--- title: "Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah" author: "Adam Clarke" languages: [en] shelf: "Commentaries" section: 761 of 914 url: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/761/ cite: "Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah, section 761. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/761/" --- # Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah *Adam Clarke* Clarke's learned notes on the Hebrew and Greek, verse by verse, from Genesis to Revelation: volume 1 of 2. ## 761. Ecclesiastes · 10 of 19 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/761/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/761/#p-N [¶0] Marvel not at the matter - החפץ hachephets, the will, i.e., of God; which permits such evils to take place; for all things shall work together for good to them that love him. "Marvel not [¶1] Ye righteous, if his dispensations here [¶2] Unequal seem. What, though disorders reign? [¶3] He still presides, and with unerring hand [¶4] Directs the vast machine. His wisdom can [¶5] From discord harmony produce; and make [¶6] Even vice itself subservient to his ends." ### Verse 9 [¶8] The profit of the earth is for all - The earth, if properly cultivated, is capable of producing food for every living creature; and without cultivation none has a right to expect bread. [¶9] The king himself is served by the field - Without the field he cannot have supplies for his own house; and, unless agriculture flourish, the necessary expenses of the state cannot be defrayed. Thus, God joins the head and feet together; for while the peasant is protected by the king as executor of the laws, the king himself is dependent on the peasant; as the wealth of the nation is the fruit of the laborer's toil. ### Verse 10 [¶11] He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver - The more he gets, the more he would get; for the saying is true: - [¶12] Crescit amor nummi, quantum ipsa pecunia crescit. "The love of money increases, in proportion as money itself increases." ### Verse 11 [¶14] When goods increase - An increase of property always brings an increase of expense, by a multitude of servants; and the owner really possesses no more, and probably enjoys much less, than he did, when every day provided its own bread, and could lay up no store for the next. But if he have more enjoyment, his cares are multiplied; and he has no kind of profit. "This also is vanity." ### Verse 12 [¶16] The sleep of a laboring man is sweet - His labor is healthy exercise. He is without possessions, and without cares; his sleep, being undisturbed, is sound and refreshing. ### Verse 13 [¶18] Riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt - This may be the case through various causes: [¶19] 1. He may make an improper use of them, and lose his health by them. [¶20] 2. He may join in an unfortunate partnership and lose all. [¶21] 3. His riches may excite the desire of the robber; and he may spoil him of his goods, and even take away his life. [¶22] 4. Or, he may leave them to his son, who turns profligate; spends the whole, and ruins both his body and soul. I have seen this again and again. ### Verse 14 [¶24] And he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand - He has been stripped of his property by unfortunate trade or by plunderers; and he has nothing to leave to his children. ### Verse 15 [¶26] As he came forth - However it may be, he himself shall carry nothing with him into the eternal world. If he die worth millions, those millions are dead to him for ever; so he has had no real profit from all his labors, cares, anxieties, and vast property! ### Verse 17 [¶28] All his days also he eateth in darkness - Even his enjoyments are embittered by uncertainty. He fears for his goods; the possibility of being deprived of them fills his heart with anguish. But instead of יאכל yochel, "he shall eat," ילך yelech, "he shall walk," is the reading of several MSS. He walks in darkness - he has no evidence of salvation. There is no ray of light from God to penetrate the gloom; and all beyond life is darkness impenetrable! [¶29] And wrath with his sickness - His last hours are awful; for, "Counting on long years of pleasure here, [¶30] He's quite unfurnish'd for the world to come." [¶31] Blair. [¶32] He is full of anguish at the thought of death; but the fear of it is horrible. But if he have a sense of God's wrath in his guilty conscience, what horror can be compared with his horror! ### Verse 18 [¶34] Behold that which I have seen - This is the result of my observations and experience. God gives every man, in the course of his providence, the necessaries of life; and it is his will that he should thankfully use them. [¶35] For it is his portion - What is requisite for him in the lower world; without them his life cannot subsist, and earthly blessings are as truly the portion of his body and animal life, as the salvation of God is the portion of his soul. ### Verse 20 [¶37] For he shall not much remember - The person who acts in this way, extracts all the good requisite from life. He passes through things temporal so as not to lose those that are eternal: - "Calm and serene, the road of life to him, [¶38] Or long or short, rugged or smooth, with thorns [¶39] O'erspread, or gay with flowers, is but a road. [¶40] Such fare as offers grateful he accepts, [¶41] And smiling to his native home proceeds." ### Introduction [¶43] The vanity of riches without use, [Ecc 6:1], [Ecc 6:2]. Of children and of old age without riches and enjoyment, [Ecc 6:3-7]. Man does not know what is good for himself, [Ecc 6:8-12].