Ecclesiastes 9:9

Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest,.... Or "see", or "enjoy life" (d): this is one of the ways of enjoying life comfortably, and one of the principal ones; that if a man has a wife whom he

Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in

Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest; so he limits him to lawful delights; whereby it is evident that Solomon doth not speak this in the person of an epicure, as some understand it. Of the life of thy vanity; of this vain and frail life; which expression he industriously useth to moderate men’ s affections even towards lawful pleasures, and to mind them of their duty and interest in making sure of a better life, and more solid comforts. Thy portion, allowed to thee by God, and the best part of worldly enjoyments, in this life; by which addition he is again admonishing him of seeking another portion in the future life.

Ecclesiastes 9:9 Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that [is] thy portion in [this] life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.Ver. 9. Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest.] As Isaac, the most loving husband in Scripture, did with his Rebecca, whom he loved not only as his country woman, kinswoman, a good woman, &c., but as his woman; not with an ordinary or Christian love only, but with a conjugal love, which indeed is that which will make marriage a merry age, sweeten all crosses, season all comforts. She is called the wife of a man’ s bosom because she should be loved as well as the heart in his bosom. God took one of man’ s ribs, and, having built it into a wife, laid it again in his bosom, so that she is flesh of his flesh, yea, she is himself, as the apostle argues, and therehence enforceth this duty of love. Neither doth he satisfy himself in this argument, but adds there blow to blow, so to drive this nail up to the head, the better to beat this duty into the heads and hearts of husbands. All the days of the life of thy vanity.] Love and live comfortably together, as well in age as in youth, as well in the fading as in the freshness of beauty. Which he hath given thee,] i.e., The wife (not the life) which he hath given thee; for marriages are made in heaven, as the heathens also held. God, as he brought Eve to Adam at first, so still he is the paranymph that makes the match and unites their affections. "A prudent wife is of the Lord," for a comfort, as a froward is for a scourge. All the days of thy vanity,] i.e., Of thy vain, vexatious life, the miseries whereof to mitigate God hath given thee a suitable mate to compassionate and communicate with thee, and to be a principal remedy, for Optimum solarium sodalitiara, no comfort in misery can be comparable to good company, that will sympathise and share with us. For that is thy portion.] And a very good one too, if she prove good, as, if otherwise, Aristotle saith right: He that is unhappy in a wife hath lost the one half, at least, of his happiness on earth. And in thy labour which thou takest, &c.] They that will marry shall have trouble in the flesh. Let them look for it, and labour to make a virtue of necessity. As there is rejoicing in marriage, so there is a deal of labour - i.e., of care, cost, and cumber. Is it not good therefore to have a partner, such a one as Sarah was to Abraham - a piece so just cut for him as answered him right in every joint? Arist. in Rhetor.

Verse 9. Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest] Marry prudently, keep faithfully attached to the wife thou hast chosen, and rejoice in the labour of thy hands. Some understand this as the words of the libertine objector: "Live joyfully with the woman whom thou lovest best." But this does not comport so well with the scope of the place.

9. Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest] The absence of the article from the Hebrew noun for “woman” has been wrongly pressed by interpreters who see in the Debater the advocate of sensuality, as indicating indifference to the marriage union (“live joyfully with a woman whom thou lovest, whether wife or not”), and is simply the indefinite form natural to a general maxim. So we should say naturally “live with a wife whom you love.” The conclusion in which the writer for the present rests is that while sensual indulgence in excess leads to misery and shame, and brings men into contact with the most hateful form of womanhood (chs. Ecclesiastes 2:11, Ecclesiastes 7:26), there is a calm peacefulness in the life of a happy home, which, though it cannot remove the sense of the “vanity” and transitoriness of life, at least makes it endurable. If there is, as some have thought, an undertone of irony, it is one which springs from a sympathy with the joy as well as the sorrow of life, and not that of a morose cynicism, saying, “enjoy … if you can.” all the days of thy vanity] The iteration emphasizes the wisdom of making the most of the few days of life. The thought is essentially the same as that expressed in the Carpe diem of Hor. Od. i. 11. that is thy portion in this life] This, the calm regulated enjoyment of the wiser Epicureans.

9. Live joyfully — Assuming the inability of man to secure abiding good, which his researches have now shown, Koheleth enforces the enjoyment of the present in all its varied resources.