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Selected Verse: Ecclesiates 5:17 - King James
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Ec 5:17 |
King James |
All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
eateth--appropriately put for "liveth" in general, as connected with Ecc 5:11-12, Ecc 5:18.
darkness--opposed to "light (joy) of countenance" (Ecc 8:1; Pro 16:15).
wrath--fretfulness, literally, "His sorrow is much, and his infirmity (of body) and wrath." |
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Hath much sorrow ... - Rather, is very sad and hath pain and vexation. |
Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
"Also all his life long he eateth in darkness and grieveth himself much, and oh for his sorrow and hatred!" We might place Ecc 5:16 under the regimen of the שׁ of שׁיע of Ecc 5:15; but the Heb. style prefers the self-dependent form of sentences to that which is governed. The expression Ecc 5:16 has something strange. This strangeness disappears if, with Ewald and Heiligst., after the lxx and Jerome, for יאכל we read ואכל: καὶ ἐν πένθει; Bttch. prefers ואפל, "and in darkness." Or also, if we read ילך for יאכל; thus the Midrash here, and several codd. by Kennicott; but the Targ., Syr., and Masora read יאכל. Hitzig gets rid of that which is strange in this passage by taking כּל־ימיו as accus. of the obj., not of the time: all his days, his whole life he consumes in darkness; but in Heb. as in Lat. we say: consumere dies vitae, Job 21:13; Job 36:11, but not comedere; and why should the expression, "to eat in darkness," not be a figurative expression for a faithless, gloomy life, as elsewhere "to sit in darkness" (Mic 7:8), and "to walk in darkness"? It is meant that all his life long he ate אונים לחם, the bread of sorrow, or לחץ לחם, prison fare; he did not allow himself pleasant table comforts in a room comfortably or splendidly lighted, for it is unnecessary to understand חשׁך subjectively and figuratively (Hitz., Zck.).
In 16b the traditional punctuation is וכעס.
(Note: Thus in correct texts, in H. with the note: כ מלרע, viz., here and at Psa 112:10, only there ע has, according to tradition, the Kametz. Cf. Mas. fin. 52b, and Baer's Ed. of Psalter, under Psa 112:10.)
The perf. ruled by the preceding fut. is syntactically correct, and the verb כּעס is common with the author, Ecc 7:9. Hitzig regards the text as corrupt, and reads כּחליו and כּעס, and explains: and (he consumes or swallows) much grief in his, etc.; the phrase, "to eat sorrow," may be allowed (cf. Pro 26:6, cf. Job 15:16); but יאכל, as the representative of two so bold and essentially different metaphors, would be in point of style in bad taste. If the text is corrupt, it may be more easily rectified by reading וק לו וחלי הרבה וכּעס: and grief in abundance, and sorrow has he, and wrath. We merely suggest this. Ewald, Burger, and Bttch. read only וכעס הרבה וחלי; but לו is not to be dispensed with, and can easily be reduced to a mere vav. Elster retains וכעס, and reads, like Hitzig, בחליו: he grieves himself much in his sorrow and wrath; but in that case the word וקצפו was to be expected; also in this way the ideas do not psychologically accord with each other. However the text is taken, we must interpret וחליו וקצף as an exclamation, like הף, Isa 29:16; תּף, Jer 49:16; Ewald, 328a, as we have done above. That וח of itself is a subst. clause = וחלי לו is untenable; the rendering of the noun as forming a clause, spoken of under Ecc 2:21, is of a different character.
(Note: Rashi regards וחליו as a form like חיתו. This o everywhere appears only in a gen. connection.)
He who by his labour and care aims at becoming rich, will not only lay upon himself unnecessary privations, but also have many sorrows; for many of his plans fail, and the greater success of others awakens his envy, and neither he himself nor others satisfy him; he is morbidly disposed, and as he is diseased in mind, so also in body, and his constantly increasing dissatisfaction becomes at last קצף, he grumbles at himself, at God, and all the world. From observing such persons, Paul says of them (Ti1 6:6.): "They have pierced themselves through (transfoderunt) with many sorrows."
In view of these great evils, with which the possession of riches also is connected: of their deceitful instability, and their merely belonging to this present life, Koheleth returns to his ceterum censeo. |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
He eateth - He hath no comfort in his estate, but even when he eats, he doth it with anxiety and discontent. And wrath - When he falls sick, and presages his death, he is filled with rage, because he is cut off before he hath accomplished his designs, and because he must leave that wealth and world in which all his hopes and happiness lie. |
Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
All his days also he eateth in darkness - Even his enjoyments are embittered by uncertainty. He fears for his goods; the possibility of being deprived of them fills his heart with anguish. But instead of יאכל yochel, "he shall eat," ילך yelech, "he shall walk," is the reading of several MSS. He walks in darkness - he has no evidence of salvation. There is no ray of light from God to penetrate the gloom; and all beyond life is darkness impenetrable!
And wrath with his sickness - His last hours are awful; for,
"Counting on long years of pleasure here,
He's quite unfurnish'd for the world to come."
Blair.
He is full of anguish at the thought of death; but the fear of it is horrible. But if he have a sense of God's wrath in his guilty conscience, what horror can be compared with his horror! |
15 In the light of the king's countenance is life; and his favour is as a cloud of the latter rain.
1 Who is as the wise man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? a man's wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed.
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.
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.
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
21 For there is a man whose labour is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.
16 Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the LORD.
16 Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?
16 How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?
6 He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet, and drinketh damage.
9 Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.
10 The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.
10 The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.
8 Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.
11 If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.
13 They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.
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?
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?