Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ecclesiastes 5:20
For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth [him] in the joy of his heart.
20. he shall not much remember the days of his life ] This follows the order of the Hebrew and gives a satisfying meaning: The man who has learnt the secret of enjoyment is not anxious about the days of his life, does not brood even over its transitoriness, but takes each day tranquilly, as it comes, as God’s gift to him. By some commentators, however, the sentence is construed so as to give just the opposite sense, “ He remembereth (or should remember) that the days of his life are not many,” i.e. never loses sight of the shortness of human life. It is difficult to see how the translators of the A. V. could have been led to their marginal reading “ Though he give not much, yet he remembereth the days of his life.”
because God answereth him in the joy of his heart ] The verb has been very variously rendered, (1) “ God occupies him with the joy ,” or (2) “ God makes him sing with the joy ,” or (3) “ God causeth him to work for the enjoyment ,” or (4) “ God makes all answer ( i.e. correspond with) his wishes,” or (5) “ God himself corresponds to his joy,” i.e. is felt to approve it as harmonizing, in its calm evenness, with His own blessedness. The last is, perhaps, that which has most to commend it. So taken, the words find a parallel in the teaching of Epicurus, “The Blessed and the Immortal neither knows trouble of its own nor causeth it to others. Wherefore it is not influenced either by wrath or favour,” (Diog. Laert. x. 1. 139). The tranquillity of the wise man mirrors, the Teacher implies, the tranquillity of God. So Lucretius;
“Omnis enim per se divum natura necessest,
Immortali vo summ cum pace fruatur,
Semota ab nostris rebus sejunctaque longe;
Nam privata dolore omni, privata periclis,
Ipsa suis pollens opibus, nil indiga nostri,
Nec bene promeritis capitur neque tangitur ira.”
“The nature of the Gods must need enjoy
Life everlasting in supreme repose,
Far from our poor concerns and separate:
For from all pain exempt, exempt from risks,
Rich in its own wealth, needing nought of ours,
’
Tis neither soothed by gifts nor stirred by wrath.”
De Rer. Nat. ii. 646 651.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The days will pass smoothly and pleasantly, while he lives in the consciousness of Gods favor.
Answereth him – i. e., grants his prayers.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 20. For he shall not much remember] The person who acts in this way, extracts all the good requisite from life. He passes through things temporal so as not to lose those that are eternal: –
“Calm and serene, the road of life to him,
Or long or short, rugged or smooth, with thorns
O’erspread, or gay with flowers, is but a road.
Such fare as offers grateful he accepts,
And smiling to his native home proceeds.”
C.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He shall not much remember; so as to disquiet or vex himself therewith.
The days; either,
1. The troubles; days being here put for evil or sad days, by a usual synecdoche, as Job 18:20; Psa 137:7; Ob 12; Mic 7:4. Or,
2. The time in general; which is irksome and tedious to men oppressed with discontent or misery, who usually reckon every hour or minute that passeth, and have their minds and thoughts constantly fixed upon the vanity and uncertainty of this life, upon the afflictions which they have already endured and may further expect; whereas to men of contented and cheerful minds the time is short and sweet, and passeth over them before they are aware of it, and they enjoy their present comforts without perplexing themselves about former or future events.
Answereth him; answereth, either,
1. His labours with success, as money is said to answer all things, Ecc 10:19, because it is equivalent to all, and able to purchase all things. Or,
2. His desires. In the joy of his heart; in giving him that solid joy and comfort of his labours which his heart expected and desired.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
20. He will not remember much,looking back with disappointment, as the ungodly do (Ec2:11), on the days of his life.
answereth . . . in thejoyGod answers his prayers in giving him “power”to enjoy his blessings. GESENIUSand Vulgate translate, “For God (so) occupies him withjoy,” c., that he thinks not much of the shortness and sorrowsof life. HOLDEN, “ThoughGod gives not much (as to real enjoyment), yet he remembers (withthankfulness) the days for (he knows) God exercises him by thejoy,” &c. (tries him by prosperity), so Margin, butEnglish Version is simplest.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For he shall not much remember the days of his life,…. Be they more or fewer, as Jarchi: he will not think life long and tedious; nor dwell upon, and distress himself with, the troubles he has met with, or is likely to meet with; but, being content with the good things God has given him, and freely and cheerfully enjoying them, he passes away his time delightfully and pleasantly. Some, as Aben Ezra observes, and which he approves of, and is agreeably to the accents, render the words, “if he [has] not much, he remembers the days of his life” t; if he has but little of the good things of this life, he remembers how few his days are he has to live; and doubts not he shall have enough to carry him to the end of his days, and therefore is quite easy and content; he calls to mind how he has been supplied all his days hitherto, and is persuaded that that God, who has provided for him, will continue his goodness to him, and that he shall not want any good thing; and therefore does not distress himself with what is to come;
because God answereth [him] in the joy of his heart; he calls upon God for a blessing on his labours, asks of him his daily food, and desires what may be proper and sufficient for him, or what he judges is necessary and convenient; and God answers his prayers and petitions, and good wishes, by filling his heart with food and gladness; and giving him that cheerfulness of spirit, and thankfulness of heart, in the enjoyment of every blessing; and especially if along with it he lifts up the light of his countenance, and grants him joy in the Holy Ghost; he will go on so pleasantly and comfortably as to forget all his former troubles; and it will dissipate his doubts and fears about how he shall live for the future.
t “quod si non multum recordabitur dierum vitae suae”, Junius & Tremellius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Over this enjoyment he forgets the frailty and the darkened side of this life. It proves itself to be a gift of God, a gift from above: “For he doth not (then) think much of the days of his life; because God answereth the joy of his heart.” Such an one, permitted by God to enjoy this happiness of life, is thereby prevented from tormenting himself by reflections regarding its transitoriness. Incorrectly, Hengst.: Remembrance and enjoyment of this life do not indeed last long, according to Ewald, who now, however, rightly explains: He will not, by constant reflection on the brevity of his life, too much embitter this enjoyment; because God, indeed, grants to him true heart-joy as the fairest gift. The meaning of Ecc 5:19 is also, in general, hit upon. The lxx translates: “because God occupies him with the joy of his heart;” but for that we ought to have had the word ; Jerome helps it, for he reads instead of : eo quod Deus occupet deliciis cor ejus . But also, in this form, this explanation of is untenable; for , the causat. of which would be , signifies, in the style of Koheleth, not in general to busy oneself with something, but to weary oneself with something; hence cannot mean: to be occupied with joy, and thereby to be drawn away from some other thing. And since the explanation: “he makes him sing,” needs to argument to dispose of it, thus remains only as the Hiph. of , to meet, to respond to, grant a request. Accordingly, Hitz., like Aben Ezra and Kimchi, comparing Hos 2:23.: God makes to answer, i.e., so works that all things which have in or of themselves that which can make him glad, must respond to his wish. But the omission of the obj. – of which Hitz. remarks, that because indefinite it is left indefinite – is insufferably hard, and the explanation thus ambiguous. Most interpreters translate: for God answers (Gesen. He. Wrt. B., incorrectly: answered) him with joy of his heart, i.e., grants this to him in the way of answer. Ewald compares Psa 65:6; but that affords no voucher for the expression: to answer one with something = to grant it to him; for is there connected with a double accus., and is the adv. statement of the way and manner. But above all, against this interpretation is the fact of the want of the personal obj. The author behoved to have written or . We take the Hiph. as in the sense of the Kal, but give it its nearest signification: to answer, and explain, as in a similar manner Seb. Schmid, Rambam, and others have already done: God answers to the joy of his heart, i.e., He assents to it, or (using an expression which is an exact equivalent), He corresponds to it. This makes the joy a heart-joy, i.e., a joy which a man feels not merely externally, but in the deepest recess of his heart, for the joy penetrates his heart and satisfies it (Son 3:11; Isa 30:29; Jer 15:16). A similar expression, elsewhere not found, we had at Ecc 5:9 in . Why should not ( ) be possible with , just as is with ? For the rest, is not needed as obj.; we can take it also as an expression of the state or condition: God gives answer in the heart-joy of such an one. In , to answer, to hear the answer, is thought of as granting a request; here, as giving assent to. Job 35:9 affords a twofold suitable example, that the Hiph. can have an enlarged Kal signification.
After the author has taken the opportunity of once more expressing his ultimatum, he continues to register the sad evils that cling to wealth.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(20) In the enjoyment of Gods gifts he does not think much of the sorrows or brevity of life. This is the usual explanation; and though not satisfied with it, we cannot suggest a better.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
20. In this verse much agrees with the days of his life. A better placing would be, For he must remember the days of his life are not many in which God gives him power to work for the joy of his heart. The grammar clears up the sense.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
REFLECTIONS
MY soul! are all things here below empty and unsatisfying: and is there a rest that remaineth for the people of God? And wilt thou not, then, after such repeated convictions as these scriptures afford of human vanity and human disappointment, be prompted, like the Patriarchs to seek a City that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Enquire, my soul, in the history of these holy men gone before, from what cause it was that their lives were so peaceful, and honourable; and their deaths so triumphant and glorious. And the reason is assigned, in all that is said of them, They walked by faith, and not by sight. They did, as Abraham the great father of the faithful did, they believed God, and it was accounted to them for righteousness. They went out, when called upon to go forth into a place which they should afterwards receive for an inheritance, not knowing whither they went. God had promised, and that was enough. They took God at his word. And they were not afraid, but depended upon his faithfulness.
Do thou, my soul, the same. God’s promise in Christ is the same now as it was then: or rather, it is now confirmed beyond the possibility of failure in that all the promised undertaking of Christ hath been accomplished. Look forward, look upward then, my soul, and contemplate the glories which shortly shall be revealed. And when, at any time, some renewed instance of vanity, arising from the things here below, shall occur, turn away thine eyes, and behold with faith that upper brighter world. There neither sin, nor Satan; care, nor anxiety; fightings without, nor fears within; can arise to break in upon thy everlasting enjoyments. There dwells Jehovah, manifesting himself in Christ to all his redeemed. There the Lamb, that is in the midst of the throne, is leading the church to fountains of living waters, and all tears are forever wiped away from off all faces. Say, my soul! art thou indeed to dwell there – to go out no more. Are these vanities here below no longer to distress; neither these eyes of thine to behold sin? And shall not even the prospect of such felicity, fill thee with a joy unspeakable, and full of glory? Oh! for the holy longing of the church; Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe, or to a young hart, upon the mountains of spices.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Ecc 5:20 For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth [him] in the joy of his heart.
Ver. 20. For he shall not much remember, &c. ] He vexeth not at the brevity or misery of his life, but looketh upon himself as a stranger here, and therefore if he can have a better condition, he “useth it rather,” 1Co 7:21 as if a traveller can get a better room in an inn, he will; if not, he can be content, for, saith he, it is but for a night.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
answereth = causeth [things] to respond, as in Hos 2:21, Hos 2:22. See note on Ecc 10:19.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
For he shall not much remember: or, Though he give not much, yet he rembemereth, etc. Psa 37:16
because: Deu 28:8-12, Deu 28:47, Psa 4:6, Psa 4:7, Isa 64:5, Isa 65:13, Isa 65:14, Isa 65:21-24, Rom 5:1, Rom 5:5-11
Reciprocal: Job 11:16 – Because
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
5:20 For he shall not much remember the days of his {p} life; because God answereth [him] in the joy of his heart.
(p) He will take no great thought for the pains that he has endured in times past.