Ecclesiastes 10:19

A feast is made for laughter,.... Or, "who make bread for laughter" (i).

A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things. A feast (Hebrew, bread) is made for laughter. Their meals are taken, not for strength, but for self-indulgent excess.

The design and effect of feasting and drinking wine is, that men may exhilarate their minds with the society of their friends, and with the use of the creatures. Money answereth all things; it procures not only meat and drink for feasting, but for all other things; as the heavens are said to answer the earth, when they give it those showers which it desires and needs to make it fruitful, . And this clause seems to be added as an aggravation of the sin and folly of luxury, because princes do thereby waste that money and treasure which is so highly necessary for the support and preservation of themselves, and of their kingdoms, and are forced to squeeze money out of their people by oppressive, and dishonourable, and dangerous practices, that they may have more to spend in riotous courses.

Ecclesiastes 10:19 A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all [things].Ver. 19. A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry.] Slothful governors, Regni dilapidatores (so our Henry III was called for his pride and prodigality), are all for feasting and frolicking. See Proverbs 31:4 Daniel 5:3-4. This cannot be maintained without money, for the getting and gathering in whereof the poor people are peeled and polled, and rich men’ s gifts are received, to the perverting of justice by those corrupt rulers, qui vili precio nihil non humile et vile parati sunt facere, as Gregory Thaumaturgus speaketh in his note upon this verse. But money answereth all things.] It gives a satisfactory answer to whatsoever is desired or demanded. Seneca saith, circa pecuniam multum vociferationis est, that about money there is much noise, great crying; but though never so nmch, never so great, money answereth all - it effects all. What great designs did Philip bring to pass in Greece by his golds the very oracles were said, ψιλιππιξειν, to say as Philip would have them: Antipater non tenuis fuit pecuniae, et ideo praevalidae potentiae, saith Egesippus; he was a well moneyed man, and therefore a very mighty man. The Hebrew, or rather Chaldee, word used for money signifies to do some great work, because money is the monarch of the world, and therein bears most mastery. Among suitors (in love and in law especially) money drives the bargain and business to an upshot. Daniel. ανευηεχαλκουφοιβοςμημαντευεται. Lib. i., Excid. Hierosol., cap. 14. ΰγαεε of ΰγψ strong, and αεε to prepare.

(19) I look on these verses as isolated proverbs, and believe that the obvious meaning suggested by the English of this verse is the right one. Those who strive to trace a continuity of thought take Ecclesiastes 10:18 as a figurative description of the ruin of an ill-governed land; Ecclesiastes 10:19 as describing the riot of those rulers who make feasts for merriment, and have money freely at their disposal; and (Ecclesiastes 10:20) as a warning to the subjects to beware how, notwithstanding all this mis-government, they venture to rebel.

Verse 19. A feast is made for laughter] The object of it is to produce merriment, to banish care and concern of every kind. But who are they who make and frequent such places? Epicures and drunkards generally; such as those of whom Horace speaks: Nos numerus sumus, et fruges consumere nati. Epist. lib. i., ep. 2, ver. 27. "Those whose names stand as indications of men, the useless many; and who appear to be born only to consume the produce of the soil." But money answereth all] This saying has prevailed everywhere. Scilicet uxorem cum dote, fidemque, et amicos, Et genus, et formam REGINA PECUNIA donat; Ac bene nummatum decorat Suadela, Venusque. HOR. EP. lib. i., ep. 6, ver. 36. "For gold, the sovereign QUEEN of all below, Friends, honour, birth, and beauty, can bestow. The goddess of persuasion forms her train; And Venus decks the well-bemonied swain." FRANCIS.

19. money answereth all things] The maxim as it stands in the English Version, has a somewhat cynical ring, reminding us only too closely of the counsel condemned by the Roman satirist, “O cives, cives, quærenda pecunia primum est;Virtus post nummos.”“Money, my townsmen, must be sought for first;Virtue comes after guineas,”“Isne tibi melius suadet, qui rem facias; rem,Si possis, recte; si non, quocunque modo rem?”“Does he give better counsel whom we hear,‘Make money, money; justly if you can,But if not, then in any way, make money?’ ”Hor. Epp. i. 1. 53, 65. So Menander (quoted by Delitzsch) “Silver and gold—these are the Gods who profit most. If these are in thy house pray for what thou wilt and it shall be thine,” and Horace: Scilicet uxorem cum dote, fidemque, et amicos,Et genus, et formam, regina pecunia donat;Ac bene nummatum decorat Suadela Venusque.”“Seek’st thou a dowried wife, or friends, or trust,Beauty or rank, Queen Money gives thee all;Put money in thy purse, and thou shalt lackNor suasive power nor comeliness of form.”Epp. i. 6. 36–38. The truer rendering of the Hebrew, however, gives not so much a maxim as the statement of a fact and is entirely in harmony with the preceding verses. For revelry they (i.e. “man,” indefinitely) prepare food (literally, bread) and wine that rejoices life, and money answereth all things, i.e. meets all they want. The words obviously point to the conduct of the luxurious and slothful princes condemned in Ecclesiastes 10:16; Ecclesiastes 10:18. Regardless of their duty as rulers and of the sufferings of their people, they aim only at self-indulgence and they look to money, however gained, as the means of satisfying their desires. So, in our own times, Armenians or Fellaheen may die by thousands of famine or pestilence, but the palaces of the Sultan and the Khedive are as full of luxury and magnificence as ever. The State may be bankrupt and creditors unpaid, but they manage somehow to get what they want. The money which they squeeze out from a starving province is for them as the God they worship who grants all they wish.

19. Made for laughter — This verse should read, The bread and the wine, which cheer the life, are made into laughter, or revelry; that is, by the luxurious rulers still spoken of.