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Commentary on Ecclesiastes 6 verses 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, Ecc 6:1. 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,
I. The abundant reason he has to serve God with joyfulness and gladness of heart; how well God has done for him.
1.He has given him riches, wealth, and honour, Ecc 6:2. Note, (1.) Riches and wealth commonly gain people honour among men. Though it be but an image, if it be a golden image, all people, nations, and languages, will fall down and worship it. (2.) Riches, wealth, and honour, are God's gifts, the gifts of his providence, and not given, as his rain and sunshine, alike to all, but to some, and not to others, as God sees fit. (3.) Yet they are given to many that do not make a good use of them, to many to whom God does not give wisdom and grace to take the comfort of them and serve God with them. The gifts of common providence are bestowed on many to whom are denied the gifts of a special grace, without which the gifts of providence often do more hurt than good.
2.He wants nothing for his soul of all that he desires. Providence has been so liberal to him that he has as much as heart could wish, and more, Psa 73:7. He does not desire grace for his soul, the better part; all he desires is enough to gratify the sensual appetite, and that he has; his belly is filled with these hidden treasures, Psa 17:14.
3.He is supposed to have a numerous family, to beget a hundred children, which are the stay and strength of his house and as a quiver full of arrows to him, which are the honour and credit of his house, and in whom he has the prospect of having his name built up and having all the immortality this world can give him. They are full of children (Psa 17:14), while many of God's people are written childless and stripped of all.
4.To complete his happiness, he is supposed to live many years, or rather many days, for our life is to be reckoned rather by days than years: The days of his years are many, and so healthful is his constitution, and so slowly does age creep upon him, that they are likely to be many more. Nay, he is supposed to live a thousand years (which no man, that we know of, ever did), nay, a thousand years twice told, a small part of which time, one would think, were enough to convince men, by their own experience, of the folly both of those that expect to find all good in worldly wealth, and of those that expect to find any good in it but in using it.
II. The little heart he has to use this which God gives him, for the ends and purposes for which it was given him. This is his fault and folly that he renders not again according to the benefit done unto him, and serves not the Lord God his benefactor, with joyfulness and gladness of heart, in the abundance of all things. In the day of prosperity he is not joyful. Tristis es, et felix? - Art thou happy, yet sad? See his folly: 1. He cannot find in his heart to take the comfort of what he has himself. He has meat before him; he has wherewith to maintain himself and his family comfortably, but he has not power to eat thereof. His sordid niggardly temper will not suffer him to lay it out, no, not upon himself, no, not upon that which is most necessary for himself. He has not power to reason himself out of this absurdity, to conquer his covetous humour. He is weak indeed, who has not power to use what God gives him, for God gives him not that power, but withholds it from him, to punish him for his other abuses of his wealth. Because he has not the will to serve God with it, God denies him the power to serve himself with it. 2. He suffers those to prey upon him that he is under no obligation to: A stranger eateth it. This is the common fate of misers; they will not trust their own children perhaps, but retainers and hangers-on, that have the art of wheedling, insinuate themselves into them, and find ways of devouring what they have, or getting it to be left to them by their wills. God orders it so that a stranger eats it. Strangers devour his strength, Hos 7:9; Pro 5:10. This may be well called vanity, and an evil disease. What we have we have in vain if we do not use it; and that temper of mind is certainly a most wretched distemper which keeps us from using it. Our worst diseases are those that arise from the corruption of our own hearts. 3. He deprives himself of the good that he might have had of his worldly possessions, not only forfeits it, but robs himself of it and throws it from him: His soul is not filled with good, Ecc 6:3. He is still unsatisfied and uneasy. His hands are filled with riches, his barns filled, and his bags filled, but his soul is not filled with good, no, not with that good, for it is still craving more. Nay (Ecc 6:6), he has not seen good; he cannot so much as please his eye, for that is still looking further and looking with envy on those that have more. He has not even the sensible good of an estate. Though he looks not beyond the things that are seen, yet he looks not with any true pleasure even on them. 4. He has no burial, none agreeable to his rank, no decent burial, but the burial of an ass. Through the sordidness of his temper he will not allow himself a fashionable burial, but forbids it, or the strangers that have eaten him up leave him so poor, at last, that he has not wherewithal, or those to whom he leaves what he has have so little esteem for his memory, and are so greedy of what they are to have from him, that they will not be at the charges of burying him handsomely, which his own children, if he had left it to them, would not have grudged him.
III. The preference which the preacher gives to an untimely birth before him: An untimely birth, a child that is carried from the womb to the grave, is better than he. Better is the fruit that drops from the tree before it is ripe than that which is left to hang on till it is rotten. Job, in his passion, thinks the condition of an untimely birth better than his when he was in adversity (Job 3:16); but Solomon here pronounces it better than the condition of a worldling in his greatest prosperity, when the world smiles upon him. 1. He grants the condition of an untimely birth, upon many accounts, to be very sad (Ecc 6:4, Ecc 6:5): He comes in with vanity (for, as to this world, he that is born and dies immediately was born in vain), and he departs in darkness; little or no notice is taken of him; being an abortive, he has no name, or, if he had, it would soon be forgotten and buried in oblivion; it would be covered with darkness, as the body is with the earth. Nay (Ecc 6:5), he has not seen the sun, but from the darkness of the womb he is hurried immediately to that of the grave, and, which is worse than not being known to any, he has not known any thing, and therefore has come short of that which is the greatest pleasure and honour of man. Those that live in wilful ignorance, and know nothing to purpose, are no better than an untimely birth that has not seen the sun nor known any thing. 2. Yet he prefers it before that of a covetous miser. This untimely birth has more rest than the other, for this has some rest, but the other has none; this has no trouble and disquiet, but the other is in perpetual agitation, and has nothing but trouble, trouble of his own making. The shorter the life is the longer the rest; and the fewer the days, and the less we have to do with this troublesome world, the less trouble we know.
'Tis better die a child at four,
Than live, and die so at fourscore.
The reason he gives why this has more rest is because all go to one place to rest in, and this is sooner at his rest, Ecc 6:6. He that lives a thousand years goes to the same place with the child that does not live an hour, Ecc 3:20. The grave is the place we shall all meet in. Whatever differences there may be in men's condition in this world, they must all die, are all under the same sentence, and, to outward appearance, their deaths are alike. The grave is to one, as well as another, a land of silence, of darkness, of separation from the living, and a sleeping-place. It is the common rendezvous of rich and poor, honourable and mean, learned and unlearned; the short-lived and long-lived meet in the grave, only one rides post thither, the other goes by a slower conveyance; the dust of both mingles, and lies undistinguished.
"There
is an evil I have observed beneath the sun, and it is prevalent among mankind;
a man to whom God has given riches, wealth and honour, and he lacks nothing
that his heart could desire, yet God did not give him the power to enjoy it. This is futility and an evil disease. If a man begets an hundred children and lives
many years - great being the days of his life - and his soul is not content
with the good - and he even is deprived of burial; I say: the stillborn is
better off than he. Though its coming is
futile and it departs in darkness, though its very name is enveloped in
darkness, though it never saw the sun nor knew; it has more satisfaction than
he. Even if he should live a thousand
years twice over, but find no contentment - do not all go to the same
place?" He describes the riches of misers and asserts that this
evil is often in men, since none of those things, which are thought to be good
in the world, is lacking in him, and nonetheless he torments himself with the
most inane sparing, saving those things to be devoured by others. Nor does he say this in exaggeration, for
even if he produced an hundred books and lived longer than Adam, that is almost
one thousand years, but lived two thousand years, he would rot his mind with
desire and avarice. He is born
prematurely in a worse state that dies, as soon as he seems born. For he did not see evil things or good
things; but although he used to possess good things, he was tormented by
thoughts and sadness, and having been born prematurely he has more rest, than a
greedy man who is old. But both however
are seized by the same fate, while both the first and the last are taken away
by the same death. This could also refer
to Israel, because God gave Israel the law, which speaks about the prophets,
the testament, the Promised Land and the Saviour: "let the reign of God be
removed from you and given to a nation that brings forth his fruit" [Matth. 21, 43.]. All these things have been given to a foreign
and pilgrim people from peoples who see their good yet do not enjoy it. They say we are of much better condition, who
are considered to be as new-born and premature by those, who praised themselves
in antiquity, finding glory in their fathers, saying: "our father was
Abraham" [Ioh. 8, 39.],
but however both we and they hasten to one place, that is to the judgement of
God. But what Ecclesiastes says in the
middle is this: "but there was no tomb for him". This either means that that rich man does not
think of his death, and while he possesses all, is greedy even in building a
tomb; or that often he is killed on account of those riches, by plots against
his life, and is left unburied, or, what I think is a better interpretation, he
needs nothing of good deeds, from which he is able to obtain for himself memory
among those who come after him. And so
that he will not pass through life in silence, just as cattle, although he had
a means, by which he was able to show that he had lived.
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SUMMARY
Ecclesiastes 6:4 profoundly encapsulates Qoheleth's pervasive lament regarding the ultimate futility and transience of a life lived "under the sun" without transcendent purpose. This verse paints a stark and somber portrait of an existence that commences in emptiness, concludes in obscurity, and leaves no enduring legacy, thereby emphasizing the profound insignificance and eventual oblivion that awaits those whose lives are detached from divine meaning.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Ecclesiastes 6:4 masterfully employs several potent literary devices to convey its somber message of futility and oblivion. Repetition is prominently featured in the double use of the word "darkness" (chôshek), which serves to intensify the sense of obscurity, insignificance, and the absence of light. This repeated word functions as a powerful motif, symbolizing not merely the physical absence of light but also the profound absence of memory, honor, and purpose. The phrase "covered with darkness" is a striking metaphor, transforming the abstract concept of being forgotten into a tangible image of being shrouded, buried, or overwhelmed by an impenetrable veil of obscurity. This personification of darkness as an active agent that "covers" or conceals the name further emphasizes the complete and utter erasure of the individual's legacy. The entire verse functions as a form of hyperbole, exaggerating the negative outcome of a meaningless life to underscore the severity of its consequences, implicitly contrasting with the high value placed on a good name and lasting remembrance in other wisdom literature.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Ecclesiastes 6:4 offers a stark theological commentary on the human condition when existence is divorced from transcendent purpose. It powerfully highlights the inherent ephemerality of life and the ultimate vanity of earthly pursuits that lack a divine anchor. The "darkness" that covers the name serves as a potent reminder that without God, human existence, no matter how long or seemingly prosperous, can ultimately dissolve into meaninglessness and oblivion. This verse challenges the reader to look beyond the temporal and to seek a lasting significance that transcends the fleeting nature of life "under the sun," pointing towards the profound biblical truth that true legacy and remembrance are found not in human achievements but in one's enduring relationship with the eternal God.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Ecclesiastes 6:4 serves as a profound and challenging call to introspection, urging us to deeply consider the ultimate trajectory and lasting impact of our lives. In a contemporary world often consumed by the relentless pursuit of fleeting achievements, material wealth, and temporary recognition, this verse compels us to critically re-evaluate what truly constitutes a life well-lived and eternally significant. It challenges us to move beyond the superficial and to earnestly seek an enduring purpose that transcends the grave. A life lived "in vanity" and departing "in darkness" is, from Qoheleth's perspective, one that tragically fails to grasp the deeper, God-given meaning and potential available to humanity. Therefore, practical application involves intentionally seeking God's will above all else, investing our time, talents, and resources in eternal values, and striving to live a life that authentically reflects His glory. This ensures that our "name" is not covered with darkness but instead shines with the light of His truth and love, leaving a legacy of faith, service, and spiritual fruit that endures beyond our earthly days.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Who is "he" in Ecclesiastes 6:4, and what does this verse mean for how we view a life's worth?
Answer: The identity of "he" in Ecclesiastes 6:4 is subject to scholarly interpretation, but given the immediate literary context, it most directly refers back to the stillborn child mentioned in Ecclesiastes 6:3. Qoheleth argues that a stillborn child, though never experiencing life's struggles, is arguably "better" than an unfulfilled wealthy man because both ultimately end in oblivion, but the stillborn avoids the suffering and dissatisfaction of a long, unfulfilled life. More broadly, "he" can represent any individual whose life, regardless of its duration or earthly accomplishments, is lived without true purpose or lasting impact. The verse means that from Qoheleth's perspective "under the sun," a life devoid of divine meaning is ultimately futile, beginning with emptiness and ending in complete obscurity, with no remembrance or legacy. It profoundly challenges the common human desire for renown and lasting impact, suggesting that without a transcendent framework, even a long life can amount to nothing more than a fleeting shadow.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Ecclesiastes 6:4, with its bleak portrayal of a life beginning in vanity and ending in darkness and oblivion, finds its ultimate and glorious fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Where human existence "under the sun" often leads to the futility and obscurity described by Qoheleth, Christ enters the world not "in vanity" but as the very embodiment of divine purpose, light, and eternal truth. He is the Word made flesh, full of grace and truth (John 1:14), bringing profound meaning and substance to a world steeped in hebel. The "darkness" that covers the name of the unfulfilled finds its complete antithesis in Christ, who declares Himself to be the Light of the World (John 8:12), actively dispelling spiritual ignorance, moral corruption, and the very shadow of death. Through His sacrificial death on the cross and His glorious resurrection, Jesus decisively conquered the power of darkness and death, thereby offering eternal life and a lasting legacy to all who believe in Him (John 3:16). Our "name," which otherwise would be "covered with darkness" and forgotten, is, by faith in Christ, eternally written in the Lamb's Book of Life (Revelation 20:15), ensuring not only eternal remembrance but also a glorious, imperishable inheritance and an everlasting name for His followers who are united with Him (Isaiah 56:5). Thus, the despair and futility expressed in Ecclesiastes 6:4 are utterly transformed into vibrant hope, assured purpose, and eternal significance through the One who gives true meaning, overcomes all darkness, and guarantees an imperishable name for His redeemed people.