All go unto one place ,.... The earth F23 "Magna parens terra est", Ovid. Metamorph. l. 1. Fab. 7. from whence they came; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again ; Adam's body was made of the dust of the earth, and so all his posterity, all of them; in which they agree with beasts, who are made of the dust also; and, when they die, return to it; see Genesis 2:7 . read more
All go unto one place - "Man was born To die, nor aught exceeds in this respect The vilest brute. Both transient, frail, and vain, Draw the same breath; alike grow old, decay, And then expire: both to one grave descend; There blended lie, to native dust return'd." - C. read more
Section 4. In confirmation of the truth that man's happiness depends upon the will of God, Koheleth proceeds to show how Providence arranges even the minutest concerns; that man can alter nothing, must make the best of things as they are, bear with anomalies, bounding his desires by this present life. read more
Acknowledging the providential government of God, which controls events and places man's happiness out of his own power, one is confronted also by the fact that there is much wickedness, much injustice, in the world, which oppose all plans for peaceful enjoyment. Doubtless there shall be a day of retribution for such iniquities; and God allows them now in order to try men and to teach them humility. Meantime man's duty and happiness consist, as before said, in making the best use of the... read more
are best regarded as a parenthesis explanatory of Ecclesiastes 3:16-18 , elucidating man's impotence in the presence of the anomalies of life. The conclusion in Ecclesiastes 3:22 is connected with Ecclesiastes 3:16-18 . We must acknowledge that there are disorders in the world which we cannot remedy, and which God allows in order to demonstrate our powerlessness; therefore the wisest course is to make the best of present cir-circumstances. read more
All go unto one place . All, men and brutes, are buried in the earth ( Ecclesiastes 12:7 ). The author is not thinking of Sheol, the abode of departed spirits, but merely regarding earth as the universal tomb of all creatures. Plumptre quotes Lueretius, 'De Rer. Nat .,' 5.260— "Omniparens eadem rerum commune sepulchrum." "The mother and the sepulcher of all." Thus Bailey, 'Festus'— "The course of nature seems a course of death; The prize of life's brief race, to cease to... read more
That great anomaly in the moral government of this world, the seemingly unequal distribution of rewards and punishments, will be rectified by God, who has future times and events under His control Ecclesiastes 3:16-17. As for people, they are placed by God, who is their teacher, in a humble condition, even on a level with inferior animals, by death, that great instance of their subjection to vanity Ecclesiastes 3:18-19, which reduces to its original form all that was made of the dust of the... read more
Ecclesiastes 3:20-21. All go unto one place To the earth, as it is expressed Ecclesiastes 3:21, out of which they were both taken. All turn to dust again All their bodies, as it is explained Ecclesiastes 12:7. Who knoweth the spirit of a man True it is, there is a difference, which is known by good men, but the generality of mankind never mind it; their hearts are wholly set on present and sensible things, and take no thought for the things of the future and invisible world. read more
Injustice in the world (3:16-4:3)Having acknowledged God’s order in human events, the writer now observes that the ‘order’ is, at times, not very orderly. For example, injustice abounds (16). Maybe, thinks the writer, God will put everything right in a judgment day in the afterlife (17). On the other hand, thinks he, there may not be an afterlife. He observes that people die the same as animals, as if God is trying to show that they are no different from the beasts. Also, he asks, can it be... read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ecclesiastes 3:16-22
Solomon is still showing that every thing in this world, without piety and the fear of God, is vanity. Take away religion, and there is nothing valuable among men, nothing for the sake of which a wise man would think it worth while to live in this world. In these verses he shows that power (than which there is nothing men are more ambitious of) and life itself (than which there is nothing men are more fond, more jealous of) are nothing without the fear of God. I. Here is the vanity of man as... read more