Ecclesiastes 6

Ecclesiastes 6:1-10

We have in this chapter, 1. The vanity of wealth in a misery; hand, inflamed in a variety of particulars, vers. 1—10. 2. He concludes with this plain inference from the whole, that it is fully to think of making up a happiness for ourselves in the things of this world, vers. 11, 12. Our satisfaction must be in another life, not in this.

1. THERE is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men: 2. A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he be wanted 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

disease. 3. If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years he many, and his soul he not filled with good, and also that he have no burial, I say, that an unturned berth is better than he. 4. For he cometh in with vanity, and departeth in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness. 5. Moreover, he hath not seen the sun, nor known any thing: this hath more rest than the other. 6. Yes, though he live a thousand years twice said, yet hath he seen no good: do not all go to one place?

The evil here remarked, is not peculiar to one place, or age; it is still common under the sun, and a grief to every attentive observer. Besides he God, above the sun there is no evil, and therefore no cause for lamentation.

1. The person described in a rich, covetous man. God hath given him riches, wealth; all which come from him, and are often the portion of the most unworthy, nay, frequently given in wrath; yet these bring honour and respect, for to Mammon men generally bear. And to this, v. 2, a numerous family, to perpetuate his name, and long life, in which he might enjoy his abundance, even to a thousand and a thousand years, v. 6. In short, heart could not wish for more outward advantages than God hath bestowed upon him: but notwithstanding, it appears evident that man’s life, the comfort of it, confideth not in the abundance of the things he possesses. For.

2. God giveth him not a heart to ruffe his mercies, and then they are all empty and vain. He hath not power to eat thereof, his covetous temper will not allow himself or family necessaries, and withholding from the poor their portion, God punishes him, by suffering him to pine in the midst of plenty. He cannot trust his nearest relations, or his own children; but a stranger, who hath warmed himself into favour, canals it, preying upon him, and after his decease possessing his fortune. A vanity this, and amazing folly, an evil sickness, a madness seldom cured, and fatal both to body and soul. His soul is not filled with good; his purse is filled with gold, his warehouses with stores, but his soul is still empty, uneasy; there is an aching void within, which none of these things can fill. Nay, he hath seen no good, v. 6, through all his days infercible to the mercies around him, and unable to relish any of the comforts he possesses. And as his life is without joy, his death is without honour; he hath no burial, v. 3, or none suitable to his rank: the forefathers of his temper makes him a niggard, even to his corpse, and to forbid it in his will a becoming interment; or his heirs have so little esteem for him, that if they huddle him into a grave, they care not how meanly it is done.

3. Better is it to have been carried from the womb to the grave, than thus to have lived and died. For he cometh in with vanity, the abortive birth, and departeth in, or into darkness, unnoticed, is laid in the dust, and his name shall be covered with darkness, forgotten and unknown: moreover, he hath not gone the sun, nor the miseries that are under it, nor known any thing of the troubles of this disordered world, or of the comforts of it: this hath more rest than the other, having never groaned under the souls of labour, the evil of covetousness, or the misery of departing. They go to one place, the common bed of dust, where no distinction marks the putrid clay.

4. All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the + appetite is not filled. 8. For what hath the wise more than the fool? what hath the poor that knoweth to walk before the living? 9. Better is the sight of the eyes, than the wandering of the desire: this is also vanity and vexation of spirit. 10. That which hath been is named already, and it is known that it is man: neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he.

John Chall objects we cover, were given us, they would be full unisets-factory, and the disappointment we must meet with in pursuit of them, will be a variation of our spirit.

4. After all our labours, we must remain for ever merely human, with all the infirmities of man, and cannot alter the divine purposes; drive as we will, God’s eternal decrees will take place: and though we could attain all the riches of the oath, or the empire of the world, it is, and must be human and acknowledged, that it is man, a poor dying woman, still lighter on the balances than vanity itself.

5. There is no contrasting against God; he is mightier than we: were presumption to question his wisdom or goodness, and madness to oppose Unimprovement. His will is law, to which, willing or unwilling, even the great, the wealthy, the mighty, must submit; and sickness and death, at farthest, will convince them they are but men.

6. Phila. The number of the days of the life of his vanity. 2. PC. cit., 1. 4. Junc. 10. 12. 5. Chap. vii.

7. ¶ Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what is man the better? 12. For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 6:7-10

How vain are the souls of anxiety!

1. There is no satisfaction in them. All the labour of man is for his mouth, what he shall eat, and what he shall drink, and yet the appetite is not filled; avarice is inflatable, hunger continually returning, and pampered appetite ever craving; or the soul is not satisfied; it can relish nothing of these sensual indulgences.

2. In the enjoyments of this world, there is not that difference which appears between the wise and the fool, the rich and the poor. For what hath the wise more than the fool? what more comfort in his possessions, or fruit of his labour? respecting the gratification of sensual appetite they are on a level: and what hath the poor that knoweth how to walk before the living? If he be industrious, and dextrous in his business, he provides a livelihood for himself and family; and in his sphere enjoys his little, and tastes as much satisfaction therein, as the rich, in all their abundance.

3. Commitment with what we have, is a far greater comfort, than to be always coveting more. Better is the sight of the eyes, the present portion before us, when enjoyed, than the wandering of the desire, still craving and infalcism; for this is also vanity: if the objects

Ecclesiastes 6:11

12. Hear then the conclusion of the matter.

13. Man’s pursuits after creature-good but the more perplex and trouble him. Being there be many things that increase vanity, knowledge, wealth, power, pleasure, what is man the better? may, is he not rather the worse! these things which pernicled him happiness, inordinately fought, prove a plague and inure to him.

14. Man is a poor blind creature, and knoweth not what is for his own good; for who can tell what is good for man in this life? need but God alone, who will do what is best, and our happiness is ornamented in his dispositions.

15. Man’s life is short, transitory, and vain. Years, nay months are too much to compute it by; it is reckoned by days, days of vanity, empty of all good, as a shadow, wherein there is nothing substantial, and swiftly hurrying to their end.

16. He hath no foresight of what will happen when he is gone, what will be the case of his posterity, and how his substance will be disposed of; so that his prospects in futurity afford him no more happiness than his present possessions.