Ecclesiastes 9:4 - Exposition

For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope . As long as a man lives (is one of living beings) he has some hope, whatever it be. This feeling is inextinguishable even unto the end.

ἄελπτον οὐδέν πάντα δ ελπίζειν χρεών

"Hope springs eternal in the human breast."

Thus Bailey sings, in 'Festus'—

"All Have hopes, however wretched they may be,

Or blessed. It is hope which lifts the lark so high,

Hope of a lighter air and bluer sky;

And the poor hack which drops down on the flints,

Upon whose eye the dust is settling, he

Hopes, but to die. No being exists, of hope,

Of love, void."

This clause gives a reason for the folly of men, mentioned in Ecclesiastes 9:3 . Whatever be their lot, or their way of life, they see no reason to make any change by reformation or active exertion. They go on hoping, and do nothing. Something may turn up; amid the inexplicable confusion of the ordering of events some happy contingency may arrive. The above is the reading according to the Keri. Thus the Septuagint: ὅτι τίς ὅς κοινωνεῖ ; "For who is he that has fellowship with all the living?" Symmachus has, "For who is he that will always continue to live?" while the Vulgate gives, Nemo est qui semper vivat . The Khetib points differently, offering the reading, "For who is excepted?" i.e. from the common lot, the interrogation being closely connected with the preceding verse, or "Who can choose?" i.e. whether he will die or not. The sentence then proceeds, "To all the living there is hope." But the rendering of the Authorized Version has good authority, and affords the better sense. For a living dog is better than a dead lion . The dog in Palestine was not made a pet and companion, as it is among us, but was regarded as a loathsome and despicable object comp. 1 Samuel 17:43 ; 2 Samuel 3:8 ); while the lion was considered as the noblest of beasts, the type of power and greatness (comp. Proverbs 30:30 ; Isaiah 31:4 ). So the proverbial saying in the text means that the vilest and meanest creature possessed of life is better than the highest and mightiest which has succumbed to death. There is an apparent contradiction between this sentence and such passages as claim a preference for death over life, e.g. Ecclesiastes 4:2 ; Ecclesiastes 7:1 ; but in the latter the writer is viewing life with all its sorrows and bitter experiences, here he regards it as affording the possibility of enjoyment. In the one case he holds death as desirable, because it delivers from further sorrow and puts an end to misery; in the other, he deprecates death as cutting off from pleasure and hope. He may also have in mind that now is the time to do the work which we have to perform: "The night cometh when no man can work;" Ecclesiasticus 17:28, "Thanksgiving perisheth from the dead, as from one that is not; the living and sound shall praise the Lord" (comp. Isaiah 38:18 , Isaiah 38:19 .)