Bibelkommentare

Vanities in divine matters, Ecclesiastes 5:1-7. In murmuring and repining, Ecclesiastes 5:8. In riches and covetousness. Ecclesiastes 5:9,10; for riches rob men of ease, Ecclesiastes 5:11,12, procure their death, Ecclesiastes 5:13, fly away, Ecclesiastes 5:14, cannot be carried with them into the grave, Ecclesiastes 5:15-17. A contented life best: this is the gift of God, Ecclesiastes 5:18-20.

The seven first verses of this chapter are inserted partly as the only effectual remedy against all the foregoing vanities, and partly as a caution to take heed of bringing vanity into the service of God, or of worshipping God vainly and foolishly.

Keep thy foot; the feet of thy soul, which are the thoughts and affections, by which men go to God, and walk or converse with him. Make straight steps. See that your hearts be purged from sin, and prepared and furnished with all graces or necessary qualifications, as good intention, reverence, humility, &c. It is a metaphor from one that walketh in a very slippery path, in which there needs more than ordinary care to keep him from falling.

The house of God; the place of God’s solemn and public worship, whether the temple or synagogue.

Be more ready, Heb. more near, more forward and inclinable. Prefer this duty before the following.

To hear; to hearken to and obey God’s word, there read and preached by the priests or prophets; for hearing is very frequently put in Scripture for obeying.

The sacrifice of fools; such as foolish and wicked men use to offer, who vainly think to please God with the multitude and costliness of their sacrifices without true piety or obedience.

They consider not that they do evil; they are not sensible of the great sinfulness of such thoughts and practices, but, like fools, think they do God good service; which is implied, as is usual in such expressions.

Be not rash with thy mouth; speak not without good understanding and due consideration.

Let not thine heart be hasty; do not give way to every sudden motion of thine heart, nor suffer it to break out of thy lips till thou hast well weighed it.

To utter any thing before God; either,

1. In prayers directed to him. Or,

2. In solemn vows and promises made in God’s presence; which were very much in use in those times, and of which he speaks in the following verses, where he presseth us to pay our vows when we have made them, as here he seems to caution us in making them.

God is in heaven; is a God of infinite majesty, not to be despised or abused; of infinite holiness, not to be polluted or offended; of infinite knowledge. observing all our words and carriages, not to be deceived.

Thou upon earth; thou art a poor earth-worm, infinitely below him, and therefore shouldst stand in awe of him, and fear to offend him.

Let thy words be few; either

1. In prayer. Use not vain repetitions nor multitude of words in prayer, as if they were necessary to inform God of thy state, or to prevail with God to grant thy requests, or as if thou shouldst certainly be heard upon that very account, as Christ also cautions us, Matthew 6:7. For otherwise it is not unlawful, nay, sometimes it is a duty, to use long prayers, and consequently many words, and to repeat the same words in prayer, as is manifest from Nehemiah 9:3 Daniel 9:18,19 Mt 26:44 Luke 6:12, and many other places. Or,

2. In vowing. Be not too prodigal in making more vows and promises than thou art either able or willing and resolved to perform, remembering that God looks down from heaven, and heareth all thy vows, and expects a punctual accomplishment of them. See Poole "Ecclesiastes 5:3".

When men’s minds are distracted and oppressed with too much business in the day, they dream of it in the night.

A fool’s voice is known; it discovers the man to be a foolish, and rash, and inconsiderate man.

By multitude of words; either,

1. In prayer. Or,

2. In vowing, i.e. by making many rash vows, of which he speaks in Ecclesiastes 5:4-6, and then returns to the mention of multitude of dreams and many words, Ecclesiastes 5:7, which verse may be a comment upon this, and which makes it probable that both that and this verse are to be understood of vows rather than of prayers.

A vow; which is a solemn promise, whereby a man binds himself to do something which is in his power to do.

Defer not to pay it; perform it whilst the sense of thine obligation is fresh and strong upon thee, lest either thou seem to repent of thy promises, or lest delays end in denials and resolutions of non-performance. See Numbers 30:2 Deu 23:21 Psalm 66:13,14 66:11.

In fools; in hypocritical and perfidious persons, who, when they are in distress, make liberal vows, and when the danger is past, neglect and break them; whom he calls fools, partly because it is the highest folly to despise and provoke, to think to mock and deceive, the all-seeing and almighty God; and partly in opposition to the contrary opinion of such persons, who think they deal wisely and cunningly in serving themselves of God, by getting the advantage or deliverance which they desire by making such vows, and yet avoiding the inconvenience and charge of payment when once the work is done, whereas nothing is more impious or ridiculous than such an imagination.

That thou shouldest not vow; for this was no sin, because men are free to make such vows, or not to make them, as they think fit. See Numbers 30:3, &c.; Deu 23:22 Acts 5:4. But having vowed we cannot forbear payment of them without sin.

Suffer not thy mouth, by uttering any rash or foolish vow.

Thy flesh, i. e. thyself, the word flesh being oft put for the whole man, as Genesis 6:12 Isaiah 40:5 Romans 3:20, &c. And it seems to have some emphasis here, and to intimate either,

1. That such vows were made upon fleshly or carnal, and not upon spiritual and religious motives. Or rather,

2. That the flesh or corrupt nature of man, which is oft called flesh, was exceeding prone to set itself at ease and liberty from such bonds, and to neglect the chargeable duties of religion.

The angel; either,

1. The blessed angels, the singular number being put for the plural, who are present in the public assemblies in which these vows were generally paid, Psalm 66:13, where they observe both the matter and manner of men’s religious performances, as appears from 1 Corinthians 11:10, who as they rejoice in the conversion of a sinner, Luke 15:10, so are displeased with the sins of men, and especially such as are committed in or against the worship of God. Or,

2. Christ, who in the Old Testament is frequently called an angel, as hath been oft noted before, and the Angel of the covenant, Malachi 3:1 because even then he acted as God’s messenger, appearing and speaking to the patriarchs and prophets in his Father’s name, as a prosignification of his future incarnation, and who is and was in a special manner present in all religious assemblies; and being omniscient and omnipresent, exactly knew and observed all the vows which men made, and whether they did perform or violate them. Or rather,

3. The priest or minister of holy things, who was to require of the people the payment of their vows, to whom all sacrifices for sins of ignorance or errors about vows or other things were to be brought, Leviticus 5:4,5. For such persons are oft called angels, or, as this Hebrew word is commonly rendered, messengers, as Job 33:23 Malachi 2:7 Revelation 1:20. And this title seems to be given to the priest here, not without some emphasis, because the vow made to God was paid to the priest as one standing and acting in God’s name and stead, and it belonged to the priest, as God’s angel or ambassador, to discharge persons from their vows when there was just occasion so to do.

That it was an error; I did foolishly and unadvisedly in making such a vow, and therefore I hope God will excuse me, and instead of that which I had vowed, accept of a sacrifice for my ignorance, according to the law for sins of ignorance, Leviticus 4:2 5:15 Numbers 15:26.

Wherefore should God be angry, why wilt thou provoke God to anger, at thy voice? either,

1. At the vows which thou hast hastily uttered with thy mouth, as he said above. Or rather,

2. At these frivolous excuses, wherewith thou deludest thy own conscience, and vainly imaginest that thou canst deceive God himself.

Destroy the work of thine hands; blast all thy contrivances, and labours, and estate gotten by thy labours, and particularly that work or enterprise for the success whereof thou didst make these vows, which being, as thou thinkest, finished, thou refusest to pay thy vows; but know that God can quickly undo that which thou hast done, and plentifully repay thine indignities and injuries offered to him into thine own bosom.

There is a great deal of vanity and folly, as in

multitude of dreams, which for the most part are vain and insignificant, so also in many words, i.e. in making many vows, whereby a man is exposed to many snares and temptations.

Fear thou God; fear the offence and wrath of God, and therefore be sparing in making vows, and just in performing them; whereby he implies that this rashness in vowing, and slackness in performing vows, proceed from the want of a just reverence and dread of the Divine Majesty, who is immediately concerned in these matters.

Here is an account of another vanity, and a sovereign antidote against it.

Marvel not, as if it were inconsistent with God’s wisdom, and justice, and truth to suffer such disorders, or a just cause for any man to throw off that fear and service of God which I have now commended to thee.

He that is higher than the highest, the most high God, who is infinitely above the greatest of men, and therefore, if he saw meet, could crush them in an instant,

regardeth, not like an idle spectator, but like a judge, who diligently observes and records all these miscarriages, and will so effectually punish them, that neither they shall have any cause of triumph in their former successes, nor good men to be grieved at the remembrance of them.

There be higher than they; either,

1. The high and holy angels, who are employed by God in the government of kings and kingdoms, as we read in the Book of Daniel, and elsewhere, and for the defence of God’s people, Psalm 34:7 91:11 Hebrews 1:14. Or,

2. God; and so it is an emphatical repetition of the same thing, which is frequent in Scripture; there is a higher than they. Or, as the words are by others fitly rendered, the Most High (for plural words are oft understood of God singularly) is above them, and therefore can control them, and will certainly call them to an account.