Ecclesiastes 6:1-6 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men:… The Preacher recurs to the same strain as that in which he spoke before (see Ecclesiastes 2:1-11). We have to face the same thoughts again. I. AN IMAGINARY ENRICHMENT. Let a man have, by supposition: 1. All the money that he can spend. 2. All the honor that waits on wealth. 3. All the luxuries that wealth can buy of every kind, material and mental (ver. 2). 4. Let him have an unusual measure of domestic enrichment and affection; let him be the recipient of all possible filial affection and obedience (ver. 3). 5. Let his life be indefinitely prolonged (ver. 6), so that it extends over many ordinary human lives. Give to a man not only what God does give to many, but give him that which, as things are, is not granted to the most favored of our race; and what then? What is - II. THE PROBABLE RESULT. It will very likely end in simple and utter dissatisfaction. "God giveth him not the power to eat thereof;" "His soul is not filled with good;" he gets so little enjoyment out of all that he has at command, that "an untimely birth is better than he;" he feels that it would have been positively better for him if he had never been born. Subtract the evil from the good in his life, and you have nothing left but "a negative quantity." This is quite in accord with human experience. As much of profound discontent is found within the walls of the palace as under the cottage roof. The suicide is quite as likely to be found to be a "well-dressed man," belonging to "good society," as to be a man clad in rags and penniless. III. ITS EXPLANATION. The explanation of it is found in the fact that God has made us for himself, that he has "set eternity in our hearts" (Ecclesiastes 3:11), and that we are not capable of being satisfied with the sensible and the transient. Only the love and service of God can fill the heart that is made for the eternal and the Divine (see homily on Ecclesiastes 1:7, 8). IV. ITS CHRISTIAN CORRECTION. There need never live a man who has known Jesus Christ of whom so sad a statement as this has to be made. For a Christian life: 1. Even when spent in poverty and obscurity, is filled with a holy contentment; it includes high and sacred joys; it is relieved by very precious consolations. 2. Contains and transmits a valuable influence on others. 3. Constitutes an excellency which God approves, and the angels of God admire. 4. Moves on to a glorious future. It does not end in the grave. - C. Parallel Verses KJV: There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men:WEB: There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy on men: |
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