Ecclesiastes 7:3

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

Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. Sorrow - such as arises from serious thoughts of eternity. The Hebrew Kahas is translated anger in Ecclesiastes 7:9.

Sorrow; either for sin, or any outward troubles. The sadness of the countenance; which is seated in the heart, but manifested in the countenance. 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.

Ecclesiastes 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 παραδοξοναλλουπαραλογον, 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." 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 and of glory. 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.

(3) Sadness of the countenance.—Genesis 40:7; Nehemiah 3:3. “Anger” (margin). This is the usual meaning of the word, and so in Ecclesiastes 7:9. It is accordingly adopted here by the older translators, but the rendering of our version is required by the context.

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.

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 Ζschylus. Ζῆνα …τὸνφρονεῖνβροτοὺςὁδώ-σαντα, τὸνπάθειμάθοςθέντακυρίωςἔχειν.“Yea, Zeus, who leadeth men in wisdom’s wayAnd fixeth fast the lawThat 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.”

Sorrow - Rather, Seriousness. The heart is made better - i. e., is made bright and joyful (compare 2 Corinthians 6:10).

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.