The Pulpit Commentary — Ecclesiastes — Section 254

them" (ver. lb, Revised Version). "The river of life, along which his course lies, i~ wrapped in mist. Man's destiny is wholly dark, and is out of his own control. But it is not man's ignorance that cuts him to the heart; it is that the injustice of earthly tribunals seems to have its counterpart in a higher region. No goodness, no righteous- ness, will avail against the persistent injustice of the laws by which the world seems ruled. Wbat a half-blasphemous indictment, what passionate recalcitration against the God whose fear is in bis mouth, is embodied in the cold and calm despair of the words which follow in the next verse (ver. 2) I" (Bradley). He names five classes of persons, embracing all the various types of righteousness and wickedness, and affirms that one event comes to them all, that no discrimination on the part of the Divine Ruler between them appears in their eart-hly lot. The first group is perhaps that of those whose conduct towards their neighbours is righteous or wicked; the second that of those who are pure or impure in heart; the third that of the religious and the irreligious; the fourth perhaps that of those whose characters are in all these relations good or evil; the fifth that of the profane swearer and the man who reverences the solemn oath (Isa. !xv. 16). "There is no mark at all of a moral government in this world. The providence of God is as indiscriminating as the falling tree, or the hungry tiger, or the desolating famine. If the fittest survive for a time, that fitness has nothing in common with goodness or righteousness." And one of the evil consequences of this state of matters is, as already referred to in eh. viii. 11, that those evilly disposed are subject to less restraint than they would be if Divine Providence in all cases meted out reward and punishment immediately to the righteous and the wicked. "Yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead" (ver. 3). The gloomy thoughts concerning death and the world beyond it which filled his mind, made the" one event" that comes to all seem all the more unjust. For some, doubtless, it is a deliverance from misery, but to others it is an escape from merited punishment. Even life with all its inequalities and wrongs is better than death, and ye\ the righteous are swept away from the earth indiscriminately with the wicked. " Streams will not tarn nside The just man not t' entomb, Nor lightnings go aside To give his virtues room; Nor is that wind less rough which blows a good mo.u's barge.n That a strong faith in Divine Providence in spite of all outward appearances, and a firm grasp of the truth_ of immortality, were denied to the Preacher, ueed not surprise us, when we remember that the confidence we have in God's fatherly love, and in the eternal hnppiness of those who are faithful to him, is derived from the teaching of Christ, and his triumphant resurrection from the dead. The Preacher bad not the consolations which the gospel affords us. To him the world beyond the grave was dreary and uncertain. He was one of those" who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Heh. ii. 15). The meanest form of life was superior to the condition of even the noblest who had passed within the grim portals of the grave. 'l'he living dog, loathed and despised, feeding on the refuse of the streets, was better than the dead lion (ver. 4). Hope survives while lite remains, even though it may be illusive; but with death all possible amelioration of one's Jot is cut off. 'l'he bitterness of the thought is displayed in the touch of sarcasm which mnrks his words. "For tho living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten" (ver. 5). The very con- sciousness of the coming doom gives a distinction to the living which is denied to tho dead. The very memory of those who have passed away soon perishes. Others take their place, and carry on the business of the world. A new generation springs up, with interests and concerns and passions with which the dead have nothing to do. The strongest 1iassions of love, hatred, and envy are quenched by the cold hand of death (,-et. 6), and those who may in life have been bosom friends, or mortal enemies, or jealous rivals, lie side by side in the grave, in silence and oblivion. Nothing that is done in the earth concerns them any more (cf. Isa. xxxviii. 9-20). The view hero given 11s of the state of the dead is gloomy in the extreme. 'l'be darkness is more  ECl:L.b:SlAS'l'ES ; OR, 1'HE l?HEACHER. [cu. Ix. 1-18.