Ecclesiastes 5:17 - Exposition

The misery that accompanies the rich man's whole life is summed up here, where one has to think chiefly of his distress after his loss of fortune. All his days also he eateth in darkness ; i . e . passes his life in gloom and cheerlessness. כָּל־יָמָיו , "all his days," is the accusative of time, not the object of the verb. To eat in darkness is not a common metaphor for spending a gloomy life, but it is a very natural one, and has analogies in this book ( e . g . Ecclesiastes 2:24 ; Ecclesiastes 3:13 , etc.), and in such phrases as to "sit in darkness" ( Micah 7:8 ), and to "walk in darkness" ( Isaiah 1:10 ). The Septuagint, reading differently, translates, καί γε πᾶσαι αἱ ἡμέραι αὐτοῦ ἐν σκότει ἐν πένθει , "Yea, and all his days are in darkness and in mourning." But the other versions reject this alteration, and few modern commentators adopt it. And he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness ; literally, and much vexation , and sickness , and wrath ; Revised Version, he is sore vexed , and hath sickness and wrath . Delitzsch takes the last words as an exclamation, "And oh for his sorrow and hatred!" The man experiences all kinds of vexation when his plans fail or involve him in trouble and privation; or he is morbid and diseased in mind and body; or he is angry and envious when others succeed better than himself. The sentiment is expressed by St. Paul ( 1 Timothy 6:9 ), "They that desire ( βουλόμενοι ) to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare, and many foolish and hurtful lusts, such as drown men ( βυθίουσι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ) in destruction and perdition." "For," he proceeds, "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through ( ἑαυτοὺς περιέπειραν ) with many sorrows." The Septuagint continues its version, "And in much passion ( θυμῷ ) and in infirmity and wrath." The anger may be directed against himself, as he thinks of his folly in taking all this trouble for nothing.