Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ecclesiastes 6:4
For he cometh in with vanity, and departeth in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness.
4. 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 Ecc 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 Ecc 6:4 is made to apply in part to both terms of the comparison, so that it may be seen, on which side, both having so much in common, the balance of advantage lies. On “seeing the sun” as an equivalent for living, see chs. Ecc 7:11, Ecc 11:7; Job 3:16; Psa 49:20.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He … his – Rather, it … its. The untimely birth is spoken of.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
For; or rather, although, as this particle is frequently rendered. For this verse seems to contain not so much a reason of what he last said, that an untimely birth is better than he, as an answer to an exception which might be made against it. Although all that is here said be true of the abortive, yet it is better than he. He; either,
1. The covetous man. Or rather,
2. The abortive; of whom alone, and not of the former, that passage is true, he hath not seen the sun, Ecc 6:5. Cometh in; into the world, this word being oft put for a mans being born, as Job 1:21; Ecc 5:15. With vanity; or, in vain, to no purpose; without any comfort or benefit by it, which also is in a great measure the case of the covetous wretch.
Departeth in darkness; dieth obscurely, without any observation or regard of men.
Shall be covered with darkness; shall be speedily and utterly forgotten; whereas the name of such wicked men shall rot, and be remembered to their shame.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. herather “it,””the untimely birth.” So “its,” not “hisname.”
with vanityto nopurpose; a type of the driftless existence of him who makes richesthe chief good.
darknessof theabortive; a type of the unhonored death and dark future beyond thegrave of the avaricious.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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 here described rot and perish: and in this respect the abortive has the preference to him; for though he is covered with darkness, yet no ill is ever spoken of him; whereas the name of the wicked covetous man is cursed.
x “quamvis venit”, Drusius. y “in tenebrositatem”, Montanus; “in tenebras”, Tigurine version, Mercerus, so Broughton.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The comparison of an untimely birth with such a man is in favour of the former: “For it cometh in nothingness and departeth in darkness; and with darkness its name is covered. Moreover, it hath not seen the sun, and hath not known: it is better with it than with that other.” It has entered into existence, , because it was a lifeless existence into which it entered when its independent life should have begun; and , it departeth, for it is carried away in all quietness, without noise or ceremony, and “with darkness” its name is covered, for it receives no name and remains a nameless existence, and is forgotten as if it had never been. Not having entered into a living existence, it is also ( gam) thus happy to have neither seen the sun nor known and named it, and thus it is spared the sight and the knowledge of all the vanities and evils, the deceptions and sorrows, that are under the sun. When we compare its fate with the long joyless life of that man, the conclusion is apparent: … , plus quietis est huic quam illi , which, with the generalization of the idea of rest (Job 3:13) in a wider sense, is = melius est huic quam illi ( … , as at Ecc 3:19). The generalization of the idea proceeds yet further in the Mishn. , e.g.: “It is better ( ) for a man that he throw himself into a lime-kiln than that ( ), etc.” From this usage Symm. renders … as obj. to , and translates: ; and Jerome: neque cognovit distantiam boni et mali , – a rendering which is to be rejected, because thus the point of the comparison in which it terminates is broken, for 5 b draws the facit. It is true that this contains a thought to which it is not easy to reconcile oneself. For supposing that life were not in itself, as over against non-existence, a good, there is yet scarcely any life that is absolutely joyless; and a man who has become the father of an hundred children, has, as it appears, sought the enjoyment of life principally in sexual love, and then also has found it richly. But also, if we consider his life less as relating to sense: his children, though not all, yet partly, will have been a joy to him; and has a family life, so lengthened and rich in blessings, only thorns, and no roses at all? And, moreover, how can anything be said of the rest of an untimely birth, which has been without motion and without life, as of a rest excelling the termination of the life of him who has lived long, since rest without a subjective reflection, a rest not felt, certainly does not fall under the point of view of more or less, good or evil? The saying of the author on no side bears the probe of exact thinking. In the main he designs to say: Better, certainly, is no life than a joyless life, and, moreover, one ending dishonourably. And this is only a speciality of the general clause, Ecc 4:2., that death is better than life, and not being born is better than both. The author misunderstands the fact that the earthly life has its chief end beyond itself; and his false eudaemonism, failing to penetrate to the inward fountain of true happiness, which is independent of the outward lot, makes exaggerated and ungrateful demands on the earthly life.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(4) He.Rather, itviz., the untimely birth.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. He cometh in with vanity The abortion is further described. The “vanity” in which he comes is the disappointment of parental hope. The darkness in which he goes, is the quietness with which the little remains are put away. The darkness upon his name is the blank upon the family record, and the concealment of his existence in the utmost privacy of grief and mortification.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Ecc 6:4. For he cometh in with vanity, &c. For it is in vain he came, and he shall depart in darkness.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Ecc 6:4 For he cometh in with vanity, and departeth in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness.
Ver. 4. For he cometh in with vanity, &c. ] As nothing, being senseless of good or evil. “And departeth in darkness,” and is buried in hugger mugger. And his “name shall be covered,” &c., that is, there is no more talk of this abortive.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
he cometh: i.e. in the untimely birth of Ecc 6:3.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
his name: Psa 109:13
Reciprocal: Exo 10:21 – darkness
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
6:4 For {d} he cometh with vanity, and departeth in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness.
(d) Meaning, the untimely fruit whose life neither profited nor hurt any.