Ecclesiastes 5:15 - Exposition

The case of the rich man who has lost his property is here generalized. What is true of him is, in a measure, true of every one, so far as he can carry nothing away with him when he dies ( Psalms 49:17 ). As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came. There is a plain reference to Job 1:21 , "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither." The mother is the earth, human beings being regarded as her offspring. So the psalmist says, "My frame was curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth" ( Psalms 139:15 ). And Ben-Sira, "Great trouble is created for every man, and a heavy yoke is upon the sons of Adam, from the day that they go out of their mother's womb till the day that they return to the mother of all things." 1 Timothy 6:7 , "We brought nothing into the world, neither can we carry anything out." Thus Propertius, 'Eleg.,' 3.5. 13—

"Hand ullas portabis opes Acherontis ad undas,

Nudus ab inferna, stulte, vehere rate."

"No wealth thou'lt take to Acheron's dark shore,

Naked, th' infernal bark will bear thee o'er."

Shall take nothing of his labor; rather, for his labor , the preposition being בְּ of price. He gets nothing by his long toil in amassing wealth. Which he may carry away in his hand, as his own possession. The ruined Dives points a moral for all men.