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Daily Devotions

Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes 
Day 
Day 72

"Its name is covered with darkness"

Text: Ecclesiastes 6:4

AN IMAGINED SCENARIO

Solomon used an imagined scenario to bring home a point. This scenario is exaggerated for effect.

“If a man begets a hundred children and lives many years,
so that the days of his years are many,
but his soul is not satisfied with goodness, or indeed he has no burial,
I say that a stillborn child is better than he—
for it comes in vanity and departs in darkness,
and its name is covered with darkness.”

Ecclesiastes 6:3-4

1. “If a man begets a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many”

a) This is a typical Hebraistic expression.

b) To have many children:

i) This is a desire of many.

ii) To have a hundred children would be considered superlative.

c) To have a very long life:

i) “To live many years”.

ii) “The days of his years are many”.

iii) This is a typical Hebraistic way of having a very long life.

d) “But his soul is not satisfied with goodness”

i) Though he is supposed to be very happy.

ii) But he has not found satisfaction with all the goodness given to him.

e) “Or indeed he has no burial”

i) To have a good funeral was important to a Jew in the old days.

ii) This man however has “no burial”.

f) This can occur under extreme circumstances.

i) He has denied his faith and is not allowed to be buried in sacred grounds.

ii) His children refused to honour him.

iii) He is far away from home and his death is not made known to his family.

2. “I say that a stillborn child is better than he”

a) A stillborn is still given a decent burial.

b) In this regard, he is considered “better than” the so-called rich man.

c) “For it comes in vanity and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness”

i) The stillborn life is truly “vanity”.

ii) It has departed “in darkness”. It has not seen the light of day.

iii) He will be given a name. But that name is “covered with darkness”.

iv) He will never experience the joy of life!

3. The challenge is obvious

a) We must find satisfaction with our lot in life.

b) If we have been blessed with goodness, there is no reason not to be “satisfied”.

c) The challenge is to find the joy that God desires to give as His special blessing.