Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ecclesiastes 4:14
For out of prison he cometh to reign; whereas also [he that is] born in his kingdom becometh poor.
14. For out of prison he cometh to reign ] The pronouns are ambiguous in the Hebrew as in English, and the clauses have consequently been taken in very different ways, as referring to one and the same person, or to the two who had been named in the preceding verse (1) “For one cometh out of prison to reign, though he (the young successor) was born poor in his kingdom” (that of the old king, or that which was afterwards to be his own); or (2) “For one cometh out of prison to reign, while a king becomes a beggar in his kingdom.” Here also a reference has been found to the history of Onias under Ptolemy Euergetes. Josephus describes him ( Ant. xii. 4) as “of a little soul and a great lover of money” while his nephew Joseph “young in age” was “of great reputation for gravity, wisdom and justice,” and obtained from the king permission to farm the revenues of Clesyria, Phnicia, Samaria and Juda. It can scarcely be said however that the case thus narrated is parallel with what we find in the verse before us. There is no king old or young, coming out of prison, or reduced to poverty. On the whole, unless the words refer to some unrecorded incident, some vague reminiscence of Cyrus and Astyages seems more likely to have been before the writer’s mind. According to one version of that history Cyrus had been brought up in poverty (Herod. i. 112), and was so strictly guarded that Harpagus had recourse to stratagem to convey a letter into his hands (Herod. i. 123).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 14. For out of prison he cometh to reign] “Then Abraham left the country of the idolaters, where he had been imprisoned, and came and reigned over the land of Canaan; and Nimrod became poor in this world.” This is the fact to which the ancient rabbins supposed Solomon to allude.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Out of prison, into which he was cast for his poverty and debt, he, the poor and wise child,
cometh to reign; is ofttimes advanced by his wisdom to the highest power and dignity; which was the case of Joseph, and Mordecai, and many others.
He that is born in his kingdom, that old king, who was born of the royal race, and had possessed his kingdom for a long time,
becometh poor; is deprived of his kingdom, either by the rebellion of his subjects provoked by his folly, or by the power of some other and wiser prince.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14. out of prisonSolomon usesthis phrase of a supposed case; for example, Joseph raised from adungeon to be lord of Egypt. His words are at the same time so framedby the Holy Ghost that they answer virtually to Jeroboam, who fled toescape a “prison” and death from Solomon, to Shishak ofEgypt (1Ki 11:40). Thisunconscious presaging of his own doom, and that of Rehoboam,constitutes the irony. David’s elevation from poverty and exile,under Saul (which may have been before Solomon’s mind), had so fartheir counterpart in that of Jeroboam.
whereas . . . becomethpoorrather, “though he (the youth) was born poor in hiskingdom” (in the land where afterwards he was to reign).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For out of prison he cometh to reign,…. That is, this is sometimes the case of a poor and wise child; he rises out of a low, mean, abject, obscure state and condition, to the highest dignity; from a prison house, or a place where servants are, to sit among princes, and even to have the supreme authority: so Joseph, to whose case Solomon is thought to have respect, and which is mentioned in the Midrash; who was but a young man, and poor and friendless, but wise; and was even laid in prison, though innocent and guiltless, from whence he was fetched, and became the second man in the kingdom of Egypt; so David, the youngest of Jesse’s sons, was taken from the sheepfold, and set upon the throne of Israel: though Gussetius e interprets this of the old and foolish king, who comes out of the house or family, , of degenerate persons, as he translates the word, with a degenerate genius to rule; the allusion being to a degenerate vine; which sense agrees with Ec 4:13, and with what follows;
whereas also [he that is] born in his kingdom becometh poor; who is born of royal parents, born to a kingdom; is by birth heir to one, has it by inheritance, and has long possessed it; and yet, by his own misconduct, or by the rebellion of his subjects, he is dethroned and banished; or by a foreign power is taken and carried captive, and reduced to the utmost poverty, as Zedekiah, Nebuchadnezzar, and others: or if born poor, so Gussetius; with a poor genius, not capable of ruling, and so loses his kingdom, and comes to poverty. Or it may be rendered, “although in his kingdom he is born poor” f; that is, though the poor and wise child is born poor in the kingdom of the old and foolish king; yet, out of this low estate, in which he is by birth, he comes and enjoys the kingdom in his room to such a strange turn of affairs are the highest honours subject: or, “for in his kingdom he is born poor” g; even the person that is born heir to a crown is born a poor man; he comes as naked out of his mother’s womb as the poorest man does; the conditions of both are equal as to birth; and therefore it need not seem strange that one out of prison should come to a kingdom. But the first sense seems best.
e Ebr. Comment. p. 553. f “quamvis etiam”, Gejerus. g “Nam etiam”, Tigurine version, Cocceius; “quia etiam”, Pagninus, Montanus, Schmidt, Rambachius, so Aben Ezra.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“For out of the prison-house he goeth forth to reign as king, although he was born as a poor man in his kingdom.” With the properties of poverty and wisdom attributed to the young man are verified, – wisdom in this, that he knew how to find the way from a prison to a throne. As harammim , 2Ch 22:5 = haarammim , 2Ki 8:28, so hasurim = haasurim (cf. masoreth = maasoreth , Eze 20:37); beth haasirim ( Ker ; haasurim ), Jdg 16:21, Jdg 16:25, and beth haesur , Jer 38:15, designate the prison; cf. Mod katan, Ecc 3:1. The modern form of the language prefers this elision of the , e.g., = , = , post = contra, etc. The perf. is also thought of as having reached the throne, and having pre-eminence assigned to him as such. He has come forth from the prison to become king, … . Zckler translates: “Whereas also he that was born in his kingdom was poor,” and adds the remark: “ , after the of the preceding clause, does not so much introduce a verification of it, as much rather an intensification; by which is expressed, that the prisoner has not merely transitorily fallen into such misery, but that he was born in poor and lowly circumstances, and that in his own kingdom , i.e., in the same land which he should afterwards rule as king.” But is nowhere used by Koheleth in the sense of “ ja auch ” (= whereas also); and also where it is thus to be translated, as at Jer 14:18; Jer 23:11, it is used in the sense of “ denn auch ” (= for also), assigning proof. The fact is, that this group of particles, according as is thought of as demonst. or relat., means either “ denn auch ,” Ecc 4:16; Ecc 7:22; Ecc 8:16, or “ wenn auch ” = , as here and at Ecc 8:12. In the latter case, it is related to (sometimes also merely , Psa 95:9; Mal 3:15), as ( ) , although, notwithstanding, is to ( ), even although.
(Note: That the accentuation separates the two words is to be judged from this, that it almost everywhere prefers ( vid., under Comm. to Psa 1:2).)
Thus 14 b, connecting itself with , is to be translated: “although he was born ( ,not ) in his kingdom as a poor man.”
(Note: cannot mean “to become poor.” Grtz appeals to the Mishnic language; but no intelligent linguist will use of a man in any other sense than that he is originally poor.)
We cannot also concur with Zckler in the view that the suff. of :_b refers to the young upstart: in the kingdom which should afterwards become his; for this reason, that the suff. of , Ecc 4:16, refers to the old king, and thus also that this designation may be mediated, must refer to him. signifies kingdom, reign, realm; here, the realm, as at Neh 9:35, Dan 5:11; 6:29. Grtz thinks Ecc 4:13-16 ought to drive expositors to despair. But hitherto we have found no room for despair in obtaining a meaning from them. What follows also does not perplex us. The author describes how all the world hails the entrance of the new youthful king on his government, and gathers together under his sceptre.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(14) Becometh.Instead of this translation, it is better to render, in his kingdom he was even poor; but there is ambiguity in the Hebrew, as in the English, whether the antecedent of the his and the he is the old king or the new one.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14. Out of prison reign The possibilities of the “youth” are stated as a reason for the declaration of the preceding verse. He may go from prison to a throne, while a born king, managing foolishly, may become a poor outcast. The bright example of Joseph was ever recurring to Jewish writers. Also, that of Jeroboam the “industrious,” who, after the death of Solomon, returned from exile in Egypt and became king of Israel.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Ecc 4:14. For out of prison he cometh to reign Desvoeux connects this with the preceding verse thus; Because he came from among the slaves to be a king, and because he was born poor in the kingdom which became his. Bishop Warburton is of opinion, that these verses allude to some fact out of Judea, which is unknown to us.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Ecc 4:14 For out of prison he cometh to reign; whereas also [he that is] born in his kingdom becometh poor.
Ver. 14. For out of prison he cometh to reign. ] As Valentinian the emperor; Sultan Mustapha the great Turk, A.D. 1622; our Henry IV, who was crowned the very same day that, the year before, he had been banished the realm. a As, on the other side, Henry VI was sent again prisoner to the Tower the same day that he had been carried through the city, as it were, in triumph, and had heard the shouts of the commons in every street, crying, God save King Henry. Lo! he that had been the most potent monarch for dominions, saith the chronicler, b that ever England had, was not now the master of a molehill, nor owner of his own liberty. So that in him it appeared that mortality was but the stage of mutability, when a man born in his kingdom, yea, born to a kingdom, became thus miserably poor. Furthermore, Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter, grandchild to John of Gaunt, may serve as a fit instance and example to all how uncertain Adam’s sons are of any continuing greatness. For, saith Philip Commines, I once saw him run on foot bare legged after the Duke of Burgundy’s train, begging c his bread for God’s sake; but he uttered not his name, he being the nearest of the house of Lancaster, and brother-in-law unto King Edward IV, from whom he fled; and being known who he was, Burgundy gave him a small pension to maintain his estate. d
a Daniel’s Hist., fol. 480.
b Speed, 881.
c Date obolum Bellisario.
d Speed, 887.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
out of prison, &c. Compare Joseph (Gen 41:40); Daniel (Dan 5:29; Dan 6:1-3).
born, &c. Compare Rehoboam, robbed by Shishak (1Ki 14:25-28).
poor = needy, in want. Hebrew. rush. See note on “poverty”, Pro 6:11. Pro 6:16
vexation. The same word as in Ecc 1:17; Ecc 2:22.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
For out: This is probably an allusion to some fact with which we are unacquainted. History furnishes many instances of mean persons raised to sovereign authority, and of kings being reduced to the meanest offices, and to a morsel. Agrippa mounted the throne of Israel after having been long in prison; and similar instances are not wanting in modern times. Gen 41:14, Gen 41:33-44, Job 5:11, Psa 113:7, Psa 113:8
also: 1Ki 14:26, 1Ki 14:27, 2Ki 23:31-34, 2Ki 24:1, 2Ki 24:2, 2Ki 24:6, 2Ki 24:12, 2Ki 25:7, 2Ki 25:27-30, Lam 4:20, Dan 4:31
Reciprocal: 1Sa 2:8 – set them Luk 1:52 – put
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
4:14 For out of {h} prison he cometh to reign; though also [he that is] {i} born in his kingdom becometh poor.
(h) That is, from a poor and base estate or out of trouble and prison as Joseph did, Gen 41:14.
(i) Meaning, that is born a king.