Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Ecclesiastes
Book: Ecclesiastes
Chapter: 5
Overview:
What renders devotion vain.
(1-3) Of
Vows, and oppression.
(4-8) The vanity of riches shown.
(9-7) The right use of riches.
(18-20)
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.
4-8 When a person made engagements rashly, he suffered his
mouth to cause his
Flesh to
Sin. The case supposes a
Man coming
to the
Priest, and pretending that his vow was made rashly, and
that it would be wrong to fulfil it. Such mockery of
God would
bring the Divine displeasure, which might blast what was thus
unduly kept. We are to keep down the fear of
Man. Set
God before
thee; then, if thou seest the oppression of the
Poor, thou wilt
not find fault with Divine
Providence; nor think the worse of
the institution of magistracy, when thou seest the ends of it
thus perverted; nor of religion, when thou seest it will not
secure men from suffering wrong. But though oppressors may be
secure,
God will reckon for all.
9-17 The
Goodness of
Providence is more equally distributed
than appears to a careless observer. The
King needs the common
things of
Life, and the
Poor share them; they relish their
morsel better than he does his luxuries. There are bodily
desires which
Silver itself will not satisfy, much less will
worldly abundance satisfy spiritual desires. The more men have,
the better
House they must keep, the more servants they must
employ, the more guests they must
Entertain, and the more they
will have
Hanging On them. The sleep of the labourer is sweet,
not only because he is tired, but because he has little care to
break his sleep. The sleep of the diligent
Christian, and his
long sleep, are sweet; having spent himself and his time in the
service of
God, he can cheerfully repose in
God as his
Rest. But
those who have every thing else, often fail to secure a good
night's sleep; their abundance breaks their
Rest. Riches do
hurt, and draw away the
Heart from
God and duty. Men do hurt
with their riches, not only gratifying their own lusts, but
oppressing others, and dealing hardly with them. They will see
that they have laboured for the wind, when, at
Death, they find
the profit of their labour is all gone like the wind, they know
not whither. How ill the covetous worldling bears the calamities
of human
Life! He does not sorrow to
Repentance, but is angry at
the
Providence of
God, angry at all about him; which doubles his
affliction.
18-20 Life is
God's
Gift. We must not view our
Calling as a
drudgery, but take pleasure in the
Calling where
God puts us. A
cheerful
Spirit is a great blessing; it makes employments easy,
and
Afflictions Light. Having made a proper use of riches, a
Man
will remember the days of his past
Life with pleasure. The
manner in which
Solomon refers to
God as the Giver, both of
Life
and its enjoyments, shows they ought to be received and to be
used, consistently with his will, and to his
Glory. Let this
Passage recommend to all the kind words of the merciful
Redeemer, "Labour not for the meat that perisheth, but for that
meat which endureth unto
Everlasting Life."
Christ is the
Bread
of
Life, the only
Food of the soul. All are invited to partake
of this heavenly provision.