Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ecclesiastes 4:15
I considered all the living which walk under the sun, with the second child that shall stand up in his stead.
15. with the second child that shall stand up in his stead ] If we take the word “second” in its natural meaning, the clause may point either to the wise young ruler of the previous verse, as succeeding ( i.e. coming second to) the old and foolish king, or possibly to his successor, and points in either case to what we have learnt to call the “worship of the rising Sun.” All gather round him, and their name is legion. There is “no end of all the people.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 15. With the second child that shall stand up] The Targum applies this to the case of Jeroboam and Rehoboam. History affords many instances of mean persons raised to sovereign authority, and of kings being reduced to the meanest offices, and to a morsel of bread. Agrippa himself ascended the throne of Israel after having been long in prison. See Josephus, Ant. lib. xviii. c. 8. This the heathens attributed to fortune.
Si fortuna volet, fies de rhetore consul;
Si volet haec eadem, fies de consule rhetor.
JUV. Sat. vii., ver. 197.
Though I have given what the Jews suppose to be the allusion in these verses, yet the reader may doubt whether the reference be correct. There is a case implied, whether from fact or assumption I cannot say; but it seems to be this:
A king who had abused the authority vested in him by oppressing the people, had a son whose prudent conduct promised much comfort to the nation, when he should come to the throne. The father, seeing the popular wish, and becoming jealous of his son, shut him up in prison. In the interim the old king either dies or is deposed, and the son is brought out of prison, and placed on the throne. Then (Ec 4:15-16) multitudes of the people flock to him, and begin to walk under the sun; i.e., the prosperous state to which the nation is raised by its redemption from the former tyranny. However, the wise man insinuates that this sunshine will not last long. The young king, feeling the reins in his own hands, and being surrounded by those whose interest it was to flatter in order to obtain and continue in court favour, he also becomes corrupted so that those who come after shall have no cause of rejoicing in him. This appears to be the case; and similar cases have frequently occurred, not only in Asiatic, but also in European history, I have, in another place, referred to the case of Rushn Achter, who was brought out of prison and set upon the throne of Hindoostan. This is expressed in the following elegant Persian couplet, where his fortune is represented as similar to that of the patriarch Joseph: –
[Persian]
[Persian]
“The bright star is now become a moon:
Joseph is taken out of prison, and become a king.” Rushn Achter signifies a bright or splendid star.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I considered all the living; the general disposition or humour of common people in all kingdoms, that they are fickle and inconstant, weary of their old governors, and desirous of changes.
Which walk under the sun: this is a periphrasis, or description of living and mortal men, like that Ecc 7:11, that see the sun.
With the second child: these words may be joined either,
1. With those which walk, or, that they walk under the sun, (i.e. upon the earth,) with the second child, i.e. follow, and favour, and worship him as the rising sun, upon whom the eyes and hopes of most people are fixed. Or,
2. With the first words,
I considered all the living which walk under the sun, i.e. the temper of all subjects or people, together
with the condition of the second child; which may be understood either,
1. In general, of a kings child, or son and heir, who is called second, in respect of his father, whose successor he is to be. Or,
2. That wise and poor child mentioned Ecc 4:13, who is said to come to reign, Ecc 4:14, and may well be called the second to the old and foolish king who became poor, Ecc 4:15, being deposed from his kingdom, whom he succeeds, being put in his place either by the humour of the people, or by some higher power.
Stand up, i.e. arise to reign, as that phrase signifies, Dan 8:22,23; 11:2,3,7,20,21.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. “I considered all theliving,” the present generation, in relation to (“with”)the “second youth” (the “legitimatesuccessor” of the “old king,” as opposed to the “pooryouth,” the one first spoken of, about to be raised frompoverty to a throne), that is, Rehoboam.
in his steadthe oldking’s.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I considered all the living which walk under the sun,…. All men that were then alive, who were capable of walking upon the earth; even all of them that were under the heavens, in every land and nation, under whatsoever dominion or government: these, and their manners, Solomon had particularly observed, and made his remarks upon, by which it appeared how fickle the minds of the populace were under every government, and how precarious and uncertain were the honour and dignity of princes;
with the second child that shall stand up in his stead: the heir and successor or every prince, that shall rise up and take the throne of his father or predecessor, and reign in his stead. The wise man observed how the people commonly behaved towards him; how that they generally stood best affected to him, than to the reigning prince; worshipped the rising sun, courted his favour and friendship, soothed and flattered him; expressing their wishes to see him on the throne, and treated with neglect and contempt their lawful sovereign. Some, contrary to the accents, connect this with the word “walk” h; that walk with the second child, join themselves to him, converse with him, and show him great respect and honour: and there are others that, by this second child, understand the poor and wise child, that succeeds the old and foolish king, whom yet, in time, the people grow weary of; such is the levity and inconstancy of people, that they are not long pleased with princes, old or young, wise or foolish. The Targum interprets this of the foresight Solomon had, by a spirit of prophecy, of those that rebelled against his son Rehoboam, and of those that cleaved unto him, who was his second, and reigned in his stead. Noldius i thinks Solomon refers to the history of his friend Hiram, king of Tyre, whose kingdom, in his and in his son’s time, was very large, flourishing, and opulent, but in a following reign not so; and he renders and paraphrases the words thus,
“”I saw all the works under the sun; [with] Baleazarus, the son of a friend” (Hiram, for , rendered “second”, is the same as , “a friend”), “who shall stand” or “reign after him: there is no end of all the people”,” c.
the kingdom in those two reigns being flourishing yet posterity shall not rejoice in him, in Abdastratus, the grandson of Hiram, destroyed by the four sons of his nurse k.
h So the Tigurine version, Vatablus, Cocceius, Gejerus. i Concord. Part. Ebr. No. 1023. k Meander apud Joseph. Contr. Apion. l. 1. s. 18.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“I saw all the living which walk under the sun on the side of the youth, the second who shall enter upon the place of the former: no end of all the people, all those at whose head he stands.” The author, by the expression “I saw,” places himself back in the time of the change of government. If we suppose that he represents this to himself in a lively manner, then the words are to be translated: of the second who shall be his successor; but if we suppose that he seeks to express from the standpoint of the past that which, lying farther back in the past, was now for the first time future, then the future represents the time to come in the past, as at 2Ki 3:27; Psa 78:6; Job 15:28 (Hitz.): of the second who should enter on his place ( , to step to, to step forth, of the new king, Dan 8:23; Dan 11:2.; cf. , 1Ki 8:20). The designation of the crowd which, as the pregnant expresses, gathered by the side of the young successor to the old king, by “all the living, those walking under the sun ( , perhaps intentionally the pathetic word for , Isa 42; 5),” would remain a hyperbole, even although the throne of the Asiatic world-ruler had been intended; still the expression, so absolute in its universality, would in that case be more natural ( vid., the conjectural reference to Cyrus and Astygates). , Ewald refers to the successor to the king, the second after the king, and translates: “to the second man who should reign in his stead;” but the second man in this sense has certainly never been the child of fortune; one must then think of Joseph, who, however, remains the second man. Hitzig rightly: “The youth is the second , not , in contrast to the king, who, as his predecessor, is the first.” “Yet,” he continues, “ should be the appos. and the principal word,” i.e., instead of: with the second youth, was to be expected: with the second, the youth. It is true, we may either translate: with the second youth, or: with the second, the youth – the_ form of expression has in its something incorrect, for it has the appearance as if it treated of two youths. But similar are the expressions, Mat 8:21, . . ., “another, and that, too, one of His disciples;” and Luk 23:32, . . All the world ranks itself by the side (thus we may also express it) of the second youthful king, so that he comes to stand at the head of an endless multitude. The lxx, Jerome, and the Venet. render incorrectly the all (the multitude) as the subject of the relative clause, which Luther, after the Syr., corrects by reading for : of the people that went for him there was no end. Rightly the Targ.: at whose head (= ) he had the direction, , as with , 1Sa 18:16; 2Ch 1:10; Psa 68:8, etc. All the world congregates about him, follows his leadership; but his history thus splendidly begun, viewed backwards, is a history of hopes falsified.
“And yet they who come after do not rejoice in him: for that also is vain, and a grasping after the wind.” For all that, and in spite of that ( gam has here this meaning, as at Ecc 6:7; Jer 6:15; Psa 129:2; Ewald, 354 a), posterity ( , as at Ecc 1:11; cf. Isa 41:4) has no joy in this king, – the hopes which his contemporaries placed in the young king, who had seized the throne and conquered their hearts, afterwards proved to be delusions; and also this history, at first so beautiful, and afterwards so hateful, contributed finally to the confirmation of the truth, that all under the sun is vain. As to the historical reminiscence from the time of the Ptolemies, in conformity with which Hitzig (in his Comm.) thinks this figure is constructed; Grtz here, as always, rocks himself in Herodian dreams. In his Comm., Hitz. guesses first of Jeroboam, along with Rehoboam the , who rebelled against King Solomon, who in his old age had become foolish. In an essay, “Zur Exeg. u. Kritik des B. Koheleth,” in Hilgenfeld’s Zeitschr. XIV 566ff., Saul, on the contrary, appears to him to be the old and foolish king, and David the poor wise youth who rose to the throne, and took possession of the whole kingdom, but in his latter days experienced desertion and adversities; for those who came after (the younger men) had no delight in him, but rebelled against him. But in relation to Saul, who came from the plough to be king, David, who was called from being a shepherd, is not ; and to Jewish history this Saul, whose nobler self is darkened by melancholy, but again brightens forth, and who to his death maintained the dignity of a king of Israel, never at any time appears as … . Moreover, by both combinations of that which is related with the (for which is written) of the history of the old Israelitish kings, a meaning contrary to the usage of the language must be extracted. It is true that , as the so-called particip. perfecti, may mean “gone aside (to a distance),” Isa 49:21; Jer 17:13; and we may, at any rate, by , think on that poor rabble which at first gathered around David, 1Sa 22:2, regarded as outcasts from honourable society. But will not accord therewith. That David came forth from the house (home) of the estranged or separated, is and remains historically an awkward expression, linguistically obscure, and not in accordance with the style of Koheleth. In order to avoid this incongruity, Bttcher regards Antiochus the Great as the original of the . He was the second son of his father, who died 225. When a hopeful youth of fifteen years of age, he was recalled to the throne from a voluntary banishment into Farther Asia, very soon gained against his old cousin and rival Achaeus, who was supported by Egypt, a large party, and remained for several years esteemed as a prince and captain; he disappointed, however, at a later time, the confidence which was reposed in him. But granting that the voluntary exile of Antiochus might be designated as , he was yet not a poor man, born poor, but was the son of King Seleucus Callincus; and his older relative and rival Achaeus wished indeed to become king, but never attained unto it. Hence is not the youth as second son of his father, but as second on the throne, in relation to the dethroned king reckoned as the first. Thus, far from making it probable that the Book of Koheleth originated in the time of the Diadochs, this combination of Bttcher’s also stands on a feeble foundation, and falls in ruins when assailed.
The section Eccl 1:12-4:16, to which we have prefixed the superscription, “Koheleth’s Experiences and their Results,” has now reached its termination, and here for the first time we meet with a characteristic peculiarity in the composition of the book: the narrative sections, in which Koheleth, on the ground of his own experiences and observations, registers the vanities of earthly life, terminate in series of proverbs in which the I of the preacher retires behind the objectivity of the exhortations, rules, and principles obtained from experience, here recorded. The first of these series of proverbs which here follows is the briefest, but also the most complete in internal connection.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(15) I considered.Heb., I saw. Most modern interpreters regard the second child as identical with the young man of Ecc. 4:13, and understand the passage, I saw him at the head of all his people; yet his great popularity was but temporary, and the next generation took no pleasure in him. It seems to me that by no stretch of rhetoric can all the living which walk under the sun be taken for the subjects of the sovereign in question. I am inclined to think that the Preacher reverts to the general topic, and considered all the living with the second youth, i.e., the second generation which shall succeed them. He saw the old generation hardened in its ways, and incapable of being admonished, and then displaced by a new generation, with which the next will feel equal dissatisfaction.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15. The second child The word here rendered “second” is, in Ecc 4:8; Ecc 4:10, used in the sense of an ally or associate, and so it should be here, for the contrast is between him and the lonely, repulsive king. It means that the youth makes himself a fellow and companion to others, gaining in return their favour. It might be rendered “the popular youth.” In his stead, means in the place of the old king, as his rival. Koheleth marks the effect of his ways upon the living, so different from those of his rival.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Ecc 4:15-16. I considered all the living I saw all the living eager to walk under the sun, with the second son who should succeed him.Ver. 16. No end of all the people! of all that resorted to them! Yet they who shall come after will have no reason to be glad of that successor. I do not find, says Desvoeux, that the interpreters have taken any notice of the phrase, walking under the sun with a man in power, as of a figurative expression. Nay, our version turns it so as to make it a mere repetition of all the living; yet this expression is the more remarkable here, as it is followed in the next verse by another, which, from a comparison between Gen 5:22; Gen 5:24; Gen 17:1 appears to be synonimous to it, in a metaphorical sense; I mean to be before the face, lipnei, which I have rendered resorted. From the context, the idea must be paying one’s court, or something to that purpose; and the image alluded to, is that of a man who does not value the inconvenience, great as it was in the climate of Judea, of walking in a place exposed to the scorching heat of the sun, provided he may by so doing testify his regard for the person whom he attends. This notion may be confirmed by the known signification of the phrase, walking with God, (see Gen. as above,) which the LXX very properly have rendered . This chapter contains the fourth and last proof, brought to support the first general proposition, which is taken from the wrong use which men, considered with respect to the duties and particular circumstances of social life, make of opportunities which might be turned to their private advantage, or to that of the public; whether it be owing to their wickedness, folly, or supineness. The particular instances are these: I. The great and powerful, instead of relieving those who suffer wrong, support one another in their oppressive schemes; so that the oppressed have no one to wipe off their tears; Ecc 4:1.II. A man who is industrious, and applieth his labour well, is sure to attract the envy of those whose interest should rather prompt them to encourage him, and to improve by his example; Ecc 4:4.III. The idler envies the prosperity and plenty enjoyed by the industrious, while his aversion to trouble and labour makes him choose poverty rather than abundance; whereas he ought to rest satisfied in that state which is the natural consequence of the way of life that he chooses; Ecc 4:5-6.IV. As the character of the idler was opposed to that of the industrious man, so another character is now introduced in opposition to that of the idler; viz. the character of an indefatigable covetous man, who, having nobody to share his fortune with, cannot resolve to leave off heaping up riches, and quietly to enjoy what he has already acquired, or take some one in partnership with him. He is fully convinced of the advantages resulting from a social life, and of the inconveniences to which the lonesome life that he leads is unavoidably subject. Yet he will not avail himself of those advantages, or avoid these dreadful inconveniences, at the expence of admitting another into a share of that plenty which he himself does not enjoy, although he possesses it: Ecc 4:7-12.V. The next instance is, that of the regard which is generally paid to dignities and places, rather than to real worth and merit; whereby virtue and public spirit lie under great discouragement.
REFLECTIONS.1st, He had before considered the case of proud oppressors, and foreseen their judgment: here he turns his eyes to the oppressed, and bewails their misery.
1. Their condition is deplorable, and often helpless; for, here, might often overcomes right. The tears of the poor, the orphan, the persecuted, cry out against their severe and covetous masters, their treacherous guardians, and tyrannical governors; and they have no comforter, few caring to expose themselves in the cause of injured innocence, especially where the power in the hands of oppressors makes it dangerous to oppose the iniquitous proceedings, or even to shew compassion to those who suffer under their wickedness.
2. The judgment which he formed concerning this state of oppression is, that death itself were preferable to such a continued scene of misery; and never to have had a being, more desirable, than merely to come thus into the world, to see the evil that is done under the sun, and suffer. And this is spoken as the conclusion of sense without respect to a future state; for else, as it is a great truth that they who in Christ have finished their warfare, are in a much more desirable state than those militant saints, who still bear the burden and heat of the day; so to have a being, however miserable upon earth, can never make a good man wish he had never been born, since God is glorified in his sufferings, and an eternity of happiness is before him. Nor ought any man to quarrel with his being, because of the evil that he sees or feels; it is his own fault, if the issue be not for his good.
2nd, The more he considers, the more the conviction is evident, that all beneath the sun is vanity and vexation of spirit.
1. Is a man industrious, ingenious, and successful? immediately he is the butt of envy. Though with hard travail he laboured in the school of learning, or in the business of life, and all the steps he took were unexceptionably upright; yet, such is the vile nature of fallen man, that, instead of rendering the deserved praise, and rejoicing in his neighbour’s prosperity and honour, his evil eye is upon him, and his malignant tongue too often ready to traduce his merit. Even his good works shall frequently draw upon him the bitterest hatred, 1Jn 3:12. But, though men make us so ungrateful a return, we must not be discouraged: we shall have praise of God, and that will overbalance the world’s envy and hatred.
2. The opposite conduct is yet attended with greater vexation. Instead of being industrious, and to avoid being envied, the fool, the slothful man, foldeth his hands together; and the consequence of such idleness is, that he eateth his own flesh, emaciated through hunger and famished for want, or wasting the substance that his family should inherit; and suggests, in vindication of himself, that a little with ease, and without labour, is better than abundance which must be hardly earned; as if sloth were quietness, diligent industry intolerable toil, and indolence contentment. Or the words may express the wise man’s judgment, directing us to the golden mean between reproachful indolence and restless labour and anxiety; for the moderate gains of honest industry, enjoyed with contentment, are an infinitely more satisfactory portion, than the exorbitant wealth which is gotten with hard labour, kept with anxiety, and embittered in the using.
3rdly, He that walks about under the sun, will ever be observing more and more of the vanity of the creature; a fresh instance of which is produced,
1. In the character of the miser, who, though he has none but himself to provide for, and neither child nor brother to whom he may bequeath the riches that he has amassed, yet is indefatigable in his labours, insatiable in his desires of wealth, shuns the joys of society, nay, grudges the necessaries that his own body requires, because of the expence; and never once considers, (so wretchedly is he infatuated.) for whom do I labour? neither for the glory of God, my own comfort, nor the good of others; perhaps, for those who will never thank me, and will squander in extravagance and thoughtless dissipation the fruits of so much toil and care. This is indeed a vanity and sore travail, the folly as great as the sin.
2. The wise man shews how much preferable society and the enjoyment of our labours is, to this unnatural solitude and niggardliness. The comforts and advantages of marriage and friendship amply overpay us for all they cost. Two are better than one; more happy than they could be separate; because they have a good reward for their labour; enjoy mutual assistance and counsel, and communicate mutual pleasure. If one falls as they travel, the other is ready to lend his helping hand; if into errors of sin, a faithful friend will seek to restore such a one in the spirit of meekness; if into sorrow, he will be near to comfort him: But woe to him that is alone when he falleth: where he lies, he is in danger of being lost. Again, If two lie together, they have heat; which is true spiritually, for nothing warms the heart more than Christian fellowship, as the disciples going to Emmaus experienced; while solitude, instead of raising our affections, as secluded monks and hermits boast, removes us from one of the most effectual means of heavenly-mindedness. As useful will society be in time of danger: the robber will attack a single traveller, who dares not attempt it when he has company. Satan thus beset Eve, and false teachers thus single out their prey; but a faithful friend is a guard against temptation, which, even by the communication of it, is sometimes overcome; and a threefold cord, where Christians unite in society, and Christ is in the midst of them, is not quickly broken; for they have their great High-Priest and their King for their protector.
4thly, Crowns seem the most substantial goods, yet they are held by a precarious tenure, and cumbered with much vanity and vexation of spirit.
1. If they be on the heads of the foolish, they totter; for, though inherited by descent, and worn to old age, yet, if the king, whose age should add veneration and weight to his dignity, be foolish, unable to manage the reins of government, and perverse and conceited withal, who will not bear to be admonished, nor advise with the counsellors of wisdom; he becometh poor, ruins his subjects, or is conquered by invaders. So that even a child, though poor and low in the world, yet, if wise, is a more respectable personage, and may rise from the dunghill, as Joseph from the dungeon to the highest honours; while the other is perhaps hurled from the summit of dignity and affluence to the depths of infamy and want.
2. The very fickleness of the people will sometimes be enough to bring about revolutions in the state. Solomon observed in his researches, that the rising sun was usually adored; and the successor more caressed than the reigning monarch. They are in haste to see his child stand up in his stead, and think to alter their condition for the better in transferring the crown from the father to the son. Thus without end are they restlessly given to change, as those who went before them were, and those who come after them will be; dissatisfied quickly with their new king, and willing to pull him down today, whom they set up yesterday. And it cannot but afford much grief to a prince to see this inconstancy in his subjects, and to hear those hiss him in contempt, who late received him with huzzas and shouts of praise. It is well when this teaches him to seek a richer and more enduring crown than that of gold, even a crown of glory, which fadeth not away.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
I considered all the living which walk under the sun, with the second child that shall stand up in his stead. (16) There is no end of all the people, even of all that have been before them: they also that come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and vexation of spirit.
If we read those aphorisms of the Preacher without looking for the explanations of them in the gospel, we shall be led to consider them rather as the melancholy effusions of a mind soured with life, than as the reflections of a wise and prosperous king, who, from the experience of carnal vanities, had formed those just conclusions, in order to lead the heart to the pursuit of better things. Nothing can be more evident, than that the Holy Ghost designed from the public confession of Solomon, on these interesting points, in which all men by nature are so eagerly engaged, to teach, that the whole is vanity. And from a full conviction; that all is vanity out of Christ, to make this a means in his Almighty hand, to lead the church to Christ. And these divine truths, when blessed to this end, become blessed indeed! We have a beautiful and comprehensive conclusion to this effect, in a verse of the Psalms. Psa 119:96 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Ecc 4:15 I considered all the living which walk under the sun, with the second child that shall stand up in his stead.
Ver. 15. I considered all the living, &c. ] He means the multitude, that shallow brained, but great and many headed beast, making defection from their old prince, though never so prudent, and setting up his own son against him, as they dealt by David more than once, merely out of an itch of instability and affectation of novelty. Now, as this is to others, so to kings also a vexation, to see already the common aspect of their people bent upon another object before the time; to behold them worshipping the rising sun, a as the proverb is, and themselves laid aside, in a manner, as broken vessels out of request in comparison. b Crowns have their cares and crosses, and high seats are never but uneasy. O vilis pannus! O base clout! said one king concerning his diadem, were it but known how many molestations and miseries do attend thee, Nemo foret qui te tollere vellet humo, no man would deign to take thee up lying at his feet. Antoninus the philosopher said often that the empire was malorum oceanus, an ocean of mischiefs; and another caused it to be written upon his tomb, Felix si non imperitassem, Happy had I been if I had never reigned. It is seldom seen, as before hath been observed, that God allows unto the greatest darlings of the world a perfect contentment, be they never so well deserving. Something they must have to complain of, that shall give an unsavoury verdure to their sweetest morsels, and make their very felicity miserable.
a Omnes solem orientem adorant, contemnunt occidentem.
b Macro, expirante Tiberio, Caium fovebat. Cui Tiberius, Tu recte, inquit, Macro, . – Dio.
child: 2Sa 15:6
Ecc 4:15. I considered all the living The general disposition of common people in all kingdoms, that they are fickle and inconstant, weary of their old governors, and desirous of changes; with the second child that shall stand up That shall arise to reign. This may be understood of the kings child, or son and heir, called second in respect to his father, whose successor he is. Some join this clause with the preceding, thus: I considered all the living which walk Or, that they walk; under the sun That is, upon earth; with the second child That is, that they follow, favour, and worship him, as the rising sun, upon which the eyes and hopes of most people are fixed. Probably Solomon observed this disposition in his own people, who were growing weary of his government, and beginning to desire a change, and to turn their eyes to Rehoboam his successor. At least he remembered the rebellion that had been raised against his father David in favour of Absalom, and might have reason to think the same leaven was still working in his kingdom. The verse is thus paraphrased by Bishop Patrick: Such is the infelicity of princes, that I have seen a king left with nothing but the bare title, and the outward state of royalty; the hearts and affections of all, nobles, gentry, and common people, from one end of the kingdom to the other, inclining to his son (or next heir) that is to succeed him; unto whom they do obeisance, as if he were already upon the throne; but neglect his old father, who sees himself robbed of those honours in which he placed his happiness.
4:15 I considered all the living who walk under the sun, {k} with the second child that shall stand up in his stead.
(k) Who follow and flatter the king’s son, or him that will succeed to enter into credit with them in hope of gain.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes