If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he. Ecclesiastes 6:3 (KJV)
The offspring are indicators of God’s blessing, in a general sense. (Provan, 147) Or as Henry writes, the worldly man is ‘supposed’ to have many families. But even when the worldly man has acquired these ‘indicators’ of a blessed life, he still does not have the actual blessings. Usually, as Seow notes, it was customary for the rich to secure their burial sites. (211) But this man, though be rich and presumed to be blessed is bereft of such peace – to have a proper end to his life, a proper burial. The rich man has everything and yet he is not free from constant ridiculous complaints. Bartholomew writes, “this person’s resultant lack of a decent burial indicates what was true of his life as a whole—it was unfulfilled despite his wealth and extended family, and lacking a burial site he will not be remembered.” (201) The presumed emphasis here is that, even though the natural man may labour and acquire all the indicators of a blessed man, he will nonetheless not be able to acquire the peace of a blessed man; which only God can give.
References:
Bartholomew, C. (2009). Ecclesiastes, Baker Academic
Henry, M. (1706). Commentary on the Whole Bible, Complete, Eccl. 6:1-6
Provan, I. (2001). Ecclesiastes/Song of Songs: The New Application Commentary, Zondervan
Seow, C.L. (1997). Ecclesiastes, Yale University Press
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