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Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

Ecclesiastes 6:8

Verse Ecclesiastes 6:8. For what hath the wise more than the fool?] They must both labour for the same end. Both depend upon the labour of themselves or others for the necessaries of life. Both must eat and drink in order to live; and the rich man can no more eat two meals at a time, than he can comfortably wear two changes of raiment. The necessaries of life are the same to both, and their condition in life is nearly similar; liable to the same diseases, dissolution, and death.

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See also Ecclesiastes 6:8 in other biblical comments:

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    Connect these verses with Ecclesiastes 6:2 : “All labor is undertaken with a view to some profit, but as a rule the people who labor are never satisfied. What advantage then has he who labors if (bein...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    CHAPTER 6 DISHEARTENING CONTRADICTIONS _ 1. Riches--Inability to enjoy them (Ecclesiastes 6:1)_ 2. Having All--Yet no fill of the soul (Ecclesiastes 6:3) 3. The sad ending wail (Eccle

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    ECCLESIASTES 6. FURTHER REFLECTIONS ON WEALTH AND FATE. Parallel with the bitter experience of the avaricious man who loses his wealth is that of the rich and successful man whose cherished desires ar...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    WHAT. what [advantage]. THE WISE. a wise one, or sage. THE FOOL. a fool. Hebrew. _kesil_. See note on Proverbs 1:7. THE POOR. a wretched one. Heb _'anah._ See note on "poverty", Proverbs 6:11....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _For what hath wise more than the fool?_ The question so far is easy. In this matter, the gifts of intellect make no difference. The wise, no less than the fool, is subject to the pressure of bodily n...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    WHAT HATH THE POOR, &C.— _What remaineth also to the very beggar, who knoweth how to walk before the living?_ The desire of the wise man who labours, is undoubtedly to make himself more comfortable th...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    3. Reasons why riches cannot satisfy Ecclesiastes 6:7-9 TEXT 6:7-9 7 All a man's labor is for his mouth and yet his appetite is not satisfied. 8 For what advantage does the wise man have over the...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    For what hath the wise more than the fool? what hath the poor, that knoweth to walk before the living? FOR WHAT HATH THE WISE MORE THAN THE FOOL? The "for" means (in contrast to the insatiability o...

  • Darby's translation notes (1890)

    6:8 poor, (g-13) Or 'afflicted.'...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    LIFE AN ENIGMA 1-6. Riches will not secure happiness....

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    THAT KNOWETH TO WALK BEFORE THE LIVING?] In other words, that has the skill so to conduct himself as to earn respect in the eyes of his fellows....

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    THE TEACHER SEARCHES FOR THE PURPOSE OF OUR LIVES BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES _HILDA BRIGHT AND KITTY PRIDE_ CHAPTER 6 A PERSON’S LIFE THAT IS NOT SATISFACTORY – ECCLESIASTES 6:1-6...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    THAT KNOWETH TO WALK. — _Understands how to conduct himself._ But why this should be limited to the poor is not obvious....

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    כִּ֛י מַה ־יֹּותֵ֥ר לֶ † חָכָ֖ם מִֽן...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    THIRD SECTION The Quest Of The Chief Good In Wealth, And In The Golden Mean Ecclesiastes 6:1; Ecclesiastes 7:1, and Ecclesiastes 8:1 IN the foregoing Section Coheleth has shown that the C

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    The preacher knows prosperity experimentally far better than poverty. Moreover, by observation he is more familiar with men of wealth than with poor men, and, therefore, he returns to a declaration of...

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    _Life. The wise poor shall be blessed. Hebrew, "the poor knowing how to walk before the living," (Haydock) in society (Calmet) among the saints. (Haydock)_...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled. (8) For what hath the wise more than the fool? what hath the poor, that knoweth to walk before the living? (9) Better is the...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY COVERS CHAPTER S 1 THROUGH 12. The Book of Ecclesiastes is, up to a certain point, the converse of the Book of Proverbs. (see NOTE TO PROVERBS below) It is the experience of a...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    FOR WHAT HATH THE WISE MORE THAN THE FOOL,.... More delight and pleasure, in gratifying his senses, by eating and drinking: the wise man enjoys no more than the fool; the fool finds as much pleasure i...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    For what hath the wise more than the fool? what hath the poor, that knoweth to walk before the living? Ver. 8. _For what hath the wise more than the fool?_] Nothing at all in this vanity of human nat...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _All the labour of man is for his mouth_ For meat and other necessary provisions of this life; _and yet the appetite is not filled_ Although all that a man can obtain by his labours is but a provision...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    OF THE VANITY OF EARTHLY RICHES....

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    For what hath the wise more than the fool? He who strives after real knowledge seems to have no advantage, according to outward appearances, over one who lives only for the satisfaction of his sensual...

  • Mark Dunagan Commentaries

    "FOR WHAT ADVANTAGE DOES THE WISE MAN HAVE OVER THE FOOL? WHAT ADVANTAGE DOES THE POOR MAN HAVE, KNOWING HOW TO WALK BEFORE THE LIVING?"DOES THE WISE MAN HAVE OVER THE FOOL?" -"When we object that men...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    7-12 A little will serve to sustain us comfortably, and a great deal can do no more. The desires of the soul find nothing in the wealth of the world to give satisfaction. The poor man has comfort as...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    THE FOOL, to wit, in these matters. Both are equally subject to the same calamities, and partakers of the same comforts of this life. BEFORE THE LIVING, to wit, before the poor, that doth not know thi...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Ecclesiastes 6:8 more H3148 wise H2450 fool H3684 poor H6041 knows H3045 (H8802) walk H1980 (H8800) living...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    EVEN THE WISE DO NOT IN THE LAST ANALYSIS HAVE ANY ADVANTAGE OVER THE UNTHINKING. SO WE SHOULD HOLD ON TO WHAT GOD GIVES US RATHER THAN DREAMING OF MORE (ECCLESIASTES 6:8). Ecclesiastes 6:8 ‘For what...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Ecclesiastes 5:8-7 I. We left Koheleth in the act of exhorting us to fear God. The fear of God, of course, implies a belief in the Divine superintendence of human affairs. This belief Koheleth now pro...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Ecclesiastes 5:9 ; ECCLESIASTES 6:1 I. In all grades of society human subsistence is very much the same. Even princes are not fed with ambrosia, nor do poets subsist on asphodel. The profit of the ea...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: The vanity of worldly wealth as pertaining only to the body. CHARACTERS: God, Solomon. CONCLUSION: Man deprives himself of the good he might have had of his worldly possessions by not cons...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Ecclesiastes 6:2. _But a stranger eateth it._ The richer families in Israel had often foreign servants, who rose to influence in their master's house. But greater was the affliction from invading armi...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION ECCLESIASTES 6:1 Section 9. Koheleth proceeds to illustrate the fact which he stated at the end of the last chapter, viz. that the possession and enjoyment of wealth are alike the free gif...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Now there is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it's common among men: A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honor, so that he wants nothing for his soul of all that he desires (E...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    1 Timothy 6:17; Ecclesiastes 2:14; Ecclesiastes 5:11; Genesis 17:1;...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    More — In these matters. Both are subject to the same calamities, and partakers of the same comforts of this life. The poor — More than the poor that doth not know this. He means such a poor man as is...

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