Ecclesiastes 4:16

4:13-16 People are never long easy and satisfied; they are fond of changes. This is no new thing. Princes see themselves slighted by those they have studied to oblige; this is vanity and vexation of spirit. But the willing servants of the Lord Jesus, our King, rejoice in him alone, and they will love Him more and more to all eternity.

There is no end of all the people, even of all that have been before them,.... Before the present generation, the living that walked under the sun; a vast number they were that lived before them, and they were of the same restless temper and disposition; changeable in their affection and behaviour towards their governors; no end of their number, nor any stable affection for, nor settled satisfaction in, their rulers; but this itch of novelty, of having new princes over them, went from age to age, from generation to generation. Some understand this of the king and his son, the predecessor and successor, and of those that went before them; and of their behaviour to the kings that reigned before them; the people have not their end or satisfaction in their governors, but are restless: which comes to the same sense; they also that come after shall not rejoice in him; that come after the present generation, and after both the reigning prince, and even after his successor; they will not rejoice long in him that shall be upon the throne after them, any more than the present subjects of the old king, or those that now pay their court to the heir apparent; they will be so far from rejoicing in him, that they will loath and despise him, and wish him dead or dethroned, and another in his room. Surely this also is vanity and vexation of spirit; to a king, to see himself thus used by his subjects; for a short time extolled and praised, and then despised and forsaken.

Ecclesiastes 4:16 . There is no end of the people — The sense seems to be, either, 1st, The people who have this humour are without end, or innumerable: or, 2d, This humour of the common people hath no end, but passes from one generation to another: they ever were, and are, and will be, unstable and restless, and given to change: which sense the following words favour: Even of all that have been before them — Before the present generation of subjects, who earnestly desired and promoted the change of government here expressed. And so, here are three generations of people mentioned; the authors of the present change, and their parents, and their children; and all are observed to have the same inclinations in these matters. They also that come after shall not rejoice in him — They shall be as weary of the successor, though a wise and worthy prince, as their parents were of his foolish predecessor. Surely, this also is vanity — From all this it appears, that happiness is not to be found in honour and power; no, not in the very highest pitch of it: for there also is not only dissatisfaction to be found, but many dangers, troubles, and vexatious cares, which much disturb and perplex the minds of those that possess it. See Bishop Patrick.

There is no {l} end of all the people, even of all that have been before them: they also that come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and vexation of spirit. (l) They never cease by all means to creep into favour, but when they do not obtain their greedy desires they think themselves abused, as others have been in times past, and so care no more for him.

16. Notwithstanding their now worshipping the rising sun, the heir-apparent, I reflected that "there were no bounds, no stability (2Sa 15:6; 20:1), no check on the love of innovation, of all that have been before them," that is, the past generation; so also they that come after—that is, the next generation, shall not rejoice in him—namely, Rehoboam. The parallel, "shall not rejoice," fixes the sense of "no bounds," no permanent adherence, though now men rejoice in him.

There is no end of all the people: the sense is either, 1. The people which have this humour are without end, or innumerable, as this phrase signifies, Job 22:5 Isaiah 2:7 9:7 . Or, 2. This humour of the common people hath no end, but passeth from one generation to another; they ever were, and are, and will be unstable and restless, and given to change; which sense the following words seem to favour. Before them; either, 1. Before the two kings above mentioned, the father and the son, or the predecessor and successor. All those who stood or desired to stand in their presence, and waited upon them, as this phrase is used, 2 Samuel 16:19 1 Kings 10:8 . Or rather, 2. Before the present generation of subjects, who earnestly desired and promoted the change of government here expressed; for these are evidently opposed to them that come after , which all interpreters understand of the people, not of the kings. And so here are three generations of people noted, the authors of the present change, and their parents, and their children, and all are observed to have the same inclinations in these matters. Shall not rejoice in him; they shall be as weary of the successor, though a wise and worthy prince, as their parents were of his foolish predecessor; the reason whereof is partly from that itch of novelty and curiosity which is natural and common to mankind, and partly from their vain and foolish hopes of advantage from such changes.

16 . There is no end of all the people ] The words continue the picture of the crowds who follow the young king. even of all that have been before them ] The last words are not of time but position. The people are before their king, or rather, he is before them all , going in and out before them ( 1 Samuel 18:16 ; 2 Chronicles 1:10 ), ruling and guiding. The reference of the words to the Messianic child of Isaiah 7:14 ; Isaiah 9:6 , falls under the same category as the interpretation which finds the doctrine of the Trinity in the “threefold cord” of Ecclesiastes 4:12 . It is true of both that they may be devout applications of the words, but are in no sense explanatory of their meaning. they also that come after ] This is added as the crowning stroke of the irony of history. The reign which begins so brightly shares the inevitable doom, and ends in darkness, and murmuring and failure. “ Il n’y a pas d’homme necessaire ,” and the popular hero of the hour finds himself slighted even in life, and is forgotten by the next generation. The glory of the most popular and successful king shares the common doom and is but as a feeding upon wind. Here again the statement is so wide in its generalization that it is not easy to fix on any historical identification. David, Solomon himself, Jeroboam, Cyrus, Antiochus the Great, Herod have been suggested by the ingenuity of commentators.

Verse 16. - There is no end of all the people, even of all that have been before them. The paragraph plainly is carrying on the description of the popular enthusiasm for the new favorite. The Authorized Version completely obscures this meaning. It is better to translate, Numberless were the people , all , at whose head he stood . Koheleth places himself in the position of a spectator, and marks how numerous are the adherents who flock around the youthful aspirant. "Nullus finis omni populo, omnibus, quibus praefuit" (Gesenius, Rosenmüller, Volck). Yet his popularity was not lasting and his influence was not permanent. They also that come after shall not rejoice in him . In spite of his cleverness, and notwithstanding the favor with which he is now regarded, those of a later generation shall flout his pretensions and forget his benefits. If we still continue the allusion to Joseph, we may see here in this last clause a reference to the change that supervened when another king arose who knew him not ( Exodus 1:8 ), and who, oblivious of the services of this great benefactor, heavily oppressed the Israelites. This experience leads to the same result; it is all vanity and vexation of spirit. Ecclesiastes 4:16

"I saw all the living which walk under the sun on the side of the youth, the second who shall enter upon the place of the former: no end of all the people, all those at whose head he stands." The author, by the expression "I saw," places himself back in the time of the change of government. If we suppose that he represents this to himself in a lively manner, then the words are to be translated: of the second who shall be his successor; but if we suppose that he seeks to express from the standpoint of the past that which, lying farther back in the past, was now for the first time future, then the future represents the time to come in the past, as at 2 Kings 3:27 ; Psalm 78:6 ; Job 15:28 (Hitz.): of the second who should enter on his place (עמד, to step to, to step forth, of the new king, Daniel 8:23 ; Daniel 11:2 .; cf. קוּם, 1 Kings 8:20 ).

The designation of the crowd which, as the pregnant עם expresses, gathered by the side of the young successor to the old king, by "all the living, those walking under the sun (המה, perhaps intentionally the pathetic word for הלכים, Isaiah 42 ; 5)," would remain a hyperbole, even although the throne of the Asiatic world-ruler had been intended; still the expression, so absolute in its universality, would in that case be more natural (vid., the conjectural reference to Cyrus and Astygates). השּׁני, Ewald refers to the successor to the king, the second after the king, and translates: "to the second man who should reign in his stead;" but the second man in this sense has certainly never been the child of fortune; one must then think of Joseph, who, however, remains the second man. Hitzig rightly: "The youth is the second שׁני, not אחר, in contrast to the king, who, as his predecessor, is the first." "Yet," he continues, "הילד should be the appos. and השׁני the principal word," i.e., instead of: with the second youth, was to be expected: with the second, the youth. It is true, we may either translate: with the second youth, or: with the second, the youth - the_ form of expression has in its something incorrect, for it has the appearance as if it treated of two youths.