Albert Barnes Commentary Ecclesiastes 9
Albert Barnes Commentary
Ecclesiastes 9
Albert Barnes Commentary
Ecclesiastes 9
"For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this: that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; whether it be love or hatred, man knoweth it not; all is before them." — Ecclesiastes 9:1 (ASV)
A good man’s trust in God is set forth as a counterpoise to our Ignorance of the ways of Providence.
In the hand of God — Under His special protection (Deuteronomy 33:3 and following) as righteous, and under His direction (Proverbs 21:1) as people.
No man ... — Literally, man does not know both love and also hatred: all are before them.
Love and hatred here mean the ordinary outward tokens of God’s favor or displeasure, that is, prosperity and adversity. The phrase Man knoweth not probably means: “man does not know whether to expect prosperity or adversity from God; all his earthly future is in obscurity.”
"All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not; as is the good, so is the sinner; [and] he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath." — Ecclesiastes 9:2 (ASV)
Event - See Ecclesiastes 2:14 note.
Swears - that is, swears lightly or profanely.
"This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that [they go] to the dead." — Ecclesiastes 9:3 (ASV)
Compare Ecclesiastes 8:11. The seeming indiscriminateness of the course of events tends to encourage evil-disposed men in their folly.
"For to him that is joined with all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion." — Ecclesiastes 9:4 (ASV)
For to him - Rather: “Yet to him.” Notwithstanding evils, life has its advantage, and especially when compared with death.
Dog - To the Hebrews a type of all that was contemptible (1 Samuel 17:43).
"For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. As well their love, as their hatred and their envy, is perished long ago; neither have they any more a portion for ever in anything that is done under the sun." — Ecclesiastes 9:5-6 (ASV)
See (Ecclesiastes 8:12), note; (Ecclesiastes 8:14), note. The living are conscious that there is a future before them, but the dead are unconscious; they earn nothing, receive nothing, even the memory of them soon disappears. They are no longer excited by the passions that belong to people in this life; their share in its activity has ceased. Solomon here describes what he sees, not what he believes. There is no reference here to the fact or the mode of the existence of the soul in another world, which are matters of faith.
The last clause of (Ecclesiastes 9:6) indicates that the writer confines his observations on the dead to their portion in, or relation to, this world.
(Ecclesiastes 9:6) Now - Rather: “long ago.”
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