Ecclesiastes 5:1

Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. From vanity connected with kings, he passes to vanities () which may be fallen into in serving the King of kings, even by those who, convinced of the vanity of the creature, wish to worship the Creator. KEEP, THY FOOT. So the Qeri'. But the original Kethibh, 'thy feet' (). In going to worship, go with considerate, circumspect, reverent feeling. Better not to go at all, than to go in a wrong spirit. The allusion is to the taking off of the shoes, or sandals in entering a temple (;...

1-3 Address thyself to the worship of God, and take time to compose thyself for it. Keep thy thoughts from roving and wandering: keep thy affections from running out toward wrong objects. We should avoid vain repetitions; copious prayers are not here condemned, but those that are unmeaning. How often our wandering thoughts render attendance on Divine ordinances little better than the sacrifice of fools! Many words and hasty ones, used in prayer, show folly in the heart, low thoughts of God, and careless thoughts of our own souls....

CHAPTER V _The reverence to be observed in attending Divine worship_, 1-3. _We should be faithfu1 to over engagements_, 4-7. _The oppression of the innocent_, 8. _The king dependent on the produce of the soil_, 9. _Against covetousness_, 10, 11. _The peace of the honest labourer_, 12. _The evil effect of riches_, 13, 14. _Man cannot carry his property to the grave_, 15-17. _We should thankfully enjoy the blessings of God_, 18-20. NOTES ON CHAP. V Verse...

KEEP THY FOOT - i. e., Give thy mind to what thou art going to do. THE HOUSE OF GOD - It has been said that here an ordinary devout Hebrew writer might have been expected to call it “the house of Yahweh;” but to those who accept this book as the work of Solomon after his fall into idolatry, it will appear a natural sign of the writer’s self-humiliation, an acknowledgment of his unworthiness of the privileges of a son of the covenant, that he avoids the name of the Lord of the covenant (see Ecclesiastes 1:13 note). BE MORE READY TO HEAR - Perhaps in the sense that, “to draw near for the purpose of hearing (and obeying) is better than etc.”...

EXPOSITION ECCLESIASTES 5:1 Section 6. Man's outward and secular life being unable to secure happiness and satisfaction, can these be found in _popular religion?_ Religious exercises need the observation of strict rules, which are far from meeting with general attention. Koheleth proceeds to give instruction, in the form of maxims, concerning public worship, prayer, and vows. ECCLESIASTES 5:1 This verse, in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin Bibles, forms the conclusion of Ecclesiastes 4:1; and is taken independently; but the division in our version is more natural, and the connection of this with the following verses is obvious....

KEEP THY FOOT WHEN THOU GOEST TO THE HOUSE OF GOD,.... The house of the sanctuary of the Lord, the temple built by Solomon; and so any place of divine worship, where the word of God is preached, and his ordinances administered. The wise man, having observed many vanities under the sun, directs men to the house of God, where they might learn the nature of them, and how to avoid them; though if care was not taken, they would find or introduce vanity there; which, of all vanities, is the worst, and ought to be guarded against. Wherefore, when men go to any place of divine worship, which to do is their duty and interest, and for their honour, pleasure, and profit, they should take care to "keep [their] feet", for the singular is here put for the plural, not from going into it; nor does it signify a slow motion towards it, which should be quick, in haste, showing earnestness, fervency, and ze...

3. EXHORTATIONS ON DIFFERENT VANITIES CHAPTER 5 _ 1. Concerning worship and vows (Ecclesiastes 5:1)_ 2. Concerning extortions (Ecclesiastes 5:8) 3. The vanities of wealth (Ecclesiastes 5:10) 4. The conclusion (Ecclesiastes 5:18) Ecclesiastes 5:1. The writer, King Solomon, seems to have been exhausted in his descriptions as to the things under the sun. He pauseth and turns to something different. He meditates on worship, that man aims to get in touch with the unsee

REALITY IN RELIGION. This section deals with worship and vows. Those who go to the house of God (whether Temple or synagogue is not clear) must go reverently and thoughtfully. Keep thy foot recalls the Oriental practice of removing one's shoes in sacred places (Exodus 3:5). The great requirement in religion is not the ritual sacrifice but the spirit of discipleship and obedience (1 Samuel 15:22 and the prophets _passim)._ Read, with a slight change, for they know nothing except how to do evil. Ecclesiastes 5:2 may refer to prayer (_cf._ Matthew 6:7) or to vows (_cf._...

GOD. Hebrew. _Elohim._ (with Art). the [true] God, or the Deity. App-4. See note on Ecclesiastes 1:13. HEAR. obey. FOOLS. fat, inert. Hebrew kesil. See note on Proverbs 1:7....

_Keep thy foot_ In the Heb., LXX. and Vulg. this verse forms the conclusion to chap. 4. The English version is obviously right, however, in its division of the chapter. The moralist reviews a new region of experience. "Vanity" has been found in all that belongs to the outward secular life of men. Is their higher life, that which we call their religion, free from it? Must not the DEBATER, from his standpoint, rebuke the follies and sins even of the godly? Here, as might be expected, we have an intermingling of two elements of thought, the traditional teaching which the thinker has learnt from psalmist and prophet, and the maxims which have come to him from his Greek, probably from his Epicurean, teachers. Both, it will be seen, find echoes in the precepts that follow. The precepts are suggestive as shewing the kind of religion which the DEBATER had seen in Palestine, the germs of the form...