Ecclesiastes 6:12

For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun? WHO KNOWETH WHAT IS GOOD? ... The ungodly know not what is really "good" during life, nor "what shall be after them," i:e., what will be the event of their undertakings; or what will be their state and their circumstances (; ), not merely after their death, but an hour, a day, a year after the present. The godly might be tempted to 'contend with God' () as to His dispensations; but they cannot fully know the wise purposes served by them now and hereafter. Their sufferings are more really good for them than cloudless prosperity: si...

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 well as the richest, and is under no real disadvantage. We cannot say, Better is the sight of the eyes than the resting of the soul in God; for it is better to live by faith in things to come, than to live by sense, which dwells only upon present things. Our lot is appointed. We have what pleases God, and let that please us. The greatest possessions and honours cannot set us above the common events of human life. Seeing that the things men pursue on earth increase vanities, what is man the better for his worldly devices? Our life upon earth is to be reckoned by days. It is fleeting and uncertain, and with little in it to be fond of, or to be depended on. Let us return to God, trust in his me...

Verse Ecclesiastes 6:12. _FOR WHO KNOWETH WHAT_ IS _GOOD FOR MAN IN_ THIS _LIFE_] Those things which we deem _good_ are often _evil_. And those which we think _evil_ are often _good_. So ignorant are we, that we run the greatest hazard in making a _choice_. It is better to leave ourselves and our concerns in the hands of the Lord, than to keep them in our own. _FOR WHO CAN TELL A MAN WHAT SHALL BE AFTER HIM_] Futurity is with God. While he lives, man wishes to know what is before him. When he is about to die, he wishes to know what will be after him. All this is vanity; God, because he is merciful, will reveal neither....

AFTER HIM - i. e., On earth, in his own present sphere of action, after his departure hence (compare Ecclesiastes 2:19; Ecclesiastes 3:22)....

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 gift of God. We may see men possessed of all the gifts of fortune, yet denied the faculty of enjoying them. Hence we again conclude that _wealth cannot secure happiness_. ECCLESIASTES 6:1 THERE IS AN EVIL WHICH I HAVE SEEN UNDER THE SUN. The writer presents his personal experience, that which has fallen under his own observation (comp. Ecclesiastes 5:13;...

FOR WHO KNOWETH WHAT [IS] GOOD FOR MAN IN [THIS] LIFE?.... To be in a higher or lower station of life, to live in grandeur or meanness, to be rich or poor, learned or unlearned; since that which seems most agreeable to human nature is at, ended with so much vanity, the occasion of so much sin, and often issues in ruin and misery, that no man knows what is best for him; and therefore it is the wisest way to be content with what a man has, and enjoy it in the most comfortable manner, and use it to the best ends and purposes he can. The Targum is, "for who is he that knows what is good for a man in this world, but to study in the law, which is the life of the world?'' so the Midrash, ALL THE DAYS OF HIS VAIN LIFE, WHICH HE SPENDETH AS A SHADOW? or "the number of the days of vain life, which he makes as a shadow" d; that is, which God makes as a "shadow", as Cocceius observes; makes to pa...

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 (Ecclesiastes 6:10) Ecclesiastes 6:1. The first evil the wise searcher sees as a discouraging contradiction is, that God giveth a man riches, wealth, and honor so that he does not lack in anything whatever. But God does not give him the power to enjoy it, a stranger instead eats thereof. This makes impossible what he stated in the closing verses of the preceding chapter. The cherished desires of man

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 are unfulfilled. Having no keen satisfaction himself he yet hopes to see his son enjoy his acquisitions, but he is childless, or if he has the blessings of a large family (a hundred is just a round number) and a long life both highly prized by the Jews the children may disappoint him by their conduct and so fill his soul with sorrow instead of satisfying it with good, and he may even yet undergo the supreme dishonour of lacking interment. _Cf._ Jezebel (2 Kings 9:35) and Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 22:19), and many other references both in biblical and classical literature, especially the Greek legend of Antigone

ALL THE DAYS OF HIS VAIN LIFE. the numbered days of his vain life. FOR. as to which....

_who knoweth what is good for man_ We have once more the distinctive formula of Pyrrhonism. "Who knows?" was the sceptic's question, then as at all times. See note on ch. Ecclesiastes 3:21. After all discussions on the supreme good, some pointing to pleasure, and some to virtue, and some to apathy, who can give a definite and decisive answer? Life remained after all vain, and not worth living. See again the poem of Omar Khayyam in the _Appendix_. _which he spendeth as a shadow_ The thought was so natural as to be all but universal. It had been uttered by Job (Ecclesiastes 8:9), and by David (1 Chronicles 29:15). It was uttered also by Sophocles: ὁρῶ γὰρ ἡμᾶς οὐδὲν ὄντας ἄλλο,