Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ecclesiastes 5:17
All his days also he eateth in darkness, and [he hath] much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.
17. he eateth in darkness ] The words are so natural a figure of a cheerless life with no “sweetness and light” in it (comp. Mic 7:8), that there is something almost ludicrous in the prosaic literalism which interprets them, either (1) of the miser as eating in the dark to save candlelight, or (2) working all day and waiting till nightfall before he sits down to a meal.
much sorrow and wrath with his sickness ] Better, and sickness and wrath. The Hebrew gives a conjunction and not a preposition. The words have been variously taken, (1) “ is much disturbed and hath grief and vexation,” (2) “ grieveth himself much, and oh! for his sorrow and hatred,” but the general meaning remains the same. Koheleth teaches, as St Paul does, that “they that will be ( i.e. set their hearts on being) rich, pierce themselves through with many sorrows” (1Ti 6:6).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Hath much sorrow … – Rather, is very sad and hath pain and vexation.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 17. All his days also he eateth in darkness] Even his enjoyments are embittered by uncertainty. He fears for his goods; the possibility of being deprived of them fills his heart with anguish. But instead of yochel, “he shall eat,” yelech, “he shall walk,” is the reading of several MSS. He walks in darkness – he has no evidence of salvation. There is no ray of light from God to penetrate the gloom; and all beyond life is darkness impenetrable!
And wrath with his sickness.] His last hours are awful; for,
“Counting on long years of pleasure here,
He’s quite unfurnish’d for the world to come.”
BLAIR.
He is full of anguish at the thought of death; but the fear of it is horrible. But if he have a sense of God’s wrath in his guilty conscience, what horror can be compared with his horror!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
All his days, to wit, of his life,
also he eateth in darkness; he hath no comfort in his estate, but even when he eats, when other men relax their minds, and use freedom and cheerfulness, he doth it with anxiety and discontent, as grudging even at his own necessary expenses, and tormenting himself with cares about getting, and disposing, and keeping his estate.
He hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness; when he falls sick, and presageth or feareth his death, he is filled with rage, because he is cut off before he hath accomplished his designs, and because he must leave that wealth and world in which all his hopes and happiness lie, and must go to give up a doleful account to his Judge of all his actions and acquisitions.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. eatethappropriately putfor “liveth” in general, as connected with Ecc 5:11;Ecc 5:12; Ecc 5:18.
darknessopposed to”light (joy) of countenance” (Ecc 8:1;Pro 16:15).
wrathfretfulness,literally, “His sorrow is much, and his infirmity (of body) andwrath.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
All his days also he eateth in darkness,…. To all that has been said is added another evil, that attends such whose hearts are inordinately set on riches; that all their days, throughout the whole of their lives, they live a most uncomfortable life; for eating is here put for their whole manner of living: such not only eat coarse bread, and very mean food of any sort, but wear sordid apparel, and live in a poor cottage, in a very obscure and miserable manner. Aben Ezra understands it literally of the night, to which time such a man defers eating, that he might lose no time in his labour; and that it might not be seen what sort of food he eats, and how sparingly, and that others might not eat with him; and what he does eat is not eaten freely, but grudgingly, and with anguish and distress of mind, without any real pleasure and joy; and much less with the light of God’s countenance, the discoveries of his love, and communion with him: the Targum is,
“all his days he dwelleth in darkness, that he may taste his bread alone;”
and [he hath], much sorrow and wrath with his sickness; either the sickness of his mind, his covetousness; or the sickness of his body, emaciated by withholding from himself the necessaries of life: or when he comes upon a sick bed, he is filled with sorrow and indignation, that he must live no longer, to accumulate more wealth, and accomplish his projects and designs; and that he must leave his wealth, he has been at so much pains to gather together. Or, “and he is much angry” o; when things do not answer in trade according to his wishes; when his substance diminishes, or, however, does not increase as he desires; when he is cheated by fraudulent men, or robbed by thieves: “and he hath sickness” p; either of body or mind, or both, because matters do not succeed as he would have them; and through fretfulness at losses and crosses, and disappointments; and through cares in getting and keeping what he has: “and wrath”; at all about him, whom he is ready to charge with slothfulness or unfaithfulness to him; and even at the providence of God, that does not give him the desired success; so that he has no manner of pleasure and comfort in life.
o “et irascitur multum”, Vatablus, Drusius; “et indignatus fuit, vel indignatur multum”, Piscator, Rambachius. p “et agritudo ei fuit, vel est”, Piscator, Drusius; “vel fuerit”, Gejerus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“Also all his life long he eateth in darkness and grieveth himself much, and oh for his sorrow and hatred!” We might place Ecc 5:16 under the regimen of the of of Ecc 5:15; but the Heb. style prefers the self-dependent form of sentences to that which is governed. The expression Ecc 5:16 has something strange. This strangeness disappears if, with Ewald and Heiligst., after the lxx and Jerome, for we read : ; Bttch. prefers , “and in darkness.” Or also, if we read for ; thus the Midrash here, and several codd. by Kennicott; but the Targ., Syr., and Masora read . Hitzig gets rid of that which is strange in this passage by taking as accus. of the obj., not of the time: all his days, his whole life he consumes in darkness; but in Heb. as in Lat. we say: consumere dies vitae , Job 21:13; Job 36:11, but not comedere ; and why should the expression, “to eat in darkness,” not be a figurative expression for a faithless, gloomy life, as elsewhere “to sit in darkness” (Mic 7:8), and “to walk in darkness”? It is meant that all his life long he ate , the bread of sorrow, or , prison fare; he did not allow himself pleasant table comforts in a room comfortably or splendidly lighted, for it is unnecessary to understand subjectively and figuratively (Hitz., Zck.).
In 16 b the traditional punctuation is .
(Note: Thus in correct texts, in H. with the note: , viz., here and at Psa 112:10, only there has, according to tradition, the Kametz. Cf. Mas. fin. 52 b, and Baer’s Ed. of Psalter, under Psa 112:10.)
The perf. ruled by the preceding fut. is syntactically correct, and the verb is common with the author, Ecc 7:9. Hitzig regards the text as corrupt, and reads and , and explains: and (he consumes or swallows) much grief in his, etc.; the phrase, “to eat sorrow,” may be allowed (cf. Pro 26:6, cf. Job 15:16); but , as the representative of two so bold and essentially different metaphors, would be in point of style in bad taste. If the text is corrupt, it may be more easily rectified by reading : and grief in abundance, and sorrow has he, and wrath. We merely suggest this. Ewald, Burger, and Bttch. read only ; but is not to be dispensed with, and can easily be reduced to a mere vav. Elster retains , and reads, like Hitzig, : he grieves himself much in his sorrow and wrath; but in that case the word was to be expected; also in this way the ideas do not psychologically accord with each other. However the text is taken, we must interpret as an exclamation, like , Isa 29:16; , Jer 49:16; Ewald, 328 a, as we have done above. That of itself is a subst. clause = is untenable; the rendering of the noun as forming a clause, spoken of under Ecc 2:21, is of a different character.
(Note: Rashi regards as a form like . This o everywhere appears only in a gen. connection.)
He who by his labour and care aims at becoming rich, will not only lay upon himself unnecessary privations, but also have many sorrows; for many of his plans fail, and the greater success of others awakens his envy, and neither he himself nor others satisfy him; he is morbidly disposed, and as he is diseased in mind, so also in body, and his constantly increasing dissatisfaction becomes at last , he grumbles at himself, at God, and all the world. From observing such persons, Paul says of them (1Ti 6:6.): “They have pierced themselves through ( transfoderunt) with many sorrows.”
In view of these great evils, with which the possession of riches also is connected: of their deceitful instability, and their merely belonging to this present life, Koheleth returns to his ceterum censeo .
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(17) We pass without notice some variations of translation in this verse, which do not materially affect the sense.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17. This latter, too, has had no good of his life. He eateth in darkness That is, in a miserly way he shuns the cost of society and hospitality.
And he hath, etc. Better, And he is disturbed, and sorrow and vexation are his. Money unrighteously gained is little joy to men when old. “The rust of them ‘ eateth’ as doth a canker.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Ecc 5:17. All his days also he eateth The first proof of the second proposition is comprized in Ecc 5:14-17 and is taken from the instability of riches. The longer one has been in possession of a plentiful fortune, the more it vexes him to see it, notwithstanding all his assiduity and care, dwindling away to nothing; and to leave his son, whom he had lived in hopes of leaving a rich heir, reduced to poverty. Yet this is a misfortune, against which no man can be certainly guarded, although he himself carries nothing away of what he has heaped up, and passes the remainder of his days, after the sinking of his fortune, in affliction, and continual repining at his present situation.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Ecc 5:17 All his days also he eateth in darkness, and [he hath] much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.
Ver. 17. All his days also he eats in darkness, ] i.e., He lives besides that he hath, and cannot so much as be merry at meat. Hence is much sorrow, wrath, and sickness, especially if spoiled of his goods, which he made his god; he is no less troubled than Laban was for his teraphim, or Micah for his idol. Jdg 17:3 He is mad almost, and ready to hang himself for woe, having much fretting, foaming, fuming, anger, languor, ready to flee at God and men.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
he eateth: Gen 3:17, 1Ki 17:12, Job 21:25, Psa 78:33, Psa 102:9, Psa 127:2, Eze 4:16, Eze 4:17
much: 2Ki 1:2, 2Ki 1:6, 2Ki 5:27, 2Ch 16:10-12, 2Ch 24:24, 2Ch 24:25, Psa 90:7-11, Pro 1:27-29, Act 12:23, 1Co 11:30-32
Reciprocal: 1Sa 2:9 – be silent Psa 13:2 – sorrow Ecc 2:22 – hath man Ecc 6:3 – so Ecc 7:15 – have I
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
5:17 All his days also he eateth in {n} darkness, and [he hath] much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.
(n) In affliction and grief of mind.