Ecclesiastes 7:2 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ecclesiastes 7:2
It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.
to give · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
heart
לִבּֽוֹli.Bo
H3820
the heart · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
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
Psalms 90:12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
Deuteronomy 32:29 O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Deuteronomy 32:46 And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observ…
Haggai 1:5 Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
Philippians 3:19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)
1 Peter 4:3-4 For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wi…
Genesis 48:1-22 And it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ep…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 7:1-6
In these verses Solomon lays down some great truths which seem paradoxes to the unthinking part, that is, the far greatest part, of mankind.
I. That the honour of virtue is really more valuable and desirable than all the wealth and pleasure in this world (Ecc 7:1): A good name is before good ointment (so it may be read); it is preferable to it, and will be rather chosen by all that are wise. Good ointment is here put for all the profits of the earth (among the products of which oil was reckoned one of the most valuable), for all the delights of sense (for ointment and perfume which rejoice the heart, and it is called the oil of gladness), nay, and for the highest titles of honour with which…
Proving that it is not a sensual enjoyment of earthly goods which is meant in Ecc 3:13; Ecc 5:18. A thankful use of these is right, but frequent feasting Solomon had found dangerous to piety in his own case. So Job's fear (Ecc 1:4-5). The house of feasting often shuts out thoughts of God and eternity. The sight of the dead in the "house of mourning" causes "the living" to think of their own "end."
John Gill on Ecclesiastes 7:2
It is better to go to the house of mourning,.... For deceased relations or friends, who either lie unburied, or have been lately inferred; for the Jews kept their mourning for their dead several days afterwards, when their friends visited them in order to comfort them, as the Jews did Martha and Mary, John 11:31. So the Targum here,
"it is better to go to a mourning man to comfort him;''
for at such times and places the conversation was serious and interesting, and turned upon the subjects of mortality and a future state, and preparation for it; from whence useful and instructive lessons are learned; and so it was much better to be there
than to go to the house of feasting: the Targum is,…
The final end of human beings is a state of blessedness. If the Lord in the Gospel calls those who mourn "blessed"—"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted"—then Solomon quite rightly calls mourning the end of every human being, because those who live in that state of mourning are filled with an abundance of spiritual blessings.
If anyone wants to ascend, let him seek not the joys of the world or the pleasant things or the delights but whatever is filled with pain and weeping; for it is better to go into a house of sorrow than into a house of rejoicing. Indeed, Adam would not have come down from paradise unless he had been beguiled by pleasure.
Where there is mourning, there is no moral superficiality. Happiness and laughter are avoided; the calamity prohibits it. Sometimes we refrain from appearing happy out of regard for those who mourn and for those who experience harm. In the house of feasting, however, the opposite happens: Dances and songs bring reproof, since they indicate a disorderly life.…The "house," however, signifies a condition or an attitude, not a location.… The one who goes to the house of mourning knows that everyone dies in the end. Once he knows that he has to die, he will not think about and dedicate his effort to owning something, if it is a possession that is lost in death such as wealth, reputation and honor.… One can understand "the living" in the following way: one who lives according to God's will. Those people were Abraham and his descendents.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Afflictions Made Beneficial · In purifying us — In purifying us
Amusements And Pleasures, Worldly · Wisdom of abstaining from — Wisdom of abstaining from
Amusements And Worldly Pleasures · Wisdom of abstaining from — Wisdom of abstaining from
Bereavement · RESIGNATION IN — RESIGNATION IN
Church · 1:16; — 1:16;
Regem-Melech · A — A
Sharezer · a day of humiliation — a day of humiliation
Sherezer · humiliation — humiliation
Sympathy · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
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).
Still more in the spirit of the N.T. (cf. e.g., Luk 6:25) are these words of this singular book which stands on the border of both Testaments: "It is better to go into a house of mourning than to go into a house of carousal (drinking): for that is the end of every man; and the living layeth it to heart." A house is meant in which there is sorrow on account of a death; the lamentation continued for seven days (Sirach 22:10), and extended sometimes, as in the case of the death of Aaron and Moses, to thirty days; the later practice distinguished the lamentations (אנינוּת) for the dead till the time of burial, and the mournings for the dead (אבלוּת), which were divided into seven and twenty-thre…
Frivolous merry-making is foolish when wisdom demands sobriety about death (see also 2:12-13).
Rashi on Ecclesiastes 7:2
Better to go to a house of mourning. [Where] the type of conduct serves both the living and the dead.
Than to go to a house of feasting. [Where] the type of conduct serves only the living.7Upon going to a house of mourning a person realizes that he too will be mourned when his time comes. This will cause him to be humbled and make him aware of sin. (Metsudas Dovid) Alternatively, the kindness done for the dead is absolute and the level of kindness [חסד של אמת], for the provider does anticipate any payback because that is “the end of all men.” However, when going to a house of feasting, e.g., a wedding, the newly married couple “take to heart” to remember that act of kindness so that they ca…
