Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Job 9:32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment.
Isaiah 45:9-10 Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashionet…
Job 40:2 Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
Genesis 3:17-19 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying…
Job 33:13 Why dost thou strive against him? for he giveth not account of any of his matters.
Ecclesiastes 3:15 That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.
Jeremiah 49:19 Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong: but I will suddenly make him run away…
Romans 9:19-20 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 6:7-10
The preacher here further shows the vanity and folly of heaping up worldly wealth and expecting happiness in it.
I. How much soever we toil about the world, and get out of it, we can have for ourselves no more than a maintenance (Ecc 6:7): All the labour of man is for his mouth, which craves it of him (Pro 16:26); it is but food and raiment; what is more others have, not we; it is all for the mouth. Meats are but for the belly and the belly for meats; there is nothing for the head and heart, nothing to nourish or enrich the soul. A little will serve to sustain us comfortably and a great deal can do no more.
II. Those that have ever so much are still craving; let a man labour ever so much for…
Part II begins here. Since man's toils are vain, what is the chief good? (Ecc 6:12). The answer is contained in the rest of the book.
That which hath been--man's various circumstances
is named already--not only has existed, Ecc 1:9; Ecc 3:15, but has received its just name, "vanity," long ago,
and it is known that it--vanity
is man--Hebrew, "Adam," equivalent to man "of red dust," as his Creator appropriately named him from his frailty.
neither may he contend, &c.-- (Rom 9:20).
John Gill on Ecclesiastes 6:10
That which hath been is named already, and it is known that it is man,.... Which may be understood of the first man Adam, who has been, has existed, was produced by the immediate power of God, creating and forming him out of the dust of the earth; was made after the image, and in the likeness of God, a wise and knowing creature, a rich and powerful one, the figure of him that was to come, being the head and representative of all his posterity; and he has been named already, he had his name from the Lord himself, suitable to his nature and formation; he called his name Adam, from "Adamah", the earth, from whence he was taken; and though he was so wise and great, and even affected deity, which…
There are two sorts of names: some names designate those things which by nature have a body; others designate those which by nature are without a body. The names of those with a body designate the characteristics of such a being, such as its size, color and structure.… The names of those without a body reveal a quality of their state of existence, such as their being worthy of praise or condemnation. But if the first class of names is applied in a straightforward manner, such is not the case with the second class. [With the second class] there are two options: the being has the ability of self-determination of either to incline toward virtue and honor in its knowledge of the Creator, which is the case with angels, archangels, thrones and dominions; or to incline toward evil and increase in its ignorance of the Creator, as is the case with Satan and any other world ruler of the present darkness. …Let us not ask, "Why was I placed in this body? Or why was I not made an angel? Does not God show partiality? Do we not have free will?" All these questions simply multiply vanity. How can the creature say to its Creator, "Why did you make me like this?" Or, how can a creature answer back to God? Let all those kinds of discussions cease. Instead, let those discussions prevail which guide us towards virtue and knowledge. All that is present in this age of shadows is called vanity and shadows, and all that belongs to this life will be covered with the darkness, becoming obsolete upon departing this life.
"What has been was already named, and it is known that he is but a man. He cannot contend with one who is mightier than him." Clearly this is predicting the arrival of the Saviour, since he writes 'he will be'; before he was seen in body his name was already written in the Scriptures and was known by prophets and holy men of God, since he was a man; and similar to this, since he is a man, he is not able to walk with his Father. And in the Gospel it says: "the Father, who sent me, is greater than me." [Ioh. 14, 28.] In the following passages it teaches not to ask more than is written for us by Him, so that a man may not wish to know more than is attested in the Scriptures. For although we are ignorant of our condition and our life passes us by like a shadow, and our future is undecided, it is not useful for us to strive for more than we are able to attain. Some think that this passage means that God already knows the names of all the men, who will be in the future, and who will be enclosed within the body of mankind. Nor is a man able to reply to his creator, and ask why he has been made in this way or that. For however much more we seek, our vanity and our unnecessary words are exposed all the more. Our choice does not come free from the foreknowledge of God, but precedes the causes, why any one thing is done in a particular way.
Dictionary and topics
Heldai · 2. An Israelite — 2. An Israelite
Helem · 2. Probably same as HELDAI — 2. Probably same as HELDAI
Jedaiah · 4. A priest who lived in — 4. A priest who lived in
Josiah · 2. — 2.
Tobijah · 2. A — 2. A
Zephaniah · 4. Father of Josiah — 4. Father of Josiah
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Keil & Delitzsch on Ecclesiastes 6:10
"That which hath been, its name hath long ago been named; and it is determined what a man shall be: and he cannot dispute with Him who is stronger than he." According to the usage of the tense, it would be more correct to translate: That which (at any time) has made its appearance, the name of which was long ago named, i.e., of which the What? and the How? were long ago determined, and, so to speak, formulated. This שׁ ... כּבר does not stand parallel to היה כבר, Ecc 1:10; for the expression here does not refer to the sphere of that which is done, but of the predetermination. Accordingly, אדם ... ונו is also to be understood. Against the accents, inconsistently periodizing and losing sight o…
God’s sovereign rule over everything is sobering, but it is ultimately a source of hope.
6:10 Everything has already been decided: Cp. Rom 8:29; Eph 1:5, 11. • It was known long ago what each person would be: Cp. Ps 139:15-16. • no use arguing with God about your destiny: Cp. Rom 9:20-24.
Rashi on Ecclesiastes 6:10
Whatever has been has already been named. The stature and greatness that had been established during his lifetime, “has already been named,” i.e., it already was and passed, he already had attained fame, and now it has passed, and it was made known that he was a man11According to the Midrash, this refers to Adam. Note that the gematria (numerical value) of ‘מה’ [=45] is equal to ‘אדם’ [=45], man. and not god, and his end was that he died, and he was unable to strive with the angel of death, who is more powerful than he.
