Ecclesiastes 6

To show ourselves as we are, making no affectation of reserve or difference from others; to be found at the marriage-feast; to accept the invitation of the rich Pharisee Simon, and the scorned publican Zaccheus; to mix with the crowd of men, using no affected singularity, content to be “creatures not too bright or good for human nature’s daily food;” and yet for a man amid it all to remain a consecrated spirit, his trials and his solitariness known only to his Father—a being set apart, not of this world, alone in the heart’s deeps with God; to put the cup of this world’s gladness to his lips, and yet be unintoxicated; to feel its brightness, and yet defy its thrall—this is the difficult, and rare, and glorious life of God in the soul of man. F. W. R.

The Scriptures were not given to solve the problems of social life, or of every-day personal duty, for all time, except by presenting the great principles of duty, of service to God and man, and offering the highest incentives to its performance. The questions which gather about the subject of amusements in our day are settled in the Scriptures only by inculcating the true spirit of the Christian life, and leaving the practical form of that life to the common Christian judgment. James H. Fairchild.

This whole question must be taken out of the domain of abstract casuistry. It is not so much a question of absolute right and wrong as of conscience and charity. The spirit of our life is far more important than the letter of our law. The rule of love is higher than the law of liberty. Christianity antagonizes worldliness, it does not conform to it. The Church should deal with it not so much by the axe of discipline as by the sword of the Spirit. Yet, without a doubt, the very law of love may sometimes require a kind, considerate, thoughtful exercise of the disciplinary power of the Church. But our chief appeal must be to the conscience. Our main reliance must be on the spirit and the life demanded by a whole-hearted surrender and commitment to the Lord Jesus. Those who are constrained by the love of Christ can scarcely allow themselves indulgence in any business or recreation, any work or play, into which and through which and out of which they cannot consistently go, with ever-present and affectionate remembrance of Him “who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify us unto Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works.” General Assembly, 1869.

1. THERE is an evil which I have seen under

2 the sun, and it is heavy upon men: a man to whom God giveth riches, wealth, and honour, so that he lacketh nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it; this is vanity, and it is an evil

3 disease. If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, but his soul be not filled with good, and moreover he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is bet-

4 ter than he: for it cometh in vanity, and departeth in darkness, and the name thereof 5 is covered with darkness; moreover it hath not seen the sun nor known it; this hath rest 6 rather than the other: yea, though he live a thousand years twice told, and yet enjoy no 7 good: do not all go to one place? All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the 8 appetite is not filled. For what advantage hath the wise more than the fool? or what hath the poor man, that knoweth to walk 9 before the living? Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

10. Whatsoever hath been, the name thereof was given long ago, and it is known what man is: neither can he contend with him that 11 is mightier than he. Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what is man the 12 better? For who knoweth what is good for man in his life, all the days of his vain

AFTER describing in the preceding verses the condition of the happiest of mankind, the Preacher in this chapter (again drawing from his own observation of men) contemplates the more common case of such men when their abundant prosperity is impaired or reduced to vanity by certain deficiencies. The instances which he mentions are those of men to whom God gives wealth, honor, success, children, and long life, yet from them He withholds the capacity of enjoyment, rest, permanence, or contentment (vs. 1-9); no labor or effort of man can procure what God thus withholds (v. 10). What, then, is good for man to do, whose lot in life is so thoroughly subject to vanity? (vs. 11, 12.) W. T. B.

Throughout this sixth chapter the Preacher is speaking of the lover of riches, not simply of the rich man; not against wealth, but against mistaking wealth for the chief good. The man who trusts in riches is placed before us; and, that we may see him at his best, he has the riches in which he trusts. Yet because he does not accept his abundance as the gift of God, and hold the Giver better than His gift, he cannot enjoy it. “All the labor of this man is for his mouth”—that is to say, his wealth, with all that it commands, appeals to sense and appetite; it feeds the lust of the eye, or the lust of the flesh, or the pride of life, and therefore “his soul cannot be satisfied therewith.” That craves a higher nutriment, a more enduring good. God has put eternity into it, and how can that which is immortal be contented with the lucky haps and comfortable conditions of time? Unless some immortal provision be made for the immortal spirit, it will pine and protest and crave till all power of happily enjoying outward good be lost. Cox.

2. It is a blessed thing to be “a man to whom God has not only given riches and wealth,” but so large a heart; so beneficent, so brotherly, that his fruition of his fortune is as wide as the thousands who share it, and the reversion as secure as the heaven in which it is treasured. Hamilton.

3-5. Long life and a numerous offspring were accounted by the Orientals the richest of blessings. But Solomon says that even this man so blessed, if his desires are not gratified, and if, moreover, he should fail of burial (in their esteem a very great calamity), has a less desirable lot than the “untimely birth,” the still-born life which he spendeth as a shadow * for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?

who live not to see the light of day. This “untimely birth” is further described in vs. 4, 5. H. C.—It cometh in vanity or nothingness; it really has no existence in this world; it is never numbered in the family or in the census of the people; it receives no name, no mention is made of it, and there is no remembrance of it on earth. He had said before that an untimely birth is better than the man who should live a protracted life on the earth and never be satisfied with good; and he is here assigning the reason for a declaration which might sound strangely in the ears of men; that reason is, that this hath rest rather than the other. He spends a long existence in this world, and never finds rest to his soul; but it lies still and is quiet; it sleeps and is at rest. J. M. M.—Rest is regarded in Oriental life as the chief good.

6. The same comparison is still continued, enlarging the supposition as to the great age, the “many days,” which the father of a hundred children should live. Suppose his days double the years of the longest-lived antediluvian, yet if he fails of seeing good in his life, what avails it that he has lived so long? Does not he die at last and go to the same place with the still-born infant? A life however long, yet fruitless of enjoyment, and ending in a death that is common to all the race and even to the untimely birth, what is the good of it?

7,8. The demand for food is twofold: for sustenance, strength, and life; and the indulgence and gratification of appetite. Comprising both these demands, it may be said truly that much if not strictly all of human labor is “for the mouth.” But the appetite is not so filled that its cravings do not return. More supplies are soon wanted. And in this respect the wise man and the fool are alike. The poor man, who has great discretion as to his demeanor before living men, is here parallel to the wise man, and the same things are said of him. H. C.

9. Coheleth concedes the evil of desiring continually, and says that it is vanity and fruitless effort; but still he maintains that there is some good in present enjoyment. M. S.

The sentiment is, it is better to enjoy the sight of present good quietly and gratefully than to let your desires roam abroad for pleasures far to seek and hard to gain. Accept what comes to your hand, and beware that you do not throw a loose rein on your desires for absent good. H. C.—The meaning is, it is better to make a wise use of what lies before us, and to enjoy quietly and contentedly what we have, than to let our desires be continually running out after fresh objects and shifting from point to point, such restless pursuits being not only vain and unprofitable, but creating abundance of needless trouble and perplexity. Balguy.—Solomon’s will is that we make use of the present, thank God for it, and not think of anything else—like the dog in Æsop, which snapped at the shadow and let the flesh fall. What he intends, then, is that we should use that which God has given before our eyes, that which is now here, and be content therewith, and not follow our own soul, which is never satisfied, as he said before. Luther.

10. The sequence of thought leads the writer to dwell on the shortness of man’s life, rather than on its subjection to a destiny. The following explanation gives that sequence more clearly. What he is, long ago his name was called. The very name of man bore witness to his frailty. This being so, he cannot take his stand in the cause which one “mightier” than himself pleads against him. Death is that mightier one, and will assert his power. So taken, the thought is continuous and harmonious throughout. E. H. P.—I paraphrase it, what man has been and is was long ago (i.e., in Eden) indicated by the name given him there—“Adam,” i.e., dust; and it is known (by long and sad experience) that he is only dust—frail and perishing, and therefore entirely unable to contend with Him who is mightier far—viz., the Most High God. H. C.

Though it be madness in man to contend with his Maker, it is man’s prerogative that his very weakness is a purchase on Omnipotence. Insane when contending with One that is mightier, he is irresistible when in faith and coincidence of holy affection he fights the battles of the Most High, and when by prayer and uplooking affiance he imports into his own imbecility the might of Jehovah. It is hardly known even yet what man can do when his Maker contends for him and fights through him; what moral triumphs and spiritual trophies may be won by man when, through Christ strengthening, man is rendered superhuman.

11. “Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what is man the better?” What the better is man of that reputation which only makes him more envied? What the better is he of that wealth which only makes him more obnoxious to plots and dangers? What the better is acquirement, when, after all, man’s intellect, man’s conscience, man’s affections must remain a vast and unappeasable vacuity? Here it is that the other Royal Preacher comes forward, and, instead of echoing, answers the demand of Solomon. Jesus says, “I am the bread of life; he that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.” Jesus is God manifest, and, therefore, Jesus known is satisfaction to the famished intellect. He is God reconciled, and, therefore, Jesus trusted is comfort to the aching conscience. He is God communicated, and, therefore, Jesus loved is a continual feast to the hungry affections. Incarnate, atoning, interceding, Immanuel is the bread of life, the only sustenance and satisfaction of the immortal soul. Hamilton.

12. These are questions pressed home by man’s fruitless striving to find happiness in the world. “What is the great end of this vain life, which passes away like a shadow; what real good is attainable from it? and who can tell or promise that the future experience of men will be any different from that of those before them?” The author has taken the standpoints successively of the mere man of learning, the gay, frivolous man, the busy man, the monarch, the rich man, the long-lived prosperous man, the sensualist; he has contemplated worldly good by itself, in every conceivable form, and has reached no satisfactory result; the questions still remain unanswered. J. M. M.—All the future from any given point is utterly unknown to man; how, then, can he tell what is good for him in this life, while yet his fleeting days hold out? So entire is this uncertainty, so dark is all the future, why should man vainly labor to carve out his fortune by dint of care and toil, and refuse to cast himself upon God, commit his ways to His guiding providence and trust Him for all? H. C.

Although no man can tell the conqueror how it shall be with the dynasty he has founded; nor the poet how it shall be with the epic he has published; nor the capitalist how it shall be with the fortune he has accumulated; it is easy to tell the philanthropist and the Christian how it shall be, not only with himself, but with the cause he is so eagerly promoting. And without quenching curiosity, it may quiet all anxiety to know that when he himself is gone to be forever with the Lord, Christ’s kingdom will be spreading in the world. Hamilton.

Who can help feeling the deepest interest in the struggles of such an inquiring, sensitive, and anxious man? But, after all, the tenor of his book is far from inculcating gloom and reckless despair. Cheerfulness and sober enjoyment are everywhere commended, when he comes to advise and to give precepts. All impiety, light-mindedness, murmuring, and distrust of God’s justice or goodness are discarded by him and condemned, even in the midst of all the temptations to indulge such feelings, while one has only glimpses of the world of future happiness. To any one who reads the book intelligently, who looks at the condition, and sees the design of the writer, such a struggle in regard to the most interesting question man can ask, viz., How can I find true and lasting happiness? to such an one a picture is presented, to be contemplated with the most lively emotions. It is only when we mistake the tenor and object of the book, and look for and demand that which is not in it, that we meet with insoluble difficulties at every turn. But no one who gets an enlightened view of the whole book can feel that a straight-going exegesis will endanger our faith. Quite the contrary. We are led to see, step by step, what the mind can struggle with and overcome, where there is an unshaken confidence in God at the bottom of the heart. If one in ages past, before the Sun of Righteousness arose in His full splendor, could thus struggle and thus triumph, shame and reproach to us, who live under the full blaze of Gospel light, if we doubt and grow cold and murmur, when the ways of Providence are mysterious and afflictive to us! M. S.

He now advances, as will be seen in the succeeding chapters, to higher ground, asserts the doctrine of a future life with far greater distinctness, and in describing wisdom as true religion, helps us to see in the very particulars in which the reproach of vanity had engaged his attention and perplexed his mind, how it is removed by the disclosures and hopes of this Divine religion. J. M. M.