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Ecclesiastes 5

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Reverence and Wisdom in Worship 1–7

1
Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God; for to draw nigh to hear is better than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they know not that they do evil. ​
2
Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything before God; for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. ​
3
For a dream cometh with a multitude of business, and a fool’s voice with a multitude of words.
4
When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou vowest. ​
5
Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.
6
Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thy hands? ​
7
For in the multitude of dreams there are vanities, and in many words: but fear thou God. ​

Observing Injustice and Authority 8–9

8
If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of justice and righteousness in a province, marvel not at the matter: for one higher than the high regardeth; and there are higher than they. ​
9
Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field.

The Vanity and Peril of Riches 10–17

10
He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance, with increase: this also is vanity. ​
11
When goods increase, they are increased that eat them; and what advantage is there to the owner thereof, save the beholding of them with his eyes? ​
12
The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much; but the fulness of the rich will not suffer him to sleep. ​
13
There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept by the owner thereof to his hurt: ​
14
and those riches perish by evil adventure; and if he hath begotten a son, there is nothing in his hand.
15
As he came forth from his mother’s womb, naked shall he go again as he came, and shall take nothing for his labor, which he may carry away in his hand. ​
16
And this also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that he laboreth for the wind?
17
All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he is sore vexed, and hath sickness and wrath. ​

Enjoyment as God's Gift 18–20

18
Behold, that which I have seen to be good and to be comely is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor, wherein he laboreth under the sun, all the days of his life which God hath given him: for this is his portion. ​
19
Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God. ​
20
For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth him in the joy of his heart. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Ecclesiastes 5

Verse 1

Keep thy foot — 'Keep' (shamar) is to guard, as a step is watched. 'Be more ready to hear' is shama, to hear and obey, and the preference matches Samuel's word to Saul: 'to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams' (1 Sam 15:22). 'The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD' (Prov 15:8).

Verse 2

let thy words be few — The reason given is the distance in 'God is in heaven, and thou upon earth', as 'the heavens are higher than the earth' (Isa 55:9). 'Any thing' and 'words' are one Hebrew word, davar, so the heart is not to hurry a word out before God. Christ says the same of prayer: 'use not vain repetitions' (Matt 6:7).

Verse 4

defer not to pay it — 'Defer' is acher, to delay, the verb of the law: 'thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the LORD thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee' (Deut 23:21). 'Pay' (shalam) stands twice in the verse. Num 30:2 binds the man who vows: 'he shall not break his word'.

Verse 6

before the angel — Mal'ak is a messenger, the word used of the priest, 'the messenger of the LORD of hosts' (Mal 2:7), so the verse is commonly read of the priest to whom a vow was reported. 'Error' is shegagah, the sin of ignorance for which the law provided an offering (Lev 4:2; Num 15:25). The 'flesh' sins when the mouth has spoken.

Verse 7

fear thou God — 'Dreams' are laid beside 'many words' as things that multiply alike: 'a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words' (v.3). 'Divers vanities' is the plural of hebel. The remedy is yare, to fear, and the book ends on the same word: 'Fear God, and keep his commandments' (12:13).

Verse 8

higher than the highest — 'Higher' (gavoah) stands three times in the verse, and 'regardeth' is shamar, to watch or keep, the verb of 'Keep thy foot' (v.1). The oppression of 4:1 is met by an overseer above every official, and by the LORD's own word: 'for the oppression of the poor… now will I arise' (Ps 12:5). Hence 'marvel not'.

Verse 10

loveth silver — 'Satisfied' is saba, the verb of the eye that is not 'satisfied with riches' in 4:8; here the love itself (ahav) is never filled. 'Abundance' is hamon, a multitude. Paul writes 'the love of money is the root of all evil' (1 Tim 6:10), and Christ, 'a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth' (Luke 12:15).

Verse 11

increased that eat them — 'Goods' is tov, good things, and 'owners' (ba'al) are masters who find a crowd to feed. 'What good' is kishron, advantage (4:4). What remains is 'the beholding of them with their eyes', as Prov 23:5 says: 'Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings'.

Verse 12

The sleep of a labouring man — 'Sleep' is shenah, the word of Ps 127:2, 'so he giveth his beloved sleep', which sets rest as a gift. 'Abundance' (saba) is from the root of 'satisfied' in v.10: the fullness of the rich, in place of satisfying them, keeps them awake. The labourer is abad, a worker or servant, whose sleep is 'sweet' (matoq).

Verse 13

a sore evil — 'Sore' is chalah, sick or grievous, and it returns in v.16, 'this also is a sore evil'. 'Evil' and 'hurt' are one word (ra), so riches 'kept' (shamar) by their owners become the evil itself. Paul says it of those who 'will be rich': they 'fall into temptation and a snare' (1 Tim 6:9).

Verse 15

naked shall he return — The line is Job's: 'Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither' (Job 1:21). 'Go' and 'carry away' are one verb, halak, so the labourer cannot make his gain go with him (cf. Ps 49:17). Paul draws the same limit: 'we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out' (1 Tim 6:7).

Verse 17

eateth in darkness — 'Darkness' is choshek, set against v.18, where eating and drinking is 'good and comely'. 'Sorrow' is ka'as, vexation, and 'wrath' is qetseph, anger. 'Sickness' is choli, the word of 6:2, 'an evil disease', and of Isa 53:3, 'acquainted with grief'. Ps 127:2 speaks of those who 'eat the bread of sorrows'.

Verse 18

it is his portion — 'Portion' is cheleq, an allotted share, the word of 3:22, 'that is his portion', and of 9:9, 'that is thy portion in this life'. 'Comely' is yafeh, fair, found in this book only here and in 3:11, 'beautiful in his time'. The counsel to eat and drink recurs at 2:24; 3:13 and 9:7, here as what 'God giveth him'.

Verse 19

power to eat thereof — 'Power' is shalat, mastery over a thing, and its opposite is told in 6:2: 'God giveth him not power to eat thereof'. The ability is itself 'the gift of God' (mattath), as at 3:13. Moses said likewise of wealth, 'it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth' (Deut 8:18).

Verse 20

God answereth him — 'Answereth' is anah, the verb of being 'exercised' in the travail God gives (1:13; 3:10), so God keeps him occupied. The man who receives his portion (v.18) does not 'much remember the days of his life', because God meets him with the joy (simchah) of his heart, the gift of the whole passage, vv.18–19.