Ecclesiastes 11:2

"Divide your portion to seven, or even to eight, for you do not know what misfortune may occur on the earth."Divide your portion to seven" -The idea may be of unlimited benevolence, i.e. give to many people who might be in need. Or, the idea might be, "divide your ventures", i.e. one is wise if he does not trust his entire fortune to one ship. As one would say today, it is unwise to put all one's eggs in the same basket. "'Seven' or 'eight' represent. wide diversity of investments. Such diversification is necessary because it affords protection against unforeseen calamity in one or two of the enterprises" (Garrett p. 338).

"for you do not know what misfortune may occur on the earth" -Once again we are faced with the truth that man is completely unable to predict the future, and that time and chance happens to all (Ecclesiastes 9:11). "you never know what will go wrong in this world" (Mof).

3 Solomon might be saying, "Help as many people as you can now, because. time may be coming that you will need help from others" (Luke 16:9; 2 Corinthians 8:14; Galatians 6:1).

4 This verse could also admonish us to allow wisdom to prepare one for the unexpected misfortunes of life which are beyond control---Plan for the future!