Ecclesiastes 11:8

Ecc 11:8 But if a man live many years, [and] rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh [is] vanity.

Ver. 8. But if a man live many years and rejoice, &c., ] q.d., Say he live pancratice et basilice, and sit many years in the world’s warm sunshine, yet he must not build upon a perpetuity, as good Job did, but was deceived, when he said, "I shall die in my nest," {Job 29:18} and holy David, when he concluded, "I shall never be moved." {Psa 30:6} For as sure as the night follows the day, a change will come, a storm will rise, and such a storm as to wicked worldlings will never be blown over. Look for it, therefore, and be wise in time. "Remember the days of darkness," that is, of adversity, but especially of death and the grave. The hottest season hath lightning and thunder. The sea is never so smooth but it may be troubled; the mountain not so firm but it may be shaken with an earthquake. Light will be one day turned into darkness, pleasure into pain, delights into wearisomeness, and the dark days of old age and death far exceed in number the lightsome days of life, which are but a warm gleam, a momentary glance. Let this be seriously pondered, and it will much rebate the edge of our desires after earthly vanities. "Dearly beloved," saith St Peter, "I beseech you, as pilgrims and strangers abstain from fleshy lust," &c., {1Pe 2:12} q.d., The sad and sober apprehension of this, that you are here but sojourners for a season, and must away to your long home, will lay your lusts a-bleeding and a-dying at your feet. It is an observation of a commentator upon this text, that when Samuel had anointed Saul to be king, to confirm unto him the truth of the joy, and by it to teach him how to be careful in governing his joy, he gave him this sign, "When thou art departed from me today, thou shalt find two men at Rachel’s sepulchre." {1Sa 10:2} For he that findeth in his mind a remembrance of his grave and sepulchre, will not easily be found exorbitant in his delights and joys; for this it was, belike, that Joseph of Arimathea had his sepulchre ready hewn out in his garden. The Egyptians carried about the table a death’s head at their feasts; {a} and the emperors of Constantinople, on their coronation day, had a mason appointed to present unto them certain marble stones, using these ensuing words -

“ Elige ab his saxis ex quo, invictissime Caesar,

Ipse tibi tumulum me fabricare velis. ”

“Choose, mighty sir, under which of these stones,

Your pleasure is, erelong, to lay your bones.”

{a} Isidor.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That is, of affliction and trouble.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

But while man thankfully enjoys life, "let him remember" it will not last for ever. The "many days of darkness," that is, the unseen world (Job 10:21-22; Psa 88:12), also days of "evil" in this world (Ecc 11:2), are coming; therefore sow the good seed while life and good days last, which are not too long for accomplishing life's duties.

All that cometh--that is, All that followeth in the evil and dark days is vain, as far as work for God is concerned (Ecc 9:10).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 8. If a man live many years] And even have prosperity through the whole; yet the days of darkness-times of affliction, weakness, and perhaps old age, will be many. If he die not a violent death, which no man can wish, he will die a lingering death; and this is ordinarily attended with many pains, and many sorrows; therefore let him prepare to meet his God; and to carry this thought through life, that all must terminate in death. The writer of Ecclesiasticus, Eccl 7:36, has a good saying, similar to this: "Whatsoever thou takest in hand, remember thy END; and thou shalt never do amiss;" ουκ αμαρτησεις, thou wilt not sin.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(8) Days of darkness.—Psa_88:12; Psa_143:3; Job_10:21. (Comp. also Psa_56:13; Job_33:30.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. But if a man live many years …] Better, For if a man … The relation is one of connexion rather than contrast. In the calm, enjoyable because beneficent, life which the thinker now contemplates as within his reach, the remembrance of the darkness which lies beyond is to be a motive, not for a fretful pessimism, but for a deliberate effort to enjoy rightly. The figure of a corpse which was carried about in the banquets of the Egyptians was intended not to destroy or damp the joy, but to make it more lasting by making it more controlled (Herod. ii. 78). The teaching now is something more than the “Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die” of the sensualist (Wis_2:1-6; 1Co_15:32). “Respice finem; Memento mori,” these rules teach us to use life wisely and therefore well.

let him remember the days of darkness] These are clearly not the days of sorrow or adversity (though the phrase as such might admit that meaning), but those of the darkness which is contrasted with the light of the sun, with the light of life, the land that lies behind the veil, in the unseen world of Hades or of Sheol, the darkness of the valley of the shadow of death. As the Greeks spoke of the dead as οἱ πλείονες “the many,” so does the writer speak of the days after death as “many.” The night will be long and dreary, therefore it is well to make the most of the day. The teaching of the whole verse finds, as might be expected, an echo in that of the Epicurean poet, when he greets his friend on the return of spring, but the echo is in a lower key.

Nunc decet aut viridi nitidum caput impedire myrto

Aut flore, terræ quem ferunt solutæ,

Pallida Mors æquo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas

Regumque turres. O beate Sexti,

Vitæ summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam,

Jam te premet nox, fabulæque Manes

Et domus exilis Plutonia.

“Now is it meet to crown bright brow

With wreaths of fresh green myrtle; now.

With flowers that owe their timely birth

To spring’s soft influence o’er the earth.

With equal foot the pauper’s cell

Death visits, and where emperors dwell,

Wherefore my Sextus, good and dear,

Life’s little span forbids us here

To start, if we indeed are wise,

On some far-reaching enterprise:

Soon Night and fabled forms of dread,

Where Pluto lords it o’er the dead,

Shall meet thee in thy narrow bed.”

Hor. Od. i. 4.

All that cometh is vanity] There is a significance in the new form of the burden of the Debater’s song. The sentence of “vanity,” i.e. of shadowy transitoriness, is passed not only on the years in which he is, in a measure, capable of enjoyment, and on the days of darkness, but even on that which lies beyond them. The unknown future—the undiscovered country—it was, from the point of view from which, for the time, he looked at it, “vanity” to build too much even on that. Men speculated much and knew but little, and there was an unreality in sacrificing the present to that undefined future. What has been called “other-worldliness,” involving the contempt at once of the duties and enjoyments of this world, was but a form of unwisdom. Asceticism, looking to that other world, needed to be balanced by the better form of Epicureanism.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But if a man live many years,.... Enjoying light and life, and beholding the sun with much delight and pleasure. The days of men on earth, or under the sun, are but few at most; but some live many days, in comparison of others; they come to a good old age, as Abraham did; and to their graves like a shock of corn fully ripe; and arrive to, or beyond, the common term of human life;

and rejoice in them all; in and throughout the many years he lives, even all his days; that is, is blessed with a plentiful portion of the good things of life, and enjoys them in a free and comfortable manner, with moderation and thankfulness; partakes of the good of his labour, and rejoices in his works, in the fruit and effects of them, through the blessing of divine Providence; not only is blessed with many days, but those days good ones, days of prosperity: such a man is in a happy case; and especially if he is possessed of spiritual joy, of joy in the Holy Ghost; if he rejoices in Christ, and in what he is to him, and has done for him; and having professed him, and submitted to his ordinances, goes on his way, rejoicing. Some render it, "let him rejoice in them all" (w); a good man has reason to rejoice always, throughout the whole course of his life; because of the goodness of divine Providence to him; because of the blessings of grace bestowed on him; and because of his good hope of eternal glory and happiness. The Targum is,

"in all these it becomes him to rejoice, and to study in the law of the Lord;''

yet let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many; or, "they may be" (x); meaning either, that though persons may live long, and enjoy much health and prosperity; yet, in the midst of all, they should consider, that it is possible that days of adversity and distress may come upon them, and continue; and therefore should not please themselves, as Job did, that they shall die in their nest in the height their prosperity, since they know not what days of evil may come, and how long they will last; or, however, they should remember the night of death, that is hastening, the land of darkness, and the shadow of death, they are going to; the dark grave, they will soon be laid in, where they will remain many days; many more than those in which they have lived, enjoying the light of the sun, even till the heavens shall be no more; though these days will not be infinite, they will have an end, and there will be a resurrection from the dead: and particularly if a man is a wicked man, that has lived a long and prosperous life, he should not only remember the above things; but also that outer darkness, that blackness of darkness reserved for him, the darkness of eternal death, which will be his portion for evermore. The Targum is,

"he shall remember the days of the darkness of death, and shall not sin; for many are the days that he shall lie dead in the house of the grave.''

All that cometh is vanity; Aben Ezra interprets this of every man that comes into the world, as in Ecc 1:2; whether high or low, rich or poor, in prosperity or adversity; man, at his best estate, is vanity: let a man therefore be in what circumstances he will, he should not take up his rest here; all that comes to him, everything that befalls him, is vanity. The wise man keeps in view the main thing he proposed, to prove that is vanity, all in this life; for what is to come hereafter, in a future state of happiness, cannot come under this name and character.

(w) "in eis omnibus laetetur", Junius & Tremellius, Mercerus, Cocceius, Gejerus. (x) "quia multi sint", Amama, so some in Drusius; "quod multi futuri sint", Piscator, Gejerus, Rambachius.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

And the. Hebrew, "for they are many. What comes to pass is vanity." (Montanus) --- Nothing can more effectually repress the love of this world, Ecclesiasticus vii. 40. After Solomon has presented the objections of the wicked, he comes to this conclusion.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Live many years; which is a privilege granted but to few persons comparatively.

And rejoice in them all; and suppose he enjoy all the comforts, and escape all the embitterments, of human life, all his days; which also is a great rarity.

Let him remember, it is his duty and interest seriously to consider, the days of darkness; of death, or of the state of the dead, which is oft expressed by darkness, as Job 10:21; Psa 88:12, &c., and here is opposed to the foregoing light.

They shall be many, i.e. far more than the days of this short life, especially if to the time of lying in the grave be added that greater and utter darkness which is reserved for impenitent sinners, and which is everlasting, Mat 22:13; 25:30; 2Pe 2:17; Jud 1:13. And this is added for the caution of mankind, that they may not rejoice excessively in, nor content themselves with, the happiness of the present life, but may seek for something more durable, and more satisfactory.

All that cometh; all things which befall any man belonging only to this life, whether they be comfortable or vexatious, they are but vain and inconsiderable, because they are short and transitory.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8. But if, etc. — Better, Even though a man live many years let him rejoice in them all. This course of activity and kindness should be maintained to the last. In this way the longest life will have the longest sunshine. Not long ago Koheleth was urging the brevity of life, and the length of the abode in the grave, as the reason for grasping the largest possible amount of pleasure: now, from a higher view, he urges the same as the reason for the unceasing activity of nobler things — of kindness and generosity and benevolence.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all. The conjunction ki at the commencement of the verse is causal rather than adversative, and should be rendered "for." The insertion of "and" before "rejoice" mars the sentence. The apodosis begins with "rejoice," and the translation is, For if a man live many years, he ought to rejoice in them all. Koheleth has said (ver. 7) that life is sweet and precious; now he adds that it is therefore man"s duty to enjoy it; God has ordained that he should do so, whether his days on earth be many or few. Yet let him remember the days of darkness. The apodosis is continued, and the clause should run, And remember, etc. "The days of darkness" do not mean times of calamity as contrasted with the light of prosperity, as though the writer were bidding one to be mindful of the prospect of disastrous change in the midst of happiness; nor, again, the period of old age distinguished from the glowing light of youth (Virgil, "AEneid," L 590, 591). The days of darkness signify the life in Hades, far from the light of the sun, gloomy, uncheered. The thought of this state should not make us hopeless and reckless, like the sensualists whose creed is to "eat and drink, for tomorrow we die", (1Co 15:82 RAPC Wis 2:1, etc.) but rouse us to make the best of life, to be contented and cheerful, doing our daily duties with the consciousness that this is our day of labor and joy, and that "the night cometh when no man can work". (Joh_9:4) Wisely says Beu-Sira, "Whatsoever thou takest in hand, remember the end, and thou shalt never do amiss" (Ecc 7:36). We are reminded of the Egyptian custom, mentioned by Herodotus (2. 78), of carrying a figure of a corpse among the guests at a banquet, not in order to damp pleasure, but to give zest to the enjoyment of the present and to keep it under proper control. "Look on this!" it was cried; "drink, and enjoy thyself; for when thou diest thou shalt he such." The Roman poet has many a passage like this, though, of course, of lower tendency. Thus Horace, "Carm.," 2:3

Preserve, O my Dellius, whatever thy fortunes, A mind undisturbed, "midst life"s changes and ills; Not cast down by its sorrows, nor too much elated If sudden good fortune thy cup overfills," etc. (Stanley. )

(See also "Carm.," 1:4.) For they shall be many; rather, that they shall be many. This is one of the things to remember. The time in Sheol will be long. How to be passed when, if ever, to end he says not; he looks forward to a dreary protracted period, when joy shall be unattainable, and therefore he bids men to use the present, which is all they can claim. All that cometh is vanity. All that comes after this life is ended, the great future, is nothingness; shadow, not substance; a state from which is absent all that made life, and over which we have no control. Koheleth had passed the sentence of vanity on all the pursuits of the living man; now he gives the same verdict upon the unknown condition of the departed soul. (comp, Ecc_9:5) Till the gospel had brought life and immortality to light, the view of the future was dark and gloomy. So we read in Job, (Job_10:21, Job_10:22) "I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death; a land of thick darkness, as darkness itself; a land of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness." The Vulgate gives quite a different turn to the clause, rendering, Meminisse debet tenebrosi temporis, et dierum multorum; qui cum venerint, vanitatis arguentur praeterita, "He ought to remember the many days; and when these have come, things passed shall be charged with vanity which implies, in accordance with a haggadic interpretation of the passage, that the sinner shall suffer for his transgressions, and shall then learn to acknowledge his folly in the past. It is unnecessary to say that the present text is at variance with this rendering.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rejoice - Enjoy all the comforts, and escape all the embitterments of human life, all his days. Darkness - Of death, or of the state of the dead. Many - Far more than the days of this short life. All - All things which befall any man belonging only to this life, are but vain, because they are short and transitory.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

let him rejoice in them all Let him be happy with his lot, provided that he remember the days of darkness and improve his deeds so that he be saved from them, and these are the days of eternal death; they are the days of the wicked.

for they will be many in those days, more than the days of life.

all that befalls him will be vanity and darkness. There is הֶבֶל, that is an expression of retribution and troubles, like (above 6:4): “for he comes in vanity and goes in darkness.”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.