1Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil.
2Do not be rash with your mouth,
And let not your heart utter
anything hastily before God.
For God is in heaven, and you
on earth;
Therefore let your words be
few.
3For a dream comes through much activity,
And a fool’s voice is known by
his many words.
4When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it;
For He has no pleasure in
fools.
Pay what you have vowed—
5Better not to vow than to vow and not pay.
6Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say
before the messenger of God that it was an error. Why should God be angry at
your excuse and destroy the work of your hands? 7For in the multitude of dreams and many words there is
also vanity. But fear God.
10He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver;
Nor he who loves abundance,
with increase.
This also is vanity.
11When goods increase,
They increase who eat them;
So what profit have the owners
Except to see them with their
eyes?
12The sleep of a laboring man is sweet,
Whether he eats little or
much;
But the abundance of the rich
will not permit him to sleep.
13There is a severe evil which I have seen under the
sun:
Riches kept for their owner to
his hurt.
14But those riches perish through misfortune;
When he begets a son, there is
nothing in his hand.
15As he came from his mother’s womb, naked shall he
return,
To go as he came;
And he shall take nothing from
his labor
Which he may carry away in his
hand.
16And this also is a severe evil—
Just exactly as he came, so
shall he go.
And what profit has he who has
labored for the wind?
17All his days he also eats in darkness,
And he has much sorrow and
sickness and anger.
18Here is what I have seen: It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it is his heritage. 19As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God. 20For he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life, because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart.
Commentary
Vs. 1 “Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and
draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not
know that they do evil”
The idea of reverence (and even silence) before God comes to mind. For there are those who feel that going to church is almost like going out to be "entertained", or going out to try to have some kind of spiritual “experience”. And yet the Scripture says,
“By those who come near Me
I must be
regarded as holy;
And before all
the people
I must be
glorified.” Lev. 10:3
Therefore rather than give the sacrifice of fools who make all kinds of grand and misleading declarations, or who seek to worship God according to the dictates of their own hearts, consider the N.T. teachings on our assembling and worshipping together. For all things are to be done decently and in order, for God is not the Author of confusion, but of peace as in all of the churches of the saints (1 Cor 14:33). Therefore when you go and present yourselves in the house of God do so as a serious and reverent worshipper or seeker of God, and not as an irreverent fool, for they do not know that they do evil.
Vs. 2-3 2Do not be rash with your mouth,
And let not your heart utter
anything hastily before God.
For God is in heaven, and you
on earth;
Therefore let your words be
few.
3For a dream comes through much activity,
And a fool’s voice is known by
his many words.
Continuing on then with our worship and service towards God, it is always best not to be rash with ones mouth, and thus hastily utter false promises to God. For God is in heaven and you are on earth and He does not like false declarations and long winded prayers meant to impress people (consider Mark 12:38-40; Acts 5:1-11). Therefore while in presence of God let your words be few, “For a dream comes through much activity, and fools voice is known by his many words.”
Vs. 4-7 4When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it;
For He has no pleasure in
fools.
Pay what you have vowed—
5Better not to vow than to vow and not pay.
6Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say
before the messenger of God that it was an error. Why should God be angry at
your excuse and destroy the work of your hands? 7For in the multitude of dreams and many words there is
also vanity. But fear God.
In Acts chapter five we see what happened to Ananias and Sapphira when they knowingly and openly lied to the Holy Spirit, and yet as that section of Scripture also reveals, they were never compelled either by Him, or anyone else to vow to give anything to support the church. Yet they choose to lie openly to the whole congregation about doing so when so many were making great sacrifices to help maintain and establish it, and thus they incurred God’s wrath. Therefore consider long and hard before you decide to vow anything to God unless you intend to keep it. And if you have vowed to pay something to God then pay it! For God has no pleasure in fools! (Consider Malachi 1:6-14). For Again God is in heaven and you are on earth, and if you renege on your vows and promises to Him and His messenger comes to you; i.e. in Old Covenant times his priest or prophet was His messenger, but today that aspect of that role is now fulfilled by His church leadership; and so if you say to them that it was an error that you promised to donate this or that, then you risk incurring His Displeasure, and He can very easily either establish or destroy the works of your hands according to what He Himself truly knows. Don’t then be one who sends the messenger of God away disillusioned, leaving him to then explain to the congregation that there is not now enough funds to do this thing or that. For again why should God be angry at you and destroy the works of your hands. For in the multitude of words with lofty and dreamy aspirations, and yet with no action behind them, is also vanity. Therefore fear God!
Vs. 8-9 8If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent perversion of justice and righteousness in a province, do not marvel at the matter; for high official watches over high official, and higher officials are over them. 9Moreover the profit of the land is for all; even the king is served from the field.
King Solomon now looks into the oppression of the poor and the violent perversion of justice and righteousness in a province, in essence at the corruption in a governing establishment or land. And yet he says not to marvel at the matter, because rooting out corruption is no easy task, for high official watches over high official, and higher officials are watching over them. And so each one acts as the guardian of the other, and thus they all preserve themselves. Nonetheless we are all dependent on the services rendered by our government officials, whether they are good or corrupt. And as he also notes the “profit of the land is for all”; for everyone benefits from all of the resources of it, and all the labors done in it. For even the king is served from the field. When though does justice and fairness and equity come to one and to all you might ask, when the Lord Jesus Christ Reigns, because none of His officials will ever be corrupt (Isaiah 11:1-9; 33:5-6, 14-16 etc.).
Vs. 10-11 10He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver;
Nor he who loves abundance,
with increase.
This also is vanity.
11When goods increase,
They increase who eat them;
So what profit have the owners
Except to see them with their
eyes?
It is so true that those who love money are never satisfied; that they always want more; and the more they get, the more they want. In today’s world we are seeing like never before an exuberant amount of wealth going to the very few. For multi-billionaires is now the norm, not the exception. For the very top one percent now has more than 50% of this worlds wealth. There are even some individuals whose net worth is more than many nations. Now some have gained their massive wealth by being very industrious, while others like Russia's Oligarch's by being very corrupt. And yet as we have seen the new “industrialists” are often no different than the old. For their employees who helped to generate all their wealth are still left out in the cold when it comes to sharing in their great prosperity. Indeed many of these extremely wealthy individuals could radically change the fortunes of so many poor and impoverished peoples around the world, and yet in proportion to the amount of wealth they take in, what they give out as “charity” is often very little. Nonetheless you don’t have to be a billionaire to be afflicted with covetousness, with that insatiable appetite for more and more, an appetite which is really, our souls appetite that only the Lord Jesus Christ can satisfy (John 6:35). Now as to ones financial increase, the more ones wealth increases the more there are people who will begin to feed off it: lawyers, bankers, stock brokers, wealth advisors, politicians, and “experts” of every sort, thus there is a wisdom in not letting ones estate get so large so that one cannot hold it all in one’s own hands. For what profit has the owners except to see it with their own eyes, while many others enjoy it.
Vs. 12-15 12The sleep of a laboring man is sweet,
Whether he eats little or
much;
But the abundance of the rich
will not permit him to sleep.
13There is a severe evil which I have seen under the
sun:
Riches kept for their owner to
his hurt.
14But those riches perish through misfortune;
When he begets a son, there is
nothing in his hand.
15As he came from his mother’s womb, naked shall he
return,
To go as he came;
And he shall take nothing from
his labor
Which he may carry away in his
hand.
In contrast then to the wealthy person that is only driven for more and more, is the contented laborer. For whether he east little or much his sleep is sweet; for he is not filled with all the anxious thoughts and endless worries about this or that as rich person is who is constantly fretting over their wealth and fortune, for as markets and fortunes, nations and rulers, climb and fall, so does their emotional well being. And even in their most prosperous and "peaceful" days there are always endless things to worry about if they want to keep their fortunes intact.
Vs. 16-17 16And this also is a severe evil—
Just exactly as he came, so
shall he go.
And what profit has he who has
labored for the wind?
17All his days he also eats in darkness,
And he has much sorrow and
sickness and anger.
King Solomon not only saw the folly of overworking working to get rich (Prov. 23:4-5), but also the vanity of such a person’s life, which was only spent on laboring for the wind, for there is no profit when ones dies and has to leave all that they have worked for behind. Indeed all of their days that they spent eating in darkness, meaning never really enjoying to fruits of their labors, or lives simple pleasures that God affords everyone in this life, because they were always too busy trying to get more, or protect and keep what they had already acquired. or worried if they spent some of their wealth it might run out. And so in the end what did it profit them? They neither enjoyed their lives down here, nor will there be any reward from God for all the vanity that have labored for and have done under the sun. Their lives then which could’ve been overflowing with love and laughter, blessings and joy from God and with others instead were only filled with darkness and sorrow, sickness and anger, as they went from one worry or conflict or “crisis” to the next.
This then is what King Solomon saw as the remedy for living that grave tragedy, which he called a severe evil (vs. 17). And that is for you to enjoy what God gives you from all of your toils and labors in this life, for this is your heritage, it is your gift from Him (vs. 18-19). For that is what those of this world have been appointed from God, to be kept busy with the joy of their hearts (vs. 20).
Scripture Quotations
New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.
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