Didymus the Blind : Those who believe that human things are guided by providence do not ascribe anything accomplished by humans to their own effort. "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain." He does not say that no one should build or no one guard the city but that one should remember: if the Lord does not grant success to the effort, both the effort and those who strive for it will be without success. It is up to us to start, but it is up to God to grant success. We start to build the house; God helps and perfects the construction. We guard our own city and are watchful of that decision to guard it, but God preserves it, undestroyed and undefeated by the aggressors. This is also expressed in Proverbs: "Keep your heart with all vigilance." But even if you yourself keep your heart with all vigilance, say nevertheless to God: "You, Lord, will guard and preserve us." This thought is also affirmed by Paul, when he says, "So it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who shows mercy." He does not prohibit running towards the goals of our endeavor and to desire them. But he does prohibit belief that they are reached through one's own effort. Many who have had this expectation have been found without success in their efforts.Question: How should we understand "the swift?" Answer: You can understand it clearly in the visible world: Some who are runners run fast, but in spite of that they still do not always escape their pursuers. And the slow are often not caught because the pursuers sometimes stumble. Therefore it is up to God, not to the swift, to finish the race.… The strong do not necessarily finish a war victoriously. Goliath was strong, and the war nevertheless did not end well for him. He was struck down like someone unarmed, like one who is not a general or someone inexperienced in war. For David the war ended successfully, although he did not trust in many armed forces. Rather, he defeated this mighty giant "in the name of the Lord." Goliath, on the other hand, who was so proud of himself, had no success in war. — COMMENTARY ON Ecclesiastes 282:1 Jerome : "Once more I saw under the sun that the race is not won by the swift; nor the battle by the strong, nor does bread come to the wise, riches to the intelligent, nor favour to the learned; but time and death will happen to them all. "He who is bound by manacles and by heavy lead chains is oppressed: "for wickedness sits upon a talent of lead" [Zach. 5, 7.], and in the Psalm it says, "they weigh on me like a heavy burden" [Ps. 37, 5.]. It is not talking about that race, about which is said, "I took up the race, and I kept my faith" [II. Tim. 4, 7.]. But that man is swift and his spirit is not weighed down, nonetheless even he is not able to arrive at the goal without God helping him. But when there has been a war against adverse leaders, about whom it is written, "make war sacred" [Ier. 6, 4.], even a strong man will not be able to win with his own strength. This is also true of the sons of man and the wise who cannot have living bread for the spirit, except through encouraging wisdom: "Come, eat my bread" [Prov. 9, 5.]. And since there are riches, about which the apostle says, "riches come through good deeds" [I Tim. 6, 18.], and in another place, "you have been made rich in every utterance and knowledge" [I Cor. 1, 5.]; it must be understood that a wise man cannot amass these riches, unless he receives them from God, who possesses them. In another place these riches are mentioned too: "redemption of the spirit for man is his own riches" [Prov. 15, 8.]. However learned a man is, he will not be able to find grace too, unless accompanied by wisdom and given by God. Paul also knows this: "I worked more than all men," he says, "yet not I but the grace of God which was with me". Then again he says, "His grace in me was not in vain". And right to the end man does not know when the time will come, when the unknown fate and end of all things will come. This reading is according to "anagoge". But in order to explain this more easily, I should mention that the epistle to the Romans agrees with this verse: "So then it is not of him that wants, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy." [Rom. 9, 16.] He also says this: "there is no bread for the wise", this example is proved every day for many people, who although they are very wise, still do not have the necessary sustenance for life. And: "there is no grace for the knowledgeable". For you may see in the Church that the ignorant and unskilled prosper. And this is both because they have nourished their boldness, and followed the fluency of their tongue, while they do not think about what they say, they think that they are wise and learned, and as if they have the greatest favour of the populous, which delights and is brought together more by more polished words. On the other hand a learned man lies in obscurity and suffers persecution; and not only does he not have grace in the people's eyes, but also fades away through poverty and hunger. But these things happen because all things occur by uncertainty, and there is no retribution of merit in this world, but in the future. — Commentary on Ecclesiastes