4. The perishable fruits of labor 5:1-6:9This section emphasizes the folly of trying to find ultimate satisfaction in one’s work. Solomon focused on a variety of situations that involve the fruits of labor: money and what it can buy, fame, and pleasure. read more
Life an Enigma1-6. Riches will not secure happiness.1. Common among] RV ’heavy upon.’2. A stranger] because he has no child to whom to leave it. The Easterns have a dread of being without a child, to keep the parents’ name in remembrance: cp. Genesis 15:2. 3. And his soul] RV ’But his soul.’ Misfortunes may render him miserable, though he has abundance of children and of years of life. Examples are Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 11:21) and Ahab (2 Kings 10:1). That he have no burial] The greatest... read more
Ecclesiastes 6:9 Perhaps the inherent force of a nature is shown even more in its passive and negative than in its active and positive self-expressions. In its power of voluntarily limiting its own horizon; of setting itself arbitrary boundaries; of saying 'Thus far will I go, see, admit, and no further'. For it takes a lot of latent strength to sit, either mentally or physically, really still. Not to fidget. To 'stay put,' in short. Lucas Malet's Wages of Sin, book iv. v. Not until a man has... read more
The Quest in Wealth. Ecclesiastes 6:1-12His discussion of the first of these questions, although very matterful, is comparatively brief; in part, perhaps, because in the previous Section he has already dwelt on many of the drawbacks which accompany wealth; and still more, probably, because, while there are few men in any age to whom great wealth is possible, there would be unusually few in the company of poor men for whose instruction he wrote. Brief and simple as the discussion is, however, we... read more
CHAPTER 6 Disheartening Contradictions 1. Riches--Inability to enjoy them (Ecclesiastes 6:1-2 ) 2. Having All--Yet no fill of the soul (Ecclesiastes 6:3-9 ) 3. The sad ending wail (Ecclesiastes 6:10-12 ) Ecclesiastes 6:1-2 . The first evil the wise searcher sees as a discouraging contradiction is, that God giveth a man riches, wealth, and honor so that he does not lack in anything whatever. But God does not give him the power to enjoy it, a stranger instead eats thereof. This makes... read more
6:7 All the labour of man [is] for his mouth, and yet the {e} appetite is not filled.(e) His desire and affection. read more
VARIETIES IN WORSHIP (Ecclesiastes 5:1-7 ) On these verses the writer seems to muse on the relation of the unseen Being to the act of man in worship. Mindful of man’s jaunty liberalism and superstition, rash vows and wordy prayers, dreamy and unreal, because full of intruding vanities and worldly businesses, the preacher earnestly exhorts to few words and solemn steps. But even then it is the natural man only who is speaking in the exhortation, not the regenerate man, because he speaks only... read more
The Vanity of Riches Ecclesiastes 6:0 We now come to some rough notes put down hurriedly in Coheleth's memorandum-book. They might be heads of discourses, or words overheard in society, or points set down for discussion; at all events, there is no apparent connection between them, and no literary art in their distribution. We have to deal with separate thoughts rather than with a connected and cumulative argument, and as the expositor is bound by his author we have no option but to look at... read more
All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled. (8) For what hath the wise more than the fool? what hath the poor, that knoweth to walk before the living? (9) Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this is also vanity and vexation of spirit. (10) That which hath been is named already, and it is known that it is man: neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he. (11) Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what is man... read more
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Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Ecclesiastes 6:7
7. man—rather, "the man," namely, the miser (Ecclesiastes 6:3-6). For not all men labor for the mouth, that is, for selfish gratification. appetite—Hebrew, "the soul." The insatiability of the desire prevents that which is the only end proposed in toils, namely, self-gratification; "the man" thus gets no "good" out of his wealth (Ecclesiastes 6:3). read more