Ecclesiastes 9:4

For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope,.... That is, who is among the living, is one of them, and, as long as he is, there is hope, if his circumstances are mean, and he is poor

For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For to him that is joined to all the living.

That is joined to all the living; that continueth in the land and society of living men. Or, according to the reading of the Hebrew text, that is chosen or allotted to life, whom God hath appointed yet to live in the world, when he hath appointed that many others shall die; or who are written among the living, as the phrase is, , which is borrowed from the custom of cities, where men are first chosen, and then enrolled citizens. There is hope; he hath not only some comfort for the present, but also hopes of further and greater happiness in this world, which men are very prone to entertain and cherish in themselves. Yea, they may have the hopes of a better life, if they improve their opportunities. But he seems to confine himself here to the present life. Better, i.e. much happier, as to the comforts and privileges of this world, though in other respects death be better than life, as was said, .

Ecclesiastes 9:4 For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.Ver. 4. For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope.] These are the words of those wicked ones, whose lives and hopes end together, whose song is, Post mortem nulla voluptas, when life ends, there is an end of all. Is there not such language in some men’ s hearts, Who knows whether there be any such thing as a life to come? &c. Now I shall know, said that dying pope, whether the soul of man be immortal, yea or no; and whether that tale concerning Christ have any truth in it. Oh, wretch! So a living dog is better than a dead lion.] But so is not a living sinner better than a dead saint; for "the righteous hath hope in his death"; and they that "die in the Lord are blessed"; how much more if they also die for the Lord! These "love not their lives unto the death." but go as willingly to die as ever they did to dine, being as glad to leave the world (for a better especially) as men are wont to be to rise from the board, when they have eaten their fill, to take possession of a lordship. “ Cur non ut plenus vitae conviva recedis? ” - Lucret. Ex primis per μιμησιν eorum sermones. - Lav. Job 24:1-25. Sic Benedic. IX., Alexand. VI., Leo. X.

(4) There is a various reading here in the Hebrew. Our translators, following the older translators, adopt the reading of the margin. That of the text gives, instead of “joined,” a word signifying “chosen;” the best sense that can be given to which is to translate, “For who is excepted,” joining it with the previous verse, beginning this one, “To all the living,” &c. With regard to the statement of the following verses, comp. Psalms 6:3 and the marginal references there given. The shepherd’s dog is spoken of Job 30:1, and watchdogs Isaiah 56:10. Elsewhere in the Old Testament the dog is an unclean animal living or dead.

Verse 4. For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope] While a man lives he hopes to amend, and he hopes to have a better lot; and thus life is spent, hoping to grow better, and hoping to get more. The Vulgate has, "There is none that shall live always, nor has any hope of such a thing." Perhaps the best translation is the following: "What, therefore, is to be chosen? In him that is living there is hope." Then choose that eternal life which thou hopest to possess. A living dog is better than a dead lion.] I suppose this was a proverb. The smallest measure of animal existence is better than the largest of dead matter. The poorest living peasant is infinitely above Alexander the Great.

4. For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope] A different and preferable punctuation gives the rendering: For who is specially chosen, i.e. who is excepted from the common lot of death. To all the living there is hope. The passage has, however, received many conflicting interpretations, of which this seems, on the whole, the best. It was quite after the tone of Greek thought to find in the inextinguishable hope which survives in most men even to the end, even though the hope does not stretch beyond the horizon of the grave, their one consolation, that which made life at least liveable, even if not worth living. So Hope was found at the bottom of Pandora’s treasure-chest of evils. So Sophocles: ἂγὰρδὴπολύπλαγκτοςἐλπὶςπολλοῖςμένὄνασιςἀνδρῶν.“For unto men comes many-wandering hope,Bringing vain joy.”Antig. 613. a living dog is better than a dead lion] The point of the proverb lies, of course, in the Eastern estimate of the dog as the vilest of all animals (1 Samuel 17:43; Psalms 69:6; 2 Kings 8:13; Matthew 7:6; Matthew 15:26; Revelation 22:15, et al.), while the lion, with both Jew and Greek, was, as the king of beasts (Proverbs 30:30), the natural symbol of human sovereignty. A like proverb is found in Arabic. The pessimist view of life, co-existing with the shrinking from death, finds a parallel in Euripides (Hippol. 190–197): πᾶςδʼ ? ὀδυνηρὸςβίοςἀνθρώπων,κοὐκἔστιπόνωνἀνάπαυσιςἀλλʼ ? ὅτιτοῦζῆνφίλτερονἄλλοσκότοςἀμπίσχωνκρύπτεινεφέλαιςδυσέρωτεςδὴφαινόμεθʼ ? ὄντεςτοῦδʼ ? ὅτιτοῦτοστίλβοικατὰγᾶν.διʼ ? ἀπειροσύνανἄλλουβιότου,κοὐκἀπόδειξιντῶνὑπὸγαίας.“Yea, every life of man is full of grief,Nor is there any respite from his toils:But whatsoe’er is dearer than our life,Darkness comes o’er it, covering all with clouds;And yet of this we seem all madly fond,For this at least is bright upon the earth,Through utter nescience of a life elsewhere,And the ‘no-proof’ of all beneath the earth.”

For to him - Rather: “Yet to him.” Notwithstanding evils, life has its advantage, and especially when compared with death. Dog - To the Hebrews a type of all that was contemptible 1 Samuel 17:43.

4. For to him that is joined — This is a phrase variously translated. The strictest rendering is, For who is chosen out? that is, Who is exempted?