12 For who knoweth what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell man what shall be after him under the sun?
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down; and he fleeth as a shadow, and continueth not.
ye who do not know what will be on the morrow, ([for] what [is] your life? It is even a vapour, appearing for a little while, and then disappearing,)
Jehovah is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. Jehovah is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul [that] seeketh him. It is good that one should both wait, and that in silence, for the salvation of Jehovah. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth:
And I have seen that there is nothing better than that man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion; for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?
but it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong [his] days as a shadow, because he feareth not before God.
Man is like to vanity; his days are as a shadow that passeth away.
Behold, thou hast made my days [as] hand-breadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before thee; verily, every man, [even] the high placed, is altogether vanity. Selah. Verily, man walketh in a vain show; verily they are disquieted in vain; he heapeth up [riches], and knoweth not who shall gather them.
I searched in my heart how to cherish my flesh with wine, while practising my heart with wisdom; and how to lay hold on folly, till I should see what was that good for the children of men which they should do under the heavens all the days of their life.
He hath shewn thee, O man, what is good: and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with thy God?
Let us hear the end of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole of man.
For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no hope [of life].
I am gone like a shadow when it lengtheneth; I am tossed about like the locust;
The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if, by reason of strength, they be fourscore years, yet their pride is labour and vanity, for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Who knoweth the power of thine anger? and thy wrath according to the fear of thee? So teach [us] to number our days, that we may acquire a wise heart.
Remember, as regards me, what life is. Wherefore hast thou created all the children of men to be vanity?
As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.
Jehovah is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ecclesiastes 6
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 6 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 6
In this chapter,
Ecc 6:1-6
Solomon had shown, in the close of the foregoing chapter, how good it is to make a comfortable use of the gifts of God's providence; now here he shows the evil of the contrary, having and not using, gathering to lay up for I know not what contingent emergencies to come, not to lay out on the most urgent occasions present. This is an evil which Solomon himself saw under the sun, v. 1. A great deal of evil there is under the sun. There is a world above the sun where there is no evil, yet God causes his sun to shine upon the evil as well as upon the good, which is an aggravation of the evil. God has lighted up a candle for his servants to work by, but they bury their talent as slothful and unprofitable, and so waste the light and are unworthy of it. Solomon, as a king, inspected the manners of his subjects, and took notice of this evil as a prejudice to the public, who are damaged not only by men's prodigality on the one hand, but by their penuriousness on the other. As it is with the blood in the natural body, so it is with the wealth of the body politic, if, instead of circulating, it stagnates, it will be of ill consequence. Solomon as a preacher observed the evils that were done that he might reprove them and warn people against them. This evil was, in his days, common, and yet then there was great plenty of silver and gold, which, one would think, should have made people less fond of riches; the times also were peaceable, nor was there any prospect of trouble, which to some is a temptation to hoard. But no providence will of itself, unless the grace of God work with it, cure the corrupt affection that is in the carnal mind to the world and the things of it; nay, when riches increase we are most apt to set our hearts upon them. Now concerning this miser observe,
Ecc 6:7-10
The preacher here further shows the vanity and folly of heaping up worldly wealth and expecting happiness in it.
Ecc 6:11-12
Here,