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word `I gathered me also silver and gold', 2: 8), that he may give to him that is good
before God."
How similar is Prov. 28: 8:--
"He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall gather it for him
that will pity the poor"!
"This also is vanity and vexation of spirit." Do not let us jump to the conclusion, as
many do, that Koheleth is taking sides with the sinner. He is expressing a fact, that the
fraudulent accumulation of riches is simply vanity and vexation of spirit for the sinner,
for none can enjoy the results of his labours apart from God's permission.
In chapter 4: 4, 8 and 14 three further observations are recorded: first, the envy
which even righteous work begets in one's neighbour; secondly, the vanity of increasing
and unsatisfying labour on the part of one having neither kith nor kin; and thirdly, by the
contemplation of the instability even of a despot's throne. This passage has been
paraphrased by A. A. Morgan thus:--
"Better cried they, a youth the land should rule
Than one whom time and age hath made a fool.
The heir of poverty, of bondmen born
If wise, disarms hereditary scorn,
And claims a people's homage more than he,
Whose mind is wasted by infirmity."
While an old and foolish king can be no good to a people, and while we may argue
with every appearance of right along such lines as "a man's a man, for a' that, and a'
that", yet there is something very unscriptural in the democratic view of kingship.
Prophecy illuminates the goal of democratic rule. The world will not be better for
exchanging the head of gold for the feet of clay. God's ideal rule is by a king upon a
throne, and nothing can finally be right that disregards that. Therefore Koheleth is right
when he contemplates this up to date rebellion. "Surely this also is vanity and vexation
of spirit." Five more observations will complete our survey.
"He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance
(be satisfied) with increase" (5: 10).
This is exactly what Koheleth pronounced (1: 8). What is the eye for but for "seeing"?
yet it is not satisfied thereby. If a man love silver will he not be satisfied with it? No. It
is a weary business, this seeking satisfaction from a world marked with corruption.
Ecclesiastes utters truth at every step. All his findings point in the same direction.
Vanity is written over all by reason of death. THE good is the LIFE to come.
Satisfaction cannot be found here. "I shall be satisfied when I awake with Thy likeness"
is as much the burden of Koheleth as of the Psalmist. In chapter 6: 1, 2 the writer
reverts to a phase of experience already touched upon in 2: 24-26.
"There is an evil I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men (or heavy
upon men R.V.). A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth and honour, so that he