Ecclesiastes 11:5

11:1-6 Solomon presses the rich to do good to others. Give freely, though it may seem thrown away and lost. Give to many. Excuse not thyself with the good thou hast done, from the good thou hast further to do. It is not lost, but well laid out. We have reason to expect evil, for we are born to trouble; it is wisdom to do good in the day of prosperity. Riches cannot profit us, if we do not benefit others. Every man must labour to be a blessing to that place where the providence of God casts him. Wherever we are, we may find good work to do, if we have but hearts to do it. If we magnify every little difficulty, start objections, and fancy hardships, we shall never go on, much less go through with our work. Winds and clouds of tribulation are, in God's hands, designed to try us. God's work shall agree with his word, whether we see it or not. And we may well trust God to provide for us, without our anxious, disquieting cares. Be not weary in well-doing, for in due season, in God's time, you shall reap, Ga 6:9.

Ecclesiastes 11:5 . As thou knowest not the way of the spirit — Of the soul of man, how it comes into the child in the womb; or how it is united with the body; or how, and whether it goes out of the body. Nor how the bones do grow — That is, the whole body, which is elsewhere signified by the bones, because they are a principal part, and the very foundation and support of the body; that is, thou knowest not how, from small and unpromising beginnings, the various parts of the body, as nerves, arteries, veins, sinews, entrails, bones, flesh, and skin, are gradually formed, nourished, increased, and brought to perfection: even so thou knowest not the works of God — What God is doing, and will do with thee or others; the counsels and methods of his providence in the future time of thy life, what evil God will send upon the earth, how he will chastise or punish mankind for their sins, or how long he will continue thy life, or preserve to thee the enjoyment of thy property; or how soon he will call thee to an account. Therefore use the present opportunity, and commit thyself and all thy affairs to him in well doing.

(5) The wording of this passage leaves it ambiguous whether we have here two illustrations of man’s ignorance, or only one; whether we are to understand the verse as declaring that we know neither the way of the wind nor the growth of the embryo, or whether, retaining the translation “spirit,” we take the whole verse as relating to the latter subject. (Comp. John 3:6 .) The word for “her that is with child” occurs in that sense here only in the Old Testament, and in later Hebrew.

Spirit - The same Hebrew word (like πνεῦμα pneuma in Greek and "Spirit" in English) signifies both the wind Ecclesiastes 11:4 and the Spirit (compare marginal reference). The Old Testament in many places recognizes the special operation of God Job 10:8-12 ; Psalm 139:13-16 ; Jeremiah 1:5 , and distinctly of the Spirit of God Job 31:15 in the origination of every child. Compare Genesis 2:7 .

Of the spirit; of the spirit or soul of man, how it first comes into the body of the child in the womb, whether from God by creation, or from the parents by propagation; nor how it is united with and so fixed in the body, that it cannot get out of it when it would; nor how and whither it goes out of the body; all which things are great mysteries. Others translate it, of the wind, whence it cometh , and whither it goeth, as is observed John 3:8 , or how violently it will blow, or how long it will last. But the former translation seems to agree better with the following clause. The bones, i.e. the whole body, which is elsewhere signified by the bones, as Psalm 34:20 35:10 , because they are a principal part, and the very foundation and support, of the body. Grow in the womb; how it comes to pass that one and the same small quantity of seed should diversify itself into skin, and flesh, and sinews, and veins, and bones, and entrails, or how it receiveth nourishment and growth. The works of God; what God is doing, and will do with thee and others; the counsels and methods of God’s providence in the future time of thy life, what evil God will send upon the earth, Ecclesiastes 11:2 , or what weather he will send, of which Ecclesiastes 11:4 , how long or how little a while God will continue thy life or estate, and how soon God will call thee to an account.

5 . As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit ] The Hebrew word for “spirit” has also the meaning of “wind” as in the verse immediately preceding, and this has led many commentators (as with the corresponding Greek word in John 3:8 ) to prefer that meaning, here. Two different examples of man’s ignorance of the processes of the common phenomena of nature are adduced on this view as analogous to his ignorance of the “work of God,” of what we call the Divine Government of the Universe. It may be questioned however whether, both here and in John 3:8 , a more adequate meaning is not given by retaining the idea of “spirit” as the “breath of life” of Genesis 2:7 . The growth of the human embryo was for the early observers of nature an impenetrable mystery ( Job 10:11 ; Psalm 139:13-17 ). It became yet more mysterious when men thought of life, with all its phenomena of sensation and consciousness entering into the material structure thus “fearfully and wonderfully made.” This sense of the word agrees it will be seen, with its use in chaps. Ecclesiastes 3:21 , Ecclesiastes 12:7 .

The word “nor” has nothing answering to it in the Hebrew and the sentence should run thus, describing not two distinct phenomena but one complex fact, “ as thou knowest not the way of the spirit (the breath of life) how the framework of the body (literally the bones , but the word is used commonly for the whole body as in Lamentations 4:7 ; Job 7:15 ; Proverbs 15:30 ; Proverbs 16:24 and elsewhere) is in the womb of her that is with child. the works of God who maketh all ] So in ch. Ecclesiastes 7:13 , we had “Consider the work of God.” Here the addition of “who maketh all” indicates a higher stage of faith. That “never-failing Providence orders all things both in heaven and earth.” The agnosticism of the Debater is, like that of Hooker ( Eccl. Pol. i. 2. § 3), the utterance of a devout Theism, content to keep within the limits of the Knowable, but not placing the object of its adoration in the category of the Unknown and Unknowable.

Verse 5. - As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit. In this verse are presented one or two examples of man's ignorance of natural facts and processes as analogous to the mysteries of God's moral government. The word translated "spirit" ( ruach ) may mean also "wind," and is so taken here by many commentators (see Ecclesiastes 1:6 ; Ecclesiastes 8:8 ; and comp. John 3:8 ). In this view there would be two instances given, viz. the wind and the embryo. Certainly, the mention of the wind seems to come naturally after what has preceded; and man's ignorance of its way, and powerlessness to control it, are emblematic of his attitude towards Divine providence. The versions, however, seem to support the rendering of the Authorized Version. Thus the Septuagint (which connects the clause with ver. 4), ἐν οῖς ("among whom," i.e. those who watch the weather), "There is none that knoweth what is the way of the spirit ( τοῦ πνεύματος );" Vulgate. Quomodo ignoras quae sit via spiritus . If we take this view, we have only one idea in the verse, and that is the infusion of the breath of life in the embryo, and its growth in its mother's womb. Nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child . Our version, by its insertions, has made two facts out of the statement in the Hebrew, which is literally, holy the bones (are) in the womb of a pregnant woman .

Septuagint, "As ( ὡς ) bones are in the womb," etc.; Vulgate, Et qua ratione compingantur ossa in ventre praegnantis, " And in what way the bones are framed in the womb of the pregnant." The formation and quickening of the foetus were always regarded as mysterious and inscrutable (comp. Job 10:8, 9 ; Psalm 139:15 ; Wisd. 7:1, etc.). Wright compares M. Aurelius, 10:26, "The first principles of life are extremely slender and mysterious; and yet nature works them up into a strange increase of bulk, diversity, and proportion." Controversies concerning the origin of the soul have been rife from early times, some holding what is called Traducianism, i.e. that soul and body are both derived by propagation from earthly parents; others supporting Creationism, i.e. that the soul, created specially by God, is infused into the child before birth. St. Augustine confesses ('Op. Imperf.,' 4:104) that he is unable to determine the truth of either opinion. And, indeed, this is one of those secret things which Holy Scripture has not decided for us, and about which no authoritative sentence has been given. The term "bones" is used for the whole conformation of the body (comp. Proverbs 15:30 ; Proverbs 16:24 ); meleah , "pregnant," means literally, "full," and is used like the Latin plena can here and nowhere else in the Old Testament, though common in later Hebrew.