Ecclesiastes 7:6

Ecc 7:6 For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so [is] the laughter of the fool: this also [is] vanity.

Ver. 6. For as the crackling of thorns under a pot.] Much noise, little fire; much light, little heat. So here is much mirth, little cause; a blaze it may yield, but is suddenly extinct; this blaze is also under a pot; the gallantry of it is checked with troubles and terrors; it is insincere many times; it is but the "hypocrisy of mirth," as one calls it. It is truly and trimly here compared to a handful of brushwood, or sear thorn, under the pot. Ecquando vidisti flammam stipula exortam, claro strepitu, largo fulgore, cito incremento, sed enim materia levi, caduco incendio, nullis reliquiis, saith Apuleius - a very dainty description of carnal joy, and agreeable to this text. And herewith also very well suits that of the Psalmist, "Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath." {Psa 58:9} Fools themselves are but thorns twisted and folded together; {Nah 1:10} "briars"; {Mic 7:4} "brambles." {Jdg 9:14} Their laughter is also fitly compared to thorns, because it chokes good motions, scratcheth the conscience, harbours the vermin of base and baggage lusts. And as themselves, like thorns, shall be thrust away and utterly burnt with fire in the same place, {2Sa 23:6-7} so their joy soon expireth, and proves to be rather desolation than consolation - as lightning is followed with rending and roaring, as comets outblaze the very stars, but when their exhaled matter is wasted, they vanish and fill the air with pestilent vapours. The prophet Amos telleth the wicked that "their sun shall go down at noonday." {Amo 8:9} Surely as metals are then nearest melting when they shine brightest in the fire, and as the fishes swim merrily down the silver streams of Jordan till they suddenly fall into the Dead Sea, where presently they perish, so it fares with these merry Greeks that fleer {a} when they should fear, and laugh when they should lament. "Woe to you that laugh," {Luk 6:25} saith Christ; how suddenly are they put out as the fire of thorns! {Psa 118:12}

{a} To laugh in a coarse, impudent, or unbecoming manner.

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.

crackling--answers to the loud merriment of fools. It is the very fire consuming them which produces the seeming merry noise (Joe 2:5). Their light soon goes out in the black darkness. There is a paronomasia in the Hebrew, Sirim ("thorns"), Sir ("pot"). The wicked are often compared to "thorns" (Sa2 23:6; Nah 1:10). Dried cow-dung was the common fuel in Palestine; its slowness in burning makes the quickness of a fire of thorns the more graphic, as an image of the sudden end of fools (Psa 118:12).

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 6. For as the crackling of thorns] They make a great noise, a great blaze; and are extinguished in a few moments. Such indeed, comparatively, are the joys of life; they are noisy, flashy, and transitory.

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

(6) There is again a play on words, which German translators represent by “the crackling of nettle under the kettle,” and Plumptre “the crackling of stubble which makes the pot bubble.” The reference plainly is to the quick blazing up and quick going out of the flame.

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

6. As the crackling of thorns under a pot] As in Ecc_7:1 the epigrammatic proverb is pointed by a play of alliterative assonance (sirim = thorns, sir = pot). “As crackling nettles under kettles,” “As crackling stubble makes the pot bubble” are the nearest English equivalents. The image is drawn from the Eastern use of hay, stubble, and thorns for fuel (Mat_6:30; Psa_118:12). A fire of such material, burnt up more quickly than the charcoal embers (Jer_26:22; Joh_18:18), which were also in common use, but then it also died out quickly and left nothing but cold dead ashes. So it would be with the mirth which was merely frivolous or foul. That also would take its place in the catalogue of vanities.

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.

For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool,.... As thorns are weak, useless, and unprofitable; yea, hurtful and pernicious, and only fit for burning; so are foolish and wicked men, Sa2 23:6; and as the noise and sound of the one under a pot is very short, they make a blaze for a while, and is soon over; so though the laughter of a fool is loud and noisy, it makes no melody, no more than the noise of thorns; and is but for a moment, and will be soon changed for weeping and howling, which will last for ever; see Job 20:5;

this also is vanity; the carnal mirth of wicked men.

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

As the crackling of thorns - Noisy while it lasts, and quickly extinguished. See Psa 58:9 note.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Wise man. Much prudence is requisite to correct with fruit, and to persuade the sinner that he is under a mistake. (Calmet)

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).

The crackling of thorns, which for a time make a great noise and blaze, but presently waste themselves, and go out without any considerable effect upon the meat in the pot.

So; so vanishing and fruitless.

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

6. Crackling of thorns — The reason why. The usual fuel mentioned in the Old Testament is charcoal, compared with which dry thorn bushes though quicker to kindle, are brief and ineffectual. The Hebrew words for pot and thorns sound queerly together, like the English “noisy nettles under kettles” — imitating a shallow laughter.

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

For as the crackling of thorns under a pot. There is a play of words in the Hebrew, "The crackling of sirim under a sir," which Wright expresses by translating, "Like the noise of the nettles under the kettles." In the East, and where wood is scarce, thorns, hay, and stubble are used for (Psa_58:9 Psa_120:4; Mat_6:30) Such materials are quickly kindled, blaze up for a time with much noise, and soon die away. (Psa_118:12) So is the laughter of the fool. The point of comparison is the loud crackling and the short duration of the fire with small results. So the fool"s mirth is boisterous and noisy, but comes to a speedy end, and is spent to no good purpose. So in Job (Job_20:5) we have, "The triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless but for a moment." All this profitless mirth is again nothing but vanity.

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

Thorns - Which for a time make a great noise and blaze, but presently go out.

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

For as the sound of the thorns the wood of the thorns, pines in French.

under the pot under a copper pot turned over a fire of thorns, and they rattle in it (sic). Said Rabbi Joshua the son of Levi: When all other woods are kindled, their sound does not travel far, but when thorns are kindled, their sound travels far, as if to say, “We too are wood.” They let people know, “We too are wood, and we are needed.” So are the fools very talkative, saying, “We, too, are important!”

this too is vanity And it is labor, which the Holy One, blessed be He, gave the people to toil and be vexed with them.

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.