Chapter Five

1–6. On prayer and vows. 7–8. Features of despotic rule. 9–16. The vanity of wealth. 17–19. The value of pure joys.

Prayer and vows are inseparable from worship. The Preacher gives instruction on these subjects too.

Ecclesiastes 5:1. Do not be hasty with your tongue, and let not your heart be quick to bring forth a word before God; for God is in heaven and you are on earth; therefore let your words be few. He warns the reader against hasty and verbose prayer. The consciousness of the greatness of God dwelling in heaven and the nothingness of man dwelling on earth should impel the latter to weigh each of his words, to speak from the depths of his heart, with humility and reverence. And in the New Testament the Savior warns against lengthy and irreverent prayer (Matt 6:7-8).

Ecclesiastes 5:2. For as dreams come with much care, so the voice of a fool is recognized by his many words. As excessive anxious care brings about many dreams that disturb the sleep of one asleep, so foolish fussiness during prayer gives birth to senseless and aimless verbosity.

Ecclesiastes 5:3. When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it, for He has no pleasure in fools: what you have vowed, fulfill. Ecclesiastes 5:4. Better is it for you not to vow than to vow and not to fulfill. Fulfillment of vows is obligatory, but not the making of vows themselves. “But if you have not made a vow, you will not be guilty” (Deut 23:22).

Ecclesiastes 5:5. Do not let your mouth lead your flesh into sin, and do not say before the angel [of God]: “It was a mistake!” Why should God be angry at your words and destroy the work of your hands? “To lead the flesh into sin” means either to incite the senses to sin (cf. Jas 3:6 et seq.) or to subject the body to trial, punishment. The latter understanding is more correct, for the expression “to lead the body into sin” does not fully correspond to biblical usage, by which sin is committed not by the body and not even by the flesh, but by human will. “Angel” or messenger here means a priest who was charged with oversight of vows. The word is used in the same sense in Mal 2:7. Greek and Syriac translation instead of “before the Angel” read: “before God” (Church Slavonic “before the face of God”). They either had a different Hebrew reading in this place or understood “Angel” in the sense of God’s self-revelation. The Preacher warns that, in case of non-fulfillment of a vow, one should not say to the priest: “It is a mistake,” that is, a sin of weakness, for such hypocritical self-justification will bring upon the guilty God’s wrath and punishment.

Ecclesiastes 5:7. If you see in some province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be surprised at this: for the high one is watched by a higher one, and there are yet higher ones above them; To understand the connection of verse 7 with the preceding, one should recall that in the collection of ordinary Hebrew wisdom, alongside the commandment to fear God stood the commandment to respect the king (cf. Prov 24:21). The Preacher wants to say here that injustices and oppressions should not diminish respect for the king, for they are quite natural where there are many rulers. The word “province” (medinah) occurs only in later books (2 and 3 Kings, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah) and denotes the provinces of Asian kingdoms, in particular of the Persian kingdom. In the book of Ezra (Ezra 5:8) and Nehemiah (Nehem 1:2) Palestine is called this, as a Persian province. It is in this sense, probably, that the word “province” is used in the book of Ecclesiastes. “And there are yet higher ones,” literally, from the Hebrew – “higher ones.” By this word many commentators understand God, seeing in the plural number an indication of God’s greatness. The sense of the verse is: do not be surprised at injustice, for God Himself watches over the higher ones, who will restore justice (cf. Eccl 3:16-17). However, such an understanding of the second half of verse 7 does not fully correspond to the context. The Preacher cautions here not against disturbance and complaint at the sight of injustices, but simply against surprise. He proposes, therefore, not comfort, but an explanation of the fact. The existence of God’s judgment does not explain injustice in human judgment. Besides, verse 8, which speaks of the advantage of a country governed by a king, is difficult to connect with such an understanding. There is more reason to see in verse 7 an indication of the features of despotic rule, namely the Persian, where authority over a province was entrusted to a satrap, the satrap was overseen by a special inspector, over both of them stood the king with his numerous court. By this complexity of governance in the despotic kingdom, in which each official pursues his own interests, injustices and oppressions are explained.

Ecclesiastes 5:8. Yet the advantage of a country lies in the king devoted to the field. Despotic rule is opposed to patriarchal rule with a king who personally governs the people and cares for their well-being. The exact translation of the verse should be: “Yet the advantage of a country is always in a king devoted to the field.” The expression “field” (lesadeh) refers to agriculture as the chief occupation of the people and the chief object of the care of the patriarchal king.

Ecclesiastes 5:9. Whoever loves silver will not be satisfied with silver, and whoever loves wealth will have no benefit from it. This also is vanity! The lover of money cannot satisfy his craving for wealth and, therefore, always remains unsatisfied and unhappy.

Ecclesiastes 5:10. When goods increase, those who eat them increase too; and what benefit is it to the one who owns them except that his eyes see? Ecclesiastes 5:11. Sweet is the sleep of the laborer, whether he eats little or much; but the satiety of the rich does not allow him to sleep. “Those who eat them.” According to some, this means members of the family; according to others – servants and companions, who squander the master’s wealth. In either case, the rich man has occasion not so much to enjoy his wealth as to watch how others enjoy it.

Ecclesiastes 5:12. There is a painful malady that I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm. Ecclesiastes 5:13. And that wealth is lost through some calamity: he has fathered a son, and there is nothing in his hands. Ecclesiastes 5:14. As he came forth naked from his mother’s womb, so he goes, as he came, and he takes nothing from his labor that he could carry away in his hand. Ecclesiastes 5:15. And this is a grievous evil: as he came, so he goes. What profit does he get from laboring for the wind? Ecclesiastes 5:16. And all his days he eats in darkness, with great vexation, with sickness and wrath. The Preacher cites a case when wealth not only fails to bring happiness but makes a man positively unhappy. An unexpected loss of wealth, especially when there are children, is the greatest misfortune, which is far heavier than perpetual poverty.

Ecclesiastes 5:17. Here now is what I have found to be good and pleasant: to eat and drink and enjoy good in all the labors one undertakes under the sun all the days of his life which God has given him; for this is his lot. Ecclesiastes 5:18. And if God has given to a man wealth and property, and has given him power to use them and to take his share and to enjoy his labors, then this is a gift of God. Ecclesiastes 5:19. His days will not often be in his memory; for God answers him with the joy of his heart. After showing the vanity of wealth, the Preacher returns to his conclusion that the very best in life is to enjoy good labor and use earthly goods to the extent that God sends them, without burdening oneself with painful cares about increasing wealth. The Preacher’s thought is essentially the same as in the words of the Savior: “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself: each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matt 6:34).