If a man fathers a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not filled with good, and moreover he has no burial; I say, that a stillborn child is better than he:
Parallel Translations
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If a man fathers a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not filled with good, and moreover he has no burial; I say, that a stillborn child is better than he:
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If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.
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If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul have not enough of good, and moreover he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he;
Cross-references (21)
Passages linked to Ecclesiastes 6:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Job 3:16 or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, as infants who never saw light.
- 2 Kings 9:35 They went to bury her, but they found no more of her than the skull, the feet, and the palms of her hands.
- Ecclesiastes 4:3 Yes, better than them both is him who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.
- Jeremiah 22:19 He will be buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”
- Genesis 47:9 Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my pilgrimage are one hundred thirty years. The days of the years of my life have been few and evil. They have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.”
- Isaiah 14:19-20 But you are cast away from your tomb like an abominable branch, clothed with the slain, who are thrust through with the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit; like a dead body trodden under foot. You will not join them in burial, because you have destroyed your land. You have killed your people. The offspring of evildoers will not be named forever.
- Genesis 33:5 He lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, “Who are these with you?” He said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.”
- 1 Samuel 2:20-21 Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, “May Yahweh give you offspring from this woman for the petition which was asked of Yahweh.” Then they went to their own home. Yahweh visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. The child Samuel grew before Yahweh.
- 2 Kings 10:1 Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, to the rulers of Jezreel, even the elders, and to those who brought up Ahab’s sons, saying,
- 1 Chronicles 28:5 Of all my sons (for Yahweh has given me many sons), he has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of Yahweh’s kingdom over Israel.
- 2 Chronicles 11:21 Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines; for he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and became the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.
- Esther 5:11 Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches, the multitude of his children, all the things in which the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king.
- Esther 7:10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s wrath was pacified.
- Esther 9:14-15 The king commanded this to be done. A decree was given out in Susa; and they hanged Haman’s ten sons. The Jews who were in Susa gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and killed three hundred men in Susa; but they didn’t lay their hand on the plunder.
- Psalms 58:8 Let them be like a snail which melts and passes away, like the stillborn child, who has not seen the sun.
- Psalms 127:4-5 As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them. They won’t be disappointed when they speak with their enemies in the gate.
- Proverbs 17:6 Children’s children are the crown of old men; the glory of children are their parents.
- Ecclesiastes 5:17-19 All his days he also eats in darkness, he is frustrated, and has sickness and wrath. Behold, that which I have seen to be good and proper is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor, in which he labors under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him; for this is his portion. Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat of it, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God.
- Jeremiah 8:2 They will spread them before the sun, the moon, and all the army of the sky, which they have loved, which they have served, after which they have walked, which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered or be buried. They will be like dung on the surface of the earth.
- Jeremiah 36:30 Therefore Yahweh says concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: “He will have no one to sit on David’s throne. His dead body will be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.
- Matthew 26:24 The Son of Man goes, even as it is written of him, but woe to that man through whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for that man if he had not been born.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (17 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain If he can never have enough.
If he can never have enough.
As we see oftentimes that the covetous man either falleth into crimes that deserve death, or is murdered or drowned or hangeth himself, or such like, and so lacketh the honor of burial, which is the last office of humanity.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Ecc 6:3 If a man beget an hundred [children],…
Ecc 6:3 If a man beget an hundred [children], and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also [that] he have no burial; I say, [that] an untimely birth [is] better than he.
Ver. 3. If a man beget an hundred children.] As Ahab did half a hundred, after that God had threatened to cut off all his house, as it were in contempt of the divine threatening. And as Proculus Caesar got twenty maids with child in fifteen days’ space, as Pliny {a} reports. Erasmus {b} mentioneth a maid of Eubcea, called Combe, that being married to a husband, brought him a hundred children. Like enough it might be luctuosa faecunditas, as Jerome {c} saith of Laeta, who buried many children.
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And live many years.] So that he be trisaeclisenex, as Nestor was of old, and Iohannes de temporibus, a Frenchman, not many ages since, to whom I may add that old, old, very old man, {d} that died of late years, having been born in Henry VII’s days, or Edward IV’s.
And his soul be not filled with good.] Though he be filled with years, and filled with children, that may survive and succeed him in his estate, yet if he be a covetous wretch, a miserable muckworm, that enjoys nothing, as in the former verse, is not master of his wealth, but is mastered by it, lives beside what he hath, and dies to save charges - as the bee in Camden’s Remains.
And also that he have no burial.] He leaves nothing to bring him honestly home, as they say; or if he do, yet his ungrateful, greedy heirs deny him that last honour, so that he is buried "with the burial of an ass," {Jer 22:19} as Coniah; suffered to rot and stink above ground, as that Assyrian monarch, {Isa 14:19-20} and after him Alexander the Great, who lay unburied thirty days together. So Pompey the Great, of whom Claudian the poet sings thus,
“ Nudus pascit aves, iacet en qui possidet orbem,
Exiguae telluris inops. ” -
And a similar story about our William the Conqueror, and various other greedy engrossers of the world’s good. See here the poisonful and pernicious nature of niggardliness and covetousness, that turns long life and large issue, those sweetest blessings of God, into bitter curses. And with it take notice of the just hand of God upon covetous old men, that they should want comely burial; which is usually one of their greatest cares, as Plutarch observeth. For giving the reason why old men, that are going out of the world, should be so earnestly bent upon the world, he saith, it is out of fear that they shall not have τους θρεψοντας και τους θοψαντας, friends to keep them while they are alive, and some to bury them when they are dead.
I say that an untimely birth.] I affirm it in the word of truth, and upon mature deliberation, that an untimely birth - not only a naked young child, as aforesaid, that is carried ab utero ad urnam, from the womb to the tomb, from the birth to the burial - but an abortive, that coming too soon into the world, comes not at all; and, by having no name, finds itself a name, as Pliny speaks of the herb anonymus.
{a} Lib. vii.
{b} Erasm. in Chilia.
{c} Jerome, Epist. 7.
{d} Parr.
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 An hundred children, i.e. very many children, to whom…
An hundred children, i.e. very many children, to whom he intends to leave his estate.
Live many years; which is the chief thing that he desires, and which giveth him opportunity of increasing his estate vastly.
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The days; he saith days, because the years of men’s life are but few.
Be not filled with good; hath not a contented mind and comfortable enjoyment of his estate whilst he lives. Have no burial; and if after his death he hath either none, or a mean and dishonourable burial, because his sordid and covetous carriage made him hateful and contemptible to all persons, his children and heirs not excepted, and he was by all sorts of men thought unworthy of any testimonies of honour, either in his life or after his death. Thus he describes a man who lives miserably, and dies ignominiously.
An untimely birth; which as it never enjoyed the comforts, so it never felt the calamities, of this life, which are far more considerable than its comforts, at least to a man that denied himself the comforts, and plunged himself into the toils and vexations, of this life.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain If a man beget an hundred children,.... Sons and…
If a man beget an hundred children,.... Sons and daughters, a certain number for an uncertain. Some have had many children, and almost this number; Rehoboam had twenty eight sons and threescore daughters; and Ahab had seventy sons, how many daughters is not said, Ch2 11:21; this was reckoned a great honour and happiness to have many children; happy was the man that had his quiver full of them, Psa 127:3; such a case is here supposed;
and live many years, so that the days of his years be many; or "sufficient", as Jarchi interprets it; he lives as long as life is desirable; lives to a good old age, to the full age of men, threescore years and ten; yea, supposing he was to live to be as old as Methuselah,
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and his soul be not filled with good; does not enjoy the good things he has; has no pleasure nor satisfaction in the temporal good things of life, has not the comfort of them, and is always uneasy, because he has not more of them; and especially if his soul is not filled with spiritual good things, the grace of God, and righteousness of Christ;
And also that he have no burial; as Jezebel, Jehoiakim, and others; who is either destroyed by robbers and cutthroats, for the sake of his substance, and cast into a ditch or a river, or some place, where he is never found to be interred; or else, being of such a sordid disposition, he provides not for a decent burial, suitably to his circumstances, or forbids one; or, being despised and disesteemed by all men, his heirs and successors either neglect or refuse to give him one; see Jer 22:29;
I say that an untimely birth is better than he; an abortive is to be preferred unto him; it would have been better for him if he had never been born, or had been in such a case.
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 With good - He hath not a contented mind…
With good - He hath not a contented mind and comfortable enjoyment of his estate. Is better - Which as it never enjoyed the comforts, so it never felt the calamities of life.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 3. If a man beget a hundred children]…
Verse 3. If a man beget a hundred children] If he have the most numerous family and the largest possessions, and is so much attached to his riches that he grudges himself a monument; an abortion in the eye of reason is to be preferred to such a man; himself is contemptible, and his life worthless. The abortion comes in with vanity - baulks expectation, departs in darkness - never opened its eyes upon the light, and its name is covered with darkness - it has no place in the family register, or in the chronicles of Israel. This, that hath neither seen the sun, nor known any thing is preferable to the miser who has his coffers and granaries well furnished, should he have lived a thousand years, and had a hundred children. He has seen - possessed, no good; and he and the abortion go to one place, equally unknown, and wholly forgotten.
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 6:3-6. If a man beget a hundred children…
Ecc 6:3-6. If a man beget a hundred children — Very many, to whom he intends to leave his estate; and live many years — Which is the chief thing that he desires, and which gives him opportunity of increasing his estate vastly; and his soul be not filled with good — If he have not a contented mind, and a comfortable enjoyment of his estate; and also have no burial — And if, after his death, he have either none, or a mean and dishonourable burial, because his sordid and covetous conduct made him hateful and contemptible to all persons, his children and heirs not excepted, so that he was by all sorts of men thought unworthy of any testimonies of honour, either in his life, or after his death: I say, an untimely birth is better than he — Which, as it never enjoyed the comforts, so it never felt the calamities of life. For, or rather, although, he — The abortive; of whom alone that clause, He hath not seen the sun, (Ecc 6:5,) is true; cometh in with vanity — Cometh into the world to no purpose, without any comfort or benefit by it, which is also, in a great measure, the case with the covetous person here mentioned; and departeth in darkness — Dieth in obscurity, without any observation or regard of men; and his name shall be covered with darkness — Shall be speedily and utterly forgotten. Moreover he hath not known any thing — Hath had no knowledge, sense, or experience of any thing, whether good or evil; this, namely, the untimely birth, hath more rest than the other — Because it is free from all those incumbrances and vexations to which the covetous man is long exposed. Yea, though he live a thousand years — Wherein he seems to have a privilege above an untimely birth; yet hath he seen no good — He hath enjoyed little or no comfort in it, and, therefore, long life is rather a curse than a blessing to him. Do not all — Whether born before their time or in due time, whether their lives be long or short; go to one place — To the grave! And so, after a little time, all are alike, as to this life, of which only he here speaks: and as to the other life, the condition of the covetous man, if he die impenitent, and therefore unpardoned and unrenewed, is infinitely worse than that of an untimely birth.
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 No burial - For a corpse to lie unburied…
No burial - For a corpse to lie unburied was a circumstance in itself of special ignominy and dishonor (compare the marginal references).
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 Than he, since the latter has injured no one,…
Than he, since the latter has injured no one, nor experienced any evil in the world, (Calmet) by his own fault; (Menochius) whereas the miser has both hurt himself and others, and has neglected to make himself friends of the mammon of iniquity.
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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Even if a man (of this character) have very…
Even if a man (of this character) have very many (equivalent to "a hundred," Kg2 10:1) children, and not have a "stranger" as his heir (Ecc 6:2), and live long ("days of years" express the brevity of life at its best, Gen 47:9), yet enjoy no real "good" in life, and lie unhonored, without "burial," at death (Kg2 9:26, Kg2 9:35), the embryo is better than he. In the East to be without burial is the greatest degradation. "Better the fruit that drops from the tree before it is ripe than that left to hang on till rotten" [HENRY].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 3. The real difficulty of this verse has arisen…
3. The real difficulty of this verse has arisen from a singular reluctance to give its simplest sense to the phrase, he have no burial, which, in Hebrew and English, naturally means, though he live forever. The instance is connected with that of the preceding verse. An unsatisfied soul completely neutralizes, and makes “stale, flat, and unprofitable,” all worldly good, so that even length of possession adds nothing to its enjoyment. An abortion, perishing in embryo, has a better fate.
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 3. If a man beget an hundred children] A…
3. If a man beget an hundred children] A case is put, the very opposite of that described in the preceding verse. Instead of being childless the rich man may have children, and children’s children; may live out all his days. What then? Unless his “soul be filled with good,” unless there is the capacity for enjoyment, life is not worth living. Still, as before, “it were good never to have been born.” We may probably trace an allusive reference to Artaxerxes Mnemon, who is reported to have had 115 children, and who died of grief at the age of 94, at the suicide of one of his sons, and the murder of another, both caused by a third son, Ochus, who succeeded him (Justin, x. 1).
and also that he have no burial] The sequence of thought seems at first strange. Why should this be, from the writer’s standpoint, as the climax of sorrow? Why should he who had noted so keenly the vanities of life put seemingly so high a value on that which comes when life is over and done with? Some writers have felt this so strongly, that they have suggested the interpretation, “even if there be no grave waiting for him,” i.e. even if he were to live for ever. The natural meaning is, however, tenable enough, and we have once more an echo of Greek teaching. Solon had taught that we are not to call any man happy before his death, and by implication, in his story of the sons of Tellus, had made the prospect of posthumous honour an element of happiness (Herod. i. 30). So, in like manner, it was the direst of woes for a man to know that he “should be buried with the burial of an ass” (Jer_22:19), or, in Homeric phrase, that his body should be “cast out to dogs and vultures.” How could any man, however rich and powerful, be sure that that fate might not be in store for him? On the assumption of the late date of the book, there may be a reference to the death of Artaxerxes Ochus, who was murdered by the eunuch Bagoas, and his body thrown to the cats. Possibly, Koheleth himself may have had some reason for an anxious doubt, whether the honours of sepulture would be his. If, as seems likely, he was a stranger in a strange land, alone and with no child to succeed him, perhaps with a name cast out as evil or heretical, there was small chance of his being laid to rest in the sepulchre of his fathers. See the “Ideal Biography,” Introduction, ch. iii.
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an untimely birth is better than he] The thought of ch. Ecc_4:3 is reproduced, but in a somewhat less generalized form. There, never to have been born, is asserted, after the manner of the Greek maxims quoted in the notes, to be better than existence of any kind. Here the assertion is limited to the comparison with the joyless pursuit of wealth. The “untimely birth” was the natural emblem of all abortive enterprise (Job_3:16; Psa_58:8).
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 (3) That a man should be so occupied in…
(3) That a man should be so occupied in the pursuit of riches as never to take any enjoyment from them is a common experience enough; but that the same man should have no sepulchre to preserve his name after him need not necessarily happen, so that one is tempted to think that the Preacher has some actual occurrence in his mind.
Untimely birth.—See references. We have just had another reminiscence of the Book of Job. (See Ecc_5:15.)
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 If a man beget a hundred children. Another case…
If a man beget a hundred children. Another case is supposed, differing from,the preceding one, where the rich man dies childless. Septuagint, jEash ajnhr, eJkaton. "Sons," or "children," must be supplied. (comp. 1Sa_2:5; Jer_15:9) To have a large family was regarded as a great blessing. The "hundred" is a round number, though we read of some fathers who had nearly this number of children; thus Ahab had seventy sons, (2Ki_10:1) Rehoboam eighty-eight children. (2Ch_11:21) Plumptre follows some commentators in seeing here an allusion to Artaxerxes Mnemon, who is said to have had a hundred and fifteen children, and died of grief at the age of ninety-four at the suicide of one son and the murder of another. Wordsworth opines that Solomon, in the previous verse, was thinking of Jeroboam, who, it was revealed unto him, should, stranger as he was, seize and enjoy his inheritance. But these historical references are the merest guesswork, and rest upon no substantial basis. Plainly the author"s statement is general, and there is no need to ransack history to find its parallel. And live many years, so that the days of his years be many; Et vixerit multos annos, et plures dies aetatis habuerit (Vulgate). These versions seem to be simply tautological. The second clause is climacteric, as Ginsburg renders, "Yea, numerous as may be the days of his years." The whole extent of years is summed up in days. So Psa_90:10, "The days of our years are three score years and ten," etc. Long life, again, was deemed a special blessing, as we see in the commandment with promise. (Exo_20:12) And (yet if) his soul not filled with good; i.e. he does not satisfy himself with the enjoyment of all the good things which he possesses. Septuagint, Kai yuchsetai ajponhv "And his soul shall not be satisfied with his good." And also that he have no burial. This is the climax of the evil that befalls him. Some critics, not entering into Koheleth"s view of the severity of this calamity, translate, "and even if the grave did not wait for him," i.e. "if he were never to die," if he were immortal. But there is no parallel to show that the clause can have this meaning; and we know, without having recourse to Greek precedents, that the want of burial was reckoned a grievous loss and dishonor. Hence comes the common allusion to dead carcasses being left to be devoured by beasts and birds, instead of meeting with honorable burial in the ancestral graves (1Ki_13:22; Isa_14:18-20) Thus David says to his giant foe, "I will give the carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth"; (1Sa_17:46) and about Jehoiakim it was denounced that he should not be lamented when he died: "He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem". (Jer_22:18, Jer_22:19) The lot of the rich man in question is proclaimed with ever-increasing misery. Ha cannot enjoy his possessions; he has none to whom to leave them; his memory perishes; he has no honored burial. I say, that an untimely birth is better than he. (comp. Ecc_4:3) The abortion or still-born child is preferable to one whose destiny is so miserable. (see Job_3:16; Psa_58:8) It is preferable because, although it has missed all the pleasures of life, it has at least escaped all suffering. The next two verses illustrate this position.
Vers. 3-6.
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The gloom of disappointment.
The case supposed in these verses is far more painful than that dealt with in the preceding passage. It is now presumed that a man not only lives to an advanced age thousand years twice told but that he begets "a hundred children." Yet he is unsatisfied with the experience of life, and dies without being regretted and honorably buried. And in such a case it is affirmed that the issue of life is vanity, and that it would have been better for such a one not to have been born. It must be borne in mind, when considering this melancholy conclusion, that it is based entirely upon what is earthly, visible, and sensible.
I HERE IS AN EXAGGERATION OF THE IMPORTANCE OF OUTWARD PROSPERITY AND OF WORLDLY PLEASURE. The standard of the world may be a real one, but it is far from being the highest. Wealth, long life, important family connections, are good things; but they are not the best. Much of human unhappiness arises from first overestimating external advantages, and then, as a natural consequence, when these are lost, attaching undue importance to the privation. If men did not exaggerate the value of earthly good, they would not be so bitterly disappointed, so grievously depressed, upon losing it.
II HERS IS AN UNWARRANTABLE EXPECTATION OF SATISFACTION WITH WHAT EARTH CAN GIVE. Of the person imagined it is assumed "that his soul be not filled with good." The fact is that men seek satisfaction where it is not to be found, and in so doing prove their own folly and short-sightedness. God has given to man a nature which is not to be satisfied with the enjoyments of sense, with the provision made for bodily appetite, with the splendor, luxury, and renown, upon which men are so prone to set the desires of their hearts. If what this world can give be accepted with gratitude, whilst no more is expected from it than reason and Scripture justify us in asking, then disappointment will not ensue. But the divinely fashioned and immortal spirit of man cannot rest in what is simply intended to still the cravings of the body, and to render life tranquil and enjoyable.
III HERE IS MOROSE DISSATISFACTION RESULTING FROM FAILURE TO SOLVE AN INSOLUBLE PROBLEM. Apply the hedonistic test, and then it may be disputed whether the sum of pain and disappointment is not in excess of the sum of pleasure and satisfaction; if it is, then the "untimely birth" is better than the prosperous voluptuary who fails to fill his soul with good, who feels the utter failure of the endeavor upon which he has staked his all. But the test is a wrong one, however hard it may be to convince men that this is so. The question Is life worth living? does not depend upon the question Does life yield a surplus of agreeable feeling? Life may be filled with delights, and the lot of the prosperous may excite envy. Yet it may be nothing but vanity, and a striving after wind. On the other hand, a man may be doomed to adversity; poverty and neglect and contempt may be his portion; whilst he may fulfill the purpose of his being may form a character and may live a life which shall be acceptable and approved above. T.
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 If a man live many years, so that the…
Ecc_6:3-4
If a man live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, I say that an untimely birth is better than he.
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The sorrows of old age
The wise Preacher supposes a man to have seen the utmost possible limit of human existence. And then he estimates the worth of the whole of this proud and protracted life, if it has passed without the acquisition of that object which the Word of God proposes for the attainment of man.
I. What is the great object of human life? It is that the soul may be filled with good. It was to gain this that each one has been placed in his period of earthly education. It is for this alone that Divine forbearance lengthens out to grey hairs the life of man who has not yet secured it, to give to men the full opportunity to be wise, and to think of the things which belong to their peace. How, then, shall this soul be filled with good? Is there anything within the limits of the gifts of this world, which can thus fill it? When he can sow grace in the furrows of his field, or fill his barns with glory, when he can plough up heaven from the earth, and extract God from perishing creatures, the world may fill his soul with good and furnish an adequate exchange for its loss. But who does not see the utter disproportion between the desires of the soul and all the fruits which earth produces? The sinner is descending where his earthly glory cannot descend after him, and where, for a soul unredeemed, all redemption ceaseth for ever.
II. The sorrows of the man who has lived long without attaining this great object of life, whose soul is not filled with good.
1. He has passed through a life, a reflection upon which gives him no comfort. Every hour rises up as the accuser of a guilty conscience. The remembrance of youth is a remembrance of convictions smothered, the Holy Spirit resisted, and a Saviours love despised. The thoughts upon manhood present the awful picture of the self-immolation of the sinners soul to the enemy of God and man upon the altar of worldly gain. All the resolutions and plans which were made for life have gone by unfulfilled. Every opportunity has been lost. Every mercy has been abused. Oh, what sorrow for the aged sinner does such a life produce!
2. He is pressing onward to a near eternity, for which he has no preparation. How truly is that old age which has no such provision for eternity, and to which hope comes not, that comes to all besides, an evil day, in which man finds no pleasure!
3. He has experienced the vanity of the world, and has nothing which can supply its place. They are thus left without a single source of comfort; and while they are struggling thus with unconquerable despair, they feel that the man who has not an interest in the Saviour, and a sure acceptance in His redemption, has no hope, though he has gained, when God bakes away his soul. (S. H. Tyng, D. D.)
Sorrows of old age without religion
Even with all the comforts and hopes of Christianity, old age is not a desirable condition of being. We naturally desire to live; we shrink instinctively from death--and yet many an aged one longs to lay down the oppressive burden of life before the appointed time. If this be true, with all the consolations and supports which true religion affords, how unutterably sad and sorrowful must old age be to the aged pilgrim who has no home in the skies to look forward to--no God and Saviour to light up the dark valley and welcome him to an eternity of bliss! But why are the sorrows of an irreligious old age so many and poignant?
1. A portion of them is natural and common alike to all. Nature will decay; the system wear out. The organs of the body and the faculties of the mind become impaired. We are out of touch with the life around us. Our children, our friends, our neighbours, are gone from us. We are solitary, desolate.
2. The retrospect of a godless life from the period of old age must necessarily be a painful one, at least one destitute of rational comfort and satisfaction. The day of activity, of passion, of recklessness, has gone by. With old age come reflection, introspection, seriousness, and the monitions of a coming judgment. O the bitterness of the retrospect of a life devoted to the world--a life without God and without a serious purpose!
3. If such the bitterness of the retrospect, what shall we say of the anticipation? Very few repent in old age. What a prospect! A misspent probation, a hopeless death, a lost eternity! (J. M. Sherwood, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 fathers a hundred children
fathers a hundred children
"fathers 100 children." This is a hypothetical situation. This is also an exaggeration and is applicable to people with fewer than 100 children. AT: "fathers many children" (See: Numbers and Hypothetical Situations and Hyperbole and Generalization)
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lives many years, so that the days of his years are many
These two phrases mean basically the same thing and are combined for emphasis. AT: "lives many years" (See: Parallelism)
his heart is not satisfied with good
This refers to a man by his "heart" to emphasize his feelings. AT: "he is not content with good things" (See: Synecdoche)
he is not buried
This can be stated in active form. Possible meanings are 1) "no one buries him at all" or 2) he receives no honor, "no one buries him properly."
such a baby is born in futility
"such a baby is born for nothing"
passes away in darkness
This speaks of the death of the baby being as unexplainable as "darkness." AT: "dies unexplainably" (See: Idiom)
its name remains hidden
This speaks of no one knowing the baby's name as if it were a hidden object. AT: "no one knows its name" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
heart
good
bury
die
darkness
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 6:3-6 a hundred children and . . . be…
6:3-6 a hundred children and . . . be very old: Such honors as virility and old age amount to nothing if life is not enjoyable or does not end well (a decent burial). The darkness of being born dead is preferable to a discontented life.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.