Ecclesiastes 6:4

For he cometh in with vanity, and departeth in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness. FOR HE - rather, it, the "untimely birth." COMETH IN WITH VANITY - to no purpose; a type of the driftless existence of him who maketh riches the chief good. AND HIS NAME SHALL BE COVERED WITH DARKNESS - the name of the untimely embryo. Translate, 'its name;' of the abortive: a type of the unhonoured death and dark future beyond the grave, of the avaricious....

1-6 A man often has all he needs for outward enjoyment; yet the Lord leaves him so to covetousness or evil dispositions, that he makes no good or comfortable use of what he has. By one means or other his possessions come to strangers; this is vanity, and an evil disease. A numerous family was a matter of fond desire and of high honour among the Hebrews; and long life is the desire of mankind in general. Even with these additions a man may not be able to enjoy his riches, family, and life. Such a man, in his passage through life, seems to have been born for no end or use. And he who has entered on life only for one moment, to quit it the next, has a preferable lot to him who has lived long, but only to suffer....

HE ... HIS - Rather, it ... its. The untimely birth is spoken of....

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 HE COMETH IN WITH VANITY,.... The Targum adds, "into this world." Some understand this of the abortive, and render it, "though he cometh in with vanity" x, 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 DEPARTETH IN DARKNESS; or, "into darkness" y; 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 her...

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

HE COMETH: i.e. in the untimely birth of Ecclesiastes 6:3....

_he cometh in with vanity_ The pronoun in the English Version refers the clause to the man who has heaped up riches, and had a long life with no real enjoyment. Probably, however, the words describe, in harmony with the thought of the preceding verse, the portion of the still-born child. IT comes and goes, and is forgotten, and never sees the sun, and tastes not the misery of life. The last clause of Ecclesiastes 6:5, THERE IS REST TO THIS RATHER THAN TO THAT ("rest" idealised, as in Job 3:13, as in itself all but the supreme good that man can strive after), seems to make this construction certain. Possibly, however, the description of Ecclesiastes 6:4 is made to apply in part to both terms of the comparison

FOR HE COMETH IN WITH VANITY, &C.— _For it is in vain he came, and he shall depart in darkness._...