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Ecclesiastes 6

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The Vanity of Unenjoyed Wealth 1–6

1
There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy upon men: ​
2
a man to whom God giveth riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacketh nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but an alien eateth it; this is vanity, and it is an evil disease. ​
3
If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul be not filled with good, and moreover he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he: ​
4
for it cometh in vanity, and departeth in darkness, and the name thereof is covered with darkness;
5
moreover it hath not seen the sun nor known it; this hath rest rather than the other: ​
6
yea, though he live a thousand years twice told, and yet enjoy no good, do not all go to one place? ​

The Futility of Insatiable Desire 7–9

7
All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled. ​
8
For what advantage hath the wise more than the fool? or what hath the poor man, that knoweth how to walk before the living?
9
Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this also is vanity and a striving after wind. ​

Human Limitations and Ignorance 10–12

10
Whatsoever hath been, the name thereof was given long ago; and it is known what man is; neither can he contend with him that is mightier than he. ​
11
Seeing there are many things that increase vanity, what is man the better? ​
12
For who knoweth what is good for man in his 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? ​

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

Study Notes for Ecclesiastes 6

Verse 1

common among men — 'Common' is rab, the word usually rendered 'many' or 'great', as in 'many years' (v.3). The wording repeats 5:13, 'a sore evil which I have seen under the sun', and the case that follows (vv.1–2) is the reverse of 5:19, where God gives riches and also 'power to eat thereof'.

Verse 2

a stranger eateth it — 'Stranger' is nokri, a foreigner, someone outside the family. The loss of one's produce to another is among the curses of the law: 'a nation which thou knowest not eat up' (Deut 28:33). 'Power' (shalat) and 'disease' (choli) are the words of 5:19 and 5:17, and Christ's parable ends on the same question: 'then whose shall those things be' (Luke 12:20).

Verse 3

an untimely birth — Nephel is a child born before its time; Job says of himself, 'as an hidden untimely birth I had not been' (Job 3:16). 'Filled' is saba, the verb of 'satisfied' in 5:10. 'No burial' was the end of Jezebel (2 Kgs 9:35) and the sentence on Jehoiakim: 'buried with the burial of an ass' (Jer 22:18–19).

Verse 5

more rest — Nachath, rest or quiet, is the word of 4:6, 'an handful with quietness', and of 9:17. The child 'hath not seen the sun', the sun under which the book sets all labour. Job voices the same wish: 'now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest' (Job 3:13).

Verse 6

a thousand years twice told — Two thousand years is longer than any life in Scripture; the longest, Methuselah's, was 'nine hundred sixty and nine years' (Gen 5:27). To 'see good' is the aim of the long life in Ps 34:12, 'What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good?' 'One place' is 3:20, where 'all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again'.

Verse 7

the appetite is not filled — 'Appetite' is nephesh, the soul: the same word is 'soul' in vv.2–3 and 'desire' in v.9, so the chapter's word for what a man wants is one. 'He that laboureth laboureth for himself; for his mouth craveth it of him' (Prov 16:26). Christ names another food: 'that meat which endureth unto everlasting life' (John 6:27).

Verse 9

the wandering of the desire — Literally 'the going of the soul': halak, the verb of 'do not all go to one place?' in v.6, and nephesh, the soul of v.7. 'The sight of the eyes' is what is present and seen, set against the roving of the soul. Paul's counterpart is 'godliness with contentment is great gain' (1 Tim 6:6).

Verse 10

named already — Literally 'its name has been called already': what has come to be was named beforehand, and the man so called cannot 'contend' with one 'mightier'. 'Mightier' is taqqif, from taqaph, the 'prevail' of 4:12. Isa 45:9 states the same limit: 'Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker!'

Verse 11

many things that increase vanity — 'Things' is davar, 'word', and 'many' and 'increase' are one verb, the verb of 5:7: 'in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities'. 'The better' is yoter, advantage, rendered 'more' in 2:15 and 6:8 and 'profit' in 7:11.

Verse 12

as a shadow — Tsel, the shade that passes: 'he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not' (Job 14:2); the book uses it of the wicked at 8:13. The question 'who knoweth what is good for man?' is asked from under the sun, and Mic 6:8 answers: 'He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good'. 'What shall be after him' is the question of 3:22.