Ecclesiastes 6

Ecclesiastes 6:3

Ecc. 6:3. “So that the days of his years be many and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial. I say that an untimely birth is better than he.” Have no burial, i. e. is one that God takes no care of in his death, does him no honor, takes no care of either soul or body, as having any value for, or care of, either, or any respect for their memory. For it is the wicked that the wise man is here speaking of, the same that is spoken of Ecc 8:12; Ecclesiastes 8:13, which is a place very parallel with this. And it will be further evident by comparing this and the following verse with chap. Ecclesiastes 5:13-17. Burial is the respect which friends show to the memory and remains of those that are dead.

God will show no regard to anything that remains of wicked men after death. God treats their souls when they die, and will treat their bodies at the resurrection, with contempt, as men treat the dead bodies of those creatures they have no honor or regard for, and are abominable to them, as are the carcasses of unclean beasts. Jeremiah 22:19. “He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.” And Isaiah 14:19; Isaiah 14:20. “But thou art cast out of thy grace like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with the sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcass trodden under feet. Thou shalt be joined unto them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land.” God takes care of the righteous when they die, he finds a repository of rest for their souls, and their dust is precious to him. As God buried Moses in the mount, they are gathered to their fathers and received into Abraham’s bosom, but God treats the souls of the wicked when they die as men treat the dead, putrid carcass of an ass or a dog: they are cast forth out of the city of God’s Jerusalem, and shall be forever shut out thence.

Ecclesiastes 6:10

Ecc. 6:10 Ecc. 6:10. “That which hath been is named already, and it is known that it is man.” There is a certain sphere in which God hath placed man, certain limits by which his attainments in the world and the degree of his worldly happiness are circumscribed, which limits men have come to in time past, and it is a vain imagination for any to expect to exceed those limits. Whatever men attain to, still they are but men. He that made him gave him his name, ‘Adam,’ which implies that he is dust; and let him be never so greedy, aspiring, busy, and restless and grasping in his pursuits, and vast in his expectations, he never will be any more. Man in his first transgression was ambitious of getting above his limits, of being as a god; and this disposition is common among men: but He that is mightier than man hath set his limits, and it is in vain to contend with Him, as it follows - [Neither may he contend with Him that is mightier than he."] God will make it to be known that men are but men, Psalms 9:20.

Ecc. 8:1