Guard your steps when you go to God’s house; for to draw near to listen is better than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they don’t know that they do evil.
Parallel Translations
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Guard your steps when you go to God’s house; for to draw near to listen is better than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they don’t know that they do evil.
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Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.
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(4-17) Guard thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be ready to hearken: it is better than when fools give sacrifices; for they know not that they do evil.
Cross-references (24)
Passages linked to Ecclesiastes 5:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- James 1:19 So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger;
- Hebrews 12:28-29 Therefore, receiving a Kingdom that can’t be shaken, let’s have grace, through which we serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.
- Proverbs 15:8 The sacrifice made by the wicked is an abomination to Yahweh, but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
- Isaiah 1:12-20 When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to trample my courts? Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me. New moons, Sabbaths, and convocations: I can’t stand evil assemblies. My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They are a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves. Make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widow.” “Come now, and let’s reason together,” says Yahweh: “Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.”
- 1 Peter 2:1-2 Putting away therefore all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking, as newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, that with it you may grow,
- Exodus 3:5 He said, “Don’t come close. Take off your sandals, for the place you are standing on is holy ground.”
- Joshua 5:15 The prince of Yahweh’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals, for the place on which you stand is holy.” Joshua did so.
- Proverbs 21:27 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination— how much more, when he brings it with a wicked mind!
- Genesis 28:16-17 Jacob awakened out of his sleep, and he said, “Surely Yahweh is in this place, and I didn’t know it.” He was afraid, and said, “How awesome this place is! This is none other than God’s house, and this is the gate of heaven.”
- Psalms 50:8-18 I don’t rebuke you for your sacrifices. Your burnt offerings are continually before me. I have no need for a bull from your stall, nor male goats from your pens. For every animal of the forest is mine, and the livestock on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the mountains. The wild animals of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. Will I eat the meat of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving. Pay your vows to the Most High. Call on me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you, and you will honor me.” But to the wicked God says, “What right do you have to declare my statutes, that you have taken my covenant on your lips, since you hate instruction, and throw my words behind you? When you saw a thief, you consented with him, and have participated with adulterers.
- Psalms 89:7 a very awesome God in the council of the holy ones, to be feared above all those who are around him?
- Isaiah 66:3 He who kills an ox is as he who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, as he who breaks a dog’s neck; he who offers an offering, as he who offers pig’s blood; he who burns frankincense, as he who blesses an idol. Yes, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations:
- 1 Corinthians 11:22 What, don’t you have houses to eat and to drink in? Or do you despise God’s assembly and put them to shame who don’t have enough? What shall I tell you? Shall I praise you? In this I don’t praise you.
- 1 Samuel 13:12-13 therefore I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down on me to Gilgal, and I haven’t entreated the favor of Yahweh.’ I forced myself therefore, and offered the burnt offering.” Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of Yahweh your God, which he commanded you; for now Yahweh would have established your kingdom on Israel forever.
- Malachi 1:10-11 “Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you,” says Yahweh of Armies, “neither will I accept an offering at your hand. For from the rising of the sun even to its going down, my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering: for my name is great among the nations,” says Yahweh of Armies.
- Acts 10:33 Therefore I sent to you at once, and it was good of you to come. Now therefore we are all here present in the sight of God to hear all things that have been commanded you by God.”
- Acts 17:11 Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.
- Hebrews 10:26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins,
- Genesis 4:3-5 As time passed, Cain brought an offering to Yahweh from the fruit of the ground. Abel also brought some of the firstborn of his flock and of its fat. Yahweh respected Abel and his offering, but he didn’t respect Cain and his offering. Cain was very angry, and the expression on his face fell.
- Leviticus 10:3 Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what Yahweh spoke of, saying, ‘I will show myself holy to those who come near me, and before all the people I will be glorified.’ ” Aaron held his peace.
- 1 Samuel 15:21-22 But the people took of the plunder, sheep and cattle, the chief of the devoted things, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God in Gilgal.” Samuel said, “Has Yahweh as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying Yahweh’s voice? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.
- 2 Chronicles 26:16 But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up, so that he did corruptly, and he trespassed against Yahweh his God; for he went into Yahweh’s temple to burn incense on the altar of incense.
- Jeremiah 7:21-23 Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. For I didn’t speak to your fathers or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices; but this thing I commanded them, saying, ‘Listen to my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. Walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’
- Hosea 6:6-7 For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. But they, like Adam, have broken the covenant. They were unfaithful to me, there.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (24 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain He heareth thee not for thy many words’ sake,…
He heareth thee not for thy many words’ sake, or often repetitions, but considereth thy faith and servant mind.
Either in vowing or in praying: meaning, that we should use all reverence to Godward.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Ecc 5:1 Keep thy foot when thou goest to…
Ecc 5:1 Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.
Ver. 1. Keep thy foot,] q.d., Wouldst thou see more of the world’s vanity than hitherto hath been discoursed? get thee "to the sanctuary," as David did. {Psa 73:17} For as they that walk in a mist see it not so well as those that stand on a hill; so they that have their hands elbow deep in the world cannot so easily discern what they do as those that go a little out from it. To the house of God therefore, to the temple and synagogues, to the churches and oratories steer thy course, take thy way. Only "see to thy feet," i.e., keep thy senses and affections with all manner of custody, from the mire of wicked and worldly matters. Shoes we have all upon our feet - that is, to speak in St James’s phrase, "filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness" {Jas 1:21} in our hearts, that must be put off at God’s school door, as God taught Moses and Joshua. {Exo 3:5 Jos 5:15} And Pythagoras, having read Moses belike, taught his scholars as much, when he saith, ανυποδητος θυε και προσκυνει, Put off thy shoes when thou sacrificest and worshippest. His followers, the Pythagoreans, expounded his meaning, when they would not have men εν παροδω προσκυνειν, but οικοθεν παρασκευασαμενοι, worship God carelessly or by the way, but prepare themselves at home aforehand. And Numa Pompilius, one that had tasted of his learning, would not have men worship the gods εν παρεργω και αμελως, by the by, and for fashion, but χολην αγοντας απο των αλλων, at good leisure, and as making religion their business. {a} In the law of Moses, the priests were commanded to wash the inwards and the feet of the sacrifice in water. And this was done, πανυ συμβολικως, saith Philo, not without a mystery - sc., to teach us to keep our feet clean when we draw nigh to God. Antonius Margarita, in his book of the rites and ceremonies of the Jews, tells us that before their synagogues they have an iron plate, against which they wipe and make clean their shoes before they enter; and that being entered, they sit solemnly there for a season, not once opening their mouths, but considering who it is with whom they have to do. Thus it was wont to be with them; but alate though they come to their synagogues with washen hands and feet, yet for any show of devotion or elevation of spirit, they are as reverent, saith one that was an eyewitness, {b} as grammar boys are at school when their master is absent: their holiness is the mere outward work itself, being a brainless head and a soulless body. And yet upon the walls of their synagogues they write usually this sentence, by an abbreviature, "Tephillan belo cauvannah ceguph belo neshamah," i.e., A prayer without effection, is like a body without a soul. Solinus report eth of the Cretians, that they do very religiously worship Diana, and that no man may presume to come into her temple but barefooted. {c} Satan Dei aemulus, The devil is God’s ape. He led these superstitious Ethnics captive, as the Chaldeans did the Egyptians, "naked and barefoot" {d} {Isa 20:2; Isa 20:4}
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When thou goest to the house of God.] Called "the gate of heaven," {Gen 28:17} such as none but "the righteous" may "enter," {Psa 118:20} the "beauty of holiness," the place of angels and archangels, the kingdom of God, yea, heaven itself, {e} as Chrysostom calls it. The French Protestants called their meeting house in Paris paradise. The primitive Christians {f} called such places κυριακους, whence kirks, churches, and the Lord’s houses; and basilicas, kingly palaces. Now it is held an uncivil thing to come to the palace of a king with dirty shoes, or to eat at his table with foul hands. Men wash their hands every day of course, but when to dine with a prince, they wash them with balls. So it should be here; when we come to God’s house we should come with the best preparation we can make; we should also be there with the first, and stay till the last, as doorkeepers use to do, which office in God’s house David held a high preferment. {Psa 84:10} And while we are there, let our whole deportment be as in the presence of the great God, whom we must look full in the face, and be ready to hear, as those good souls in Act 10:33; "Now therefore we are all here present before God," say they, "to hear all things that are commanded thee of God." Neither must we hear only with the hearing of the ear, but with the obedience of the heart and life - for so the original word here signifieth; Gen 3:17, "Because thou hast heard," that is, obeyed, "the voice of thy wife," &c. - hearing diligently without distraction, and doing readily without sciscitation.
Than to give the sacrifice of fools,] i.e., The formalities and external services of profligate professors that think to set off with God for their sins by their sacrifices; for their evil deeds by their good. Hence they burden God’s altar, and even cover it with their sacrifices; sticking in the bark and gnabling upon the shell of holy services, not once piercing to the heart or tasting of the kernel thereof, and are therefore "abominable, because disobedient, and to every good work reprobate." {Tit 1:16} How many are there at this day that not only pray by tale, as Papists do by their beads, but turn over other duties of religion as a mere task, holding only a certain stint of them, as malt horses {g} do their pace, or mill horses their round, merely out of form and custom, those banes and breaknecks of due devotion! These do not only lose their labour but commit sin, {Isa 1:14} compass God with a lie, {Hos 11:12} because they wash not their feet before they compass God’s altar. The heathen orator {h} can tell these fools of the people, Deum non superstitione coli velle, sed pietate, that God requires the heart in all holy duties, and must be served in spirit, {Joh 4:24} even toto corde, id est amore summo, more vero, ore fideli, re omni.
“ Hoc non fit verbis: Marce, ut ameris, ama. ” - Martial.
For they consider not that they do evil.] That they despite him with seeming honours, with displeasing service, which is double dishonour; with seeming sanctity, which is double iniquity, and deserves double damnation. This they so little consider, that they think God is greatly beholden to them, and does them no small wrong that he so little regards and rewards them. {Isa 58:3 Mal 3:14} Non sic Deos coluimus ut ille nos vinceret, said that emperor, {i} going into the field against his enemy. We have not so served the gods, that they should serve us no better than to give the enemy the better of us.
{a} Plutarch.
{b} Spec. Europ.
{c} Buxtorf., Abbreviat., p. 186.
{d} Aedem numinis praeterquam nudus vestigia nullus licito ingreditur. - Cap. 16.
{e} Aυτος μεν ο ουρανος.
{f} Concil. Laodic., cap. 28.
{g} A heavy kind of horse used by maltsters; used occas. as a term of abuse.
{h} Cicero.
{i} Antonin. Philos. referente Vulcat. - Gal.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Keep thy foot; the feet of thy soul, which…
Keep thy foot; the feet of thy soul, which are the thoughts and affections, by which men go to God, and walk or converse with him. Make straight steps. See that your hearts be purged from sin, and prepared and furnished with all graces or necessary qualifications, as good intention, reverence, humility, &c. It is a metaphor from one that walketh in a very slippery path, in which there needs more than ordinary care to keep him from falling.
The house of God; the place of God’s solemn and public worship, whether the temple or synagogue.
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Be more ready, Heb. more near, more forward and inclinable. Prefer this duty before the following.
To hear; to hearken to and obey God’s word, there read and preached by the priests or prophets; for hearing is very frequently put in Scripture for obeying.
The sacrifice of fools; such as foolish and wicked men use to offer, who vainly think to please God with the multitude and costliness of their sacrifices without true piety or obedience.
They consider not that they do evil; they are not sensible of the great sinfulness of such thoughts and practices, but, like fools, think they do God good service; which is implied, as is usual in such expressions.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain Solomon's design, in driving us off from the world,…
Solomon's design, in driving us off from the world, by showing us its vanity, is to drive us to God and to our duty, that we may not walk in the way of the world, but by religious rules, nor depend upon the wealth of the world, but on religious advantages; and therefore,
I. He here sends us to the house of God, to the place of public worship, to the temple, which he himself had built at a vast expense. When he reflected with regret on all his other works (Ecc 2:4), he did not repent of that, but reflected on it with pleasure, yet mentions it not, lest he should seem to reflect on it with pride; but he here sends those to it that would know more of the vanity of the world and would find that happiness which is in vain sought for in the creature. David, when he was perplexed, went into the sanctuary of God, Psa 73:17. Let our disappointments in the creature turn our eyes to the Creator; let us have recourse to the word of God's grace and consult that, to the throne of his grace and solicit that. In the word and prayer there is a balm for every wound.
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II. He charges us to behave ourselves well there, that we may not miss of our end in coming thither. Religious exercises are not vain things, but, if we mismanage them, they become vain to us. And therefore,
1. We must address ourselves to them with all possible seriousness and care: "Keep thy foot, not keep it back from the house of God (as Pro 25:17), nor go slowly thither, as one unwilling to draw nigh to God, but look well to thy goings, ponder the path of thy feet, lest thou take a false step. Address thyself to the worship of God with a solemn pause, and take time to compose thyself for it, not going about it with precipitation, which is called hasting with the feet, Pro 19:2. Keep thy thoughts from roving and wandering from the work; keep thy affections from running out towards wrong objects, for in the business of God's house there is work enough for the whole man, and all too little to be employed." Some think it alludes to the charge given to Moses and Joshua to put off their shoes (Exo 3:5, Jos 5:15,) in token of subjection and reverence. Keep thy feet clean, Exo 30:19.
2. We must take heed that the sacrifice we bring be not the sacrifice of fools (of wicked men), for they are fools and their sacrifice is an abomination to the Lord, Pro 15:8), that we bring not the torn, and the lame, and the sick for sacrifice, for we are plainly told that it will not be accepted, and therefore it is folly to bring it, - that we rest not in the sign and ceremony, and the outside of the performance, without regarding the sense and meaning of it, for that is the sacrifice of fools. Bodily exercise, if that be all, is a jest; none but fools will think thus to please him who is a Spirit and requires the heart, and they will see their folly when they find what a great deal of pains they have taken to no purpose for want of sincerity. They are fools, for they consider not that they do evil; they think they are doing God and themselves good service when really they are putting a great affront upon God and a great cheat upon their own souls by their hypocritical devotions. Men may be doing evil even when they profess to be doing good, and even when they do not know it, when they do not consider it. They know not but to do evil, so some read it. Wicked minds cannot choose but sin, even in the acts of devotion. Or, They consider not that they do evil; they act at a venture, right or wrong, pleasing to God or not, it is all one to them.
3. That we may not bring the sacrifice of fools, we must come to God's house with hearts disposed to know and do our duty. We must be ready to hear, that is, (1.) We must diligently attend to the word of God read and preached. "Be swift to hear the exposition which the priests give of the sacrifices, declaring the intent and meaning of them, and do not think it enough to gaze upon what they do, for it must be a reasonable service, otherwise it is the sacrifice of fools." (2.) We must resolve to comply with the will of God as it is made known to us. Hearing is often put for obeying, and that is it that is better than sacrifice, Sa1 15:22; Isa 1:15, Isa 1:16. We come in a right frame to holy duties when we come with this upon our heart, Speak, Lord, for thy servant hears. Let the word of the Lord come (said a good man), and if I had 600 necks I would bow them all to the authority of it.
4. We must be very cautious and considerate in all our approaches and addresses to God (Ecc 5:2): Be not rash with thy mouth, in making prayers, or protestations, or promises; let not thy heart be hasty to utter any thing before God. Note, (1.) When we are in the house of God, in solemn assemblies for religious worship, we are in a special manner before God and in his presence, there where he has promised to meet his people, where his eye is upon us and ours ought to be unto him. (2.) We have something to say, something to utter before God, when we draw nigh to him in holy duties; he is one with whom we have to do, with whom we have business of vast importance. If we come without an errand, we shall go away without any advantage. (3.) What we utter before God must come from the heart, and therefore we must not be rash with our mouth, never let our tongue outrun our thoughts in our devotions; the words of our mouth, must always be the product of the meditation of our hearts. Thoughts are words to God, and words are but wind if they be not copied from the thoughts. Lip-labour, though ever so well laboured, if that be all, is but lost labour in religion, Mat 15:8, Mat 15:9. (4.) It is not enough that what we say comes from the heart, but it must come from a composed heart, and not from a sudden heat or passion. As the mouth must not be rash, so the heart must not be hasty; we must not only think, but think twice, before we speak, when we are to speak either from God in preaching or to God in prayer, and not utter any thing indecent and undigested, Co1 14:15.
5. We must be sparing of our words in the presence of God, that is, we must be reverent and deliberate, not talk to God as boldly and carelessly as we do to one another, not speak what comes uppermost, not repeat things over and over, as we do to one another, that what we say may be understood and remembered and may make impression; no, when we speak to God we must consider, (1.) That between him and us there is an infinite distance: God is in heaven, where he reigns in glory over us and all the children of men, where he is attended with an innumerable company of holy angels and is far exalted above all our blessing and praise. We are on earth, the footstool of his throne; we are mean and vile, unlike God, and utterly unworthy to receive any favour from him or to have any communion with him. Therefore we must be very grave, humble, and serious, and be reverent in speaking to him, as we are when we speak to a great man that is much our superior; and, in token of this, let our words be few, that they may be well chosen, Job 9:14. This does not condemn all long prayers; were they not good, the Pharisees would not have used them for a pretence; Christ prayed all night; and we are directed to continue in prayer. But it condemns careless heartless praying, vain repetitions (Mat 6:7), repeating Pater-nosters by tale. Let us speak to God, and of him, in his own words, words which the scripture teaches; and let our words, words of our own invention, be few, lest, not speaking by rule, we speak amiss. (2.) That the multiplying of words in our devotions will make them the sacrifices of fools, Ecc 5:3. As confused dreams, frightful and perplexed, and such as disturb the sleep, are an evidence of a hurry of business which fills our head, so many words and hasty ones, used in prayer, are an evidence of folly reigning in the heart, ignorance of and unacquaintedness with both God and ourselves, low thoughts of God, and careless thoughts of our own souls. Even in common conversation a fool is known by the multitude of words; those that know least talk most (Ecc 10:11), particularly in devotion; there, no doubt, a prating fool shall fall (Pro 10:8, Pro 10:10), shall fall short of acceptance. Those are fools indeed who think they shall be heard, in prayer, for their much speaking.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house…
Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God,.... The house of the sanctuary of the Lord, the temple built by Solomon; and so any place of divine worship, where the word of God is preached, and his ordinances administered. The wise man, having observed many vanities under the sun, directs men to the house of God, where they might learn the nature of them, and how to avoid them; though if care was not taken, they would find or introduce vanity there; which, of all vanities, is the worst, and ought to be guarded against. Wherefore, when men go to any place of divine worship, which to do is their duty and interest, and for their honour, pleasure, and profit, they should take care to "keep their feet", for the singular is here put for the plural, not from going into it; nor does it signify a slow motion towards it, which should be quick, in haste, showing earnestness, fervency, and zeal; but they should keep their feet in proper case, in a suitable condition. The allusion is either to the pulling off of the shoes off the feet, ordered to Moses and Joshua, when on holy ground, Exo 3:5; and which the Jews observed, when they entered the temple on their festivals and sabbaths, even their kings, as Juvenal (k) jeers them: not that such a rite should be literally used now, or what is analogous to it; putting off of the hat, in a superstitious veneration of a place; but what was signified by it, as the putting off of the old man, with his deeds, laying aside depraved affections and sordid lusts; two apostles, James and Peter, have taught us this, when we come to the house of God to hear his word, Jam 1:21; or the allusion is to the custom of persons in those eastern countries dressing or washing their feet when they visited, especially those of any note; and entered into their houses on any business, as Mephibosheth, when he waited on David, Sa2 19:24; or to the practice of the priests, who washed their feet when they went into the tabernacle of the Lord, Exo 30:19. Schindler (l) says that hence (because of this text) the Jews had before their synagogues an iron fixed in the wall (which we call a "scraper"), on which they cleaned their shoes before they went into the synagogue. All which may denote the purity and cleanness of the conversation of the true worshippers of God; for, as the feet are the instruments of the action of walking, they may intend the conduct and behaviour of the saints in the house of God, where they should take care to do all things according to his word, which is a lamp to the feet, and a light unto the path: moreover, what the feet are to the body, that the affections are to the soul; and these, when a man enters into the house of God for worship, should be set on divine and spiritual things, and not on the world, and the things of it, which will choke the word heard, and make it unprofitable; the thoughts should be composed, sedate, and quiet, and the mind attentive to what is spoken or done; or otherwise, if diverted by other objects, the service will be useless;
and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools; there are sacrifices to be offered unto God in his house, which are acceptable to him; the sacrifices of beneficence and alms deeds to the poor, with which he is well pleased; and the presentation of the bodies of men, as a holy, living, and acceptable sacrifice unto him; and especially their hearts, and those as broken and contrite, which are the sacrifices of God; as also the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, which are acceptable to him through Jesus Christ: and under the former dispensation, while sacrifices were in use by divine appointment, when they were offered up in the faith of the sacrifice of Christ, they were well pleasing to God; but when they were not done in faith, and were without repentance for sin and reformation of life; when men retained their sins with them, and made these a cover for them, and thought by them to make atonement for their crimes, they were no other than the sacrifices of fools, and abominable unto God; see Isa 1:11; when these sacrifices were performed in the best manner, moral duties, as hearing and obeying the word of the Lord, and showing mercy to men, and offering up the spiritual sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, were preferred unto them, Sa1 15:22; and much more to the sacrifices of fools. To be ready, or near (m), is to hear the word of the Lord, as Jarchi interprets it; though Aben Ezra understands it of God being near to hear his people, when they call upon him in truth. The word of the Lord was not only read publicly in the temple and synagogues, but was explained by the priests and prophets, the ecclesiastical rulers of the people; see Mal 2:7; so the Targum,
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"draw near thine ear to receive the doctrine of the law, from the priests and wise men:''
and so the people of God should draw near to hear the word; be swift to hear it, attentive to it, and receive it with all reverence, humility, love, and affection; and should not take up with mere outward forms, which is but the sacrifice of fools;
for they consider not that they do evil; or "know not" (n); they think they are doing well, and doing God good service, when they are doing ill; they know not truly the object of worship, nor the spiritual nature of it, nor the right end and true use of it: or, "they know not, only to do evil", so Aben Ezra supplies it: to do good they have no knowledge: or, "they know not to do the will", or "good pleasure" (o); that is, of God; this sense of the word Aben Ezra mentions.
(k) "Observant ubi festa mero pede sabbata reges", Satyr. 6. v. 158. (l) Lexic. Pentaglott. col. 1692. (m) "propinquus", Montanus; "propinquior", Mercerus, Schmidt. (n) "non ipsi scientes", Montanus; "nesciunt", Pagninus, Mercerus, Cocceius; "scire nolunt", Schmidt. (o) "facere veluntatem ejus", Pagninus, Mercerus.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Solomon here discourses of the worship of God, as…
Solomon here discourses of the worship of God, as a remedy against all these vanities, but warns us of vanities therein, ver. 1-7. Directs us to eye God as our judge, ver. 8. Shews the vanity of riches, ver. 9-17. And recommends the chearful use of what God has given us, ver. 18-20.
Thy foot - Thy thoughts and affections, by which men go to God and walk with him. To hear - To hearken to and obey God's word. Of fools - Such as wicked men use to offer, who vainly think to please God with their sacrifices without obedience. For - They are not sensible of the great sinfulness of such thoughts.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain The reverence to be observed in attending Divine worship,…
CHAPTER V
The reverence to be observed in attending Divine worship, 1-3.
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We should be faithfu1 to over engagements, 4-7.
The oppression of the innocent, 8.
The king dependent on the produce of the soil, 9.
Against covetousness, 10, 11.
The peace of the honest labourer, 12.
The evil effect of riches, 13, 14.
Man cannot carry his property to the grave, 15-17.
We should thankfully enjoy the blessings of God, 18-20.
NOTES ON CHAP. V
Verse 1. Keep thy foot] This verse the Hebrew and all the versions join to the preceding chapter.
Solomon, having before intimated, though very briefly, that the only cure against human vanity is a due sense of religion, now enters more largely on this important subject, and gives some excellent directions with regard to the right performance of Divine service, the nature of vocal and mental prayer, the danger of rash vows, c. - C.
The whole verse might be more literally translated thus: -
"Guard thy steps as thou art going to the house of God and approach to hearken, and not to give the sacrifice of fools, for none of them have knowledge about doing evil." "They offer gifts for their sins, and do not turn from their evil works; for they know not (they distinguish not) between good and evil." See the Chaldee.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Ecc 5:1. Keep thy foot — Thy thoughts and…
Ecc 5:1. Keep thy foot — Thy thoughts and affections, by which men go to God, and walk with him. See that your hearts be upright before him, devoted to him, and furnished with those graces essential to the true worship of him, especially with reverence, humility, resignation, meekness, faith, and love. It is a metaphor taken from a person’s walking in a very slippery path, in which more than ordinary care is requisite to keep him from falling: when thou goest to the house of God — The place of God’s solemn and public worship, whether the temple or a synagogue; and be more ready to hear — To hearken to, and obey, God’s word; than to give the sacrifice of fools — Such as foolish and wicked men are wont to offer, who vainly think to please God with their sacrifices, without true piety and obedience. For they consider not that they do evil — They are not sensible of the great sinfulness of such thoughts and practices, but, like fools, think they do God good service.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Keep thy foot - i. e., Give thy mind…
Keep thy foot - i. e., Give thy mind to what thou art going to do.
The house of God - It has been said that here an ordinary devout Hebrew writer might have been expected to call it “the house of Yahweh;” but to those who accept this book as the work of Solomon after his fall into idolatry, it will appear a natural sign of the writer’s self-humiliation, an acknowledgment of his unworthiness of the privileges of a son of the covenant, that he avoids the name of the Lord of the covenant (see Ecc 1:13 note).
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Be more ready to hear - Perhaps in the sense that, “to draw near for the purpose of hearing (and obeying) is better than etc.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Few. As none can arrive at the perfect knowledge…
Few. As none can arrive at the perfect knowledge of God, they should be reserved in speaking of Him. (Worthington) --- De Deo etiam vera loqui periculosum. (Cicero, de Nat.) --- In prayer, (Calmet) we must not pretend to give him any information, like the heathens, Matthew vi. 7. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain C. Means for the Advancement of Earthly Happiness
C. Means for the Advancement of Earthly Happiness
Ecc_5:1-20
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1. First means: Conscientious devotion in the worship of God, in prayer and vows
(Ecc_5:1-7.)
1Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools; for they consider not that they do evil. 2Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. 3for a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words. 4When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; 5for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. 6Suffer 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 thine hands? 7for in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God.
2. Second means: Abstaining from injustice, violence, and avarice
(Ecc_5:8-17.)
8If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest 9regardeth; and there be higher than they. Moreover, the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field. 10He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity . 11When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes? 12The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep. 13There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt. 14But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand. 15As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand. 16And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that he hath laboured for the wind? 17All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.
3. Third means: Temperate and contented enjoyment of the pleasures and treasures of life granted by God
(Ecc_5:18-20.)
18Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion. 19Every 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 labour; this is the gift of God. 20For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth him in the joy of his heart.
[chap.Ecc_5:1. שְׁמֹר רַגְלְיךָ in the Hebrew Bibles, the German and Dutch versions, the Vulgate, and some others, this is absurdly placed as the last verse of the 4. chapter. In the English, Tremellius, and others, it commences the 5., where it evidently belongs; although the division of chapters, as given in this book is, in any way, of little valne. The Masora has pointed רַגְלְיךָ for the singular, corresponding to LXX and vulgate, though the sense is equally good in the plural. For the connection of this part with the precending, consult Wordsworth, who sees in the train of though, in all these remarks about reshness in the divine service, and in respect to vows and rash religious speaking, smothing closely connected with the true Solomonic experience, and therefore furnising evidence of the solomonic authorship of the book. As uttered by any one else, it would seem disconnected and chaotic, just as some critics have pronounced it. For remarks on קרוב and מתת see Exeg. and Marginal Note.—T. L.]
[Ecc_5:6. לַהֲטיא for לְהַהֲטִיא, Hiph. Infinit. הַמַּלְאָךְ see Exeg. and Marginal Note.—T. L.]
[Ecc_5:7. וּדְבָרִים, the same.—T. L.]
[Ecc_5:8. חֵפֶץ, a very general and indefinite word, hero rendered, in E.G., matter (thing),LXX. πράγματι, Vulgate negotio. It never, however, loses its sense of purpose, will, etc., either as positive or permissive,—as it may be rendered here, allow ance God’s permission of such a thing: see Met. Version.—T. L.]
[Ecc_5:9. נֶעְבָד. see Exeg. and Marg. Note.—T. L.]
[Ecc_5:10. רְאית: The Keri has רְאוּת, It is one of those words in וּת that have been cited as evidence of a later language. It is, however, one of those more studied solomonic words, denoting something philosophical, ethical, or abstract, denanded by the very subject and style of his writting. They are a higher class of words than were needed by the plainer historian, or prophet. They may have been invented by solomon as to form (from old and common roots), and afterwards have become vulgarized in the latter writtings—thus giving rise to the later Aramaic forms, instead of having been derived from them: Vision of the eyes, a somewhat more polished, or loftier word, than the infinitive to see, or Sight.—T. L.]
Ecc_5:16. רָעָה חולָה: Gesenius makes חולה from חָלָה to be sick, weak, etc., but this does not seem to give a sense strong enough. Rabbi Tanchum makes it from חוּל, to be in great pain, torqueri doloribus, and compares it with the participle מִתְחוֹלֵל (Jer_23:19,) overwhelming, or a “storm hurled (סַעַר) on the head of the wicked”—a very sore and “overwhelming evil,” is this, if man has to return just as he came, e tenebris in tenebras, out of darkness. see Tanchum Comm., Lam_4:6 Same verse כָּל־עֻמַּת The grammarian, Jona Ben Gennach, in his sepher Harikma, p. 30, regards this as one word, or as an example of כ added (as it sometimes is with slight addition to the meaning) to לעמת, (as in direct contrast). עֻמַּת is cited as one of the words Sequioris Hebraismi, but the root
עמם although, only occurring as a verb, Eze_28:3; Eze_31:8, is very old in the language, as appears from עָם people, the preposition עִם with, עִָמית society, companion, all denoting, radically, comparison, one thing along with, or laid by the side of another (compare the Arabic َדَّ and many Greek words commencing with ὁμ such as ὁμός, ὅμως, ὁμῶς, ὁμοῖς, with their numerous derivatives, all implying comparison, society, likeness, etc.). This word עֻמָּה occurs in Exo_25:27; Exo_28:27.
Ecc_5:18. אָנִי: [On the effect of the accent here see Exeg. and Marg. Note. The same on זהֹ Ecc_5:19.—T. L]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Of the three divisions of this section, the first two are divided each into two strophes of about equal length, and each of the two strophes of the second division, being very full in sense and rich in clauses, is again divided into two half strophes. The third division consists of only one not very comprehensive strophe. The complete scheme of the section stands, therefore, thus:—I. Division: Of true piety; a. (1 strophe): in worship and prayer, Ecc_5:1-3; b. (2 strophe): of vowing and the fulfilment of vows: Ecc_5:4-7.—II. Division: On avoiding various vices; a, (1 half strophe): of injustice and violence: Ecc_5:8-9; b, (Ecc_5:3-5, half-strophe): of avarice: Ecc_5:10-17.—III, Division: Of the temperate and thankfully contented enjoyment of life: Ecc_5:18-20, strophe 5.—Vaihinger combines Ecc_5:8-12, and then Ecc_5:13-20, each as a principal division or strophe, and overlooks the fact that the theme of avarice does not begin at Ecc_5:13, but at Ecc_5:10 (consequently with the first half strophe of strophe 3d, comprising Ecc_5:8-12), and that, therefore, with verse 18,’ introduced by the words הִנֵּה אֲשֶׁר רָאִיתִי, begins an entirely new series of thoughts, which bears a concluding relation to the main contents of the chapter.
2. First division, first strophe: Ecc_5:1-3. Of true piety in, the worship of God, and in prayer.—Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God. The k’tib רַגְלֶיךָ is to be preferred to the keri רַגְלְף. The latter appears to be modeled according to the passages in Pro_4:26; Pro_25:17, and others, which present “foot ” in the singular. For “feet” in the plural in similar expressions comp. Pro_1:16; Pro_6:18; Psa_119:59, etc. The sense of this exhortation is: “guard thy steps when thou goest to the house of the Lord, that thou mayest enter it with sacred composure, and carefully avoid everything that would interfere with thy devotion.” See Hengstenberg: “The object is to preserve the heart, but as he goes, the heart receives its impressions, and is thus affected by it. The author doubtless speak of the feet because by them has often been discovered the’ tendency of the heart.” And be more ready to hear, etc. (Ger., to approach in order to hear is better). The preposition מִן, without טוּב, may in itself express the preference of one thing over another; comp. Ecc_9:17; Isa_10:10; Eze_15:2.1 קָרוֹב is not here for the imperative “be near,” (Luther, Hengstenberg, etc.), but is an actual infinitive absolute, and as such subject of the sentence; comp. Pro_25:27; Isa_7:15-16. “To hear” does not mean to listen to the reading of the Thora during the service, (Hitzig) but “to obey, to regard the voice of God with the heart, to do His will;” comp. 1Sa_15:22; Jer_7:23. We have here the same contrast between external sacrifice and holy intent as in Pro_21:3; Pro_21:27; Isa_1:11 ft.; Hos_6:6, etc.—Than to give the sacrifice of fools. This sacrifice (זֶבֲח) is specially pointed out from among the number of sacrifices, as also in Psa_40:6; Hos_6:6; 1Sa_15:22. “To give the sacrifice,” does not mean to give a sacrificial feast, (Hitzig), but to offer a sacrifice to God in order to satisfy him, or in order to appease one’s conscience.—For they consider not that they do evil. Fools, whose sacrifice is an offence to God on account of their evil dispositions (comp. Pro_21:27; and also the exegetical illustrations of this passage) do evil in sacrificing to Him, and nevertheless know it not, but rather suppose, in their folly, that their conduct is well pleasing to Him. As this thought (comp. Luk_23:34) exactly fits the passage, and there is no linguistic difficulty in the explanation (for the construction אֵינָם יוֹדְעִים לַעֲשׂוֹת רַע, “they know not that they do evil,” comp. Jer_15:15; 1Ki_19:4; Neh_13:27) the renderings of the passage that vary from this are to be condemned. They are such as that of Hahn, (and many older commentators): “in their ignorance they can only do evil,” or of Knobel and Vaihinger: “They are not troubled about doing evil,” or of Hitzig; “For they know not how to be sorrowful” (for which sense reference is made to 2Sa_12:18; Isa_56:12, etc.). The nearest to our view is that of the Vulgate, and of Luther: “for they know not what evil they do,” which, however, cannot be philologically justified. Ecc_5:2. Be not rash with thy mouth. This censure of outward sacrifice is immediately followed by that of thoughtless words, and empty babbling in prayer, the next important element of divine worship in the temple. “To be rash with thy mouth” is essentially the same as that βαττολόγειν against which Christ warns us, perhaps with conscious reference to this passage, Mat_6:7, f.—And let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God. “Before God,” i.e., in the temple, in the place of the special presence of God, comp. Psa_42:2; Isa_1:12. This warning against rash, thoughtless, and unnecessary words in prayer, is as little in contradiction with apostolic directions as found in 1Th_5:17; Col_3:17; Php_4:6, as is the warning of Christ against idle words, at war with His own repeated admonitions to zealous and continuous prayer, e.g., Luk_11:5 ff; Luk_18:1, ff.; Joh_14:13; Joh_16:23, etc.—For God is in heaven, and thou upon the earth. The majesty of God, in contrast with the lowliness of men, is here made clear by the contra-position of heaven and earth, as in Psa_115:3; Psa_115:16; Isa_55:7 ff; Isa_66:1; Mat_5:34, f.
Ecc_5:3. For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool’s voice is known by a multitude of words. That is, just as a too continued, exciting, and anxious occupation of the mind (עִנְיָן) produces the phenomenon of confused and uneasy dreams, by which the sleep is disturbed, so the habit of an excess of words, causes the speech to degenerate into vain and senseless twaddle. The first clause of the verse serves solely as an illustration of the second; the comparison, as in Ecc_7:1; Pro_17:3; Pro_27:21; Job_5:7, etc., is effected by simply placing the sentences in juxtaposition, merely putting the copulative conjunction before the second (comp. the Int. to Proverbs, § 14 p. 32). Ewald assumes a continuous train of thought, asserting that from too much annoyance come dreams, from these, all kinds of vain and superfluous words, and, finally, from these, foolish speech; but this is decidedly opposed to the fact that הַחִַלוֹם is necessarily to be understood as a designation of the actual dream, not of a dreamy, thoughtless nature, and that the derivation of a wordy nature from the latter would be in violation of all psychological experience.
3. First Division, second strophe.
Vers, 4–7. Of pious conscientiousness in vowing and the fulfilment of vows. For Ecc_5:4-5 see Deu_23:22-24, whose ordinances are here almost literally repeated.—For he hath no pleasure in fools.—כּסִלִים are frivolous men, who are equally ready to make vows of every kind, but then delay their performance from indolence or selfishness. Of them it is said: אֵין חֵפֶץ בָּהֶם “there is no pleasure in them,” namely, with God; for the context obliges us thus to finish the thought,
Ecc_5:5. Better is it that thou shouldst not vow, than, etc.—.Comp. Deu_23:22 : “But if thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee;” also Act_5:4. Ecc_5:6. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin.—בָּשָׂר here marks the body as the seat of desire, therefore of sensuality and fleshly sense in general, as the New Testament σ̓́άρξ; Ecc_2:3 is also similar to this. The description of James, in Ecc_3:6 f. of his Epistle, gives a clear testimony that the sensuality of man is sinfully excited by the sins of the tongue, or the mouth, and can be enkindled by the fire of evil passion; and Hengstenberg should not have quoted this passage as a proof of his position that “flesh” here signifies the entire personality. Hitzig translates: “Let not thy mouth bring thy body to punishment,” but fails to give the proof for the possibility of the rendering of הֶחֶטיא in the sense of “bringing to punishment, atoning for.”—Neither say thou before the angel that it was an error.—[Zöckler here renders מַלְאָךְ messenger, to accommodate to his exegesis.—T. L.]. מַלְאָךְ, Messenger, i.e., Jehovah’s [Comp. Hag_1:13; Mal_1:3], is here the designation of the priest2 or announcer and expounder of the divine law; comp. Mal_2:7, the only passage of the O. T. where this expression is used of the priest; and see also in the N. T. Rev_1:20; Rev_2:1 ff., where ἄγγελος is used essentially in the same sense. “That it was an error” [שְׁנָגָה as in Num_15:27 ff.] is the characteristic evasion of religious superficiality and levity, which seek to excuse unfulfilled vows by declaring the neglect of them a mere error or precipitation [an unintentional error]; cornp. Mal_1:8; Mat_15:5, etc. Hitzig: “it was a thoughtlessness,—that is, that I made the vow at all.” But a vow solemnly declared before the priest could not thus be recalled without further ceremony by declaring that it was vowed in a, thoughtless manner. The thoughtless delinquent will wish to represent the evasion of its fulfilment as simply a sin of weakness or precipitation, whilst it is in reality a crime of a very serious character [comp. Elstee and Hengsten-beeg on this passage].—Why should God be angry at thy voice [which thou dost misuse in a vile, sophistical and God-tempting evasion] and destroy the work of thy hands—that is, punish thee, therefore, by a failure of all thy undertakings, and destruction of all treasures and goods? For the warning sense of the question with לָמָּה comp. Ecc_7:16-17; Psa_90:17; 2 Chron. 10:37; Ezr_4:22; Ezr_7:23. Verse 7. For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities. Just as in verse 3, dreams are here also to be taken only as examples of the vanity of making many word, and of its bad consequences. As we can reasonably conclude that one who has much to do with dreams [comp. Jer_23:33; Zec_10:1] is an unreliable man, little fitted for the duties and afl’airs of sober reality, therefore the wordiest babbler will inspire in us the least confidence. Ewald and Heiligstedt’s view: “for in too many dreams are too many vanities and words,” is opposed by the connection, which shows that no information is to be imparted here concerning the nature and signification of dreams, and then also the circumstance that it is not very clearly to be seen in how far dreams may cause much useless prattle.—But fear thou God, so that thou dost really try to fulfill what thou hast vowed to Him. כִי, because co-ordinate with the preceding, is to bo translated by “but,” and not “thus;” for it expresses in a conclusive manner the contrast to verse 6.3
4. Second Division, first strophe, a: Ecc_5:8-9.—On avoiding injustice and violence—If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province. Comp. Ecc_3:16; Ecc_4:1, ff. (Ger., robbery of judgment and justice). This is a robbery committed against these objective and divine laws, a violation of them by exactions, and other violence. Such violations of judgment are most likely to be practiced in the provinces, far from the seat of the king and the highest courts, by governors and generals. Therefore here מְדִינָה, by which is doubtless meant the province in which the author lives, that is, Palestine. Comp. Ezr_5:8; Neh_1:3; Neh_7:6; Neh_11:3, and also the Int. § 4, Obs. 2.—Marvel not at the matter.—חֵפֶץ [Comp. Ecc_3:1], is neither absolutely the same as “cause, matter,” [Hitzig] nor does it indicate the divine pleasure, the execution of divine decrees, (as Hengstenberg). It is rather the violent doing of the thieving officials that is meant, the “such is my pleasure,” of rulers, “who usually commence their edicts with these words: it seems good to me, it is good in presence of the king, Dan_3:22; Dan_6:2; Dan_4:22; Eze_5:17.” (Hengstenberg). For the exhortation not to marvel at such things, not to be surprised, comp. 1Pe_4:12 : ἀγαπητὸι μὴ ξενίζεσθε κ. τ. λ.—For he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they. That is, over the lofty oppressor stands a still higher ruler, the king; and even over him, should he not aid suffering innocence in its rights, is a still higher one, the King of kings, and Supremo Judge of the world. גְבהִֹים is, as it were, a plural of majesty,4 serving for a most emphatic designation of the fulness of eternal power in the Godhead; it is the same construction as בּוֹרְאִים, “Creator,” Ecc_12:1; קְדוֹשִׁים Pro_9:10; Pro_30:8; Hos_12:1. עֶלְיוֹנִים, Dan_7:18; Dan_7:22, etc. Comp. Ewald, § 178 b. We cannot let this expression refer to the king as the highest earthly judge and potentate, on account of its analogy with other plural names of Deity. It is extremely unfitting, indeed almost absurd, to refer the second high one to a supreme judge, and the גְּבהִֹים to the governor (Hitzig). For a poor consolation would be offered to the oppressed by a reference merely to these courts, as certain as “that one crow does not pick out the eyes of another,” (a very poorly sustained proverb, quoted by Hitzig himself). Ecc_5:9. Moreover, the profit of the earth is for all; the king himself is served by the field. That is, notwithstanding that God alone rules as highest judge and avenger over all the destinies of men, we are not to despise the protection and safety which an earthly authority affords, especially a strong kingly government, that can protect the fields from devastation, and their boundaries from intrusion. בְּכָל הִיא [so is it to be read, as in the K’tib, instead of בְּכָל הוּא] is of like meaning with בְּכָל זֹאת, “in all this”—or “notwithstanding all this,” as it is Isa_9:11. The concluding words מֶלֶךְ לְשָׂדֶה נִעְבָד can neither mean: “a king honored by the land” (Knobel and Vaihinger), nor: “a king honored throughout the whole land” (Hahn), nor: “a king to till the field” (Luther, Starke, etc.), nor: “a king subject to the field” (Herzfeld), nor: rex agro addictus, (Rosenmueller, Dathe, etc.), nor: “a king to the tilled field,” namely, “a profit and advantage to it,” (Hitzig, Hengstenberg, comp. also the Sept.). נֶעְבָד is here used -rather in the sense of “made, installed, placed,” in accordance with the Chaldaio signification of עשׂה=עבד, Dan_3:1; Dan_3:15; Dan_3:29; Dan_7:21; Ezr_4:19, etc., and שָׂדֶה, field, is a poetical synonym of ארץ (Comp. Gen_2:5; Gen_4:7; Rth_1:6), here undoubtedly chosen because agriculture, this principal occupation of the provinces (comp. Ecc_2:8) can only prosper through the protection and propitious influence of the king. Compare the very close connection in which the religion of the Chinese, Persians, Egyptians, and Romans placed the royal office with agriculture. It does not militate against the view sustained by us that there is no definite article before שדה. Comp. Ewald. § 277, b; and quite as little does this view disagree with the verbal collocation, as will be seen by comparing Ecc_9:2; Isa_42:24; Dan_6:8.5
5. Second Division, first strophe b, and second strophe a. b: Ecc_5:10-17. On avoiding avarice and covetousness.—As in Deu_16:19; Amo_8:4 ff.; Pro_15:25-27; Sir_10:8, so we have here the condemnation of the coarser form of covetousness, which does not shun open injustice and violence, and, directly afterwards, that of the love of money and desire of gain operating with more delicate, more genteel, and apparently more just means.—He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, i. e., not satisfied in mind, and consequently not happy. Comp. the Horatian line: Semper avarus eyet (Ep. I, Ecc_2:20); also Ovid Fast. I, 211 S.:
“Creverunt et opes et opum furiosa cupido;
Et cum posideant plurima plura volunt”
Nor he that loveth abundance with increase. Lit.,“loveth tumult;” הָמוֹן in other places, “noise, turmoil of a great multitude of people,” here means, as in Psa_37:16, the multitude of possessions; and אהב בְ means as elsewhere חפץֹ ב
Ecc_5:11. When goods increase, they are increased that eat them. Lit. “their eaters, their consumers.” The meaning here is clearly the numerous servants of a rich household. Comp. Job_1:3; 1Ki_5:2, if.—And what good is there to the owners thereof ?—כִֹּשְׁרוֹן here, “fortune, gain,” different from Ecc_2:21; Ecc_4:4. The plural בעלים has here a singular meaning, as in Ecc_5:12; Ecc_7:11; Ecc_8:8; Pro_3:27.—Save the beholding of them with their eyes, i.e., only the empty, not really satisfying feeling of pleasure at the sight of heaped-up treasures. In place of רְאִית read רְאוּת with, the Keri.
Ecc_5:12. The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much; i. e., whether he enjoys a generous food, or must be satisfied with a scanty nourishment.—עבֵֹד “laborer” is different from עֶבֶד “slave,” and also from מַס עבֵֹד “serf;” it means in general every one, who according to divine direction in Gen_3:19; Exo_20:9, must earn his bread in the sweat of his brow, be he vassal or freeman.—But the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep. Hieronymus justly says: incocto cibo in stomachi augustiis æestuante.—הַשָׂבָע לֶעָשִׁיר, a paraphrase for the genitive like הַצּוֹפִים לְשָׁאוּל 1Sa_14:18, etc.; comp. Ewald, § 292, a.—For this sentence comp. Horace, Sat. I., 1, 76 ss.; Juvenal, Sat. X., 12 s.; XIV., 304; also Publ. Syrus: “Avarum irritat non satiat pecunia.”
Ecc_5:13-17. Second strophe: The annoying and inconstant nature of wealth. There is a sore evil; lit., “a painful evil;” חוֹלָה equivalent to the participle Neph נַחְלָה6 Jer_14:17; Nah_3:19.—Riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt. Carefully guarded wealth proves a misfortune to the possessor when the latter loses this transitory and unreliable possession, and becomes, thereby, more unhappy than if he had never possessed it. The only correct illustration of this thought is afforded by Ecc_5:14. Ecc_5:14. But these riches perish by evil travail.—עִנְיָן, lit., “annoyance, hardship,” as in Ecc_1:13; Ecc_4:8, does not here mean the unprofitable business, the unfortunate administration of the affairs of the rich, but any misfortune, an evil occurrence of the nature of those in Job_1:14-19, caused by robbers, tempests, storms, etc.7—And he begetteth a son, and there, is nothing in his hand. וְהוֹלִיד is correctly taken as a preterit in the Sept., Vulg., and Syriac; for after the failure of his means, he who was rich leaves off begetting sons.
Ecc_5:15. As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came.—יָשׁוּב לָלֶכֶת, lit., “he repeats his going,” i.e., he goes away again, namely out of this life. We find the same reflection concerning the inexorable operation of death in Job_1:21; Psa_49:10; 1Ti_6:7, and also in the classics, e.g., Propert, Carm. III., 3, 35 s.:
Haud ullas portabis opes Acherontis ad undas;
Nudus ad inferna stulte, vehere rate!
Comp. P. Gerhard in the hymn: “Why should I then grieve ?”
Naked lay I on the earth,
When I came, when I drew
At first my breath.
Naked shall I pass away,
When from earth again I flee,
Like a shadow.
And shall take nothing of his labor. Lit., “does he lift up through his labor;” יִשָׂא as in Psa_24:4.—Which he may carry away in his hand. יֹלֵךְ is optative Hophil [יוֹלִיךְ=, Mic_3:4; Mic_6:13, etc.], and need not be changed into יֵלֵךְ, as Hitzig does in accordance with the Sept. and Symmachus. For the thought that a rich man at his death can take none of his treasures with him, is extremely fitting here, in case one does not think of the rich man described in Ecc_5:14, who, previously to his death, was bereft of all his possessions by misfortune. And this is so much the less necessary, since before this verse death has not been considered the final end of all wealth and desire of acquiring it.
Ecc_5:16 emphatically repeats the thought of the preceding verse, in order to show more strongly the entire fruitlessness and folly of toiling after earthly wealth, and to prepare for the closing description in Ecc_5:17 of the tortured existence of a rich miser.—And this is also a sore evil, namely, not simply that named in Ecc_5:13, but also that added in Ecc_5:15; consequently not merely the πλούτου ἀδηλότης there described (1Ti_6:17), but also death, that places an unconditional limit to all wealth, and toiling after riches. The views of Hengstenberg, Vaihinger, etc., are correct, whilst Hitzig wrongfully supposed that the second: “sore evil” is not named until the last clause of this verse, and that it consists in the miserable existence of the miser, full of vexation and profitless. This “having no profit,” and “laboring for the wind,” coincides rather (like the contents of Ecc_5:17) with the vanity of this world, and its inconstancy and hardship, as described in Ecc_5:13-14, so that the reflection at its end again leads back to its beginning. Ecc_5:17. All his days also he eateth in darkness, that is, in a gloomy, peevish state of mind, in subjective darkness as described in Mat_6:23; Joh_11:10. כָּל־יָמָיו can be very easily taken as the object of יאֹכֵל, although the phrase “eateth his days” does not appear again,8 and therefore the meaning of “all his days” seems the more likely to be merely used as defining the time; but comp. for this view the instances at least approximately analogous in Job_21:13; Job_36:11. The Sept. seems to have read וָאֵכֶל instead of יֹאכֵל and so in the following clause, instead of וְכָעַם they must have read וְכַעַם, and for וְחָלְיוֹ they must have read וָחֳלִי; for they translate: καίγε πᾶσαι ἁι ἡμέραι αὐτοῦ ἐν σκότει καὶ έν πένθει κὰι θυμῷ πολλῷ κὰι ἀῥῤηστίᾳ κὰι χόλῳ. Ewald and some other moderns follow it herein; but certainly with regard to the change of יֹאכֵל, at least without sufficient reason; comp. Hitzig and Elster on this passage. But nothing obliges us, in the second clause,, to deviate from the Masoretic text, as Hengstenberg has correctly shown in opposition to the authors last named. For כָּעַם as 3d, præterite, suits the adverb הַרְבֵּה better than does the substantive כַּעַם; but the closing words וְחָלְיוֹ וָקָצֶף give an excellent sense as an independent animated exclamation: “and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness!” What is meant is the sickness of soul produced by the annoyance and dissatisfaction felt as against those things that oppose his striving after riches, [in substance the same as that darkness in the preceding line] a sickness which can eventually extend to his body and then torment him only the more severely.9
6. Third Division: Ecc_5:18-20. Concerning a moderate and gratefully contented enjoyment of life, as the only true and wise conduct for the poor and for the rich; comp. the exactly similar closing sentence of the first discourse, Ecc_2:24-26, and also the close of the first part of the second discourse, Ecc_3:22.—Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely, etc. Hitzig and Hahn say: “What I have found good, and what beautiful;” Hengstenberg: behold what I have seen, that it is good and handsome, etc. This latter translation is the only one that corresponds exactly to the accentuation,10 which (by a rebia over אני) strongly separates the טוֹב from what precedes, but scarcely expresses the sense originally intended by the author himself. Our own view corresponds rather to this original sense, which alone is rightly in accordance with the position of אֲשֶׁר before יָפֶה.—To eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor. The suffix in עֲמָלוֹ belongs to the previously unexpressed subject of the infinitive clauses לֶאֱכֹל etc.; comp. Ecc_7:1; Ps. 4:9; 65:9, etc. The eating, and drinking, and enjoying the good [lit., “seeing the good,” comp. Ecc_2:24) is as little meant in an Epicurean sense here as in similar earlier passages; it expresses simply the normal contrast to the grasping avarice previously censured.—For it is his portion, [כִּיִ הוּא חֶלְקוֹ: ,“that it should be his portion;” כִּי denoting end, purpose, or, as it is rendered in the Metrical Version, “to be his portion here,”—so as not to interrupt the flow of the sentence.—T. L.] It is his lot divinely appointed unto him for this life, that he cannot take with him into the world beyond (Ecc_5:15) and which he must consequently properly profit by here below (comp. Ecc_3:22).
Ecc_5:19. Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth. Hitzig unnecessarily renders אֲשֶׁד נָתַן לוֹ “that God gives him,” (or “if”) etc. The anakolouthon between the nominative absolute “every man” and the final clause: “that is the gift of God,” cannot be thus removed.—And hath given him power to eat thereof, etc. For הִשְׁלִיט “to cause to rule, to empower any one,” comp. Psa_119:133; Dan_2:28; Dan_2:48. That is the gift of God. The emphasis does not rest on אֱלהִֹים, as in the similar thought in Ecc_2:24, but on מַתַּת, which here therefore means a noble gift (δόσις ἀγαθή, δώρημα τέλειον, Jam_1:17) a gracious present, as the following verse teaches. Comp. also Horace, Epis. I., 4, 6;
Dî tibi divitias dederunt, arlemque fruendi.
Ecc_5:20. For he shall not much remember the days of his life. That is not as Ewald says: “Memory and enjoyment of this life do not last long,” which would clearly give a totally foreign thought, but he now forgets all toil and vexation of his former life,11 and learns, in consequence of the divine beneficence which he gratefully and contentedly enjoys, to forget the “miserable life” (Luther) that he previously led, and cares no more concerning the rapid flight and short duration of his earthly days, (comp. Ecc_6:12). Because God answereth him in the joy of his heart. The second בִּי is subjoined to the first one in the commencement of the clause, and is therefore better translated with “because” or “since” than with “for.” מַעֲנֶה בְּ lit. “he answers him with,” i.e., he hears him by vouchsafing, etc.; for this signification of the Hiph, of ענה comp. 1Ki_8:35; 2Ch_6:26; Hos_2:23. All other meanings are contrary to the language and connection, e.g. Hitzig: “he makes him ready to serve;” Köster: “he makes him sing with the joy of his heart;” Vaihinger (according to the Sept. and Vulg.): “he occupies him with the joy of his heart,” etc.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
(With Homiletical Hints,)
The threefold means given in this chapter for obtaining and advancing earthly happiness, are the fulfilment of duty towards God, our neighbors, and ourselves; or the three virtues corresponding to these three kinds of duties—εὐσέβεια, δικαιοσύνη and σωφροσύνη (Tit_2:12; Mat_22:37-39). Among the duties to God, special attention is directed to proper demeanor in regard to prayer and vows; among the duties to our neighbor, the avoiding of injustice and covetousness, and as duties to ourselves, temperance and serene cheerfulness in the enjoyment of the pleasures of this life. Each of these special directions regarding moral demeanor is so presented that its relation to the happiness and peace of men’s souls clearly appears. And thus, especially, in the sphere of religious duties, the necessity of pure truthfulness, sacred earnestness, and careful bridling of the tongue (in prayer as in vows), or, in a word, the just fear of God is insisted on as the essence of all those conditions on which depends the preservation of the Divine favor (Ecc_5:4), and thus the foundation of all internal and external happiness. In the obligations of justice and unselfishness towards our neighbor (Ecc_5:8-17) special reference is made to the certainty of judicial visitation on the part of God or the King (Ecc_5:8-9), to the freedom from stinging avarice and torturing care (Ecc_5:10-17), and to the superiority of heavenly treasures, which one is not obliged to leave here and sacrifice at death, as is the case with earthly treasures (Ecc_5:13-16); and these are represented as just so many sources of real inward happiness and peace. With regard to the serenity of life recommended at the close as a means of properly fulfilling the duties to one’s self (Ecc_5:18-20), sensual enjoyment in itself is not so much praised as a principal means of happiness, as is the grateful consciousness that all joys and blessings of this life come from God, together with the diligence and zealous activity in vocation that truly give flavor to the enjoyment of these pleasures (“to enjoy the good of all his labor,” Ecc_5:18; “to rejoice in his labor,” Ecc_5:19); and just in this manner is demonstrated the way of acquiring genuine and lasting happiness, in contradistinction to Epicureanism and all that philosophy which declares pleasure to be the chief good. In a comprehensive homiletical treatment of the section, the theme might be presented as follows: “Of a godly, just, and chaste life in this world, as the foundation of all genuine happiness in this world and the next;” or: “Of a right truthfulness, in prayer before God, in administration of earthly goods before men, and in the wise enjoyment of the pleasures of life in presence of one’s own conscience;” or also (with special reference to contents of verses 8 and 9): “Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king” (1Pe_2:17).
HOMILETICAL HINTS ON SEPARATE PASSAGES
Ecc_5:1. Hieronymus: Non ingredi domum Dei, sed sine offensione ingredi, laudis est.
Melancthon:—Solomon declares that the principal and best worship of God is to listen to His word and faithfully follow it. But it has always been the case that men have invented a multitude of sacrifices, and various ceremonies; thus the heathen, the Pharisees and the monks have falsified the proper way of reverencing God. This audacity of man is here condemned as a deep sin, however much its originators may defend it and praise their superstition as a glorious virtue.
Starke:—We must visit the church as creatures who humble themselves before their Creator, as subjects doing homage to their Lord, as paupers begging for spiritual gifts, as sick men imploring aid, as Christians ready to serve Him with willing and pure heart.
Berleburg Bible:—One must not be satisfied with simple hearing, else it is this and nothing else, and this was not meant. The outward is simply outward; the true object of external worship must only be to lead to the internal.
Ecc_5:2-3. Brenz:—Because God alone dwells in heaven, i.e., is alone true, wise and just, and we live on the earth, and are, therefore, liars, fools, and sinners, it in no manner becomes us with our human wisdom, which in God’s eyes is folly, to judge of divine and heavenly things, and to indulge in many words with God concerning our worldly affairs, experiences and knowledge. But we must listen to God; leave to Him every decision, and silently obey His word as the only true wisdom.
Geier:—Think at all times in thy prayer of the majesty of God with whom thou speakest, and of thine own unworthiness, this will then strongly move thy heart in pious devotion.
Berleb. Bible:—“Let thy words be few;”—how far-reaching is this precept, in teaching, in preaching, in prayer, and in ordinary life! How many a long sermon would be condemned by this censorship, although it might fulfil all the requirements of the preacher’s art! And how few spiritual things would be found in many discourses, if they were purified of all useless, unedifying, vain, annoying, and improper words, as they indeed should be !—The Saviour has regarded this counsel, and hence has given a very short formula of prayer, in the very beginning of which He impresses on the suppliant the majesty of God who is in heaven, but tempers it with the loving name of father, etc.
Ecc_5:4-7. Brenz:—Vows, which proceed from unbelief, or violate the precepts of brotherly love, the Christian should neither make nor fulfil if he has made them. But if the vow proceeds from faith and love, and accords with their commands, then it must be kept: else God will judge thee as the fool, i.e., as the ungodly.
Lange:—Dear man, seek to maintain thy baptismal vows, therein hast thou vows enough.
Hansen (Ecc_5:6):—The mouth causeth the flesh to sin when it promises what the flesh neither can nor will perform.
Starke (Ecc_5:7):—The fear of the Lord is the essence of all true virtue, and it also teaches how one should wisely use his tongue (Jam_1:26).
Hengstenberg:—He who really fears God will say nothing concerning Him but that which proceeds from his inmost heart, and vow nothing but that which he is resolved inviolably to keep.
Ecc_5:8-9. Luther:—This book teaches thee to give thy heart to rest, and not to fret and pine too much when things go wrong, but, when the devil engages in malice, violence, injustice and oppression of the poor, to be able to say; “this is the course of the world; God will judge and avenge it.” Let each one, therefore, in his sphere do his work with best diligence, according to the command of God: the rest he may commit to God and suffer. Let him await then what the godless and unjust men may do!—
The stone thon canst not lift, let lie;
Thy strength upon some other try.
Melancthon (Ecc_5:8):—Observe here the difference between a king and a tyrant. A tyrant devastates and destroys; a good ruler cherishes his country, protects and furthers the interests of agriculture, the prosperity of the Church, the arts and industries, and all good things.
Starke:—God is the ruler of all nations (Psa_82:8). The loftiest noble and the meanest peasant must alike humbly acknowledge Him a3 his Lord, and reverence and obey Him.
Wohlfarth:—What Solomon says we see yet to-day. Although Church and State make every effort to advance the cause of righteousness and retard that of sin, the realm of evil is nevertheless wide-spread, and covetousness, pride, envy, deceit, voluptuousness, every where raise in oppression their repulsive heads. But let us remember that the earth is ever a land of imperfection; then this will not surprise us; but we shall rather be inclined to find in the contrast in which the reality stands with the belief in Divine justice, a reason for our hope of immortality and final reward, and, while we seek according to our strength to prevent evil, we will ourselves shun every sin, that we may hereafter stand rejoicing before God’s throne.
Ecc_5:10 ff. Luther:—What is a miser but a poor, tortured, uneasy soul and heart, that is always looking after that which it does not possess; it is therefore vanity and wretchedness. Are not those happy people who are satisfied with the present favors of God, and comfortable nourishment for the body, and who leave it to God to care for the future ?—If now God gives thee riches, use thy share as thou usest thy share of water, and let the rest flow by thee; if thou dost not do so, thy gathering will be all in vain.
Geier:—The best inheritance that a rich man can leave to his children is Christian instruction in the discipline and admonition of the Lord, and thorough education in the arts and sciences.
Zeltner:—How happy are hearts that are heavenly inclined, that are contented with what the beneficent hand of God has bestowed on them, and enjoy it with His blessing in gratitude.
Wohlfarth:—How foolishly do those act who live solely for their earthly existence.
Ecc_5:18-20. Luther:—To “eat in darkness” is nought else than to pass one’s life in melancholy. All avaricious and troublesome people find something that does not please them, where they can fret and scold. For they are full of care, vexation, and anxiety; they cannot joyfully eat, nor joyfully drink, but always find something that annoys and offends them.
Lange:—A true Christian uses the nourishment and needful supplies of his body, to the especial end that he may recognize the goodness of God in all his labor under the sun.
Hansen:—In order to enjoy the good that there is in the riches of this world, it is necessary that one have a perfect rule over them, i.e., that in the use of them he may at all times act in accordance with the Divine purpose, Psa_62:10.
Berleb. Bible:—As “to the pure every thing is pure” (Tit_1:15), so also wealth may be used by such a one in purity, and it will therefore depend mainly on each one’s own heart how it stands in the presence of God. But if one does not remain contented and quiet when house and home burn up, or some other injury happens to his possessions, then is he not yet rightly placid and tranquil; this is the proof of it.
Footnotes:
[1][The example that Zöckler gives of מ comparative, without any comparative word before it, will not bear him out. In Ecc_9:17, it is dependent on נִשְׁמָעִים; in the other cases cited ם is either partitive, or has its usual proposition sense. If any comparative word might be thus omitted it might be the familiar word טוֹב, but there are other ways of explaining the apparent grammatical anomaly without any such harshness, which would be like leaving out, in English, any comparative word before than—to hear than to give. If we regard קָרוֹב as an adjective it may have the sense of fit, suitable, appropriate, coming very easily from its primary and usual sense of nearness: to hear is more appropriate than to give; it is nearer in the sense of better. That such a connection of senses is natural, is shown from the Latin prope propior, as HORACE, Sat. 4,42, sermoni propiora, better for prose; Terent. Heant: nulla alia delectation quce propior esset; Ovid. Mel., cura propior luctusqe. It might be proved still more clearly from the Arabic use of a comparative from this very root ַָׁَُْ)=אַקְרַב) in the sense of better- that which is nigher, more appropriate. Of this there are frequent examples in the Koran, as in Surah. 2:238, ַָׁَْ בבَْזَל better for piety, more pious; so Surah 18:80, ַْהָׁَ ַֽׁ better for compassion, more compassionate. See also Surah 3:160; 4:12; 5:11; 16:79; 20:13. Thus in Hebrew, קָרוֹב —מִתֵּת, nearer, more appropriate, more acceptable (a better קָרְבָּן or offering) than to give, etc.,—audire propius esset quam dare etc. It may be objected to this that such an infinitive with ל as לִשְׁמֹעַ, is not used subjectively, or very rarely. It, however, comes very much to the same thing, if we take קָרוֹב directly as an infinitive, or as used for an imperative: be nigher to hear, that is, more ready, more prompt(propior facilior) to hear, than fools are to offer sacrifice (taking כסילים as the subject of תֵּת). Or the comparative מ may depend on שְׁמרֹ in the first clause, the influence of which may be regarded as extending to the second: be more careful (שְׁמרֹ —מ) to hear, or to draw nigh to hear, etc. In such case, we get a governing word for the infinitive קָרוֹּב. If it be said that it is implied or understood; that is always the case where the infinitive seems thus used for the imperative. Some familiar word of admoninon, or warning, is ever implied (look out, take care, etc.).as sometimes in the animated language of the prophets, and as is frequently the case in Greek and Latin.—T. L.]
[2][This is another case where those who maintain the late date of the book give a word an unusual sense, and then build an argument upon it. There is no reason why מַלְאָךְ should not be taken in its usual meaning, as an angel of God, visible or invisible, supposed sometimes to appear in terror, the avenging angel, as 2Sa_24:16, who came to punish Israel and their king for his rash words. There may be an express reference here by Solomon to his father’s fatal error; and the words וְאַל תֹּאמַר may be rendered very easily as a caution, that thou mayest not have to confess thine error, as David did (2Sa_24:17). It must have made a deep impression on the young mind of the Prince. It is perfectly in accordance, too, with the belief and the recorded facts of the Solomonic times; and this would be the case even if we regard the מַלְאָךְ, mentioned in Ecclesiastes, as being Gad, the messenger sent to David. Or it may refer to the belief in the presence of angels as invisible witnesses to our sins and our improprieties—a belief belonging not only to the Old Testament, but also to the New, as appears from 1Co_11:10,διὰ τοὺς ἀγγέλους. “because of the angles” (invisible), indecencies in the Church were to be avoided.—T. L.]
[3][Ecc_5:7. The simplest and most literal rendering here would seem to be the best, taking the conjunction ו, in each case, as it stands, and in the usual way. The copulative ו has, indeed sometimes, an assertive force, but then the context will always clearly demand it. Here there is no need of it: “Though in multitude of dreams,” or “though dreams abound, and vanities, and words innumerable, yet (כִּי) fear thou God.” The first כִּי may be rendered for, and regarded as connecting, causally, this verse with what precedes, or they may both be regarded as adversative, giving the reason against, or notwithstanding. See explanation of כִּי Int. to Metrical Version, p 176. The word דְּבָרִים we have rendered, in the Metrical Version, presagings (idle predictions, fortune tellings, such as go with dreams). דָּבָר is used, Num_23:5; Num_23:16, for oraculum. It is the oracle given to Balaam, and though, there, a divine message given to a bad man, yet there is nothing in the word itself to prevent its denoting a false, as well as a true prediction. If the view taken be correct, there must be meant, here, false or superstitious presagings, like the Greek βάξις, which is used by Aristophanes for the false predictions of the oracle-mongers, by whom Greece was infested. דָּבָר is used in the same manner, Ecc_10:14, where the context shows that it means either pretended oracular words, or fortune-tellings, or some such rash sayings about the future as are condemned Jam_4:13. The other rendering: “in multitude of dreams and vanities there are also words,” besides having seemingly but little meaning, puts its main assertion in the first clause, and thus makes the second: “fear thou God,” a merely incidental or rhetorical addition, though really the important thought: “notwithstanding the abounding of (all these superstitions) dreams, vanities and fortune-tellings without number, yet fear thou God. In the other rendering, too, besides being less simple and facile, there is lost, or obscured, the contrast evidently intended between δεισιδαιμονια, in the bad sense, or superstition, and ἐυσέβεια, true religion, reverence, יראת יהוה, “the fear of the Lord.” For an illustration. see the picture of the superstitious man (δεισιδαίμων) as given by Theophrastus in his Characters, sec.16.—T. L.]
[4] [The plural intensive undoubtedly exists in Hebrew, but a great deal that is said about the pluralis majestaticus is very questionable. The best Jewish commentators deny its existence. The plural גְּבהִֹים, here, may easily be taken as a sort of summing up, denoting all the powers that stand above the petty oppressor, from the earthly king, through “principalities in the Heavens” up to God Himself. Our English Version gives it well, “and there be higher than they,” leaving the application indefinite. Stuart regards ו as intensive: “Yea there be higher than they,”—the petty oppressors. Or it may be an assertion that there is a vast series of ascending powers in the olam, or world, regarded in its rank, rather than its time or space aspect. See note on Olamic Words, p. 51. The reader may imagine the gradation of ranks for himself. Of course, God is at the highest, however great it may be. This would accord with the simplest rendering of the words:
Height over height are keeping watch,
and higher still than they.
These vile oppressors, with all their boasts of rank, are away down in the lowest parts of the scale.—T. L.]
[5] [Ecc_5:9. The interpretations of Zöckler, Hitzig, Stuart, etc., though differing from each other, seem forced. They all destroy the parallelism, making only one proposition of what evidently contains two clauses, one an illustration of the other. Their rendering of בכל היא, as though it were equivalent to בכל זאת, Isa_9:11; Isa_9:20, cannot be supported. הִיא is a feminine used for the neuter, and may have, in such case, an antecedent masculine in form, if it expresses what is inanimate or impersonal. “The profit of the soil, in everything is it”,—like,שגגה היא, “an error is it,” Just above. “It is in all,” in everything, in every rank of life. The word נֶעְבָד has more of a deponent than of a passive sense. In other cases, Deu_21:4; Eze_36:9; Eze_36:34, it is applied to the field that is made use of, worked, in distinction from the barren. This is the only case in which it is applied to persons, and according to the same analogy, it does not mean served as a master, which would be the direct passive of the Kal, but subservient to, or made to serve, coming near to the Kal sense, or the sense of the noun: made useful, or devoted to use. The connection, then, is very clear. The oppressor is reproved, not by extolling the king as the guardian of justice, and patron of agriculture, but by setting forth the value of the lowly, the cultivators of the soil, to whom the highest ranks, and, ultimately, the king himself, are subservient,—on whom they are dependent, and to whom they may be said, in the last resort, to owe homage. This more Republican idea, and so much more in harmony with the whole spirit of the passage, is sustained by wordsworth. The resort to the
Chaldaic signification of עָבַד = to the Hebrew עשה, is wholly needless and unsatisfactory. If the monarchical interpretation, as we may call it, fails, then also falls to the ground what is said about the Persians, and “the king’s protection of agriculture in the provinces,” together with the inference that would then be drawn in respect to the date of the book. Such a dependence of the king upon the field is just n truth which would be perceived by the wise Solomon, but would be unheeded by a Persian monarch, or any writer who would wish to extol him. Herzfeld’s interpretation is very nigh this. Our English Version. “the king is served by the field,” or from the field, would require a different preposition.—T. L.]
[6][See the explanation in the text note.—T. L.]
[7] [בענין רע may mean here the labor and travail expended in acquiring the riches. “That wealth perishes with all the labor,” etc., it took to get it. Such is the more literal sense of ב, as well as the more expressive. He has lost all his labor and travail as well as his wealth. Compare the Metrical Version.
With the sore travail [it had cost] that wealth departs. T. L.]
[8][We have the similar phrase in English—“consumeth his days”—but it is questionable whether אכל is ever thus used in Hebrew. In Job_21:13; Job_36:11, the verb is different.—T. L.]
[9] [Hitzig regards the text here as corrupt, and proposes to read בְּהָלְיוֹ and כַּעַם. There is no serious difficulty in taking כָּעַם as a noun [the first patach lengthened, as Jona Ben Gannach shows may be done]. The other correction, and Hitzig’s charge of corruption, only show that a very acute critic, not having much imagination, may not sympathize with the poetical style, or the emotional earnestness of such a writer as Koheleth, and must therefore, often fail in interpreting him. The apparent irregularity of the sentence shows a vehement utterance, the thoughts crowding together, coming in, some of them out of their order, as though anticipated, or in danger of being forgotten. The most literal, therefore, is the rendering which is most true to this subjective emotional state: “great grief, sickness his, and wrath;” or to give it something of its rythmical order:
Yea, all his days, doth he in darkness eat;
Abundant sorrow, sickness too is his, and chafing wrath.T. L]
[10][Those noble scholars, the Buxtorfs, and the learned as well as devout Boston, were not altogether without reason in their belief that the Hebrew system of accents, as found in our Hebrew Bibles, partook, in some degree, of the biblical inspiration. There is a critical acuteness, a spiritual-mindedness, we may say, manifested by those early accentuators. from whom came the traditional masora, that is truly wonderful. There are many examples in the Psalms. There is an instance of it, we think, in this passage, vers.18 and 19. They have place a rebia, a disjunctive accent, over אָֹנִי ver.18 thereby separating it from טוֹב that follows. This our English translators have observed, as also Hahn, Hengstenberg and others, who, after all, do not make the right use of it. Zöckler acknowledging though disregarding the accents, renders: “behold what I have seen as good, that it is fair to eat,” etc.,—making אֲשֶׁר, a conjunction. To follow the accentuation, however, is the only way to bring out the sense in all its force and clearness. The other method makes טוֹכ and יָפֶה synonymous, and represents eating and drinking as the good per se, without qualification; the assertion afterwards made, about its being the gift of god, having no effect in changing, or modifying this positive declaration. On the contrary, the accentual rendering, makes the perception and the consciousness of this [הַטּוֹב לִרְאוֹת טוֹב], the very thing that constitutes the “good which is fair” [טוֹב אֲשֶׁר יָפֶה], in distinction from the mere pleasure which he epicurean would call good. Thus it reads, according to the accents: “good that is fair, to eat and drink, etc.,(that is, in eating and drinking), and to see the good,” etc.,—intimating that there is a good, or seeming good, that is not fair, or beautiful a טוֹב that is not יָפֶּה. To make אֲשֶׁר thus as a relative pronoun, is the only way to avoid a tautology; for the other rendering makes no distinction between טוֹב and יָפֶה, or rather regards the one as but a repetition of the other. It is true that, in such use of אֲשֶׁר, the personal pronoun generally follows [טוֹב אֲשֶׁר יָפֶה הוּא] but not always, as Gen_7:8, הָעוֹף וְכֹל אֲשֶׁר רֹמֵשׂ, and similar cases, especially Hos_12:8, “they shall not find in me, עָוֹן אֲשֶׁר חֵטְא, iniquity that is sin,” — meaning by חֵטְא a qualification of the general term עָוֹן, or a known and wilful sin, one deserving of punishment, as both Kimchi and Aben Ezra explain it. Grammatically and logically it is precisely similar to this case. It is not easy to resist the conclusion that a logical differentia, some qualifying of טוֹב, was hero intended. It is, in fact, that same distinction which is made by the ordinary mind, if devout, and which we find in Plato, the mystical, as some style him, but who is, in reality, the clearest, and in the truest sense of the term, the most common-sense of all the philosophers. It is the ἀγαθὸν that is καλὸν (since the sensualist also has his ἀγαθόν, so called, which is not καλὸν, but only ἡδὺ) the βέλτιστον, or to use similar language of Cicero, the bonum that is pulchrum, the dulce that is honestum. It is the word, used Ecc_3:11 to denote the beauty of everything in its season, as God made it, אֶת־הַכִֹל עָשָׂה יָפֶה בְּעִתּוֹ, or as the world was pronounced all good, all fair, at creation, whilst still in unison with the divine name and presence. The טוֹב that is יָפֶה, the good that is fair, must have some other element in it than mere sense-enjoyment, or voluptas (velle quod optat). This appears by another accentual mark. The same acute critics have place a zakeph gadhol, another strong disjunctive accent, upon the demonstrative pronoun ז֕הׄ in ver.19, thereby making it more emphatic, by separating it from the adjoining words, thus constituting it a clause by itself, as it were, to which special attention is called. By being thus separated from what is near, it goes back to the טוֹב mentioned some ways above. or to the idea contained, and carries it through all the clauses: “good that is fair, to eat and drink, and see the good,” etc., (through all that follow in the long recital) “this” —this (good) I say — is God’s own gift.” The meaning is, that the recognition and the consciousness of this are necessary to make it good, or the good emphatically — “the good that is fair”—and that, without this it would not be יָשֶׂה καλόν, honestum, etc., but sheer sensualism, which in itself, he so often pronounces worthlessness and vanity. The whole passage, 18–20, has the air of a solemn recapitulation, in which the writer means to express his deepest and truest feeling: “and now, behold what I have seen: good that is fair,” etc.; all such good is from above, and there is really no other that deserves to be so called. It is imbued throughout with the name of God, as though His name were inseparable from any true idea of the good. Taking the accents in their intended form, the passage has a most eloquent fulness; disregarding them, we have sheer Epicureanism, expressed in what seems a verbose style, tautological, unmeaning, and, withal, out of harmony with the general scope of the book. The earnestness of the writer in his desire of fully setting out the thought, is shown by the repetition in the beginning of the 19th verse: גם כל האדם, “yea every man, as God has given him wealth, aid power to eat thereof, and bear his portion,” etc., and then the strong accented זהֹ making the peroration of the whole; so that the Epicurean or sensualist could claim no fragment of it as, in the least, favoring the godless philosophy. See the Metrical Version. It is all idle to put the most naked Epicureanism in the mouth of the writer, as Zöckler and Stuart do, and then deny it is such, or attempt to weave for it some possible evangelical robe.—T. L ]
[11] [Ewald’s view is to be preferred, though with a modification. In the recognition of the higher good (see marginal note, p. 94), or the gift and blessing of God, the mere sensual pleasure, the mere living, as an enjoyment, is not much remembered, nor the time it lasts. The higher aspect makes the lower seem less, though not undervalued.
Not life itself, with all its joys,
Could my best passions move,
Or raise so high my cheerful voice,
As Thine endearing love.
Compare it with Psa_4:5 : “Thou hast put joy in my heart more than [the joy of] the time [מֵעֵת], when their corn and their wine increase;” and especially with the verse preceding (Psa_4:7) “Many are Buying” (it is the great inquiry among men) “who will show us good” (the good, the summum bonum, the טוֹב אֲשֶׁר יָפֶה, the good that is beautiful), and then how full of light, and power, and meaning, is the answer: “Lift Thou upon us the light of Thy countenance, Jehovah.” That was the good which philosophy, whether Epicurean or Stoical, could never find: “The Light of Thy countenance,” or of Thy presence! We have become so familiar with this precious Hebraism, that we lose sight of its glorious beauty. In what other language, or literature, can we find anything like it? With the sentiment of Koheleth that it is the thought of God’s grace that makes the good, compare also the language, Psa_30:5 : “In His favor is life,” and Psa_63:4; “Thy loving-kindness is better than life”—טוֹב חַסְדְּךָ מֵחַיִּים—a good that is more than life. It is the same idea, though the language of Koheleth is more calm, more philosophic, we may say, than the impassioned diction of the Psalmist, made more striking and emotional by the use of the second person.—T. L.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 1. Keep thy foot — Behaviour is in the…
1. Keep thy foot — Behaviour is in the Bible frequently presented under the figure of walking and running. Keeping the feet implies caution in deportment, as opposed to a bold recklessness.
Ready to hear — The remainder of this verse is difficult of translation. The rendering severely demanded by the Hebrew is, To obey is nearer — as a way to God’s favour — than to offer the sacrifice of the perverse, for they [who obey] have no consciousness of doing evil. In this construction some of the best scholars agree; and while it is the most careful translation, it is clear in its significance. Samuel said to Saul, “Obedience is better than sacrifice, and to hearken, than the fat of rams.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 1. Keep thy foot] In the Heb., LXX. and…
1. Keep thy foot] In the Heb., LXX. and Vulg. this verse forms the conclusion to chap. 4. The English version is obviously right, however, in its division of the chapter. The moralist reviews a new region of experience. “Vanity” has been found in all that belongs to the outward secular life of men. Is their higher life, that which we call their religion, free from it? Must not the Debater, from his standpoint, rebuke the follies and sins even of the godly? Here, as might be expected, we have an intermingling of two elements of thought, the traditional teaching which the thinker has learnt from psalmist and prophet, and the maxims which have come to him from his Greek, probably from his Epicurean, teachers. Both, it will be seen, find echoes in the precepts that follow. The precepts are suggestive as shewing the kind of religion which the Debater had seen in Palestine, the germs of the formalism and casuistry which afterwards developed into Pharisaism. To “keep the foot” was to walk in the right way, the way of reverence and obedience (Psa_119:32; Psa_119:101). The outward act of putting the shoes off the feet on entering the Temple (Exo_3:5; Jos_5:15), from the earliest times to the present, the custom of the East, was the outward symbol of such a reverential awe. We note, as characteristic, the substitution of the “house of God” for the more familiar “house of the Lord” (2Sa_12:20; Isa_33:1, and elsewhere). Possibly the term may be used, as in Psa_74:8; Psa_83:12, to include synagogues as well as the Temple. The precept implies that he who gives it had seen the need of it. Men went to the place where they worshipped with little thought that it was indeed a Beth-el, or “house of God.”
and be more ready to hear] The words have been differently interpreted: (1) “And to draw near to hear is better than to offer the sacrifice …;” and (2) “To hear (= obey) is nearer (i.e. is the truer way for thy foot to take) than to offer the sacrifice …” The general spirit of the maxim or precept is identical with that of 1Sa_15:22; Psa_40:6-8; Psa_50:8-14; Psa_51:16-17. The “sacrifice of fools” as in Pro_21:27 is that offered by the ungodly, and therefore an abomination.
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for they consider not that they do evil] The A.V. is perhaps sufficiently expressive of the meaning, but the following various renderings have been suggested: (1) “they know not, so that they do evil,” i.e. their ignorance leads them to sin; (2) “they (those who obey, hear) know not to do evil,” i.e. their obedience keeps them from it. Of these (1) seems preferable. Protests against a superstition that was not godliness, the δεισιδαιμονία of the Greeks (Act_17:22), were, it need scarcely be said, part of the current teaching of Epicurus and his followers. So Lucretius;
“Nec pietas ullast velatum sæpe videri
Vertier ad lapidem atque omnes accedere ad aras,
Nec procumbere humi prostratum et pandere palmas
Ante deûm delubra, nec aras sanguine multo
Spargere quadrupedum, nec votis nectere vota,
Sed mage pacata posse omnia mente tueri.”
“True worship is not found in veiled heads
Turned to a statue, nor in drawing near
To many an altar, nor in form laid low
Upon the ground, nor sprinkling it with blood
Of bulls and goats, nor piling vows on vows;
But rather in the power which all surveys
With mind at rest and calm.”
De Rer. Nat. v. 1198–1203.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (1) In the Hebrew division this is the last…
V.
(1) In the Hebrew division this is the last verse of the preceding chapter; but clearly here a new section begins, containing proverbs in the second person singular, which has not hitherto been used. There is no obvious connection with what has gone before; possibly the precepts here introduced were traditionally known to have been part of Solomon’s teaching.
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They consider not.—The most natural translation of this clause would be, “They know not how to do evil,” i.e., are incapable of doing evil. This would force us to understand the subject of the clause to be, not the fools, but those who are ready to hear. The Authorised Version exhibits one of the expedients resorted to in order to get a better meaning. Another is, “They are without knowledge, so that they do evil.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 1-7. Section 6. Man"s outward and secular life…
Vers. 1-7. Section 6. Man"s outward and secular life being unable to secure happiness and satisfaction, can these be found in popular religion? Religious exercises need the observation of strict rules, which are far from meeting with general attention. Koheleth proceeds to give instruction, in the form of maxims, concerning public worship, prayer, and vows.
This verse, in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin Bibles, forms the conclusion of Ecclesiastes 4., and is taken independently; but the division in our version is more natural, and the connection of this with the following verses is obvious. Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, Some read "feet" instead of "foot," but the singular and plural numbers are both found in this signification. (comp. Psa_119:59, Psa_119:105; Pro_1:15 Pro_4:26, Pro_4:27) To "keep the foot" is to be careful of the conduct, to remember what you are about, whither you are going. There is no allusion to the sacerdotal rite of washing the feet before entering the holy place, (Exo_30:18, Exo_30:19) nor to the custom of removing the shoes on entering a consecrated building, which was a symbol of reverential awe and obedient service. The expression is simply a term connected with man"s ordinary life transferred to his moral and religious life. The house of God is the temple. The tabernacle is called "the house of Jehovah" (2Sa_12:20) and this name is commonly applied to the temple; 1Ki_3:1; 2Ch_8:16; Ezr_3:11. But "house of God" is applied also to the temple (2Ch_5:14; Ezr_5:8, Ezr_5:15, etc.) so that we need not, with Bullock, suppose that Koheleth avoids the name of the Lord of the covenant as "a natural sign of the writer"s humiliation after his fall into idolatry, and an acknowledgment of his unworthiness of the privileges of a son of the covenant." It is probable that the expression here is meant to include synagogues as well as the great temple at Jerusalem, since the following clause seems to imply that exhortation would be heard there, which formed no part of the temple service. The verse has furnished a text on the subject of the reverence due to God"s house and service from Chrysostom downwards. And be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools. Various are the renderings of this clause. Wright, "For to draw near to hear is (better) than the fools offering sacrifices." (So virtually Knobel, Ewald, etc.) Ginsburg, "For it is nearer to obey than to offer the sacrifice of the disobedient;" i.e. it is the straighter, truer way to take when you obey God than when you merely perform outward service. The Vulgate takes the infinitive verb as equivalent to the imperative, as the Authorized Version, Appropinqua ut audias; but it is best to regard it as pure infinitive, and to translate, "To approach in order to hear is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools." The sentiment is the same as that in 1Sa_15:22, "Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." The same thought occurs in Pro_21:3; Psa_50:7-15; and continually in the prophets; e.g. Isa_1:11; Jer_7:21 Hos_6:6, etc. It is the reaction against the mere ceremonialism which marked the popular religion. Koheleth had seen and deplored this at Jerusalem and elsewhere, and he enunciates the great troth that it is more acceptable to God that one should go to his house to hear the Law read and taught and expounded, than to offer a formal sacrifice, which, as being the offering of a godless man is called in proverbial language "the sacrifice of fools". (Pro_21:27) The verb used here, "give" (nathan), is not the usual expression for offering sacrifice, and may possibly refer to the feast which accompanied such sacrifices, and which often degenerated into excess (Delitzsch). That the verb rendered "to hear" does not mean merely "to obey" is plain from its reference to conduct in the house of God. The reading of the Law, and probably of the prophets, formed a feature of the temple service in Koheleth"s day; the expounding of the same in public was confined to the synagogues, which seem to have originated in the time of the exile, though there were doubtless before that time some regular occasions of assembling together. (see 2Ki_4:23) For they consider not that they do evil; Oi oujk eijsitev tou poihsai kakon (Septuagint); Qui nesciunt quid faciunt mali (Vulgate); "They are without knowledge, so that they do evil" (Delitzsch, Knobel, etc.); "As they (who obey) know not to do evil" (Gins-burg). The words can scarcely mean, "They know not that they do evil;" nor, as Hitzig has, They know not how to be sorrowful." There is much difficulty in understanding the passage according to the received reading, and Nowack, with others, deems the text corrupt. If we accept what we now find, it is best to translate, "They know not, so that they do evil;" i.e. their ignorance predisposes them to err in this matter. The persons meant are the "fools" who offer unacceptable sacrifices. These know not how to worship God heartily and properly, and, thinking to please him with their formal acts of devotion, fall into a grievous sin.
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Vers. 1-7.
Vanities in worship.
I IRREVERENCE. Specially exhibited in entering upon Divine service. Discommended and rebuked as:
1. Inconsistent with the sanctity of the place of worship the house of God. Wherever men convene to offer homage to the Divine Being, in a magnificent cathedral or in a humble upper room, upon hillsides and moors, or in dens and caves of the earth, there is a dwelling-place of Jehovah no less than in the temple (Solomonic or post-exilic) or in the synagogue, of both which the Preacher probably thought. What lends sanctity to the spot in which worshippers assemble is not its material surroundings, artificial or natural (architectural elegance or cosmical beauty); it is not even the convening there of the worshippers themselves, however exalted their rank or sacred the character of the acts in which they engage. It is the unseen and spiritual, but real and supernatural, presence of God in the midst of his assembled saints (Exo_20:24; Psa_46:4-7; Mat_18:20 Mat_28:20) and the simple consideration of this fact, much more the realization of that nearness of God to which it points, should awaken in the breast of every one proceeding towards and crossing the threshold of a Christian sanctuary the feeling of awe which inspired Jacob on the heights of Bethel, (Gen_28:17) Ethan the Ezrahite, (Psa_89:7) and Isaiah in the temple. (Isa_6:1) The thought of God"s immediate neighborhood and of all that it implies, his observance of both the persons of his worshippers, (Gen_16:16) and the secrets of their hearts, (Psa_139:1) should put a hush on every spirit (Hab_2:20; Zec_2:13) and dispose each one to "keep his foot," metaphorically, to "put off his shoe," as Moses did at the bush, (Exo_3:5) and Joshua in presence of the Captain of Jehovah"s host. (Jos_5:15)
2. Opposed to the true character of Divine worship. When congregations assemble in the house of God to do homage to him whose presence fills the house, this end cannot be attained by offering the sacrifice of fools, i.e. by rendering such service as proceeds from unbelieving, disobedient, and hypocritical hearts, (Pro_21:27) but only by assuming the attitude of one willing to hear (1Sa_3:10; Psa_85:8) and to obey not man but God. (Psa_40:5) If unaccompanied by a disposition to do God"s will, mere external performances are of no value whatever, however imposing their magnificence or costly their production. What God desires in his servants is not the outward offering of sacrifices or celebration of ceremonies, but the inward devotion of the spirit (1Sa_15:22; Psa_51:16, Psa_51:17; Jer_7:21-23; Hos_6:6) The highest form of worship is not speaking of or giving to God, but hearing and receiving from God.
3. Proceeding from ignorance both of the sanctity of the place and of the spirituality of its worship. However the final clause may be rendered (see Exposition), its sense is that irreverence springs from ignorance from failing properly to understand the character either of that God they pretend to worship, or of that worship they affect to render. Ignorance of God, of his nature as spiritual, of his character as holy, of his presence as near, of his knowledge as all-observant, of his majesty as awe-inspiring, of his power as irresistible, is the prime root of all wrong worship, as Christ said of the Samaritans, (Joh_4:22) and as Paul told the Athenians. (Act_17:23)
II FORMALITY. Manifested when engaged in Divine service and more particularly in prayer. Two phases of this evil commented on.
1. Rashness in prayer. (Ver. 2.) Hasty utterance of whatever comes uppermost, as if any jangle of words might suffice for devotion a manner of prayer totally inconsistent with the thought that one is standing in the Divine presence. If a petitioner would hardly venture to lay his requests before an earthly sovereign, how much less should a suppliant draw near to Heaven"s throne without calm forethought and deliberation? Moreover, it is inconsistent with the real nature of prayer, which is a making known to God of the soul"s needs with thankful acknowledgment of the Divine mercies; and how can one either state his own wants or record God"s mercies who has never taken time to investigate the one or count up the other?
2. Prolixity in prayer. Much speaking, endless and unmeaning repetitions a characteristic of Pharisaic devotions adverted to by Christ, (Mat_6:7) and difficult to harmonize either with a due regard to the majesty of God or with the possession of that inward calm which is a necessary condition of all true prayer. As a dreamer"s eloquence, usually turgid and magniloquent, proceeds from an unquiet state of the brain, which during day has been unduly excited by a rush of business or by the worries of waking hours, so the multitude of words emitted by a "fool"s "voice is occasioned by the inward disquiet of a mind and heart that have not attained to rest in God. At the same time, "the admonition, "let thy words be few," is not meant to set limits to the fire of devotion, being directed, not against the inwardly devout, but against the superficially religious, who fancy that in the multitude of their words they have an equivalent for the devotion they lack" (Hengstenberg).
III INSINCERITY. Displayed after leaving Divine service, more especially in the non-fulfillment of vows voluntarily taken while engaged in worship. Against this wickedness the preacher inveighs.
1. Because such conduct cannot be other than displeasing to God. "When thou vowest a vow, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed." As the Almighty himself is "the same yesterday, and today, and for ever," "without variableness or shadow of turning," and "changeth not," so he desires in all his worshippers the reflection at least of this perfection, and cannot regard with favor one who plays fast and loose with his promises to men, and far less with his vows to God.
2. Because such conduct is in no sense unavoidable. A worshipper is under no obligation to vow anything to Jehovah. Whatever is done in this direction must proceed from the clearest free-will. Hence, to escape the sin of breaking one"s vows, one is at liberty not to vow. (Deu_23:21-23) Hence also should one cautiously guard against the utterance of rash and sinful vows like those of Jephthah (Jud_1:11:30) and of Saul, (1Sa_14:24) lest through fulfilling (no less than through breaking) them one should incur sin. Similarly, "we must not vow that which through the frailty of the flesh we have reason to fear we shall not be able to perform, as those that vow a single life and yet know not how to keep their vow" (Matthew Henry). The same remark applies to taking vows of total abstinence from meats and drinks.
1. Because such conduct cannot escape the just judgment of God. The rashly uttered vow, afterwards left unfulfilled, sets the speaker of it in the place of a sinner, upon whom as guilty God will inflict punishment. Thus through his mouth, his "flesh," or his body, i.e. his whole personality, of which the flesh or body is the outer covering, is caused to suffer. Being just and holy, God can by no means clear the guilty, (Exo_34:7) although he can justify the ungodly. (Rom_4:5) Hence the vow-breaker cannot hope to elude the due reward of his infidelity.
2. Because such conduct is practically indefensible. To say before the angel or presiding minister in the temple or synagogue in whose hearing the vow haft been registered that the registration of it had been an error, was, in the judgment of the Preacher, no excuse, but rather an aggravation of the original offence, and a sure means of drawing down upon the offender the anger of God, and of causing God to effectually thwart and utterly destroy the designs his pretended worshipper had, first in making his vows and afterwards in breaking them; and so, when one retreats from protestations and promises made to God, it is no justification of his conduct in the eyes of others who may have listened to or become aware of his votive engagements, to aver that he had made them in error. Nor is it sufficient to excuse one in God"s sight to say that one was mistaken in having promised to do so-and-so. Hence, if one vows before God with regard to matters left in his option, it is his duty to fulfill these vows, even should it be to his hurt. But in all respects it is wiser and better not to vow except in such things as are already enjoined upon one by God; and should it be said that no possible need can arise for taking upon one"s self by voluntary obligation what already lies upon one by Divine prescription, this will not be denied. Yet one may vow to do what God has commanded in the sense of resolving to do it always in dependence on promised grace; and with regard to this no better counsel can be offered than that given by Harvey to thy God for grace to keep
Thy vows; and if thou break them, weep. Weep for thy broken vows, and vow again: Vows made with tears cannot be still in vain.
LESSONS.
1. The condescension of God in accepting human worship.
2. The dignity of man that he can render such worship as God can accept.
3. The spirituality of all sincere worship of God.
4. The displeasure of God against all worship that is merely external.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS Ver. 1.
The temple and the worshippers.
It is evident that the services of the pious Israelites were by no means merely sacrificial and ceremonial. There is a reflective and intellectual character attributed to the approach of the Hebrew worshippers to their God. The practical admonitions of this passage have reference, not to a formal, but to an intelligent and thoughtful worship.
I THE HOUSE OF GOD. By this is to be understood no doubt a place, a building, probably the temple at Jerusalem. But clearly it follows from this language that in the view of the writer of Ecclesiastes the idea of the locality, the edifice, is almost lost sight of in the idea of the spiritual presence of Jehovah, and in the society and fellowship of sincere and devout worshippers. God, it was well understood, dwelleth not in temples made with hands, but abideth in his people"s hearts.
II THE SACRIFICE OF FOLLY. In every large gathering of professed worshippers there is reason to fear there are those with whom worship is nothing but a form, a custom. The sacrifice of such is outward only; their postures, their words, may be unexceptionable, but the heart is absent from the service. Inattention, want of true interest, unspirituality, take the place of those penitential acknowledgments that heavenward aspiration which are acceptable to him who searcheth the hearts and trieth the reins of the children of men. The sacrifice of such formal and irreverent worshippers is justly designated a sacrifice of fools. They consider not their own nature, their own needs; they consider not the attributes of him whom they profess to approach with the language of adoration, of gratitude, of petition. They are, therefore, not only irreligious; they are foolish, and they seem to say to every sensible observer that they are fools.
III THE WORSHIP OF THE WISE. In contrast with the careless and undevout we have here depicted the spirit and the demeanor of true worshippers. They are characterized by:
1. Self-restraint. The modest repression of all that savors of self-assertion seems to be intended by the admonition, "Keep thy foot," which is as much as to say, "Take heed to thy steps, observe with care thy way, wander not from the path of sincerity, beware of indifference and of obtrusiveness.
2. Reference. Such as becomes the creature in approaching the Creator in whose hand his breath is, and whose are all his ways; such as becomes the sinner in addressing a holy God, whose Law has been broken, whose favor has to be implored.
3. A spirit of attentive and submissive hearing. "Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth," is language becoming to the lowly and reverent worshipper; he shall be made acquainted with God"s Law, and he shall rejoice in God"s promises. T.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
Vers. 1, 2.
Acceptable service.
Although the precise meaning of the Preacher is open to some doubt, we shall not go wrong in letting these words speak to us of
I THE FUTILITY OF FORMAL WORSHIP. Reference is made to
(1) the offering of sacrifice (ver. 1), and
(2) the repetition of devotional phrases.
We may find a Christian parallel in the reception of sacraments, and in the "prayers" and psalmody of the Church. We know that the purest spirituality may breathe in these, and may be nourished by these, but we know also
(1) that they may fail to express any real and pure devotion;
(2) that in this case they also fail in winning the favor of God; and
(3) that they leave the soul rather the worse than the better, for in such futile worship there is a dangerous delusiveness which is apt to lead. to a false and even fatal sense of security.
II ACCEPTABLE SERVICE. This is threefold.
1. Reverence. This is strongly implied, especially in the second verse. Let the worshipper realize that he is in "the house of God," none other and no less than that. (see Gen_28:17) Let him realize that "God is in heaven," etc.; that he is bowing before the Infinite One himself; that he is addressing him who, in his Divine nature and in his unapproachable rank, is immeasurably removed above himself; that he is speaking to One who sees the actions of every life, and knows the secrets of all hearts, and who needs not, therefore, to be informed of what we do or what we feel. Let language be spared, let sacred thought and solemn feeling flow; let a sense of human littleness and of the Divine majesty silence all insincerity, and fill the soul with reverential awe.
1. Docility. "Be more ready "draw nigh," Revised Version to hear," etc. There is much virtue in docility. Our Lord strongly commended the child-spirit as the condition of entrance into the kingdom; and was not this principally because the spirit of childhood is that of docility eagerness to know, readiness to receive? We should draw nigh to God in his house, not that we may hear our favorite dogmas once more exalted or enforced, but that we may hear the mind and know the will of Christ better than we have done before; that we may "be filled with the knowledge of his will;" that it may become increasingly true that "we have the mind of Christ." To desire to part with our errors, our ignorance, our prejudices, our half-views, our misconceptions, and to have a closer vision of our Lord and of his Divine truth, this is acceptable worship.
2. Obedience. "Keep thy foot; go to the house of God "with a straight foot," a foot trained to walk in the path of holy obedience." Go to the house of God as one that "has clean hands and a pure heart;" as one that "lifts up holy hands" unto God. To go up to offer sacrifice," or "make long prayers," with the determination in the heart to continue a life of impurity, or intemperance, or dishonesty, or injustice, or harshness toward the weak and the dependent, this is to mock our Maker; it is to grieve the Father of spirits, the Lord of holiness and love. But, on the other hand, to go up to his sanctuary with a pure desire and real resolve to turn from our evil way, and to strive, against all outward hostility and all inward impulses, to walk in our integrity, this is acceptable with God. To obey is better than sacrifice;" and it is the spirit of obedience rather than the overt act of correctness for which the righteous Lord is looking. C.
HOMILIES BY J. WILLCOCK Ver. 1.
Vanity in religion: 1. Thoughtlessness.
From secular life the Preacher turns to religious. He has sought in many quarters for peace and satisfaction, but has found none. Royal palaces, huts where poor men lie, cells of philosophers, banqueting-halls, are all alike, if not all equally, infested by vanities which poison pleasure and add to the burden of care. But surely in the house of God, where men seek to disengage their thoughts from things that are seen and temporal, and to fix them upon things that are unseen and eternal, where they endeavor to establish and maintain communion with their Creator, one may count upon finding a haven of refuge for the soul from vanity and care. But here, too, he perceives that, by thoughtlessness, formalism, and insincerity, the purpose for which worship was instituted, and the blessings it may secure, are in danger of being defeated and nullified. But a change is manifest in the tone in which he reproves these faults. He lays down the whip of the satirist, he suppresses the fierce indignation which the sight of these new follies might have excited within him, and with sober earnestness exhorts his hearers to forsake the faults which separate between them and God, and hinder the ascent of their prayers to him and. the descent of his blessings upon them. His feelings of reverence, and his conviction that in obedience to God and in communion with him peace and satisfaction may be found, forbid his saying of genuine religion that it is "vanity and vexation of spirit." So far as the spirit of his exhortation is concerned, it is applicable to all forms of worship, but we find some difficulty in ascertaining the kind of scene which was in his mind"s eye when he spoke of "the house of God." If we are convinced that it is Solomon speaking in his own person, we know that he must refer to the stately building which he erected for the service of God in Jerusalem; and we understand from his words that he is not depreciating the offering of sacrifices, but is giving the admonition so often on the lips of the prophets, that the external act without accompanying devotion and love of righteousness, is in vain. (1Sa_15:22 Psa 1:8, Psa 1:9; Pro_21:3; Isa_1:11-17; Jer_7:22, Jer_7:23; Mar_12:33) But if we have here the utterance of a later writer, may there not be a reference to the synagogue service, in which the reading of the Word of God and exposition of its meaning were the principal religious exercises employed? May not the writer be understood as affirming "that a diligent listening to the teaching imparted in the synagogue is of more real value than the "sacrifices" offered up in the temple by "fools The answer we give is determined by the opinion we form as to the date of the book. But even if we are unable to decide this point, the exhortation before us will lose none of its significance and weight. The underlying truth is the same, whether the primary reference be to the gorgeous ritual of the temple, or to the simple, unadorned services of the synagogue, which in later times furnished the pattern for Christian worship. The first fault against which the Preacher would have his hearers be on their guard is that of thoughtlessness entering the house of God inconsiderately (ver. 1). The form in which the admonition is expressed is probably intended to remind his readers of the Divine command to Moses in the desert when he drew near to the bush that burned with fire: "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground". (Exo_3:5; cf. also Jos_5:15)
I Our first duty in entering the house of God is, therefore, TO BE REVERENT BOTH IN MANNER AND IN SPIRIT. The outward expression of this feeling, whatever form, according to the custom of our time, or country, or Church, it may take, is to be an indication of the frame of mind in which we enter upon the service of God. It is true that there may be a reverent manner without devoutness of spirit, but it is equally true that there cannot be devoutness of spirit without reverence of manner. The true frame of mind is that which springs from a due sense of the solemnity attaching to the house of God, and of the purpose for which we assemble in it. It is not superstition, but genuine religious sentiment, that would lead us to be mindful of the fact that it is no common ground which is enclosed by the sacred walls; that it is here that we meet with him whom "the heaven of heavens cannot contain." Though we are at all times in his presence, his house is the place in which we entreat him to manifest himself to his congregated people. Yet, though we know that- the place and the purpose of our frequenting it are of the most holy and solemn nature, it is only by a strong effort that we can maintain the frame of mind we should be in when we wait upon God in his house. It is only by resolutely determining so to do that we can control our wandering thoughts, suppress frivolous and sinful imaginations, and divest ourselves of the secular cares and anxieties which occupy only too much of our attention in the world outside the sanctuary.
II Our second great duty is THAT OF OBEDIENCE TO THE DIVINE LAW; "for to draw near to hearken is better than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they know not that they do evil" (Revised Version). Not only should there be reverence of manner and spirit in the presence of God, but a desire to know what he requires from us, and a disposition to render it. Love of holiness, and endeavors to exemplify it, are essential to all true service of God. By hearkening is evidently meant an attitude of mind which leads directly to obedience to the words spoken, to repentance and amendment when faults are reproved, and to a love and practice of the virtues commended. In the Epistle of James (1. 19-25) we have an inspired commentary upon this precept in the Book of "Ecclesiastes. The Christian teacher enforces the same lesson, and depicts the contrast between the "forgetful hearer" and the doer of the Word." The one is like a man looking for a moment into a mirror, and going on his way, and speedily forgetting what he looked like; the other is like a man who uses the revelation the mirror gives him of himself, to correct what in him is faulty. The latter returns again and again to examine himself in the faithful glass, for the purpose of removing those stains which it may show are upon him. This reverence of manner and spirit and this love of righteousness alone give value to worship; omission of them through thoughtlessness is a positive offence against God. J.W.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house…
Ecc_5:1-12
Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God.
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Reverence and fidelity
This passage is a series of cautions against irreverence and insincerity in worship, against discouragement because of political wrongs, and against the passion for, and misuse of, great riches. Distrust in God underlies all these evils. Humble faith in and reliance upon Him, in the contrast, mark the wise man. Note--
I. Ones proper bearing in the Lords house (Ecc_5:1-7).
1. In the first three verses carelessness and loose speech are condemned in all who come into the presence chamber of the Almighty. So it is when subjects appear before any sovereign to do him honour or make request. Exact address and studied phrase are required. The free and easy spirit which will not regard these is expelled hastily and with great indignation. Earthly dignities are but a faint type of the heavenly. The soul which faintly realizes this will come before Him with few words, if he be a Sinaitic worshipper; in fulness of faith and with boldness, if he be a Christian believer.
2. In the further admonition, hasty and ill-considered pledges are forbidden. Impetuous promising is the worst kind of trifling, and the Church or person who incites another to it only works him harm. We are in agreement with the Mosaic legislation regarding such impiety, If thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee. Sin lies, not in the refusal to make a partial and ill-considered pledge to God, but in not heeding that first of all His commands, Give me thine heart. Cordial assent to this requirement makes one an accepted worshipper, whose acts and words do not conflict when he appears before God. Thoughtless, giddy, garrulous lips here are an abomination unto Him. One might better be dreaming and know it.
II. The duty of relying upon the Divine justice (Ecc_5:8-9). The victims of tyranny and wrong have not ceased wailing. We hear their pitiful cries in every era of the worlds history.
III. The delusive character of wealth (Ecc_5:10-12). To denounce riches generally is as though one inveighed against the air: all men breathe it. All men just as naturally long for these material treasures. But our lungs are fitted to receive only a certain volume; we cannot use more. We cannot store it for consumption, enjoying it all the more that others have not as much. And the like is true of these earthly possessions. Beyond the mere provision for food, and raiment, and shelter, and our varied tastes, they have no power to minister, though piled high and broad as the pyramids. He cannot reach to feel them, as the philosopher says. Yet the deceit is universal, that the more one can amass the nearer he will come to perfect contentment. He will not believe that he chases thus only a shadow--that it is as far from his embrace when he counts his millions as when he had only units. He may as well expect to quench his thirst by drinking of the ocean. (De Wm. S. Clark.)
Reverence and fidelity
With chapter five begins a series of proverbial sayings somewhat like those of the Book of Proverbs, but showing more internal connection. These represent some of the experimental knowledge which had come to the heart in its chase after many things. We may use them, as we do the Proverbs, as condensations of wisdom, each having a completeness in itself.
I. worship (verses 1-7).
1. The proper manner of worship is here suggested to us. It mush be with a full intention of the heart and not merely with the outward symbols. Always in worship, even when it is most freed of external props, there is the opportunity for a lack of right intention, and, therefore, a lack of meaning to God as well as to men. Worship must always be interpreted by the condition of heart of the worshipper.
(1) Thought is necessary to due worship (verse 1). It would be a good thing for every one of us if we would ask ourselves as we pass through the portals of Gods house, Do I really mean to worship God this hour? If we cannot say yes, would it not be better for us not to enter?
(2) Deliberateness is necessary to acceptable worship (verse 2). To be rash with our mouth, to rattle off a formula, however well constructed, without weighing the meaning, this is not to please God.
(3) Brevity is a virtue in worshipful utterance. God is high above us; we are here in a position that should make us most deeply respectful towards Him. We should use well-weighed words before Him, and well-weighed words are few. The touching prayers of the Bible--the publicans, Christs on the cross, Souls at his conversion--were brief.
2. Vows formed a considerable element in the old Jewish worship, and are more or less recognized in the New Testament. We promise to do certain things: to be faithful to Christ and His Church, to love our fellow-Christians, to obey those who are over us in Christ, etc. These are vows, pledges given to God, and they should be kept as scrupulously as we would keep a business obligation signed with our own hand.
II. A difficult passage concerning statecraft follows. The State may be mismanaged, but it is wisest to make the best of it. If thou seest oppression of the poor and violation of justice and righteousness in the government of a province, be not astonished at the matter. Such perversion of state-craft is not confined to the petty officials whose deeds you know. Clear up to the top of the Government it is apt to be the same. For there is a high one over a high one watching, and higher persons over them, and all are pretty much alike (verse 8). But the advantage of a land in every way is a king devoted to the field (verse 9). The idea here is that the old simple agricultural form of government was the best for the people of that day. The general meaning is that good government comes from having rulers who are not rapacious for their own aggrandizement, but have the interests of the country at heart.
III. The matter of riches, which requires such special thought to-day, when riches come easily and to many, was not without its importance in the olden time.
1. Wealth then as now was unsatisfying (verse 10). It held out promises which it had no power to fulfil. It said to men, Be rich and you will be happy. They became rich, but they were not happy. The soul is made to crave the most ethereal kind of food; but the rich man tries to satisfy it with coarse things. It is made to hunger for the things of heaven; he thrusts upon it the things of earth.
2. Here also is emphasized the thought that the increase of wealth is not satisfying (verse 11).
3. And then comes the old lesson, which many a rich man has confessed to be true, but which those who are not rich find it very hard to believe true, that labour with contentment is better than wealthy idleness (verse 12). Many a successful millionaire has confessed that his happiest hours were in the beginning of his career, when he felt that he must work hard for his wife and babies, and when he returned home at night with a sweet sense of contented fatigue that never comes now in his anxious days of great prosperity. (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)
Behaviour in church
I. That you should enter the scene of public worship with devout preparation. Keep thy foot, etc. The mad whom Solomon addresses is supposed to be on his way to the house of God. The character of a mans step is often an index to the state of his soul. There is the slow step of the dull brain and the quick step of the intensely active; there is the step of the proud and the step of the humble, the thoughtless and the reflective. The soul reveals itself in the gait, beats out its own character in the tread.
1. Realize the scene you are entering. It is the house of God. Whom are you to meet? The high and holy One, etc. Draw not hither thoughtlessly. Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, etc. (Exo_3:5). How dreadful is this place! etc. (Gen_28:16-17). Do not rush hither.
2. Realize the solemnity of the purpose. It is to meet with the Mighty Creator of the universe, whom you have offended and insulted. It is to confess to Him, and to implore His forgiveness.
II. That you should listen to the instruction of public worship with deep attention. Having entered the house of God, it is your duty to be more ready to hear, than to offer the sacrifice of fools.
1. You should attend with profound carefulness to the services of Gods house, that you may avoid a great evil,--that of offering the sacrifice of fools. Mere bodily sacrifices are the sacrifice of fools (Eze_33:31). Lip services are the sacrifice of fools (Isa_29:13). The hypocritical services are the sacrifices of fools (Luk_18:11-12). What are the sacrifices that God will accept? (Psa_51:17; Isa_66:2).
2. You should attend with profound carefulness to the services of Gods house that your mind may be in a right state to receive true good. Be more ready to hear, etc.
(1) Be ready to hear teachably. Let the soul be open as the parched garden in summer to the gentle showers.
(2) Be ready to hear earnestly. Wonderful things are propounded in the house of God; things vitally connected with your everlasting well-being.
(3) Be ready to hear practically. All the truths are to be appropriated, embodied, and brought out in life.
III. That you should attend to the engagements of public worship with profound reverence. Be not rash with thy mouth, etc. Let thy words be in harmony with thy real state of soul; and see that thy state of soul is truthful and right. There seem to be two reasons here against vapid verbosity in worship.
1. The vast disparity between the worshipper and the object he addresses. For God is in heaven, etc. Duly realize His presence and greatness, and you will become all but speechless before Him. Isaiah did so (Isa_6:1-6).
2. The fearful tendency of an empty soul to an unmeaning verbosity (verse 3). (Homilist.)
A dream cometh through the multitude of business.--
The prayer and the dream
There is an analogy instituted between voluminous prayer and the voluminous dream. The dream arises out of the various transactions of business, and the fools prayer springs from the variety of his vocabulary. Confusion is the characteristic of both. They are produced by external influences. The soul as a directing rational power is asleep. Dim memories of things mingle in a wild phantasmagoria before the closed portals of the sense of the dreamer. It is just so with the worshipping word-monger. The nature and character of God, the promises, Scripture language, are floating before the closed vision of the pietistic dreamer, and his prayers are a jumble of disjointed things. This will always be the case with him who gives himself up to the external influences. But as it is better to dream than to be dead, so is it always better to pray, even disjointedly and wildly, than to be without that breath of the spiritual life. The mere enthusiast, guided by no reason in his devotions, may be brought under its direction; but how shall mere reason become enthusiastic? We answer, by the action of the Spirit of God on the soul. What we need is this Spirit. We can prophesy to the dry bones, and clothe them with flesh; but the Spirit of God is needed that they may stand up and become an army of God. Come, O breath, and breathe on those slain, that they may live, is to be our prayer. When we have got the answer to that petition, we shall be living, loving, active Christians. (J. Bonnet.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Ecc_5:1. Thy foot] The outward movement, as showing the…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Ecc_5:1. Thy foot] The outward movement, as showing the tendency of the heart. The sacrifice of fools] Some unworthy satisfaction of the religious idea—an offering whose purpose is merely to please God, and to serve as a salve for the conscience. They consider not that they do evil] Theirs is the error of simple ignorance rather than of any intention to deceive.
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Ecc_5:2. Rash with thy mouth] Refers to the repetition of unmeaning words—mere babbling.
Ecc_5:3. The multitude of business] Lit. of annoyance—the worries of life disturbing the mind, and giving rise to restlessness and dreams.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Ecc_5:1-3
THE ETHICS OF DIVINE WORSHIP
The Royal Preacher enters upon a new object of thought. Happiness is only to be found in religion, and the most exalted act of religion is worship. The solemn services of the house of God demand duty from the worshipper.
I. We must avoid an unintelligent worship. God must be acknowledged in His relations to us as communities. Hence to attend His house for the purpose of worship is a solemn duty. Some cautions must be observed, if the service of the sanctuary is to be acceptable. The worship should be intelligent; marked by all the cautiousness, deliberation, and sobriety of thought. There are three principal classes of offenders against this requirement.
1. Those who worship simply from custom. They are not governed by the deep reasons of this sacred duty, but without due reflection follow what is considered to be a common obligation. Hence they go with careless feet, walking in the ruts of custom. They are imitators of others. Their devotion is soulless—mechanical.
2. Those who worship with a pre-occupied mind. The mind being filled with other objects, thought wanders, and the worship is but languidly performed.
3. Those who in the act of worship are not completely possessed with a solemn purpose. One great purpose must carry away the soul of the worshipper. The service of worship demands the concentration of thought and feeling. The soul, like the feet, must not wander in uncertainty, but go straight to her solemn purpose.
II. We must avoid a Barren Worship. The worship is not to end in itself, as if external homage were all that was required of us. It must have issue in quickened spiritual power, and practical duty. No barren or unproductive worship is acceptable.
1. The end of worship is to stimulate to obedience. (Ecc_5:1.) “To hear” in the language of the O. T. signifies to obey, i.e., to hear with the inner ear. Thought is awakened that it might lead to action. The sense of the Divine presence summons to duty. Obedience is the proper vesture of the thoughts and feelings roused in the sanctuary.
2. Worship without obedience has no rational ground. The adoration of the Divine Nature implies a respect for those laws of duty which are but an expression of that nature. A sacrifice, therefore, without obedience is but the sacrifice of a fool. It has no solid reason to go upon. Such worship is but a careless effort; without any wise design or sure aim.
3. Worship without obedience is sometimes the result of ignorance. It does not always arise from a pure and unmixed attempt to deceive, or to act the hypocrite. Some deceive themselves. They, being ignorant of the true way of religion, imagine that outward service will atone for many follies and sins—that the whole reckoning with heaven can thus be closed. This is the folly of many religions—they are but a salve for the conscience.
III. We must avoid an Irreverent Worship. Reverence is essential to all true worship. It is the proper attitude of man before the Supreme. In order to secure the spirit of reverence, we must attend to certain rules of duty in worship.
1. Be careful in the employment of words. (Ecc_5:2.) Rash and hasty words are here forbidden. This is not meant to check devotion, or to cool the ardour of the soul by some formal and severe requirement. It is opposed
(1) To empty words. These are uttered without solemn reflection—empty phrases, possessing but little meaning for the worshipper. They are mere words, spoken without due consideration—“rash.” It is opposed
(2) To superficial words. They do not proceed from the inner depths of the soul. They are quickly uttered, and in any required number, as involving no expense of thought or feeling. Words that are not winged by the soul’s desire cannot rise to heaven. It is opposed
(3) To all useless repetitions. It is not a fatal defect in prayer that it is marked by some repetition, for the soul may love to linger upon a thought to make her desire more emphatic, or to express intense emotion. The habit censured is the regarding mere words as possessing merit—that their multitude can atone for sin, and make compromise for the high demands of duty. To avoid irreverence, we must
2. Have a proper sense of the majesty of the object of worship. We have to remember that God dwells in unapproachable glory, far beyond the reaches of our mind; and that we are upon the earth—the scene of ignorance, error, sin, and want. With such a conviction, the language we utter before high heaven will be marked by brevity of expression. A sense of reverence will impose on us a solemn reserve. The employment of few and careful words most befits the sacred act of worship.
(1) Because this is the method of true passion. The most powerful feelings discharge themselves in few, simple, and direct expressions. True passion disdains the long array of words.
(2) Because it suits the nature of the duty. The silent awe and admiration proper to worship must not lose their effect through the intrusion of the multitude of words. When in the presence of a Superior Being, reserve and caution are the most commendable qualities of speech.
(3) Because it is agreeable to the best examples. The prayers recorded in the Bible are brief, and expressed in words of simple majesty. The Lord’s Prayer is marked by fulness in little compass.
3. Have a proper sense of the evil of careless speech in devotion. It has a bad effect upon the soul. The language degenerates into weakness and twaddle. Devotion becomes a mere babble of words involving no serious effort of intellect or heart. As dreams often arise from the perplexing cares and business of the day—these, in a confused manner, presenting themselves in sleep—so the multitude of words, though uttered not without some carefulness at first, at length degenerates into confusion and unreality. (Ecc_5:3.)
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Ecc_5:1. The feet translate the dispositions of the mind—they are the outward indicators of purpose.
There is a proper frame and disposition of the soul before engaging in worship. On the way to the house of God, the worshipper should be acquiring a readiness for its solemn services.
The royalty of the Supreme King demands a careful, reverent, and subdued manner in those who approach his Majesty.
Obedience is the most splendid issue of the adoration of the fount of law. Duty is our clearest revelation, and the path to our true honour.
The worship of God is a reasonable service, demanding the best fruit of the intellect and heart. He who does not make it a thoughful and heartfelt exercise presents the sacrifice of a fool.
It is the simplicity of the heart, and not of the head, that is the best indictor of our petitions. That which proceeds from the latter is undoubtedly the sacrifice of fools; and God is never more weary of sacrifice than when a fool is the priest and folly the oblation [South].
The vanity, hollowness, and insincerity of the outward world intrudes even into the temples of religion.
In the spirit of that significant Oriental usage which drops its sandals at the palace door, the devout worshipper will put off his travel-tarnished shoes—will try to divest himself of secular anxieties and worldly projects—when the place where he stands is converted into holy ground by the words, “Let us worship God” [Dr. J. Hamilton.]
Ecc_5:2. The tongue of the worshipper should not outstrip the fervours of his heart. Unless the words of devotion glow with the inner heat, they are but empty sounds.
It is an affront to the Majesty of Heaven to offer the unripe fruit of our mind and heart.
The multitude of words in prayer does not imply deep thought and fervour of devotion. They are but the tawdry garment that covers the poverty of the soul.
Before Job saw God with the inner eye, he was loquacious, but after sight of the Divine vision, his words “were ended,” and afterwards he only opened his mouth to declare how he “abhorred himself.”
He who regards the pure splendour in which God dwells, and the humble platform on which he himself stands, will render his devotion in few and careful words.
A heap of unmeaning words only smothers the fires of devotion.
Remember at whose throne you are kneeling; and be not verbose, but let your words be few and emphatic, as of one who is favoured with an audience from Heaven’s King.… When the emergencies of life—some perplexity or sorrow, some deliverance or mercy,—at an unwonted season sends us to the Lord, without any lengthened preamble we should give to this originating occasion the fulness of our feelings and the foremost place in our petitions [Dr. J. Hamilton].
The Lord’s Prayer begins by reminding the petitioner of the lofty dwelling-place of that Being whom he addresses, yet this august Majesty of heavenly state is tempered by the endearing name of Father.
What a wide application may be made of these words both to teaching and preaching, to prayer and to our ordinary life! How many sermons, hours long, would be expunged by this censorship, though never so skilfully arranged and put together according to the preaching art. And if all sermons and other discourses concerning Divine things were purged from all useless, unedifying, fruitless, offensive, and wrong words, how few would the censorship leave standing! [The Berleburger Bible].
Ecc_5:3. Tertullian, expressing the nature of dreams, saith, “Behold a fencer without weapons, a coach-driver without his running chariot, acting and practicing all the postures and feats of his skill. There is fighting, there is stirring, but it is an empty moving and gesturing. Those things are done in the acting of them, but not in the effecting anything by them. So it is in many words; there is often much fencing, but no weapons wherewith the enemy is wounded; there is much running, but no chariot winneth the race; much seemeth to be said, but it is to as much purpose as if nothing were said; all is an empty moving of the tongue [Jermin].
All speech that does not commence upon the solidities of truth is unsubstantial as a dream, the multitude of words only making the disordered mixture more bewildering.
The fool’s prayer is composed of—trifles—meaningless and unreal.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain I. God, who is present at all times and…
Ecc 5:1
I. God, who is present at all times and everywhere, has nevertheless appointed particular seasons and especial places in which He has promised to manifest Himself more clearly, more powerfully, and more graciously to men. The pious heart finds a temple of God everywhere. It is itself a temple of God. Yet even hence the need of other temples does appear, for what one good man considered by himself is, that God commands us all as a body to be. In order that we may all be thus united together as one man, we must have public assemblies, we must have visible temples, in which God, angels, and men may together meet.
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II. From the consideration of the dignity and blessedness of men regarded in their relations to one another and to the holy angels, and as united for the performance of that work wherein their highest dignity and blessedness consists—namely, intercourse with God—the necessity which thence arises for the existence of holy places is clearly evident. (1) God commanded Moses to frame a tabernacle in which He might dwell among His people Israel. (2) The constant attendance of our blessed Lord at the public worship of the synagogue and that of the Apostles at the Temple afford sufficient proof of their opinion concerning this matter.
III. To keep our feet diligently is to order devoutly not merely our thoughts, but our words, looks, and gestures, lest we be guilty not only of irreverence towards God, but of folly towards ourselves and of sin towards our brethren.
C. Wordsworth, Sermons Preached at Harrow School, p. 22.
References: Ecc 5:1.—J. G. Deirs, Penny Pulpit, No. 904; G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 253; Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times," vol. vii., p. 191; J. Bennet, The Wisdom of the King, p. 252. Ecc 5:1, Ecc 5:2.—C. J. Vaughan, Harrow Sermons, 1st series, p. 358.
Ecc 5:1-7
A thoughtless resorting to the sanctuary, inattention and indevotion there, and precipitancy in religious vows and promises are still as common as in the days of Solomon. And for these evils the only remedy is that which he prescribes: a heartfelt and abiding reverence.
I. There is a preparation for the sanctuary. Not only should there be prayer beforehand for God’s blessing there, but a studious effort to concentrate on its services all our faculties. In the spirit of that significant Oriental usage which drops its sandals at the palace door, the devout worshipper will put off his travel-tarnished shoes—will try to divest himself of secular anxieties and worldly projects—when the place where he stands is converted into holy ground by the words, "Let us worship God."
II. In devotional exercises be intent and deliberate (Ecc 5:2-3). Like a dream which is a medley from the waking day, which into its own warp of delirium weaves a shred from all the day’s engagements, so, could a fool’s prayer be exactly reproduced, it would be a tissue of trifles intermingled with vain repetitions. For such vain repetitions the remedy still is reverence.
III. Be not rash with vows and religious promises (Ecc 5:4-7). If Christians make voluntary vows at all, it should be with clear warrant from the word, for purposes obviously attainable, and for limited periods of time. Whilst every believer feels it his reasonable service to present himself to God a living sacrifice, those who wish to walk in the liberty of sonship will seek to make their dedication, as a child is devoted to its parents, not so much in the stringent precision of a legal document as in the daily forthgoings of a filial mind.
J. Hamilton, The Royal Preacher, Lecture X.
References: Ecc 5:1-7.—J. H. Cooke, The Preacher’s Pilgrimage, p. 66. Ecc 5:1-9.—T. C. Finlayson, A Practical Exposition of Ecclesiastes, p. 125. Ecc 5:2.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iii., p. 12; Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times," vol. vii., p. 201. Ecc 5:2-6.—J. Bennet, The Wisdom of the King, p. 270. Ecc 5:4.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 100. Ecc 5:7-12.—J. Bennet, The Wisdom of the King, p. 217. Ecc 5:8-13.—Ibid., p. 280. Ecc 5:8-20.—J. H. Cooke, The Preacher’s Pilgrimage, p. 79.
Ecclesiastes 5:8-7:18
I. We left Koheleth in the act of exhorting us to fear God. The fear of God, of course, implies a belief in the Divine superintendence of human affairs. This belief Koheleth now proceeds to justify. (1) Do not be alarmed, he says, when you see the injustice of oppressors. There are limits beyond which this injustice cannot go. God is the Author of this system of restriction and punishment. (2) The Divine government may be seen in the law of compensation. Pleasure does not increase, but, on the contrary, rather diminishes, with the increase of wealth. The rich man has little to do but to watch others devouring his wealth. (3) The excessive desire for wealth often over-reaches itself, and ends in poverty.
II. Koheleth asserts (Ecc 6:7) that no one ever extracts enjoyment out of life. "The labour of man is for his mouth "—that is, for enjoyment—but he is never satisfied. His very wishes give him not his wish. The fact is, says Koheleth, returning to a former thought, everything has been predetermined for us; we are hemmed in by limits and fatalities to which we can but submit. It is useless trying to contend with One mightier than ourselves.
III. He now takes a new departure. He inquires whether true happiness is to be found in a life of social respectability or popularity. In chap. vii. and the first part of chap. viii. he gives us some of the maxims by which such a life would be guided. The thoughts are very loosely connected, but the underlying idea is this: the popular man, the successful man, the man whom society delights to honour, is always characterised by prudence, discretion, moderation, self-control, and by a certain savoir-faire—an instinct which teaches him what to do and when to do nothing. (1) The wise man is ready to receive instruction not only from the silent teaching of the dead, but also from the advice of the living if they are wiser than himself. (2) The prudent man of the world is distinguished by a cheerful, easy-going, happy temperament. Instead of longing for the past, he makes the best of the present. (3) Koheleth now propounds another maxim of worldly policy—a maxim in which we see him at his worst. A prudent man of the world will not trouble himself too much about righteousness. He cannot be quite sure that it will pay, though a certain amount of it is likely to help him on. And what is true of righteousness is true of wisdom. Poor Koheleth in his present mood has fallen into deep moral degradation. Policy has taken the place of duty. In the long run the policy of expediency, which he here calls wisdom, will turn out to be but folly.
A. W. Momerie, Agnosticism, p. 219.
Ecc 5:9-20; Ecc 6:1-9
I. In all grades of society human subsistence is very much the same. Even princes are not fed with ambrosia, nor do poets subsist on asphodel. The profit of the earth is for all.
II. When a man begins to amass money, he begins to feed an appetite which nothing can appease, and which its proper food will only render fiercer. Therefore happy they who have never got enough to awaken the accumulating passion!
III. It is another consideration which should reconcile us to the want of wealth that as abundance grows, so grow the consumers, and of riches less perishable the proprietor enjoys no more than the mere spectator.
IV. Among the pleasures of obscurity, the next noticed is sound slumber. If the poor could get a taste of opulence, it would reveal to them strange luxuries in lowliness.
V. Wealth is often the ruin of its possessor. It is "kept for the owner to his hurt."
VI. Last of all are the infirmity and fretfulness which are the frequent companions of wealth.
VII. Whether your possessions be, great or small, think only of the joys at God’s right hand as your eternal treasure. Lead a life disentangled and expedite, setting your affections on things above and never so clinging to the things temporal as to lose the things eternal. The true disciple will value wealth chiefly as he can spend it on objects dear to his dear Lord.
J. Hamilton, The Royal Preacher, Lecture XI.
References: 5:10-6:12.— T. C. Finlayson, A Practical Exposition of Ecclesiastes, p. 137. Ecc 5:13-20.— R. Buchanan, Ecclesiastes: its Meaning and Lessons, p. 191. Ecc 5:14-17.— J. Bennet, The Wisdom of the King, p. 310. Ecc 6:2.— J. N. Norton, The King’s Ferry Boat, p. 66.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain Ecc 5:1 - Ecc 5:12.
Ecclesiastes
LESSONS FOR WORSHIP AND FOR WORK
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Ecc 5:1 - Ecc 5:12.
This passage is composed of two or perhaps three apparently disconnected sections. The faults in worship referred to in Ecc 5:1 - Ecc 5:7 have nothing to do with the legalised robbery of Ecc 5:8, nor has the demonstration of the folly of covetousness in Ecc 5:10 - Ecc 5:12 any connection with either of the preceding subjects. But they are brought into unity, if they are taken as applications in different directions of the bitter truth which the writer sets himself to prove runs through all life. ‘All is vanity.’ That principle may even be exemplified in worship, and the obscure Ecc 5:7 which closes the section about the faults of worship seems to be equivalent to the more familiar close which rings the knell of so many of men’s pursuits in this book, ‘This also is vanity.’ It stands in the usual form in Ecc 5:10.
We have in Ecc 5:1 - Ecc 5:7 a warning against the faults in worship which make even it to be ‘vanity,’ unreal and empty and fruitless. These are of three sorts, arranged, as it were, chronologically. The worshipper is first regarded as going to the house of God, then as presenting his prayers in it, and then as having left it and returned to his ordinary life. The writer has cautions to give concerning conduct before, during, and after public worship.
Note that, in all three parts of his warnings, his favourite word of condemnation appears as describing the vain worship to which he opposes the right manner. They who fall into the faults condemned are ‘fools.’ If that class includes all who mar their worship by such errors, the church which holds them had need to be of huge dimensions; for the faults held up in these ancient words flourish in full luxuriance to-day, and seem to haunt long-established Christianity quite as mischievously as they did long-established Judaism. If we could banish them from our religious assemblies, there would be fewer complaints of the poor results of so much apparently Christian prayer and preaching.
Fruitful and acceptable worship begins before it begins. So our passage commences with the demeanour of the worshipper on his way to the house of God. He is to keep his foot; that is, to go deliberately, thoughtfully, with realisation of what he is about to do. He is to ‘draw near to hear’ and to bethink himself, while drawing near, of what his purpose should be. Our forefathers Sunday began on Saturday night, and partly for that reason the hallowing influence of it ran over into Monday, at all events. What likelihood is there that much good will come of worship to people who talk politics or scandal right up to the church door? Is reading newspapers in the pews, which they tell us in England is not unknown in America, a good preparation for worshipping God? The heaviest rain runs off parched ground, unless it has been first softened by a gentle fall of moisture. Hearts that have no dew of previous meditation to make them receptive are not likely to drink in much of the showers of blessing which may be falling round them. The formal worshipper who goes to the house of God because it is the hour when he has always gone; the curious worshipper {?} who draws near to hear indeed, but to hear a man, not God; and all the other sorts of mere outward worshippers who make so large a proportion of every Christian congregation-get the lesson they need, to begin with, in this precept.
Note, that right preparation for worship is better than worship itself, if it is that of ‘fools.’ Drawing near with the true purpose is better than being near with the wrong one. Note, too, the reason for the vanity of the ‘sacrifice of fools’ is that ‘they know not’; and why do they not know, but because they did not draw near with the purpose of hearing? Therefore, as the last clause of the verse says, rightly rendered, ‘they do evil.’ All hangs together. No matter how much we frequent the house of God, if we go with unprepared minds and hearts we shall remain ignorant, and because we are so, our sacrifices will be ‘evil.’ If the winnowing fan of this principle were applied to our decorous congregations, who dress their bodies for church much more carefully than they do their souls, what a cloud of chaff would fly off!
Then comes the direction for conduct in the act of worship. The same thoughtfulness which kept the foot in coming to, should keep the heart when in, the house of God. His exaltation and our lowliness should check hasty words, blurting out uppermost wishes, or in any way outrunning the sentiments and emotions of prepared hearts. Not that the lesson would check the fervid flow of real desire. There is a type of calm worship which keeps itself calm because it is cold. Propriety and sobriety are its watchwords-both admirable things, and both dear to tepid Christians. Other people besides the crowds on Pentecost think that men whose lips are fired by the Spirit of God are ‘drunken,’ if not with wine, at all events with unwholesome enthusiasm. But the outpourings of a soul filled, not only with the sense that God is in heaven and we on earth, but also with the assurance that He is near to it, and it to Him, are not rash and hasty, however fervid. What is condemned is words which travel faster than thoughts or feelings, or which proceed from hearts that have not been brought into patient submission, or from such as lack reverent realisation of God’s majesty; and such faults may attach to the most calm worship, and need not infect the most fervent. Those prayers are not hasty which keep step with the suppliant’s desires, when these take the time from God’s promises. That mouth is not rash which waits to speak until the ear has heard.
‘Let thy words be few.’ The heathen ‘think that they shall be heard for much speaking.’ It needs not to tell our wants in many words to One who knows them altogether, any more than a child needs many when speaking to a father or mother. But ‘few’ must be measured by the number of needs and desires. The shortest prayer, which is not animated by a consciousness of need and a throb of desire, is too long; the longest, which is vitalised by these, is short enough. What becomes of the enormous percentage of public and private prayers, which are mere repetitions, said because they are the right thing to say, because everybody always has said them, and not because the man praying really wants the things he asks for, or expects to get them any the more for asking?
Ecc 5:3 gives a reason for the exhortation, ‘A dream comes through a multitude of business’-when a man is much occupied with any matter, it is apt to haunt his sleeping as well as his waking thoughts. ‘A fool’s voice comes through a multitude of words.’ The dream is the consequence of the pressure of business, but the fool’s voice is the cause, not the consequence, of the gush of words. What, then, is the meaning? Probably that such a gush of words turns, as it were, the voice of the utterer, for the time being, into that of a fool. Voluble prayers, more abundant than devout sentiments or emotions, make the offerer as a ‘fool’ and his prayer unacceptable.
The third direction refers to conduct after worship. It lays down the general principle that vows should be paid, and that swiftly. A keen insight into human nature suggests the importance of prompt fulfilment of the vows; for in carrying out resolutions formed under the impulse of the sanctuary, even more than in other departments, delays are dangerous. Many a young heart touched by the truth has resolved to live a Christian life, and has gone out from the house of God and put off and put off till days have thickened into months and years, and the intention has remained unfulfilled for ever. Nothing hardens hearts, stiffens wills, and sears consciences so much as to be brought to the point of melting, and then to cool down into the old shape. All good resolutions and spiritual convictions may be included under the name of vows; and of all it is true that it is better not to have formed them, than to have formed and not performed them.
Ecc 5:6 - Ecc 5:7 are obscure. The former seems to refer to the case of a man who vows and then asks that he may be absolved from his vow by the priest or other ecclesiastical authority. His mouth-that is, his spoken promise-leads him into sin, if he does not fulfil it {comp. Deut. xxiii, 21, 22}. He asks release from his promise on the ground that it is a sin of weakness. The ‘angel’ is best understood as the priest {messenger}, as in Mal 2:7. Such a wriggling out of a vow will bring God’s anger; for the ‘voice’ which promised what the hand will not perform, sins.
Ecc 5:7 is variously rendered. The Revised Version supplies at the beginning, ‘This comes to pass,’ and goes on ‘through the multitude of dreams and vanities and many words.’ But this scarcely bears upon the context, which requires here a reason against rash speech and vows. The meaning seems better given, either by the rearranged text which Delitzsch suggests, ‘In many dreams and many words there are also many vanities’ {so, substantially, the Auth. Ver.}, or as Wright, following Hitzig, etc., has it, ‘In the multitude of dreams are also vanities, and [in] many words [as well].’ The simile of Ecc 5:3 is recurred to, and the whirling visions of unsubstantial dreams are likened to the rash words of voluble prayers in that both are vanity. Thus the writer reaches his favourite thought, and shows how vanity infects even devotion. The closing injunction to ‘fear God’ sets in sharp contrast with faulty outward worship the inner surrender and devotion, which will protect against such empty hypocrisy. If the heart is right, the lips will not be far wrong.
Ecc 5:8 - Ecc 5:9 have no direct connection with the preceding, and their connection with the following {Ecc 5:10 - Ecc 5:12} is slight. Their meaning is dubious. According to the prevailing view now, the abuses of government in Ecc 5:8 are those of the period of the writer; and the last clauses do not, as might appear at first reading, console sufferers by the thought that God is above rapacious dignitaries, but bids the readers not be surprised if small officials plunder, since the same corruption goes upwards through all grades of functionaries. With such rotten condition of things is contrasted, in Ecc 5:9, the happy state of a people living under a patriarchal government, where the king draws his revenues, not from oppression, but from agriculture. The Revised Version gives in its margin this rendering. The connection of these verses with the following may be that they teach the vanity of riches under such a state of society as they describe. What is the use of scraping wealth together when hungry officials are ‘watching’ to pounce on it? How much better to be contented with the modest prosperity of a quiet country life! If the translation of Ecc 5:9 in the Authorised Version and the Revised Version is retained, there is a striking contrast between the rapine of the city, where men live by preying on each other {as they do still to a large extent, for ‘commerce’ is often nothing better}, and the wholesome natural life of the country, where the kindly earth yields fruit, and one man’s gain is not another’s loss.
Thus the verses may be connected with the wise depreciation of money which follows. That low estimate is based on three grounds, which great trading nations like England and the United States need to have dinned into their ears. First, no man ever gets enough of worldly wealth. The appetite grows faster than the balance at the banker’ s. That is so because the desire that is turned to outward wealth really needs something else, and has mistaken its object. God, not money or money’s worth, is the satisfying possession. It is so because all appetites, fed on earthly things, increase by gratification, and demand ever larger draughts. The jaded palate needs stronger stimulants. The seasoned opium-eater has to increase his doses to produce the same effects. Second, the race after riches is a race after a phantom, because the more one has of them the more people there spring up to share them. The poor man does with one servant; the rich man has fifty; and his own portion of his wealth is a very small item. His own meal is but a small slice off the immense provisions for which he has the trouble of paying. It is so, thirdly, because in the chase he deranges his physical nature; and when he has got his wealth, it only keeps him awake at night thinking how he shall guard it and keep it safe.
That which costs so much to get, which has so little power to satisfy, which must always be less than the wish of the covetous man, which costs so much to keep, which stuffs pillows with thorns, is surely vanity. Honest work is rewarded by sweet sleep. The old legend told of unslumbering guards who kept the treasure of the golden fruit. The millionaire has to live in a barred house, and to be always on the lookout lest some combination of speculators should pull down his stocks, or some change in the current of population should make his city lots worthless. Black care rides behind the successful man of business. Better to have done a day’s work which has earned a night’s repose than to be the slave of one’s wealth, as all men are who make it their aim and their supreme good. Would that these lessons were printed deep on the hearts of young Englishmen and Americans!
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain Disheartening Outlook on Life
Disheartening Outlook on Life
1-8. Disorders in the religious, in the political world. In the earlier part of this chapter the writer turns from secular to religious matters. H e points out the irreverence which belongs to worship offered without due thought.
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1. Keep thy foot] cp. Psa_119:101; Pro_1:15. Either be silent, or use thoughtfully framed words of prayer, as contrasted with hasty offerings combined with ungodliness of life.
And be more ready to hear] RV 'for to draw nigh to hear is better.'
3. A dream cometh] excessive distractions by day bring disordered visions at night. Even so excess in words shows folly in him who utters them. Is known by] RV 'with a.'
4. Defer not to pay it] A vow is not essential, but once made it is binding: cp. Deu_23:21-23. Vows had an important place in the religion of Israel, as we see from Gen_28:20; Num_6:2.; Jdg_11:30; 1Sa_1:11; Mar_7:11; Act_18:18; Act_21:23; Act_23:21. Cp. also the rule of the Pharisees (Mat_5:33), which, however, does not add the caution to think before speaking.
6. Suffer not, etc.] i.e. suffer not your hasty vow to lead you into wrongdoing. The angel] either the angel who, according to Rabbinic belief, presided over the sacrifice (this is, however, somewhat out of harmony with the tone of the book), or the priest, to whom the person who makes the vow addressed himself. RM has 'messenger of God' (see Mal_2:7).
An error] H e has brought an offering of inferior value, or gives a frivolous excuse for the non-fulfilment of the vow. And destroy] Punishment will ensue. H e here recognises that the world is no mere machine: there is a righteous Judge.
8. Violent perverting] The cruelties of a satrap, or pasha, were part of a system extending through every grade. Each watches (regardeth) with jealousy those below him, and seeks his opportunity for plunder. He that is higher than the highest regardeth] For highest RV has 'high.' The supreme ruler is no exception. There he higher than they] those who in an Eastern court practically bear rule over the nominal governors. The whole v., however, is obscure with perhaps an intentional ambiguity, and it is possible to explain it as meaning that there is a chance of getting justice by appeal from a lower to a higher tribunal, yea, even to the king himself.
9-17. The evil of avarice.
9. RM 'But the profit of a land every way is a king that maketh himself servant to the field'; because a ruler whose taste lies in that wholesome direction is unlikely to be given to amassing wealth: cp. 2Ch_26:10.
10, 11. Avarice is attended by two evils: (a) it is never content; and (b) responsibility, trouble, and expenditure increase in the same proportion.
14. There is nothing in his hand] Through a reverse of fortune the wealth, which should have descended to the son, has disappeared. The case is thus the converse misfortune to that of Ecc_4:8. There the riches were to be had, but the heir was lacking.
18-20. Riches are not inconsistent with happiness.
20. For he shall not much remember] He will not be overtroubled by the knowledge that these pleasures are fleeting, and that life itself is uncertain.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain 3. Exhortations on Different Vanities
3. Exhortations on Different Vanities
CHAPTER 5
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1. Concerning worship and vows (Ecc 5:1-7)
2. Concerning extortions (Ecc 5:8-9)
3. The vanities of wealth (Ecc 5:10-17)
4. The conclusion (Ecc 5:18-20)
Ecc 5:1-7. The writer, King Solomon, seems to have been exhausted in his descriptions as to the things under the sun. He pauseth and turns to something different. He meditates on worship, that man aims to get in touch with the unseen God. “He seems to turn to himself again and communes with his heart on the loftier heights of what proves to be, after all, but natural religiousness, and what cannot save him from the depths of unbelief, ignorance and despair, in which he is soon hopelessly floundering. Mindful of man’s jaunty liberalism and enslaving superstitions, rash vows and wordy prayers, shallow reverence and dreamy worship--dreamy and unreal because full of entreating vanities and worldly business, the speaker earnestly exhorts the multitude going to the house of God to have few words and slow and solemn steps in their worship and vows; but even then he does so like a natural man himself, knowing only of a God far away, who is looking upon the sinful on earth with cold judicial eye, ready to destroy the work of man in wrath.” (W.J. Erdman, Ecclesiastes)
The natural man may fear God, fear Him with a slavish fear, make an attempt to worship Him and do something, yet he does not know God nor can he know Him by himself. Christendom, even today, bears witness to the worship of the natural man. Yet this natural religion, which recognizeth the existence of a Creator, speaks of Him as the All-wise, the Omnipotent and the Eternal, makes an attempt to worship in a house by ceremonies and ritual, or that which takes on a more liberal form, does not meet the needs of man. God is still in heaven and man on earth (Ecc 5:2), and a vast distance between--an unbridged gulf. To bring man to God, to give him peace and assurance, to deliver him from fear, revelation is needed that which is “above the sun.” The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only provision.
Ecc 5:8-9. Once more he calls attention to oppression, the extortions so common “under the sun,” and he shows that One higher than they will some day judge them, for He has regard for the poor and the oppressed.
Ecc 5:10-17. He speaks now of wealth and of earthly prosperity. Silver does not satisfy, nor is he that loveth abundance satisfied with the increase. It is vanity. Earthly happiness in the things under the sun is a vain hope. The reasons why riches, and what goes along with them, cannot give true enjoyment have been searched out by the wise king and the results of his observations are given in these verses. “As he came forth from his mother’s womb naked so shall he go again as he came, and shall take nothing for his labor, which he may carry away in his hand ... and what profit hath he that he laboreth for the wind?” (See 1Ti 6:7).
Ecc 5:18-20. What then has he seen and learned in observing all these vanities? He draws the conclusion that it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and then to enjoy to fullest extent the good which he has obtained all the days of his life, the life and length of days given him by the Creator. And if God has given him riches and wealth and the capacity to enjoy it, then he ought to take his portion and rejoice in his labor. Such a spirit of enjoyment will make him forget the evil in his day; it will carry him over the disagreeable things of life. “For he shall not much remember the days of his life, because God answereth him in the joy of his heart.” The latter phrase means that God Himself corresponds to his joy, for real enjoyment is a God-acknowledging spirit.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain Proper Worship of God
Proper Worship of God
v. 1. Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, carefully watching lest it stray aside from the path leading to the Lord’s Temple and such a person’s heart be affected with thoughts which interfere with true devotion, and be more ready to hear, rather, "approach to hear," to listen to and to heed the Word of God, than to give the sacrifice of fools, as is done in thoughtless and hypocritical worship; for they consider not that they do evil, they do not realize how deeply they offend the Lord with their irreverent behavior.
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v. 2. Be not rash with thy mouth, quick to speak, especially in thoughtless prayer, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God, since prayer demands an attitude of true devotion; for God is in heaven, exalted above all levity and thoughtless form of worship, and thou upon earth, immeasurably beneath the majesty of the almighty Sovereign of the earth; therefore let thy words be few, not indulging in heathenish babbling, Mat 6:7.
v. 3. For a dream cometh through the multitude of business, when a person is engrossed with the cares and anxieties of his work, his dreams are apt to mislead him into a land of make believe; and a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words, he believes the efficacy of prayer depends upon the amount of language expended, whereas it depends upon the sincerity of the mind resting upon the true devotion of faith.
v. 4. When thou vowest a vow unto God, such vows among the Jews being included in the precepts of their religion, Num 30:2; Deu 23:21-23, defer not to pay it, this admonition being directed against hasty and ill-considered vows; for He hath no pleasure in fools, God wants no vows to be made in a spirit of levity, without regarding their sanctity; pay that which thou hast vowed, Psa 66:13-14.
v. 5. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, Deu 23:22, not make rash promises supported by an obligation before the Lord, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay, provided the vow is in agreement with the great precepts of God’s Word, especially the command of love.
v. 6. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin, for the sensual nature of man is stimulated by the sins of the tongue; neither may thou before the angel, before the priest, as the representative of the Lord, that it was an error, the object being to escape the consequences of an unfulfilled vow; wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, which has thus become guilty of lying, and destroy the work of thine hands? The punishment of God, in a case of this kind, is shown not only in the failure of undertakings, but also in the overthrowing of projects already established.
v. 7. For in the multitude of dreams, foolish fancies concerning God’s requirements of men in worship, and many words, hasty and ill-considered, there are also divers vanities, they are unreliable and do not fit a person for the duties which the Word of God lays upon him; but fear thou God, for the fear of God, as the basis of all true wisdom, will guide the steps of man aright on the way of true sanctification.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Guard your steps
Guard your steps
Here "steps" are a metonym for a person's conduct. AT: "Be careful how you conduct yourself" (See: Metonymy)
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translationWords
house of God
fool
sacrifice
know
life
evil
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 5:1 Though the house of God provides opportunity for…
5:1 Though the house of God provides opportunity for reverent words and measured promises, it is primarily a place for listening.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.