responsibility is essential to the virtue, the power, and progress of the soul.
2. Social influences, especially in this age of combinations, tend to destroy this and absorb the individual in the mass.
3. Sorrow is one of the most individualizing of forces. Sorrow detaches man from all, isolates him, makes him feel his loneliness.
II. Sorrow serves to humanize our affections. It helps us go feel for others; to weep with those who weep, etc.
III. Sorrow serves to spiritualize our nature. There are tremendous forces ever at work to materialize. Sorrow takes us away into the spiritual; makes us feel alone with God, and view the world as but a passing show.
IV. Sorrow serves to prepare us to appreciate christianity. The Gospel is a system to heal broken hearts. Who appreciates pardon, but the sorrowing penitent? Who values the doctrine of a parental providence, but the tried? Who the doctrine of the resurrection, but the bereaved and the dying? (Homilist.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 sadness of face
sadness of face
This refers to being sad. AT: "an experience that makes a person sad" (See: Idiom)
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gladness of heart
Here the word "heart" refers to a person's thoughts and emotions. "Gladness" describes either 1) the state of the emotions of being happy and peaceful or 2) the ability to understand the truth. AT: "right thinking" (See: Metonymy)
The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning
Here wise people are referred to by their "hearts." This speaks of the wise person mourning as being in a house of mourning. AT: "Wise people think deeply about death" (See: Synecdoche and Metaphor)
but the heart of fools is in the house of feasting
Here foolish people are referred to by their "hearts." This speaks of foolish people thinking only about what makes them happy as being in a house of feasting. AT: "but foolish people think only about enjoying themselves" (See: Synecdoche and Metaphor)
the house of mourning ... the house of feasting
These phrases refer to what happens in these places.
translationWords
face
wise
fool
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 7:3-4 refining influence: Thinking soberly about death leads us…
7:3-4 refining influence: Thinking soberly about death leads us to see the severity of God’s curse on sin and convinces us of the need to enjoy life wisely (9:10).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.