John Gill Commentary Ecclesiastes 6

There is an evil which I have seen under the sun
The Vulgate Latin version reads it, another evil; but wrongly, for the same is considered as before, the evil of covetousness; which is one of the evil things that come out of the heart of man; is abominable to the Lord, contrary to his nature and will, and a breach of his law, which forbids it, and is the root of all evil; this is an evil under the sun, for there is nothing of this kind above it; and it fell under the observation of Solomon in various instances; and it is common among men ^F21 ;
or, "great over men"; or "over the man", the covetous man: it spreads itself over them; few were free from it, even so long ago, in those early times, and in such times in which silver was made no account of, and was like stones in Jerusalem, as common as they; and yet the sin of covetousness, of hoarding up money and making no use of it, for a man's own good, and the good of others, was very rife among men, (1 Kings 10:27).

FOOTNOTES:

• F21: (Mdah le ayh hbrw) "et multum ipsum super hominem", Montanus; "et magaum est illud super hominem istum", Rambachius.

A man to whom God has given riches, wealth, and honour
By "riches" may be meant gold and silver, things which a covetous man is never satisfied with; and by "wealth", cattle, with which farms and fields are stocked: the wealth of men, especially in former times, and in the eastern countries, lay very much in these, as did the wealth of Abraham and Job, (Genesis 13:2) (Job 1:3) ; and all these, as they are reckoned glorious and honourable in themselves; so they create honour and glory among men, and raise to high and honourable places; and these, as they go, they are usually put together, and are called by the name of honour and glory itself; see (Proverbs 3:16) (2 Chronicles 1:11 2 Chronicles 1:12) (Genesis 31:1) . And they are all the gifts of God, which he either as blessings bestows upon men, or suffers men to attain unto, though a curse may go along with them; which is the case here, for no man whatever is possessed of them but by the will of God or his divine permission; see (1 Chronicles 29:12) ; and which a man may, and sometimes has, such a plentiful portion of;

so that he wants nothing for his soul of all that he desireth :
he has not only for the supply of his wants, what is necessary for his daily use and service, but even what is for delight and pleasure; yea, as much as he could reasonably wish for; nay, more than heart could wish, (Psalms 73:7) ;

yet God has him not power to eat thereof ;
the Targum adds, "because of his sin"; either he takes it away from him, he making no use of it; or his appetite is taken away, that he has no desire to it; or rather he has no heart to enjoy what he has, and scarce any part of it; not to eat and drink, and wear suitably to his circumstances, but grudges whatever he lays out on his back or belly, or in housekeeping in his family; for though God gives him a large substance, yet not a heart to make use of it, without which he cannot enjoy it; and therefore it would have been as good, or better for him, to have been without it; see (Ecclesiastes 5:19) ;

but a stranger eateth it ;
the Syriac version adds, "after him"; enjoys it, not only a part of it, but the whole; one that is not akin to him, and perhaps was never known by him; and yet, by one means or another, either in a lawful or unlawful way, comes into the possession of all he has; this has been always reckoned a great unhappiness, (Lamentations 5:2) (Hosea 7:9) . Hence it follows,

this [is] vanity, and it [is] an evil disease ;
it is a vain thing to be possessed of great substance, and not enjoy anything of it in a comfortable way, through the sin of covetousness; which is a spiritual disease, and a very bad one; very prejudicial to the soul, and the state of it, and is rarely cured. Juvenal ^F23 calls it frenzy and madness for a man to live poor, that be may die rich; he is like the ass that Crassus Agelastus saw, loaded with figs, and eating thorns.

FOOTNOTES:

• F23: "Cum furor dubius" Satyr. 14. v. 136. exposed by Persius, Sat. 6. v. 69 "unge puer caules", &c.

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, (2 Chronicles 11:21) (2 Kings 10:1) ; this was reckoned a great honour and happiness to have many children; happy was the man that has his quiver full of them, (Psalms 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,

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 (Jeremiah 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.

For he comes in with vanity^F24. The Targum adds, "into this world." Some understand this of the abortive, and render it, "though he comes in with vanity", yet is to be preferred to the covetous man: others interpret it of the covetous man himself; and scrape of both: or, however, they may be compared together in these instances; the abortive comes into the world in vain, for nothing, and answers no purpose, as can well be observed; and the same may be said of a covetous rich man; he walks in a vain show, and is altogether vanity, in his coming in, in his life, and going out.

and departs in darkness^F25; or, "into darkness"; goes out of the world without any notice taken of him; and goes down to the dark grave, where he lies in obscurity.

and his name shall be covered with darkness; the abortive has no name, and is never spoken of; and so the name and memory of such a man as is here described rot and perish: and in this respect the abortive has the preference to him; for though he is covered with darkness, yet no ill is ever spoken of him; whereas the name of the wicked covetous man is cursed.

FOOTNOTES:

• F24: (ab yk) "quamvis venit", Drusius.
• F25: (Kvxb) "in tenebrositatem", Montanus; "in tenebras", Tigurine version, Mercerus, so Broughton.

Moreover, he has not seen the sun
This must be spoken of the abortive, and seems to confirm the sense of the former text, as belonging to it; and whereas it has never seen the light of the sun, nor enjoyed the pleasure and comfort of it, it is no ways distressing to it to be without it.

The Targum is, ``the light of the law he sees not; and knows not between good and evil, to judge between this world and that to come:'' so the Vulgate Latin version, "neither knows the difference of good and evil"; nor known [anything] ;

not the sun, nor anything else: or "experienced" ^F26 and "felt" the heat of the sun, and its comfortable influences; which a man may, who is blind, and has never seen it, but an abortive has not; and indeed has known no man, nor any creature nor thing in this world, and therefore it is no concern to it to be without them; and besides, has never had any knowledge or experience of the troubles of life, which every living man is liable to.

Wherefore this is certain, this has more rest than the other ;
that is, the abortive than the covetous man; having never been distressed with the troubles of life, and now not affected with the sense of loss.

FOOTNOTES:

• F26: (edy alw) "ueque expertus est", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Rambachius, so Broughton.