regardeth--([2Ch 16:9]).
there be higher--plural, that is, the three persons of the Godhead, or else, "regardeth not only the 'highest' kings, than whom He 'is higher,' but even the petty tyrants of the provinces, namely, the high ones who are above them" (the poor) [Weiss].
9. "The profit (produce) of the earth is (ordained) for (the common good of) all: even the king himself is served by (the fruits of) the field" ([2Ch 26:10]). Therefore the common Lord of all, high and low, will punish at last those who rob the "poor" of their share in it ([Pr 22:22], ; [Am 8:4-7]).
10. Not only will God punish at last, but meanwhile the oppressive gainers of "silver" find no solid "satisfaction" in it.
shall not be satisfied--so the oppressor "eateth his own flesh" (see on [Ec 4:1] and [Ec 4:5]).
with increase--is not satisfied with the gain that he makes.
11. they ... that eat them--the rich man's dependents ([Psa 23:5]).
12. Another argument against anxiety to gain riches. "Sleep ... sweet" answers to "quietness" ([Ec 4:6]); "not suffer ... sleep," to "vexation of spirit." Fears for his wealth, and an overloaded stomach without "laboring" (compare [Ec 4:5]), will not suffer the rich oppressor to sleep.
13-14. Proofs of God's judgments even in this world ([Pr 11:31]). The rich oppressor's wealth provokes enemies, robbers, &c. Then, after having kept it for an expected son, he loses it beforehand by misfortune ("by evil travail"), and the son is born to be heir of poverty. [Ec 2:19], 23 gives another aspect of the same subject.
16. Even supposing that he loses not his wealth before death, then at least he must go stripped of it all ([Psa 49:17]).
laboured for the wind--([Ho 12:1]; [1Co 9:26]).
17. eateth--appropriately put for "liveth" in general, as connected with [Ec 5:11], 12, 18.
darkness--opposed to "light (joy) of countenance" ([Ec 8:1]; [Pr 16:15]).
wrath--fretfulness, literally, "His sorrow is much, and his infirmity (of body) and wrath."
18. Returns to the sentiment ([Ec 3:12], 13, 22); translate: "Behold the good which I have seen, and which is becoming" (in a man).
which God giveth--namely, both the good of his labor and his life.
his portion--legitimately. It is God's gift that makes it so when regarded as such. Such a one will use, not abuse, earthly things ([1Co 7:31]). Opposed to the anxious life of the covetous ([Ec 5:10], ).
19. As [Ec 5:18] refers to the "laboring" man ([Ec 5:12]), so [Ec 5:19] to the "rich" man, who gets wealth not by "oppression" ([Ec 5:8]), but by "God's gift." He is distinguished also from the "rich" man ([Ec 6:2]) in having received by God's gift not only "wealth," but also "power to eat thereof," which that one has not.
to take his portion--limits him to the lawful use of wealth, not keeping back from God His portion while enjoying his own.
20. He will not remember much, looking back with disappointment, as the ungodly do ([Ec 2:11]), on the days of his life.
answereth ... in the joy--God answers his prayers in giving him "power" to enjoy his blessings. Gesenius and Vulgate translate, "For God (so) occupies him with joy," &c., that he thinks not much of the shortness and sorrows of life. Holden, "Though God gives not much (as to real enjoyment), yet he remembers (with thankfulness) the days; for (he knows) God exercises him by the joy," &c. (tries him by prosperity), so Margin, but English Version is simplest.
Chapter 6
[Ec 6:1-12].
1. common--or else more literally,--"great upon man," falls heavily upon man.
2. for his soul--that is, his enjoyment.
God giveth him not power to eat--This distinguishes him from the "rich" man in [Ec 5:19]. "God hath given" distinguishes him also from the man who got his wealth by "oppression" ([Ec 5:8], ).
stranger--those not akin, nay, even hostile to him ([Jr 51:51]; [La 5:2]; [Ho 7:9]). He seems to have it in his "power" to do as he will with his wealth, but an unseen power gives him up to his own avarice: God wills that he should toil for "a stranger" ([Ec 2:26]), who has found favor in God's sight.
3. Even if a man (of this character) have very many (equivalent to "a hundred," [2Ki 10:1]) children, and not have a "stranger" as his heir ([Ec 6:2]), and live long ("days of years" express the brevity of life at its best, [Ge 47:9]), yet enjoy no real "good" in life, and lie unhonored, without "burial," at death ([2Ki 9:26], ), the embryo is better than he. In the East to be without burial is the greatest degradation. "Better the fruit that drops from the tree before it is ripe than that left to hang on till rotten" [Henry].
4. he--rather "it," "the untimely birth." So "its," not "his name."
with vanity--to no purpose; a type of the driftless existence of him who makes riches the chief good.
darkness--of the abortive; a type of the unhonored death and dark future beyond the grave of the avaricious.
5. this--yet "it has more rest than" the toiling, gloomy miser.
6. If the miser's length of "life" be thought to raise him above the abortive, Solomon answers that long life, without enjoying real good, is but lengthened misery, and riches cannot exempt him from going whither "all go." He is fit neither for life, nor death, nor eternity.
7. man--rather, "the man," namely, the miser ([Ec 6:3-6]). For not all men labor for the mouth, that is, for selfish gratification.
appetite--Hebrew, "the soul." The insatiability of the desire prevents that which is the only end proposed in toils, namely, self-gratification; "the man" thus gets no "good" out of his wealth ([Ec 6:3]).
8. For--"However" [Maurer]. The "for" means (in contrast to the insatiability of the miser), For what else is the advantage which the wise man hath above the fool?"
What--advantage, that is, superiority, above him who knows not how to walk uprightly
hath the poor who knoweth to walk before the living?--that is, to use and enjoy life aright ([Ec 5:18], ), a cheerful, thankful, godly "walk" ([Psa 116:9]).
9. Answer to the question in [Ec 6:8]. This is the advantage:
Better is the sight of the eyes--the wise man's godly enjoyment of present seen blessings
than the (fool's) wandering--literally, walking ([Psa 73:9]), of the desire, that is, vague, insatiable desires for what he has not ([Ec 6:7]; [He 13:5]).
this--restless wandering of desire, and not enjoying contentedly the present ([1Ti 6:6], ).
10. Part II begins here. Since man's toils are vain, what is the chief good? ([Ec 6:12]). The answer is contained in the rest of the book.
That which hath been--man's various circumstances
is named already--not only has existed, [Ec 1:9]; , but has received its just name, "vanity," long ago,