Ecclesiastes 7:8

Better [is] the end of a thing than the beginning thereof,.... If the thing is good, other ways the end of it is worse; as the end of wickedness and wicked men, whose beginning is sweet, but the end

Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Better (is) the end of a thing - connected with Ecclesiastes 7:7.

If this verse relates to that next foregoing, it is an argument to keep men’ s minds from being disordered, either by oppression or bribery, because the end of those practices will show, that he who oppresseth another doth himself most hurt by it, and that he who taketh bribes is no gainer by them. But if this be independent upon the former, as divers other verses here are, it is a general and useful observation, that the good or evil of things is better known by their end than by their beginning; which is true both in evil counsels and courses, which are pleasant at first, but at last bring destruction; and in all noble enterprises, in the studies of learning, and in the practice of virtue and godliness, where the beginnings are difficult and troublesome, but in the progress and conclusion they are most easy and comfortable; and it is not sufficient to begin well, unless we persevere to the end, which crowns all. The patient in spirit, who quietly waits for the end and issue of things, and is willing to bear hardships and inconveniences in the mean time, is better than the proud; which he puts instead of hasty or impatient, which the opposition might seem to require, partly because pride is the chief cause of impatience, , and makes men unable to bear any thing either from God or from men whereas humility makes men sensible of their own unworthiness, and that they deserve, at least from God, all the indignities and injuries which they suffer from men by God’ s permission, and therefore patient under them; and partly to correct the vulgar error of proud men, who think highly of themselves, and trample all others, especially such as are meek and patient, under their feet.

Ecclesiastes 7:8 Better [is] the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: [and] the patient in spirit [is] better than the proud in spirit.Ver. 8. Better is the end of a thing than the beginning.] No right judgment can be made of anything unless we can see the end of it. God seems oft to go a contrary way to work, but by that time both ends be brought together, all is as it should be, and it appears that he doth all things in number, weight, and measure. We may learn (saith Mr Hooper, martyr, in a certain letter exhorting to patience) by things that nourish and maintain us, both meat and drink, what loathsome and abhorring they come unto, before they work their perfection in us: from life they are brought to the fire, and clean altered from what they were when they were alive; from the fire to the trencher and knife, and all to be hacked; from the trencher to the mouth, and as small ground as the teeth can grind them; from the mouth into the stomach, and there so boiled and digested before they nourish, that whosoever saw the same would loathe and abhor his own nourishment, till it come to perfection. But as a man looketh for the nourishment of his meat when it is full digested, and not before, so must he look for deliverance when he hath suffered much trouble, and for salvation when he hath passed through the strait gate, &c. Let the wise man look to the end, and to the right which in the end God will do him, in the destruction of his oppressors; and this will patient his heart and heal his distemper. We "have heard of the patience of Job, and what end the Lord made with him. Be ye also patient," you shall shortly have help if ye hold out waiting. "Mark the upright man, and behold the just, for" - whatsoever his beginning or his middle be - "the end of that man is peace." Only he must hold out faith and patience, and not fall off from good beginnings; for as the evening crowneth the day, and as the grace of an interlude is in the last scene, so it is constancy that crowneth all graces, and he only that "continueth to the end that shall he saved." Laban was very kind at first, but he showed himself at parting. Saul’ s three first years were good. Judas carried himself fair, usque ad loculorum officium, saith Tertullian, till the bag was committed to him. Many set out for heaven with as much seeming resolution as Lot’ s wife did out of Sodom, as Orphah did out of Moab, as the young man in the Gospel came to Christ; but after a while they fall away, they stumble at the cross, and fall backwards. Now to such it may well be said, The end is better than the beginning.

(8) Thing.—Here, as in Ecclesiastes 6:11 and elsewhere, we may also translate “word.” Possibly the thought still is the advantage of bearing patiently “the rebuke of the wise.”

Verse 8. Better is the end] We can then judge of the whole, and especially if the matter relate to the conduct of Divine Providence. At the beginning we are often apt to make very rash conjectures, and often suppose that such and such things are against us; and that every thing is going wrong. Dr. Byrom gives good advice on such a subject: - "With patient mind thy course of duty run: God nothing does, nor suffers to be done, But thou wouldst do thyself, couldst thou but see The end of all events, as well as HE." I may add, in the words of our paraphrast: - "Wait the result, nor ask with frantic rage Why God permits such things. His ways, though now Involved in clouds and darkness, will appear All right, when from thine eyes the mist is cleared. Till then, to learn submission to his will More wisdom shows, than vainly thus to attempt Exploring what thou canst not comprehend, And God for wisest ends thinks fit to hide." C.

8. Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof] As in ch. Ecclesiastes 6:11, the noun translated “thing” may mean “word” and this gives a preferable meaning. It cannot be said of everything, good and bad alike, that its “end is better than its beginning” (comp. Proverbs 5:3-4; Proverbs 16:25; Proverbs 23:32), and those who so interpret the maxim are obliged to limit its meaning to good things, or to assume that the end must be a good one. Some (as Ginsburg) give to the “word” the sense of “reproof,” but this limitation is scarcely needed. It may be said of well-nigh every form of speech, for silence is better than speech, and “in the multitude of words there wanteth not sin.” It is obvious that this furnishes a closer parallel to the second clause. The “patient in spirit” is the man who knows how to check and control his speech, and to listen to reproof. The “proud” (literally, the lofty or exalted) is one who has not learnt to curb his tongue, and to wait for the end that is better than the beginning. So interpreted the whole maxim finds a parallel in James 3:1-18, in the precepts of a thousand sages of all times and countries.

Better - Inasmuch as something certain is attained, man contemplates the end throughout an entire course of action, and does not rest upon the beginning.

8. End of a thing — Hebrew, word; here meaning the reproof above named. To hear a reproof is trying to flesh and blood, and the voice of the reprover is like that of the first bringer of unwelcome news.