Ecclesiastes 6:1-12
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 wanteth 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 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.
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 Yea, though he live a thousand years twice told, yet hath he seen no good: do not all go to one place?
7 All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetitea 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.
11 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, allb 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. Further Reflections on Wealth and Fate. Parallel with the bitter experience of the avaricious man who loses his wealth is that of the rich and successful man whose cherished desires are unfulfilled. Having no keen satisfaction himself he yet hopes to see his son enjoy his acquisitions, but he is childless, or if he has the blessings of a large family (a hundred is just a round number) and a long life both highly prized by the Jews the children may disappoint him by their conduct and so fill his soul with sorrow instead of satisfying it with good, and he may even yet undergo the supreme dishonour of lacking interment. Cf. Jezebel (2 Kings 9:35) and Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 22:19), and many other references both in biblical and classical literature, especially the Greek legend of Antigone. The corpse of Artaxerxes Ochus (p. 79) in the fourth century B.C. is said to have been devoured by cats; he was one of the hundred children of Artaxerxes Mnemon, whose old age was saddened by his sons-' evil courses. These cases were probably known to our writer. Better than such an end would it be never to have had a beginning. The premature babe, still-born, comes into a lifeless existence (vanity); its name is covered with darkness, i.e. it has no name (cf. Job 3, Psalms 58:8), and it has no consciousness of joy or sorrow, no sensation of pleasure or pain. A man may live to be twice as old as Methuselah, yet enjoy no good (contrast Ecclesiastes 5:18) ever toiling for unreached satisfaction (in Ecclesiastes 6:7 mouth and appetite are figurative): his goal is the same as that of the abortion, which has the good fortune to reach it both sooner and more easily. With Ecclesiastes 6:8 a cf. Ecclesiastes 2:14.
Ecclesiastes 6:8 b. What advantage has a poor man, who has got on in life by knowing how to walk prudently and successfully, before his fellow men? (M- Neile). Better is the enjoyment of one's possessions (the light of the eyes) than desire for the unattainable; cf. Ecclesiastes 5:18 f.
Ecclesiastes 6:10 speaks of the helplessness of man. The first clause of Ecclesiastes 6:10 may be taken as in text or mg. or as that which is; the name was given long ago perhaps simply means is in existence. There is a play on the word man = Adam (mg.). He has no chance against the President of the Immortals.
Ecclesiastes 6:11. things: better words, a reference to the contention of Ecclesiastes 6:10, or perhaps to the discussions of different sects as to how far man is the child of circumstances or fate. All are to no purpose. No one really knows what is the summum bonum, life is but an unsubstantial shadow (cf. Ecclesiastes 8:13; 1 Chronicles 29:15; Job 8:9; James 4:14). These verses find apt illustration in Fitzgerald's Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (xxvii.- xxx, and lvi.; 1st edition, 1859).