NOTES for Ecc 5:2-20
2 Be 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. |
3 For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words. |
4 When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. |
5 Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. |
6 Suffer 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? |
7 For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God. |
8 If 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 regardeth; and there be higher than they. |
9 Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field. |
10 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity. |
11 When 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? |
12 The 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. |
13 There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt. |
14 But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand. |
15 As 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. |
16 And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind? |
17 All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness. |
18 Behold 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. |
19 Every 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. |
20 For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth him in the joy of his heart. |
Hide
With the attitude toward life that Ecclesiastes expresses so clearly, even suicide would perhaps not have looked like something out of the ordinary. But the thought of it, clearly, does not occur to the author of the book at all. He apparently understood that suicide is one of the most terrible sins before God. And therefore Ecclesiastes goes on living. And life without God is unthinkable for him. Still, Ecclesiastes is very far from that clear hearing of God's voice which is so characteristic of the prophets. He undoubtedly believes in God's providence.
But he is not a prophet; he is cautious in everything that concerns the experience of direct revelation. It is not worth saying too much when standing before God, for the quality of prayer is not determined by the number of words the one praying speaks (vv. 1-3). It is not worth making careless vows, and those that have been made must be fulfilled quickly and exactly (vv. 4-5). And it is not worth denying the truth of a revelation received from God: perhaps completely unexpected for a person, it may prove genuine, although, of course, it is also not worth believing every dream indiscriminately (vv. 6-7).
Caution, restraint, and a certain critical spirit — this is how Ecclesiastes' attitude toward everything connected with spiritual and mystical experience could be defined. This is not surprising: for he expects no special, new revelations from God. Everything has already been said, opened, and created; new revelations may concern certain private questions of a particular human life, but no more than that. From God one can expect new instructions, but not a new revelation. Apparently, this frame of mind was generally characteristic of the era of Ecclesiastes, when the rabbinic tradition replaced the prophetic tradition.
But no revelation can change anything radically; a country and a people should rather hope for a good king than for a new revelation or for the coming of the Messiah (vv. 8-9). But even then, in the final analysis, all human labors and efforts remain meaningless, and Ecclesiastes again returns to the image of a person who has spent the best years of his life in hard labor that has brought him no benefit at all (vv. 10-16). Enjoyment of the few joys of life during the brief days allotted by God to a person — this is the only happiness still possible in this hopelessly spoiled and hostile world (vv. 19-20).
Other notes
For Ecc 5:10
10 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity. |
Hide
Readings for 6 January 2025
After registering, you can subscribe to any Bible reading plan. Personalized settings and other services for registered users are planned, so we recommend registering now. Registration is free. | ||
